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Orwellian irony
Our thinking about one of the 20th century's best-known writers is being challenged by the 'smelly little truths' Anna Funder uncovered about George Orwell's marriage.
Good Lord, he was scandalous
Lord Byron still fascinates 200 years after his death, but more for his bohemian lifestyle than his poetry.
Stars in their eyes
Debut novel a heady mix of grief, astronomy and love.
Mirren's mirror on Meir
Dame Helen talks about playing Golda Meir, Israel's iron lady, during a pivotal chapter in the controversial politician's long career.
Silence is golden
Dog and robot tale a five-star gem.
Still screaming
Pearl Jam's 12th album proves the senior statesmen have what it takes after 33 years.
Morning songs
On a recent early and glorious Saturday morning - it was 4°C outside I let the complaining chickens out. Chickens never stop complaining.
Ode to old masters
The Polynesian sound and Auckland's ska-punk scene are remembered in new releases.
An age-old problem
Is our lifespan fixed, or might we be able to slow down or even abolish ageing? And what would we do if we could?
When Jim becomes James
'What would white people do to a slave who had learned to read?' This impressive reimagining of Huckleberry Finn seeks to find out.
A Wylde life
How a West Coast mechanic who lost a leg at Gallipoli ended up living in luxury on the banks of the Thames, rubbing shoulders with artists, composers and poets.
Friend or foe?
An ambiguous war memorial on the banks of the Waikato River raises confronting questions about what it is commemorating.
Branching out
A lexander Hamilton described the courts as the least dangerous branch of government.
A real head banger
We owe an incalculable debt to scientists but they could have done with a crash course in tact before laying their latest, inevitably disempowering, tranche of findings on us: intermittent fasting could kill you, they now tell us in their pitiless way.
Dying of the light
If the coalition sees any value in preserving balanced journalism, its lifeline might be a little late in coming.
Return of the queen
Beth Orton brings the personal songs of her career-reviving album to NZ.
Fanny, the musical
How do you turn Jane Austen into opera and why pick Mansfield Park, her most demanding novel? Composer Jonathan Dove explains his approach to Richard Betts.
Brought to book
He's rich, opinionated and believes in doing good for the community. Property developer Mark Todd is a study in contrasts.
'Why aren't you listening to me?!"
To really understand each other, our brains need to be in sync, says author Charles Duhigg. And, yes, there are ways to get on to the same wavelength.
The chips are down
It's a forecast no Irish person with a sense of history expected ever to hear again: a severe potato shortage looms.
Faces turned to the horizon
In a public library in Wellington, I said to the librarian, \"I'm losing my mind.\" He was a kindly young man, unfazed as he showed me what to do. He was so helpful my spirits began to rise.
A recipe for life
On the shelves here at Lush Places are fusty-smelling two old books. One is a green contacts book. Its cover is faded and the edges battered. The other is an equally faded maroon recipe book. It has a chunk out of the spine.
Familiar faces into the fray
The government’s new consultants and advisers have decades of experience between them, but do they also come with vested interests?
In tune with the times
What's a tune worth? Not as much as previously anticipated for Hipgnosis Songs Fund, the Guernsey-registered company that launched in 2018 on the promise of the song as an unbeatable financial asset.
Flights of fancy
Peter Walker cleverly weaves Arabian tales, early Chinese and Persian voyages, eccentric amateur fossil hunters and a colonialist hardman” into one intriguing story.
A sight for Sora eyes
OpenAl’s latest text-to-video tool takes AI to a new level but raises some troubling questions in the process.
My great admirer
Narcissism is characterised by a deeply ingrained sense of deserving respect - yet some narcissists lack self-esteem.
Off the gravel
The new album and tour by Delaney Davidson takes the Christchurch artist down a smoother road.
At the top of his game
After his big brother’s atomic bomb movie, Jonah Nolan blows up the world in Fallout, another milestone ina screen career he says he owes to reading the classics while living in New Zealand.
Now where did I put my keys?
Improving your memory is not about remembering more, it’s about remembering better, says neuroscientist Charan Ranganath. And sometimes, less is more.