School daze

The new government plans sweeping changes in a bid to drag us back to where we used to be - near the top of educational league tables.

Flamingo lady

The hot pink fringe came last. Joan saw the shoes first. The paint-splatter brightness of them, displayed in the window of a boutique with two security guards positioned out front. Initially, she'd walked on.

The dog

The dog came out of nowhere. Roger was driving too fast and Laurie was looking for bars and Penny was talking to Tim and Pat had his feet on the dashboard and they all heard the thump.

Brand new & ancient

A culinary revolution is taking place across the Pacific as local restaurateurs go back to their pre-colonial roots, thanks largely to efforts that began in Hawaii more than 50 years ago.

Mark my words

Punctuation marks may be on their way out, to the chagrin of grammar zealots the world over.

Yes, you should be worried

Two GPS have spent three years travelling the country plugging gaps in overstretched practices. The experience has been eye-opening.

Play in practice: Evelyn Glennie

As she put the finishing touches on her application, a teenager named Evelyn Glennie felt butterflies in her stomach. Growing up on a farm in Scotland, she had dreamed of becoming a musician.

Passion players

The daily grind can be transformed into a source of daily joy, says leading organisational psychologist Adam Grant.

Tunnel of love

Shayne Cunis had never heard of engineering when his school guidance counsellor suggested studying it. Now, he's leading the big push to improve Auckland's wastewater system.

The beginnings of a long struggle

In moments of depression, perhaps at the end of a long struggle with a virus,\" wrote a former editor of the Listener, the great Monte Holcroft, \"the stranger aspects of our civilisation make us wonder if life itself has not become a sort of illness.

Lurching to the right

It's starting to get scary out there. People with really weird hairdos and wild, right-wing politics are getting elected all over the place.

Quackers about festivities

Just Stop Oil, Extinction Rebellion and the like have remained strangely silent about one of the world's most recalcitrant climate offenders. Nicholas of Bari started out as a nice old clergyman, beloved for his habit of giving secret gifts.

The antisocial media

The dominant online platforms became more toxic than ever in 2023. Is there a way out?

Animal magic

The long-held view that pets make us happier and healthier is being challenged.

Not the Messiah

Had enough Hallelujah Chorus? Try these picks for other seasonal classical options.

The last round

Veteran director Ken Loach says goodbye to a lifetime of political cinema with a story of hope in an English mining town.

Sharp as a knife

Memoir of a girl growing up across two hemispheres is a sly and delicious peepshow.

A kaleidoscopic crème brûlée

David Cohen taste-tests what's coming to the boil and what's so last year to help home kitchens and top-end diners stay on trend in 2024.

Cooking by the book

What cookbooks do chefs and foodies reach for? Alana Rae asks some of our culinary leaders about their favourite tomes.

It's a celebration

Turkey is the main event, bookended by refreshing watermelon to start and raspberries to finish, with sourdough stuffings and a potato pie in between.

Performance pressure

Young women are weighed down by feelings of being judged by their peers, and social media mores are making it worse.

The Ardern enigma

Why did many New Zealanders turn so quickly on our most popular leader of recent times? And will the politics of compassion ultimately be her legacy?

An untimely delay

An unnecessary operation delayed appropriate treatment for prostate cancer patient Paul Catmur. One year on, he's still waiting for his surgeon's actions to be investigated.

Equal measures

Living behind her parents' dairy taught Vanisa Dhiru all about being helpful. Now, she puts that into practice in her advocacy roles.

Jibes across the Tasman

Scott Morrison, the self-confessed bulldozer prone to mansplaining, exasperated Ardern.

Let the brawling begin

We've had a government for barely a week and already the insults are flying thick and fast.

Enhanced memoirs

An awful suspicion is dawning that rather than just replacing humans by being more efficient, artificial intelligence (AI) might also show them up for the wretched, self-deluding egomaniacs they so often are.

One fine day

There are perfect moments in the garden in spring. My favourite bit of the garden is one that I had no part in making. This is the gravel garden, on the drive in front of the house. I didn't know I wanted a gravel garden. I certainly didn't plan to grow a gravel garden. It grows itself. A gravel garden is a marvellous thing. You don't have to feed it, you scarcely have to weed it or water it, and the best thing about it is that it hasn't cost you a cent. It is perfect for miserly gardeners.

An AI leap for robots

The same tech underpinning ChatGPT is set to finally make the general-use robot a reality.

Great expectations

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, so keep your stresses at bay.