Hope for the best

Celebrated author continues her exploration of loneliness and loss in a novel set in pandemic times.

Ruling the roost

We have a new game at Lush Places. It's called Find the Egg. It takes two people and three chickens, and this is how you play: The game begins when one of your chickens - your lazy, greedy, crap-everywhere chicken - starts singing her \"I've laid a lovely egg!\" song. She will do this very loudly, so loudly you should expect noise complaints from neighbours.

Music to your ears

Songs can cut across cultural and language divides, a NZ study has found.

Risk management

Communication was key when explaining the pros and cons of a Covid vaccine.

Move your body

Ditch the cleaner and mop your own floors it could reduce your risk of getting cancer.

Take note

Birdsong is to the fore in the NZ String Quartet's latest offering.

Apocalypse then

Series highlights past catastrophes to warn about the future.

Di noon

How The Crown's final season navigates the minefield of Princess Diana's last months.

Alice in wonderland

Directing debut for Campion daughter shows initial promise then unravels.

Hits and misses on rights

There is one key arm of government that receives little attention come election time and that is the role of the Attorney-General.

Slice of life

There are two bountiful sources of news fodder without which the media would be left scratching to fill schedules: reports about the British royal family and reports from the latest scientific and academic research.

Chain reaction

October was the cruellest month, and November may get nastier. I receive an email from a relative that simply says, \"Gaza is unbearable.\"

Hope is the only choice

I was raised a reluctant Jew. My parents provided the raising and the Judaism, and I supplied an ocean of reluctance. As a child, most things about religion confused me, but there were two questions I held inside for years, firm in my belief that no grown-up was interested in hearing or answering either.

Into the void

A whole lot of fuss about nothing is filling the gap while the new government takes shape behind the scenes.

A tour de Force

Ahead of her NZSO concerts, violin superstar Anne-Sophie Mutter tells of her overture to Star Wars maestro John Williams.

The great divide

As new suburbs continue to mushroom around the country, they are defined by one thing: the fence.

From the shadowlands

A New Zealand playwright once labelled New York's best-kept secret is rising to prominence again with the release of his diaries.

Sounds & fury

Bold plans to ease overcrowding in Milford Sound are mired in red tape as local business opposition swells.

Without a paddle

Homeowners in flood-prone areas face huge risk as insurers abandon them. And with sea level rise gaining on us, there's little sign of a plan for 'managed retreat'.

Back from the dead

Bytes can now meet the afterlife, but should they?

Worth the plunge

Annette Bening shines as endurance swimmer.

Failing to do justice

Martin Scorsese’s 1920s true-crime race murder saga mistakes length for depth.

Too much of a good thing

Familiarity can breed contempt when you see people too often.

Crumbs of comfort

On Sunday, I baked bread. I love making bread. It makes you feel like a better person.

Go nuts

Myths about fat content have given nuts a bad rap when in fact they are good for our heart and mental health.

Better werk stories

Local musicians, producers and DJs on the Kraftwerk influence.

Once Dada, now Abba

Kraftwerk weren't always understood at home but now the group is a German pop-culture institution.

Nice werk if you can get it

With the help of superfans including Bill Bailey and local musicians and producers, we celebrate the return of the enduring, influential, confounding electronic group Kraftwerk.

Tough love

The author of The Slap examinines a tentative relationship between two ageing men with much emotional baggage.

Era of their ways

The queen of historical fiction turns her gaze on the largely ignored lives of ordinary women.