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Seven months ago, I ventured in this column that Twitter’s new owner, the billionaire Elon Musk, “will discover that keeping the global platform viable is really not as simple as he supposed when his adventure began”. It was a modest prediction, one that fell a long way short of the damage Musk has since done to the value of his asset, his personal wealth and his own reputation. Being on Twitter now is like living in a neighbourhood where a mad mayor sets the rules, where rubbish collections might stop one week, then return the next, and the taps run dry without warning. Most of the people you’ve known for years are still there – they keep you from moving out – but there are unpleasant new neighbours you’re finding hard…

A journalist often meets unhappy people in dire circumstances. Accidents, murders, wars, natural disasters, protests and recessions are not the kind of events that produce much joy, so you tend to remember those rare times when you were a witness to happiness. Three stories stand out in my 50 years of reporting for the sheer jubilation of the people I saw and interviewed. The first was on a crowded dockside in Southampton when the passenger liner QE2 returned from the Falklands War. It was impossible not to be moved as the bands played and the badly wounded but smiling Captain David Hart Dyke of the ill-fated HMS Coventry, which was sunk by Argentinian bombs, was reunited with family. The second was in a Black church in the US state of Georgia, as a…

Two of the Walters Prize finalists do one thing, and two another. Sonya Lacey and Sriwhana Spong make art that revolves around themselves, and their installations are collections of parts. The works of Fiona Amundsen and the Mata Aho Collective/ Maureen Lander, on the other hand, reflect many voices, coordinated into a total entity. Lacey and Spong use multiple mediums across works that variously intrigue, delight, impress and perplex. You first respond to the things in the space, and to what the materials are doing, before making sense of them (unless you have read a good deal beforehand). Then comes the backstory, filling in the gaps with complicated histories within which the artists are at once insignificant and central figures. With Amundsen and the Mata Aho Collective/ Lander, there is no…

Auckland Martin Ball Echo: A Brush with History Orexart, 10 April–1 May MICHAEL DUNN Ball To many ’s Echo will come as a surprise. Instead of his meticulously crafted drawings and portraits we find a display of landscapes depicting the famous Pink and White Terraces, once natural wonders that drew tourists from around the world, but which disappeared from view as the result of the eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886. While the show is a change of direction it does have continuities with his earlier work. The new paintings are sourced in historic photographs of the terraces taken by George D. Valentine. Ball began this series in 2005 but has evolved it mainly since 2018. In notes for the show, he states that he has used photocopied imagery in the past, as he does here,…

For what feels like forever, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been hellbent on sharing their story. Despite once declaring a pursuit of privacy, we’ve seen them sit down with Oprah Winfrey, grace countless magazine covers, and enjoy the spoils of media deals with companies like Spotify and Netflix. But the contradictions and hypocrisy haven’t ended there. With the first three episodes of their long-awaited series finally available, royal experts and viewers alike have been quick to point out their questionable portrayal of their lives in the public eye... Real WRONG HARRY! An image in the series, meant to depict how Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were apparently hounded by paparazzi, has been swiftly debunked. It has turned out to be a snap from the London premiere of Harry Potter And The…

At first sight Alan Ibell’s paintings may seem somewhat bland and unchallenging. They do not leap out at you but instead have seductive qualities that gradually emerge as we contemplate them one by one. We start to grasp that there is a slippage between what we see superficially and what is suggested beneath the surface of these images. In notes about his show Ascendants, held at Sanderson Contemporary earlier this year, Ibell writes: ‘One of my main interests is in creating a space within the paintings that recalls the subconscious or a psychological environment like that of a dream―a space where the strange and the mundane/domestic cohabit.’ This helps us to understand, for example, The Return, in which a small figure is set in a foreground plane with a soft…

Some of the most likeable people in New Zealand politics are the lobbyists. They’re often the most insightful: they know what’s going on and why, but they’re more detached than the politicians and less tangled up in the day-to-day churn than many journalists. These qualities make them excellent political commentators, and many of the nation’s most prominent media pundits are lobbyists. But with all that charm and insight, it’s a little easy for everyone to forget that these people are deeply political actors: that instead of trying to win elections so they can influence government policy, their job is to quietly influence policy no matter who wins. RNZ investigative journalist Guyon Espiner has run a series of stories about political lobbying. He found that Pharmac, the agency tasked with funding medicines and…

Within days of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex returning from the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, rumours began circulating on Hollywood gossip forums that a second tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey was in the works. And last week, less than a month after the couple’s short and frosty trip to the UK, Harry and Meghan were spotted driving into the talk show maven’s Montecito estate, just a stone’s throw from the Sussexes’ own $20 million mansion overlooking the California coast. The sighting comes more than a year after they levelled an extraordinary attack on the royal family via Oprah, 68. This time, an industry insider speculates the Sussexes are preparing for a new wave of PR ahead of releasing Meghan’s podcast and Harry’s memoirs. “They will need to do interviews around that and they owe…

ANY idiot can face a crisis. It’s the day to day living that wears you out. Another old adage is ‘every cloud has a silver lining’. Nobody wants to win the Hard Luck award at an event, but a recent engine problem for Craig and Rhonda Houston from Cambridge, en-route to the 2021 Pre-’49 Nationals hosted by Rod Benders in Christchurch, actually ended rather fortuitously for them. Heading south in their stunning ‘47 Ford pickup, fresh on the road following a two-and-a-half-year rebuild and appearing on the front cover of November’s HRM, the 302 Ford Windsor engine developed an over-heating issue somewhere near Levin. Craig was thinking maybe a blown frost plug or radiator hose but soon discovered it wasn’t, deciding to carry on while mentally eliminating what it might be,…

The Munro legacy continues THIS Indian motorcycle was created to help celebrate the connection with Burt Munro and the Indian motorcycle. It was funded by Indian motorcycles and provided to Lee Munro to continue the story with the addition of a new chapter. The bike was finished in 2017 and first ran at El Mirage, with Lee managing 186.681 mph. A privately sponsored trip in 2018 saw the team go to Bonneville, where Lee upped the speed to 192.78 mph. It is interesting to note that Lee's great uncle, the legend himself, Burt Munro managed a best speed of 202 mph on the old original bike. This was never recognised due to the fact he could never do a backup run to get the record, The new bike's V-twin engine started off displacing…

Spring is not far away now in many areas despite a very challenging winter, and depending on your altitude. The very first shoots of Mountain tutu are just starting to appear on the warmest claypans in the Kaweka Forest Park, which means the Sika will be hoovering them up very soon. KAWEKA 1080 While we were in the Kawekas doing a kiwi nest raid on Sunday, Ospri finally did the 1080 drop in the Eastern Kawekas that has been scheduled since July. The Kaweka Liaison Group agreed to this drop as a buffer zone along the Park boundary - not because there is any TB in the Park, but to stop the TB outbreak on Hawkes Bay farmland getting into the possums in the Park. We were pretty disappointed at the signage at…

IN 1981 three Christchurch-based rodders, Tony McMahon, Harry Wright and I drove across America in an old mid-‘60s Cadillac to the Street Rod Nationals in Columbus, Ohio. Being 24 years old and on the trip of a lifetime, I had US $3,400 spending money, supposedly enough to last me six months. I thought I was made. I had a dream car, like everyone. Mine was a ‘41 Willys Coupe. At the Nationals, I heard of a coupe, a complete roller that was for sale. I convinced my team that we needed to go and check it out. The coupe was an ex Gasser and for sale at just $3,000. The reality of transporting it halfway across America and leaving me with virtually no money kicked in when the boys finally made…

Think of a big Aussie-built Ford with a strong and torquey straight-six engine and the Falcon will inevitably spring to mind. But it could be the Ford Cortina. The spacious and much-loved family saloon from Ford Europe was also built across the ditch and Ford Australia followed its instinct to make it a whole lot more appealing to the local market by installing one of its long-legged straight-sixes. In the spirit of ‘if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em’ the Mk4 TE gave buyers the option of not one but two strong-pulling crossflow six-cylinder engines. It wasn’t the first Cortina to have the option of a six-cylinder. The idea had naturally occurred to Ford earlier in the model’s long production life, with that honour going to the Mk3 TC and TDs…

BRAD & JEN SPOTTED IN PARIS! Brad Pitt didn’t hesitate to meet up with his ex-wife-turned-business partner Jennifer Aniston when the two were in Paris earlier this month and friends say the “riotous lunch turned into dinner”. The 58-year-old The Lost City star made the most of Jen’s presence in the City of Love, where she’s filming scenes for Murder Mystery 2. “Jen and Brad are a creative team, always were,” says a friend. “It’s been liberating teaming up again on new movie projects so it’s no surprise that having lunch did carry on into the evening. Brad thinks Jen’s a genius but in turn she loves how his input adds testosterone to her writing.” Last September, Jen, 53, finally accepted Brad’s offer to rejoin Plan B, the production company they created in 2001,…

Given that Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall were once Britain’s most polarising couple due to their reputation-shredding affair, the fact that they managed to win over the public following their marriage has been miraculous. There was barely a peep of protest when Her Majesty announced earlier this year that Camilla had her support to become Charles’ queen consort when the time came. Sadly, that appears to have all changed this week! Upon the Queen’s declaration, a PR offensive from Clarence House was launched, which has seen the duchess, 75, splashed across the covers of magazines around the world in a bid to guarantee her place at the top. But just as she and Charles were toasting a job well done, a bombshell new allegation has brought the couple to their knees…

• Hot Rod Comics GERARD Richards sent us a couple of comic covers from his collection and another photo he thought we might be interested in. Gerard says, “I was digging in a box in my archive and came across them the other day while hunting as ever for something else. I quite like those stylised art comic covers. There used to be a lot of hot rod style comics in circulation, but you hardly see any now. The Mod Wheels on thin ice is from 1971, the World of Speed from 1981 and the kid in the homemade go-kart from 1969. From Gerard Richards. • Caption of the Year THANKS to a good mate, we enjoy reading Octane magazine published in the UK and distributed worldwide by subscription. Content is primarily European classic…

If you’d asked broadcaster Renee Wright a few years ago about the chances of her adding a fourth child to her already hectic family life, she would’ve burst out laughing. Fast-forward to today, her baby daughter Lucciana cooing happily on her lap, Renee says she simply can’t imagine a world without this “precious surprise”, who came along when she and husband Charlie Waide least expected it. “Lucciana really feels like she was meant to be here,” smiles the 42-year-old weather presenter as she introduces her olive-skinned, blue-eyed bundle. It’s 9.30 on a Tuesday morning and Renee has just returned from dropping her eldest children, Leonardo, 11, Giselle, nine, and Arabella, six, at school. With Lucciana feeding three-hourly through the night, Renee is the first to admit she’s tired, but with a flat white…

Whether we like it or not New Zealand is enmeshed in the current conflict in Ukraine, which will have long-term ramifications for foreign and military policy. With little explanation from ministers and scant analysis in media, the government has committed personnel and material to Ukraine in its unequal struggle against Russia. But what kind of person do we confront in Vladimir Putin — the poker-faced former KGB officer who rose from obscurity to rule Russia? Maybe we also need to understand more about Russia itself and why so many Russians appear to support Putin. To understand him it’s necessary to look at his origins, the importance of the KGB in his worldview, and the cynicism and corruption that underpins it. George W Bush said in 2001 that he trusted Putin and had “looked…

‘Having them there will be so special for the Queen’ With a toothy smile and lively eyes staring directly into a camera operated by her mum, it’s clear Princess Charlotte is full of confidence – with a decent dose of cheekiness to boot! When the young royal turned seven last week, palace insiders say her proud parents, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, told friends in mock exasperation that their only daughter is “seven going on 17”. “She’s a sassy, smart child who already runs rings around her brothers,” adds one well-placed royal source, speaking exclusively to Woman’s Day. “Charlotte is a busy little thing who loves school, but she adores her tennis, ballet and riding ponies even more. She’s an adventurous Mountbatten-Windsor through and through, but even more importantly, she’s kind. You can…

Prince George, 8 The royals have a tradition of keeping gift-giving at Christmas low-key and they generally don’t approve of lavish or expensive presents. But it’s official – Prince George is a royal rule breaker! “George has asked for a Nintendo Switch, but if Father Christmas goes for it, he’ll have to find some way to sneak it past the royal gifting protocols,” Woman’s Day’s palace source reveals. Instead, George will have to settle for “more appropriate” gifts, like “a full-size cricket bat, a bigger bike, graphic novels or an advanced Lego set”. Princess Charlotte, 6 Just like her great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth and many others in the family, Charlotte loves horses and riding. “Charlotte is obsessed with her pony and has asked Father Christmas for a new saddle, bridle and some pretty blankets…

In the year that man first set foot on the moon, a small brown gecko was born on Motunau Island in North Canterbury. This gecko, now known as Helen Houdini, was captured and individually marked by a young scientist in 1973, seen again in 1975, and then vanished. Over the decades, scientists returned to the predator-free island to study the population of marked Waitaha geckos, recording their ages and population trends — at least of the ones they could find. Helen was nowhere to be seen. As the gecko population on Motunau Island grew older and older, the scientists were increasingly astounded. In the global gecko world, 10 years is a healthy lifespan, 20 is decidedly elderly, and older than that is almost unheard of. While it was known that in New…

Matt Boyd is a 45-year-old consultant and researcher based in Reefton, a serene former gold-mining town at the foot of the Southern Alps. Over the past five years or so, he has established himself as a leading expert on global catastrophic risk and its implications for New Zealand. Some of the papers that Boyd has written — advocating for border closures and for designating New Zealand as a safe haven in the event of a major disaster — seemed exotic when they were first published. But the advent of Covid-19 has changed all that. Boyd stands for an increasingly influential school of thought, a Kiwi brand of survivalism, that may have shaped New Zealand’s radical response to the pandemic. In fact, he has collaborated repeatedly with professors Nick Wilson and Michael…

The most difficult thing about urban design improvements, former Dunedin mayor Aaron Hawkins told me recently, “is that you have to make the case for them as an abstraction. And humans don’t do abstraction well, as a general rule.” Any proposal for change creates a vacuum: detailed design can’t be done until funding is secured. Until that stage, Hawkins said, “The conservative voices can just wave their arms around and say, ‘Nobody will be able to access the city centre ever again. Crime will skyrocket. It must be stopped!’ So, of course, people sign a petition saying, ‘Please don’t do what conservative politicians say you’re going to do.’” He was referring to the controversy over an upgrade of Dunedin’s main retail strip, George St, which undoubtedly played a role in Hawkins, who…

Even as a massive rain storm lashed across the upper North Island and the clouds of yet another Covid lockdown rolled toward the nation, there was something exciting in the driveway: LDV’s new T60 bi-turbo. In late August, NZ4WD was handed the very first media drive of this new offering and it arrived with less than 150 km on its odometer. This truck is so fresh even LDV’s website refers to it as ‘coming soon’. That meant the arrival of lockdAown was hardly on the radar, in fact level four enabled us to spend a little more time with the truck. Endowed with a commanding exterior that takes a step forward from rival offerings, the T60 bi-turbo also has a unique claim: more power, class leading power, smile-inducing onrampdemolishing power. The power claim is…

Having jetted into London with his wife for work, Prince Harry was already in the UK just days before the Queen’s health began to fail, but the late monarch would take her last breath without her grandson ever saying goodbye. His father, now King Charles III, had invited Harry, 38, and the Duchess of Sussex, 41, to stay at Birkhall, just a stone’s throw from Balmoral Castle, where the Queen passed away. However, the duo refused the offer at the time, choosing instead to base themselves at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor. Insiders reveal Harry’s main reasoning was the fact he and Meghan needed to be closer to London’s airports, given they had business in Germany too, but he also wasn’t interested in breaking bread with his 73-year-old father at that point. Now Harry…

Hospice is grassroots. It was founded in the 1960s by UK palliative care pioneer Dame Cicely Saunders, who believed everyone deserved to die well after she witnessed undignified and painful deaths in hospital. The first hospice was set up in New Zealand in 1979, with more following in the early 1980s, set up by passionate people who saw a need for this type of care here, too. Hospice has remained at the heart of communities across Aotearoa since then. Our philosophy of care looks at the whole person, not just their disease or symptoms. Everyone is treated as an individual. What matters to them matters to us, and through this approach, we explore and support all aspects of a person – their physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs. We help people…

For all the scandal that’s rocked the house of York over the years, the one constant has been princesses Beatrice and Eugenie’s sisterly bond. Even when their mother Sarah, Duchess of York, was secretly filmed selling access to her ex-husband for cash in 2010, or more recently their father Prince Andrew being forced to settle out of court over a woman’s allegations he sexually abused her, Beatrice and Eugenie have stuck together like glue – until recently. Worried about their future in The Firm in the aftermath of their dad’s scandal, Woman’s Day has been exclusively told that Beatrice, 33, is in the midst of a “shocking falling out” with her younger sibling Eugenie, 31, at a time when they’ve never needed each other more. “Things boiled over between them recently, after a…

CHRIS & ELSA FIGHTING OVER WHERE TO LIVE! Chris Hemsworth has sparked hints he’s looking to move to Sydney permanently, after he was spotted inspecting a lavish mansion in the southern suburb of Burraneer Bay. And it seems the 38-year-old actor is very keen on the $50 million waterfront pad – which features 19 bathrooms, six kitchens, a bowling alley and its own “batcave” garage, with room for 20 cars – as he was spotted checking out the property not once, but three times! But Chris will have some convincing to do when it comes to his wife Elsa Pataky, who’s made it clear she doesn’t want to set up home in Sydney. “I definitely couldn’t live in [a city] again. It’s not for me,” the 45-year-old actress said in July, admitting the couple’s…

Dotted about the outer edges of the country, New Zealand’s lighthouses were once the responsibility of a whole tribe of lighthouse keepers, men, mostly, who lived on site. It was an isolated life with the roar of waves and the screech of gulls for company. They climbed to the top of those old towers every night to spend most of it awake, minders of the light. This was the routine of almost a century. But since 1990 our lighthouses have been automated, and today they are the responsibility of two people: a 55-year-old Jim Foye and his offsider Steve. Each morning, Foye rides a Vespa from his home in Wellington’s western suburbs to the central city. He takes the lift to the Maritime New Zealand office where he is its Aid…

Given that Sarah Ferguson’s cashflow woes have been well-documented over the decades – largely because the Duchess of York herself keeps admitting to them – it’s no wonder her purchase of a $9.5 million luxury property has London society buzzing. The 62-year-old was spotted inspecting the Mayfair home two months ago, with the British press confirming that she recently decided to snap it up. Insiders tell Woman’s Day that Fergie purchased the home as an investment for her beloved daughters, Princess Beatrice, 34, and Princess Eugenie, 32. QUESTIONABLE PURCHASE However, friends are puzzled over how the royal divorcée – who currently lives in the Royal Lodge at Windsor with her disgraced ex-husband Prince Andrew – managed to cough up the cash for a pricey piece of real estate in one of the city’s…

Saturday morning on 19 September 2003 was a cool spring day in Wellington. It was the first day of Herman Knippenberg’s retirement and he was looking forward to a breakfast of pancakes. That was when the phone rang. It was a call from a friend in Auckland, informing him that the serial killer Charles Sobhraj had just been arrested in Nepal. “Nunc aut nunquam,” Herman says of that day. “It was a now-or-never situation.” Herman often says things like this. In his early 70s, tall and personable, his manner is just on the friendly side of brusque. Herman loves a good turn of phrase. He has an unending stock of them in English, Latin and German. I first met Herman about a decade ago, when I worked at Unity Books Wellington. Literary conversations…

Sometimes I like to spend the morning working at my local coffee shop. The atmosphere is nice, the owner always greets me with a sincere “Hello, my friend, it’s good to see you!”—and it’s a lot warmer than my garage office at home. The problem is, the internet connection isn’t great. The streaming background music in the shop acts as an audible network connection monitor—every so often you’ll hear it stutter and pause as a sign that the connection has gone wonky. When that happens, the Wi-Fi in the shop stops working—most of the time, it’s just for a moment, but it’s a flag that gets raised, and it means I need to be aware of something I really shouldn’t have to pay attention to at all. Free Wi-Fi isn’t too difficult…

As the daughter of superstars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt has been in the spotlight since her birth in 2006. No one could have imagined just how much Shiloh would look like her father – or how besotted he’d be with his first biological child. As little Shiloh grew, she remained the spitting image of Brad and even began dressing like him, in suits and khaki. “Brad thought it was adorable and all in good fun,” a source reveals. “He loved having a mini-me – but he didn’t agree with Angelina that she should be allowed to dress like a boy all the time. There were disagreements about it.” Soon after Shiloh’s 10th birthday, her whole world came crashing down when her mum abruptly announced she was divorcing Brad, catapulting the couple’s…

Soghra Habibi got engaged at 10, married at 14, and went into hiding from the Taliban at 20 with her six-week-old baby. She and her husband Askar are Hazara, an ethnic group that’s been continually persecuted by the Islamist militants. Years later, Askar worked as an interpreter for the New Zealand Defence Force and was offered a visa to New Zealand. They moved here in 2013. When Soghra arrived in New Zealand, she had never used a pen or paper. Now 43, she spent the last two years writing a book about life as a woman in Afghanistan, escaping the Taliban, and the difficulties and triumphs of settling in a new country. It’s called Halfway Round the World: My Life Journey in Afghanistan and New Zealand. We talked to her and…

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s public appearances in the UK have come to an end following the Queen’s state funeral, with insiders revealing the duo were determined to leave “as quickly” as possible. Their extended stay in England was certainly not planned, given the couple were only there coincidentally as part of a business trip to Dusseldorf and Manchester, the latter of which was cancelled upon news of Her Majesty’s passing. It remains to be seen what will become of the relationship between the Sussexes and the royal family, but sources maintain Harry and Meghan are working hard to decide their next move. ON THE OUT Indeed, before the Queen passed, the couple were in the late stages of unleashing a new tidal wave of fury against The Firm via Meghan’s Archetypes…

John Stamos In 2007, the star made an infamous visit to Australia, where he got a little too hands-on with veteran talk-show host Kerri-Anne Kennerley. “I was on sleeping pills and I was jet-lagged, but I was also just plastered,” John later admitted of the on-air scandal. But the actor’s battle with booze went on and, in 2015, he was arrested for DUI and went to rehab. “I hit rock bottom,” says John, who played Jesse Katsopolis on the show. Now sober, the 58-year-old credits co-star Jodie Sweetin with helping him quit drinking. “She was right by my side during some of the most difficult days of my life.” Lori Loughlin The actress was arrested in March 2019 and served two months in prison in 2020 for her role in the now-infamous college…

‘So,” a colleague recently asked, “who were your family?” A weird question, you might think. But it’s actually even weirder than it sounds. And in fact, in Germany, it could even be considered mildly menacing. Why did she ask that? the discomforted questionee worried. What does she want to know? The unease stems from World War II, which ended for Germany with surrender 78 years ago this month, and the country’s culture of “Vergangenheitsbewältigung”, which translates roughly to “dealing with the past”. That awkward question actually means something along the lines of, what did your grandfather do during the war? Was your granny a Nazi Party member? Were your relatives victims, bystanders or perpetrators? Germany is often praised for the way it has dealt with its horrific history. But, as one local historian, Oliver von…

The noise at Albert Park, central Auckland, was extraordinary – a cacophony of horns, drums, biscuit tins, loudhailers and voices. Whether it was festive or intimidating depended on which side of the barrier you stood. Outside were the people making the noise, there to drown out the British antitransgender activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, aka Posie Parker. Inside, outnumbered 20 to one, were the people Keen-Minshull had invited to a public place to hear her ideas, such as they are. Women were the majority in both crowds, but the inside group was notably older. It included antivaxxers, fringe political figures and men who could reasonably be characterised as neo-Nazis, along with people who didn’t seem to be any of those. I worried for them when Keen-Minshull arrived and a few counter-protesters pushed aside the barriers…

This is a story that features three Germans who came to New Zealand at different times. Karl Wolfskehl left Europe for Auckland in 1938 to put as much distance as possible between himself and Nazi Germany. A wellknown Jewish writer, he was erudite and immensely sociable, friendly with other writers such as Thomas Mann and Rainer Maria Rilke. Friedrich Voit was a young research assistant at Siegen University in the 1970s when he saw an ad for a job at the University of Auckland’s German department. He applied and got it. Voit wasn’t a fan of Wolfskehl. But some of his new colleagues had met Wolfskehl in person and told him about it. And what is a German-literature expert supposed to do in Auckland if not study the one famous German poet…

King Charles’ coronation had people the world over debating many unexpected things, from the palatability of broad beans to the inability of nobles to deploy mothballs. By the time people got around to asking, “And what the heck is Nick Cave doing there?”, the supposedly burning question, whither the monarchy, barely got a look-in. Avowed and lofty republicans swarmed from afar for the crowning glory, none exactly underdressed. Equally oddly, broad beans, which feature in the official coronation dish, were the perfect double metaphor for the occasion. They taste horribly bitter to many people and this can only be ameliorated by double-podding. This is an absolute faff, unless one has the staff to do this for one. Happily, when one’s new gig is kinging, one absolutely has. Republicans were disappointed no toffs appeared…

In the past year, the new King has made no secret of the fact he believes fewer members of his family should be publicly funded working royals. Now palace insiders tell us Charles will ensure his revamped Firm will reflect a modern society. “We’ll likely see a lot of fringe relatives being moved out of royal properties,” explains a source. “More urgently, however, we’ll see only core royals undertaking official duties.” IN KATE & WILLIAM King Charles III wasted no time in making his eldest son Prince William the Prince of Wales. Still the Duke of Cambridge, he and Kate, both 40, have also inherited the Duchy of Cornwall from Charles and Camilla. The King declared, “With Catherine beside him, our new Prince and Princess of Wales will, I know, continue to inspire…

When is a joke not a joke? When it is told by a politician. Helen Clark once said that she gave up being funny in public because nobody, meaning the media mostly, knew when she was being funny. That was a shame. She is capable of being very funny, in her drily acerbic way. But she knew how to read a room, and she knew when the room wasn’t laughing. Timing is all. Also, there is another criterion: a joke is not a joke when it is not funny. The telling of unfunny jokes says a lot about the joke teller. Take the case of the now-former National Party candidate for Taieri, Stephen Jackass. Just joking. Ha, ha. Will he find that funny? Or will he be off ended? He obviously…

Old Kiwi Coupe THIS old-time hot rod ’34 coupe body surfaced on Trade Me recently. John Me Kim owned Susy Q back in the ‘60s and recalls. “She had rod brakes and was powered by C59A flathead V8 motor bored to 301 cu inch. It had twin carbs on a Shuter manifold with the generator offset on a Lake bracket. No fan with a truck radiator. The two holes in the boot were for Vanguard taillights. The top speed in the Flying Mile was 120mph. She was sold as body and chassis only, and all the running gear went into my ‘27 AR Roadster pickup”. Greg Hiddleston has purchased the coupe. Send in your stories and news! Email to: editor@nzhotrodmag.co.nz Flashback ALLAN Porter’s 1969 photo of the driver’s briefing published in our Flashback article in…

Wellington’s Happy Valley Road leads to the ocean, a narrow channel bordered by green hills, whipped, like most of the city, by chill winds. Heading south, toward the sea, there is a turnoff for the city landfill, but first there is Carlucci Land. The latter has now been a part of the city for more than a decade, a mini-golf park and a showcase for the rock sculptures of former stonemason and one-time mayoral candidate Carl Gifford. On a grey Sunday, smoke wafts from the entrance as a young man feeds a wooden chair into a steel brazier. People carry their putters and scorecards past cast-iron shapes, parts of old machinery that have turned rust red. There are spiders with metal legs, a corroded elephant, a chain-haired figure riding a War…

The entertainment world has been intrigued by the Jolie-Pitt children ever since they were babies – and no wonder, given their parents are two of the biggest stars on the planet. These days, they’re all teenagers and have done some rapid growing up, thanks in no small part to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s bitter divorce, which is still before the LA family courts despite the ugly 2016 split. Speaking to Woman’s Day, sources exclusively share that, so far, the youngsters still seem to be growing up not too much the worse for the experience and are becoming fascinating young adults. VIVIENNE, 13 One half of a twin set, Vivienne is the “mummy’s girl” of the brood. “She’s the one who is desperate to follow in Angelina’s acting footsteps,” reveals a source. Interestingly, insiders…

New reports reveal that King Charles may not bestow the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh titles on his brother Prince Edward and wife Sophie as previously expected. Instead, in a shock decision, royal insiders say the monarch is set to name his seven-year-old granddaughter Charlotte as the Duchess of Edinburgh in the near future. Woman’s Day’s royal insiders have long confirmed that Edward, 58, and Sophie, 57 – who currently hold the titles of Earl and Countess of Wessex and Forfar – expected to inherit the titles, but it appears Charles’ vision of a slimmer modern monarchy is well and truly here. The move is set to be “in honour of the Queen”, who changed royal law to ensure her granddaughter remained in the line of succession after Prince George, nine. Royal expert Richard…

With three ex-husbands and a child to each of them to her name, family life was always going to be complicated for Melanie Griffith. And after going through four divorces – she split twice from Don Johnson, who was husband number one and three – you’d think the 64-year-old actress would be done with the drama. But Melanie’s chaotic relationships crossed into a new generation, when her daughter Stella, who she shares with her most recent ex, Spanish star Antonio Banderas, filed to legally drop her mother’s surname. Born Stella del Carmen Banderas Griffith, the 25-year-old has declared she “wants to shorten my name by removing the extra last name”, according to court papers. “As well, I typically do not use ‘Griffith’ when referring to myself or on documents, so dropping the…

At the start of 2021, preparations were made for a ngatu tāhina and a ngatu tapa‘ingatu (Tongan barkcloth), both in the collection of Canterbury Museum, to travel north. The two were to take part in ‘Amui ‘i Mu‘a―Ancient Futures, an exhibition I knew little of until I arrived at the opening night to see both ngatu displayed in context, amongst other manifestations of Tongan knowledge, visual language, and social systems. Ethnographic collection items are the skilful manifestations and innovations of a person’s or people’s political, social and economic systems and practices. The management of such items requires a level of care typically overlooked but is increasingly being practised; prompted by members of origin communities, including their transnational whanaunga/aiga/family. Pacifica artists re-examining and re-contextualising museum objects, spaces and records is inevitably on…

Thank you, Andrew Anthony, for your intelligent article “Transition alley” (May 13), where you look at Hannah Barnes’ book Time to Think on the Gender Identity Development Service at the Tavistock Centre, London. Also, thank you for calling Posie Parker a “women’s rights campaigner” and the protests “claims of transphobia”. Such simple discriminations make a world of difference when so few seem to be able to see that there is more than one side to this fraught debate around gender. Sadly, the realistic fear of condemnation and cancellation, in NZ as well as overseas, makes it hard for concerned voices to be heard and so little thoughtful debate is possible. While there is a lot of focus on male-to-female self-identification, in reality, there is a huge rise in the number of…

That’s not amore! They should have been having the time of their lives as they sailed around Sardinia on their luxe Italian vacation, but Adele and boyfriend Rich Paul looked like they wanted to be anywhere else as they sat stony-faced in the sun. The sullen pair later appeared to be exchanging terse words while sitting together on the back of the vessel. Sources reveal the once-loved-up couple are starting to feel the pressure of their high-profile romance. With Rich, 40, recently confessing his desire to have more kids and Adele, 34, forced to cancel her Las Vegas residency, friends say things are simply “all too much” for the duo, who are navigating their year-long relationship after the singer’s sad divorce with Simon Konecki was finalised in 2021. JEN MAKES PEACE WITH STEPMUM She once…

Plastic water tanks are designed to keep water in, which makes them equally good at keeping rain and snow out. That’s why Erik Bradshaw delivered three of them to a remote part of Antarctica to house people doing conservation work. More recently, he’s been flying them onto ridgelines between Queenstown and Wanaka, creating cosy places for backcountry skiers to stay as they complete the six-day Mahu Whenua ski-touring route between Coronet Peak and Treble Cone ski fields. He calls them “turks”. As he explains, they are “not a hut, not a yurt, not a tank, so must be a turk”. Each turk contains four bunks, cooking supplies, an armchair, a small library and a bespoke piece of art. They’re strong enough to withstand winds over 300 kmph, and light enough to…

After months of “will he, won’t he?” speculation, Prince Harry finally jetted into London in what palace insiders are dubbing a “fleeting but meaningful” visit. And while Harry, 38, may have no other supporters among the rest of his family, who have been aghast at his shocking attacks on the monarchy, insiders reveal he brokered a fragile peace with his father King Charles III, 74. “Harry was determined to put on a flawless show as the dutiful son,” a palace source says. “He is genuinely proud and in awe of what his father is going through, and the incredible weight he now bears. Whatever’s going on with the rest of the family, Harry was not going to let it mar his father’s special day. “Their troubles are by no means resolved, but it…

“I’m not sure I buy into this whole concept of balance,” laughs Kiwi food star Nadia Lim. It’s 11am on a Thursday and she’s sitting down to chat at her rural Arrowtown home after another hectic morning. Up at 6am, she’s fed the chooks, harvested the day’s takings from the glasshouse, made the lunches, got the kids up and off, met with farm staff, finished the final pages of her latest seasonal journal, organised publicity for her new family cookbook and prepared for a trip to Auckland for her new role as a MasterChef NZ judge. Nadia, excuse the pun, is a woman with an awful lot on her plate. “It is a bit chaotic at the moment, but this is just what my life is like!” she explains. “I keep telling…

My 60th birthday party was in magnificent swing when my mate Steve turned to me, grinned and asked when we were going to get our ADHD diagnoses. It turned out to be a trick question: he’d already booked his consultation. Like Steve, I’d been talking casually about having attention deficit disorder, or being neurodivergent in some way, for years. Lately, we’ve found ourselves on-trend. An ADHD movie has just swept the Oscars. Daniel Kwan, the co-director of Everything Everywhere All at Once, has talked in interviews about modelling the film on the ADHD experience to the extent that he wound up being diagnosed himself and having the “beautiful, cathartic experience” of realising why things had been so hard. Deep down, I actually liked the idea. In an interview about a decade ago,…

After the Queen’s death last September, the Prince and Princess of Wales joined the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on an emotional walkabout, greeting mourners and viewing flowers placed outside the gates of Windsor Castle, suggesting a reconciliation between the warring royals could be on the cards. However, the show of unity was just an illusion. Veteran royal correspondent Robert Jobson has revealed, “Catherine admitted to a senior royal that such was the ill feeling between the couples, the joint walkabout was one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do.” Now that Buckingham Palace has confirmed that Prince Harry, 38, will attend his father King Charles III’s coronation, it seems that Kate, 41, and William, 40, will be forced to be in a public setting with him once again –…

The amount of stuff in the yard could feel oppressively apocalyptic, if it wasn’t for the staff. Some are dressed extravagantly in frilled retro dresses, showing off stock to customers. One man, in an orange high-vis vest, smiles at two friends folding and unfolding a steel tube chair as its left armrest hangs loose. He assures them it’s an easy repair — “I’ll give it to you for a fiver.” Welcome to Wanaka Wastebusters, a trading post for unwanted, unneeded things ready for second lives. It’s a mecca for scavengers with a keen eye for an unexpected bargain. The path to the warehouse is bordered by old fridges, and at its door a sign advises you can fill a bag with clothes for $5 — including shoes. Outside in the yard,…