On Our Cover

You Can’t Say That!

Or Can You?

It’s time for a grown-up conversation about tough issues

By Yvonne van Dongen

View October issue

Features

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Smith’s Dream

The late Maurice K Smith spent most of his career practising and teaching architecture in the United States, but also left a vivid impression in the country of his birth. By Lucy Streep.

Unfiltered: The rise and fall of a tech mogul

The tragic fate of young entrepreneur Jake Millar exposes the layers of harm perpetuated by misleading tech industry mythologies. By Paris Marx.

Staying Alive

A writer rides the wave of targeted cancer therapies for more than nine years. But should luck play such an important role?

Garnering Wisdom

At a speaking event for North & South Investigates, journalist Duncan Garner delivered a “State of the nation” address that gave voice to the country’s gripes and groans.

The Case for the Insanity Defence

New Zealand desperately needs a change in criminal law to allow the partial defence of diminished responsibility, in line with other countries. Sherry Zhang argues the case.

The Queerest Capital

From 1964 to 1980, the visibility of transgendered women in Wellington was extraordinary. Many would operate their own businesses, one would stand for the city’s mayoralty, while the high profiles of the others tested the limits of legal and social discrimination. David Herkt discovers the secret history of Aotearoa New…

Power Play

While one in five households report having trouble paying the power bill, and one in eight are cutting back on heating because of the cost, the big four electricity companies’ gross earnings for 2022/23 totalled $2.61 billion, or about $7.1 million a day. By Michael Fletcher

Reading Wars

Greater use of structured literacy in primary schools is aimed at improving worsening reading statistics, but critics fear what could be lost in a straitjacketed lurch back to basics.

Culture Etc.

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Late bloomers and buttocks

Guy Somerset kicks off his new North & South column on reading the backlist with the genius of Barbara Anderson

Perfect pictures

Perfect Pictures By Theo Macdonald Let’s cut to The Chase (Arthur Penn, 1966). For the past five years, the New Zealand International Film Festival has been lost in The Fog (John Carpenter, 1980). Long-term leader Bill Gosden passed away in 2020, 2021’s Auckland leg was rudely cancelled by COVID-19 (We…

Surf’s up

Surf’s up. By Nadia Shaw-Owens

I Can Never Express My Angels

For the first time, the life of New Zealand’s greatest painter, Colin McCahon, has been revealed in his own words. DAVID HERKT interviews Peter Simpson, who explains just why this matters. By David Herkt

My first ever… Rhodes Scholar

Damon Salesa’s deep pacific roots and groundbreaking scholarship have shaped his remarkable life; however his first primary school teacher also likes to lay a claim to his success. Susana Andrew.

Retirement Essentials

Liv Lewis-Long from Simplicity shares her favourite finance tips for those embarking on the “20-year holiday” we call retirement. By Liv Lewis-Long

From a humble villa to being the vanguard of eye care

From a humble villa to being the vanguard of eye care In 1993, a visionary group of ophthalmologists planted the seeds of what would become Auckland Eye, aiming to create New Zealand’s first subspecialty eye care facility. Their ambition was straightforward yet revolutionary: to offer comprehensive care for all aspects…

Long Exposure

A new book and touring exhibition assembles extraordinary photographs from New Zealand’s colonial history to inspire questions about the faces, places, triumphs and injustices which still influence this fractured nation. By Theo McDonald.

Partner Content

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Navigating the digital age

NORTH & SOUTH + Simplicity Navigating the digital age Liv Lewis-Long from Simplicity on embracing innovation as a non-digital native.   Change is hard. Fear of the unknown is a well-known phenomenon, and those of us who grew up before the world of chat bots, automated emails and digital currencies…

Smith’s Dream

The late Maurice K Smith spent most of his career practising and teaching architecture in the United States, but also left a vivid impression in the country of his birth. By Lucy Streep.

Virtual Revolution

NORTH & SOUTH + AUT Virtual Revolution AUT puts the latest technology in the hands of today's students AUT has opened its virtual production studio, putting top-end Hollywood production technology in the hands of today’s students. Associate Professor Dafydd Sills-Jones, Head of AUT’s Virtual Creative Precinct, says the virtual production…

Trading concrete for cows: A leap from city life to country bliss

NORTH & SOUTH + FMG Trading concrete for cows: A leap from city life to country bliss When Julia Jones decided to swap city living for the rural idyll of a lifestyle block, she was signing up for more than just fresh air and open space. It was a dream…

Four Corners

Utopia Lab

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Too Many People Are Dying On Our Roads

We need better roads, not better people.

Intensive Dairy Farming Is Killing The Environment

New Zealand should halve its number of cows.

The Criminal Justice System Is Broken

How we could reduce crime by locking up less people.

New Zealand Has A Dental Care Crisis

How do we fix it?

Why We Should Borrow More Money

A case for changing the way we think about national debt.

Bring Back the Glory Days of Rail

Why it's a smart idea to re-invest heavily in our national rail system.

Backstory

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Heaven or a Place on Earth?

What awaits us after death?

The Lost Islands

Historic artefacts washed up by the tides hint at lost lands whose full stories we can only guess at.

Beyond the Badlands

Strange monsters and ominous ghosts can be traced to repressed memories of violent histories, argues one Australian researcher looking at the past through a novel lens.

The Northern Bear

Our relationship with Russia has been characterised by instability — cycling between friend and foe, the nation and its citizens have often become symbols of our own fear and anxieties.

Echoes of History

Most New Zealanders remain unaware of the Surafend massacre by Anzac soldiers in 1918.

Gone Bush

To evade New Zealand’s draft in both world wars, scores of conscientious objectors fled deep into the bush.

Closed Encounters

Covid-19 checkpoints are not the first time some parts of the country have been sealed off from the rest.

As a Matter of Fact

Dismissal by Western scientists of mātauranga Māori and indigenous knowledge as unscientific “myth” often succumbs to its own criticism.

Archive Highlights

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Bert’s Labyrinth

Survivors are finally speaking out — but years earlier, a journalist tried to publish the inside story of the notorious Auckland commune. Then she came too close. By Anke Richter

Issues

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