FEATURE ARTICLE

Operation Gypsy

Two young women are missing, allegedly murdered in violent circumstances. Who are Gypsy, and Alexa Cullen? What really happened to them? Or are they the same woman? Thirty years later, a tragic story remains a dark mystery.

By Scott Bainbridge

February 13, 2025

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Operation Gypsy

Two young women are missing, allegedly murdered in violent circumstances. Who are Gypsy, and Alexa Cullen? What really happened to them? Or are they the same woman? Thirty years later, a tragic story remains a dark mystery.

USAID – The gutting of America’s biggest aid agency

Charlotte Bellis looks at the shuttering of the United States Agency for International Development and what it really means for our security.

Lives and money: The dangerous business of health privatisation

What’s the true cost of privatisation of healthcare in Aotearoa New Zealand? Lives and money - much more money, writes Dr Renee Liang.

The Sheep of the West

Charlotte Bellis on Europe’s response to the Trump inauguration, and why New Zealand needs to take a principled stance over foreign policy.

In the neighbourhood

Sarah Daniell recently moved from the suburbs to the inner city in Auckland. In an occasional column she writes about discovering new noises, neighbours and a different place - and way - to live.

LA fires up close and personal

The LA firestorm that started on January 7 has claimed the lives of 27 people and destroyed over 10,000 structures. Matt Ragghianti is a screenwriter, creative director and journalist who lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two teenage sons. In an exclusive essay for North & South, Ragghianti…

Sleeping dogs: Tom Phillips and New Zealand’s wilderness myth

From Man Alone to Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Kiwi culture has long romanticised the bush-dwelling loner. Now Tom Philips drags his children into a dangerous reality challenging our national narrative of rugged individualism. By James Borrowdale

The disappeared

Writer John Sinclair talks to the Chief Police Commissioner Andrew Coster on the eve of his departure for the shores of social reform. By John Sinclair

Canute economics

Economist Geoff Bertram on why the turning tides of price increases doesn’t mean government can claim credit for cutting inflation. By Geoff Bertram

Top cop

Writer John Sinclair talks to the Chief Police Commissioner Andrew Coster on the eve of his departure for the shores of social reform. By John Sinclair

Bluff and Lies

How one man’s fabrications about Māori land claims exposed deep-rooted prejudices and, surprisingly, led to an unexpected journey of healing. By Anna McMartin

Madam President

Too clean for green politics? What a Harris administration could mean for New Zealand and how the Biden White House fused environmental policy with industrial protectionism. By Henry Whyte
Illustration: Daron Parton.

The CEO of Age Concern says seniors on a fixed budget will stop eating, and forgo costs for basics like the internet or a cell phone. “They lose the joy of life.”

Where Will You Live When You’re Old?

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Out of sight and out of their minds

Alarming statistics reveal a mental health crisis behind bars. John Sinclair writes about the urgent need for reform and rehabilitation highlighting the struggles of both inmates and staff in a system that has been pushed to its limits. By John Sinclair

The Case of the Poisoned Milk

Experiencing dizziness, dry mouth, delirium or attempted murder? Scott Bainbridge exhumes a historic mystery worthy of Sherlock Holmes. By Scott Bainbridge

Smoke & Mirrors: What’s gone wrong with the ETS?

The emissions trading scheme is meant to be the country’s main tool for reducing our emissions, but critics say it’s doing little more than carpeting the country in permanent pine forest. Meanwhile, the price of carbon credits has gone from boom to bust. What’s gone wrong? By George Driver

Nicola Willis – Liberal to a degree

Finance Minister Nicola Willis has introduced promised tax cuts and taken a swipe at the banks, but seems happy with incremental economic improvements. It’s still natural to wonder whether she might be prime minister material. By Grant Duncan

The mystery of the detached leg

A locked room. A hastily-packed suitcase. A bloody scalpel. And plenty of questions. By Scott Bainbridge.

Caught in the Web

Falling victim to a sophisticated scam begs the question: who pays? By Sasha Borissenko

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…

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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.

Art history in the making

Meet Florence Weir, a textile artist cut out of whole cloth. By Theo Macdonald.

Not Quite Dunners

A move back to Ōtepoti Dunedin to buy a house stirs up memories of U-Haul lesbianism and white-tail spiders. BY HERA LINDSAY BIRD

Smart Money

A tertiary education is an investment in future earning potential. But when does this investment become so expensive that its cost outweighs the long-term financial opportunities it ostensibly guarantees? BY THEO MACDONALD

Sight Unseen

Audio description lets the visually impaired ‘see’ everything in a film or TV series. But few of our streaming services include it. Jean Teng talks to a man whose job it is to paint with words.

Running Man

As hopes build for the latest crop of New Zealand athletes, one of the stars of a golden era for the black singlet is still running — and still has stories to tell. Byline: Dylan Cleaver

Expectations & Consequences

St Stephen’s School built a reputation for turning out Māori leaders over more than 150 years before it closed, reputation in tatters. Now an old boy and former teacher is spearheading its revival, aiming to nurture the potential of Māori boys. Aaron Smale concludes North & South’s three-part investigation into…
Grad Maori Cloaks

Great expectations

Last month, North & South investigated how New Zealand’s 19th and 20th-century education system deliberately steered Māori students towards low-skill, low-paid employment. Is this still the case today? Aaron Smale reports in part two of a three part investigation. By Aaron Smale

Our Tech Tipping Problem

Almost all of our electronics end up in landfill, and e-waste recycling is largely user-pays. What should happen to it and who should pay? By George Driver
Doctor Shane

Doctor in the house

He’s the first Māori minister of health in nearly 99 years, but it took Dr Shane Reti fewer than 99 days to scrap Te Aka Whai Ora Māori Health Authority, which Māori health advocates spent years fighting for. By Jeremy Rose

Gurdwara Wars

How a dispute over a Sikh homeland in India led to religious fanaticism and a bloody attempted assassination in New Zealand. By Pete McKenzie

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TAKING MERINO TO THE WORLD: Global retailing in rural New Zealand

Raised in the wool industry, The Wool Company CEO Margot Riach’s knowledge of each product’s journey from farm to garment helps her and her team deliver products customers can rely on. By Theo Macdonald

Sipping Sustainability: Dilmah tea brews a green legacy

The social and environmental initiatives from Dilmah reveal that your cup of tea involves a lot more decision-making than just a splash of milk or a dash of sugar.

Great Expectations

New Zealand’s future workforce is going to increasingly be brown. But is our education system stuck in a past of low expectations for Maori students that threatens the country’s future prosperity? By Aaron Smale

Power hungry

Silicon Valley believes more computation is essential for progress. But it ignores the resource burden and doesn’t care if the benefits materialise.By Paris Marx

Objectively Speaking

John Campbell’s recent op-eds reignite longstanding arguments. By Jeremy Rose

A lonely death at Horseshoe Lake

Charlie Mitchell ponders the mystery of the death of a lone woman, who remained the last resident in Christchurch’s red zone district. By Charlie Mitchell

How much a dollar cost

North & South speaks with KiwiSaver providers and an ethical investment charity to understand how Israel’s war on Gaza could influence your KiwiSaver. By Theo Macondald

The price of milk

The slaughter of bobby calves — 1.9 million of them last year alone — is a sensitive topic for our dairy producers. By Karen Trebilcock

Lost Property

The battle over Sticky Forest. By George Driver

Mind Shift

Ketamine is changing the lives of depression sufferers for whom nothing else has worked, but it is only getting to a fraction of those it could help. New Zealand researchers are at the forefront of a push to make it more available. By James Borrowdale

Counting Change

Simplicity looks at how KiwiSaver policy changes past, present, and future have (and might) impact our collective future wealth. By Liv Lewis-Long

A state of denial

The coalition government is scrapping a commitment to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi in child-welfare legislation, but the past will not be erased. By Aaron Smale

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A Terrible Trap

As more countries move to restrict the use of puberty blocking hormones for children with gender dysphoria, use in New Zealand continues to increase. Charlotte Paul says our health authorities must act. By Charlotte Paul

High impact

Legal hearings in London are placing the spotlight on the risks of traumatic brain injury from playing rugby. Meanwhile, scientists in Aotearoa New Zealand are using new technology to seek answers about how much risk is too much. By Bridget Van Der Zijpp

No church in the wild

Has middle-class atheism run its course? Despite decades of declining population share, Christianity appears to be having a moment with millennials and zoomers. North & South speaks to some of these 20-somethings to discover what Christian faith offers young Kiwis in 2023. By Theo Macdonald

Pain Relief

Unlocking the Healing Power: Helius Therapeutics Revolutionise Medicinal Cannabis Access in New Zealand. By Helius Therapeutics and North & South

Robot Heart

World-renowned New Zealand scientist Peter Hunter is well on the way to transforming healthcare through digital modelling of the human body. Just don’t expect him to get over-excited about it. By Nikki Mandow

Siouxsie’s Saga

After a drawn-out hearing, no quick judgment is to be expected in the case taken by academic and science communicator Siouxsie Wiles against her employer, the University of Auckland. By Sasha Borissenko

Open Sesame

New Zealand’s out-of-date approach to financial technologies will receive a long-awaited shake-up in May 2024, when the big four banks — ANZ, BNZ, ASB and Westpac — implement open banking. By Theo Macdonald

Fight or flight: An old suburb and the sea

South Dunedin is home to the country’s largest low-lying community, with 2700 homes less than 50cm above the high-tide line. By George Driver

End of an era

Kim Hill is leaving Radio NZ and as far as Hera Lindsay Bird is concerned, there’s no further use for Saturday mornings. By Hera Lindsay Bird

Letter from Israel

Under the reign of fear, handshakes are impossible. By Oded Na’aman

Costs, cuts and consequences

Liv Lewis-Long from Simplicity recommends some simple changes to help ease the burden of rising prices. By Liv Lewis-Long

Legacy and loss

When it all fell apart, a wine industry visionary was left feeling bitter and betrayed. By Joanne Drayton

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Burps & Bluster

Are farmers doing enough on methane? By George Driver

Possums of the Deep

A collaborative research project between iwi, environmental scientists and business interests seeks to restore kelp forests while serving the needs of international fine dining. By Theo Macdonald

One small cut

A family enters the twilight world of intensive care. By Lily Richards

The heart of the matter

A doctor’s take on healthcare reform. By David Galler

Fozzie vibes

On the eve of the Rugby World Cup, All Blacks head coach Ian Foster talks to North & South about having to play catch-up after Covid, being ambushed in 2019 and the tough draw to be negotiated in France.

A burning question

New Zealand could one day be burning hundreds of thousands of tonnes of rubbish each year to generate electricity. By George Driver

The end of all enquiries

A year on from the podcast GUILT going to air, people are slowly coming forward, connecting the dots with small pieces of information, but will the puzzle ever be solved? By Ryan Wolf

The art collector, the singer & the silence

After four years of enforced silence, Dudley Benson talks about what really went on that night at James Wallace’s mansion. By Dudley Benson
Jourdan Voudouris

Guilt, Part 2: The robberies and the outcast

The investigation continues. Were the armed robberies that followed Jordan Voudouris’s murder pure coincidence? And what can investigative podcaster Ryan Wolf find out about the various characters locals believe might know more than they’re letting on? By Ryan Wolf

Back on track: The new Golden Age of rail

Long-distance rail travel is in for a revival in New Zealand — eventually. And you don’t have to be a nostalgia buff, trainspotter or climate-action protester to see why. By Theo Macdonald

Solar eclipse: Our renewable power struggle

Millions of panels could soon be erected across thousands of hectares of the country as an unprecedented solar-farm boom begins. It’s part of efforts to more than double the country’s power generation by 2050. By George Driver
Paeroa Town - cover of North & South

Murder in Paeroa

Speculation still swirls about the unsolved 2012 murder of pizza-shop owner Jordan Voudouris, a mystery that prompted Ryan Wolf to launch his own investigation, reported in his podcast, GUILT. By Ryan Wolf.

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The Flames of Our Shame

The fatal fire at Wellington’s Loafers Lodge has reinforced calls for greater scrutiny of boarding houses, places occupied by those with nowhere else to go. By Max Rashbrooke

Bone Hunters: The ancient lake revealing New Zealand’s mysterious past

Beneath famously dry Central Otago are the remains of an enormous, ancient subtropical lake that was once home to crocodilians, turtles, giant parrots, bipedal vampire bats and palm trees. By George Driver

10 days in ICU

Serious childhood injury or illness is every parent’s nightmare. For a child, such an event can become a marker amid the mysterious early years we struggle later to remember. By James Borrowdale

Exploring the edge

For 60 years, the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California has attracted spiritual seekers, social changemakers and psychedelic explorers. But the birthplace of the human potential movement also created cult leaders like Bert Potter. By Anke Richter

Homeward Bound

Moriori await the final return to the Chatham Islands of human remains recovered from institutions around the world. By Veronika Meduna

Black Stilt

Forty years ago the world’s rarest wading bird, the kaki/ black stilt, teetered on the brink of extinction with just 23 birds left. By George Driver

Follow Her Home

Tracing the tale of a little house – from Taupō landmark to Raglan family home – raises as many questions as it gives answers.

Royal NZ Ballet

As the Royal New Zealand Ballet celebrates its 70th anniversary, past and current company members share some of their stand out memories, onstage and off. By Gabi Lardies

Lyttlelton Music

Lyttelton has an outsized influence on the Aotearoa music scene, nurturing and producing some of our top contemporary musicians. By George Driver

When Only Rain Stops Play

With the proliferation of lucrative professional cricket leagues across the globe, there is more of the sport than ever before. By James Borrowdale

A Country Practice

A Country Practice As the number of general practitioners dwindles thanks to low numbers of new graduates and an ageing workforce, New Zealand faces a major medical crisis — a crisis which has already arrived in high-needs rural areas like the Hokianga, where a lack of doctors has seen vital…

Out of the Box

The “happiest club in Hawke’s Bay” helps people get used to the idea of death—and exit the mortal world in style. By Tobias Buck with photography by Richard Brimer

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