David Cohen is a New Zealand-based journalist and author.
From our UK edition
Parliamentarians in New Zealand have been limbering up for an oddly unedifying debate over what ought to be the most ho-hum of legislative exercises: a Bill to recognise English as one of New Zealand’s official languages. At the moment, New Zealand has two official languages: Māori and New Zealand sign language. Given English already reigns
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Clearing customs at Heathrow is about to get a lot more demanding for people like me. Hundreds of thousands of dual British citizens living in New Zealand – and millions of others like us spread out around the world – are about to lose the long-standing option of travelling to Britain on a foreign passport.
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‘I still think New Zealand the most beautiful country I have ever seen,’ Agatha Christie marvelled in 1922. Evidently she’s not the only one. A century on, the great crime writer’s ‘astonishing’ verdict on the country in the South Seas echoes and re-echoes, most dependably in the familiar media rankings of the ‘best’ places in
From our UK edition
When I first met Jacinda Ardern in the early 2010s, the notion that the young MP with the toothy smile in front of me might one day go for the top job at the United Nations was unlikely. After spending the past couple of years stitching together a portrait of New Zealand’s fortieth prime minister,
From our UK edition
Parliamentary proceedings in New Zealand once again screeched to a halt this week after an unsanctioned performance of the haka caused bedlam in the country’s normally genteel debating chamber, forcing the speaker to suspend the House. The latest war dance took place on Thursday after a new MP, Oriini Kaipara, 42, of the nativist Maori
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A fugitive father who vanished into the rugged bushlands of the Waikato region of New Zealand with his three children has been shot and killed by police. Tom Phillips’s death marks the end of a case that has gripped the country for nearly four years. Phillips first disappeared from his small Marokopa community with his
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New Zealand’s most important trading partner is also the nation’s biggest security headache, according to a new risk-assessment report produced by the country’s security intelligence service, or SIS. The government agency sees espionage activities orchestrated by Beijing as a ‘complex intelligence concern’ for a country that has become highly dependent on China for its economic
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During the five years Jacinda Ardern led New Zealand, much was made of her ‘transparent’ style of touchy-feely leadership and willingness to deal with thorny questions. Yet on the biggest issue of her record – her zero Covid policies – the former Prime Minister has gone missing. A planned week-long public hearing at an inquiry
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The centre-right government of New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon voted this week to overturn the previous Jacinda Ardern-led administration’s Starmeresque prohibition on new offshore oil and gas exploration. The earlier ban, enacted in 2018, was a major part of Ardern’s idealistic plan to shepherd the country of five million into a bright and limitless
From our UK edition
‘Everyone must go!’ New Zealand’s new tourism declares, but so far almost everyone seems to be cringing. The prime minister of New Zealand, Christopher Luxon, this week unveiled the latest tagline aimed first at holidaymakers from Australia but also those living further afield. Critics say the wording of the latest marketing campaign sounds like something
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Diplomatic storm clouds are gathering around the Cook Islands, a picturesque tourist destination in the South Pacific known for its creaking palms, pink beaches and deliciously warm nights. The microscopic island-nation has a long-standing ‘free association’ with New Zealand, which sees Wellington give the islands defence and financial support. Now though the islands are in
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Around 35,000 thousand demonstrators descended on the capital of New Zealand this week, many of them adorned in traditional native dress amid a fluttering sea of red, white and black ‘Maori sovereignty’ flags. They were there to decry a bill looking to redefine New Zealand’s founding treaty. The Treaty Principles Bill, introduced earlier this month
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‘Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world,’ Hugh Grant famously offered in the heartwarming opening scene of Love, Actually, ‘I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow airport.’ It’s just as well he doesn’t think about Dunedin airport in New Zealand. The airport’s chief executive, Daniel De Bono, seems not to be a fan
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Jacinda Ardern has been made a dame for her services to politics during the five turbulent years she spent as prime minister of New Zealand. An ‘incredibly honoured and very humbled’ Ardern was officially recognised by the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle. This week’s investiture came more than a year after she was first
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New Zealand just lost one tenth of its naval defence fleet. The HMNZS Manawanui – the jewel in the nation’s small military crown – ran aground near Samoa this past weekend after hitting a reef and catching fire. The £75 million specialist survey vessel sank on Sunday morning off Samoa’s southern coast of Upolu. An order to abandon ship was made
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Heading to the UK is a longstanding rite of cultural passage for many Kiwis. People like my youngest son, who will be visiting Britain for the first time this autumn, are a big part of the tradition. But so is returning home again. New migration figures are putting paid to that last bit. Record numbers
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In the UK, the Labour party has pledged to halt any new oil and gas drilling in the North Sea, which the Tories today suggest could cost billions in tax revenue over the next ten years. When it comes to energy policy, Labour could really benefit from looking at what happened when New Zealand’s Labour party tried
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The government of New Zealand this week tightened the country’s working visa rules in order to stem historically high numbers of international migrants making their way to the South Seas. New Zealand’s infrastructure seems to be groaning in response to the surging number of international newcomers Immigration minister Erica Stanford said that the changes will
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In their musical heyday, the English anarchist punk band Chumbawamba enjoyed a reputation for having an irreverent attitude towards those in political authority. Twelve years after they musically packed it in, a political figure abroad is making even more of a name for himself for his own irreverence towards Chumbawamba. The group has asked New
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New Zealand has just lost one of its most stylish politicians after shoplifting allegations were made against her by two of the country’s high-end fashion stores. The Iranian-born Golriz Ghahraman, who had just begun her third term as a high-profile Green party MP, today announced she will be standing down from parliament with immediate effect.
