The Interview: Martin Freeman

The Interview: Martin Freeman

What aspects of Bilbo Bag­gins have you most enjoyed bring­ing forth across the three films, and on this one in par­tic­u­lar? I think it was after the time where he […]

How to do Swedish drill

How to do Swedish drill

Here we are at the Wel­ling­ton Girls’ Col­lege in Thorndon. It is Par­ents’ Day, 1927, and the girls are demon­strat­ing their skill at Swedish drill. This par­tic­u­lar move was called […]

Bird Flu

Bird Flu

For my birth­day last year, my very enthu­si­ast­ic Irish­man gave me a won­der­ful, yet con­tro­ver­sial gift. If we lived in Karori, it wouldn’t be an issue, but we live in […]

Blow it up and start again

Blow it up and start again

Last Novem­ber, the Gov­ern­ment tightened nation­al secur­ity meas­ures, cit­ing an increas­ing glob­al ter­ror threat. Appro­pri­ately, that month marked 32 years since New Zealand’s only sui­cide bomb­ing. Neil Roberts was what […]

Bring on the night

Bring on the night

On sum­mer nights, some plants come into their own. Day­time flowers are bold and brash, rely­ing on bright col­ours to attract pol­lin­at­ing insects; night-bloom­ing flowers are more subtle, white or […]