Features

Behind the scenes there may be a lot of talk but there is also action to clean up the ecosystem around Porirua, writes JENNIFER GILCHRIST.

Two Whitireia Polytechnic graduates have broken into the film industry by having scripts accepted by the NZ Film Commission, reports GRACE ACKLAND.

Four city buses have no black smoke coming out their back ends, all because of a new kind of fuel developed in the Hutt, reports KATE MELZER.

Porirua Harbour was once a major source of seafood. Now it’s dying, reports CATHERINE McGREGOR.

Dai Henwood is everywhere these days. After a recent live show in Wellington, he chats with KATE MELZER on acting up.

Wellington has its own brand of “underbelly”. TASHA BLACK reveals our local version doesn’t live up to a UK TV doco view that it’s the “world’s best”.

Apollo space launches, famous funerals and a pen from a notorious president rate highly when radio man Terry Brown reflects on his life as a journalist. By LIZ PROCTOR.

Victoria University leadership exponent Kabini Sanga says new leaders of the Pacific are already emerging. JANICE IKIUA talks to a father of Pacific leadership.

KARA LOK finds cooking makes the world go round for Shaun Clouston, the man behind the award-winning menu at Wellington restaurant Logan Brown.

He’s not saving kakapo or kiwi but it’s work he says is just as important. And visitors to his Wellington native plant haven appreciate the results, Tom Petrie tells SIMON BUNNY.

New Zealanders respond well to the teachings of the country’s only grandmaster calligrapher. TASHA BLACK talks to Akiko Crowther about creating the perfect line.

Two Wellingtonians explore their Japanese connections and reflect on travels in a country they love, in conversation with JESS JONES.

Your modern teen hopes like heck he can look cool even when driving his gran’s small car. Is this remotely possible in a Sirion or a Getz or will the iCar rule the roost, asks BEN STRANG.

How a teetotal music fiend and not-for-profit entrepreneur from Wellington creates events that inspire the loyalty of a whole ‘scene’. By CHRIS ARMSTRONG.

TORY REGAN talks to a young musician about the ‘listen loud and lose it’ message and how exposure to high-volume music has already affected him.

Ian Templeton, an institution in the Parliamentary press gallery, shares some insights with VAUGHAN ELDER.

Wellingtonian Lawrence Allen is instrumental in the sporting ties between New Zealand and the Czech Republic. The Island Bay softballer is interviewed by SIMON BUNNY.

As Maori rugby prepares to celebrate 100 years, LEE STACE explores what is being done to grow Maori participation in rugby and what Maori players learn from the experience.

Where have all the readers gone? DANIEL SIMMONS RITCHIE talks to the kings and queens of glossy print.

LEE STACE finds veteran rugby photographer Peter Bush has as many stories to tell as he does pictures to illustrate them.

Wellington is full of them – brightly blinking robots anchored in dark bars that suck the soul out of communities, especially Maori. PENELOPE SCOTT examines a social ill that needs to be fixed: SHE saunters into the gaming area with a glass of beer in hand. Black singlet, jeans, sneakers, worn-looking satchel. Her black pony [...]

When Te Papa brings home ancestral remains, it is a long process to ensure they reach the appropriate final resting place. AMANDA KIRBY reports.

PENELOPE SCOTT goes into the pokie dens to talk to those worst affected by the lure of gambling – Maori women.

SARAH HARDIE meets Mandi Lynn, the teacher, consultant, nurse and photographer behind the ‘Boobs in the Berries’ breastfeeding class taught in a tepee in the Akatarawa Valley.

Maori are over-represented among low-paid workers. VAUGHAN ELDER takes a look at Maori views of the minimum wage.

EXPRESSING your opinion these days is easier than ever. SABRINA DANKEL looks at how nearly 20,000 clicks on the web “save” Radio New Zealand.

How do you turn around the life of a young man who’s got nowhere to go? KARA LOK found out at Te Rakau, Wellington’s Maori education and drama company.

New Zealand-born Indians have added elements of Christianity from their adoptive country to their traditional funerals, reports BRENDA COTTINGHAM.

Will Rodney Hide make the capital a Super City too? Perhaps. But local councils will certainly have to do things differently.

Young players prove themselves away from rugby field.

The Government is taking a new broom to health – and a multiplicity of small, local providers appears to conflict with its solutions. NewsWire explores smaller community services with an uncertain future.

Karl Reipen will give away Mt Taranaki’s Mountain House.

Jackson’s latest is skilful blend of tearful and LOL moments.

There’s nothing like being in a Wellywood home crowd.

LIZ PROCTOR found it relatively easy to see beyond a media blackout the passion OPC staff are applying to restore the centre’s reputation.

A YOUNG man goes in search of something other than testosterone.

What happens on Sunday evenings at Presbyterian St John’s in Wellington is unconventional, writes SABRINA DANKEL.

In Wellington to open a career retrospective exhibition, leading US graphic designer Jason Munn talks to CATHERINE McGREGOR.

Stephen Harris talks to SARAH HARDIE about uncovering the story of his great-uncle’s World War II experiences.

‘We told you so!’ BONNIE TAI explains why it’s your bad to put off that trip to the dentist.

Forbidden love, fangs and frantic fans – the Twilight saga has it all. NewsWire’s BONNIE TAI offers her opinion on the growing trend.

Director Warwick Thornton visits Wellington to promote his first feature length film, Samson and Delilah. He speaks to KYLIE KLEIN-NIXON about community and telling the truth.

Drop the so-called “smacking” law, say most in street poll.

Project resolves over-crowding for community groups, worshippers.

Wellington City’s new public artwork has taken a bit of a beating. JONATHAN TRINGHAM asks passers-by for their thoughts.

Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Jim MacMillan worries about how social media affect journalists’ approaches to reporting, he tells REUBEN McDOUGALL.

Message board discussion popular among cancer sufferers.

Wellington City declared it would be a leader in the battle against climate change but its carbon-zero goal is unrealistic, the mayor now admits.
NewsWire reporter PAUL McBETH continues his investigation.

As Kiwiblog stirs up the Mt Albert Labour candidacy debate, bloggers’ influence appears to be growing. SANDRA DICKSON runs the rule over bloggers at the last election.

ANNE CORNISH meets two historians who revealed dodgy deals foisted upon Maori and who provided background for the court action that sparked the foreshore and seabed law.

Being English and settling in New Zealand should be a breeze – shouldn’t it? Not necessarily, as one Wellington woman tells MELISSA KINEALY.

Amid renewed national debate about Maori representation, PAUL McBETH, KRISTINA KEOGH, CHARLOTTE HILLING and LUKE APPLEBY look into Wellington regional council’s partnership with Maori.

A’art is a new Wellington community gallery offering free exhibitions and support for artists, and taking no commission on sales. LUKE APPLEBY reports.

As part of moves to save their culture, Niueans from Wellington are on a visit to the island. BRENDA COTTINGHAM explains the value they place on the trip.

Asperger Syndrome is more than just a troubling form of autism. REESH LYON meets a Wellingtonian who has the syndrome, to gain an insider’s guide to the condition.

A former banker seems like the last person to approach for advice in a credit crunch.

However, PAUL McBETH finds Kiwibank director Richard Westlake knows a thing or two about thriving rather than just surviving.

Maori will have soon have control of a chunk of the Wellington coast. AARON CASKEY, JESSICA DIXON, MIYUKI McGUFFIE, REESH LYON and WILLIAM LIANDO explain.

It took Kitty McKinley just one lecture in law school to know being a lawyer isn’t anything like law on TV. KRISTINA KEOGH talks to a youth centre manager with a big challenge.

A rare and intact moa egg has been found in a museum in Romania by a Wellington couple.

Now a Te Papa expert in taonga wants to investigate how it got there, reports REESH LYON.

Adrienne Jansen talks about the Asian face of Islam in NZ.

Should we worry new meaning’s been given to an old word?

A cervical cancer vaccine has raised heated debate among religious groups. So what do New Zealand’s Catholics think of Gardasil? SARAH CODDINGTON finds out.

More Kiwis sidestep conventional medicine for alternatives.

How learning happens at Te-Wananga-o-Raukawa.

VIDEO: Why motorists love tunnel tooting under Mt Vic – and the ear-drum hammering it gives tunnel pedestrians. WILLIAM LIANDO shoots the story.

JESSICA DIXON finds a Wellington Good Samaritan organisation that tries to keep the hurt, the abused and the needy off the city’s streets at night.

Sufferers of severe acne no longer need a specialist to prescribe them a powerful medication. JENNY MEYER investigates.

Rheumatic heart fever affects Maori and PI people more than any other group. JESSICA DIXON investigates this preventable disease that haunts a quarter of the nation.

A rare few New Zealanders have an approach to sex that would confound most people – they don’t want anything to do with it. SOPHIE SCARF talks to a woman who is “asexual”.

What makes a person want to be suspended above the ground with hooks through their back, chest or legs? MIYUKI MCGUFFIE investigates an activity foreign to most.

To: Barbarians and Suits alike
Re: Catcalling and whatnot

I am having a sexist day. Fed up with an increasingly rude and vulgar species of brute I am writing you this letter.

On a daily basis I am woken to the sound of construction outside my door.

This I am not against entirely. I actually find sawdust and polyurethane smell like my dad and are reminiscent of afternoons spent collecting screws, nails and wood scraps to classic hits of “the 70′s, 80′s and today.”

Most media – from the humble sticker to the daily newspaper – are restricted on what they can publish or broadcast on Election Day, reports LUKE APPLEBY.

THE GREENS will poll highest in tomorrow’s election, if a surprise NewsWire snap text poll of mostly young people is to be believed, reports JENNY MEYER.

NewsWire’s resident political pundit PAUL McBETH joins the chorus of picks for Cabinet places.

NewsWire reporter HINANO ANDREWS – Pacific Island NZer – talks to a young Samoan man about his aspirations for PI people.

POLITICAL billboards will not be visible on Election Day – but an exception is the Pimp Your Political Billboard competition being run by foghorn.co.nz.

REESH LYON spoke to cartoonist Mike Moreu and media law experts to find out how cartoonists get away with what appears to be blatant defamation.

Four years after forming, the Maori Party could decide how our next government is formed. HINANO ANDREWS looks at its history.

SANDRA DICKSON looks at the history of the vote, and how New Zealand once led the world in enfranchising people.

The Green Party is blitzing London as it looks off-shore to boost its polling. PAUL McBETH looks at the hidden battle lines in the election.