New Zealand Listener

New Zealand Listener is the country’s most respected general interest magazine, bringing you a wide variety of news, stories, columns, reviews, plus TV listings, every week.

Masthead

In for the long haul • Lost productivity through long Covid costs NZ $2 billion annually. This sufferer is doing all she can to continue contributing as a nurse.

Principle of generosity

Bright Lines • Creative words competition

Quips & Quotes

10 Quick Questions

The power of four • Many politicians believe longer parliamentary terms encourage better lawmaking, but voters’ trust in the current system is so low, any change is unlikely.

Camouflaged by fame

In the days of heat

Ploughing ahead

A body laid bare • For Listener editor Kirsty Cameron, the arrest of Philip Polkinghorne, charged with the murder of his wife, jolted memories of childhood encounters with the young “Polk”. She was in court for much of the eight-week trial – interested less in the explicit tales of sex, drugs and the private lives of a wealthy couple than in the woman who was figuratively dismembered during the case, Pauline Hanna.

Money & Control • Pauline Hanna was displaying the classic symptoms of someone suffering economic abuse.

Not dead yet • Our windy capital is buffeted by job cuts and retail closures but the seeds of recovery and reinvention are well dispersed.

Too little, too late • The Health and Disability Commissioner system does not go far enough to discipline doctors when patients are wronged, Paul Catmur tells Ruth Brown.

Follow your art • A Dunedin auction find leads a buyer to a significant moment in New Zealand’s history.

Stepping off the dragon • On the eve of his first solo album release, Shihad’s Jon Toogood talks about rock stardom, love – and making school lunches.

Top of her game • Despite its preoccupation with grief and bereavement, Irish writer Sally Rooney’s latest novel, Intermezzo, can also be strikingly funny.

The loves of his life • At its heart, legendary chef Tony Astle’s memoir and history of his famous restaurant is a billet doux to his wife, Beth.

Girl power • Two mysteries involving teens and the Australian landscape are spine-tinglingly exhilarating.

Rock and a hard place • Rose Carlyle shows great mastery of pace and narrative drive in her new novel about a young woman scrabbling to survive.

Agnes of God • A modern, feminist tale, Rapture reframes a legendary figure as an intellectual, an independent thinker and a scholar.

Hopes and dreams • A coming-of-age novel for Generation Z takes on a slew of important social issues.

Navigating Neverland • Why the brains behind a new Peter Pan production have reshaped the classic story but kept the pirates, crocodile and very big dog.

Worth a gander • A whimsical tale of a marooned robot who adopts a gosling has great messages for the kids.

Native pioneer

A stellar season • The NZSO’s programme for 2025 comes with big names and big bugs.

Getting on board in Oz • Renowned Scottish actor Iain Glen has traded the frozen wastes of Westeros for a caravan by the beach in Western Australia.

Tv Picks of the week

Tv Films

Saturday/Rāhoroi October 5

Sunday/Rātapu October 6

Monday/Rāhina October 7

Tuesday/Rātū October 8

Wednesday/Rāapa October 9

Thursday/Rāpare October 10

Friday/Rāmere October 11

Radio

Upbeat journey • Renowned French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet returns to play Bartók.

In from the cold • The battle against potentially life-shortening rheumatic fever can be won, particularly if we continue to focus on improving living...