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

Tomorrow’s policing • The incoming police commissioner needs to resist the appeal of short-term solutions to crime, writes Alec Waugh.

Bright Lines

The email connection

Quips & Quotes

10 Quick Questions

What’s that smell? • The government’s 149 fast-track proposals could well turbo-charge the economy but voters may turn up their noses at the fallout.

Diary of a doomscroller

A hedonist’s playground

A cosier beat

No place to grow old • Rest home-level care is increasingly unaffordable for ageing NZers, yet with the numbers in need set to soar, the sums don’t add up for providing more beds.

Pyjama Paralysis • A shortage of care options for older patients is adding to hospital backlogs.

Means Test Minefield

Let’s not take sides • NZ companies doing business with China are rightly concerned about this country’s drift towards formal alignment with the US, say David Mahon and Charlie Gao.

Mind control • An ordained Buddhist monk and psychiatrist believes the ancient Eastern practice is rich in real-world lessons for a happier life.

Game of the name • What’s in a name? Quite a lot when it comes to identity, so why do some women happily ditch their surnames when they marry, and why don’t men consider doing the same?

Loss of perspective • A window seat fanatic contemplates the curious illusion of an orderly, connected landscape below.

Hooked on stage • Actor Jennifer Ludlam has the distinction of being constantly in work since age 17, and the thrill of acting is just as keen as she takes on Captain Hook in Peter Pan.

The money-go-round • Economics writer on why the often-quoted source of evil is the fuel for how civilisations evolved.

Of fire and death • Pre-colonial sequel explores how traditional Māori society was shattered by the arrival of the musket.

Diving deep • Complicated characters pepper the pages of this multi-narrative novel that has the sea at its heart.

Funny business • Comedy becomes the sword of exposure in this game new novel.

Short cuts

BESTSELLERS

Time after time • Treasures inside a writing desk lead to an exploration of a family’s history dating back to NZ’s colonial era.

Change of scene • Listener cartoonist slips between the mundane and the fantastical in her first graphic novel.

West End wizard • Sir Ian McKellen on new film The Critic, reviving his best-known screen character, and recovering from a mid-performance fall.

Gotham a go-go • Lady Gaga helps turn Joker sequel into a hybrid musical, but it falls flat.

Dawn of Donald • Brilliantly acted biopic outlines who is to blame for getting Trump to where he is today.

Flair for fusion • Two local jazz-based albums capture the eras in which they were made.

Tv Picks of the week

Tv Films

Saturday/rāhoroi October 19

Sunday/rātapu October 20

Monday/rāhina October 21

Tuesday/rātū October 22

Wednesday/rāapa October 23

Thursday/rāpare October 24

Mass appeal • A performance of Takerei Komene’s te reo mass features one chorister who knows it very well.

The long and the short of long Covid • Identifying and targeting Covid symptoms early could lessen the chances of developing the debilitating long form of the disease.

All In Good Taste • MasterChef NZ winner Chelsea Winter’s latest book is chock-full of plant-based comfort food for all.

The Sauce • Chelsea Winter speaks with Sam Clark about what...