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.

New Zealand Listener

The angry sea • You don’t have to look hard to find evidence of climate change’s effect on the marine environment, says writer Neville Peat.

We are what we eat

Caption competition • THIS WEEK’S PICTURE

Quips & Quotes

10 Quick Questions

A cult of incompetence

An ordinary family

The grumpy vote

Unreal influencers

About noses and faces • The government’s attempt to deal with intractable agricultural emissions looks set to be answered by the roar of angry tractors.

Keeping up appearances • Our obsession with body image is a serious public health issue for both men and women, says a Cambridge philosopher.

Gender & modification

Spreading the joy of words • Poet and children’s author Paula Green has produced two new books while coping with a rare blood cancer, and now a bone marrow transplant.

Master of mayhem • The West has appeased Russian dictator Vladimir Putin for far too long, argues UK war reporter John Sweeney in his latest book.

Berthing behemoths • For 23 years, master mariner Joanne Farmer was the only female port pilot in New Zealand.

LEGENDS AFLOAT

What the magpie says • Catherine Chidgey’s new novel, The Axeman’s Carnival, takes a bird’s-eye view – literally – of the lives of an unhappily married couple on a sheep farm in Central Otago.

Uneasy atmosphere • Rethinking urban planting and better air monitoring for pollen and spores could help reduce symptoms for seasonal hay fever sufferers.

HEALTH BRIEFS

Blocked passages • Dairy products have long been accused of increasing nasal and lung congestion. So should you drink milk if you’re feeling bunged up?

NUTRITION BITES

For every season • Food writer and photographer Nicola Galloway’s new book caters for those who love to cook according to the time of year.

Top of the range • Got something to celebrate? Any one of these local wines would add a touch of class to a special occasion.

Raising eyebrows • There is no Nobel Prize for psychology but practitioners can be hot contenders for the awards’ satirical counterparts at least.

Beyond belief • Is religion on the path towards extinction in New Zealand?

Dark mirrors • George Saunders’ new collection of short fiction blends the real and the absurd as it reflects the horrors of the Trump era.

Beyond recall • Ian McEwan’s 18th, and perhaps last, novel surveys society’s progress in recent decades – and shares parallels with his own life.

Short cuts

Fields of dreams • A resilient mixed-race orphan has a Dickens of a time in Appalachian America.

Embracing the yeti • A surreal, disturbing and sometimes bitingly funny collection from an acclaimed author.

Outside the herd • New collections of poetry range through cultural dislocation, Jungian psychology – and sheep farming.

Steering through • Fun but pointed debut about being an Asian-American woman in US academia.

Dig Deep!

DIVERSIONS

Healing stage • Why actor Richard E Grant is bringing his one-man show based on the memoir of his wife’s death to New Zealand.

Good form • Racing reaps golden harvest, Troy Kingi goes back to the 80s.

Char meets chère • Lesley Manville shines as a blue-collar woman pursuing her dream dress.

Terribly tangled • Stars can’t save caper from excesses of director.

Great deceivers • Ram raids grab our attention but a far greater crime wave is being overlooked, a new...