Benee on boomers, the b-word, and being bad-mouthed on Newstalk ZB

Summer reissue: In the last year, Benee has taken the world – or at least TikTok – by storm with her viral hit singles ‘Glitter’ and ‘Supalonely’. Ahead of her debut album release, the young star spoke to Elle Hunt about going international from her Auckland home.  First published November 13, 2020. This time last … Read more

Benee on boomers, the b-word, and being bad-mouthed on Newstalk ZB

In the last year, Benee has taken the world – or at least TikTok – by storm with her viral hit singles ‘Glitter’ and ‘Supalonely’. Ahead of her debut album release, the young star spoke to Elle Hunt about going international from her Auckland home.  This time last year, Benee won not one, not two, … Read more

Packed pubs, distant haircuts and stuff-all masks: post-lockdown life in London

People flooded pubs as England celebrated ‘independence day’, but all Elle Hunt wanted was the hairdresser. As unlikely as it recently seemed – and as unsettling as it still feels – something resembling normal life has begun to resume in London. I first felt it when I realised I was running late for my hairdresser’s appointment, … Read more

Dominic Cummings went to Durham in lockdown, and bared his arse at Britain

The chief propagandist of rage against the privileged Westminster elite has proved himself the epitome of the privileged Westminster elite, writes Elle Hunt from London. He is the prime minister’s top adviser, he unambiguously broke the rules around lockdown, and people have already been fired for less. But I never really thought that Dominic Cummings … Read more

Please, nobody tell the Home Office: I have failed at being British

Tests on citizenship are very revealing about our ideas of ‘national identity’, writes NZ-British human mashup Elle Hunt. I’d come across a sample “Life in the UK” quiz online – 24 questions on the culture and heritage of the British isles, of the kind posed as part of the application process for citizenship – and idly … Read more

Everyone says they’re moving to New Zealand – ray of light in a bleak world

New Zealand has long been the world’s imagined lifeboat – and increasingly for something more than just escape, writes Elle Hunt. One Friday morning in January 1847, Charles Dickens wrote to his friend John Forster that he was “disposed to go to New Zealand and start a magazine”. The quote was circulated in an editorial … Read more

Renting isn’t about ‘surviving’ or ‘enduring’ – it’s about having a warm, dry home

Elle Hunt recalls her days renting in New Zealand as a time of suffering and survival. But don’t we deserve better? A case often made in favour of buying a house (as though it were something that you could simply be persuaded into) is that renting is “just throwing money down the drain”. Firstly, that’s … Read more

The metric system is simply, undeniably better. Won’t someone tell the US?

The metric system might seem obvious to us, but resisting it has started to become a point of extreme pride for Americans. Can New Zealanders help save them? Elle Hunt investigates. With Trump gearing up for his 2020 campaign amid ongoing investigations into Russian interference, it is the question on every honest American’s lips: can … Read more

Last orders for New Zealand’s binge-drinking culture

New Zealand’s binge drinking culture is notoriously bad, but could change be on the horizon for this little country of boozers? Booze, booze, everywhere, but what does it mean to drink? Alcohol consumption around the world is awash with stereotypes. In France, we might imagine, it’s allowing your stylish young child a glass of wine … Read more

People keep defacing a London mural of Taika Waititi, thinking he’s José Mourinho

After repeated obscenities were scrawled on the face of the beloved New Zealander near Brick Lane, the artist added a note saying, ‘This is a portrait of a kiwi film director Taika Waititi NOT Jose Mourinho YOU MUPPET!!!’ And now he’s thinking he’ll paint over it altogether Taika Waititi might be world-famous in New Zealand, … Read more

What do I miss most about New Zealand? Trade Me

Elle Hunt composes a love letter to New Zealand’s online auction site, with which foreign counterparts cannot compare They looked at the mattress, she and her boyfriend. My two flatmates and I looked at them looking, and with mounting disbelief. We seemed to have reached an impasse. “Is it soft?” she said, uncertainly. The two … Read more

In London, the air is a public health emergency

Living in a city polluted with dirty air is among many facts of life that Londoners pay for, not just with money but with our health, writes Elle Hunt.  There is a company that sells aerosols of “100% pure Australian air”, “farmed” from pristine locations including Tasmania and the Blue Mountains, for AU $246.24 for … Read more

What does Islamophobia look like? Allow UK and Australian media to demonstrate

It’s all relative, sure, but New Zealand’s media has clearly done a far better job at holding the line against Islamophobia than their UK and Australian counterparts, writes Elle Hunt from London. The danger of speaking relatively about race relations is that it risks excusing wrongdoings already being committed and in doing so allowing them … Read more

In defence of pashing

‘Kissing’, ‘necking’, ‘snogging’, ‘making out’ – there are a plethora of ways to describe the locking of lips. But Elle Hunt’s favourite is one that’s deeply unique to the Kiwi vocabulary.  After a year and a half in London, my accent is increasingly English, my standards for flat whites have plummeted, and I’ve come to see … Read more

It’s just a long way to go: When expats’ fantasies of trips home meet reality

Almost every Kiwi who moves to London tries to soften the blow to family and friends by claiming they’ll regularly return. But, writes Elle Hunt in her regular Elleswhere column about life as an expat New Zealander, such hopes are rarely borne out. Just before I left New Zealand again, my mother told the rest … Read more

Now That’s What I Call 1999: Have U2 and New Radicals ever been seen in the same room?

In 1999, Elle Hunt’s dad convinced her that New Radical’s ‘You Get What You Give’ was actually by U2. Today, she revisits the life-changing moment she realised he was wrong. The loss of innocence is a hallmark of growing up. In my personal bildungsroman, mine was precipitated by my dad telling me that ‘You Get … Read more

‘Sorry, I fell asleep’: the never ending struggle of long distance friendships

In her fourth Elleswhere column about life as an expat New Zealander in London, Elle Hunt navigates the lost connections of a 12 hour time difference. I wake up and check my phone. My lock screen is a list of notifications. While I’ve been sleeping, friends on the other side of the world have messaged … Read more