Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: PM sacks Iain Lees-Galloway, Winston Peters makes stirring contribution to day of chaos, and Tarras locals not thrilled about potential new airport. By now, you’ll probably have heard the news that Labour MP for Palmerston North Iain Lees-Galloway’s political career is over. PM Ardern dismissed him from all … Read more
Engineer Keith Jacob, from Northland, is one of 11 New Zealand crew members spending the winter at Scott Base in Antarctica. It’s the only continent free of Covid-19, yet one where isolation is part of the usual drill. Anke Richter: How was your last weekend, Keith? Keith Jacob: Very social. We had a whole … Read more
Tara Ward talks to Spencer Stoner, the producer of Go Further South, the slow TV sensation that hits our screens this Easter. Let’s change Good Friday’s name to “Great Friday”, or maybe “Even Better Friday”, because Prime is giving us the television tonic every lockdown needs. Go Further South, the slow-TV sequel to 2019’s … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Massive day of trade developments for NZ’s relationship with Asia, Bill Cashmore retains top Auckland jobs, and trial of man accused of killing Grace Millane begins. The government has secured a breakthrough on trade with China, but not everyone will be entirely happy with it. Interest reports … Read more
The loss of Antarctic ice sheets will likely cause a sea-level rise of 20 metres in coming centuries, a Victoria University-led study says. The earth is heating up and the planet has been here before. A new study into the mid-Pliocene’s climate reveals how today’s polar ice sheets may respond to climate rises expected this … Read more
In this extract from a chapter called ‘Deep Time’ in Rebecca Priestley’s new memoir, Fifteen Million Years in Antarctica, Rebecca remembers her peculiar, legume-heavy, art-saturated childhood in Wellington. (And a note from the author: if anyone has a painting from Ruth Priestley’s Antarctic Dream series, Rebecca would love to hear from you.) I grew up in … Read more
Ahead of his appearance at the Going West Festival, author Jeff Murray insists the stories we tell ourselves – and each other – will make all the difference in how we cope with climate change. “I a Koro Meketanara tētahi pāmu – TI-HAI-TI-HAI-HAU . . .” I read Old Macdonald Had A Farm to my … Read more
A well-preserved fruitcake that sat in an Antarctic hut for over a century has gone on display at Canterbury Museum. Here, a fan of ancient foodstuffs pens an open letter to the controllers of the cake. Please, Antarctic Heritage Trust, I beseech thee: let me eat the 106-year-old fruitcake. Now is the time for me … Read more
Everyone knows it’s cold in Antarctica but knowing exactly how cold it is the job of Jeremy Rutherford, an environmental technician for NIWA who has just returned from nearly three weeks in Antarctica giving the weather stations their annual check-up. Every morning at Scott Base, someone heads outdoors to do the “daily obs” – the … Read more
Infrequent flyer Joseph Nunweek gruellingly attempts to rank them all. “Toneless.” “Trivialising safety” “A juvenile mish-mash.” The real surprise last week when The Hon. Shane Jones MP criticised the latest Air New Zealand safety video wasn’t that the Minister for Verbiage would stick his neck out and create a political football – it was that … Read more
Women have made a massive impact on scientific research in Antarctica, but they don’t get remotely the recognition they deserve. Science-celebrator Steph Green wants to do something about that. Antarctica, the edge of the world – a seemingly endless expanse of glacial and sea ice, with no indigenous human population and an inhospitable climate. If … Read more
The Single Object is a series exploring our material culture, examining the meaning and influence of the objects that surround us in everyday life. In the fifth part of the series James Dann explores Christchurch’s ties to the heroic age of Antarctic exploration, and embarks on his own journey of discovery in pursuit of a … Read more
Air New Zealand’s new safety video has attracted criticism for being filmed in Antarctica, location of the airline’s 1979 crash. But, as NZ Antarctic Research Institute chair Sir Rob Fenwick writes, that shouldn’t take away from Air NZ’s world-leading work to address climate change, in Antarctica and elsewhere. Air NZ should be congratulated for its … Read more
Thirty-nine years ago, Eric Houghton’s father died in the Mount Erebus plane crash, along with 256 other passengers and crew. Now, he writes, Air New Zealand’s new Antarctica-set safety video is dredging up painful memories. 28th November 1979 was like any other day; I think it was a bit cloudy and temperate. I went to … Read more
From November through to January, a multi-disciplinary team of experts from New Zealand melted a hole through the Ross Ice Shelf to explore the hidden ocean below. Team members Christina Hulbe and Craig Stevens take us through the findings. Antarctica’s Ross Ice Shelf is the world’s largest floating slab of ice: it’s about the size … Read more
Lorraine Taylor speaks to NIWA scientist and mum of three Natalie Robinson about a life of science, of travel to a far-away land, and of staying connected to the people at home. For many of us, the thought of adding a bit of travel to our work-life balance sounds pretty good. For scientist Natalie Robinson, … Read more
Overseas voting for New Zealanders abroad opens today. London-based Kiwi Talia Shadwell explains how to do it – and why you should. Here are some things you can’t do in Antarctica: read Buzzfeed listicles, browse cat videos on YouTube, watch Paddy Gower on TV3. Here is something you can do: vote. This election, the 13 … Read more
As New Zealand’s Scott Base celebrates 60 years of science on ice, Veronika Meduna looks at one of Antarctica’s most puzzling features – the wayward behaviour of sea ice around the continent. Every southern winter, Antarctica doubles in size. As the sun sets on the continent, the surface of the ocean around it freezes, kicking … Read more
A kind of Barry Crump of the sea, AJ Peach has written a ripping memoir of his fishing life in his self-published book Roughy: Fishing the Mid-Ocean Ridges. The following excerpt sees our hero hook up with his old mate Stu, stop off at a stripclub in Wellington, and sign onto a Ukrainian fishing vessel. … Read more
As editor of the superb new collection of essays in Dispatches from Continent Seven: An anthology of Antarctic science, Rebecca Priestley has chosen wisely and wittily. Her book includes a frightening vision of natural disaster by Kathryn Smith, who examines how a rapidly warming ocean has encouraged the invasion of the complete bastards of the … Read more