With Britain’s shambolic government locking down London at the last minute, the prospect of Christmas – which had been something to hold on to at the end of a dreary, isolating and distressing year – went up in smoke. “The air feels different,” said my boyfriend as we went for a walk on Sunday, one … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Rapid response taken to new community Covid case, calls for urgency on sick leave increase, and the situation internationally. A community case of Covid-19 is causing alarm, given at this stage there are no established links to the border or a managed isolation facility. The government … Read more
So much has changed since the UK’s last lockdown earlier this year, writes New Zealander in London George Fenwick – but also, not much at all. My bike got stolen the weekend before Lockdown 2. I’d been enjoying a last hurrah with friends at a local pub, and was three pints deep when we emerged … Read more
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
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Covid case numbers rise again, modelling shows the toll taking no action could have had, and warnings of logistical crunch at ports. As the number of cases of Covid-19 rises into the hundreds, clusters are starting to emerge. There are now 283 cases, with seven people … Read more
New Zealand painter-poet Gregory O’Brien has just published a new collection of essays and art; pitched as a “field notebook … my whale survey”, Always Song in the Water drifts from his own front lawn in Hataitai, up to Northland and way, way across the Pacific. It’s the sort of book that slows you down, … Read more
A new poem by London-based poet Morgan Bach. Turning, hurtling I march diligently to sunshine in the park everything bathed and turning golden. A woman breathes fire by the folly framing her like a personal door to hell. Conkers are pitched from high boughs to break and give up fruit, a spire emergent from the … Read more
From Shepherds Bush to Acton, Wimbledon to Wandsworth, and even Hackney, London is sprinkled with New Zealander strongholds, writes Elle Hunt. I am a little less than halfway through the Hackney Half Marathon when I realise that I haven’t done enough training, and that that was a mistake. Choosing to listen to Louis Theroux’s Desert … Read more
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
Cheat sheet: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has finally been forced out of his cupboard in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. But why now? And what is he actually facing charges on? Alex Braae has a cheat sheet for you. What’s all this then? Overnight, a bearded and haunted looking Julian Assange was dragged (yes, literally) … Read more
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
Lunch at Downing Street, pottery retreats with Nigella Lawson and Yotam Ottolenghi… New Zealand’s best-known chef has built quite a life for himself in London, but, now more than ever, he yearns for Aotearoa. This content was created in partnership with The Collective He’s been a top chef in London for three decades, with a … Read more
When she lived in New Zealand, Elle Hunt never really understood the fuss about Christmas. That all changed when she moved to London, she writes in the latest instalment of her Elleswhere series about life as a New Zealander in London. “36 degrees? Yes thank you I WILL get 97% of my legs out,” my … Read more
Flying almost anywhere in Europe for the price of a mid-price restaurant meal? If there was ever a reason to move to the UK, budget airlines are it, writes Elle Hunt in the latest instalment of her Elleswhere series about life as a New Zealander in London. Once I paid several hundred dollars for a … Read more
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
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
In her third Elleswhere column about life as an expat New Zealander in London, Elle Hunt begs folks back home to spare a thought for a Whittaker’s fanatic stuck with no supply. I am stomping across the office when I hear someone call “EEL.” I carry on stomping across the office. Then I realise it’s … Read more
In her second Elleswhere column about life as an expat New Zealander in London, Elle Hunt writes about seeing the city through the eyes of people who are just passing through. I am at an indoor market in Brixton. I have never been to this market before, though it is held every week, about a … Read more
A displaced Wellingtonian yearns for the coffee culture she once derided. “It’s coffee, but not as you know it.” It made a greater impression on me than any advertising slogan on the side of a bus should. The fact, the bitter reality, was that a new kind of cold Nescafe in a can was besides … Read more
Currently studying abroad, Miriama Aoake is coming face-to-face with international museum ethics and the exploitation of tangata whenua for taonga. On the first floor in the northern wing of the British Museum there is a tiled urupā with glass tombs. Past the gift shop, through the twin doors and left at mo’ai (whanaunga from Rapa … 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
It’s a story as old as the New Zealand OE itself. You move to London, you fall in love, you settle down. But what happens when you start feeling homesick and your UK-born partner doesn’t want to leave? James Quentin writes about the double life of an expat Kiwi. In May I will be bringing … Read more
There’s a serious housing crisis in Auckland, and New Zealand’s rental market is a disgrace. But house hunting in London is a special kind of hell, says ex-pat New Zealander Lucy Gable. A while back, like thousands of ruddy-cheeked, sparkly-eyed Kiwis before me, I left the sunny, if avocado-free, shores of Auckland for the drab weather, poor customer … Read more