Sam Brooks reviews the third season of The Crown, a show that can’t decide whether it wants to humanise the monarchy or tear it all down. This review contains very mild spoilers for world history, 1964-1977. Three seasons in, there’s no doubt that The Crown is the, well, crown jewel in Netflix’s royal streaming sceptre. … Read more
It’s Queen’s Birthday Monday, but it’s not the Queen’s birthday. Josie Adams explains her personal vendetta against this holiday and the monarchy in general. Queen’s Birthday celebrations will be held today, at Queen’s Wharf. This is not Queen Elizabeth II’s real birthday, nor do I believe she’s ever set foot on an Auckland wharf. However, … Read more
All week this week we feature tangata whenua writing to mark Waitangi Day on Wednesday. Today: in this extract from a book of essays, Morgan Godfery wonders exactly what the point is of New Zealand bowing to a monarch “of a rain-soaked island off the north-western coast of the European mainland”. One of my earliest memories is, for … Read more