Greg Dixon’s Another Kind of Politics: The 2025 Drunken Muldoon Awards

Greg Dixon runs a satirical eye over the year in local and international politics.

Danyl McLauchlan’s annual awards for political bravery & buffoonery

Who deserves the top gongs in the Listener’s 2025 political awards?

Greg Dixon’s Another Kind of Politics: Willis to defend Heartless Tory Finance Minister title in “Grumble in the Jungle”

Greg Dixon runs a satirical eye over the week in local and international politics.

Listener special: How the global rise of radical conservatism is influencing politics in Aotearoa

The messaging of US conservatives plays here in NZ, aided and abetted by political leaders

Duncan Garner: Whatever the question, under MMP, Winston Peters is the answer

No side can govern independently and Winston again becomes the decision maker.

Jane Clifton signs off after 30 years of Listener columns

People often tut about the cacophony of Parliament but it’s our lifeblood they’re debating

Did we learn nothing? The new push that endangers NZ workers again

As govt seeks to roll back workplace safety laws, Pike River lessons are being ignored.

Charlotte Grimshaw: Words become difficult in a moment of extreme anxiety

When a van hits a stone wall with a sickening impact, life changes fast.

Racing a deadline: Fears are emerging for the future of greyhounds

A transition plan for the end to greyhound racing in New Zealand has yet to emerge.

New Zealand’s honours system: does it need a polish up?

Paul Little looks at our honours system and whether it merits a polish up.

2025’s Dubious Achievement Awards

Forget 'excellence', we're here saluting the dipsticks and dropkicks of the year.

Old Dagg, new flick: John Clarke’s genius on film

Lorin Clarke follows her memoir about her father John Clarke with a documentary.

Eggshells are calcium-rich but should you eat them?

Many are getting creative about using parts of foods that once went into the bin.

Why those denigrated as “snowflakes” are more likely to see injustices in the world

Highly sensitive people report deep connections to other people and their environment.

Focus goes on developing new, more targeted cancer treatments

Auckland scientists are trialling molecules that will carry the fight to cancer cells.

Something rotten: The sorry state of New Zealand’s dental health

A national roadshow shows how unfunded adult dental care in NZ makes little sense.

The Good Life: Hatches and despatches

The annual Christmas messages from Lush Places.

Weekend wine guide: To absent friends

A search of past Listener issues reveals the lack of classy wines was long lamented.

Can you really have a merry vegetarian or vegan Christmas dinner?

Suggestions from top chefs and cooks on what to serve non- meat eaters.

The Good Life: An aspirational Christmas? Thank goodness for Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

Michele Hewitson watches With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration for festive season ideas.

The year in classical music

Richard Betts on the year's best concerts and albums.

Opera singer Morag Atchison swings from choral work to a tango-based mass

Well-known for her singer, Morag Atchison may don her dancing shoes for upcoming show.

Floating in space: A busy anniversary year for Stroma’s Michael Norris

Two albums and a major new work are the results from celebrating 25 years of Stroma.

The Hewitson Profile: Fiona Samuel on psychopathy, Scrabble and the sex lives of dead people

The "rumpty life" of screenwriter, actor and new Katherine Mansfield fellow Fiona Samuel.

Listener’s best movies of the year

The Listener's picks of the best movies in 2025.

Listener’s best on telly for 2025: Did your favourite shows make the cut?

Our tv writers nail down the shows that impressed them the most.

Old Dagg, new flick: John Clarke’s genius on film

Lorin Clarke follows her memoir about her father John Clarke with a documentary.

Avatar: Fire and Ash reviewed – please, make it stop

"It's probably time Pandora's box was closed for good."

Heavyweight division: 2025’s best coffee table books

Mark Broatch checks out the year’s top picks of beautiful books.

Book of the day: Angel Train by Elizabeth Smither

Very readable collection of novellas unified by seasoned writer’s keen observations.

Can you really trust your gut? The science of acting on intuition

The expert who says gut feelings can help us to make the best decisions.

Intuition expert Laura Huang on how watching investors shaped her ideas about gut feelings

An edited extract from You Already Know: The Science of Mastering Your Intuition.

Steve Braunias on the sentencing of the mother responsible for the ‘suitcase murders’

Mercy for Hakyung Lee was bartered for at sentencing.

Foreigner, bigamist, killer: The wild life and dubious conviction of a colonial double murderer

Faced with a double murder that rocked colonial NZ, police were quick to find a suspect.

Six of the best: Crime writing which made NZ sit up and read

A selection of the most popular crime reporting from listener.co.nz

Steve Braunias: The enduring interest in the Polkinghorne trial

It's strange to keep talking about the trial but a morbid curiosity flickers at its edges.

Lives in a holding pattern: Syrian refugees face going home to renewed violence and a devastated economy

Those who fled civil war are increasingly unwelcome in the countries that took them in.

Jonathan Kronstadt: Gen Z don’t have the luxury of the idleness and mindlessness that marked my own 20s

Today, the kids are alright.

Bulletin from Berlin: Our city’s bottle collectors could be harbingers of our own poverty as seniors

Pension poverty is forcing Berlin retirees into scouring rubbish bins.

Reform UK’s ex-Wales leader jailed for doing Russia’s bidding as EU MP

Somewhere in the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin must surely be laughing.

Last chance to subscribe to listener.co.nz in our Black Friday special

Special Black Friday offer

See the world anew when science, art and nature converge in Te Papa’s Breathe | Mauri Ora

Te Papa’s new experience is at the cutting edge of technology and immersive art practice.

This Titirangi home was transformed into a functional family home

A mid-century Auckland home is reconfigured to make it more functional for a young family

This contemporary Redcliffs home maximises its view of the estuary

A home on a Christchurch estuary provides its owner with an outlook that’s always changing