Danyl McLauchlan: NZ First reads the room over gentailers

After decades of borrowing, the govt has few levers to pull to stave off economic shock.

Chris Slane’s political cartoon of the week

Chris Slane shares his perspective on the week in politics.

Greg Dixon's Another Kind of Politics: Death Star boss claims Empire is winning

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

Fossil fools: Danyl McLauchlan on the coalition’s petrol problem

Sharks circle as govt backtracks on clean energy & a fuel crisis conspires against it.

With budding pressure from US troops, is America a reliable ally?

The US military want to deter China, but how much involvement do they seek from Australia?

Duncan Garner: Feeling poor? Why it might not be a temporary blip

Where is the political will to fix anything in this country?

What the Buc-ee's chain of highway rest/gas stops says about today's USA

Jonathan Kronstadt reflects on his trip to a popular, but totally unnecessary, rest stop.

Aaron Smale: When does a nation’s actions become a breach of international law?

International law has always depended on who holds the most power.

London residency with connections to Kiwi literary royalty provides a rare opportunity for NZ writers

Fiona Kidman inspires new London writers’ residency.

Listener weekly quiz: March 25

Test your general knowledge with the Listener's weekly quiz.

When psychology professor Niki Harré set out to establish a secular religion, the results didn’t quite go to plan

Professor's new book explores what the secular world can learn from religion.

Title fights: What owners wished they knew before buying into apartments and townhouses

Disputes over shared costs are tearing body corporates apart.

Pain & your brain: An expert on the body’s extraordinary capacity for healing

US pain psychologist: 'We've been told a big fat lie about chronic pain."

Experiencing traumatic events increases the risk of developing chronic pain

Prelude to pain - an extract from Tell Me Where It Hurts by Rachel Zoffness.

'I couldn’t tell my famiily I had emphysema because I was so embarrassed'

Diagnosed with emphysema, Kat Horne was told not to return for help until she quit smoking

Low fibre diets can bring big consequences for gut microbiome and health, but one humble fruit can help

Most of us consume insufficient fibre, depriving gut microbiome of much-needed diversity.

The Good Life: What you’ll eat at my wake

My headstone will read, “Here rests the patron saint of doomed sheep”.

Fast to feast: Meals that honour the spirit of Ramadan

Londoner Ilhan Mohamed Abdi's book features some 80 recipes to help families enjoy Ramadan

Bumper weekend wine guide: Michael Cooper rounds up the best chardonnays to discover

The Chardonnay grape remains one of the most popular white wines.

The Good Life: Man, 59, seeks hobbies

Unlike proper hobbies, neither mowing lawns or stacking firewood are not without purpose.

Composer/guitarist Dylan Lardelli brings musical explorations back home

Dylan Lardelli offers rare chance to hear classical music from the outer edges.

Benjamin Britten’s ‘shimmering’ Illuminations comes to Christchurch

Soprano Carleen Ebbs will sing the work later this month.

Grande dame of song steps back from heading NZ’s national choir

More than anyone, Karen Grylls has led the way in forging an NZ choral music identity.

Triumph of spirit: The dance masterpiece Gloria returns

For the first time since Douglas Wright's death, Gloria is being staged in Aotearoa.

NZ Listener’s Songs of the Week: New tracks by two Beatles, Tami Neilson, Pulp, Nick Cave with Flea

New and intriguing tracks to adjust your playlist logarithms as chosen by Listener writers

Queen of the castle: Comedian Hayley Sproull to present new home improvement show with an old name

NZ home renovation show My House, My Castle has undergone a makeover of its own.

New film tackles what club rugby means to women players and whanau

You don't need to know a thing about the game in order to feel the passion of the players.

On a first-name bassist: Flea interviewed

Before his new solo album, Red Hot Chili Pepper talked about jazz aspirations.

Book of the day: Other People’s Bodies by Megan Nicol Reed

A gym class turns into something far more menacing in NZ author's second book.

Book of the day: The Daffodil Days explores bucolic idyll in Sylvia Plath’s life with Ted Hughes

Chapter by chapter, month by month, the novel leads us back through time.

How reporter Sally Wenley rewrote her future following catastrophic bus crash

Award-winning radio reporter Sally Wenley on her no-holds-barred memoir, The Crash.

Top 10 bestselling New Zealand books: March 28

The local books New Zealanders have been buying this week.

Cop-turned-novelist writes handbook on police procedures out of frustration over common crime-writer mistakes

How to write a crime novel that rings true - and the most common mistakes writers make.

Milk, Madness and Mayhem: The Ruahine Triple Axe Murders

Was it an act of temporary, alcohol-induced madness? Or plain bloody murder?

The Listener 2025 collection: Our most popular crime writing

From contemporary court cases to historic murders, 2025's best read crime stories.

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

Mercy for Hakyung Lee was bartered for at sentencing.

With budding pressure from US troops, is America a reliable ally?

The US military want to deter China, but how much involvement do they seek from Australia?

Black humour and hope: A stay in an Estonian hotel where the walls once had ears

Graham Reid learns of Tallinn's history and its unpleasant links to the KGB.

Far-right rising: Increasing inequality & crime shifts the dial on Swedish politics

Sweden has experienced one of the OECD's largest increases in income inequality.

Democracy needs armed forces, but young Germans will take a lot more convincing

With increased Russian aggression and US untrustworthiness, Germany needs more soldiers.

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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