Premium summer big reads: 'Almost everyone knows someone who has died'
The New Zealand Herald is bringing back some of the best stories of 2020 from our premium syndicators, including The New York Times, Financial Times and The Times of London.
Today we look at what it's like to live in the Covid-19 epicentre, the full story behind Carlos Ghosn's greatescape, a chat with the stars of Schitt's Creek, the tragic death of Breonna Taylor and the rocky year for the royal family.
The Covid-19 epicentre: Almost everyone knows someone who has died
As winter turned to spring, the coronavirus hit a corner of Queens harder than almost anywhere else in the United States. Thousands fell ill. Hundreds died. And a nation was put on alert: It was here.
A patient being wheeled into Elmhurst Hospital in March. Photo / Todd Heisler, The New York Times
Houdini escape: Fugitive ex-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn on how he fled jail in Japan
Global tycoons are rarely strangers to risk, but no chief executive has made a bet as epic as the one Carlos Ghosn made last December.
The former boss of the Renault-Nissan alliance did something he knew would mean he would either live the rest of his life as a free man or die in prison.
Despite being under house arrest he fled Japan, a stowaway on a midnight private jet.
Nissan's former chairman Carlos Ghosn arrives for a press conference in Beirut, Lebanon in January. Photo / AP
Hot Schitt: The stars on why Schitt's Creek has to end
The Roses, the formerly wealthy, fish-out-of-water family at the heart of Schitt's Creek, are notoriously allergic to sentiment. But the people who play them — Daniel Levy (David), Annie Murphy (Alexis), Catherine O'Hara (Moira, the imperious matriarch) and Eugene Levy (the paterfamilias, Johnny) — were less so as the show neared its end. A weepy read-through of the final two episodes left O'Hara looking "like Alice Cooper," she said. Others found themselves breaking down more randomly.
But even though Schitt's Creek wrapped up just as it had achieved something like mainstream success, the stars and creators remain convinced that was the right time to say goodbye.
Schitt's Creek came to an end at the height of its popularity. Photo / Supplied
Breonna Taylor's life was changing. Then police came to her door
An ex-boyfriend's run-ins with the law entangled Breonna Taylor even as she tried to move on. Interviews, documents and jailhouse recordings help explain how she landed in the middle of a deadly drug raid.
A photograph in New York of Breonna Taylor, who was shot and killed by police officers in Louisville, Kentucky. Photo / Todd Heisler, The New York Times
Can Sophie, Countess of Wessex, steady the royal ship?
Andrew is out. Megxit has happened. Can Sophie Wessex get the royals back on track?
