The Long Read from Stuff

Within New Zealand’s tight-knit fashion industry questions have been swirling about Adrian Hailwood’s design practices, after it emerged the same dresses worn by the likes of Tova O’Brien, Wendy Petrie and even former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern are widely available through Chinese manufacturers trading on wholesale site Alibaba. So what's going on? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaph...

No artificial intelligence had ever really cracked the Māori language before, and now here are at least two. Pou Tiaki Reporter Joel Maxwell had conversations with ChatGPT and the Bing chatbot in Te Reo Māori to see if it could hold form coherent sentences in Aotearoa's indigenous language. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many people still believe in finding ‘the one’, but a growing number of Kiwis believe love goes further than that. Polyamory, often misunderstood, can also be freeing. You can read Eda Tang's Story from this episode at https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/130649407/i-was-seeing-six-people-polyamory-often-misunderstood-can-also-be-freeing Need more great podcasts? Check out Stuff's full catalogue here...

New Zealand’s newest national park - and one of the most isolated spots in the country - is polluted with plastic trash. Although just over 400 people live on Rakiura/Stewart Island, they're dealing with a rubbish problem bigger than themselves. You can read Andrea's story from this episode at https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/131400830/how-our-love-affair-with-plastic-is-fouling-a-national-park...

Police hid in bushes, bugged phones and kept him under surveillance for two years before arresting the man charged with the senseless murder of road worker George Taiaroa. 10 years on, Stuff National Correspondent Tony Wall, the only reporter to have interviewed his killer and reveals new details of the police operation to snare a “madman”. You can read stories supporting this episode on https://w...

Everyone describes him as articulate, well-educated, intelligent. He ran daycare centres, was a school trustee. So why did he lie over and over again to Immigration New Zealand? Steve Kilgallon tells a story of religious worker visas, fake passports and leaders treated as God's. You can read Steve Kilgallon's story at https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/131234840/rajvinder-singh-had-a-unique-de...

New Zealand’s biggest aviation mystery has it all: a daring pilot, a vintage plane, a tourist flight to the most beautiful place on earth, and a honeymooning couple. But what happened to Dragonfly ZK-AFB, which disappeared more than 60 years ago, remains unknown despite decades of searching. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former National MP Aaron Gilmore wants people to know who he is – again. A group of people, with whom he is mired in a messy business dispute, wish they never met him. Ethan Te Ora investigates a story of unpaid bills, forced entries, and an apartment hotel proprietor. First Story: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/local-body-elections/129679744/the-apartment-owners-who-wish-they-didnt-kno...

Breakfast radio host and veteran entertainer Gary McCormick is on the move again. After 18 years of cheering up listeners on their daily commute or making sure their day starts with a laugh, Gary McCormick reflects on his life thus far as he transitions into his new role. One thing for sure is he really won't be missing Taylor Swift. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The J Swap contracting conglomerate has known for years that it was quarrying near an old pā site of significance to Māori, but even after part of the site collapsed, it kept blasting. National Correspondent Tony Wall investigates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mana, liberation. Chicken crafted from peas. Reporter Joel Maxwell blends observation, opinion, and the voices of fellow vegans, including Tāme Iti, in a quest to find what it means to be a Māori vegan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wellington exists because of a propaganda campaign, which led to it becoming the capital under questionable circumstances. Charlie Mitchell makes the case that Hamilton (that’s right) is a better bet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In March 2018, Ben Lott fell and suffered a severe brain injury while competing in an adventure race. Two days later, he was found disoriented in the middle of a forest by fellow racer Scott Worthington. Over the following days, Worthington helped Lott make it to the race finish. Over the next four years, he stayed beside Lott while he made an incredible recovery. This is the story of Finding Ben....

If you love The Long Read, why not check out The Short Read, a new podcast in the Stuff Podcast Network. Listen to the very best of the 2022 Sunday Star Times Short Story Competition in The Short Read. Each episode contains a winning entry or judges’ choice - and insights from its author. The perfect way to relax this summer without getting sand in your book. This is episode 1: "Home by Bernard St...

When Alfred Hitchcock came on holiday to New Zealand in 1967, he popped in to see an old friend in the Wellington suburbs. A collection of letters reveals his 50-year Kiwi friendship for the first time. Reporter Charlie Gates tells us all about it in this weeks episode of The Long Read. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A New Zealander has a stroke every 55 minutes. When it happened to classical conductor Hamish McKeich it robbed him of the one thing he needs to perform. Andrea Vance and Iain McGregor tell his story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Forget the shenanigans of Newsboy, and welcome the new “moderate” Jeremy Wells: a man who meditates at lunchtime, is restrained in his drinking, jogs, eats well, tries to be an engaged parent and describes himself as politically centrist. National Correspondent Steve Kilgallon chats to Michael Wright about his piece on Jeremy Wells. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2018, New Zealand police began using a controversial interviewing tactic to crack cold case killings. The public knew nothing about it until this year. However, a 12-month Stuff investigation has revealed strong concerns about police interviewing tactics were raised long before one interview led to a false confession and a collapsed murder case. Moreover, the actions of the top officer who crea...

At an eye clinic in Fiji, blindness can be reversed with a swift, transformative surgery. But out of the corner of the medics’ eyes, a worrying new threat is looming. Podcast Director Adam Dudding tells us about the story, and reads it for The Long Read. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you love The Long Read, why not check out True Story, a new podcast in the Stuff Podcast Network. Hosted by Adam Dudding and Eugene Bingham who created The Commune, True Story is a weekly current affairs podcast. Each episode, Adam and Eugene take their microphones on the road to bring you one true New Zealand story: sometimes quirky, sometimes serious – always surprising. This is episode 1: "M...

Who is Jo Mckenzie Mclean? What is Stuff’s new podcast Jo vs Cancer? Jo Mckenzie Mclean’s life was turned upside down after a stage 4 bowel cancer diagnosis. In Stuff's new podcast Jo Vs Cancer, the mother-of-two and Stuff journalist offers frank - and sometimes darkly funny - insights into life with an incurable illness. Reporter Nadine Roberts asks Jo why she has gone public with her diagnosis i...

Ahead of accepting Aotearoa’s highest arts accolade, Dame Jane Campion talks about a life of creativity, and bringing women’s desires to screen. National Correspondent Michelle Duff tells us about the story, and reads it for The Long Read. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The race with no end: Mud, blood and heartbreak at running's most brutal event. It’s a race with no end. Entrants have to keep running until they simply can’t go on, until they drop, until there’s only one person left standing. Mike White wrote about the heroics and heartbreak that unfolded in the most brutal race imaginable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1985, 1-year-old Penny-Tui Taputoro suffered fatal injuries while in the care of family friend, Kathleen Smith. Nearly four decades later, despite conflicting evidence, lies and an admission extracted using a controversial interviewing technique, Smith has not been charged. And Penny-Tui’s family is still searching for the truth. Listen to Reporter Blair Ensor explain What Happened to Baby Penn...

David Farrier has reported from radioactive wastelands and conspiracy rabbit holes, but his latest documentary may have taken him to the most toxic place yet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices