Articles in ‘Feature’

They fell in love in the Dutch East Indies before the Second World War tore their lives apart. For years, each believed the other had died, until an extraordinary encounter at an air force base in December 1947 brought them together again. Originally published in eLocal magazine. Expanded and republished with additional historical context. · Two Strangers on a Staircase · It was late in 1947, at an air force base near Batavia, now Jakarta, in…

Across Britain, home bakers are turning garden sheds and roadside stalls into thriving little businesses, relying on customers to help themselves and pay honestly. Could the same idea flourish in New Zealand, and what might it reveal about community trust, local enterprise and the freedom to earn a living? Report by eLocal | 24 October 2026 · A Little Wooden Shed and a Very Big Idea · Imagine driving along a quiet country road outside Pukekohe…

In 1954, two teenage girls murdered a mother in a Christchurch park, setting in motion one of the most disturbing criminal cases in New Zealand history. Now Pauline Parker has died aged 88, closing the final living chapter of a tragedy that became a worldwide fascination and left an enduring question about friendship, obsession, responsibility and the possibility of redemption Report by eLocal | 24 October 2026 · For more than seven decades,…

Article Three of The COVID Files follows the documentary trail behind New Zealand’s extraordinary pandemic powers. The Epidemic Notice was renewed ten times as circumstances, scientific knowledge and available evidence changed. This investigation asks what justified each continuation, how testing and vaccination requirements were assessed, whether their consequences were adequately monitored, and when the evidence ceased to support…

The COVID Files examines what New Zealand decision-makers knew as vaccination requirements expanded into employment and participation. Drawing on official advice, OIA records and Royal Commission findings, the investigation traces changing evidence on transmission, concerns over mandates for younger people, the impact of Omicron and the consequences for workers who declined vaccination. It asks a central question: as the evidence changed, were…

An RT historical essay argues that Stalin's September 1939 advance into eastern Poland was driven by Soviet security concerns as Nazi Germany overwhelmed Polish defences. The diplomatic agreements, continuing Polish resistance and consequences of Soviet occupation reveal a more complicated history with continuing relevance to debates about sovereignty and security. INR Report: Based on reporting by Evgeny Norin for RT HERE, 21 September 2026,…

What if the greatest transfer of wealth in New Zealand's history required neither invasion nor the outright sale of the country's assets? What if its citizens retained ownership on paper while gradually losing the authority to determine how their land, water, minerals, forests and infrastructure were used? Imagine, for a moment, that you were writing a political thriller. Your fictional objective is the acquisition of a prosperous island…

The fear was real. The lockdowns were real. COVID-19 was real. But what did New Zealand's decision-makers actually know about the danger, what evidence supported testing and vaccination policies, and did extraordinary restrictions remain justified as that evidence changed? Six years later, newly released government documents allow New Zealanders to examine the decisions that transformed their lives Report by eLocal - Part 1 of 3 Part 2 here · …

Every Jewish New Year, thousands of Hasidic pilgrims travel into Ukraine to gather at the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov. Their destination is Uman, but behind that pilgrimage lies a much longer and more complicated journey through Jerusalem, Babylon, Persia, the Caucasus, Khazaria, medieval Europe, Poland-Lithuania, the lands of present-day Ukraine and finally the modern State of Israel. An eLocal Feature · Every Rosh Hashanah, an unusual…