Diana Wichtel

Diana Wichtel: Free TV is alive and kicking but far from decent

Diana Wichtel never misses TVNZ 1's The Chase hosted by Bradley Walsh and sometimes starring Shaun Wallace, aka The Dark Destroyer. Photo / The Chase It hasn’t been much of a summer so far, but a break is a break, even when outside is battleship grey…

Diana Wichtel: ’Tis the season to reflect

Matariki was celebrated for the first time in 2022. Image / NZME OPINION The holiday season: Southern Hemisphere rhythms demand that we stagger through December negotiating an obstacle course of extreme shopping, Secret Santas, work deadlines and…

Diana Wichtel on The Crown season five: Charles, Diana - and the truth

Season 5 of Netflix's critically acclaimed show 'The Crown' has confirmed to be releasing November 9. Video / DiscussingFilm These days Netflix acknowledges in its official description of The Crown, that it is a “fiction dramatisation”, “inspired” by…

Diana Wichtel on Kanye West storming the limits of tolerance

Kanye West. Photo / AP OPINION Things my daughter and I message each other about: which of us was visited by the most adorable tiny goblin on Halloween; a video of a baby sloth being reunited with its mother (flurry Unlock this article and all of our…

Diana Wichtel: Fact and fiction increasingly blurred in modern Britain

Even Larry, Downing St's Chief Mouser, has better political instincts than the Conservative Party. Photo / AP OPINION Dame Judi Dench for UK Prime Minister. Why not? She has the qualifications. Apart from that time she donned whiskers and a costume…

Diana Wichtel: the Black Ferns and Auckland - City of Snarls

The Women's Rugby World Cup match at Eden Park. Photo / Photosport It was one of those days. We got left on the wharf, both going to and coming home from Waiheke Island. Auckland and its endlessly aggravating public transport needs a new motto: City…

Diana Wichtel: 21st century world, Handmaid's Tale-style

In The Handmaid's Tale, people who should be allies tear each other apart. OPINION "By her hand," intones former handmaid June. She is messing with the biblical language of the tyrannical patriarchal theocracy of the Republic of Gilead – "By His…

Queen Elizabeth death: The 'unthinkable' passing that stopped the world - Diana Wichtel

Lifestyle 24 NZDF personnel will march alongside their Australian and Canadian counterparts with UK Armed Forces and other Commonwealth countries who have significant links to the late Queen. Video / NZDF OPINION I think it was on Newshub – after…

Diana Wichtel: Outdated Adoption Act getting long overdue overhaul

OPINION: Glass of wine topped up? Box of tissues to hand? Check. All set for the return of Three's David Lomas Investigates, the latest season of the latest iteration of a long line of shows

Diana Wichtel on the power of music to make us feel again

Joni Mitchell performed her first full-length concert in nearly two decades at the Newport Folk Festival last month. Photo / AP OPINION Who? Doing what? Where? Joni Mitchell, apparently, performing a set at the Newport Folk Festival for the first…

Auckland mayoralty: Diana Wichtel on Guy Williams and Leo Molloy - infotainment or interview?

Lifestyle Auckland mayoralty candidate Leo Molloy talks to Guy Williams on New Zealand Today. Photo / Three OPINION Many practitioners of the media's dark arts will have experienced an uncomfortable stab of recognition the first time they came across…

Diana Wichtel: Cost of living high and it just got higher for women after Roe v Wade overturned

Lifestyle National party leader Christopher Luxon is questioned on abortion law in New Zealand. Video / Mark Mitchell OPINION Prices are rising, inflation is inflating. The cost of living is high. It just got higher for women and not just at the…

Diana Wichtel: Celebrating Matariki this year is making history

Lifestyle Auckland's Stardome Observatory and Planetarium kicked off its Matariki celebrations with an immersive light and sound installation. OPINION I love Christmas. We're the house with Santa in the cabbage tree out front and some tatty strings…

Diana Wichtel: Jubilee and Kid Sister show value of traditions

A hologram of Queen Elizabeth II during her coronation in the Gold State Coach during the Platinum Jubilee Pageant. Photo / AP OPINION A hologram in a 260-year-old gold carriage: the Queen attended her Jubilee Pageant parade in pixels if not in…

Diana Wichtel: Life is short but Shortland Street goes on forever

Life is short, Shorty goes on, seemingly forever. That makes about as much sense as anything these days. I was a television critic with a new baby when the show started. The old theme song

Diana Wichtel: Women still fighting misogyny

Abortion rights protesters during a demonstration outside the US Capitol building in Washington DC. Photo / AP OPINION I am woman, hear me sigh in an I-cannot-believe-this-crap-is-still-happening kind of way. When we arrived in New Zealand, my…

Diana Wichtel: Harry follows parents' foot-in-mouth steps

Opinion Another day, another ill-advised interview by a member of the House of Windsor. Prince Harry has a way to go to outdo the output of his parents as their marriage collapsed like a derelict Subscribe to continue reading. Already a subscriber?…

Diana Wichtel: Parenting is a lifelong minefield of doubt and insecurity.

Lifestyle OPINION I have been judged. At a mothers' group with my voracious newborn, known as "the jaws of doom", I hid my bottle of supplementary formula. Breast is best but sometimes you need to live Subscribe to continue reading. Already a…

Diana Wichtel: real-life aggression in Ukraine and Hollywood

Lifestyle Diana Wichtel: Never has the word "love" been bandied about so much in a broadcast in which a comedian gets smacked in the face by the winner of best actor. Photo / AP OPINION The new normal: we're told that's where we are. I suppose it…

Diana Wichtel: Now is no time to step away from your phone

"In a way social media gives users more potential agency. There were no privacy settings in the old school gossip mill," writes Diana Wichtel. Photo / Getty Images Even after 40 years together, some mysteries remain. "You have just spent a ridiculous…