Uncorked

Last week, my boss green-lit a new title for me: News Editor. How did I repay him? By promptly going on vacation.

Yes indeed, as this column publishes, I am out of the office. I am just as surprised as you by what appears in the Weekly and on the App this week. I write these words on faith, on the assumption that Peter Jones publishes Uncorked as scheduled.

The vacation was scheduled, by the way. My wife and I booked it a full year before we arrived in New Zealand. I accepted the generous job offer – Reporter – with the time off included.

The move and the leave are a chicken-and-egg situation. Long story short: We thought a lot about coming here, planned travel for March 2026, then decided it should be home-country domestic instead of international.

Should early autumn hold summer sun, so elusive the past few months, I will return with a tan (we brought SPF 50 spray) and some good memories. Meanwhile, a trusted Marlburian will guide the Weekly to safe harbour.

My change in title stems from evolution – not in the Darwinian sense, but in the workplace sense.

My aforementioned boss, Andrew Board, gave me an early green light to fine-tune News and Opinion. That included introducing Business and Arts & Culture as regular pages dedicated to, well, local business and local arts.

We also opened Street Talk to contributors from local colleges – namely, Freja Broughton from Marlborough Girls’ College and Oli Williams from Marlborough Boys’ College. If one of them approaches you, camera or cellphone in hand, asking a topical question, please feel at ease.

Meanwhile, keep your eyes open for other new things in the Weekly … and, as always, please feel free to let me know what you think.

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