Possibilities for New Zealand’s New National Flag

A kiwi bird shooting a deadly laser beam from its eyes, a jolly sheep smiling next to an ice cream and a rainbow pyramid landscape are sadly some of the designs that haven’t made it through to the shortlist for New Zealand’s new national flag. Almost 10,300 entries from an international open competition have now been whittled down to 40 contenders by an expert flag consideration panel, which will select four finalists to go to a public referendum at the end of the year. The country’s prime minister, John Key, has admitted that he’s sick of being forced to sit beneath a flag that’s barely distinguishable from Australia’s at international summits, and has declared that the new flag must “scream New Zealand”. So what cries out the essence of the kiwi, if not ice creams, sheep or deadly robo-birds? Could it be a giant Maori tongue flapping in the wind, caught screaming mid-haka? Read More