Steve Braunias
Senior Writer
Steve Braunias is a senior writer for the New Zealand Herald.
We are your advocate, Aotearoa. Uncovering stories that matter, asking hard-hitting questions of those in power, live-blogging sport events, monitoring the highs and lows of the NZX and providing Premium expert opinion and analysis. Bringing you distinctive, quality journalism and breaking news from across New Zealand and around the world. With specialists working together to create indepth reads, engaging video, and unmissable podcasts.
Check out Steve’s latest content
Steve Braunias: Exams are such sweet sorrow ... sort of
OPINION: A father's perspective on the last exams in the school life of Year 13 students.
Steve Braunias: No direction home – the lonely life of Liam Payne
OPINION: Steve Braunias on the sad death of Liam Payne.
Steve Braunias - On the joy of gardening and community
Steve Braunias advocates getting back into the garden, man.
Steve Braunias: When Polkinghorne told me the tide had turned in his favour
OPINION: Epic trial. Epic fail for the police. Epic vindication for Polkinghorne.
Philip Polkinghorne trial timeline: Nine weeks that gripped the nation
The Auckland eye surgeon was accused of killing wife Pauline Hanna in their Remuera home.
Steve Braunias: Eight weeks of suspense - what’s next in the Polkinghorne trial?
OPINION: The Polkinghorne murder trial nears closure as the jury prepares to deliberate.
Steve Braunias at Polkinghorne trial: And now we wait
OPINION: Steve Braunias continues his diary from the High Court at Auckland.
Steve Braunias at Polkinghorne trial: A rich man womanising and a wronged woman dying
OPINION: Steve Braunias continues his diary of the Polkinghorne murder trial.
Steve Braunias at Polkinghorne trial: Polkinghorne, the opera
OPINION: Steve Braunias continues his diary of the Polkinghorne murder trial.
Steve Braunias at Polkinghorne trial: We have reached the most critical point
OPINION: Steve Braunias reflects on day 31 of High Court murder trial.
Steve Braunias at Polkinghorne trial: Beneath the vapour of terror
OPINION: Steve Braunias on Day 30 of the Polkinghorne murder trial.
Steve Braunias at Polkinghorne trial: Let us interrogate supernatural beings
OPINION: Steve Braunias on Day 29 of the Polkinghorne murder trial.
Steve Braunias at Polkinghorne trial: Two forensic pathologists walk into a bar
OPINION: Steve Braunias on Day 28 of the Polkinghorne murder trial.
Steve Braunias: Six weeks of courtroom drama at the Polkinghorne trial
OPINION: Steve Braunias on the trial of the centuries.
Steve Braunias: At the sharp end of the Polkinghorne murder trial
OPINION: The trial is alive, a dynamic and unruly beast.
Steve Braunias at Polkinghorne trial: Dr Death appears as witness
OPINION: Death – its mechanisms, its workings – was the only subject on Wednesday.
Steve Braunias: A day in the life of Pauline Hanna
OPINION: Murder trial has variously horrified, disgusted and captivated the nation.
Steve Braunias: In defence of the good doctor, Polkinghorne
Steve Braunias reports on the defence of murder accused Philip Polkinghorne.
Steve Braunias at Polkinghorne trial: Doctor’s songs of innocence
OPINION: So now the defence is under way in the murder trial.
Steve Braunias at Polkinghorne trial: The Crown lays its last brick in the wall
OPINION: The latest Steve Braunias courtroom diary from the Polkinghorne trial.
Steve Braunias: Polkinghorne was loving husband – shock claim
OPINION: Murder trial took on a change of register as more texts read to court.
Steve Braunias at the Polkinghorne trial: Private passions made public
Opinion: Monday was possibly the murder trial's maddest and most lurid day yet.
Steve Braunias: On four weeks at the Polkinghorne trial
OPINION: The most controversial case he's written about? No. But it is the most Auckland.
Steve Braunias: Polkinghorne and a love story gone bad
OPINION: Steve Braunias on the heartbreak and longing behind the murder trial.
Steve Braunias: Polkinghorne goes shopping at the sex supermarket
OPINION: Steve Braunias on a spending spree on sex workers at the Polkinghorne trial.
Steve Braunias: Polkinghorne and the Sweet Puff meth pipe
Steve Braunias on the opening day of week four of the Polkinghorne murder trial.
Steve Braunias: Polkinghorne trial is a fixation on class, acts of the desperate rich
Dining at members-only clubs, holidaying at summer homes and smoking s***loads of P.
Steve Braunias: Sex and ghouls at the Philip Polkinghorne murder trial
OPINION: Claims of strangulation, sex and suicide notes.
Steve Braunias at Philip Polkinghorne trial: A science lesson in court
OPINION: The latest revelations at the Polkinghorne murder trial.
Steve Braunias at Polkinghorne trial: 'Polky' and the sex workers
OPINION: The latest revelations at the Polkinghorne murder trial.
Steve Braunias: Auckland is the star of Philip Polkinghorne’s trial
OPINION: Steve Braunias visits the house where police say an eye surgeon killed his wife.
Steve Braunias: One Dread, the sequel
Readers respond to the life and times of an Auckland eccentric.
Steve Braunias at Philip Polkinghorne trial: The manic sex life of ‘Polky’
OPINION: Steve Braunias continues his daily despatches from the murder trial.
Steve Braunias at Philip Polkinghorne trial: The expressive doctor's epic police interview
OPINION: Polkinghorne seldom shut his mouth in his three-hour police interview.
Steve Braunias at Philip Polkinghorne trial: A portrait of ‘Polky’
OPINION: A portrait took shape of Dr Philip Polkinghorne as witnesses gave evidence.
Steve Braunias: Sex, drugs and money – the most scandalous trial of the century begins
Steve Braunias looks back on the opening week of Dr Philip Polkinghorne's murder trial.
'When someone on the street dies it's sacred': Steve Braunias on the life and death of One Dread
The true story of the little stooped man who wandered the streets of Auckland for 40 years
Steve Braunias at the Polkinghorne trial: The few acceptable demeanours at a crime scene
OPINION: The eye surgeon is accused of strangling his wife Pauline Hanna to death.
Steve Braunias: Polkinghorne murder trial recaptures the golden age of tabloid journalism
OPINION: The eye surgeon is on trial for murdering his wife in the High Court.
An oral history of Chills frontman Martin Phillipps
An epic oral history of Phillipps who died yesterday, aged 61.
Steve Braunias: Sending your kid on the Spirit of Adventure
Ten days at sea with a load of hulking brutes - what could go wrong?
Steve Braunias: The anxieties of shopping at Farro Fresh
OPINION: The pain at the till when you shop at a high-end supermarket.
Steve Braunias: An interview with a murderer
Why Steve Braunias vows his latest book of crime writing is his last.
Steve Braunias: What it’s like to turn 64
OPINION: It's a happy birthday, despite his age matching the awful Paul McCartney song.
Steve Braunias: The wait to clear Scott Watson
Supporters of Scott Watson believe he is innocent of the Marlborough Sounds double-murder.
'Burned off and ripped out': Steve Braunias watches surgery
Inside the blood and guts of a patient having her gall bladder removed.
Steve Braunias: On couples in restaurants
A ballad for couples at their favourite restaurant.
Steve Braunias: What the jury did - and did not - hear in Scott Watson trial
OPINION: The defence has submitted two grounds to appeal the conviction.
Steve Braunias: Watson's appeal, the state's power and fact v outrageous fiction
OPINION: Braunias was there as Scott Watson got his long-awaited chance to appeal.
Honey, I forgot to have kids: Steve Braunias on Otherhood
OPINION: A new book spurs Steve Braunias to reflect on the childless and being a father.
Steve Braunias: The crime and punishment of Liz Gunn
Steve Braunias reports on the guilty verdict against conspiracy hobbyist Liz Gunn.
Steve Braunias: On the nature of people with extreme appearances
We all know people who make a lasting impression due to their extreme appearance.
'Better out than in': Steve Braunias on the robots coming for your gallbladder
The controversies surrounding one of the most common surgical operations in New Zealand.
Liz Gunn and the strange case of the curved hand
Steve Braunias reports on a long, strange day at the court trial of Liz Gunn
Lost and possibly eventually found: Steve Braunias on people who lose things
Why some people constantly lose their belongings and what it says about them.
Steve Braunias had an operation. Bad news - he lived
What it's like to have your gallbladder removed.
Steve Braunias: The end of the Secret Diary
The Secret Diary packs up its bag of mockings, and leaves the premises
Dilworth School survivor opens up about his years of abuse
Mark Staufer, a survivor of sexual abuse at Dilworth School, opens up for the first time.
Old age will kill us all but it doesn't have to be a bad thing
Steve Braunias on the terrifying journey from early old age to actual old age.
Steve Braunias: The secret diary of Nicola 'Pugwash' Willis
The captain goes down with the ship in the seafaring saga of Rear Admiral Pugwash Willis.
Steve Braunias: The secret diary of hopeless cowboy Chris Hipkins
OPINION: In the lonely streets of Dodge, there's never a right time to pull the trigger.
Steve Braunias: A grave warning from legendary Arctic explorer, Winston Peters
OPINION: The great Winston Peters warns of grave threats to democracy, ie Māori.
Cooking food in your car is actually a thing - but should you try it?
Steve Braunias discovers a new dining experience.
Steve Braunias: The road rage killing and police's epic fail of a trial
OPINION: Steve Braunias on the murder trial of Brayden Towler, cleared by a jury.
Road rage: Brayden Towler found not guilty of Glenmall carpark murder
One juror held out against a not guilty verdict.
Steve Braunias: The death of democracy gives birth to three people called Chris
OPINION: Luxon makes no apologies, Hipkins makes no progress, and Bishop makes no sense.
The moment a road rage dispute turned to tragedy in West Auckland mall carpark
Steve Braunias on the moment road rage turned fatal in Glen Eden.
Steve Braunias reports on a Glen Eden road rage murder trial: hit and run or accident?
Steve Braunias reports on a murder trial for a Glen Eden road rage killing.
Friday night on Queen St, Saturday night in the suburbs: Steve Braunias' big weekend
Steve Braunias attends an old man in concert and a teenage birthday party.
Melissa Chan-Green opens up on abusive relationship
'Going to work was my happy place,' the AM host tells Steve Braunias.
Steve Braunias: Secret diary of Wild David Seymour
OPINION: A cowboy western starring deputy David Seymour, a sharpshooter and total legend.
Steve Braunias: The secret bulletin of Newshub’s Mike McRoberts
OPINION: Bringing you insights on the 'proposed new structure with significant changes'.
Steve Braunias: The sad, strange case of Nikita Tekotia, whose baby daughter was murdered
She failed, acutely and profoundly, to look after and save Arapera Fia.
Steve Braunias meets 'The Penkonator' for a battle of wills
OPINION: Steve Braunias meets Chris Penk, the 'provocateur the left loves to hate'.
Steve Braunias: The secret diary of Christopher Luxon
OPINION: I felt I could not hold on to a single worthwhile idea.
Steve Braunias: The secret diary of ... supermarket vermin
OPINION: A little bit of aeration never hurt anybody. But it might hurt vermin.
Steve Braunias: The secret diary of ... Waitangi
OPINION: Act’s Treaty Issues Bill will ensure that we are all one people.
Will Dale the Avondale spider be stamped out?
Avondale's famous spider sculpture is in terrible shape - and may get stamped out.
Steve Braunias: The Secret Diary of Christopher Luxon
OPINION: All day long at work I was sure I could smell cigarette smoke.