Rosie Manins

Topless, soap-wielding men stopped traffic along Portsmouth Dr in Dunedin on Saturday, as they raised money for the Otago Cancer Society.

Members of the now defunct Hillside working party are willing to join forces if or when the need arises in the future, chairman John Christie says.

Visiting Toitu Otago Settlers Museum netted Peter Hunt a bouquet of flowers on Valentine's Day yesterday.

Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull thanked the city's recipients of New Year Honours at an afternoon function yesterday.

Auckland fashion designer Yvonne Bennetti will join British milliner Stephen Jones as a guest of this year's iD Dunedin Fashion Week.

Kiwirail says it has re-employed 17 staff made redundant from Hillside, of whom 11 remain working for the state-owned enterprise in Dunedin.

Diana Chin's three children were a driver for her opening a fashion boutique in 1979, but now her children and their children are pulling her from the lower Stuart St store, 32 years later.

Dunedin tourism operators will be happy just to maintain the status quo this year, in what they describe as a tough market.

The Office of the Auditor-general has ruled out an inquiry into the purchasing of rolling stock by KiwiRail, satisfied the state-owned enterprise has done nothing wrong.

As fashion designers from abroad prepare to bring their wares to iD Dunedin Fashion Week, those closer to home are also gearing up. Dunedin designer Mandy Myles is one of three Otago Polytechnic fashion graduates chosen as finalists for the iD International Emerging Designer Awards. She talks to Rosie Manins about the funny side of fashion.

Occupants of up to 1000 Dunedin homes may be included in a pilot insulation programme launched by the Dunedin City Council.