Sweet Memories: Rediscovering The Joy Of UK Sweets In NZ
When you're living halfway across the world, nothing feels better than biting into something that tastes like home. That's where Crackerjack comes in, bringing authentic UK flavours right to your doorstep in New Zealand.
When you ask anyone from the UK what they miss most about home, somewhere after friends, family, and maybe football, comes the sweet stuff—those irresistible tastes of childhood, the British chocolate bars, and those traditional British sweets that just aren't quite the same anywhere else. Luckily for those now calling NZ home, the comforting embrace of familiar UK sweets is never too far away, especially as we celebrate King's Birthday and reflect on those cherished British traditions.
At first glance, sweets might seem like simple pleasures. But ask anyone raised on British confectionery, and you'll soon discover that these little treats mean a lot more. A taste of British Cadbury chocolate or a bite into a nostalgic British candy can trigger memories quicker than your favourite childhood song. And let's be honest: when you're living halfway across the world, nothing feels better than biting into something that tastes like home. That's where Crackerjack comes in, bringing authentic UK flavours right to your doorstep in New Zealand.
Childhood Treats and Chocolate Dreams
Picture it: walking into the corner shop with a pocketful of coins and endless possibilities. You might have reached for the honeycomb crunch of a Cadbury Crunchie or savoured the chewy chaos of a Cadbury Curly Wurly. Maybe it was the sleek perfection of Galaxy Minstrels, which never seemed to last as long as you'd hoped. Each bite of these British chocolate bars now can whisk you straight back to carefree afternoons and schoolyard adventures.
Of course, every UK sweets aficionado has their personal favourite. Perhaps you adored the bubbly simplicity of a Nestlé Aero Peppermint bar or dreamed about the chewy, nutty layers of a Nestlé Lion Bar. Or maybe you were the kid who was always first in line for Cadbury Fudge or Cadbury Twirl, tucked happily in your lunchbox as a midday treat. Whatever your candy of choice, those childhood favourites are here to spark your sweetest memories—and Crackerjack makes sure they're always within reach.
From Sweet Shops to Shared Stories
A big part of the charm of British sweets isn't just the taste—it's the memories attached. Ask anyone from the UK, and they'll fondly recall sherbet lemons and fruit sherbets, sweets that fizzed and crackled on their tongues. Kendal & Miller Spearmint Chews were pocket essentials, shared generously among friends, and Barratts Lion Fruit Salad gums were usually saved for sunny Saturdays.
For some, it was the gentle burst of flavour from a pack of Maynards Bassetts Jelly Babies, while for others, Fry's Turkish Delight meant the weekend had officially arrived. These are sweets and chocolates that shaped moments, built friendships, and brought families together—little edible bookmarks in the story of growing up British.
Chocolatey Comforts and Little Rituals
No Brit would deny the comfort of a cup of tea paired with English sweets and chocolate. There's something uniquely soothing about dunking a Kit Kat Finger (milk, orange, caramel, or dark mint—take your pick) into a steaming cuppa. Fry's Chocolate Cream or Peppermint Cream bars offered moments of quiet indulgence, while Terry's Chocolate Orange—both milk and dark—always signified something a bit special, often reserved for Christmas mornings or birthdays.
Cadbury Wispa bars, meanwhile, were the soft-spoken heroes of many a lunch break, their bubbly British chocolate melting satisfyingly in your mouth. And who can forget the satisfying crunch of Aero Hazelnut, or the delightful surprise of Aero Melts Neapolitan Ice Cream pouches shared around on movie nights?
Tea Time Traditions: McVitie's and British Biscuits
No discussion of British comfort food would be complete without mentioning the beloved ritual of tea and biscuits. McVitie's has been the cornerstone of British biscuit tins for generations, and their iconic treats remain as essential to the UK experience as a proper cup of tea. Whether it's the classic McVitie's Digestives—perfect for dunking—or the chocolate-coated indulgence of McVitie's Chocolate Digestives, these biscuits represent the heart of British tea time culture.
The simple pleasure of McVitie's Rich Tea biscuits alongside a steaming mug, or the weekend treat of McVitie's Hobnobs with their hearty oat crunch, created countless moments of comfort and connection. For many Brits in New Zealand, finding these familiar biscuits means being able to recreate those cherished tea time moments, sharing a piece of home with family and friends who might be experiencing authentic British biscuits for the very first time.
Making Home Feel a Little Closer
For many Brits in New Zealand, the arrival of familiar sweets isn't just a chance to relive childhood—it's about holding onto roots, celebrating traditions, and creating new memories. Unwrapping British chocolate or tearing open a packet of your best-loved British sweets is a gentle reminder that home isn't always thousands of miles away. Sometimes, it's found in the flavours you know best.
And so, whether you're a lifelong lover of the best English sweets, a dedicated fan of British Cadbury chocolate, or simply someone curious about English candy, one thing is clear: these treats aren't just sweets—they're tiny time machines, always ready to transport you back to simpler, sweeter times.
To revisit these delicious memories or create new ones, simply explore Crackerjack's extensive selection of authentic UK sweets and confectionery. As King's Birthday approaches, it's the perfect time to celebrate British heritage with the flavours that matter most. Beyond our comprehensive range of UK sweets and chocolates, Crackerjack also offers a variety of British household items, health and beauty products, and groceries to help make your Kiwi home feel a little more like the UK. You never know—you might find yourself smiling, remembering, and reaching for just one more piece of home.
Because, after all, life's too short not to enjoy the sweets you love—especially when they bring back the tastes, smells, and feelings that remind you exactly where you come from.
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The Spinoff
2 days ago
- The Spinoff
Talk dirty to me: inside the fascinating world of audio erotica
More and more of us are tuning into – and getting turned on by – erotic audio apps like Dipsea and Quinn. What's the secret to their success? Recent convert Kate Evans spoke to the people who write, voice, and study it. [A door opens. Heels on the floor. A sleepy moan. A British accent.] 'Hey baby. You have a good time? You can put the light on. It's fine. Ohhh OK. I can see we had a very good time.' Warm laughter. 'God, you look so fucking hot. Yeah, you know I like that outfit. But you must be freezing! I bet you got a lot of looks though. You done some heartbreaking tonight? What time is it? 3 am?! Get into bed, you deviant! Come here. I'll warm you up.' I first learned about the erotic audio app Quinn from Melody Thomas 's brilliant podcast The Good Sex Project – definitely give it listen if you haven't already. I was curious. Practically every night I lull myself to sleep with the Calm app's perfectly boring sleep stories; would horny audio fulfil a different need? I had already tried Dipsea, a similar app marketed as 'spicy audiobooks', but hadn't found the storytelling especially engaging. Quinn, on the other hand, turned me on immediately. Lots of the 'audios' are in second person; a warm-voiced man or woman talking directly to me, the listener. Asking questions, waiting for answers, chuckling at my imagined response. The acting, in general, is much better than I'd expected it to be – more storyful, playful and convincing than any I've encountered even in arty, ethical, visual porn, and definitely better than in romantasy graphic audiobooks. Most of the time, the scenes and characters are thoroughly believable. Cosy soundscapes add to the immersion – and my own imagination supplies the rest. Most are oriented to women, but not all. There are people of various genders speaking to all sorts: men, women and non-binary folk. Some aren't even sexual, mainly kind words of affirmation and encouragement. Others are kinky as fuck, but you're warned about what to expect via the thorough and at times hilarious use of tags. So if you're not into [Butt Stuff] [Degradation] [Breeding] or [Daddy], you might instead choose one labelled [M4F] [Friends] [Romantic] [Adorkable] [Jealousy] [Rain] [Gazebo] [Confession] [Kissing] [Possessive] [Tell Me You Need Me Too] [Finger Sucking] [Fingering] [Check ins] [Eye Contact] [Praise] [Pride & Prejudice Gazebo Scene Vibes] – yes, that's all one story. Or maybe you'd prefer this one, tagged [NB4A] – meaning it's by a non-binary creator for any listener – [For all genders] [WFH] [Partner Experience] [Lunch Break] [Flirty] [Cutie] [Spanking] [Shower Sex] [Quickie] [Sensual] [Fingering] [Moaning] [Oral]. If you're feeling adventurous, on the other hand, you can dip your … toe … into some spicier waters than you're used to, and possibly surprise yourself. There are historical scenarios, where you're seduced in a carriage or ravish the manservant. There are comfy 'boyfriend', 'husband', or 'girlfriend' scenarios, bad boys and lady bosses, and all the tropes common to romance literature – friends-to-lovers, enemies-to-lovers, strangers-to-lovers, infidelity, age differences, office romances… There are bars and flat couches and hotel mix ups (only one bed!) and mad inventors and witchy moonlight gatherings. There are recurring memes and 'Easter eggs' for devoted listeners (like an offstage character referred to as 'Fucking Greg' who pops up in multiple audios) and various accents – but no Kiwi ones that I've found so far (which is possibly for the best?) And there are a handful of flagship, highly-produced, plot-driven, three-part stories that seem tailor-made to draw new listeners to the app. There's a fairy smut one dripping in BookTok references. One's voiced by Katherine Moennig – who, as Shane in The L Word, inspired many a Millennial queer awakening. Another features actor Andrew Scott of Hot-Priest-Fleabag-fame as Robb the Protector, the guard to a despotic queen in a medieval-ish kingdom. 'If I wasn't already listening to Quinn, I would definitely be a subscriber the minute I found that out,' says researcher Athena Bellas, an honorary fellow in the University of Melbourne's School of Culture and Communication. Athena has listened to a lot of erotic audio – 'untold hundreds of hours' – but she has a good excuse: 'It's for research.' [Andrew Scott's Irish accent. The sound of a sword falling on the floor.] 'If we're going to do this I want to do it right. Sit on the throne. Have you forgotten what we used to do in this room? You heard me, sit down. I miss this. I've been thinking about this since I saw you in the market, remembering the nights we spent sneaking in here… Your scent. I need to see you. Open your legs. I have to taste you. Is that all right? Thank you. It's even better than I remember. Better than in my dreams.' Athena and her friend Jodi McAlister, a romance author and romance scholar at Deakin University, are literally writing the book on this stuff – provisionally titled Audio Erotica – and they recently published one of the first ever academic papers about it. Of course this requires a lot of … research. 'Anytime my headphones are in, it's audio erotica,' says Athena. Dipsea (founded in 2018) and Quinn (2019) are the main players, but there are half a dozen others as well. All this research has made Athena and Jodi pretty discerning. 'We're now really alive to the bad ones,' says Jodi. 'You end up with a bit of a hair trigger where you're like, 'Oh, no. Absolutely not.' It's a good way of educating yourself about your own icks.' Some of the audio is just flat out bad, she says. Story matters – at least a bit – and so do production values. 'Athena and I have both got some opinions about some really janky background music in some of them.' Other times, though, they don't see eye-to-eye. Jodi can't stand one particular Quinn creator. 'He says the phrase, 'I know', in a way that I just absolutely hate. Like, 🤢🤮.' There's nothing objectively objectionable about the phrase 'I know,' but it makes Jodi's skin crawl for reasons she can't exactly articulate. 'When he's saying it in my ear I'm just like, take it away!' (She's cringing and wringing her hands as she says this.) 'So Athena has to listen to him for both of us.' 'We've had so many fights about this,' says Athena, 'because he's one of my favourites!' Bickering aside, they do agree that what makes a great erotic audio is a sense of realness, connection and intimacy. The second person point of view can deliver that intimacy, but only if it's done right, Athena says. The script has to be specific enough to be interesting, but generic enough that you're not jolted out of it, thinking I'd never say that, or that's not me. 'Audio erotica trades on a fantasy of authenticity, and if the audio cannot produce that and rings untrue, it's an immediate 'no' for me,' she says. Penning a good erotic audio story is definitely an art, says Holly June Smith, a British romance author who also occasionally writes scripts for Quinn creators – she got into it after writing a novel about a woman who is embarrassed to discover the guy her brother has brought along on a ski holiday is her favourite erotic audio creator. An audio story has to work at multiple levels, Holly says. Firstly, as a narrative with a beginning, middle and end. Then there's crafting the dialogue, which has to make the listener feel like they're part of the story; she was thrilled to hear from some Quinn listeners that they felt so immersed they accidentally responded out loud to a question while on their commute or in the gym. But the most challenging thing to get right is often the pacing. 'Ultimately, what you are creating is a masturbation guide. So it also has to have this pacing that works for the listener. You are taking them on a literal, physical, intimate journey.' Sometimes you just need to let the moaning do the talking. Holly's scripts will frequently say things like: Moaning for approximately thirty seconds. Moaning intensifies. Creators are then free to improvise, and the possibilities are endless. In their academic writing, Athena and Jodi call this kind of thing 'salacious play': 'the minutia of pornographic sound that is made available in close-up through these technologies – one can hear saliva being drawn through teeth, the wet sounds of jerking off –the whoosh of a hefty exhale.' In mainstream visual porn, they write, the 'burden of erotic aural performance' generally falls on female actors: 'the masculine orgasm is seen, while the feminine is heard.' Erotic M4F audio (heterosexual, performed by men) turns this stereotype on its head. 'Oh yeah, it's mostly moans, groans, and f-bombs,' says British Quinn creator John York. 'You're sort of using your breath to guide the pace of the story.' (Quinn have helpfully made an 17-hour+ playlist entitled ' Male Moans '.) John found his way to audio erotica via audiobook narration, although the two media are worlds apart, he says. 'With audiobooks, you're reading a manuscript, you're just performing a part. With the Quinn stuff, it's a lot more personal.' For him, that's meant gravitating to certain types of stories or characters. 'I don't have a super gruff voice or a gritty bad boy personality. I'm not gonna go and, like, decimate somebody and say awful things to them – it just sounds weird coming from me. So I do a lot of friends-to-lovers, boy-next-door stories,' he says. (Side note: There are plenty of other creators who play more in the decimating bad boy genre if you'd rather get off to that – in your mind, if not actually in real life.) 'We really, really deserve this night away – just the two of us. Plus, I've done something incredibly sexy in preparation for tonight. I stopped off at that car place on the way home, and had it… professionally cleaned. I did! There is not a crumb or friendship bracelet or broken crayon in sight.' John writes a lot of his own scripts, but Holly penned these catnip-for-parents lines for him, as part of a series they worked on together called Couples Therapy. 'It's not just 20 minutes of escapism,' says Holly. She and John wanted it to be almost educational – to help couples work through their own issues, and maybe get some ideas. 'This series might just save my marriage,' wrote one commenter. Couples Therapy fits into a genre of erotic audio Athena and Jodi call husband or boyfriend experience – this was the focus of their recent academic paper, 'Let me take care of you: domestic caretaking fantasies in boyfriend experience audio erotica', published in 2023 in Porn Studies (yep, that's a real academic journal.) These are some of the most popular types of audio on both Quinn and Dipsea, they write – erotic fantasies in which a woman, the implied listener, is being taken care of by 'men who take on the burden of domestic labour, and who emotionally comfort and sexually satisfy their partner.' So you have men telling you they've done the dishes, showering you with compliments and love, and delightedly, hungrily going down on you. Here's Athena: 'Boyfriend experience audio, and erotic audio more broadly, is a fantasy world in which women are unburdened from any kind of labour. Labour like taking care of the home, emotional labour, the labour of having to vocally perform [orgasm]. All these things are off her shoulders, and in fact it's the male performer who it all falls on to create this fantasy. That's a very interesting power reversal, and I think that's part of why it's so powerful and so interesting and it feels fresh.' Could this kind of thing perhaps give us unrealistic expectations, I ask? Jodi shoots me down. 'This is something people say about romance fiction all the time. My answer is, I don't care if women have high expectations. That doesn't seem like a them problem. That seems like a men problem.' John also gets asked that question a lot. 'The preconception of what we do is it's some bloke saying how great he is, but it's the complete opposite. It's me holding hands with the listener and we're exploring this together. It's ironic, really, because it's me doing the talking, but the feedback I get is that people feed heard. They feel listened to, and they feel understood.' Masculinity is often characterised as taking, he says – 'but audio erotica is showing that there's something deeply masculine about serving – and I don't think a guy listening to their partner is a high target to hit. I think that should be expected as a human being, as a friend, as a boyfriend, as a partner. It's what we all need and crave and want. So I don't think that's necessarily an unrealistic expectation.' And yet, maybe it's a lot to expect anyone to be enthusiastically, devotedly, moanily horny after picking up the kids and doing the dishes and not wanting any care and appreciation for themselves in return. Will listening to too many of these make me greedy, and expect a lover to compliment me continuously and lyrically for thirty minutes while also somehow using their tongue for other things? This is where we have to give listeners, and ourselves, more credit, says Athena. 'These are fantasies, and I think we're all capable of recognising them as fantasies.' Similarly, she points out, there are plenty of scenarios featured in the app that people might never actually want to do in real life – adultery, for instance, or sex with a stranger, or types of rough sex – but get to explore vicariously and safely via these stories. Arguably, that's the whole point of erotic content. Jodi and Athena quote another academic, Catherine Roach: 'Erotica inhabits the realm of imagination, of exaggeration, of archetype, of fantasy. It explores and plays with possibility.' In other words, while it has to feel authentic, it's not supposed to be realistic. [Seagulls, the creaking of rigging. A deep, female American voice.] 'I saw the way you looked past my crew, and the shift in your eye when you looked at me. I can see what you truly want. Oh, interesting. I think you've never had it. I'll give you what you want. I'll let you taste what you truly desire… …and you are going to say, Yes, Captain. Is that clear?' Erotica in this form is incredibly new – less than a decade old. Even as recently as 2017, cultural theorist Dominic Pettman asked: 'Why does the erotic voice lack 'stickiness' when it comes to the World Wide Web, given the power of the voice to summon seductive ghosts, quicken the heart, and whisper promises of bliss? Why, in other words, are modems awash in pink pixels but not blue bits?' Just eight years later, the sticky blue bits have certainly arrived; so what's changed? Partly, it's that women are talking more openly about sex and desire. 'Romance fiction has always been popular, but for a long time it was something people consumed furtively or secretly,' says Jodi. 'I think some of that culture of shame is changing. There has been a lot more out-and-proud romance consumption in the 21st century.' Fifty Shades of Grey might have kicked things off, she says, and then there's the romantasy book boom on TikTok, and literary novels like Miranda July's All Fours – either way, women who previously would've been embarrassed to do so are now openly consuming smut. But there's something new and experimental and radical about audio erotica in particular, says Athena. 'What's captured me from the very beginning has been a certain intensity that feels very personal – the way it can offer something that feels very alternative to what we are accustomed to receiving in sexually explicit media.' She and Jodi are trying to be cynical academics about it all. They have managed to find some critiques, for instance that some of the apps market themselves as wellness-adjacent, 'like 'Headspace – but horny!'' says Jodi, while 'some are more like 'Duolingo – but horny' … it's like, God, you're making sex such hard work!' Over-emphasising health and education risks making us feel that even while masturbating, we have to be somehow optimising ourselves, Athena says. 'It begins to kind of suggest that we're not allowed to just have smut to get off to.' But it's also true that for many of the people making and listening to this content, erotic audio can be genuinely transformative. When I speak to Holly and John, they've just come from a meetup with other Quinn writers and creators, and are invigoratingly loved-up and excited about the whole thing. Here's John: 'I've only been doing it a year. But meeting other creators who have been doing this for much longer – they've become role models to me. You have these guys who are very masculine, but creative, and they're not afraid to showcase their vulnerable sides. Because the work is so emotional, it needs you to be open with your emotions and in touch with your feelings … and it makes you want to be a better human being. 'I've learned so much about myself from doing this, and I've never felt fulfilment like it. It sort of bulldozed my life, took it over completely, and I feel very grateful for that.' This is a whole new industry that didn't exist a decade ago, Holly points out. The people who make it tend not to be the same people that make other types of pornography, and it allows for a kind of anonymity that's not possible in visual media. 'It's fascinating to think that there are people out there, men and women and nonbinary people too, who may have this skill that they haven't really identified in themselves yet – and that this could also be work that they do.' Maybe that's you, or someone else you know that hasn't yet discovered that audio erotica exists. 'It's actually still very, very niche,' says Holly. 'Most people aren't having day-to-day conversations about sex and desire and masturbation.' Erotic audio can change listeners' lives, too, says Holly – she gets lots of feedback telling her so. Some people come to the app to listen to a certain male creator, and are surprised to discover that they rather like female voices. Others discover kinks they never knew they had. After childbirth, menopause, or divorce, the app can also be a tool for cautiously reconnecting with desire and sexuality – and very often, Holly says, it becomes a Pandora's Box situation (pun partially intended): 'They listen to one or two audios, and then it's like a dam breaking. They're like, oh, no. I need this every minute of the day now!' (Fear not – the addiction eventually plateaus, she says.) Many other people have told her that listening to audio erotica has helped them and their partners to 'rediscover something that might have been lost.' And for those not in relationships, an intimate voice in one's ear can bring a certain kind of comfort unavailable anywhere else. Take this comment I saw below one of the Quinn stories: 'I recently moved out on my own for the first time and listening to your audios is the only thing that has made me feel like I'm not alone, and they've helped me prevent some mental health spirals. Thank you.' More Reading Even though erotic audio is essentially professional dirty talk – and some of it is indeed extremely dirty – there's also something I find deeply wholesome about it. Like Athena, I've been arrested by this form of storytelling that feels experimental, new, and a bit radical. I don't listen all that often – and certainly not in the kitchen, though I have played it when I'm alone in the car, hoping no cops pull me over – but I'm so glad it exists. It's made me more aware of the vast and diverse array of human turn-ons. I'm clearer on my own icks, and I've followed my curiosity down some surprising rabbit holes. I also happily pay for it. It's not just about compensating the creators; it also means no ads, no pop-ups, and no distractions. To access the stories inside apps like Quinn and Dipsea, listeners must cross what Athena and Jodi call 'thresholds of wanting': 'They must want to access the material enough to pay for it – and from there, must use the app's infrastructure to navigate to the material they desire.' On Quinn, for instance, users navigate mainly via the use of tags—all those [Car Sex] [Single Parent x Babysitter] [We Shouldn't] and whatnot. Based on the comments left under various stories, tags seem to function for many listeners as turn-ons in themselves, a kind of textual foreplay that teases at what will be found within. Together, these attributes make erotic audio apps into 'walled gardens', Athena and Jodi write – private-feeling spaces that encourage absorption and concentration. And I suspect these flowery, flourishing, filthy, secret-ish places might also help to foster what Dan Savage calls a ' zone of erotic autonomy ' – the private eroticism and mental sexual freedom we can all enjoy even within a monogamous relationship – and an enhanced intimacy with oneself and one's desires.
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Cathies come home to dance in Octagon
Jonny Goldsmith usually spends his Saturday mornings with his head under a car bonnet, covered in grease, trying to get his beloved "old dunger" restoration project up and running again. Jonny Goldsmith dresses up for charity at the Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever, in Dunedin's Octagon on Saturday. PHOTOS: PETER MCINTOSH But the 46-year-old Port Chalmers man decided to do something quite different to that at the weekend, donning a red dress to celebrate the Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever, in Dunedin's Octagon instead. He was one of about 70 people at the event, which was founded by British group Shambush, and invites participants to re-create the music video for musician Kate Bush's 1978 song Wuthering Heights as a way to raise funds. The event is held globally every year, as close to Kate Bush's birthday (on July 30) as possible, and Dunedin is always the first city in the world to do it. "I'm a huge fan of Kate Bush, obviously, and my daughters did it one year and told me I should come along and watch." The next thing he knew, he was being slipped into a red dress and encouraged to dance. "It was a lot of fun, so I'm doing it again this year," he said. "It's a good chance to be doing something with my daughters, and it's a great way to support a local charity." About 70 people of all ages and genders participated in the Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever, in Dunedin's Octagon on Saturday. Dunedin city councillor and event organiser Mandy Mayhem said the annual event raised funds for Wellness, Empathy and Kindness Aotearoa (Weka), which provides support and positive change in physical, family, spiritual and mental wellbeing, through passion, knowledge and the use of simple and effective strategies. The organisation was established in response to people not being able to access mental health services at the level that they needed. The support includes group education sessions, one-to-one work, wellness recovery action plans, early warning sign triggers, information on anxiety and depression.
NZ Herald
3 days ago
- NZ Herald
40 years after Live Aid, it's still personal for Bob Geldof
Geldof persuaded many of the world's top artists at the time to play for free, including Queen, David Bowie, Madonna, the Who, Elton John, Tina Turner and Paul McCartney. The shows were seen by about 1.5 billion people in more than 150 countries and would go on to raise more than US$140 million ($235m). Stars including George Michael, left; Paul McCartney, fourth from left; and Freddie Mercury, second from right, during the Live Aid Concert at Wembley Stadium in London on July 13, 1985. Photo / Getty Images The concerts followed the success of the Band Aid charity single, Do They Know It's Christmas?, which Geldof had co-written with singer Midge Ure and released the previous year. The song featured a who's who of British music, and raised £8m ($18m). It also inspired Harry Belafonte to organise an American equivalent, We Are the World, which remains one of the bestselling singles in history. Live Aid transformed Geldof into one of the world's best-known and most successful activists. The Band Aid Charitable Trust, a foundation he co-created, is still funding international development projects to alleviate poverty and hunger in Africa. These include supporting maternal health care facilities in Ethiopia and a programme to provide meals for children. To mark the Live Aid anniversary, the BBC and CNN co-produced a documentary series, Live Aid: When Rock 'n' Roll Took On the World. It also covers Band Aid and Live 8, concerts that Geldof organised in 2005 that helped pressure the world's richest countries to cut the debt owed by the poorest countries and increase aid spending. A medical and food distribution centre in Ethiopia in November 1984 during what the BBC called a 'biblical famine.' Photo / Finn Frandsen / Polphoto / AFP Geldof, 73, is currently on tour for another anniversary – celebrating 50 years since the founding of the Boomtown Rats – and spoke in a video interview from Novi Sad, Serbia, where the band performed last week. This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity. Q: Tell me about that day in 1984 when you saw the BBC report. 'I was anxious at the time. I don't think my band had made a great record, and we weren't getting in the charts. A measure of how well we were not doing was I was home at 6 o'clock: Pop singers should not be doing 9 to 5. 'But everyone in Britain came home and watched the 6 o'clock news. The BBC gave this story about famine in Africa about eight minutes – the reporter went to the epicentre of the famine in Korem, Ethiopia, and sent this devastating piece of journalism. The objective truth and the subjective rage of what he was telling us about was evident, and certainly struck me. 'We were riveted by the prurience and the horror of it. This other world was suddenly thrown at us. I very much remember those images, and if you force me to articulate them again, I start crying again. Those images are the things that my mind will not allow me to obliterate.' Q: Yet you revert to those images when you want people to understand the horror of what motivated you in the first place. A: I suppose it's been the animus through the years. I can lobby and write policy, but when push comes to shove, it's only the end object that animates me to act. It can come to a head in a personal way. In Montreal last November, I was staying at a posh hotel. My wife ordered breakfast. The guy arrived and asked if he could say hello to her husband. He came into the room in an ill-fitting suit, pushing the trolley. He was a small guy and obviously Ethiopian. Geldof and the singer Midge Ure in London in 1984. They wrote the single Do They Know It's Christmas? together. Photo / Getty Images He said, 'Can I shake your hand?' He then stood bolt upright – he had prepared this – and made a speech at me. He didn't know who his parents were, he had been in Korem, and said he was raised on Band Aid food in a Band Aid orphanage, and he got to Paris to study catering and he was now here. I asked if he had a family and he said yeah, he had met an Ethiopian girl and he showed me a picture of her and his two cute kids, 8 and 9. Then he suddenly rushed at me and hugged me, and laid his head on my chest and said, 'Thank you for my sons, thank you for my life.' Obviously, Live Aid and Band Aid were the work of thousands of people. But you know, it worked. Q: But there is a difference between being enraged and actually doing something. A: What I've learned is that it is no use walking around singing, We Shall Overcome. Because you won't. Singing the song isn't enough. Protest songs are only ever protest songs. Music can be a call to arms, but music itself changes nothing. It won't go further unless you are determined to act upon it. The bands at Live Aid were the Pied Pipers, and the audience gathered around the electronic hearth of television and radio. The symbolism of it all carried through to 20 years of lobbying to change policy. 'Singing the song isn't enough,' Geldof said. 'It won't go further unless you are determined to act upon it.' Photo / Chris Hoare, The New York Times Q: You saw music as a platform to do things. Could Live Aid happen today? A: I don't think it's possible now. Society has changed. The web is an isolating technology. It knows what you are, it drives you, it gives you what it thinks you want, and as you get jaded it gives you more extreme versions of that. Now, music is free and you get the news that you want to see. The web is an echo chamber of your own prejudices, so you only hear the music that it thinks you like. It's a silo of the self. So I don't think music can survive being the spine of the culture as it was. Q: Bohemian Rhapsody, the 2018 film about singer Freddie Mercury, suggests that Queen's Live Aid performance was the moment when the donations started flowing in. A: The movie isn't right. Queen were completely, utterly brilliant. But the telephone lines collapsed after David Bowie performed. I was given the outtakes of a report that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation couldn't show, because it was just so appalling, the visual images. The editor had cut the film in Addis Ababa to the tune of Drive, the Cars song, and it's worse than the BBC report. Harvey Goldsmith, the concert promoter, and I had gone to see David about what songs he would sing. But before we started talking about the songs, I said, 'Look at this thing,' and I put it on. David Bowie during the Live Aid concert at Wembley in 1985. Donations started flowing in after his performance. Photo / Getty Images David was crying and said he would cut a song from his set to show the CBC report instead. It's an extraordinary moment during the concert, because at the end of Heroes, which the crowd were all singing, he quietly introduces the clip and asks people to send their money in. It was like a slap in the face. Bowie brought the house down. That was the key moment. Q: How do you respond to criticism that you and Live Aid are examples of a 'white saviour' complex? You have said it simply isn't relevant when you are dealing with an emergency or disaster. A: There is nothing to argue. It's nonsense, like any dogma. It's like Catholicism that says you are born with original sin. Or Freudianism. It's theory and notional. It's not even worth entertaining. It doesn't exist. Q: You have always been pragmatic with your activism, and you've dealt with politicians of all stripes. How do you feel about President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, and their decision to gut USAID, which worked in many of the areas and causes that you have fought for? 'We're in a radically different world now. It's the argument between nationalism and internationalism. 'What is profoundly shocking is the cackling glee with which the Trump-Vance-Musk triumvirate went about declaring war on the weakest and most vulnerable people of our planet. America was always the most generous by far of all the countries. 'Why would great America do that, while the richest man on the planet cackles that we're going to feed USAID into the wood chipper? It is grotesque, it is a disgrace to the country.' Musk said that the great weakness of Western civilisation is empathy. You fool. Empathy is the glue of humanity. It is the basis of civilisation. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Written by: Ravi Mattu Photographs by: Chris Hoare ©2025 THE NEW YORK TIMES
