Saturday Morning for Saturday 4 June 2022

8.10 Margaret Casey: surrogacy laws ‘a hot button issue’ internationally

Years in the making, the Law Commission last week presented its comprehensive review of surrogacy in New Zealand to parliament. Currently, those wishing to become parents through the process of using a surrogate mother must rely on out-dated adoption law that is deemed no longer fit for purpose.

The commission made a raft of wide-ranging recommendations in its review, including introducing a simple administrative pathway for intended parents, establishing a national surrogacy birth register, and allowing payments to the surrogate mother for reasonable costs incurred.

Margaret Casey QC, an expert in reproductive law, was part of the advisory group for the commission. Casey is also part of a Hague-based panel trying to establish an inter-country treaty around surrogacy.

 

8.35 Hone Kouka: celebrated playwright presents provocative new work Ngā Rorirori

Hone Kouka is no stranger to controversy with his work, and his new play Ngā Rorirori is no exception. The production, the title of which translates to ‘the idiots’ in English, is described as a comical foray into one whānau’s relationship with their whenua, and their quest to turn their coastline into a cash cow.

Kouka (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Raukawa, and Ngāti Kahungunu) is an award-winning playwright, director, and co-founder of theatre company Tawata Productions alongside Miria George. At 19, Hone became the youngest person ever to receive the Bruce Mason Award for Playwriting in 1992. Ngā Rorirori is his first new play in four years.

Ngā Rorirori premieres 18-25 June at Circa Theatre in Wellington. Head over here for tickets and more information.

 

9.05 Francis Fukuyama: can Western liberal democracy be rescued?

In 1992, American political scientist Francis Fukuyama published The End of History and the Last Man, which argued that Western liberal democracy had triumphed against communism in the battle of ideas. In the book Fukuyama posed the question: if humanity had arrived at the most effective form of government, had we arrived at the end of history?

In the 30 years since, liberal democracy has often seemed in decline. But in his new offering, Liberalism and its Discontents, Fukuyama argues that liberalism is threatened not by a rival ideology, but has been pushed to new extremes by both the right and the left. The answer, he writes, isn’t to abandon liberalism, but to moderate it. Fukuyama is currently a senior fellow at Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

 

9.40 Prof Jane Harding: preventing brain damage in newborns with sugar gel

Sugar imbalances are common in babies, with approximately one in six having low blood sugar. As glucose is the main source of energy for a newborn’s brain, episodes of low blood glucose may have permanent adverse effects on thinking, learning and coordination.

The neonatal glucose studies team, led by Distinguished Professor Dame Jane Harding at University of Auckland, has been researching in this field for more than 20 years. Their work has led them to a simple sugar gel that can be rubbed inside a baby’s cheek to improve low blood-sugar levels. It has been adopted as a first-line treatment around the world.

Professor Harding and her team have been honoured for their outstanding work with the top Prime Minister’s Science Prize announced this week.

 

10.05 Joan Wasser: marching to the beat of drumming legend Tony Allen

Better known to many as Joan As Police Woman, Joan Wasser has long been pushing the boundaries of her sound. Over the decades, Wasser has collaborated with a diverse list of artists, including Lou Reed, Beck, Laurie Anderson, John Cale, and our own Aldous Harding.

Her most recent album, The Solution is Restless, was built from the bones of a night-long jam session in Paris in 2019 with guitarist Dave Okumu​ and legendary Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen​​ - the man Brian Eno once called "the world's greatest drummer". Sadly, Allen died from an aortic aneurysm shortly after.

Wasser spent most of lockdown refining and sculpting those raw recordings to produce a jazz-infused record that she is now touring, including three shows on our shores next week. 

 

10.30  Laurence Fearnley: beauty of MacKenzie Country captured in new novel

The striking landscape of the MacKenzie Country provides the backdrop to Winter Time, the new novel from award-winning author Laurence Fearnley. The book follows Roland, who has returned to the region following the unexpected death of his brother, all the while dealing with a discontented partner back in Sydney. To add to the problems, he discovers that someone is impersonating him online and stirring up trouble with the locals.

Fearnley’s previous novel was 2016’s The Quiet Spectacular. That same year she won the NZSA Janet Frame Memorial Award, and in 2017 was the joint winner of the Landfall essay competition for her piece ‘Perfume Counter’. She lives in Dunedin.

 

11.05 Roger Steele: the publisher dedicated to the underdogs

Book publishing is often a risky business, but no more so than when you go out of your way to represent the underdog. Truly a publishing phenomenon, Steele Roberts Aotearoa is the combined effort of Roger Steele and his partner Christine Roberts, who have been putting lesser-known artists, writers and activists into print for 26 years. Incredibly, Steele says they have published 610 books, a few under other imprints.

In an effort to retire, he hopes the last offering from Steele Roberts will be the collected works of the trailblazing late Māori writer JC Sturm later this year. Sturm’s now-celebrated book of poetry Dedications was their first back in 1996.

Now the spotlight is on Steele, with a talk and panel discussion at the Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival on Saturday 11 June.   

 

Books mentioned in this show:

Liberalism and its Discontents
By Francis Fukuyama
Published by: Profile Books
ISBN: 9781800810082

Winter Time
By Laurence Fearnley
Published by: Penguin
ISBN: 9780143778561

 

Music featured in this show:

Perfect Shade of Blue
Joan as Police Woman
Played at 10.28am

Friend
Rob Tuwhare
Played at 11.25am

Dance Me to the End of the World
Leonard Cohen
Played at 11.40am

The Culler's Lament
Phil Garland
Played at 11.55am