Sunday Morning for Sunday 10 June 2018

7:11 Northcote by-election analysis: Gia Garrick

RNZ political reporter Gia Garrick discusses the by-election in Jonathan Coleman's vacated seat of Northcote, retained yesterday for National by Dan Bidois.

7:16 Dan Bidois: winner of Northcote by-election 

Parliament's newest MP Dan Bidois discusses the win and the issues his new electorate faces. 

7:24 Al Brown talks about Anthony Bourdain

Chef Al Brown from The Depot talks about the loss to the culinary world of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain. 

7.30 The House

This week: the role of the Ombudsman.

7:45 Ron Nilsson: seeking the elusive South Island kōkako

For the past 30 years Ron Nilsson has been trying to get conclusive scientific existence that the South Island kōkako - a bird officially listed as extinct in 2007 - is alive. Around 18 months ago the South Island Kōkako Charitable Trust offered a $10,000 reward thanks to donations from Mōhua Investments Ltd and The Morgan Foundation - a reward that requires photographic evidence of “the grey ghost”. Since that time South Island bird watchers have been out in force - Ron among them - and now more than 100 reports of possible sightings of the bird have been filed with the trust. Ron says not all the reports have been investigated yet, but he’s working on it. Facebook page.

8:10 Insight:  the Future of Gangs

The latest figures indicate gang membership could be rising again. In May’s budget, more money was set aside to increase the number of police focusing on organised crime and gangs. Philippa Tolley investigates what options there might be for dealing with gangs such as the Mongrel Mob.

8:40 Mark Lynas: how we got it wrong on GMOs

Back in the 1990s Mark Lynas was an anti GMO activist - in the dark of night he and his fellow activists would descend onto trial sites of genetically modified crops and hack them to pieces. But over time he began to consider that our fear of GM food could be irrational. He looked at the ban on GMO foods in parts of Africa where there was massive crop failure and starvation.  And his stance changed. He gave a “repentance” speech at the 2013 Oxford farming conference, which went viral. Now the British author and journalist says the best hope of feeding the global population will come from the laboratory. He has written several science environmental books, including Six Degrees which won the Royal Society prize.  His latest book - Seeds of Science - says we got it wrong on GMOs.

9:06 Mediawatch

Presented by Colin Peacock. Red flags raised in the media about meth-testing houses didn't stop the evictions, unnecessary repairs and the growth of an unregulated industry. How come? Also: a story of pokies and principles - and news gone to the dogs.

9:37 Chris Byrne: treasuring Susan Te Kahurangi King

 

The Museum of Modern Art has acquired three works by New Zealand artist Susan Te Kahurangi King. The acquisition follows the increasing awareness of her works around the world. Susan, who is 66, grew up in Te Aroha and stopped speaking when she was four but communicates through her drawings. US-based art curator Chris Byrne has worked with her family to exhibit her extraordinary art around the world. He talks about her talent, growing fanbase and family who have kept all of her art throughout her life. An exhibition held at the American Folk Art Museum in New York, in which she demonstrated her drawing was a sellout. The museum also set up a fellowship to research her work last year. Her next exhibition will be in London, the first time she has shown in the UK. Her sister Petita Cole has stored all of Susan’s work right from childhood. She and critics talk about Susan in this 2009 documentary. Photos of Susan here.

 

 

 

10.04 Katharina Lederle: ‘Lack of sleep is costing businesses money’

Dr Katharina Lederle is a sleep expert, a human fatigue and sleep specialist with a PhD from the University of Surrey that looked at the effects of light on human sleep patterns. She’s also the author of Sleep Sense and says sleep deprivation has become a health epidemic in the Western world. She says the reasons behind it are complex.

10.38 Rosemary Hepözden: curious Kiwi trivia

We all like to impress people with New Zealand trivia - surprising facts about Aotearoa we drop into conversation. Auckland writer Rosemary Hepözden has spent years reading and writing about New Zealand; previous books include “The Daily Male: A Kiwi Bloke's Book of Days” and “Instant Kiwi: New Zealand in a Nutshell”.  Her latest is called “Sorted: A Curious Kiwi Book of Lists”.

11:04 Kiwi ‘fush and chups’ fascinating to language expert  

Linguistics expert Roly Sussex is an emeritus professor of Applied Language Studies at the School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies at the University of Queensland. He was born in Melbourne, spent his teens in New Zealand and did his PhD in at the University of London. He has run a talkback show on the ABC about language for many years. He is intrigued about the Kiwi accent, vernacular and vocab and how it’s changing - and also how it differs to our Australian counterparts.

11:40 John Early: butterflies on show at Auckland Museum

The Secret Life of Butterflies exhibition at Auckland museum runs from 9 June and showcases a lifetime’s worth of butterflies collected by Ray Shannon. He bequeathed the 13,000 butterflies to the museum which he meticulously catalogued and preserved. Entomologist John Early who has curated the display talks about Ray’s life and the lengths he went to in order to amass the butterflies. The exhibition runs until May next year.

Auckland Museum video about Ray Shannon’s butterflies

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