Afternoons for Tuesday 21 May 2019

Write an original Christmas Song!

We want you to write an original song inspired by Christmas. You can interpret that how you like – including in a non-religious way – your song just has to be relevant to the season in some way.

The prize is that you get to professionally record, engineer and then release your song in time for Christmas 2019!

Entries must be in to us by 5pm July 17th 2019. Entry details here

1:10 First song: Summer Thieves

Auckland four piece band Summer Thieves are rocking in to our Auckland studio to play our first song today! 

1:15 Bullying in parliament

A new report just released says serious bullying is rife in parliament. It was ordered by the speaker, Trevor Mallard and covers a period stretching back to 2014. RNZ's political editor Jane Patterson has read it.

1:20 Pike River re-entry

The Pike River re-entry team went through the double airlock doors of the mine this morning today, watched by families of the 29 men who died in the 2010 tragedy. 

Media aren't at the site but RNZ reporter Logan Church is at the gate at the bottom of the hill and has been covering the re-entry efforts closely.

1:25 Measuring moods online

Next week the Government will deliver what it refers to as a "Wellbeing Budget" and for one academic it presents an opportunity. AUT economist Stephanie Rossouw has been analysing the big data of New Zealander's tweets to try and measure national mood. 

She tried it out last week with a colleague in South Africa for the elections there and is looking forward to the budget and the rugby world cup as opportunities to see if online data can reflect national mood in a verifiable way. 

1:35 Alcohol and peer pressure 

It all starts off with theatrical workshops and isn't looking to overwhelm students with a hard line message. It's part of the ongoing responsible drinking programme the Tomorrow Project and Matt Claridge is in to explain how it works. 

1:40 Great album

2:10 Book critic Lisa Glass

Lisa looks at novels featuring "time travel" as the theme - they're not sci-fi and they all happen to have all-female protagonists.

2:20 Celtic Punk 

What is it about the strains of Celtic rock and punk that have led to them travelling all over the world? 

Andrew Kerr is a Wellington based musician who has a Celtic influence you'll hear in his accent and is here to talk us through the diaspora of Celtic rock and play some of the hits. 

3:10 Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? 

Here's a crazy idea: people should be promoted to leadership roles in politics and in business based on talent. Simple enough, right?  But Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic says far too often we put people in charge based on qualities that have nothing to do with ability. And when he says people he means men.  

Dr Tomas is a professor of business psychology and chief talent scientist at a major recruiting company.  He unapologetically says women have the traits that make good leaders, like  empathy and impulse control, but we put too much stock in traits men deploy a lot  like charisma and confidence. His new book is called Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? 

3:35 BBC Witness - One Child

In the early 1980s, the Chinese Communist Party started ruthlessly enforcing a birth control policy, People with more than one child faced fines, or lost their jobs, or had children forcibly adopted. We hear from one man who experienced the policy first-hand, both as a father and as a birth control official.

3:45 The Pre-Panel Story of the Day and One Quick Question

4:05 The Panel with Mamari Stephens and Maryan Street

And between 4.30 and 5 there will be a half hour discussion on voluntary euthanasia with special guests Philip Patston, Rod MacLeod, Dave Mullan and Grant Illingworth.