Afternoons for Thursday 23 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: Harry Parsons 

Auckland based singer songwriter Harry Parsons is joining us for our first song today. he won RockQuest in 2013 and has been writing songs and playing them live ever since. 

1:15 Daniel Gillies' new project 

Kiwi Actor Daniel Gillies has had huge success in the US, from a role in Spiderman 2 to Bride and Prejudice and more recently the vampire diaries and its spinoff The Originals. But he's back in NZ making a new film, an adaptation of an Owen Marshall short story. 

1:25 Theresa May and the political future of the UK 

It's been another huge day for UK politics. Theresa May has seen another cabinet minister resign and is expected to do so herself soon. But that's been the case before. What is going on and what impact have the European elections had? 

Professor Robert Patman from the University of Otago joins us to pick apart the Gordian knot of UK politics. 

1:35 Auckland Pacific Dance Festival 

Next month the 4th annual Pacific Dance Festival is kicking off. As part of the Freshman's dance crew are bringing their dance show MAUI to the Mangere Arts Centre.

Hadleigh Pouesi is the director of the crew and a hip hop dance legend. He tells us about the rise of hip-hop dancing here and why kiwis are excelling at it.

1:40 Great album

2:10 Link 3

John McCabe got the correct answer nice and early after just hearing The Smiths song How Soon is Now. He correctly guessed all the lead singers were vegans. The second song was Summer of 69 by Bryan Adams.

2:15 Music Critic: Jana Whitta 

RNZ's Jana Whitta is in to play some New Zealand music that she's loving at the moment. 

2:20 NZ Biography: Phar Lap

Today we are breaking new ground with our Biography subject. It's the first non-human to be featured. It's the greatest racehorse New Zealand has produced. Or should that be Australia? Phar Lap. 

The horse is revered on both sides of the Tasman, so much so that a pair of his shoes sold at auction in 2015 for $25,000. And it looks like they're going under the hammer again soon -  the estimated value is $30,000, now.

The horse's story is entwined with that of his trainer Henry Telford and Graeme Putt is here to talk to us about the pair. Graeme is the co-author of Phar Lap - The Untold Story. 

3:15 Solving the World's Problems: Simon Wilson 

What is a transformative Government? And what is a "wellbeing budget" when it's at home? Simon Wilson is in to solve the world's problems with us today. 

3:25 The history of Christian political parties 

National MP Alfred Ngaro is considering setting up a Christian Party which could potentially act as a support party for National at the next election. The concept of a Christian Party is not new. Christian influence in NZ politics dates back to the beginnings of representative government in the 1850s.  

Historian Grant Morris takes us for a walk through the world of minority religious parties. 

3:35 Are We There Yet? 

Whatever you want to call it, the rage of toddlers (and sometimes older kids) is pretty hard to handle. Katy Gosset looks at why tantrums happen and how we can teach children to manage their emotions.

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

4:05 The Panel with Clare Delore and Hayden Donnell