Afternoons for Monday 31 January 2022

1.20 The fight to save Khandallah's public pool

Wellington's Khandallah Pool is getting on in years, at 96 it has a leaky tank and earthquake-prone buildings.

But locals aren't willing to give up on it yet and the council will meet this week to discuss its future.

Councillor Diane Calvert talks to Jesse about the plight of the facility.

1:30 Sharing older buildings to save on rent for Gisborne businesses

An old building has taken on a new lease of life in Gisborne thanks to an iniative to use the space for co-working.

Dean Craw, the owner and operator of Spellbound Wax wanted a space to work with records and came up with the the idea to use the abandoned building formerly known as the Trades and Labour Hall, he's since had to move on from there and is now at another building, where he's got others to join him.

He talks to Jesse about turning abandoned buildings and spaces into creative and fun work places.

1.40 "Reunited" premieres, Russian adoptees reunite with their biological roots

Russian adoptee Alex Gilbert is helping to reunite other children adopted from Russia to parents all over the world to reunite with their biological families.

His efforts and outcomes are captured in a new series called Reunited which premieres tomorrow night on TVNZ 1.

To tell us all about his globetrotting bringing people together and his own story, Alex talks to Jesse.

1:45 Number 1 album in history

Each week Jesse has a look back through the years at which album was topping NZ charts. This week he's gone back to July 1980 when Willie Nelson was at number one for six weeks with 'Stardust'.

2:10 Television Critic: Guy Williams

Comedian Guy Williams dons a serious hat to give his take on Yellowjackets, playing on Neon and Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror on Netflix.

2:20  Australian Correspondent Brad Foster 

Sydney based correspondent Brad Foster talks to Jesse about the COVID case numbers across the Tasman, what it's like going out in the midst of those cases. It was also a big weekend of sport over the weekend in Australia, he recaps the action.

2:30 Maximising space in downsized dwellings 

For this week's expert feature we're talking about how to make the most of living in smaller spaces. 

The days of large homes on quarter acre sections are numbered, with those houses being demolished to make way for more and smaller town houses on the site. 

Laura Lochhead's a designer who saw this trend developing and she's founded the company, Pocket Space Interiors, She's also the creative director helping people to maximise space in their downsized lives. You can text any questions in on 2101 or email jesse@rnz.co.nz.

3:10 How games are not just fun, but feed the soul 

Lazy summer days spent playing Scrabble or checkers or backgammon with family and friends is not lazy at all. Games offer us a chance to solve problems, and the satisfaction that comes with it says Oliver Roeder. He's a game enthusiast and a former senior writer for FiveThirtyEight with a Harvard PhD in game  theory. He explains why games are not trivial pursuits but rather something that feeds the soul in his new book Seven Games: A Human History. 

3:35 Voices

Kadambari Raghukumar talks to Auckland based playright Shriya Bhagwat about her debut - based on the ancient text of Kamasutra.  
 

3:45 The Panel with Heather Roy and Raf Manji