Afternoons for Tuesday 8 March 2022

 

1:20 Are daily reported COVID numbers accurate or relevant? 

Daily COVID  numbers are still released by the Ministry of Health each day around 1pm but as Omicron spreads, and more of those test results are self-reported do those numbers still mean anything? 

 Professor Nigel French of Massey University, Co-Director of One Health Aotearoa; and Chief Scientist at the NZ Food Safety Science and Research Centre talks to Jesse about the relevance and accuracy of the figures. 

1:30 Women in trades slow to take off 

With every passing International Women's Day more and more women are picking up the tools and taking on a trade.

Though the number is increasing, it's not the sharpest incline, women still hold only 12% of trade jobs in Aotearoa.

To talk about where we're at and where to next,  Amanda Wheeler, the Director of Competenz talks to Jesse. 

1:40 100th birthday for WWII Air Force Hero 

One of the few remaining New Zealanders who served in RAF Bomber Command in World War Two celebrates his 100th birthday today in Hamilton. 

Sadly, due to a staff member testing positive for Covid-19 at his rest home, Edward (Eddie) Leaf instead of enjoying his milestone birthday surrounded by loving friends and family, he will spend it confined to his apartment with his wife.

We speak to NZ Bomber Command Association spokesman, Michael Copsey about Eddie's distinguished air force career. 

1:50 Tech Tuesday with Daniel Watson

Today's Tech Tuesday talk with Daniel Watson, owner and managing director of Vertech IT Services, is about storage and how keep your photos save in your digital library. 

2:10 Book Critic: Pip Adam 

Today Pip Adam is talking about books about real people.

She's reviewing The Surgeon's Brain by Oscar Upperton, Action & Travels: How Poetry Works by Anna Jackson and American Wife (Penguin, 2012) and Rodham (Penguin, 2020) by Curtis Sittenfeld.

2:20 Music feature: Fender Stratocaster

Today's music feature is all about the iconic Fender Stratocaster - the  guitar of choice for many rock stars. 

Ethnomusicologist and Senior Lecturer in Popular Music at the University of Auckland Dr Kirsten Zemke talks to Jesse about the unique sounding instrument and it's unrivalled popularity in the music world. There's also a number of tracks to play. 

3:10 How globalisation is causing languages to die out

Language is considered humankind's greatest achievement. But all over the world many indigenous languages are racing towards extinction not because they are simply dying out, but because they are being undermined by the powerful at the expense of the powerless says journalist James Griffiths. He looks at the ways globalization and colonialism rob us of our linguistic heritage in his new book called Speak Not: Empire, Identity and the Politics of Language.

3:30 Spoken Feature: Sporting history 

As the Winter Paralympics get underway in Beijing, Rachel Naylor takes us back to the first time the event was held, in a Swedish town in 1976. She's been talking to two blind skiing competitors with very different experiences.

3:45 The Panel with Dr Ella Henry and Moata Taimara