Afternoons for Wednesday 25 September 2024

Last call for Critter of the Week T Shirts 2024!

Preorders are due to close Friday 27 September!  Head on over here to claim your sweet T! 

Forest and Bird's CEO, Nicola Toki, Joyya, and Jesse Mulligan team up to bring you Critter of the Week – an awe-inspiring tribute to the lesser-known native critters and plants of Aotearoa. Illustrated by the incredible Giselle Clarkson and guided by science consultant Mike Dickison, each item showcases New Zealand's unique biodiversity our local conservation experts are striving to protect. 

With $5 from every product going directly to Aotearoa-based conservation efforts, your purchase supports heroes on the ground protecting our natural treasures. Together we've raised over $31,686! Join us in celebrating the wild beauty of Aotearoa while giving back – now that's something to be proud of!

Crafted from premium organic cotton, ethically manufactured by our World Fair Trade Organisation certified production facility in India – showcasing Joyya's commitment to sparking good in places of extreme poverty and modern slavery.

1:15 Wagyu steak: get ready to salivate

The Wagyu beef market is high end, high value, and researchers want to see New Zealand farmers getting a bigger and better slice of the industry.

Jesse talks to Dr Anna Earl - senior lecturer in management and marketing at Canterbury University's School of Business about how New Zealand can get a cut of the wagyu slab. 

1:25 Remote work vs back to the office

Working from home is the talk of the town now after Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis decreed that public servants should trapse back to the office. What works best for workers? And is that different for companies? 

Rebecca Downes is based at Victoria University's School of Business and Government, and she did her PhD on remote work. She talks to Jesse who wants to know if remote work really is more productive. 

1:35 SIX The Musical - Henry and his six wives

Headlining the Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Arts Festival, SIX the Musical tells the story of the six wives of Henry VIII with an empowering take on history. 

Deidre Khoo plays Anne Boleyn in the show and talks to Jesse about the upcoming show.

1:45 Heading Off: #vanlife

Kirianna Poole has been on the road with her husband and three kids for eight years - their beloved Kombi and caravan have taken them across New Zealand, Australia, and more recently, Japan.

Their new book, The Slow Road, has been dubbed an essential guide for van travel in Aotearoa.

2.12 Podcast Critic: Around the Table and Mind Your Own, with Lupita Nyong’o

Alex Barnes reviews local podcast Around the Table, a podcast by creatives for creatives and Mind your own, with Lupita Nyong’o, a storytelling podcast navigating what it means to belong, from the African perspective

2:20 Easy Eats with Sam Parish: Sticky Peanut Butter Tofu bowls

Sam offers up a vegetarian dream with sticky tofu and kūmara on a bed of fluffy jasmine rice. Get the recipe here. 

2:30 Bookmarks with John Davies

John is an opera and theatre director. He is directing the opera Verdi Meets Puccini. It's taking place at the Due Drop Event centre in Auckland on the 28th and 29th of this month. 

John's music picks:
Casta Diva, from Norma by Vincenzo Bellini sung by Maria Callas

Va Pensiero from Nabucco by Guiseppe Verdi. Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves in Babylonian captivity

Key West by Bob Dylan

The Other Side by Tord Gustavsen

Books:

The English Text of the Treaty of Waitangi by Ned Fletcher 

Ministry for the Future, by Kim Stanley Robinson

Burnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

3:10 How four billionaires are selling us a fantasy.

Four tech billionaires are selling us a vision of the future where the world is run by Artificial Intelligence, crypto is standard currency and humans will be living on Mars.  It's a dangerous fantasy and a massive con job says Jonathan Taplin, an acclaimed writer, film producer and director emeritus of the University of Southern California's Annenberg Innovation Lab. He draws connections between the stories of four billionaires, including New Zealander Peter Thiel, and how their tech monopolies have led to income inequality and social division.  His book is called The End of Reality: How Four Billionaires are Selling a Fantasy Future of the Metaverse, Mars, and Crypto.

3:35 Stories from Our Changing World

Claire Concannon learns about research into anxiety that uses breathing experiments to investigate the brain-body connection.

3:45 The pre-Panel