Navigation for Nights

Nights for Thursday 13 March 2025

8:10 The House

Louis Collins looks at the Debate on the Budget Policy Statement which gives us hints as to what we can expect come Budget Day on 22 May.

8:15 Pacific Waves

A daily current affairs programme that delves deeper into the major stories of the week, through a Pacific lens, and shines a light on issues affecting Pacific people wherever they are in the world. Hosted by Susana Suisuiki.

Follow this podcast

8:30 Wanted: Adventurous doctor for trip to remote nomadic community

Every year for the past five years, a group of Kiwi medical specialists have travelled over to the remote mountains of Ladakh on the border of India and Nepal to provide free healthcare to the region's nomadic peoples.

Last year the group of two doctors and a dentist gave 845 consultations, including providing eye glasses and toothbrushes for the local people.

They're heading back over in July but they need one more doctor to join the team - and some extra funds.

Organiser Mary-Ann Rowland speaks to Mark Leishman.

Contact Mary-Ann for donations or to find out more about the trip at maryannbrowland@gmail.com

A composite image showing stone steps to a monastery on the left, and an old woman with her hands clasped on the right.

The Ladakh Medical Camps will run from July 25 to August 15, the fifth year New Zealanders have organised free medical clinics for the remote nomadic settlement. Photo: Supplied

8:45 The Reading

Tonight, Peter Vere Jones reading 'Uncle Max'  the final episode of  'Five of the Family' by David Hill.

9:07 Nights Quiz

Do you know your stuff? Come on the air and be grilled by Mark Leishman as he dons his quizmaster hat.

If you get an answer right, you move on to the next question. If you get it wrong, your time in the chair is up, and the next caller will be put through. The person with the most correct answers at the end of the run goes in the draw for a weekly prize.

9:25 Philosophy Now: The Good Samaritan principle

Every month on Nights, University of Waikato senior lecturer in philosophy Dan Weijers unpacks some of life's big issues, whether it's love, death, happiness, or if it's morally right to keep a pet goldfish.

Tonight Dan is exploring whether or not we should be compelled to be Good Samaritans, and should the law require us to help those in need?

Family feeding the local ducks in Hamilton Gardens, New Zealand.

Photo: 123RF

9:35 Beloved children's illustrator Gavin Bishop goes to Te Papa

Hundreds of illustrations by celebrated New Zealand author Gavin Bishop will be headed to the national museum in Wellington after his work was deemed to be of national significance.

The Christchurch-based 79-year-old has illustrated for Joy Cowley in books like Cowshed Christmas, as well as his own books, most recently Atua: Māori Gods and Heroes.

He speaks to Mark Leishman.

Illustration from The Three Little Pigs in The Gavin Bishop Treasury

Illustration from The Three Little Pigs in The Gavin Bishop Treasury Photo: SUPPLIED/Gavin Bishop

Gavin Bishop with his book 'Aotearoa: The New Zealand Story'.

Gavin Bishop with his book 'Aotearoa: The New Zealand Story'. Photo: Supplied / NZ Book Awards Trust

10:17 Synthetic opioid being sold as cocaine results in hospital trips

Several people in Wairarapa have been hospitalised after taking a white powder they believed to be cocaine.

The substance is currently unknown but likely to be a synthetic opioid.

Meanwhile, across the country, it appears voluntary drug testing is on the rise.

To explain, Drug Foundation NZ's communications director Hayden Eastmond-Mein joins Mark Leishman.

Transparent plastic bags with white powder isolated on black background

Photo: 123RF File photo

10:30 Inside an abandoned art deco gem

Situated in the affluent Auckland suburb of Grey Lynn sits a house covered in mold inside and out, with a collapsed floor and a leaky roof.

Steve Partridge plans to retain the property's heritage features.

Steve Partridge plans to retain the property's heritage features. Photo: SUPPLIED/Ray White

But behind, on top and underneath all of that are glimpses of the original home, including chrome light fittings, ceiling cornices, geometric lines and curves.

Mark Leishman speaks to Steve Partridge, the new owner of the 1940s fixer-upper in Grey Lynn, about the challenge ahead.

One of the original Art Deco lights in the feature bay window.

One of the original Art Deco lights in the feature bay window. Photo: SUPPLIED/Ray White

10:45 Surfer attempting to paddle 235-kilometre river

Starting on Saturday, Brenden Hawkins will embark on an extraordinary challenge, attempting to become the first person to paddle a surfboard the full 235-kilometer length of the Whanganui River.

Also known as "Tarzan", Brenden is hoping his feat of endurance will also spark conversations around mental health and raise funds for charity I Am Hope. 

Whanganui River, North Island, New Zealand

Photo: 123RF

11:07 The Mixtape

This week on the Mixtape is Manuel Bundy, a legendary DJ based in Auckland, New Zealand. 

Manuel Bundy has held residencies at notable Auckland venues such as Shortland Bar, Cause Celebre, and Khuja Lounge. Bundy is also a member of the Turnaround DJ crew.

He appears on albums by Nathan Haines, Mark de Clive-Lowe, Sola Rosa, Relaxomatic Project, Dam Native, Soane, King Kapisi, Tim Finn, Ermehn, Breaks Co-Op and others, as well as supporting international acts like Norman Jay, Gilles Peterson, Coldcut and DJ Krush, he started Base FM.