Nine To Noon for Tuesday 27 November 2018

 

 

 

09:05 NZ’s Motor Neuron mortality rate highest in world

A new global study reveals New Zealand has the world's highest mortality rate for motor neuron disease, with far more sufferers than previously thought. The Global Burden of Disease study shows New Zealand has the world's highest MND death rate: 2.2 deaths per 100,000 people. It also finds finds that more than 800 people are currently living with the disease in New Zealand - more than double the estimate of the local charity supporting people with the illness - Motor Neuron Disease New Zealand. Lynn talks with Professor Valery Feigin , a neurologist and Director of the National Institute for Stroke and Applied Neurosciences at Auckland University of Technology (AUT)

09:15 The Ombudsman & the fight for compensation

Ombudsman for the Republic of Ireland Peter Tyndall talks with Kathryn about the Magdalene Laundries survivors and his role in their fight for compensation. The Magdalene Laundries were a network of institutions run by Catholic orders in Ireland where tens of thousands of so-called "fallen women" were incarcerated and forced to work, from the late 18th to late 20th centuries. The Irish state gave a formal apology in 2013 and set up a compensation scheme. Mr Tyndall's investigation into the scheme found that many women were being refused financial redress which was "manifestly unfair". He talks about the role of the Ombudsman and what lessons the New Zealand government could learn, as the Royal Commission of Inquiry into abuse gets underway here.

09:30 Why babies easily learn new languages, adults not so much!

Babies are sponges for learning new languages, whereas adults find it much harder. Anne Cutler is a Distinguished Professor at Western Sydney University specialising in linguistics. Her research centres on how humans recognise spoken language and how the brain's processes, decode speech. Professor Cutler explains how our brains become specialised in our native language, particularly in adulthood, whereas a baby has more linguistic versatililty. She is giving a public lecture at Victoria University.

09:45 US bound migrant caravan and belated weather warnings

From the US, Washington bureau chief of The Guardian, David Smith with what's happening to the 500 migrants who attempted to storm the US border and were repelled by tear gas by border officials. Also a US government climate assessment report which contradicts President Trump's climate change denials.

10:05 John Carreyrou: Bad blood in Silicon Valley

Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou started digging into unusual practices at a Silicon valley start-up, Theranos, in 2014. What he uncovered was fraud and deception at a monumental scale. The company was headed by a charismatic young woman, Elizabeth Holmes, who had come up with an idea to make a blood-testing method that was faster, cheaper and more accurate than the conventional methods. But the vision was built on false promises and empty dreams althougth it didn't stop the company from raising billions in venture capital. John Carreyrou kept digging despite being warned off and exposed the scam in many articles and his book, Bad Blood.

10:35 Book review - The Long Take by Robin Robertson

Stella Chrysostomou from Volume bookstore reviews The Long Take by Robin Robertson, which is published by Pan Macmillan.   

10:45 The Reading - Ghost Dance

Ghost Dance written and told by the late Douglas Wright, episode 7 of 10 

11:05 Trademe takeover approach, Fletcher Building profit warning

Business commentator Rod Oram takes a look at the Trademe takeover approach from a UK investment fund, and Fletcher Building issues yet another profit warning, and has a very bad AGM.

11:30 The overshadowed French Navigators and Naturalists

Mike Lee is known to many as an Auckland councillor and before that the chair of Auckland Regional Council. But he is also a keen historian, French speaker and enthusiast of the contributions that early French explorers made to New Zealand's history. He has spent 12 years researching and writing his book, Navigators and Naturalists: French Exploration of New Zealand and the South Seas (1769-1824). It's a work that hopes to shed more light on the work these explorers put in - often at great personal cost - to bring stories of New Zealand back to Europe.

11:45 Sky TV's new CEO & radical Maori TV changes

Media commentator Gavin Ellis looks at the problems facing Sky TV's subscription service, as Martin Stewart is announced to replace long time Chief Executive John Fellet. Also, Maori TV's announcement of radical changes to news and current affairs leaves an awful feeling that it will mean less, not more, scrutiny of Maoridom.

Gavin Ellis is a media commentator and former editor of the New Zealand Herald.  He can be contacted on gavin.ellis@xtra.co.nz