Nine To Noon for Friday 23 April 2021

 

 

09:05 Bus chaos "frustrating": Wellington Regional Council

There is more disruption for Wellington commuters with 100 bus drivers on strike and 26 bus routes not running, frustrating the Greater Wellington Regional Council which manages the city's bus contracts. NZ Bus and the Tramways Union have been in negotiations for weeks over a new collective agreement. The bus company had rejected an offer from the Wellington Regional Council to fund a living wage adjustment. The bus drivers began a 24 hour strike at 4 o'clock this morning - the bus company responded by issuing an indefinite lock-out notice which stops drivers returning to work until they sign up. The dispute comes on top of ongoing issues with Wellington's busses - mainly due to a chronic shortage of drivers - with services routinely running behind time, or not at all. Lynn speaks with Daran Ponter, chair of the Greater Wellington Regional Council, and Kevin O'Sullivan, Wellington branch secretary of the Tramways Union which represents bus drivers.

09:20 Measuring methane from space a step closer

A joint US-NZ space mission operation, MethaneSat aims to help tackle climate change through a methane-tracking satellite. It is the first New Zealand government funded space mission, with a $26 million investment. The Minister of Research, Science and Innovation, Megan Woods, has announced this morning that Mission Control for the project will be permanently based at Auckland University's Te Pūnaha Ātea-Auckland Space Institute, with the help of Rocket Lab. Dr Sara Mikaloff-Fletcher is an atmospheric scientist with NIWA who is leading a team of key New Zealand scientists who'll work alongside Harvard University on analysing the data.

09:30 Teddy bear's tale documents true story of Kiwi bomber squadron

A new children's book tells the little-known tale of a teddy bear that travelled the world with a New Zealand air squadron that fought in World War Two. Flight Lieutenant Henry Fanshaw was the official mascot of Number 75 Squadron, first formed during the First World War and made a 'New Zealand' squadron of the Royal Air Force in 1940. It flew more missions than any other Allied heavy bomber unit during the second world war. The story of the Squadron and the airmen is told through the eyes of the teddy bear in a new book by Gillian Torckler called "My Name is Henry Fanshaw: The true story of New Zealand's bomber squadron". 

09:45 Pacific correspondent Moera Tuilaepa-Taylor

Fijian Covid-19 containment measures have escalated after community transmission, meanwhile there's preliminary testing among staff at Papua New Guinea's parliament precinct following indications a quarter of them are infected. And Moera has the latest fallout from the Samoa election result. 

10:05 Helen Macdonald Vesper Flights

Acclaimed British nature writer Helen Macdonald's new book Vesper Flights is a collection of forty-one essays, some new and some older. They have a unifying concern for the world's sixth great extinction, landscapes growing emptier each year; somehow becoming less than when we were children. These stories are also an exploration of humans' ability to connect with animals, and crucially are a rallying cry to fight to save them.  Helen is famous for her best selling 2015 book H is for Hawk.  Helen is also a professional falconer, a science historian and affiliate of the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge.

10:35 Unity Books review: Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker

Briar Lawry from Unity Books reviews Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes, published by Orion

10:45 The Reading

How to Hear Classical Music, episode five. Written and read by by Davinia Caddy.

11:05 Music reviewer Grant Smithies​

We'll hear two key tracks from the new album by UK Afro-jazz collective Nubiyan Twist, alongside gems from teenage Brisbane family band Tangled Shoelaces and Auckland indie pop critter, Merk. 

11:30 Sports commentator Sam Ackerman

Sam talks to Lynn about latest chapter in Zac Guildford's troubled life, an incredible week in the world of football, with the biggest clubs in Europe trying to form a breakaway Super League where the rich would get richer, and Lydia Ko ends her long title drought in women's golf. 

 

11:45 The week that was 

Comedians Te Radar and Karen O'Leary bring the humour, including the story of the Italian hospital employee accused of skipping work for 15 years, on full pay.

 

Music played in this show

Title: Black Crow
Artist: Joni Mitchell
Broadcast time: 10:36