Saturday Morning for Saturday 13 February 2021

8:10 Prof Lawrence Douglas: Donald Trump's second impeachment trial

The second impeachment trial of the former US President Donald Trump is entering a critical phase.

Amherst College law professor Lawrence Douglas joins us to discuss partisanship, the proceedings, and their ramifications for the US political scene.

Prof Douglas is the author of several books including 2020's Will He Go?: Trump and the Looming Election Meltdown.

08:30 Stuart Ritchie: debunking Covid bad science online

King's College London psychology lecturer Stuart Ritchie is on a mission to take on prominent Covid deniers, "lockdown sceptics", and influencers and celebs who spout anti-scientific guff.

His Anti-Virus website issues clear point by point takedowns of their claims and misconceptions, providing links to relevant research to stop people being misled by spurious claims.

Ritchie is also the author of Science Fictions, a book about the shortcomings of scientific research.

9:05 Ian Urbina: investigative journalism on the high seas

With thousands of mariners stranded in foreign waters by the coronavirus pandemic, and congestion and chaos affecting ports worldwide, there's no shortage of issues for maritime journalist Ian Urbina to cover.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter heads The Outlaw Ocean Project, a non-profit journalism organization based in Washington, D.C. that focuses on reporting about environmental and human rights crimes at sea.

His recent work has been documenting incursions by China's huge fishing fleet into foreign waters (including in the Pacific), and the origins of the vast cache of ammonium nitrate that led to last year's devastating port explosion in Beirut.

You can subscribe to Ian's emailer here:

9:30 Laura Jean McKay: winning Australia's richest literary prize

Palmerston North-based writer Laura Jean McKay recently won $125,000 at the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, taking out the Victorian Prize for Literature and the Fiction award for her novel The Animals in That Country.

The book imagines the consequences of a pandemic virus that gives infected humans the ability to understand animals.

McKay is a lecturer in creative writing at Massey University, with a PhD from the University of Melbourne focusing on literary animal studies.

She will be appearing at Adelaide Writers Week on February 27th, and the Bristol Festival of Ideas on March 16th. Both of these events can be attended online.

10:05 Ruth Coker Burks: caring for AIDS patients when no one else would

As a young single mother in Arkansas with no medical training, Ruth Coker Burks cared for around 1000 men dying from AIDS through their final days.

This was in the 1980s and 90s when the disease carried such a stigma that patients were shunned by their own families, and neglected by the medical profession at large.

She tells the incredible story in her book All The Young Men.

10:35 Danyl McLauchlan: exploring life's big questions

Protein scientist and writer Danyl McLauchlan is following his two 'esoteric cult' novels Unspeakable Secrets of the Aro Valley and Mysterious Mysteries of the Aro Valley with a collection of essays. 

Tranquillity and Ruin sees him in pursuit of contentment, exploring "ideas and paths that he hopes will make him freer and happier - or, at least, less trapped, less medicated and less depressed".

The quest takes him to a monastery to meditate, sees him joining a group of effective altruists as they try to figure out how to do most good in the world, and shoveling clay with a Buddhist monk.

11:05 Mihingarangi Forbes and Rahui Papa: NZ Wars: Stories of Tainui

A new documentary with accompanying podcast casts fresh light on a campaign in the New Zealand Wars.

NZ Wars: Stories of Tainui is the third part of a series produced for RNZ by Great Southern Television and looks at the events surrounding the invasion of the Waikato by soldiers of the Crown in 1863.

The action preserved the power of what is now one of Aotearoa's oldest political institutions- the Kīngitanga- and paved the way for land confiscations that remain the subject of debate to this day.

We speak to the show's host and creator Mihingarangi Forbes, and to Waikato Tribal Historian Rahui Papa.

You can watch the film here:and listen to the podcast here

11:35 Doug Wilson: what people over 65 need to know about Covid vaccines

Medical academic, former pharmaceutical executive, and author of Ageing For Beginners, Doug Wilson's back, reporting in from the other side of 80.

With the first batch of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine set to arrive next week and vaccination of high risk people due to start in a few weeks, it's a good time to talk about Covid-19 vaccines,

So what do people over 65 need to know before they roll up their sleeves for a jab? What's the latest data on efficacy and side effects for older people, and why have some countries restricted the use of certain vaccines for the elderly?

Books mentioned in this show:

The Outlaw Ocean - Crime and Survival in the Last Untamed Frontier
By Ian Urbina
ISBN: 9781529111392
Published by Vintage

All The Young Men: how one woman risked it all to care for the dying
Ruth Coker Burks
ISBN: 9781409189114
Published by Hachette

The Animals in That Country
By Laura Jean McKay
ISBN: 9781925849530
Published by Scribe

Tranquillity and Ruin
By Danyl McLauchlan
ISBN: 9781776564118
Published by VUP

Music played in this show

Song:Where Did Our Love Go
Artist: The Supremes
Played at 0930

Song: Harper Valley P.T.A.
Artist: Jeannie C. Riley
Played at 1030

Song: Kitchen Floor
Artist: Jess Cornelius
Played at 1130