Saturday Morning for Saturday 25 September 2021

8.10 Oscar Stilley: ‘disbarred and disgraced’ lawyer sues Texas abortion doctor

Earlier this week Arkansas man Oscar Stilley filed a lawsuit against a Texan doctor who performed an abortion and wrote about it publicly in defiance of the state’s strict new ‘Heartbeat Act’, which bans abortions beyond the first six weeks of pregnancy.

The law is unusual in that it allows ordinary citizens the right to sue anyone who performs an abortion, or anyone suspected of “aiding or abetting” an abortion. Successful suits can bring the plaintiffs awards of at least US$10,000.

Stilley, who was described in the complaint as a “disbarred and disgraced” lawyer, is one of the first people to file legal actions under the strict new law. 

8.15 Prof Mary Ziegler: the ‘deviousness’ of the Texas abortion ban

The recently enacted Texas Heartbeat Act, also known as Senate Bill 8, gives conservative lawmakers everything they wanted - the ability to ban abortion with none of the risk, says Professor Mary Ziegler. 

The key was not to criminalise abortions, Ziegler says, but to authorise private citizens to file lawsuits against anyone who performs or knowingly ‘aid and abets’ an abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy. If plaintiffs succeed they will receive a minimum of US$10,000.

With the first lawsuits now being filed against a San Antonio doctor, the Heartbeat Act is about to be tested. Meanwhile, a Republican lawmaker is proposing a similar act for the state of Florida.

Mary Ziegler is a professor at Florida State University College of Law, specialising in the legal history of reproduction, family, sexuality, and the constitution. She is the author of multiple books on abortion law, her most recent is Abortion and the Law in America: A Legal History, published by Cambridge University Press in 2020.

8.35 Thomas de Mallet Burgess: pushing the boundaries of NZ Opera

When a bunch of unruly British tourists caused havoc around the country back in 2019, the general director of the New Zealand Opera Thomas de Mallet Burgess was struck by a bolt of inspiration. It was a Shakespearean story that seemed ripe for the stage.

But when NZ Opera announced the Unruly Tourists production earlier this year, it was met with controversy and a third of the board resigned in apparent protest against the company’s new artistic direction.

But de Mallet Burgess, who originally hails from the UK, is undeterred. He has helmed unconventional productions around the globe and says if the artform is to remain relevant it must address contemporary social issues – from Trumpism to family violence – and some core repertoire works should be discontinued, at least temporarily.

9.05 Dianne Modestini: restoring one of the world’s most controversial paintings

The ‘Salvator Mundi’ is the first Leonardo da Vinci painting to be discovered for over a century, though some question whether it is in fact by the painter. In 2017 the painting, which has been dubbed ‘the male Mona Lisa’, was auctioned by Christie's fetching a world record price of US$450 million. A Saudi Arabian prince made the purchase but the painting’s current location is now unknown.

Dianne Modestini is a world-renowned restorer, conservator, and expert on historical paintings who had the painting brought to her for restoration in 2005. It sat in her New York apartment for five years while she painstakingly worked on it following the death of her husband, renowned Italian art restorer Mario Modestini. Tarnished by varnish and repaintings, when Modestini first started working on ‘Salvator Mundi’ she wasn’t convinced it was Da Vinci’s, but eventually she and other experts became convinced. 

Modestini features in a new documentary about the painting, The Lost Leonardo, which is in cinemas now. 

 

9.35  Kath Irvine: practical tips from Ōhau’s organic gardener

Horowhenua-based organic gardener Kath Irvine is passionate about the value of homegrown food - and the key, she says, is to keep it really simple. For her new book The Edible Backyard, Irvine documented a year on her own property to show how you can successfully produce bountiful crops throughout the seasons and provide a daily harvest with minimal wastage.

Irvine has been growing all the vegetables to feed her family for the last 20 years. She’s full of practical tips and is a proponent of using what you’ve got lying around to help you do the job. 

With spring in the air and people keen to get planting, Irvine will share some advice on making sure your soil is ready and how to win in the war of the weeds. Send any gardening questions to us at saturday@rnz.co.nz or text 2101.

10.05 Yanis Varoufakis: former Greek Finance Minister presents an alternative to capitalism

A well-known critic of the neoliberal world order, economist Yanis Varoufakis believes capitalism has become ‘techno-feudalism’ - with tech companies and Covid making the rich even richer and the poor poorer. But he also believes there is a democratic socialist alternative, which he presents in his 2020 novel Another Now: Dispatches from an Alternative Present. 

Varoufakis asks us to imagine what in 2025 a fairer and more equal society might look like. It’s a post-capitalist world in which work, money, land, digital networks and politics have been democratised — and where global imbalances and climate change cancel each other out.

Varoufakis was appointed as the Finance Minister of Greece in 2015, and led the country's negotiations with European leaders during the Greek government-debt crisis, following austerity measures that brought the country to the brink of ruin. 

He currently appears as part of the streaming Andidote 2021: Alternative Futures Festival presented by the Sydney Opera House. 

 

10.35 Jing Song: from accountant to award-winning wine maker

Winemaking was an accidental occupation for Jing Song. Having been sent to New Zealand from China alone as a 14-year-old for her studies, Song thought she would only be here for a few months. Those months turned into years and when she left high school, she attended the University of Otago to study accounting, going on to land a job at one of the country’s top accounting firms.

However, it was a chance friendship with veteran winemaker Grant Taylor that stole her away from bookkeeping and plunged her into the heady world of pinot noirs. Starting with jobs like pruning and shooting rabbits, Taylor taught Song the ropes of being a vintner. 

In 2012, Song founded her company Crown Range Cellar, and in 2015 she became the youngest wine entrepreneur and the first female winner of the Pinot Noir Trophy at the UK-based International Wine and Spirit Competition, the wine industry’s equivalent of the Oscars.

11.05  Annette Lees: exploring the enchanting nights of Aotearoa

Annette Lees has long had a love affair with the night time. As a child she found it both scary and enchanting, and as an adult she revels in the sense of wonderment found in swimming under the stars or walking in moonlight. But it was a newfound love of bats that was the genesis for her new book After Dark: Walking into the nights of Aotearoa.

Following on the heels of 2018’s Swim: a year of swimming outdoors in New Zealand, which was long-listed for an Ockham Award, Lees’ new book is an exploration of Aotearoa at night that weaves together elements of memoir, social history and unknown tales from the natural world.

When not swimming or studying the night sky, Lees is an environmental strategy consultant for her business Alternative Endings.

11.35 Dr Doug Wilson: the medical miracles are not for everyone

Doug Wilson is a medical academic author and our regular correspondent from the other side of 80. Wilson graduated from Otago University 60 years ago, and since then there have been significant changes in life expectancy thanks to medical marvels - yet only some people benefit. The figures remain quite different for Māori and Pacific Islanders. 

In terms of medical marvels, Wilson says he’s been associated with, or been witness to, the likes of new treatment for heart attacks, drugs for high blood pressure, strokes and cancer, transplants for kidneys and bone marrow, wonders in joint replacement technology and for your sight and hearing. But there’s also been a lifestyle revolution, with changes in things like diet, exercise, and relationships contributing to longer, healthier lives. Yet in New Zealand poverty remains a barrier. 

Books mentioned in this show

Abortion and the Law in America
By Mary Ziegler
ISBN 9781108735599
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

The Edible Backyard
By Kath Irvine
ISBN: 9780143775560
Imprint: RHNZ Godwit

Another Now: Dispatches from an alternative present
By Yanis Varoufakis.
ISBN: 9781847925640
Imprint: Bodley Head

After Dark: Walking into the nights of Aotearoa
By Annette Lees
ISBN: 9781988550268
Publisher: Potton And Burton