Sunday Morning for Sunday 19 May 2013

Congratulations to the Insight producer, Philippa Tolley and Mediawatch’s Colin Peacock. Their programmes are the joint winners in the category of Best Daily or Weekly Series – under an hour duration – at the 2013 New Zealand Radio Awards announced this week.  

8:12 Insight: Wanted: Women in Blue

Following report after report urging change, the police say they're committed to boosting the number of women in their ranks. However, fewer than a fifth of all sworn officers are female – a figure that has edged up only about three points over the last decade. Radio New Zealand’s police reporter, Craig McCulloch, explores why the numbers are so low, why it matters, and what's being done to rectify it.
Produced by Philippa Tolley.

8:40 Graeme Lay – Mrs Cook and her Husband, James

The personal life of Captain James Cook is not well known. This is partly due to his equally enigmatic wife Elizabeth, who destroyed all his letters towards the end of her long life.  Finding this out prompted Auckland novelist Graeme Lay to fill in the gaps himself, and recreate in a novel the story of a relationship that spanned almost 20 years and thousands of sea miles.
The Secret Life of James Cook, by Graeme Lay, is published by HarperCollins.

9:06 Mediawatch

On Mediawatch this weekend: Should publishers get taxpayer’s money for journalism, just like broadcasters have for years to make programmes? Why is a major magazine – and several scientists – complaining that our print media watchdog believes in magic? And when a member of parliament behaves badly under the influence, it’s a big story. But is same true for members of the media?
Produced and presented by Colin Peacock and Jeremy Rose.

9.40 Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe – Sri Lanka  After the War

As a dispute continues over Sri Lanka hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in November, Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Australia and New Zealand talks to Chris about allegations of human rights abuses and his Government’s bid to reconcile the population after the civil war four years ago, in which thousands of citizens were killed.

10:06 Ideas: God’s Invisible Hand – religion, morality and business

The Quakers not only played a leading role in the anti-slavery movement –  they founded many of Britain’s best known companies. The Seventh Day Adventist church founded, and still owns, New Zealand’s most successful cereal manufacturer – Sanitarium, and many of New Zealand’s early business elite were devoutly religious. Jeremy Rose talks to James Walvin, author of ‘The Quakers: Money and Morals’ and Sanitarium general manager Pierre van Heerden; and Chris Laidlaw talks to historian and author Ian Hunter about the influence of religion on the history of business and the economy in New Zealand.
Produced by Jeremy Rose.

10.55 Today’s Track

Mount Maunganui duo Joseph Thompson and Maia Potier, performing as Joseph and Maia, recently opened for Rodriguez in Auckland and their debut EP made the top 10 on iTunes. Today we play their track “Nothing I Can Do”.

11.05 Down the List

Where does the real power in New Zealand lie? That’s right, with a bunch of bureaucrats, underlings, officials, and lowly-ranked list MPs that you and I have never heard of.  Whether it’s in sport, politics, commerce, education or the arts, the only way to find out what’s really going on in this country is by going ... Down the List. Written by Dave Armstrong and produced by Radio New Zealand’s Drama department.  Today Jack Potts, an executive at Sky City Auckland, explains to his favourite croupier, Anna Diction, how he has brokered the convention centre deal with the Government

11.12 John Thwaites – Sustainable Australia

Last week saw the release of the ‘Sustainable Australia Report 2013: Conversations with the Future’. It is the first report of its kind in Australia. The Chair of the National Sustainability Council of Australia, Professor John Thwaites, talks to Chris about the challenges facing his country – including the growing gap between rich and poor, an ageing population, climate change, and pressure on energy, resources and food.

11.40 Wayne Brittenden’s Counterpoint

Wayne Brittenden has been Radio New Zealand’s correspondent in several capital cities over the years. Each week he gives fresh insights into a wide variety of topics of national and international concern, followed by Chris Laidlaw’s discussion of the issue with guests. Today, 130 years ago the word ‘eugenics’ was coined by Charles Darwin’s half cousin, explorer and anthropologist Francis Galton. Eugenics was seen as a valid science by many, even after the Nazis took it to new depths. Wayne looks at the history, and suggests that it’s making a sanitised comeback. Chris follows up with psychology professor Tony Taylor.