Sunday Morning for Sunday 9 September 2018

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7.11 Libby Burgess: NZ women with advanced breast cancer denied chance of longer life

Patients with advanced breast cancer in New Zealand are dying twice as quickly as those in comparable countries. A report called "I'm Still Here" released on Friday by the Breast Cancer Foundation shows high mortality rates for New Zealanders with advanced breast cancer, and calls for urgent action. Libby Burgess is the chair of the Breast Cancer Aotearoa Coalition and discusses the issue. 

7:23 Dave Worsley: US Open update

It's been a pretty dramatic US Open and the men's final won't feature Federer or No 1 seed Rafael Nadal. Dave Worsely is attending his 13th US open and speaks ahead of the final between Serena Williams and 20-year-old Naomi Osaka. Dave also talks about the vibe of the US Open and how it differs from Wimbledon. 

7.30 The House

This week on our parliamentary programme - across the world, female MPs get harassed, bullied and assaulted at appalling rates. But they also form a sisterhood of sorts to work together across parties for unified goals. Daniela Maoate-Cox talks to the co-chairs of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians - Jo Hayes from National  and Louisa Wall from Labour.

7.47 Probiotics study casts doubt on effectiveness

A new study on the effectiveness of probiotics has uncovered some surprising findings.  The study undertaken in Israel has found that taking probiotics doesn't necessarily mean they actually take up residence in your gut. Researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science undertook a number of experiments exploring the human gut, and found that many people's digestive tracts prevent standard probiotics from successfully colonising them. Dr Olivier Gasser, is the team leader of Translational Immunology at the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research and discusses the findings. 

8:10 Insight: Nurses' pay and staffing deal - hospital crisis averted?

Will the latest nursing pay and staffing deals ease the pressure? Karen Brown heads into a ward in the country's busiest hospital to find out.

8.38 Jennifer Valentish: patriarchy in the world of addiction

Journalist and author Jennifer Valentish wrote a part-memoir part-research book, Woman of Substances. It details her own substance abuse as well as looking at what makes an addict and how they are treated. She discovered that most programmes, approaches and research are predominantly made for men. She is in New Zealand to speak at the Cutting Edge conference in Rotorua from September 12. The event includes a mix of speakers organised by The Drug and Alcohol Practitioners of Aotearoa New Zealand. She shares her thoughts on what changes should be made in the way women with addictions are treated.

9:06 Mediawatch

With Colin Peacock. This week he talks to an expert urging the media here to cut ties with Facebook. Also, how Nauru keeps the media at bay - and how the bill to get the PM there this week sent the media into a spin.

9:37 Melanie Lynskey: with thanks to Miranda Harcourt

A new series called Castle Rock starts on Lightbox on September 13 and stars Kiwi actress Melanie Lynskey. Castle Rock is a psychological horror series set in a Stephen King multiverse, that takes place in Castle Rock, Maine, a location familiar to fans of King's work. One of the executive producers is JJ Abrams and it also stars Sissy Spacek and Bill Skarsgård.  Lynskey kicked off her acting career in Heavenly Creatures and has since gone on to have an incredibly varied career in the US: she says she has Miranda Harcourt to thank for how her career has turned out.  

10.04 Carrie Exton: how the world measures wellbeing  

When it comes to wellbeing, few people would have a better sense of how the world is faring than Carrie Exton, head of monitoring global wellbeing and its progress in the OECD's Statistics and Data group. Exton is the  the lead author for the OECD's flagship well-being publication How's Life? and she co-authored the OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-Being. She was in New Zealandf or the Third International Conference on Wellbeing and Public Policy. Her speech was  'The OECD Better Life Initiative: where are we now, and what's next?'

10:30 Lynette McLeod: containing cats

A conference being held in NZ from 17-19 September features the topic of human behaviour change, to help improve outcomes for animals. The inaugural Companion Animal Conference is being run by the NZ Companion Animal Council. The idea behind it is that if we don't understand why humans do the things they do, and what drives them to change, we will never be effective at making the world a better place for animals. Lynette McLeod is a postdoctoral fellow at the School of Psychology and Behavioural Science, at the University of New England, NSW, who is interested in why humans are reluctant to consider containing their cats.

10:45 Smartphones as security blankets: John Hunter

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine discovered that the mere presence of a cellphone can have a soothing effect in social situations. The lead author of the study, John Hunter,  found that participants in their research who simply had their phone with them without using it were calmer than others who either did not have their phones with them or the group who were using their phones. The findings have been included in the latest issue of the behavioural medicine journal Psychosomatic Medicine. John Hunter explains that the results were a surprise to the researchers.

11.04 Paul Hersey: tips for tackling the Great Walks

We have nine official Great Walks,  one of which is actually a great river journey, that range in length from 32 to 82 kilometres long. Most are part of our national park network. Paul Hersey is a Dunedin writer and photographer who is big on walking, climbing, cycling and surfing... and with his equally active wife Shelley has written New Zealand's Great Walks: The Complete Guide. It explains how to tackle the walks themselves but also looks at the flora and fauna and history of each as well as the conservation issues.

11:35 Mr T: getting South Auckland cycling

Teau Aiturau is using his weight loss efforts to encourage more Pacific families living in South Auckland to get on a bike. Affectionately known as Mr T he set up a charitable trust, Triple Teez to give bikes to locals from his Mangere workshop. The bikes are donated and he works on them to bring them up to scratch. He also teaches the recipients basic skills to make sure they can carry out any repairs to keep them cycling. Wallace Chapman visits him at his garage and he talks about his foray into the world of cycling and what needs to be done to get more South Aucklanders out of cars and onto bikes.