Sunday Morning for Sunday 20 April 2025

8:10 Rebecca Hayter: High heels and gumboots 

Former Auckland-based journalist Rebecca Hayter turned her back on the profession when she bought a lifestyle block in Golden Bay and started afresh.  

In her book High Heels and Gumboots: A city girl and a lot to learn, she candidly tells of her adaptation to a new way of life — where she struggled but ultimately developed new skills and gained confidence.  

Rebecca joins Jim to relay some of those often hilarious and heart-warming tales. 

8:40 We need to talk about the elephant in the closet! 

After 32 years as a sales executive at Ford in Detroit, Mike O’Brien retired recently. In a farewell email to his colleagues, he included a spreadsheet of mixed metaphors and malaprops uttered in Ford meetings, from companywide gatherings to side conversations that O’Brien had recorded over the years. 

Mike joins Jim to talk about his favourites. 

8:55 The Sunday Morning Quiz 

Quiz master Jack Waley-Cohen is back with his Sunday Morning quiz.    

Jack is the mind behind the questions on BBC's infamous quiz show Only Connect, known for being both hard — and at the same time totally obvious.     

Wake up your brain and have a go! 

9:10 Mediawatch 

Mediawatch talks to Australian journalist Peter Greste about the new movie portraying his time in jail for his journalism in Egypt. Also - how the country’s biggest Christian broadcaster is bucking the media trend by expanding its output on air and online.    

9:40 Can singing help treat persistent pain?  

Music is well-known to lift the spirits, but a pilot programme led by the Welsh National Opera suggests it can help people suffering with chronic pain. 

An independent report into the programme, which is run in collaboration between the opera and NHS Wales, found two-thirds of participants experienced reduced pain levels. Vocal leader Jenny Pearson joins Jim to discuss. 

10:10 Is it time to ditch your phone case? 

When he bought his new iPhone, BBC technology correspondent Thomas Germain left the shop without a case – despite the best efforts of the salesperson. 

Risky? Yes. But Germain was keen to join what he calls the "case-free cult". For some, going caseless is a status symbol, he says, so he chanced a smashed-up screen in the name of a good story. 

He joins Jim to tell him what he found out. 

10:35 A cultural history of bagpipes  

From the Roman Empire to Russian Tsars and the Scottish Highlands, Richard McLauchlan’s new book The Bagpipes: A Cultural History explores the instrument’s huge impact across the centuries.   

McLauchlan joins Jim Mora to trace the story of bagpipers  – including class, warfare, and capitalism in the piping world. 

11:10 Should websites have 'safety ratings' to help protect users?

As a society we are increasingly living our lives online. We search, scroll, bank, talk and even date in the digital realm. We share huge amounts of personal information with little thought to how entities can be harvesting this information and on-selling it to data brokers.

One suggestion from Fast Company is that websites should protect users safety and privacy by having safety ratings, as we do for cars, appliances and even restaurants. Netsafe's Sean Lyons joins Jim to discuss. 

11:30 The power of labyrinths for meditation 

The Reverend Dr Lauren Artress first realised the power labyrinths at the height of the AIDS crisis, when she was Canon at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral.  

In 1996, Dr Artress founded her non-profit Veriditas to promote labyrinths as a spiritual tool for reducing stress and quieting the mind. 

She joins Sunday Morning to talk about this ancient tradition and how labyrinths remain a powerful meditation form.