This week in On The Dial, the Northland by-election, we go behind the scenes of Parliament’s Hansard office, talk to comedian Adrienne Truscott, and, of course, look back at the Cricket world cup.
The National Party is promising to take lessons from Winston Peters' historic win in Saturday's Northland by-election. The New Zealand First leader won the seat by 4-thousand votes, overturning former MP Mike Sabin's 9-thousand vote majority in last year's general elections. Mr Peters’ win means another NZ First MP in the house, and the number of National MPs will drop to 59, so the Government no longer has a majority to pass all of its proposed changes to the RMA.
Much of the nation sat gripped on Sunday night, as the Black Caps took the field for their first ever appearance in a cricket world cup final. We had high hopes, coming off that epic semi-final against South Africa, and looking at the form the team had been in over the tournament. But it wasn’t to be.
He'll go down as one of the greatest @BLACKCAPS, and we probably won't see another quite like him. #OnlyOneDanVettori pic.twitter.com/xgUFrtk1yc
— NZ Cricket Museum (@NZCricketMuseum) March 31, 2015
If you’ve ever sat in a class or a meeting and complained about having to take notes, spare a thought for Parliament’s Hansard reporters. They’re the ones that write down everything that politicians say in the debating Chamber – that means being able to type pretty quickly. We go on a tour.
A global genetic study into the eating disorder anorexia is being rolled out in New Zealand, and aims to collect the DNA of thousands of sufferers. The Founding Director of the University of North Carolina Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders, Professor Cynthia Bulik, was in New Zealand to launch the local arm of the global genetic study, and she spoke to Kathryn Ryan. If you’re struggling with an eating disorder, you can get help here.)
And comedian Adrienne Truscott performs her stand-up show about rape while drinking beer and naked from the waist down. According to society's nonsensical, arbitrary ideas about sexual assault, she says, that means she's asking for it. And those are just a couple of the many aspects of rape culture she satirises in her show for the New Zealand International Comedy Festival. Adrienne Truscott tells Charlotte Graham that she'd been kicking around the idea of doing a show about rape before the 2012 incident where US comedian Daniel Tosh told a heckler it would be funny if she got gang-raped.
On the Dial was produced by Megan Whelan, with technical production by William Saunders, and financial assistance from NZ on Air. Our music was composed and performed by Eddie Johnston, and the cover image was made by Hadley Donaldson.
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