In the Loop

In the Loop

Each Tuesday New Zealand Herald Journalists Katie Harris and Cheree Kinnear take a closer look at an issue, event or topic that’s been filling up our news feeds or taking over our water cooler chats. Whether that’s the reality of working in a high-end brothel, the growing obsession with white-collar magic mushroom use or a day in the life of a West Auckland cop we’ll take you behind the scenes of some of the biggest stories. From politics, crime and even a little bit of entertainment we’re here to keep you in the loop.

Episodes

July 5, 2024 30 mins

At 22, Danielle Gare was drugged and sexually abused in a bathroom at Christchurch’s Mama Hooch bar. Six years on, the Dunedin early childhood teacher shares her story.

Today’s episode carries a trigger warning for serious sexual assault, drugging, and significant traumatic experiences. Given the distressing matter discussed, this content is for adults only. This is an important subject but we urge listener discretion. 

Sexual harm...

Mark as Played

Today’s episode carries a trigger warning for serious sexual assault, drugging, and significant traumatic experiences. Given the distressing matter discussed, this content is for adults only. This is an important subject but we urge listener discretion. 

In late 2017 Sophie Brown, then 19, was of hundreds of young people regularly partying at the Mama Hooch bar. Naive to the club’s dark underbelly until she was drugged and sexually...

Mark as Played

Over the weekend Kellie-jay Keen-Minshull, also known as Posie Parker, arrived in Aotearoa for her Let Women Speak tour.  The British activist widely labelled as anti-transgender and self-described as a women’s rights activist, caused a stir before she even stepped on Kiwi soil. Her talks had already been met with large protests across the ditch, and at her Melbourne rally, more than 20 neo-Nazi's did a Hitler salute on the steps o...

Mark as Played
March 20, 2023 23 mins

Modern dating can be a minefield and navigating sex with a new person can make things even more nerve-wrecking. A recent Bumble survey found 39 per cent of Kiwi singles admit to feeling inexperienced in the bedroom which impacts their self-confidence. Today on the Herald’s In the Loop podcast, Bumble’s resident sexologist Chantelle Otten speaks to hosts Cheree Kinnear and Katie Harris about attraction, chemistry and how to gain con...

Mark as Played
March 13, 2023 45 mins

A week after Cheree and her partner gifted a little red box containing two tiny booties to her parents, she was lying in a hospital bed learning she had just lost her baby. Today Cheree speaks about her heartbreak after miscarrying late last year, and why she believes we need to be more open about pregnancy loss. 

This episode focuses heavily on miscarriage so please take care while listening.

Mark as Played

In this special (early release!) episode of In the Loop, Katie chats to her sister Laura and her friend Nicky about all things polyamory. Laura is in a long-term relationship with two other women, and Nicky is also polyamorous but is not in a committed relationship right now. The pair share their feelings on monogamy, jealousy, what it's like being in love with more than one person and why they chose polyamory. We loved this ep, es...

Mark as Played

Today, Cheree and Katie sit down with a former Calendar Girls worker Alice* to speak about the collective contract negotiations that they claim resulted in 19 women getting dropped. She also speaks about wider issues in the industry and what they would like to see change. 

*Alice's name has been changed to protect her privacy. 

Calendar Girls claimed in a statement it had not changed its private dancer cost for 12 years. “In hindsi...

Mark as Played
February 20, 2023 40 mins

Lip flips, buccal fat removal, and baby botox are all in a minutes scrolling on social media these days. Whether it’s on your favourite celebrity, colleague, or even your mother, the latest cosmetic procedures have become the topic du jour for many Sunday brunches. Sarah Hart, an Auckland-based cosmetic medicine doctor has seen beauty trends come and go for decades. She speaks to In the Loop about social media trends, what actually...

Mark as Played

Redundancies, contract disputes and personal grievances are always in the headlines, but what’s it really like for the lawyers at the coal face? Today In the Loop host Katie Harris chats to senior solicitor Lizzie Thomas about contracts, non-compete clauses and the common cases that come across her desk. In the episode the pair discuss the importance of thoroughly reading employment contracts, common mistakes people make when signi...

Mark as Played
February 6, 2023 47 mins

Bella Howarth, 22, didn’t exactly fall into social media fame. While TikTok was never a specific ambition, from age 12 Howarth knew she wanted to make videos.“I was trying to be like a vlogger, like Zoella, I think my handle [on YouTube] was Dorkabella.”While her YouTube career wasn’t meant to be, and she has now scraped all evidence from the internet, she’s now found success on the video-sharing app TikTok. Speaking to the Herald’...

Mark as Played
January 30, 2023 27 mins

It’s infiltrated your group chat, is filling up your TikTok feed and already being made into a six-part series. No, this not the latest Kardashian reality season, it’s the gritty, gruesome reality of our true crime addiction. On today’s episode of In the Loop, hosts Cheree Kinnear and Katie Harris chat to crime reporter and author Jared Savage about why people are so attracted to stories about others’ darkest moments. 

WARNING: Thi...

Mark as Played

Once a year since J* was 14 she would try insert a tampon. The Wellington woman, who wants to be known by her initial J, attempted the annual ritual without success for years, hoping that maybe one day it would finally work. What J didn't know at the time was that she has vaginismus, a medical condition where the vagina tightens up when you try insert something into it. Today on the show J chats to Cheree and Katie about the condit...

Mark as Played

A West Auckland cop who left the force earlier this year says gun violence is becoming the "norm" and some officers' anxiety is going "through the roof".
The former officer, who was only on the force for four years, joined Katie and Cheree to discuss why he left the force and the realities of life on the frontlines.

This episode was recorded earlier this year and is being rereleased over summer. 


For more on the story Katie ...

Mark as Played

Endometriosis affects roughly one in 10 women, and those with a uterus, in Aotearoa. For this month's Deep Dive, Katie talks with Sophie Sager, a writer who has been open about her struggles to get a diagnosis for endometriosis and wants to draw more attention to the condition and the difficulties to get it taken seriously.

This episode was recorded earlier this year and is being rereleased over summer. 

Follow us on Instagram at i...

Mark as Played

Michaela and Zach Cotogni, who live in the Wellington region, are well-known in the magic mushroom community, and are the minds behind the book Blue Honey, which documents the experience of Kiwis using mushrooms containing psilocybin. On this Deep Dive episode the pair discuss how their lives have been changed by the substance, why they decided to speak about their magic mushroom use and what their hopes are for the law in New Zeal...

Mark as Played

As we wrap up In the Loop for 2022 we take a look back on some of our favourite episodes from the year that's been. Thanks for joining us each week, we'll be back in your ears on January 31st!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark as Played

Today the Black Ferns have been announced at the 2022 New Zealand Herald Our Heroes champions. Katie and Cheree sat down with team members Ruby Tui, Kendra Cocksedge and Kennedy Simon to look back on the year that's been :)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark as Played

Indonesia has long been hailed as a tropical paradise by Kiwi travelers.Cheap airfares, friendly locals and well-priced accommodation is enough to lure many out of their winter hibernation. But a revised criminal code, which includes a law labelled by some as a “bonk ban”, could make the classic Bali getaway far less alluring for New Zealanders. Especially the unmarried ones. On this week’s podcast, hosts Cheree Kinnear and Katie H...

Mark as Played

Parents refusing to use vaccinated blood for their gravely ill baby have said they are desperate for their child to be operated on, but claim they need “safe blood”. Today on the Herald’s In the Loop podcasts co-hosts Katie Harris and Aaron Dahmen unpack the case and what experts believe. Later in the episode the review into the death of five-year-old Malachi Subecz (6.45), what Kiwis really think about 16-year-olds voting (13.10),...

Mark as Played

Zeisha Fremaux was at the top of her game. Earlier this year the Auckland-based DJ was playing festivals all over New Zealand, had an Aussie Tour scheduled and an American festival debut all lined up.

Now she has a “mouth and tongue full of ulcers”, painful medical treatments, a “hell of a lot of hair loss” and has had to put her music career on hold. 

Zeisha sits down with In the Loop podcast’s Katie Harris to tell her story — and...

Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

    Dateline NBC

    Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

    The Burden

    The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.

    SmartLess

    "SmartLess" with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, & Will Arnett is a podcast that connects and unites people from all walks of life to learn about shared experiences through thoughtful dialogue and organic hilarity. A nice surprise: in each episode of SmartLess, one of the hosts reveals his mystery guest to the other two. What ensues is a genuinely improvised and authentic conversation filled with laughter and newfound knowledge to feed the SmartLess mind. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of SmartLess ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.

    The Breakfast Club

    The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2026 iHeartMedia, Inc.