Full Show Podcast: 03 August 2025

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
It's Sunday. You know what that means.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
It's the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin and Wiggles for
the best selection of great reads use Talks EDB.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
Good morning, Welcome to the Sunday Session. I'm Franchesca Racon.
What'd you until midday? Good to have you with us.
Coming up in just a moment, Conservation Minister Tama Portaka
is with us to talk about increasing revenue from conservation land.
Also today, I'm joined by screenwriter and actors Sophie Henderson.
I think she is one of our most talented screenwriters.
I love the characters she creates and quite often brings

(00:50):
to life herself. Her latest film is called Workmates. It
had its world premiere on Friday night at the New
Zealand International Film Festival, and Sophie's going to be with
me just after ten to tell us all about it.
After elevin, doctor Rachel Clark joins me to talk about
her book, The Story of a Heart. This is a
the beautiful book. It tells the extraordinary story of organ
donation and in particular the case of a donation of

(01:12):
a nine year old girl's heart that saved the life
of a nine year old boy. Not only does Rachel
take us through the whole process, but she also covers
off the history of organ transplants and gives us an
insight of what it is like to be a nurse
or a surgeon who works in this field. Doctor Rachel
Clark is with us after eleven and as always, you
are most welcome to text any time throughout the morning.
On ninety two ninety two.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
The Sunday session.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
So if you're a footballer or you have a young
footballer in the family, there's a chance you received an
email from New Zealand Football on Friday asking you to
have your say on the new online casino gambling bill.
It's not just New Zealand Football who are making their
participants aware of how this bill could potentially impact them.
Thirty three of our biggest sports codes have come together
in an impressively coordinated effort to warn the government about

(02:01):
the massive impact this bill could have on community sport.
So basically, it will likely become more expensive for you
or your kids to belong to a club if new
online gambling outlets aren't required to hand over a percentage
of their revenue for local community good. So for the
last fifty years or so, we've balanced a trade off,
haven't we When it comes to gambling. It is legal,

(02:23):
but we but a share of gambling revenues must go
back to the community. So currently about one hundred and
seventy million every year is distributed by Gaming Trust to
community sport one hundred and seventy million. So we all
know this trade off. Some good comes out of something
which is damaging for others. The global online casino market

(02:45):
is experiencing unprecedented growth. In twenty twenty four, the market
was valued at approximately US nineteen point seven billion. It's
projected to reach fifty six point eight billion by twenty
thirty three. New Zealanders can already access these offshore gaming websites,
but it is against the lord to host them in
New Zealand. So to get in on the action and

(03:05):
clip the ticket along the way, the government is proposing
a framework for licensing and regulation of up to fifteen
online casino gambling operators in New Zealand. This is allowing
revenue to be brought back to New Zealand local oversight
and consumer protections. Now this may sound like a perfectly
reasonable approach to you, but there's one thing missing, and

(03:25):
that is the community contribution or an alternative revenue stream
for these community organizations. So, if online gambling grows is expected,
lest people will be spending their money on traditional gambling outlets.
Less revenue means less grants, sport becomes more expensive than
out of reach for much of the community, and grassroots
sports organizations which are already struggling disappear. No amount of

(03:50):
sausage sizzles is going to cover the declining funding. So
the argument that these new online casinos should not have
to make community payments because it would be a perverse
incentive to increase gambling activity to increase revenue to cover
that contribute is plain silly because I am pretty sure

(04:10):
increasing gambling activity is one of their main KPIs regardless
of where the revenue goes. And if the government is
worried about New Zealand becoming one of the highest taxed
jurisdictions for online gambling, then set aside some of the
tax revenue to make up for the lost community funding.
Why are we pandering to online gambling outfits to do

(04:31):
so makes what is already an uncomfortable trade off just
feel wonky. Club Sport is part of KEEPI culture off.
It gets us off our devices and outdoors. It gets
us moving, It keeps us connected and working together, and
it teaches us to be humble. It inspires tenacity, persistence
and determination. It allows us to dream and be ambitious

(04:53):
and achieve great things, makes us laugh and cry, celebrate
and commiserate, and brings out the best and sometimes worse
than us. But without it, we have lost something that's
core to our communities. What a ridiculous thing put at risk?
Find the email, get involved.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
The Sunday session.

Speaker 3 (05:13):
So we have got the Chair of Cycling New Zealand,
Martin Sneed and Heat is leading the opposition against this bill.
He is going to join us shortly. Can you hear
your thoughts? Look, you might object to the bill purely
because you don't think it's a good idea to allow
fifteen online casinos to start advertising and enticing people to gamble.
Ninety two ninety two is the text number. It is
twelve past nine. You with news talks FB.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
There's no better way to start your Sunday.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
It's the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin and Wiggles for
the best selection of great breaths used.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
Talks f B.

Speaker 3 (05:47):
Nine fifteen.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
Right.

Speaker 3 (05:48):
Foreign tourists will now have to pay to visit our
most popular Department of Conservation sites and walking tracks. The
fee of twenty to forty dollars will be charged for
the Cathedral Cove, Tonga Edo Crossing, the Milford Track and
Mount Cook, where it's estimated tourist makeup about eighty percent
of all visitors. It's also been announced concessions will be
made need for more businesses who want to operate on

(06:08):
conservation land to discuss conservation Minister Tama Portaka is with
me now, I very much appreciate your time this morning. Minister.

Speaker 4 (06:15):
Good morning Might Torokyota, and thanks for having me on
the show.

Speaker 3 (06:20):
Hey, how do you determine what sites would have fees
in which one won't, which won't.

Speaker 4 (06:27):
Well, I've done an assessment. Look, we're really clear that
right around the world, particularly in our friendly neighbors like Australia, Canada,
United States, people get charged to go on to national parks,
and we think that in some places in his own
very small number of places, particularly where they are high
visitor numbers, where they are high international chur numbers, tourist numbers,

(06:48):
and where there's some infrastructure costs that go with it
that we should contemplate it In these four places are
the first four that we really want to look into
and charge.

Speaker 3 (06:58):
Are you confident tourists will pay the fee and won't
just avoid those sites?

Speaker 4 (07:03):
Yes, And I'm very confident that over the recent months
rounded public consultation and key wes actually want foreign tourists
to be charged in some places. Not only that some
recent international visitors. So those also suggest that international visitors
are prepared to pay the charge as they are in
a variety of places, whether you get a band or
Oolaru or whole range of other well known iconic locations

(07:26):
throughout the Pacific RIM. So I don't think it's new
to international tourists to have to pay to go to
these sorts of iconic and magistic locations. But importantly, we
can use that money to reinvest in bi diversity, reinvest
in infrastructure around these places where they're being charged.

Speaker 3 (07:42):
You've estimated that this is going to bring in sixty
two million in revenue. What's that based on?

Speaker 4 (07:48):
It's based on assessments that the team down at the
Department and Conservation has done doing some comparisons and estimating
the total numbers of international tourists that are visiting these
places and might be more, it might be less, but
that's the current sort of middle of the range estimate.

Speaker 3 (08:03):
Is that sixty two million per year? Yes, okay, So
if I had I looked at the I looked at
the Department of Conservation and the number of people they
estimated across Tonguerero in the last sort of twenty twenty three,
twenty twenty four seasons only one hundred and five thousand people.
You've got fourteen thousand on Milford Track per year. I
can't quite get up to sixty two million. I get
I get to about twelve, you know, and I'm kind

(08:25):
of going, I'm scratching. We hit a little bit.

Speaker 4 (08:28):
It's actually Melford Sound, not just Milford Track. Melford Track
has two walks. One's a guided walk and one is
the public walk. But we're actually Melford Sound. So I
think you might have read or report that and advigil
it said Milford Track. Yes, no, the Prime Minister, when
you go to Milford Sound, yeah, well, Melford Sound it's
about a million visitors a year and did old ocument.

Speaker 5 (08:48):
Okay, there's a lot of visitors.

Speaker 3 (08:50):
That makes a little bit more sense now that your
prime prime Minister actually said Milford track yesterday in his speech.
So I was, I was, I was going off the
Prime minister. Okay, that makes sense?

Speaker 6 (09:00):
No sound yeah?

Speaker 3 (09:01):
Great? Okay, So how do you colict that?

Speaker 4 (09:05):
How do you you There's a variety of ways, mate,
So in the well, let me let me use an example.
I was responsible for coordinating a concession out in the
Hodaki Gulf with boats going out to dung Etil tool
or to Tapoo Anti Titdy MARTINGI yep. And a concession
fee was paid by the boat operator to dock. It
might have been two bucks fifty per tourists. Wasn't just

(09:28):
international terrorists, it was all terrists. So you can run
it through concession holders that are already in place and operating,
and they can collect it and just pass it through
to doc. That's one way. Another way, if you go
to a place called wild Tapoo down in between Droutzo
and Topol, there's actually a turnstyle, So you've got to
walk through a turnstyle to go in and see the

(09:48):
Champagne Pool and another beautiful geothermal features down in that part
of town. There's different ways you can do it. We
just have to figure out what's the most optimal way,
and one that thinks in with concession holders already actually
is helpful.

Speaker 3 (10:03):
Are you like you to add more sites in the future.

Speaker 4 (10:06):
Look at it in a couple of suits, but at
least just start looking at these four And I don't
think it's most of the conservation in this estate or
the vast majority of some of these places might be keen,
might be fifteen, but it's not one thousand or three hundred.

Speaker 3 (10:20):
So how will.

Speaker 4 (10:20):
There's only so many places where you've got a high
level of international terrorists, yes, and that are suited to
this type of arrangement. It's not all places, and it's
not most places. How will the here is wone pay mate,
here is wonne.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
And they shouldn't have to nature. How we're going to
make sure that they're not being hit up for that money?

Speaker 4 (10:41):
Well, I'll give you an example. There's differential pricing in
the Great Walks, so international terists actually pay more than
keywis when you go in the Great Walks and use
those beautiful huts out in the Boonies and that's the
sort of approach we might be able to use for this,
but again the implementation details are yet to be resolved,
but we just want to foreshadow actually we want to
generate more revenue in some of these iconic places, reinvest

(11:04):
it back into those places, but make sure also recognize
that these are worth going to and people should pay,
just like you and I would pay if we went
to Ularu.

Speaker 3 (11:14):
Absolutely absolutely don't have a problem with that. The money reinvested,
where is it going to be reinvested? Is it going
to come back to your ministry?

Speaker 4 (11:24):
Well, my expectation has reinvested in place in those places
where the money has been generated.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
Yea.

Speaker 4 (11:29):
And particularly for the bid diversity challenges were because you know,
we've got a lot of endangered species in this country
that makes other things and actually a lot of weeds
as well, things like wild and pines and other things.
So these places they do have their own needs. Let's
say Cathedral Grove, Motorhills. If I'm going to hate beautiful place,
Marine Reserve, absolutely gorgeous. I don't know if you've been there,

(11:50):
but everyone must go so down there. There have been
some problems with the car parking, bit of movement in
the in the concrete, it's all broken up up the
top of Cathedral Cove. We've had to put in some
money to fix up tracks after cycling Gabrielle, and there's
also just adjacent to or nearby, there's some other beautiful
tracks which a lot of people actually don't know about.

(12:12):
So you know, when we if we're able to implement
that at Cathedral Cover, reinvest that money and help with
some of the infrastructure there and some of the biodivision
of course love to see more foreign terracity and ice
creams that.

Speaker 3 (12:25):
I'm sure the Locans.

Speaker 7 (12:28):
Trumpets.

Speaker 3 (12:29):
You have also announced more concessions would be creative for
businesses to run on conservation land. What kind of businesses
were talking about? And can you guarantee that these concessions
will still protect the conservation land?

Speaker 5 (12:41):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (12:41):
Yeah, I think straight up conservation legislation is pretty clattid,
but it's very busy and it's actually hard for decision
makers to get to a decision at times around awarding concessions, permits, licenses,
leases or not. We just want to make it easier
so both decision makers and also applicants the businesses, organizations,

(13:02):
community groups, environmental groups who are using the estate have
more clarity about how decisions have been made and the
timing to make those decisions. So we want to help
generate more jobs. It's well foreshadowed and well known. This
government really wants to create the opportunities for businesses to
create more jobs and more growth, more higher wages. And

(13:24):
to do that on the conservationis state, we need to
change the legislation to enable these application processes just to
come a lot more decluttered. That's the reasoning behind it all.
We expect if we are able to make it easier
for conservation decision makers to pub artify, good hard working
people down at dock to make decisions. If we declutter

(13:47):
the legislation, they can make those decisions in a more
time and matter, and more businesses will be able to
unleash their economic potential alongside and within and on dock lands.
We're talking about thir about a third of all land
in New Zealand and it generates about up sixty million
dollars for the Department of Conservation right now. Well, I

(14:11):
don't think that that's really what New Zealanders want. We
want to be able to generate more jobs and come
by using the conservation estate, but also reinvest that into
protection things that are very important to us nature, the environment,
these endangered species, those especially birds and skinks and other things.

Speaker 3 (14:32):
Tama Potucker, thank you very much for your time this morning.
Appreciate it. No problem touch you down on that was
the Conservation Minister king to hear your thoughts on this.
I don't have a problem at all if we have
a select you know, maybe ten sites around New Zealand
where we have international tourists paying to access. Don't have
problem with that at all. I'm just hoping though that

(14:53):
you know, you don't have tourists who are working on
a budget here and spend the money on that, but
don't spend it on the local businesses. Now you might
be from one of these areas. You might have an
opinion as to whether that would be the case. You
can text No. Twenty two ninety.

Speaker 2 (15:07):
Two the Sunday session.

Speaker 8 (15:11):
Right.

Speaker 3 (15:11):
As I mentioned earlier, New Zealand's biggest sporting codes adjoining
forces to fight a law change they say threatens the
future of grassroots sport. The government is proposing the Online
Casino Gambling Bill. The legislation would regulate online casinos and
allow them to operate in New Zealand. So the issue
for our local sport is that the bill would not
make those operators return community funding grants. Sport currently receives

(15:34):
one hundred and seventy million dollars from such grants. Chair
of Cycling New Zealand, Martin Sneden, is leading the opposition
and he joins me, now, thanks for your time, Martin.

Speaker 7 (15:42):
Good morning morning, Francesca.

Speaker 3 (15:44):
Okay, so why have you pulled these sports together?

Speaker 7 (15:49):
Accidentally fell out and found out about this about six
weeks ago and locked at it and thought, man, this
is a massive risk. There had been no consultation with
the sports sector, no warning that this was on the cards,
and as soon as I saw it, I recognized the
extent of the ristic community funding. So luckily I've got
the experience in the contacts within the sports sector to

(16:11):
quickly galvanize the leaders of the organizations. Everyone has come
in behind this. I've got fifty organizations that have signed
up to this that are authorizing me to speak on
their behalf and to tell the story of why this
is a crazy move by the government.

Speaker 3 (16:31):
So why is this a crazy move? What could this
bill do to community sport well.

Speaker 7 (16:37):
For a start, gambling was only legalized in New Zealand
with some quid pro quos, and one of those was
that some of the proceeds would be used to support community,
including community sport, and that's been a principle since nineteen
seventy seven and is enshrined in the Gambling Act in
two thousand and three. Sport over that period of time

(16:58):
has really benefited enormously from the class For I mean
the Pokey Trust moneys that have been paid into clubs,
it all goes to ubs, it all goes to community,
not to professional sport, and so sports strived off the
back of that. At the moment, sports are really struggling
with the economic environment. They're accessing sponsorship money is impossible.

(17:22):
Local governments are naturally pulling back because they're in financial
trouble themselves. So there's a whole confluence of economic problems
that are just falling on top of these clubs. And
then to have this on top of it is really
to test the future sustainability of clubs.

Speaker 3 (17:41):
So basically clubs are telling you, you know, if they
start losing this funday, they're going to have to increase subs,
potentially double subs, and of course if you've got kids
who are playing a winter in a summer sport. When
you've got a couple of kids, you get to the
point where you might only be able to play a
winter or a summer sport.

Speaker 7 (17:57):
Yeah, it's not just that, it's just this will actually
affect the actual ability of some of these clubs to survive,
the regional organizations that also received grants from the pokies
to actually service their needs. So I don't understand why
they're doing this. I think what's happened is that government

(18:19):
itself has been blindsided by a lack of analysis and
advice from the Department of Internal Affairs. They haven't done
their work. I've looked at the documents behind the bill.
DIA has not done the necessarily analysis and therefore has
not put perhaps their own minister, but certainly Cabinet in

(18:39):
a position to understand the impact on community sport that
the omission of the requirement for the International Operators to
provide money for community is.

Speaker 2 (18:50):
Going to have.

Speaker 3 (18:52):
So you're hoping that if you explain this to MPs,
they're going to get the head round that this just
hasn't been considered.

Speaker 7 (19:00):
I think that so the Prime Minister, the Minister of Sport,
Mark Mitchell, the Associate Minister of Sport Chris Bishop, they
all love sport dearly. They, I'm sure, are not going
to allow something to go through that is ultimately going
to have a dramatic negative impact on the future of

(19:22):
community sport. I just can't imagine that they would be
prepared to do that and to take that risk. So
I'm hoping that by now raising awareness, not just publicly
and not just within the sports sector, not just within
the media, but by what we're doing within ministers themselves,

(19:42):
that they're going to see the sense of actually backtracking
on this and do what was originally envisaged when Tracy
Martin first started scoping out this legislation, which is to
include a provision for community funding and.

Speaker 3 (19:56):
Would you like them to Is it as simple as saying, actually,
these online gaming organizations have to contribute to community funding
all the government needs to find a way to cover
that losses.

Speaker 7 (20:07):
Well, I think in the first instance, the government should
be saying to the international operators, you are going to
be contributing if you want to operate in New Zealand.
Part of the reason you're allowed to do so is
that part of your moneys are going to be going
into community and that's a good.

Speaker 3 (20:24):
Thing, absolutely all. Look best of Luck Martin. How long
have you got to kind of well do the lot
in it?

Speaker 7 (20:32):
It's all been happening a bit quick. We've got the
sector organized, the public submission process two weeks today, so
we're really trying to galvanize in a hurry every layer
of sport in New Zealand and say to them, this
is in your best interest to file a submission and
to demonstrate your dissatisfaction with where it sits now and

(20:52):
then to support us to be their advocate in order
to open up the minds of cabinet and get the
change that's needed.

Speaker 3 (21:01):
Best of Luck Martin. Thank you very much for your
time this morning. Appreciate it. It is known thirty Politics
is up next. Adam Peers is all over the National
Party Conference which took place yesterday with Newstalks ATB.

Speaker 1 (21:16):
It's the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin on News Talks ATB.

Speaker 3 (21:22):
Thanks for the texts, Good morning, love the show. We
have recently been to the US, went to four national parks.
Price for car going into parks range from twenty to
forty US dollars. Charges for the Grand Canyon was US
dollars thirty five dollars per person. We brought an annual
card for US dollars eighty so one on that and
another one here. I use Jackpotch City Online casino. At

(21:45):
the moment, I pay zero tax on the winnings. As
it's overseas based. Something needs to be done. This is
zero regulation right now you win more than going to
the pokees East and that's what they're going to become
even more popular. Thank you for the text keep them
Coming ninety two ninety two. Joining me now is New
Zealand Herald Deputy editor Adam Pearce. Good morning, Adam, good morning.

(22:05):
You had the pleasure of going to the National Party
conference yes today, which looked like a very speedy conference
to be honest with you. Started was lunch, kicked off
at one, was sort of over by five, was it?

Speaker 2 (22:17):
Oh?

Speaker 9 (22:18):
You look they didn't luck around, And I think that's
a part of that is about the cost of these things.
You know, it takes, you know, it's a lot these days.
You know, you think about domestic affairs, accommodation, you know,
it's a lot to ask of members, especially if they're
traveling from far away. We're here in Christ's Church at
the moment, so I think that that does factor in

(22:38):
the cost bit to it. But you know, there's also
a few things that they need to cover and they
want to get their message message across. They also don't
want to give you know, they don't want to give
the media too much access, you know, so they've got
to make sure that they're keeping their plans ready for
the twenty six elections.

Speaker 2 (22:57):
So but no, it was good.

Speaker 9 (22:58):
It was good to be there, and it's good to
be able to gauge what the members, how members are feeling,
and also the messages that the party are looking to send.

Speaker 3 (23:06):
Okay, how are the members feeling?

Speaker 9 (23:09):
Well, it's interesting, you know, there's obviously the cost of
living aspect, which everyone seems to be talking about at
the moment, and you could see the priority that the
likes of Nikola Willis, Christopher luxm course, Chris Bishop. You know,
they were placing on really driving that message home that
we have work in play at the moment that will
deliver relief. We just need to keep working at it.

(23:31):
And obviously, you know, you could see some of the
some of the tension, some of the questions being raised
about the pain that some small businesses were facing at
the moment. So you know, that is a very live issue,
something that they're very aware of that they're going to
have to tackle.

Speaker 3 (23:45):
Aside from the conservation announcement which we've just covered, was
there anything else of note mentioned yesterday by the Prime
Minister or any of the other ministers.

Speaker 9 (23:53):
Yeah, we certainly had the trade aspect, you know, the
US's announcement on the tariff rates. So we've got the
top trade diplomat, Migaealis with Talis heading over i think
flying over today, and then we have Todd McLay Trade
mclay's is now and the Trade Minister heading over to
meet with his US counterpart probably in a couple of weeks.

(24:15):
And now whether that can kind of shift the dial
is where the US have landed on a fifteen percent
base rate, you know, who knows? I mean, Donald Trump
is going to do what he wants. You know, whether
you're going to be able to see much moving on that,
I'm not sure. The interesting thing will be to see
whether there are any specific carve outs the particular products
and McLay raised beef yesterday. You know, the US needs

(24:37):
more beef, it wants more beef, and that's good for
our exporters. So whether there'll be a specific exemption for
those kind of products, it's a bit of a waiting.

Speaker 10 (24:45):
Game, Adam.

Speaker 3 (24:46):
We have been talking about changes to nca for a
few weeks now, but an announcement is imminent.

Speaker 9 (24:53):
Yeah, well, that certainly seems to be the case.

Speaker 11 (24:55):
You know, we've heard from.

Speaker 9 (24:57):
Education Minister Erica Stanford about all the issues that have
that CC's in the COCAS program, and in all those
those discussions, a lot of those my colleague Jamiens has
done a lot of great work on this NCAA being
removed has not been taken off the table, and there
seems to be an awful amount of issues that the

(25:17):
Minister's raised for it not to be or at least
extensively reformed. I mean the general idea, and it's been
picked up a lot by people have been very interested
in these stories. The general ideas that students have been
able to gain standards credits that allow them to get
qualifications that don't actually teach them much, or that you
don't set themselves up for a prosperous career, you know,

(25:39):
and that fits very squarely within what the government wants
to do in education, just back to basics, focus reading
and writing. So don't be surprised if they hone in
on that area.

Speaker 3 (25:51):
When we say imminent, Edam, an't we talking about the
next few days this week? Do you think?

Speaker 2 (25:56):
Well? Who knows? I mean, they've been very very active.

Speaker 9 (25:59):
Erica Stanford has been very keen to get things moving on.
This has been some reporting that it could be in
the coming days. We'll just have to wait and see.

Speaker 3 (26:07):
We shall sit tight, Adam Pierce, thank you very much,
appreciate your time this morning. The New Zealand Bear Awards
talk place last night. We're going to find out a
little bit more about the winners and just how good
our keyw Bear is. And do I forget that the
star of New Kiwi movie Workmates, Sophie Henderson is with
me out the ten. It is twenty one to.

Speaker 1 (26:24):
Ten for Sunday Session Full show podcast on iHeartRadio powered
by News Talks ab.

Speaker 6 (26:32):
Right.

Speaker 3 (26:33):
The best in local Beer was celebrated last night at
the New Zealand Bear Awards. Twenty five trophies were handed out,
selected from six hundred and twenty five bears submitted from
seventy different breweries. Head judge of the awards is Tina
Peranutzis Tena is a global beer judge with many years
experience in the industry, and she joins me now to
talk about how the carew We Bear stacks up. Tina,

(26:54):
good morning.

Speaker 12 (26:56):
Good morning, Francesca. Lovely to beat to you.

Speaker 3 (26:59):
So you have judged beer competitions globally, including the World
Beer Cup. Where does New Zealand rank in terms of
the quality of beer?

Speaker 12 (27:08):
I have judged a number of competitions and I'd have
to say New Zealand stands up against any of the
competitions or the beer stand up against any of the
competitions that I've just before, and from a quality standard,
they're definitely on part, without a doubt.

Speaker 3 (27:26):
What did you see from entries at these awards? How
are brewers pushing the boundaries?

Speaker 12 (27:33):
I think I think New Zealand is a spot for
choice when it comes to ingredients, fruits, herbs. We saw
quite a number of different things presented in with quite
different ingredients, some of them I had never heard of,
some local native plants and so on. But I think

(27:53):
the testament to the brewers here in New Zealand is
that the way in which they integrate a lot of
the different ingredients based on traditional styles with absolute foreness
and integrity throughout the whole brew. It really is a
testament to how well balanced some of these bees are,

(28:15):
and they execute them quite well to get the aroma
upfront and then follow through with a palette so that
what you're reading or expecting from the beer is what
you're actually going to get. So it was a really
great expression of creativity and innovation.

Speaker 3 (28:31):
I have to say, Brave Brewing Company, they took a
top award last night. What sits there? They art from
the rest.

Speaker 12 (28:39):
That's really difficult to say, Francesca. I think a lot
of times when breweries really excel and taking a raft
of different metals, a lot of it has to do
with their precision and their attention to detail and quality,
and I think what would have come through from Brag

(29:00):
Brewing is that attention to detail. So the sheer excellence
in the quality of the beer that they presented, not
to say that others didn't, but it was just a
range of different views that they entered into the competition
that really stood them above above others. So they did
really really well. Congratulations to the whole team, and they're

(29:21):
quite It was really humbling to see them up on
stage and be very passionate and very emotional about their wings.
So really really well deserved.

Speaker 3 (29:31):
And then we've got a brewery like Garage Project and
they seem to have been dominant in the industry for
so long. They were one of the first on the
craft beer scene. They took home four trophies and the
highest number of medals. What makes them so.

Speaker 12 (29:43):
Good again, innovation and creativity, you know, really pushing the
boundaries on the way in which they expressed different styles
and introduced different tweaks to beers that will heighten people's
attention and curiosity. So they're always pushing the boundaries, that's

(30:04):
for sure. And they do have an excellent quality standard
as well.

Speaker 3 (30:11):
Tina. As the craft beer industry still going strong, I'm
sure my listeners will tell me if it is or
is it, But there was that sort of initial boom
and the market then became quite saturated. Where's that industry at.

Speaker 12 (30:23):
Yeah, look, frenchscurry, it still is. I think the whole
alcohol industry has sort of seen a bit of a
lull people's preferences, choices, lifestyles making an impact on the
alcohol industry. But we asked you'll seeing what's healthy is
that there is still a lot of passion and there's
still a lot of interest so supply and demand people

(30:46):
if the brewers can brew everything that they can, and
the craftsmanship across the industry is really well regarded. But
if you're not going to get anyone to drink, then
no one's going to be making them. But we still are,
so there still is that interest. But people's occasions are
slightly changing, and I think what's really healthy is that

(31:07):
we're looking at beer a little bit differently to just
being you know, one or two occasions on a hot
day or you know, pretty generic. The occasions for where
we're drinking beer are starting to expand.

Speaker 3 (31:22):
And is there an increased focus on low or no
alcohol beers, because gosh, they's come a long way.

Speaker 6 (31:27):
They have.

Speaker 12 (31:28):
If you asked me about six years ago, I would
have thought we were crazy going down this stuff. But honestly,
it's one of and the quality of these lower and alcohols.
They're not easy to make, but there the way in
which they're coming across Now the technical capability in brewing
these beers is making sure that you're as a consumer,

(31:50):
you're not missing out or you're not feeling like it's
a compromise. So they are increasing in popularity. It's a slow,
slow progression, but they're definitely here to stay. And the
variety across the portfolio as far as different styles, is
really starting to become more prominent. And it's not, as

(32:12):
I said, something that you just have to do because
you're trying to moderate. There is a breadth of choice
in the styles that are being produced. So they're definitely
here to stay.

Speaker 3 (32:24):
How does the judge and work, Tina, We had the
heat judge of the ice Cream Awards on a couple
of weeks ago, and we learned that they eat chips
in between ice cream to cleanse the palette. Is there
anything similar when it comes to.

Speaker 12 (32:36):
Beer, Yeah, definitely. I think what you've got to remember
is in any competition, if you're tasting something continuously, your
palette will ultimately become saturated. So in any competition, beer, wine,
ice cream.

Speaker 6 (32:53):
What.

Speaker 12 (32:56):
You've got to be able to cleanse your palette. So
with the chips, it'd be the salt is negating the
sweetness with beer. We tend to sort of make sure
that we're having something neutral crackers sometimes in the bigger beers.

Speaker 3 (33:09):
Sorry, not half as exciting.

Speaker 12 (33:12):
Yeah, we try to tap it simple, but we could
be tasting anywhere between fifty and sixty beers a day,
and that in that you want to make sure judges.
The emphasis is that all the judges have a strong
capability in knowing how beer is produced, the raw materials,
the sensory aspects, the tasting techniques, and what they do

(33:34):
is paste themselves so that they're able to look at
the first beer and evaluate that as equally as what
they do the last bier. So there's no compromise in
in what part of the day. So well, there are
different techniques.

Speaker 3 (33:49):
As they say, Tina, practice makes perfect. Thank you so
much for your time in talking us through that, and
congratulations to all the winners at last night's New Zealand
Beer Awards. It is eleven to ten.

Speaker 1 (33:59):
Putting the time questions to the newspeakers, the mic asking breakfast.

Speaker 11 (34:03):
No old idea that's been reheated with a briefing paper
suggesting the NCEE has failed to provide clear pathways into
the trades. Doctor Sandra Grays the Tertiary Education Union National Secretary.

Speaker 8 (34:12):
Look New Zealand does unfortunately have quite a bad attitude
towards trades and vocational education. We have this idea that
if you push everybody into the academic and into universities,
we're going to get higher wages, You're going to get
a better life outcome. So this is a system wide problem.
We don't take vocational education seriously and we really don't
talk to early enough about the mini parts that you

(34:35):
can take in your life.

Speaker 11 (34:36):
Back tomorrow at six am the Mike Hosking Breakfast with
Mayley's Real.

Speaker 2 (34:40):
Estate News Talk SEDB. Grab a cover.

Speaker 1 (34:43):
It's the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin and Wikeles for
the best selection of great readings used Talk SEDB.

Speaker 3 (34:59):
This song is called Golden. It is from the Netflix
movie K Pop Demon Hunters, which oh my producer is
doing a semi convincing job of telling me is really
worth watching. I think actually, if you've got children, this
might be a nice way to pass a Sunday afternoon. Anyway,
if it go, it's a little bit capob for you.

(35:21):
Thanks for the text. Pokey's are part of the addictive
vice triangle of crime, gamb and drugs and prostitution. If
pokeys are the answer to encouraging kids into sport, that
we're all asking the wrong question. That money comes from
families that should be feding their kids and burglaries and
car and wake up, says Owen. Look, I get it,
this is what we're talking about. I said. It's this
really uncomfortable trade off that we have with gambling, isn't it.

(35:44):
We all know that this is the trade off, that
there is some good that comes out of something which
is damaging for others, not everybody. A lot of people
can buy a lot of ticket here and there and
still feed their kids and fulfill their adult responsibilities. Okay,
but I do know that for some it is hugely damaging.
And so I think the question that we're asking there
probably is more. Do we want to allow fifteen new

(36:07):
gambling entities to come on into New Zealand and entice
the kids back to the payments the fees for particular
walks and conservation sites in New Zealand we should have
charged for tracks years ago. It seems to be a

(36:29):
popular text which has come through re Cathedral Cove. I
am an accommodation provider and ha hey, could the minister
assure us that all revenue gained from concessions are to
be are to be directly paid for infrastructure and enhancements,
including ablutions, planting, and removal of noxious and exotic foliage
that has rampant on the cove walk. Now, grant, that

(36:50):
was the That was sort of what was implied that
the money would go back into the areas where it was.

Speaker 13 (36:56):
Earned.

Speaker 3 (36:57):
So fingers crossed. But I think you're going to have
to keep on them about that one. Thanks so much
for the text. Just want to let you know really quickly. Look,
if you're feeling tired, you've got a bit of fatigue,
go and have a listen to our first episode of
The Little Things, the podcast I do with my mate
Luise Arie. We are back for season five. Doctor Libby
is our guest in our first episode, talking all about

(37:18):
fatigue and being tired and the importance of iron and
understanding iron and how it works in our bodies and
why we need it and how you can work out
whether you have enough of it or not. So I
heart Spotify, Apple, wherever you get podcasts. Go and have
a listen to the latest episode of The Little Things.
It is five to ten.

Speaker 1 (37:38):
The Sunday Session Full show podcast on My Heart Radio
powered by News talksb.

Speaker 6 (37:45):
Right.

Speaker 3 (37:45):
My producers a little concern that I've oversold the K
Pop Demon Hunters, but I'm pretty sure it's the kind
of film that you will know within five minutes whether
it's figure or not. Anyway, big night at the New
Zealand International Film Festival on Friday night. It was the
world premiere of New Zealand Film work Mates. I absolutely
love this film. It's written by Sophie Henderson. She also
stars in the film. It's directed by her husband Curtis Velle,

(38:06):
and the two of them work so well together, and
they make it look so easy to create a film
that's filled with heart and humor and real characters that resonate.
But something tells me it's not that easy anyway. Sophie
Henderson is going to tell us all about it when
she joins us next year on news Talk Zebby. We
are going to finish the hour with some new music
from Kindi Hiwei, indie folk artist and friend of the

(38:27):
show Mel Parsons.

Speaker 14 (38:28):
This is her latest song be here Now.

Speaker 1 (38:50):
Welcome to the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin and Wiggles
for the best selection of great reads us.

Speaker 3 (39:06):
Good morning, this is a Sunday session. Lovely to have
you with us. It is seven past ten. Sophie Henderson
is one of my favorite Kiwi screenwriters. She writes a
fabulous character. Her past work includes her first screenplay for
the short film fan Tail, one of my faves definitely
worth trying to find and check out, and feature films
Baby Done and The Justice of Bunny King. On Friday,

(39:28):
Sophie's latest film, in which she also stars, had its
world premiere at the New Zealand International Film Festival. It's
based on Sophie's own experience of working at Auckland's basement theater.
It's called work Mates.

Speaker 13 (39:40):
This is a professional production?

Speaker 6 (39:42):
Is this a professional theater?

Speaker 3 (39:52):
Is it an ice cream container over a fire up?

Speaker 15 (39:55):
Does that not allowed?

Speaker 16 (39:56):
What do you think?

Speaker 11 (39:57):
Well, your building has not passed us foreig enough for that.

Speaker 5 (40:00):
You can cancel people's shows.

Speaker 9 (40:01):
Oh my god, I'm not even trying to be a
dick about this, but this place is dodgy.

Speaker 3 (40:07):
And Sophie Henderson is in the studio with me. Good morning, Sophie, welcome.
I can't get I've got my button on now, So
that took a little while there. Apologies. It's lovely to
have you here fresh off the world premiere. How good
is it to have the film out into the world.

Speaker 15 (40:24):
Oh, it's so cool.

Speaker 10 (40:25):
It was an amazing night on Friday. It getting to
share the film at the.

Speaker 15 (40:30):
Civic Theater to my favorite theater, with all the community
of people we've made it for. It's really special.

Speaker 3 (40:36):
Do you sit and watch it with you?

Speaker 15 (40:37):
And I did. Yeah, I haven't seen it in about
maybe like almost a year. I think, Oh, okay, I
watched it down so it's pretty cool.

Speaker 3 (40:44):
So is that nerve wracking? Not just is the star
of the film but also the screenwriter? Are you sitting
there waiting to see whether they laugh at the right
moment and things like that.

Speaker 10 (40:53):
We decided like a little while, we were like, I
don't know if it is a comedy like this, it's
it's definitely a romance. But then I changed my mind
on Friday. I was like, oh no, it's funny, funny,
it's really funny. Absolutely yeah.

Speaker 15 (41:06):
It was very cool. Lots of rolling laughs all the.

Speaker 3 (41:09):
Way for it good.

Speaker 10 (41:10):
They've got a Forester and Chris Parker and oh yes,
very funny people.

Speaker 3 (41:16):
I'm going to use that line. It does the show
really have to go on?

Speaker 10 (41:18):
Though?

Speaker 3 (41:19):
That's great. This is a story of local theater and
you are a longtime theater girl. Is it your first love?

Speaker 15 (41:26):
If it absolutely is.

Speaker 10 (41:27):
I remember being at drama school and going if I
could just work for Silo Theater, I'd be happy, and.

Speaker 15 (41:33):
That was one of my first jobs.

Speaker 10 (41:35):
I've worked for Silo for many years as an actor,
and then I went rund the Basement Theater after that,
which is what the film was based on. It's a
true story made untrue by exaggeration.

Speaker 3 (41:47):
And we'd like to say before we start talking about
this that the Basement Theater is now a safe and
sound fully you know specter tis all the health and
safety boxes, because when you worked there, it wasn't.

Speaker 10 (42:02):
Yeah, well, workmates is about the time that I ran
the basement with my best stream who I definitely wasn't
in love with, and all the dodgy all the illegal
things we did to keep open, like what we absolutely
put ice cream containers over the smoke alarms. We took
money from bad people to do good things. There were

(42:23):
lots of theater emergencies when I worked there. It was
the best job I ever had. Oh was it?

Speaker 15 (42:29):
It really was?

Speaker 10 (42:30):
Yeah, it was really I was addicted to that job
and I basically lived at the theater and it was
really hard to leave.

Speaker 15 (42:38):
Loved it so much and the people we felt it with.

Speaker 3 (42:42):
Isn't that interesting? Well you're headed back to the theater.
Now you're three weeks into running the Silo Theater.

Speaker 15 (42:48):
Yeah, yeah, so cool. It's my dream, it's my absolute
dream to be doing that.

Speaker 3 (42:52):
So how different? How different is it when you know
you were managing the basement?

Speaker 15 (42:57):
It's quite different. It's much more well resourced.

Speaker 10 (43:03):
And yeah, I get a program show and compared to
film as well, I get to choose five or six
plays for next year and they will happen. Or is
filmmaking it's like it takes a long time to just
get one film up.

Speaker 15 (43:16):
It's yes, pretty magic.

Speaker 3 (43:19):
And then when you've created that program, what is your
input into the shows or is it just your job
to get them up and running.

Speaker 10 (43:27):
Well, I'm putting the treams together, okay, helping with casting,
I'm choosing directors. I'm also a big thing I want
to do is develop new works. So I've just commissioned
two plays in my first three weeks, very proud of
and I hope that by the time I leave it
it'll be all New Zealand work.

Speaker 3 (43:44):
That's fantastic. Let's go back to the film inspired by
your time at the Basement Theater, and you actually managed
to set the film at the Basement Theater, which is
why some people are along a bit like thot a minute,
It's not as dodgy as it sounds. In the film.

Speaker 15 (44:01):
We changed the name.

Speaker 10 (44:02):
We changed into the Crystal ball Room, but there was
quite close to shooting the character's name was still Sophie
and it was still called the Basement and I'm glad
we changed it.

Speaker 6 (44:13):
Right.

Speaker 3 (44:13):
What has the reaction been from people in the theater
world to the film.

Speaker 10 (44:17):
I think they, you know, they feel real nostalgia for
that time in their life, like it is a real.

Speaker 15 (44:25):
Love letter to the arts. The film is about how hard.

Speaker 10 (44:28):
It is to make art at the bottom of the
world for hardly any money, but also how fun it
is to do that. Yeah, someone said it felt the
film felt like falling in love, which, yeah, that was
one of my favorite reviews. And then someone from like
some when I didn't know a stranger who's not in
the art said, Oh, just made me feel nostalgic for

(44:48):
a life that I haven't lived.

Speaker 15 (44:50):
Which is very nice.

Speaker 3 (44:52):
I think that's so true, though, because these characters are
really interesting points in their life, aren't they They're they're
sort of it's it's it's you've got all that youth
and the energy and that passion to put into something
which needs it. It's kind of a first you know,
your first entry into it's sort of your career, and
it's hard to let go. You have very intense friendships,
and that's essentially what the film explores.

Speaker 10 (45:13):
Lucy is so devoted to this job and so devoted
to her friend Tom, who she's most definitely in love with,
and she would do anything for everything to stay the
same forever.

Speaker 15 (45:24):
She really believes that it's necessary.

Speaker 10 (45:26):
To break rules to create magic, and that fear there
is more important than audience members dying, which is different
to me. Promised that she's not me, She's the worst
version of me. She's me if I had.

Speaker 15 (45:39):
Never left the basement.

Speaker 3 (45:40):
So there's a little bit of you in there, but
you you know, you're not Lucy. I mentioned in the
intro that you write great characters, and this film has
some fabulous characters in it. What is the key to it?
Do you think?

Speaker 6 (45:57):
I don't know.

Speaker 15 (45:58):
I think a lot like.

Speaker 10 (46:00):
I often start with things from my real life, well people,
I know, the character of Tom is heavy based on
Sam Sanetta knows the producer, and it's about our time
running basement together.

Speaker 15 (46:12):
I think I start everything.

Speaker 10 (46:14):
Like from myself, and then the story grows and then
belongs to characters I made up eventually.

Speaker 3 (46:21):
And as an actress. What do you like in a character?

Speaker 15 (46:24):
That's a great question.

Speaker 10 (46:26):
I think I'm looking for transformation, so somebody who changes.
So I think most of my films are about deluded
characters who have some kind of coming of age. Man,
I think you can still come of age at any age.

Speaker 3 (46:40):
Absolutely. The when you step on seat and you're shooting
a film and you've written it and you're starring in it,
where do those two roles kind of stop and start.
Are you fully focused as on being an actress who
is collaborating with a group of people to create a film,

(47:01):
or are you listening to lines coming out of other
people's mouths going hang on, I don't really like that line,
or we could do better, or.

Speaker 15 (47:08):
Yeah, it's a I think when it's rolling.

Speaker 10 (47:11):
I'm absolutely an actor in the moment with my coworkers,
my workmates, but in between I'm checking without going does
this sound right?

Speaker 15 (47:21):
Shall we change this?

Speaker 10 (47:21):
And I'm really, as a writer, very open to improv
like it's so important that everything feels real coming out
of people's mouths, So I think, yeah, I'm definitely not
precious about lines.

Speaker 3 (47:32):
You've worked with Curtis, your husband, who is the director
on three films together, including workmates. How does that dynamic work?

Speaker 15 (47:41):
I mean, he's my favorite person to make films with.

Speaker 10 (47:44):
We both get very obsessed and because its like all
we talk about is our children and the film, and
we have meetings in the middle of the night, and
I think and big creative conflicts, but I think that
makes the film better.

Speaker 15 (47:59):
Lost Fights, No, that makes sense.

Speaker 3 (48:04):
You were based in the UK for a little while
there because Curtis was actually working on Stephen Merchants The Outlaws.
Was there any temptation to stay there?

Speaker 15 (48:12):
There was? I mean, I can work from anywhere.

Speaker 10 (48:16):
I've got a literary agent in the UK and do
writing over there.

Speaker 15 (48:21):
But I think deep down.

Speaker 10 (48:22):
We just really want to tell New Zealand stories, Like
our whole dream was you know this international dream and
work overseas and you know sort of get what you
want and you lose what you have. And I love
New Zealand. It's important to me to tell New Zealand stories.
And you know, the money's not as comfat. This is
what matters to us, that it means more to us.

Speaker 3 (48:43):
Would it be easy for you to keep projects up
and running if you were still in the UK compared
to New Zealand?

Speaker 10 (48:48):
Not the ones that I want to how necessarily you know,
there's yeah, it's tricky, it's but also we shot this film.
We finished shooting and the day after we've lived to
the UK, so we came back here to edit it.

Speaker 3 (49:01):
How long does it take to make a film?

Speaker 10 (49:05):
I've always said from the idea five years or five
years or you're doing well, that's good.

Speaker 3 (49:10):
Yeah, but I mean it is a I think. I mean,
I watched this film and you make it look so
easy to kind of pull together a film that is,
you know, full of heart. But as I said, humor,
it's got you know, it's funny, and it's got these
well formed characters, and it's relatable and it's and it
looks easy, but it's not. Is it, it's not.

Speaker 10 (49:32):
There's certainly an energy to this film, like we shot
it in twenty two days.

Speaker 15 (49:37):
I think you can sort of.

Speaker 10 (49:39):
Feel that like energy and kind of chaos within the film.
I think you and it's all instinct and you know
you have to kind of be present when you're making
something that fast.

Speaker 15 (49:51):
But it doesn't.

Speaker 3 (49:52):
It sort of unfolds though, like in a short space
of time term the actual film.

Speaker 10 (49:56):
Yeah, right, And we're working in a place that I
used to work. That character has the same job as me.
She's wearing some of my clothes and where we hired.
All the actors are from the theater world, so we've
worked with every single one of them before, so there
was a shorthand. And there's a like me and Matt
who plays Tom, we've worked together many many times in

(50:16):
our careers and so you know there's there's a true
friendship there that I think you can see young screen
as well.

Speaker 3 (50:22):
No, absolutely, So where does the film go from here?
It's going to have a general release on August the
twenty first, which is really exciting if people miss it
in the festival, But where does it go from here?
How do you get it out?

Speaker 10 (50:32):
And about we're going to Melbourne International Film Festival next.
And then we have a brilliant distributor, mad Man, who
also has Yeah done, I can't even talk about it
as a secret. This is ok, it's a secret, I
can't say.

Speaker 3 (50:46):
But it's going to travel.

Speaker 15 (50:46):
It's going to travel.

Speaker 3 (50:47):
Oh, that is very exciting that it's very exciting. So
you this film is done. This is a big tech
You're back at Silo. Why did you take that job?

Speaker 10 (50:57):
I just loved that company so much. They gave me
my first job, They've They've taught me a lot about
what matters we're making art, and I just wanted to
look after this company.

Speaker 15 (51:10):
And yeah, it was.

Speaker 10 (51:12):
A bit of a strange career, but that job only
comes up every ten years.

Speaker 15 (51:17):
And yeah, but I'm going to take a break from
writing to.

Speaker 10 (51:22):
Do something that's you know, theater is my first love,
and I felt compelled to be in service to that
community that I love so much.

Speaker 3 (51:30):
Where is theater at New Zealand?

Speaker 15 (51:33):
How is it tricky? It's really tricky.

Speaker 10 (51:35):
Like I wrote this film in that really long lockdown
where all the theaters were dark and all my friends
are out of work and a play I was in
got canceled and I wanted to write this love letter
to theater and audiences who make theater possible.

Speaker 15 (51:51):
I think it's still not.

Speaker 10 (51:52):
Recovered, and I think it's you know, if you love theater,
you've got to come to theater.

Speaker 15 (51:57):
There will be no theater.

Speaker 3 (52:00):
So, as you mentioned, you know, this is going to
be your full time job for a bit, so you're
going to have a little pause on the writing. But
and I was a bit worried about that. You did
mention to me before that you might have just completed
a few other scripts that are just sort of sitting
there waiting to be.

Speaker 10 (52:11):
You have finished three scripts before I started this job,
so I will that's still in development, but yeah, it
takes a little while to get those up.

Speaker 15 (52:21):
And I'm gonna work at SLID for the next four
or five.

Speaker 3 (52:24):
Years and hopefully spend some time traveling the world to
festivals where your fabulous film will play. Fingers cross. Thank you, Sophia.
It's a great film. I really loved it, and thank
you so much for coming in. Look if you missed
the world premiere of Workmates at the New Zealand International
Film Festival, fear not. As I mentioned, it is going
to be released in cinemas nationwide on August the twenty first,

(52:47):
and don't forget that I've got an amazing story about
organ donation for you. After eleven this morning it is
twenty past.

Speaker 1 (52:52):
Ten All Sunday with Style the Sunday Session with Francesca
Runko and Wiggles for the best selection of great breaths Please.

Speaker 3 (53:03):
Talk Sibby Wicklestock and extensive rain of items which provide information, education,
entertainment and fun. They're very proud of what they have
to offer and stand behind everything they sell and they're
showcasing many of these things. And the new wit Calls
Recommends Catalog, which is live now both in store and online.
In addition, the new Wikkels Top one hundred was announced

(53:24):
this week. That's the list of one hundred books as
voted for by New Zealand readers and the whit Cauls
Recommends Catalog features the top five books on the list,
as well as some of the new titles making an appearance.
You can see the full list either at the front
of every whit cal store or on their website Wickles
dot co dot Nz with the wit calls Recommends Catalog,

(53:44):
the new Wikkels Top one hundred books, games, puzzles, toys,
gorgeous stationery and more. There really is something for everyone
at Wick Calls.

Speaker 2 (53:52):
The Sunday Session.

Speaker 3 (54:05):
Is the latest film, Somber the Song twelve to twelve.
It is time to talk entertainment and I'm joined now
by Steve Newell, editor at Flix. Dot cout On and
zeb were your workmates on Friday.

Speaker 17 (54:15):
Night, I had a work at a different work commitment.

Speaker 3 (54:17):
All right, have you seen the film?

Speaker 6 (54:19):
Go see? Ye?

Speaker 10 (54:20):
Hey?

Speaker 3 (54:21):
I want to talk first of all about Jason Mamore's
show Chief of War. Of course, it was mostly shot
here in New Zealand, features a lot of our own
local talent. It is a story of you know, Hawaii
and the tribes in Hawaii. I think this is absolutely fantastic.
I think it's this year's showgun. I was really.

Speaker 17 (54:40):
Impressed very much. The comparison. Right, this is a big budget,
big swing historical drama, and I guess then indicator of
kind of how much they've been prepared to spend on
bringing this up to a cinematic level is when the
soaring credits are playing and you realize that the music
is by Hans Zimmer, which kind.

Speaker 5 (54:59):
Of says it amazing.

Speaker 17 (55:01):
What I've really enjoyed about this is that it's a
kind of non mystical take on Polynesian life. So it's
it's historical like it's it's based on history, but obviously
we don't know that those conversations happened as they took
place on screen. But it's a really kind of it's
a demystified kind of Polynesia from what Hollywood has been

(55:21):
prepared to show people before. It's almost entirely in the
Hawaiian language, which was awesome, and it's almost entirely Polynesian actors,
among whom Tima and Morrison is a fantastic supporting actor
in this. He is bone chilling in his performance, brilliant
and it's one it's one heck of a look that
he has in this film also, but really it's Momoa's

(55:43):
presence that anchors this, and it's a show that would
not have been made without his enthusiasm and a dedication
to bring it to the screen. Plenty of action, plenty
of intrigue, looks A million bucks can't recommend it enough.
On Apple TV Plus, the first two episodes are out
and new episodes are becoming weekly from now.

Speaker 3 (56:02):
Now it's a work. It was one of those groups
I just where everyone can be hugely proud of it.

Speaker 17 (56:06):
Part of this absolutely and look for a little more context.
It's set in the eighteenth century. It's Jason Momo's character
is I guess, unwillingly at first, on a mission to
unite the tribes of Hawaii, just at the time that
colonization is kicking off. So it's all building towards a
pretty epic finish. I haven't made it at the end

(56:27):
of the show yet, but I can't wait to see
where it goes.

Speaker 7 (56:30):
Right.

Speaker 3 (56:31):
New Zealand International Film Festival, as we have mentioned, has
kicked off. You've seen a few if you flicks.

Speaker 17 (56:37):
Yeah, look it's a few days in so I'm getting
pretty movie back at the stage, having a really great
time the opening night film. It was just an accident,
was a great tone setter for the film. This was
the Palm Door winner. This is a very it turns
kind of tense drama that's also underpinned on quite a
lot of comedy. Still a bit of a sort of

(56:57):
a caper to it, but the caper and question. I
don't really want to give too much about this movie
away to be honest. But the caper and question is
revolves around a caster of characters who think they've identified
someone from their past who's inflicted a lot of trauma
on them. But there's a bit of uncertainty around whether
it's that's actually the person or not. So the interpersonal
has a lot of comedy to it, but the bigger

(57:18):
themes of the film and the tension that bubbles the
way throughout a really gripping, a really really great start
to the festival. Pop more polarizing film called Ebony and Ivory.
This utterly absurd comedy that purports to be, while it
doesn't name them, maybe for legal reasons, purports to be
the meeting of Sir Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder in

(57:40):
a Scottish cottage in the seventies to discuss a possible
upcoming collaboration. This is going to drive some people up
the wall. I loved this movie. Utterly absurd, repetitive comedy.
The fact that the filmmaker first came to prominence with
a movie called The Greasy Strangler probably tells you all
you need to know there, and also and Timpson's involvement
as a producer on this film last night, I had

(58:03):
the pleasure of going to the world premiere of a
film called The Weed Eaters at the Civic. This is
a local it's micro budget horror film. I had such
a fantastic time. This is about a group of stoners
who go to a remote farm for New Years and
they smoke weed that makes them cannibals.

Speaker 3 (58:23):
Okay, that's a local fleet.

Speaker 17 (58:25):
And I believe that it's a cautionary tale against cannabis,
is what my conclusion would be from there. This is
really really fun in the New Zealand. Psyche is so
well captured in this film, both in our relationship with
Matijuana and also just with one another.

Speaker 15 (58:42):
I love it.

Speaker 3 (58:43):
Pavements as well. Did you get the chance to see that?

Speaker 2 (58:45):
Yeah?

Speaker 17 (58:45):
This is look, it's all raves for me today, to
be honest, Pavements. This is a quasi documentary on the
nineties indie icons. Pavement a sort of band that if
you do a traditional documentary on them would just kind
of be boring, like they already personified the kind of slacker,
surly approach to nineties interviews, where I mean, interviewing Pavement
in the nineties would have been like getting blood out

(59:05):
of a Stone. I think for most people very wilfully
difficult band members, particularly front man Stephen mkwiss.

Speaker 3 (59:11):
It's like it's like you need someone like Florian Habit
to make a film about Pulp, you need to take
a different angle on totally.

Speaker 17 (59:17):
And here Alex ross Perry takes a very different angle.
He weaves together fact and fiction a really interesting way.
One thread of the film, as you're kind of traditional
documentary biography with a following the band as they get
ready to do a bunch of reunion shows, a whole
bunch of archives, satisfies all those requirements sort of historically.
But then he's also staging a stage musical about Pavement

(59:38):
using the music of Pavement, and he's also setting up
an an art gallery like museum exhibit of Pavement, and
there's also a biopic being made a Pavement within the film,
and it's all very Nathan Fielder. If that's a reference
that makes sense to you, It's sort of unclear to
what extent the film is taking the mickey at any point,
and I think that really suits the subject of this film.

Speaker 3 (01:00:02):
Well, there we go. If the New Zealand International Film
Festival is coming near you the next month or two.
There's a few suggestions, you know, write those films down.
A few suggestions there from Steve. Thank you so much.
And of course don't forget Chief of War has now
begun on Apple TV plus you there are two episodes
available for you to watch.

Speaker 2 (01:00:21):
Right.

Speaker 3 (01:00:21):
Our immune system is so cool. Scientists have found out
that even the site of someone who looks contagious can
kick start a biological response in your body. Doctor Michelle
Dickinson on with more on this. Next, it's twenty eight
to eleven.

Speaker 1 (01:00:39):
It's the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin on News Talks.

Speaker 2 (01:00:43):
At b.

Speaker 3 (01:00:46):
Joining me now with her science study of the week.
Dr Michelle Dickinson, Good morning, Good morning. This is fantastic.
This is good because everybody around me a sick right now.
I know you've had you've had a sick household for
about a man. Everybody I know is sick. Oh, I know.
This is great. So and this is really new research.
It's quite funny. So it's in the general nature and neuroscience.

(01:01:08):
If you want some Sunday morning reading, and you probably
do it. So if you walk and there's somebody who
looks like they're ill or they have a bit of
a sneeze or they've got a bit of a weird
rash on their face, you instinctively just sidestep them. It's
we've just been talking about being at the movies. If
you're sitting at the movies and there's someone next to
your behind you who has a really bad snuff of

(01:01:29):
you know, considerable amount a snot and you're just sitting
there cringing.

Speaker 15 (01:01:32):
Save on an aeroplane.

Speaker 3 (01:01:33):
But the good thing is my body is actually going
ha ha. Well apparently so. So this is a great
study too, because what they did is they took a
lot of volunteers two hundred and forty eight volunteers, and
they put there virtual reality headsets on them. And if
you've not tried one of those before, you can it
can be really realistic. When you put these headsets on,
you can feel like real things are happening around you
and to you, even though they're not so. In these VR.

Speaker 18 (01:01:55):
Headsets, they had videos of people walking towards you, getting
really close into your personal space. And it started with
people just with neutral expressions, just sort of walking asked
you as if they would if you're walking on the street,
and then they did people who were fearful people who
looked afraid. And then they had people who walked at
you who were visibly sick and they either looked sick,

(01:02:17):
runny nose, whatever, or they had a skin wresh. And
as these people are walking towards you, they gave you
a button and they said, they said, when you feel
like this person is too close to you, it is
in your personal space. Pressed the button and as you
can imagine, the people who walked towards you who looked
like they were sick, you pushed the button and you

(01:02:38):
did with other people, and so your brain automatically tries
to increase your personal space when they see somebody coming
at you with a nullus. That's fine, that's sort of
you do that naturally. But what is interesting about this
study is they then did brain scans and they did
blood tests on these people, and what they found is
that our brain scans, we had an increased activity in

(01:02:59):
the regions associated with detecting threats and regulating body responses
only when the sick looking people and they're not even
real people, right, the virtual people were walking towards us.
So immediately your brain is going, uh uh uh, there's somebody.
They're a threat, let's flight offlight, let's put something into action.
So your brain is responding. But this is what is

(01:03:22):
so cool. So they took blood tests of these people
in the VR headsets directly after they were exposed to
whoever they were exposed to be in the virtual reality,
and they found an uptick in something called the innate
lymphoid cells in your blood. And these are the cells
that are known to act as sort of the first
response to cell first responder cells whenever they think there's

(01:03:42):
an immune threat and they kick off your immune system
that there's going to be potential trouble ahead. Get ready,
get ready to fight whatever. That is what so interests
is it? In the study as well as the VR people,
they also got a whole bunch of other volunteers and
basically gave them a flu shot and then measured their
blood after they gave them the flu shot. And these
immune cells, so in a flu shot, there's an actual virus,

(01:04:05):
like it's a dognative virus, but your body is exposed
to the virus and your immune cells kick in and go, okay,
we're going to fight this denatured flu virus. The immune
cells had exactly the same response whether or not you
were just looking at somebody who looked like they were
sick or you actually had the flu shut And this
is the first time it's ever been measured that your
body can actually trigger an increase in your immune ceresponse

(01:04:30):
just by seeing somebody who is sick versus having to
be exposed to the virus. I don't know if they
discovered this, but do some of us sort of have
lazy immune systems?

Speaker 3 (01:04:40):
Do we also these people in the vata and they did.
It was a reasonable study, right, two hundred and forty
eight volunteers. All their immune systems kicked off as soon
as they saw somebody who were sick coming into their
personal space, which shows that our body is smarter than
we think. So when you do feel a little bit
icky to somebody at the movies is coughing behind you,
don't worry because your body is actually kicking off an

(01:05:02):
immune response in preparation for what it thinks is about
to fly at it through the mucus of that stuty
person behind you as they're saitting too close and joined
on that pod. It was all going really well there,
That was all feeling really positive to surveanded that, but
at the end there, Michelle, love it. Thank you so much.
Where can we find the study nature neuroscience? Fantastic? Thank
you so much, Michelle. We've got a delicious lime tart

(01:05:23):
lined up for you. Next. It is twenty one to eleven.

Speaker 1 (01:05:26):
The Sunday Session Full Show podcast on iHeartRadio powered by
News Talks.

Speaker 3 (01:05:33):
Our resident chief Mike vander Elson is with us. Now,
Good morning, Good morning. I got a few limes have
you lying around?

Speaker 6 (01:05:41):
I can tell you that, so it's.

Speaker 3 (01:05:44):
Not just a lemon overload that you're dealing with' you
got a lime overload as well.

Speaker 6 (01:05:49):
An orange overload.

Speaker 3 (01:05:51):
O brilliant, brilliant.

Speaker 6 (01:05:53):
I need to come. I need to come again. Two
under trees?

Speaker 2 (01:05:58):
Why?

Speaker 6 (01:05:58):
Why?

Speaker 3 (01:06:02):
Don't know? Actually, Mike, I can't answer that for you,
but it does get you a wonderful farm lime tarts.

Speaker 19 (01:06:11):
There is something lime, lemon, grapefruit in those lovely thin,
crusty cases with the beautiful custard that's been cooked on
a low temperature. They are a thing of beauty and
if you master them, they are something that is worthy
of any restaurants serving up anywhere in the world.

Speaker 6 (01:06:31):
They are a beautiful thing.

Speaker 3 (01:06:32):
So I get slightly concerned when you say if you
can or when you master them. Yes, implies a certain
amount of technique.

Speaker 6 (01:06:42):
A little, a little bit. So i'll run through the recipe.

Speaker 19 (01:06:46):
It's quite a long one, so maybe i'll just jump
sweet crust pastry or short crust pastry. Roll that out.
You're looking at it about to be two to three
mil thick. Line a thin, so that's probably the first part.
Is a thin flank case or a thin tart case.
So what I mean my thin is the height of it.

(01:07:07):
You want it to be no higher than two centimeters,
So head out to your kitchen store and try and
find a real thin casing. So line that first, and
then you turn your other onto one hundred and eighty degrees.
And you've got to blind bake this pastry. So line
it with baking paper and then put in a weight,
whether it's baking beads or chickpeas or rice.

Speaker 6 (01:07:28):
Bake that on one eighty for fifteen minutes.

Speaker 19 (01:07:31):
After fifteen minutes, pull the casing out, remove the paper
and the beads, and then fire the case back into
the oven for another five minutes. That hardens it. After that,
pull the case back out again. Take an egg, just
lightly beat that and then with a pastry brush, just
pastry or just brush the inside of that casing, and

(01:07:51):
then fire your case back in again for another five minutes.
And what that egg does is it does two things.
It seals up any sort of micro holes that might
be in that case, but it also puts in a
nice little lining so that when you're baking your custard,
it keeps the pastry nice and crispy.

Speaker 6 (01:08:09):
So that's probably number one.

Speaker 19 (01:08:10):
Then number two is turn your oven down at that
point to one hundred and ten degrees, and then I've
got the recipe here for the actual filling itself or
for the custard, so just follow that recipe through. And
then probably tip number three is when you go to
pour your custard into your casing, have your case already
sitting in the oven, pull the oven rack out, pour

(01:08:33):
in your your lime or lemon filling, and then just
slowly slide it back into the oven because you want
it fill to the absolute brim of that case, and
then fire that back in one hundred and ten degrees.

Speaker 6 (01:08:47):
That's going to take thirty minutes to cook.

Speaker 19 (01:08:49):
After thirty minutes, you can pull it back out and
then just let that cool down and that that is
the essence to making a tart is lining the case, blind,
baking the case, brushing the case with an egg wash,
and then cooking the custard on a super low ten
drive one hundred and ten degrees.

Speaker 3 (01:09:07):
Okay, and then when the tart's cool, you can get
the brew Ley torch on it, right.

Speaker 20 (01:09:14):
Oh, stolen, you want to go super fancy, you can
get a little bit of caster sugar or icing sugar
either either, and just serve a little bit over the
top or just sprink a little bit over the top,
use a brew Lay torch and then burn the top
of it, and then you kind of get.

Speaker 19 (01:09:29):
That brulay, very very light brulay sort of crap to
the top of that lemon tart.

Speaker 3 (01:09:35):
And you can make this with lime, lemon.

Speaker 19 (01:09:37):
Grapefruit, yep, pretty any etcetera. We've got a luncheon coming
up at the school on Wednesday. No on Sunday. Sorry,
we're making what are we making? We're making lemon tarts
for that. And then I'll just make a little Italian
meringue and so I'll serve a decent wedge of the
lime tart or lemon tart or be and then pipe

(01:09:58):
up a little bit of the Italian meringue on top
of it, and then you burn it with a Brewley torch,
because what you don't want to serve with a lemon
tart is something that's overly sweet, because then it will
just become over the top. So something that's like a
telly meringe that's got that burnt element to it, because
that's introducing bitterness into it.

Speaker 3 (01:10:16):
If we have a bit of a wind come through
and your limes and your lemons fall off the tree,
where do you store them.

Speaker 19 (01:10:23):
We've got a chiller and we just stack them up
and crates and just store them in the in the chiller,
so for it they will last. They don't last forever.
And the chiller, though, once one goes moldy, you've gotta
be careful. Sends the rest of them MOLDI But you'll
probably get two months out of them, three months if
you look after.

Speaker 3 (01:10:41):
Them all right, Okay, they're doing a little bit better
than my lemons that come up a tree in a
recent and a recent guest, I love it. Thank you
so much, Mike, appreciate that. If you'd like the recipe
for the farm lime tart good from Scratch Dot co
dot Inzi is where you go. Well, you can hear
two news talks. He'db dot co dot in z Forward
slash Sunday. You'll find all our interviews and recipes and

(01:11:03):
all our bits and pieces from today's show.

Speaker 2 (01:11:05):
There.

Speaker 3 (01:11:06):
It is a thirteen to eleven deep.

Speaker 2 (01:11:08):
It's simple. It's Sunday, the Sunday.

Speaker 1 (01:11:11):
Session with Francesca Rudgotter and Wiggles for the best selection
of Gray Breaths news talk.

Speaker 2 (01:11:16):
Sa'd be.

Speaker 3 (01:11:18):
Right, how good has it been in the last few
weeks in various places around the country, We've had some sunshine.
It makes a difference. Right Erin O'Hara is with us
now to talk about the role sunshine plays in our
mental and physical health. Good morning, good morning.

Speaker 21 (01:11:32):
Yeah, but a sunshine always makes everyone feel a whole
heap better and happier.

Speaker 3 (01:11:36):
And I eat, I just I presumed it was kind
of probably a bit of a placebo thing, you know,
just to just make it something I like. I mean,
some people love a storm. I mean I love a storm,
but I don't like gray, and I don't like drizzle.
And we've had quite a lot of drizzle and a
lot of it. I've been like that and so real
nice sort of see the sunshine just it does make
the day go easy. But I've always sort of I

(01:11:58):
don't know whether there is actually any evidence that it
makes an impact.

Speaker 21 (01:12:02):
Yeah, there's a lot to sunlight. And actually, for your boy,
it actually affects your masterclock because when you're getting that sunlight,
it's actually helping to regulate a lot of hormones in
your body. In particular, it really helps worth boosting serotonin hormone,
which is also I always like to think about it
as being the happy hormones. So when you're out in
the sun, you're actually going to get that boost of serotonin,

(01:12:24):
which makes you feel really good, elevate your mood, reduces
any depression or any fit. It may also makes you
feel calm and focused, and that's where a lot of
people will get sort of that seasonal disorder where they'll
get a low mood or winter depression where they feel
flat over the winter months, and then when the sun

(01:12:44):
comes out, they start to feel a whole lot better.
And that's because you do get that serotonin boost as
the sun exposure hits the body and it just makes
you feel good. So it is actually really helpful and
I think in the winter months, even being really mindful
around that is that it's getting out in the natural light.
So even on a cloudy day, we can still even

(01:13:04):
get that natural light, because the natural light is actually
a hundred times more potent than any artificial lights. If
you're inside a lot and you're not even just going outdoors,
you're actually not even going to get that feel good vibe.
It doesn't necessarily need to be a beautiful daylight today
in Auckland where there's blue sky.

Speaker 3 (01:13:21):
I've been told by sleep specialists and menopause specialists and
all sorts of people the best thing to do is
to start the day with some with some sunlight in
the eyes. Not like go outside and steer at the sun,
but just get some get some sunlight. Be outside. Yeah,
if it's a bit miserable in winter, but you know,
take your cup of tea out, take your breakfast out,
do a morning walk when the sun comes up, don't

(01:13:42):
wear sunglasses and just just absorb.

Speaker 21 (01:13:43):
That some Yeah, and it's getting that just the exposure
to light, and even sitting in a chair that's in
the sunlight in a window where you might sit and
read a book can be really helpful.

Speaker 3 (01:13:55):
More more so for mood.

Speaker 21 (01:13:57):
So just know that if you are doing that, you
won't be getting your vitamin D through the glass. So
the UV ray B the B UV right rays can't
go through the glass, and that's what we need for
vitamin D production. And vitamin D is so important for
our health, really important for reducing inflammation, strengthening your immune system,

(01:14:17):
bone density, so it's an really important vitamin. It is
a sunshine vitamin. However, in the winter usually it would
naturally decline, but it's a matter of even just getting
out and getting some sunlight on your skin. So if
you've got sunscreen on as well, you're not going to
get that vitamin D and you need the sunlight on
the skin. And it's not go and get some burn,
but instead you only need about twenty to thirty minutes

(01:14:40):
of sunlight on the skin. So it's good to do
it in the morning when the UV rays a lot
lower and you're not likely to get as sun burnt,
and just getting that sunlight on your skin directly will
help you with the vitamin D.

Speaker 3 (01:14:52):
If you've just got your face exposed, is that enough
or do you need some on your arms?

Speaker 21 (01:14:55):
And well, the more skin exposure you have, the higher
you're going to be able to get the vitamin D production.
So it's important to get some skin exposure as well,
and then just make it. I'm sure you're kind of
getting that exposure anytime of the day. So in the
winter months we tend to spend a lot more time inside,
so it might be that you make sure you get
out for your exercise outside rather than going to the gym.

(01:15:18):
Also in the evening, dimming your light so you're getting
that malotonein production at night and reducing a screen time
that can actually help you with your mood as well,
and balancing that sort of level of cortisolt and malotonein
productions so you get deep quality sleep. And also just
setting times that you get up in the morning and
you open the curtains and you look outside at the sunlight,

(01:15:42):
even if it's a bit of a gray day, so
it'll be like natural light. So good for the body
and mind, and it makes you feel good at not
just physically but actually mentally as well.

Speaker 3 (01:15:51):
I love it. Erin, Thank you very much for joining
us this morning. It is six to eleven.

Speaker 1 (01:15:57):
News Talks a b.

Speaker 3 (01:16:05):
Right, you might need need a tissue on hand for
this next interview. Doctor Rachel Clark as my guest. She's
always been fascinated with the field of organ donation. There
is no other medical field like it, and when she
came across the story of a heart donation between two children,
she knew that this would be the center of her book.
The story is as heartbreaking as it is heartwarming, but

(01:16:26):
there is plenty to this book called The Story of
a Heart. It also talks about the history of transplants,
and we look at the medical advancements that have taken
place before it was even possible to transfer an organ
from one human to another. So doctor Rachel Clark is
with me next year on News Dog zb.

Speaker 10 (01:17:20):
Got.

Speaker 22 (01:17:21):
She's gone, She's got, She's gone, she got, She goes,
she goes, she goes.

Speaker 2 (01:17:43):
It's Sunday. You know what that means.

Speaker 1 (01:17:45):
It's the Sunday Session with Francesca Rutka and Wickles for
the best selection of grape breeds used.

Speaker 2 (01:17:51):
Talk sat be.

Speaker 3 (01:17:59):
Coming up on the Sunday Session, what happens when a
power bank explodes in a plane. We talk Lugga. John
plains with Megan Singleton pioneer on the all Black squad
and whether there will be any changes and journalist Lisette
Raman has a memoir out and yes it is as
fascinating as you'd expect. More with Joan at the end.

Speaker 2 (01:18:20):
Of the hour the Sunday Session.

Speaker 3 (01:18:24):
Doctor Rachel Clark is a palliative care doctor with the
NHS in the UK. She's also the author of some
very successful books based around her career in the medical industry.
Her best selling book Breathtaking inspired a TV show, but
her latest has made her an award winner, and with
very good reason. The Story of a Heart has won
the twenty twenty five Women's Prize for Nonfiction. It centers

(01:18:47):
on the stories of nine year olds Max and kra
And it's a book about innovation, grief and hope and
it quite literally reduced me to tears. Doctor Rachel Clark
joins me from the UK. Good morning, Rachel, Good morning Rachel.
Why did you want to write about organ donation?

Speaker 16 (01:19:06):
Well, all the way back to medical school, I was
completely captivated by organ donation, even though I didn't become
a surgeon, let alone a transplant said in myself, I
just thought this idea that we are capable, thanks to
medical science, of removing a warm, living organ from somebody

(01:19:30):
who has usually very tragically perished. But then we can
send it, sometimes hundreds thousands of miles away to another
hospital and save the life of another adult or child.
Completely astonishing. I think that organ donation is just a
triumph really of medical science, and I was always fascinated.

(01:19:57):
I witnessed some organ surgeries during my training, and then
I came across the story of little Mac and Kira
when I had much later specialized in palliative medicine my specialty,
that their story just stopped me in my tracks.

Speaker 3 (01:20:17):
It is an incredible story and it's a it's a
fantastic way actually to write a book around organ donation,
right toel because there's more to the book than just
this story. We get a lot of medical history and things,
and I'll get to them a little bit later. But
and I hate to use the pump, but they are
at the heart of the story. So can you tell
me a little bit about Mex and Kira.

Speaker 21 (01:20:38):
Yes.

Speaker 16 (01:20:38):
So, in the UK a few years ago, in twenty seventeen,
there was a big campaign to change the law around
organ donation to an opt out system. So it's assumed
that you would be happy to consent all the donation
unless you've said otherwise. And a little boy, Max, who

(01:21:01):
was nine years old, became one of the children whose
faced one day appeared on the front of a British
newspaper as part of that campaign. He had been waiting
for a heart transplant for many, many months. He was
desperately ill, and almost at any moment he was sick

(01:21:21):
enough to die, and his mum agreed to tell his
story in public in the hope that it would help
change the law, and also maybe people would think about
children and adults like Max and have the conversation with
their loved ones about donation. So I came across this

(01:21:44):
story when Max's face appeared on the front page of
a newspaper that I happened to read. He looked desperately ill.
Then a few months later his face appeared again, and
now it was rosy cheeked and brimming with health because luckily,
at the eleventh hour he had received a transplant. And
then a few months after that, the extraordinary thing happened.

(01:22:07):
One day, two families appeared on the front page of
the Mirror newspaper and Kiira, the little girl who had
tragically died in a car crash and whose heart saved
Max's life. Her mom had worked out from the publicity
that her heart had probably saved Max, and she got

(01:22:28):
in touch with Max's mum and sent her a message
via social media saying, I think your little boy has
our daughter's heart, and it's the most beautiful heart in
the world. And the two moms started communicating, and that
culminated in both families meeting in person, and one by one,
Kira's mom, dad, and siblings all lined up and listened

(01:22:53):
to her heart with a stethoscope beating inside the chest
of the little boy whose life she'd saved. And when
I read that story, I couldn't think about anything else.
I knew it was one of the most extraord stories
I'd ever hear, and that gave me the idea as
a writer to write a book about this extraordinary journey

(01:23:15):
of Kira's heart. That would be a way of telling
this wonderful, wider story about the medical miracle that is transplantation.

Speaker 3 (01:23:24):
Kira's family and Kira are quite extraordinary people. They make
the selfless decision at the worst possible moment in their lives.
How do humans find the capacity to deal with the
question of a loved one becoming an organ doner.

Speaker 16 (01:23:39):
So it is I think the most extraordinary aspect of
this story, and indeed every successful story at the center
is a family going through the most unimaginable grief devastation.
Often there is a sudden accident, like a car accident,
and this family is having to come to terms with

(01:24:01):
the fact that someone they love so desperately maybe appears
to simply be sleeping, but because of brain injuries, their
brain has died. They can no longer live. And it
is remarkable how in those times of utter darkness people
have a capacity to draw upon reserves of resilience and

(01:24:26):
generosity and sheer radical altruism that they might not even
have known they had. And that's exactly what Kira's family did.
So I interviewed both families and all the medical staff
involved in the story, and incredibly, nobody even brought up
organ donation with Kira's family. Her sister, a little girl

(01:24:49):
who was only eleven years old at the time, called Caitlin,
turned to the intensive care doctor and said, can we
donate Kira's organs? And the doctor said she had never
ever encountered a child asking that question before she was
taken aback, but she said, yes, of course, if that's
what you want. And then little Caplin turned to her

(01:25:12):
dad and said, Dad, we have to do this. Kira
is such a kind girl, she's so loving. I know
it's what she would want. And Kira's dad, Joe, said, yes,
you are totally right, we must do this. And I
just think that's a in a way, that's an emblem
and microcosm of everything that people are capable of. We

(01:25:35):
often hear bad news stories. There is so much violence, wars,
worrying stories around the globe. But fundamentally, people can be
and are extraordinary, and very often when they're in the
darkest circumstances themselves.

Speaker 3 (01:25:52):
For the recipient, the relief that you know, maybe the
only option leaf to save their life is possible as
going a heat, but it comes with their guilt of
knowing that someone else has died and that other people
are It's tough, isn't it.

Speaker 16 (01:26:08):
It's really tough. And Max, although he was only nine
years old, he understood this terrible arithmetic of organ donation.
For him to live, someone else would have to die
and no recipient and no recipient family ever wants a

(01:26:30):
tragedy to happen to another child, another adult. All they
hope is that if a tragedy happens, that family might
consider this act of altruism because it's the only way
their loved one can live. And Kia is a beautiful
example of that. There were two children and two adults
whose lives were saved thanks to Kia and the generosity

(01:26:52):
of her family, And now every single day her father,
Joe told me he thinks of Kia, and he thinks
of what a kind, gorgeous girl she was, and how
proud old he is of her because she has that
living legacy. So sometimes, although this is a story that

(01:27:13):
involves heartbreak, organ donation can give families a huge amount
of comfort.

Speaker 3 (01:27:20):
In a Max's case, it was an end for his family.
It wasn't just the relief of getting the hat. You
then have to get your head around what is going
to happen, which is essentially that surgeons are going to
cut out Max's hat, which is tend to amount to
him dying in place a new one, and in hope

(01:27:42):
that it works. I mean, there is also a lot
for a patient to get the head around.

Speaker 16 (01:27:46):
Doesn't it absolutely so, I think, And actually it's a
lot for the surgeons as well. So I interviewed Max's
surgeons and everybody, Max, his family, his surgeons. They all
talked about the enormity of the surgery. If you think
about it dejectively, it almost sounds like science fiction. So

(01:28:10):
first of all, a major artery and a major vein
in Max's body was connected to a bypass machine that
oxygenated his blood outside the body. And these machines they
look like science fiction. There are kind of mass of

(01:28:32):
wires and tubes. It's extraordinary. And then you have to
literally saw the breastbone in half and manually pull the
rips apart. And then of course you have to remove
the heart, and the surgeon are staring at an empty chest.
There is nothing there where the heart should be. And

(01:28:54):
to all intents and purposes, unless you successfully stitch the
new heart in, you have killed the child. So everything
rests on your skill and your fingers and all your
surgical training, and you have to keep an utterly cool
head under pressure and perform this vital surgery. And of
course that's exactly what successfully happened in Max's case. But

(01:29:18):
he was very, very frightened before the surgery, and his
family were absolutely terrified, you know, on tender hooks, just
waiting hour by hour by hour, hoping the news would
be good. And in the old days, heart transplants were
a real lottery, more many more people died than lived.

(01:29:40):
But today, because the surgeons are so skilled, the vast
majority of people do survive. At least they certainly survive
the surgery itself, but you always have to worry about
rejection of the organ. You take very very strong and
unosuppressant drugs for the rest of your life. And thankfully

(01:30:00):
Max has thrived and today he is this strapping, healthy,
six foot to sixteen year old boy. He's just done
his big exams in the uk GCSE exams and he's
looking forward to probably going to college. And all of
this is thanks to Kira and her family.

Speaker 3 (01:30:21):
We learn a lot about the history of trainsplants in
the book, which I found really fascinating, but also it
hadn't really occurred to me that there had to be
so many medical advancements before trainsplants were even possible. You
talk about the creation of the ICU or bypass all
these things. Rachel, it's fascinating.

Speaker 16 (01:30:40):
Yes, And that was an aspect of writing the book
that I love, delving deeply into the history, because always
with medicine, once a breakthrough happens very very quickly, we
take it for granted. So if you think of the
COVID nineteen pandemic, the thing that was frightening was the

(01:31:00):
idea that there might not be enough ventilators for everybody
with COVID who needed them. Of us thought for a
second about the fact that ventilators have only been in
existence since the nineteen fifties. And one of the stories
I tell in the book is about the invention of
ventilators and of intensive care units, and they all originated

(01:31:24):
from the polio acad pandemics and epidemics that we used
to have before vaccination. And the extraordinary courage really of
an individual doctor in Copenhagen in Denmark who was faced
with a little child in front of him, a little
girl who couldn't breathe because polio had pangoranized her muscles

(01:31:48):
and breathing, and he decided to manually squeeze air into
her lungs. And then all of the medical students in Copenhagen,
hundreds hundreds of them were enlisted to manually week these
bag and mask ventilate It's called squeeze oxygen in and

(01:32:11):
out of these poor children who are paralyzed with polio
until they recovered. And that is what led to the
ventilators and the intensive care units that today save thousands
and thousands of people the world over. So medicine is
filled with these extraordinary historical stories which we don't think

(01:32:31):
about because we take the advances as given, we've grown
up with them, we don't see them as remarkable. But
every one of these advances has an incredible story behind it.

Speaker 3 (01:32:43):
Right you mentioned the word their courage, and it just
sort of occurred to me that everybody in this book,
that is the one thing that all heaven common, I think,
is courage, from the nurses, to the surgeons, to the
family members, everybody involved. It kind of sums up this
book beautifully. It has a book full of courage.

Speaker 16 (01:33:02):
I completely agree with that, because I think Curridge is
not necessarily choosing to face something that frightens you. Courage
is finding yourself in a situation where you have no
choice and the only thing you can choose is how
to respond.

Speaker 3 (01:33:20):
Rachel. It is a moving and important story and it's
beautifully told. Thank you so much for your time today.
Really appreciate it.

Speaker 16 (01:33:27):
Absolute pleasure. Thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:33:30):
That was doctor Rachel Clark, winner of the Women's Prize
for Nonfiction twenty twenty five for her book The Story
of a Heart. It is, honestly, it's an incredible story.
It's available in all good bookstores. I received a text
from Annie going oh Man Francisca. The interview has me
in tears. Dare I read the book? Max and Kira great,
but said interview, Look, do read it. I'm not gonna lie.

(01:33:54):
I solved always through this book, the parts where they
talk about Max and Kira and their families, you know,
and Kira's father who you know. They donated four of
her organs, and they had for ambulances outside the hospital
to take them to where they needed to go, and
her father just stood outside in farewell each one and

(01:34:17):
I'm not I'm going to cry now.

Speaker 15 (01:34:18):
It was.

Speaker 3 (01:34:18):
It really is moving, but it's also fascinating story about
organ donation just in general and the history of it.
Highly recommend it. Panel is up next. I'll pull myself together.
It's twenty three past eleven with Newstalks BB.

Speaker 2 (01:34:33):
Relax, it's still the weekend.

Speaker 1 (01:34:35):
It's the Sunday session with Francesca Rudgin and Wiggles for
the best selection of great reeds used talk ZEDB.

Speaker 3 (01:34:43):
And it is time for the panel. And joining me
now is Simon Wilson, New Zealand Herald Senior writer. Good morning, Simon.
That on there we go and resident economists at Ope.
His partners Ed McKnight is with us.

Speaker 2 (01:34:54):
Hi, Ed, great to be here.

Speaker 23 (01:34:56):
Francesca, good to have.

Speaker 3 (01:34:57):
You with us. This morning. We talked to tamol Portucky
about the changes to conservation land and look, I we
don't have all the details. Let's make that clear. We
don't know sort of how where or how key we
are going to prove that they're exempt. But I don't
have an issue Simon, with a handful of very highly visited,

(01:35:19):
you know, walks or parts of our country that we
charge a fee to tourists, I.

Speaker 5 (01:35:25):
Think there's some larger issues at staken in this whole announcement,
and I agree with you charge overseas visitors for tourist attractions.
We should be doing it those if you travel overseas,
you know it's common. It is becoming common now in
our museums, and I can see no reason at all
why it can't be done outside as well, So yes,

(01:35:48):
absolutely agree with that. There are Simals also some other
announcements that are kind of not really quite being made
in this whole thing about what's going to happen to
the conservation estate. And I've got to say I fear
that there are the ministers laying the groundwork for commercializing
parts of it, handing it over to private use in
ways that possibly New Zealanders would not be so happy about.

(01:36:11):
And then the third elements the question of concessions, not
so much handing over the land but allowing more concessions.
So if you think about Rupe Who for example, it's
in a national park, the ski fields are run as
concessions and there are chairlifts and so on. Personally, I

(01:36:32):
think the idea of well managed, carefully placed, sympathetic concessions
for tourist attractions in our national parks is a good
idea and I would like to see that openly and
publicly discussed to see what sort of process.

Speaker 3 (01:36:49):
Simon, are you implying that maybe there was sort of
a lot of attention was given to the idea of
putting these fees on certain places. And then just a
little bit more in the background there was the comments
about and we might allow more businesses to run on conservation.

Speaker 5 (01:37:03):
Then yes, I am saying that we can have the
debate in public about it, because that is that appears
to be what is in the proposals that the Minister's announced.

Speaker 3 (01:37:13):
What are your thoughts, because I think the majority of
New Zealanders would agree with us. Yeah, yeah, you got
you absolutely fine, Let's get some revenue, put it back
into those areas. Let's charge people to go to a
few places. But there are probably some concerns and I
did ask the minister today, you know what kind of
businesses do you envisage being on conservation land? And it
was quite a broad answer I got.

Speaker 20 (01:37:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 23 (01:37:33):
Just on actually charging international visits totally makes sense, especially
when with Cathedral Cove about eighty percent of people who
go there are international visitors. At the moment, the rate
payers and the taxpayers are paying to maintain all of that,
so it makes sense to charge The big questions, Yeah,
how are we going to do it? I know we
already charge a bit more to international visitors for the
Great Walks, but if you want to go on one

(01:37:54):
of the great walks. They're all at least three nights,
so you've got to book it in and so there's
a mechanism to charge international visitors because they have to
put their credit card details in to book a for
the night. I'm not sure how they're going to start
charging people to go down to Cathedral Cove, whether they'll
have a little booth there where you pay your toll
as you go through, but I'm sure they'll figure that out.

Speaker 3 (01:38:15):
Put turnstiles in Apparently that's been quite successful somewhere else.

Speaker 23 (01:38:19):
Oh they're a good Well, I'll make sure I bring
the New Zealand passport so I can just wave myself
on through. But I understand what Simon's saying when it
comes to you know, you can do tourism poorly, you
can do it really well. One of the places that
I've seen at work really really well. I was down
in Stuart Island and there was a tourism operator really
in ZA and you paid quite a bit of money

(01:38:41):
to go Kiwi spotting with them, and it was a
wonderful experience. It was on Moldy Land, not Crown Land,
but you knew that a good portion of your spend
was going to maintain that land and to conservation. I'd
say that's an example of it doing well. But you
could do it well. You could also do it poorly.

Speaker 5 (01:38:58):
It's a fantastic example.

Speaker 3 (01:38:59):
The money needs to go back into conservations. It can't
just go into a sort of a big pot over
here and be used willing Nelly.

Speaker 5 (01:39:08):
One of the one that I know best is the
tom Rrero crossing, a day trip, which is sometimes it's
rather like a railway station for that trip, it's extraordinary.
I recommend it to everybody, But if there is a
funding mechanism that could allow similar routes to be developed

(01:39:28):
so that it isn't everybody wanting to do that one route,
because there are big mountains and lots of glorious scenerly
there to be used. If it's done well, you.

Speaker 3 (01:39:38):
Start at six am, is what you actually do? If
you start at six am, No, no, no, I'm not to
do it. I do it at almost most years, and
I started, everyone does, my family. I end up doing
it on my own. Now, everyone'ts it to me. Six am.
Start and you'll be at the top and you'll be
looking around and you won't you won't see your song.
It's absolutely fantastic. Anyway, Moving on.

Speaker 5 (01:39:56):
So, are you're complaining that no one goes with you
or that there's no one there.

Speaker 3 (01:40:00):
Well, I've dragged them all over, and I've dragged them
all over enough that they're like, yeah, no, Hi, I've
been there, done that. Thanks mum. Tick that off the
listen all times, but we'll pick you up at the
use around the mountain. You've done that, you know, drag
them around that.

Speaker 5 (01:40:11):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:40:13):
Milford Sound, I think is a really interesting one because
everyone keep saying Milford Track the Prime Minister and things,
but actually what they're talking about is Milford Sound. Now
that is somewhere that you do boat trips, you kayak,
you you hike, you do a lot of things. So
that's one that I'm very curious to know. How they're
going to put a mechanism in place to catch people.
You might have to just put a barrier on the
road catch people come in and out. Anyway, that was

(01:40:33):
That one's going to be an interesting one. But I
think I understand why people might want to open areas
to mountain biking. That makes sense horse tricking or something similar.

Speaker 5 (01:40:43):
If you're doing it, it's mountain biking. You can put
a barrier on the track.

Speaker 3 (01:40:47):
Yeah, if you've got I don't know, dark skies, maybe
you put some luxury little sort of lodges up there
and things. But I think we do, we do, We
do need to be a little bit careful. I think
you're right Simon as to what that actually means. I'd
love to move on to the online casino gambling bill.
And it's really interesting to see Mutton's need and getting,
you know, getting sports organizations together just to remind the

(01:41:10):
government to explain to the impact that this could have.
So if we have these fifteen, if we have fifteen
online casino gambling outfits, we're given licenses to New Zealand
we are not asking them to pay anything towards our community.
And I think this is appalling because I think that
we only tolerate gambling because we understand that there is

(01:41:33):
a trade off that something good can come out of
something which could be devastating for others, and we kind
of live with that delicate balance, and all of a
sudden we're just going, oh, yeah, no, no, don't worry,
come on in. We'll take your tax and we'll put
some in protections and things in place, but we're just
not really considering New Zealanders at all.

Speaker 4 (01:41:52):
One.

Speaker 5 (01:41:53):
To me, one of the things that we have a
government for is to make sure that communities are protected
and this is an important part of it. It's shocking
to me that we would, as you say, condone, enable
overseas gambling companies to basically fleece New Zealanders and not

(01:42:13):
put anything back in the fund that the gambling funding
that we're not supposed to call it gambling, but the
gambling funding that supports communities and sports is. Yeah, it is.
It is an astonishing community asset that's been developed, and yes,
you're right, it hides that other thing now, but it's there.
It's necessary. The idea that it would be undermined or

(01:42:35):
that others could come in and just ignore it deeply shocking.

Speaker 3 (01:42:40):
If there's overseas gambling organizations come into New Zealand, are
you would you be more than happy for them to
have to pay a community contribution like we do with
the legitimate gambling that already exists in New Zealand.

Speaker 23 (01:42:56):
Well, I think this whole thing highlights how sad some
funding is for both sports and arts. I remember I
used to work for the for an orchestra in New
Zealand that got quite a lot of public funding, and
it just so happened that there were quite a number
of Lotto winners that particular year, and because Lotto was
one a few too many times, it didn't build up

(01:43:16):
and not as many people were buying Lotto tickets and
so there wasn't as much money to go around. And
so my starting point is, isn't it a bit sad
that I think it's about twenty percent to twenty five
percent of funding for New Zealand sports comes from gambling
and if you know, too, if too few people go
out and play the pokes, there's not as much money
to go around. Now I understand why it's there, and

(01:43:38):
you know, maybe it's a better solution than having it
funded by government year to year where it can change,
but I do think, like, oh gosh, that is a
bit sad.

Speaker 6 (01:43:48):
Now.

Speaker 23 (01:43:49):
My starting point with this one, though, is that the
purpose of allowing online casinos in is right now keywis
at gambling anyway online. The issue is that it's not
regulated by the New Zealand government because we're gambling on
overseas websites rather than ones that are licensed in New Zealand.
So I understand that the government's first port of call
is to say radio, we've got to make sure that

(01:44:10):
we're looking at harmonimization. The second secondary thing that we've
got to investigate us how do we allow some funding
for sports. I like the idea that maybe you requisition
will say we're going to reserve maybe a third of
the fifteen licenses specifically for some of the gambling trusts
that already operate in New Zealand, such that you know

(01:44:31):
that there is still a government a funding pipeline for
those sporting organizations.

Speaker 3 (01:44:36):
And look, I think that's the case. Look, I agree
with you. We're already using the overseas sites. It needs
to be regulated, but they can still contribute to the community.
Thank you both very much. Ed McKnight and Simon Wilson.
Jason Pine with Sport is up next.

Speaker 1 (01:44:55):
It's the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin.

Speaker 2 (01:44:58):
On News Talks a B.

Speaker 3 (01:45:01):
Jason Pine, Good Bowing, Hellos Chipper All Black. All Black's
team is being named tomorrow. Are you going to see
the changes?

Speaker 13 (01:45:12):
I think we'll see some inclusions. I don't think anyone
is going to get dropped the only the only one
who might drop out who was named in the original
squad is Brody McAllister. He was there, I think largely
because Asafawa Moore was recovering from injury. So I wonder
whether asaf One Moore might take that third hooking spot.
The others, you know, someone like Christian Leo Willie, for example,

(01:45:34):
was called into the squad. He was he was an
injury cover player, so he might find himself dropping out
with Wallace to Titi, who he was covering for coming
back in. It's more the additions I think which will
be interesting. Will they who will they take us their
third half back? No, I hope I'm not there anymore,
of course injured, so will it be Finlake CHRISTI? Will
it be somebody else? And yeah, whether there are just

(01:45:55):
tweaks here and there. But I think the large majority
of the squad is pretty easy to name. It's the
it's the blokes that did the job against France, so
we're now in charge of doing it in the Rugby Championship.

Speaker 3 (01:46:04):
Hey, Piney. When we spoke last week, I was lamenting
the fact that my entertainment for July was over. The
Tour de France had finished and then this week you
didn't tell me. This week I discover there's a women's tour.
Not only that, I flick on to stage three and
there's Allie Wallston, New Zealander coming in third. Yeah, I'm
back in the couch Palaton. The couch Caelaton is back
in action and it's so much more exciting for New

(01:46:26):
Zealand women. The accident's epic. They change in jerseys all
the time. The competition is fierce, brilliant.

Speaker 13 (01:46:33):
I've got nothing to add to that. Brilliant summary. That
is a that's a terrific summary and a great advertisement.
It's almost like a thirty second commercial. Well for the
to France for people.

Speaker 3 (01:46:43):
There are New Zealanders in this. This is awesome, amazing
New Zealand writers. Hey, what else you got on the
show's day?

Speaker 13 (01:46:48):
We're talking about a cracket Actually Matt Henry amazing. How
good is Matt Henry?

Speaker 4 (01:46:51):
Now?

Speaker 13 (01:46:51):
Where does he sit among our really really top class
seam bowlers? And a bit of cycling for you as well.
We've got the first ever Kiwi to officiate at the
Tour de France sad prenda gasta.

Speaker 2 (01:47:01):
What is his role?

Speaker 13 (01:47:02):
What is it involved? He's on the show this afternoon.
Heaps more as well all black of football and I'm
sure something for everybody.

Speaker 3 (01:47:09):
Can you ask him how he deals with those women spectators.
I very well appreciate it. Well well, thank you so much, Poney,
very much looking forward to it. Poney will be back
of course, Stays and Pine will be back at midday
with Weekend.

Speaker 1 (01:47:19):
Sport The Sunday Session Full show podcast on iHeartRadio powered
by News talksb Travel with Windy Woo Tours Where the
world is yours for now?

Speaker 3 (01:47:32):
Now, if you're wondering if you can take your knitting
needles on a flight with you, we have all the
answers for you this morning. Joining us in our travel segment,
Meghan Singleton, good morning.

Speaker 24 (01:47:41):
Good morning, And yes, you can really even metal knitting needles.
I know it's a surprise to me that the only
disclaimer or prerequisite for that is that it must have
a yarn knitted onto the needles. So you can't just
take a whole bunch of needles with you. It's got
to be a little project you're working on. But I

(01:48:02):
have to say I'm still makes me nervous, and I've
got a photo I've just updated the blog pot today
of a.

Speaker 15 (01:48:07):
Lady I took.

Speaker 24 (01:48:08):
She was knitting on an American Airlines flight just the
other day, and I said, excuse me, is it okay
to bring your knitting. I've honestly taken my knitting before
and it's not been a problem. And she says, yes,
I do it all the time. But I would be
so terrified that the item that I've spent months, I
took two years to knit a poncho, if they confiscated there,

(01:48:29):
I would be so devastated. However, so my tip there
would be just make sure the check in counter, when
you've got the chance to stick it in your luggage
before it goes through, would double check that every airline
still has that same rule. But generally knitting needles are fine.

Speaker 3 (01:48:44):
We're talking about this today because actually it was somebody
who was on your tour last week, who left the
tour headed to Hong Kong from Kosamui and was on
the flight that the power bank exploded on.

Speaker 15 (01:48:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 24 (01:48:58):
Look, you know we do a cursory glance, don't we
when they say at the chicken counter, have you got
any of these packed in your luggage? You know, explosives
and light and you just go no. But actually what
they're really asking is any power banks, any lithe and
batteries that you've got in your luggage. And the reason
is because and I don't even know how this did it,

(01:49:20):
but this power bank did explode and it was in
the cabin luggage. It set fire to the carpet. It
injured the passenger and the person beside him. The cabin
filled with smoke, and my friend honestly thought that her
time was up. I mean, how terrifying. So the flight
got diverted to Bangkok. This it's only last week, and
I just thought, well, oh, update this post. It's just

(01:49:42):
a timely reminder that battery packs and cells and things
like that need to be in your cabin luggage for
this very reason that it was quickly dealt with. The
crew were apparently marvelous and they put it out and
then they of course had to divert the plane and
clean it all up, and everyone had to go on
their merry way on a different plane. But yeah, so

(01:50:04):
I got a hold of the CIA this week just
to double check all the things that we can and
can't take in our checked in luggage that goes in
the hold. It was pleased to see that aerosols are allowed,
because a lot of people say, oh, you can't put
aerosols in your whole luggage, but actually you can. Rest
easy so that your deodorants, your insect spray, that's okay.

(01:50:27):
It's not going to blow up in the back of
the plane. And so I've got a link there people
can actually read everything. It's basically anything that has a
battery that can be detached. So your electric truthbrush is
fine because the batteries within the Electric Truth brush itself.

Speaker 15 (01:50:45):
Yeah, so I mean it's sort of a differentiation.

Speaker 24 (01:50:47):
Your your little portable speaker, that's fine, that can go
in there because the battery stays as part of the unit.

Speaker 15 (01:50:54):
But yeah, but a little reminder for us.

Speaker 3 (01:50:56):
No wonderful. And I always get I always get to
be confused. I always get to who I give you
want to go? Hang on? This goes in there, and
this goes in there, and this goes in there. So
it's great to have that all in a blog if
you're planning on traveling shortly and you're too good of it.
Confused Blogger at large dot Com at Earth twelve to twelve.

Speaker 1 (01:51:15):
Books with wiggles for the best selection of Greek reads.

Speaker 3 (01:51:20):
John McKenzie's with us Now, good morning, good morning. You
are going to start with a historical drama.

Speaker 25 (01:51:26):
Yes, by Leslie Pearce, who is beloved by many, many
millions of readers, including I'm sure a lot in this country.
Her new book is called The Girl with the Suitcase,
and what she's really good at is writing stories about
women who come from painful or difficult backgrounds who become
strong and have strength of character and are able to

(01:51:47):
overcome the obstacles that life throws at them. And this
is another one of those, and it is a formula,
but she does it really well. It's very entertaining reading.
So this is the story of two women, Mary and Elizabeth,
who meet in a cafe during World War Two, and
while they're together in the cafe, a bomb comes in
and they have to go to the nearest bomb shelter,
and while they're down there, the shelter is hit, Elizabeth dies.

(01:52:12):
Mary survives and wakes up in a hospital, but she
is carrying with her all of the personal possessions that
Elizabeth had at the point of the explosion, and the
hospital staff then have a case of mistaken identity where
they believe that this woman Mary is actually the other woman. Now,
this gives Mary an opportunity to completely reinvent herself, to

(01:52:34):
start living her life as Elizabeth, who had a much
happier and wealthier life than poor old Mary did. But
of course, when you make those decisions and you start
to become somebody that you're not, you always run the
risk that one day you're going to be found out.

Speaker 3 (01:52:50):
Okay, I think I followed that. But this is if
you're a fan of Leslie Piers. This is classic Lezzie, Yes,
isn't it?

Speaker 6 (01:52:59):
Okay?

Speaker 3 (01:52:59):
Brilliant love it. Lizette Raymer, I think is one of
our most talented and interesting journalists who's been on our
screens for a while now, coming to us from very
interesting places. And she has written a book. I'm presuming
it's a bit of a memoir of her experiences.

Speaker 25 (01:53:17):
It's the story of the three years in which she
was the European correspondent for news Hub back in the day.
It's called No I Don't Get Danger Money. And the
three years that she spent in Europe were took in
some of the most extraordinary moments in recent history. So
she was there for the Russian invasion, of Ukraine. She

(01:53:38):
was there when the Queen died, she was there for
the King's coronation, she was there with the Gaza Israel conflict.
And she's written this extraordinary behind the scenes takes you
to the front lines. I read it and I felt
compelled to keep reading because the way that she talks
about going into some of these danger zones and what

(01:53:59):
they have to do in order to make sure that
they get through it as well as they can, with
security details and with suit is full of personal protective gear,
wards and wards of cash that they would take out
at ATMs to make sure that they could bribe their
way wherever necessary. It's quite extraordinary, and she really did,
as I say, witnessed some amazing moments in our recent history.

(01:54:22):
And I was surprised how much I really thoroughly enjoyed it.

Speaker 3 (01:54:27):
I think we're all a little intrigued as to what
the reality is of a foreign correspondent who finds himself
in a difficult position. I think we've got the sort
of romanticize some of it, you know, a slightly romanticized
view of it.

Speaker 25 (01:54:36):
In some surviving on no sleep and then having to
manage the time zone to get out of bed to
report back to the New Zealand television audience at a time,
which is highly incompatible.

Speaker 3 (01:54:49):
With living a normal life, you know, and not just
the TV. I mean she was helping her. She was
on newstalk ZV a lot. She was reporting for all
of us. She did an incredible job. I'm really looking
forward to reading that. So that is no, I don't
get danger money, which is a good title by Lazette
ree Mate and also The Girl with the Suitcase by
leslie Ps.

Speaker 15 (01:55:07):
Thanks Joan, See you next week.

Speaker 1 (01:55:09):
News Talk MB.

Speaker 3 (01:55:17):
A rather funny text from Kate to finish the show today, Ladies,
have you ever sat on a flight next woman who
keeps smacking you with her elbows as she knits that
Cavin crew does nothing and she just says, oh sorry
and keeps right on doing it. Flight from Hell. Thank
you Kate. Yes, I can imagine that would be slightly annoying.
Thank you very much for all your texts and your
company throughout the morning. Thank you to carry for producing

(01:55:40):
the show. Coming up next week, Britt McKenzie is going
to be with us. We're going to celebrate his new
album freak Out City. And Camian Brutherford, who is a
French English actress, is with us to talk about her
new film. It's called Jane Austen Wrecked My Life. Twenty
twenty five is actually the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary

(01:56:00):
of Jane Austin's death, but this is a very funny
French romantic comedy which is going to be released shortly,
so she is going to join us to talk about
her wonderful character. So lots on the show next week,
have a fantastic week and we look forward to catching
up next Sunday.

Speaker 2 (01:56:16):
Take care

Speaker 1 (01:56:48):
For more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks it Be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

The Joe Rogan Experience

Dateline NBC

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Full Show Podcast: 03 August 2025

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Stuff You Should Know

The Joe Rogan Experience

Dateline NBC

All Episodes

Full Show Podcast: 03 August 2025

Stuff You Should Know