Full Show Podcast: 05 July 2026

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks EDB. It's Sunday.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
You know what that means.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
It's the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkins and wiggles for
the best selection of grape breeds.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Us Talks EDB.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
Good morning, Welcome to the Sunday Session. I'm Francisca Rudkin,
with you until midday. Well it wasn't perfect that it
was a pretty enjoyable game of rugby last night from
the All Blacks We Talk Rugby shortly. Also coming up
on the show, New Zealand actress Tandy Wright joins us
to talk about her starring role in the latest Evil
Dead movie. It's called Evil Dead Burns. This is a

(00:49):
massive role for Tandy, not just because this franchise has
a huge audience worldwide, but because it required so much
from her. She plays a complex character grieving the loss
of her son, and she also has to deal with
humans possessed by demons. It is a full on and
such gory fun and Satandi writers with me. After ten,
a brand new theatrical circus spectacular is hitting town. It's

(01:12):
called circ Alice. It is inspired by Alice's adventures in Wonderland,
and the show reimagines Lewis Carroll's classic story through world
class circus, aerial acrobats, magic and theatrical performance. And it's
the brainchild of Simon Painter. Simon has had an incredible career.
He's going to talk us through it and the art
of hitting or creating a hit show after eleven And

(01:36):
as always, you're most welcome to text me anytime on
ninety two ninety two for Sunday Session. For a lot
of Americans right now, Taylor Swift getting married will genuinely
feel like a bigger event than America turning two hundred
and fifty. And this sounds absurd. I know one is

(01:56):
a quarter millennium celebration of a nation founded in revolution,
the other is the wedding of a pop star and
an NFL player. But culture has never been driven by
pure logic. It runs on emotion, attention in what people
relate and connect to it. Taylor Swift isn't simply the
world's biggest pop star. She's arguably the defining cultural figure
of her generation. Millions have grown up with her music,

(02:19):
followed every era of her career, built friendships around shared fandom.
Her wedding to Travis Kelsey isn't just another celebrity wedding
or some celebrity gossip. For many fans, it is a
shared life milestone. Americans have always created their own version
of royalty through celebrity, and there is in another American
couple today who attract the same combination of admiration, curiosity,

(02:41):
and cultural influence. Compare this with America's two hundred and
fiftieth celebration. In another era, a big birthday would have
united the country, but instead it's taking place during the
moment of deep political and social division. President Trump has
stamped his mark on things, making a national celebration feel
political rather than patriotic, add lingering concerns about inflation and

(03:04):
uncertainty over America's role in flicks overseas, declining trust and institutions,
and the country isn't just will it's just not really
in a celebratory mood. Regardless of where people stand politically,
there is a sense the nation is tired into that
fatigue struts Miss Americana. A wedding is simple, it's joyful,

(03:25):
it's romantic. No one has to pick aside, No one
has to argue about foreign policy or economic indicators. For
a brief moment, people can collectively obsess over address, a
guest list, and a love story. America at two hundred
and fifty asks citizens to reflect on who they are
and where they've come from and where they're heading. The
tailor and Travis Wedding just ask them to celebrate happiness.

(03:47):
The next two hundred and fifty years obviously won't be
defined by wedding or the anniversary celebrations this weekend. That
will depend on the choices America makes after the fireworks
have faded. In two and a half centuries, the United
States has grown from a fragile democratic experiment into the
world's largest economy and military superpower and accult true force.

(04:08):
The next chapter goes as well as well the next
chapter goes as well? Is how the next chapter goes
is far from guaranteed. In the short term, America faces
familiar challenges political division, rising debt, economic ascertainty, social inequity,
and increasingly volatile world. Longer term, the stakes are even higher.

(04:29):
Can America remain a global leader in energy, in tech
and AI, political influence and military power? Can it rebuild
trust in its democratic institutions. Can it balance competition with
China and avoid further conflicts which could define this century.
There's a big, scary, uncerted, contested questions and matter a
whole lot more than the one to which Travis and

(04:51):
Taylor will respond. I do. But in an age where
attention is the world's most valuable currency, it is not
surprising it is the love story that's captured more hearts
and headlines than one of the most significant anniversaries in
American history. Sometimes it it just feels right to take
a moment and let yourself be happy the Sunday session.

(05:14):
So look, I imagine that you're a little bit like
me that you thought the Taylor Trevis coverage over the
last couple of days has been a little bit out
of control, so many headlines and so little information. We
are going to go to New York shortly to see
if the little bit more has been released and find
out what we know about this wedding which has captured
people not just in America but around the world. Did

(05:35):
you find yourself clicking on a few articles in hope
of the glimpse. Come on, I know you probably did.
You can text ninety two ninety two. But there are
other things going on in the world, including a little
game of rugby last night. So coming up next we
talk the All Blacks. It is twelve past nine.

Speaker 1 (05:50):
Sunday with Style the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin and
Winkles for the best selection of Greg Reeds.

Speaker 4 (05:58):
News talks Heavy.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
It is fifteen past nine. The Dave renni Era as
All Blake's coach got off to a winning start.

Speaker 5 (06:06):
This will be the last phase of play. The All
Blacks sons need to get it into touch on Rightoma
back for love. The All Blacks win a thriller to
sign a new era of All Blacks rugby and more
ways than one. Thirty four thirty.

Speaker 3 (06:22):
Two International rugby media described the match as a thrilling,
high tempo contest. Much of the praise went to Camera
Regard and Will Jordan, who both scored two tries and
was seen as key figures in the All Blacks attack.
Skysport analyst Nemsopolanga joins me, now, good morning.

Speaker 4 (06:38):
Good morning to you too.

Speaker 6 (06:40):
How are you.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
I'm very good, thank you. It was a tough task
facing the sixth nation winners. First up, the French came
to play. So the all Blacks, the basics were good,
the old catch and pass worked well. Has Dave Rennie
made his mark?

Speaker 6 (06:55):
Oh, I mean that test was it was honestly so
cool to be a part of the first one back in.

Speaker 4 (07:01):
Christ Church under the roof.

Speaker 6 (07:03):
And yeah, it was, like you said, an intense and
close match and we only won by two points and
they're a great French side. But you know, I think
it's definitely you know, like he's put his mark down
on the sand and you know they only had six
days to train together to get things going, and you know,

(07:24):
like for me, I think that's an awesome start from
you know, not only the coaching stuff, but the whole
team and the whole collective.

Speaker 3 (07:33):
Rennie's big on the basics, isn't he? And they did it.
Did I had a feeling of a lot more of
a team that was a lot more confident and had
a lot more belief in just doing those basics.

Speaker 4 (07:44):
Yeah, I think so too.

Speaker 6 (07:45):
I think it really showed the way that they want
to play.

Speaker 4 (07:49):
I think I saw something.

Speaker 6 (07:51):
Said after game by Roy gun and So he said
it was the most the least amount of box kicks
he's ever done in the game. So it clearly shows
their intent to want to use the skill set that
they have, which is some great athletes. But back to
your points, it is about making sure you do the
basics really really well, and at times that you certainly

(08:12):
did that, and other times it wasn't quite there and
they missed the mark. But I think the bones of
the game plan and of what they want to achieve
are definitely there, and so it'll be exciting to see
where they come in the next couple of weeks.

Speaker 3 (08:25):
Interesting you mentioned the box kick, because it didn't really
turn up until the second half. Was that the plan?
Do you think?

Speaker 7 (08:31):
Well?

Speaker 6 (08:31):
I think, judging by what Roy Guard had said post game,
that it's got to be. It's got I mean, you've
got a beautiful in Law stadium, you have perfect conditions,
Like why wouldn't you want to play attacking rugby with
the athletes that you have? You know, you got Quintupaia,

(08:51):
Wally so Tt, Peter Larkeye, you know, guys who love
to express themselves out there. So I think it was
I think it was great to see.

Speaker 3 (09:01):
What did you see that you liked and what are
the work ons.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
Said?

Speaker 6 (09:07):
Back to those basics, I think you know there were
a few drop passes that maybe if they had stuck,
they would have put away a few more tries. But
I think for me and what I liked and maybe
what people didn't get to see watching on TV and
not being so close to the action, it felt like

(09:28):
the team is really united and the group is really happy,
and they feel really well connected. And a lot of
people have said that about Dave Renny is that he's
a connector of men and he brings people together. And
that's something that even Quai Cooper so when I spoke
to him before the game, is one thing he had
with the Wallabies was that he was able to bring
so many different types of people together and make them

(09:52):
go in the same direction towards the same goal. And
I think that's what I really liked about seeing you
all blacks last night, was that ceiling that they all
were really well connected.

Speaker 3 (10:03):
Defense probably needs a bit of work.

Speaker 4 (10:05):
Yeah for sure.

Speaker 6 (10:06):
I mean, you know, you you open the game in
the first minute or two and it's seven zero, it's like, oh,
but it's like I said before, it's it's only they've
only had six days together as a new group, and
so these things will get ironed over and worked out
and they'll understand each other better and understand the coaching

(10:29):
and the systems that want to be implemented by the coaches.

Speaker 4 (10:33):
So yeah, for sure.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
But we saw the intent.

Speaker 6 (10:36):
Yeah, the intent, the intent to get off the line
and whack dudes, and the intent to be brutally physical
in the contact, which is a which is a staple
of teams that are coached by Dave Rennie is. He
wants brutality and and and rugby is a game of
collision and violence. And I think to your point, that's

(11:01):
exactly what we saw was the intent to be physical
with the opposition was was great.

Speaker 3 (11:06):
The buzz that we sort of seem to hear coming
out of this team is optimism. You know, really believes
that you you know, you should be optimistic that you
could score from anywhere on the field. And that sort
of also contributes to that intent, doesn't it.

Speaker 4 (11:20):
Yeah, it does.

Speaker 6 (11:21):
And I think it's such a great mindset and it
takes it back to probably how.

Speaker 4 (11:29):
This country is when you're a young age.

Speaker 6 (11:32):
You want to go out there with your mates and
play in the backyard and kick a ball around and
you know, be razzle dazzle, And I think that's in
the heart of all rugby, and we have been successful
in the past and that's been the heart of us.
To back our skills, to use what we're good at,
and that's our natural instincts to play and run off

(11:53):
the ball. And so hopefully we'll continue to see more
of that awesome, exciting rugby as the season gets on and.

Speaker 4 (12:01):
The games get better and better.

Speaker 3 (12:03):
Lima before the team was selected this week, you threw
your support and behind Ruben Love getting the starting first
five spot. How do you think he went.

Speaker 6 (12:11):
Yeah, obviously at that yellow card, so he'll be disappointed
with that, but there's always like that was We've got
to look at Ruben and Love's ascension and like that
was only his sixth tests and he got to start
on the ten jersey.

Speaker 4 (12:23):
So it's great.

Speaker 6 (12:25):
We've got to allow these young guys and I say
young because he hasn't been given the reins for a
long period.

Speaker 4 (12:31):
Is that he will get better. He will have things
he wants to work on himself.

Speaker 6 (12:36):
And that game by Ruben Lum was no means perfect
and it wasn't, you know, his Super Rugby final performance,
but it's an awesome place for him to start and
I think he can only get better and stronger Basterly.

Speaker 3 (12:51):
Then Ireland next is stay ready to kind of coach,
to reshuffle players around or well, do you think he'll
stick with those he feels are informed.

Speaker 6 (13:00):
I'm not too sure to be totally honest. I think
they'll want to see different guys, different combinations.

Speaker 4 (13:07):
Especially throughout this July series.

Speaker 6 (13:09):
And then I think when it comes to South Africa,
you know, those big tests will be where we see
maybe more of a consistent team of what he thinks
is the best.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
David Kirk was talking about the fact that you know,
in the over the last couple of years, the All
Blacks haven't been on the trajectory that he wants them
to be on to get to the Rugby World Cup. Now,
I know we've only seen one game limit, but from
what you saw, do you think the All Blacks have
the time to be dominant at the next Rugby World Cup?
Do you think they're on their way?

Speaker 6 (13:41):
Absolutely? I believe they can do it. I believe they've
got the group. I believe they've got the coaching stuff. Yeah,
it is early days, but we have to we can't
at elite sport in the highest level, you can't even
think that you're not going to get somewhere and you're
not going to try and believe to climb the highest
mountain and want to win a World Cup. And I
think that's what they what what we'll see. And you know,

(14:04):
I believe in this group and I believe in how
they lead on what they're trying to achieve, and it's
going to be pretty exciting to watch.

Speaker 2 (14:09):
LIMA.

Speaker 3 (14:10):
Thank you so much for your time this morning. Really
appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (14:12):
Sweet, no worries, absolute pleasure.

Speaker 3 (14:14):
That was Skysport analyst Lemma Sapoanga there. I thank you
very much for your text being text to say. Second
time at Christ Chicher's new stadium last night watching All Blacks.
It's a level up compared to anywhere else in New Zealand.
The vibe amazing being and it's also fantastic being so
close to the restaurants and accommodation even better. Do you
know when I was watching last night, I was watching

(14:34):
the stadium. That's the first time I've seen an evening game.
And I'm gonna be honest with you, watching games during
the daytime, I thought the interior of the stadium wasn't
a lot and then last night at night, dim the
lights put on the light show, and I thought it
was absolutely fantastic. And I had people texting me who
were there saying that the atmosphere and the stadium really

(14:55):
did come alive last night. So we're not really all
that surprised.

Speaker 2 (14:59):
Are we.

Speaker 3 (14:59):
It is twenty four past nine the Sunday Session. You
must welcome text any time this morning. Ninety two ninety
two write a posh for compulsory key WE Saver is
gaining momentum with New Zealand First National Opportunities Party all
backing some form of mandatory retirement saving. New Zealand Herald
Business editor at Large Liam Dan says New Zealand has

(15:22):
spent too long relying on borrowing instead of saving, and
argues compulsory key we saver it could be the key
to building the kind of long term wealth that's helped
Australia surge ahead economically. He's urging the Labor Party to
do future generations a favor and get on board with
compulsory key we save, and Liam Dan joins me, Now,
good morning.

Speaker 8 (15:41):
Good morning Fantaska, Thank you very much for your time.

Speaker 3 (15:44):
Hey is compulsory key we savor the economic game change
in New zealand's been missing.

Speaker 8 (15:49):
Well look, I don't really believe in the idea of
a single silver bullet, but I think when you look
at the things that could change the game for us,
it's right up there is one of the most significant.
And you know, I'm sort of excited that we're as
you point out, you know, we've got two parties and
the coalition, a party that could be a coalition decided

(16:12):
or if it gets five percent, you know, three parties
that are significant their national being the big one really
deciding to go for it. So we're close. We're close
to sort of a bipartisan approach to this. And I
just think, you know, I look across at Australia and
I see all that wealth. People ask me all the time,
you know, why is Australia richer than us? And I

(16:32):
think it's as simple as as why the you know,
the guy next door or whatever is richer than us.
It's you saved more money, you have more money.

Speaker 3 (16:40):
Should we be comparing ourselves to Australia? Is it? Is
it relevant in this situation?

Speaker 2 (16:46):
Yeah?

Speaker 8 (16:47):
Yeah, And we compare ourselves to Australia all the time
because we're geographically close, culturally close, and you know, we
see their lifestyle and it's similar to ours, but it's
it's got they get paid more to live.

Speaker 3 (17:01):
It's also there's also more of them and they have
a slightly different economy than ours and things like that.

Speaker 8 (17:06):
Yeah, well, I mean I think that the mining thing
is the one that comes up all the time, isn't it,
Because and I've looked into this. You know, it's not
wrong to say that they earn more money as a
nation from exports per capita than us because of their mining.
But I think it is overly exaggerated and we overly
you know, there's a tendency to say, oh, yeah, we

(17:27):
can't compete with them because we don't we don't have
masses of iron or coming out of the ground or whatever.
When you when you actually look at it and you
break it down a bit further into how much commodity
experts we earn and how much of that that export
money stays in the country. Iland is not too bad.
You know, we're five million country with a massive dairy industry,

(17:49):
one of the biggest dairy industries in the world. You know,
we have a huge tourism industry, so we're behind them
per capita on on what we bring in in export commodities.
But they it has often forgotten that the status I've
seen eighty six percent of their mining industry is forear
and owned. So while it does generate higher taxes for them,

(18:10):
you know, good tax base for them and pay high
paying jobs, they lose a lot of those profits off. Sure,
we retain a lot more of our modity export profits
here because of Fonterira and things, but then we lose money.
We're draining money because we don't own our banks, we
don't own most of our international companies, so profits go out.

(18:32):
We have a lifestyle that we really can't afford, and
so we're borrowing both the government and privately billions of
dollars every year.

Speaker 2 (18:41):
We have a.

Speaker 8 (18:41):
Deficit just to find our lifestyle. And as many commentators
point out, you can't do that forever or you end
up just going backwards. So the key to that is
having a massive savings pool. That means that you're invested
around the world as well. So whatever's leave in the country,
you've got dividends coming in from all your investments and
other companies. What is lacking that that sort of net

(19:06):
balance of savings dividends.

Speaker 3 (19:09):
Lim You argue New Zealand doesn't have an income problem,
it has a savings problem. Is the reality is that
keywis are just bad savers is compulsory? Can we save
the answer?

Speaker 8 (19:19):
Well, I think all all people, you know, there is
an idea and this, you know, I've pointed out. This
is why parties like ACT and people on that sort
of part of the part of the sort of political
spectrum don't like compulsion because there's an argument that well,
people should be you know, have freedom to be rational
economic units.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
And they might.

Speaker 8 (19:38):
They can, they can decide what's best for their money.
But I just I just don't think.

Speaker 7 (19:43):
That stacks up.

Speaker 8 (19:44):
And I'm not trying to say I'm clearer than anyone else.
I'm just as stupid as everyone else. And I don't mean,
you know, but but people, people don't always do the
best thing with their money. They you know that you
just have to look at gambling stats and things like that,
or you know, we all we all splash out we shouldn't.
And I have this idea that you know, you see

(20:04):
these personal finance articles and it'll be about a couple
somewhere that's got they're anying over one hundred thousand each
and they can't work out why they're poor, and the
personal finance person is trying to sort them out. That's
what New Zealand reminds me of. We don't have a
problem with really with the amount of revenue that's coming
into the country. We have a problem with what we're
doing with the money once it gets here. So the

(20:27):
compulsion is a way to ensure that you know, everybody
is saving, we're collectively growing the pot to a much
higher level. And then it leads to other conversations, of
course about how much more we need to save or
seen some pushback on the idea that we need to
be going for six percent savings and six percent contributed

(20:49):
by the employer. But you know they're at higher levels
than that in Australia and it's painful in the short term,
but they do cope, and then you move on and
then you forget about it and you just look at
that giant, giant figure on your own. Can we save
the statement?

Speaker 3 (21:04):
And you hope that there's not another You hope that
there's not another crisis, and we want to drop. Thank
you so much for talking us through that lamb Remy
appreciate that. More From Limb you can head to New
Zealand Herald dot co dot Nz. It is nine point thirty.

Speaker 1 (21:19):
It's the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin on News Talks b.

Speaker 3 (21:25):
The Whickls Kids Top Fifty has become an institution giving
kids the chance each year to vote for their favorite
books and share the joy with other readers. The Kid's
Top fifty is made up of the books which get
the most votes. Now that the school holidays are upon us,
voting is open for the twenty twenty six lists, and
Wickles are keen to hear from children of all ages.
Just let them know the three books your kids love

(21:47):
the most, and chances are their turn up on the
new list when it's released at the end of September.
What better thing to do these holidays than think about
books in reading. You can take your kids into a
Wickls store to place their vote, or go online at
Wickles dot co dot Nz. With books, games, toys, puzzles,
great gifts, gorgeous stationary greeting cards and the wick Calls
Kids Top fifty. There really is something for everyone at Whitools.

Speaker 1 (22:10):
The Sunday Session.

Speaker 3 (22:14):
Time to talk politics and political commentator Bridget Morton joins me. Now,
good morning, Bridget, good morning. If we can talk about
the Indian Prime Minister being here next weekend. What's the
significance of this quick trip.

Speaker 9 (22:26):
I think it's usually significant.

Speaker 10 (22:27):
Firstly, it's a sort of physical symbol of the Indian
Free Trade Agreement. This was a big political commitment made
by Luxen coming into the last election. You know, his
then Prime Minister Chris hip Can said that couldn't be
done and he has achieved that. And I think it's
also as a big single signal to those in the
Indian community in New Zealand. We'll see some pretty awful

(22:47):
rhetoric around, particularly from New Zealand first, you know, the
Bula Chicken tsunami and some misinformation about immigration settings. So
thanks to so to them that this is an important relationship.
It's also really important.

Speaker 3 (22:58):
Okay, New Zealand first is going back to the nineties.
Michael Laws has been announced as a candidate for New
Zealand First. What do you make of this?

Speaker 10 (23:07):
Yeah, I mean they definitely are going down a strategy
of bringing back former politicians. You know, this follow sort
of Alfred Naro, Stuart Nash.

Speaker 9 (23:14):
So I don't think so.

Speaker 10 (23:15):
I think, you know, they are calling on the as
sort of celebrity or well known names to get their
profile up as much as possible. He has, you know,
been you know, a politician of sorts since those early nineties.
He has been a counselor, he's been mayor, he's you know,
he hasn't kind of ever taken I think his finger
out of the sort of the politics pie. So I
think it's not that unusual that he wants to come

(23:36):
back as an MP, and he probably sees an opportunity
with New Zealand's first polling as it is, that he
could be a minister.

Speaker 3 (23:42):
I've written into an article that he did. He did
an interview and he said that there's a possibility that
you know, if he did become a member of Parliament,
he would continue doing his media job.

Speaker 2 (23:50):
Can he do that?

Speaker 10 (23:52):
Well, I mean, yes, he technically can keep doing that,
But I don't think that's something that probably Leader Winston
Peters wants to keep happening. I mean, obviously you want
your MPs to be focused on the job, and the
public needs to know that they are being focused on
the job. I think that also you know, some sort
of a disconnect to as well. You know, what is
he talking about on the show? Is that aligned with
what their party's doing as it aligned with what the

(24:14):
leader wants.

Speaker 9 (24:14):
I think it can get really messy really quickly.

Speaker 3 (24:18):
I saw quite a funny headline for an article that
was sort of saying, is the coalition cracking or just cranky?
And of course Parliament is recessing for the next fortnight
that's returning July twenty first, it's been very, very busy,
and I just thought to myself, aren't they just like
teachers at the end of a term? You know what
I mean, They're just a bit over it. You can't

(24:39):
really read anything into it. They are working day and
night trying to push all this stuff through. Yeah, look
cranky and cracking.

Speaker 9 (24:46):
Yeah and anything.

Speaker 2 (24:47):
You know.

Speaker 10 (24:47):
I'm not a teacher or a MP, and I think
sometimes you get to the middle of winter and you
all get a bit cranky. And I think without a
doubt it's not just for them too, that it's into terms,
so they can see that winding down. They know that
they've got to get all these things done and then
they've got to really go out in their campaign, so
they actually look ahead at a very very busy period
in which their futures are on the line. So I
think you can see some of those tensions kind of

(25:08):
coming through. You see it across the board as well.
You know, I don't think you can read too much
into the fact that without a doubt that the Junior
Coalition Partners act in New Zealand First are trying to
make you know the estative images and the recal distinct
of the major Party of Nationals so that they maintain
their votes.

Speaker 3 (25:25):
Bridget always appreciate your thoughts. Thank you so much for
your time today. Don't forget that Tandy writers with me
after eleven this morning. She is the star of the
new Evil Dead movies and can I just say I
have never seen Tandy in a role like this. We're
going to talk Evil Dead, the legacy, the blood and
being thrown around by possessed humans. It's twenty two to.

Speaker 1 (25:41):
Ten for Sunday Session Full show podcast on iHeartRadio powered
by News Talks B.

Speaker 3 (25:49):
Thank you very much for your text this morning, Susie
said Modana. First time in years I feel close to
the All Blacks legends and the making so proud to
be an all Black fan. Then somebody else texts me
to say, Francisco, you do realize the top two French
teams are still in France playing their season. Finally I
know that, so that what were they miss about nine?

Speaker 2 (26:07):
Was that right?

Speaker 3 (26:08):
Potentially of their top team. But still the All Lags,
as Lima said, have only been together for six days.
That's not a huge amount of time. So I still
feel very bored. And it was not a perfect game
last night at all. But I thought, you know, we
have spoken about the last couple of years, about the
fact that the All Blacks have looked a little bit lost.

(26:30):
That confidence, that belief, that intent wasn't there. And while
it was a little messy yesterday, and yes it might
be a slightly slightly kind of underpowered French team, it
was fast, it was furious. They looked like they had
that belief in that confidence, in an intent and come on,
you can only get better from here, right, I'm excited anyway,

(26:51):
thank you very much for your texts. You can text
anytime throughout the morning. On ninety two ninety two, very quickly,
we have got a new episode of The Little Things
out and look this is I think we get to
about the middle of the year, and a lot of
people are sort of starting to feel like they're getting
a bit tired, they're getting a bit stressed, they're getting
a little bit burnt out. Nick Petree is my guest

(27:12):
on this podcast that I do with my friend Lou Airy,
and he has written a book called burn Bright Now.
Nick has spent years studying sustainable performance, burnout prevention, and
how people cope in high pressure environments. So basically what
he looks at is he's done this massive study, this
driver's study, and he's gone around the world and he's
talked to some of the most successful people out there
to work out how they've managed to sustain working in

(27:36):
a high performance environment but without sacrificing their well being
and their lifestyle. And he's put this book together and
he's got it's really practical, and I think that's what
makes this book stand out maybe from a lot of others.
There's some really good practical tips that you can do.
But he also explains how burnout can come in different stages.
There can be three stages that can be quite nuanced,
you could say, and so he explains those three stages

(27:59):
and what they are. But also he talks about the
difference between pressure and stress and rumination and the role
that they kind of play. So his own interest in
stress began after a cancer treatment in his twenties. He
found himself physically recovering but mentally consumed by the fair
it would return. Really interesting personal story, just worth listening
to the podcast for that. And then he met a

(28:21):
British academic doctor, Derrek Roger and whose work examined why
people can respond differently to the same high pressure situation.
And they've worked out kind of what pressure is, what
stress is, and the role that rumination plays in creating
that stress, which leads to burner. Really fascinating. Got a moment,
put it on. It's a good time of the year,

(28:41):
just to put it on and have a refresh. You
can find the little things at iHeartRadio or wherever you
get your podcasts. Just very quickly, FIFA, we have finally
got there. We are in round of sixteen, so Morocco
has eliminated Canada. This morning, Paraguay and France are playing
quite a lot of Arjibajia going on today. But we

(29:04):
are currently thirty nine minute. It's in and it's nil ale.
There's someone's take notes still nil all. I will keep
you up to speed with what is happening there. It
is sixteen to ten.

Speaker 1 (29:16):
Fearless, focused, informed. It's the Mic Hosking Breakfast.

Speaker 11 (29:21):
Big expansion of the Early Childhood and Rich Language program
of course, goes from sixty five to five hundred and
twenty five ECE outlets. Erica Stanford's in charge of all
of this. How do you measure it and how do
you know it works?

Speaker 12 (29:31):
The Dunedin study have been going for now thirty years
and so this research and this program called enrich is
born out of that research, and it has to be
really easily implementable. And they are following these students all
the way through to age six and seven and then
looking at their literacy skills, so they're following their oral
language skills, and then they're reading skills and providing us

(29:52):
data all the way along.

Speaker 1 (29:54):
Back tomorrow at six am the Mic Hosking Breakfast with
Bailey's Real Estate on News Talks headb Keep It's simple.
It's Sunday the Sunday Session with Francesca Rutgater and Wiggles.
For the selection of news talks, it'd be.

Speaker 3 (30:28):
Yes, Taylor Swift and Travis Calty have tied the knot
and a star started at New York wedding reports so
Swift wore accustomed deal gown with celebrities, including Adam Sandler,
who was their celebrant, attending what's been called one of
the biggest celebrity weddings of the year. I'd say the decade.
Cyrus XM radio host Bean harlamers in New York and
he joins me, Now, good morning.

Speaker 13 (30:50):
Hey, Francesca, how are you.

Speaker 3 (30:51):
I'm very good, Thank you, Ben, Ben? Have you do
we know anything? Like we had been so fixated on
this wedding, and we know about address, and we know
about a couple of geese, but are there any photos?
Do we know anything else about this wedding at this stage?

Speaker 14 (31:04):
Yeah, the NBA is when it comes to things like this,
a salt ironclad. But basically, we had a few guests
that have posted a couple of things so we can
sort of piece together that Madison Square garden. While everyone
sort of imagines it to be, you know, the home
of the New York Nixy NBA team, maybe like a
couple of concerts, you know, every couple of weeks, it
was completely transformed into almost like a garden ceremony where

(31:26):
it was like a smaller version of the arena was
all lit up with like five foot trees that were
all lit up and almost like a bit of a castle.
And that's where they got married, and that's where Adam
Sandler did the did the celebrant work, and they both
did bows. You just played Love Story apparently an orchestral
version of that song was what she walked down the

(31:47):
aisle too.

Speaker 13 (31:49):
And then the.

Speaker 14 (31:50):
Actual reception was in Madison Square Garden still but in
another section that was more like a garden party and
a bit more of a stage where allegedly Steevie Nicks
from Fleetwood Mac performed. Paul McCartney was rumored to her
to be performing as well, and that's where everyone sort
of got excited and mingled with all the celebrities. But
it's all that sort of it's that piecing together of

(32:11):
leaks to the Daily Mail and people that may have
tweeted something about the ceremony then realized that they had
signed their life away two weeks ago and had to
delete it. That's sort of what we're piecing together here.

Speaker 3 (32:20):
At the moment, I was worried that Taylor might feel
like she was going to work having her witning at
Medicine Square Garden. But it really has provided the privacy
that they craved.

Speaker 14 (32:30):
Yeah, and you're one hundred percent right, because that's been
all the discussion that I feel like a lot of
people are lingering on the fact that she's going to
somewhere that she's sold out, you know, heaps and heaps
of time before, right, But it essentially is the only place,
I guess in America where she could have a venue
that had no windows, so no drones, no paparazzi.

Speaker 13 (32:49):
There were underground tunnels.

Speaker 14 (32:51):
She obviously knew the whole team there so she could
organize things. And also, I mean she has the money
to rent it for three or four days. She donated
the equivalent amount of money to a bunch of charities
around America, including one that Dolly Parton runs, And so
it wasn't like going to work, I'm sure it was
more like this is just a blank, a blank slate

(33:12):
for her to sort of create something and not have
to worry about the boring things, and like, let's not
forget and this is more of a down up. But
like a few years ago, there was a terrorist like
plot to you know, infiltrate one of her shows in Austria.
She obviously is really really careful about security with anything
that she does, and so like this is very easy
to control the environment, as opposed to I don't know,

(33:35):
getting a giant tent in the middle of California or
one of her houses or something like that.

Speaker 3 (33:39):
Bin has it felt like it's bigger than President Trump's
Salute to America celebration, the sort of the Fourth of
July celebrations that are going on. Is it over shadow oh.

Speaker 14 (33:48):
Yet not to sound controversial or at the risk of
getting deported, since you know, my visa does need to
get renewed every two years. Here, Francesca, I will say,
in terms of importance, it's like you're going to either
find someone and talk to them about Messi and Ronaldo
and they know what you're talking about, and then you
talk to someone else about Taylor Swift's wedding and they
know exactly what you're talking They're the only two types
of people in New York at the moment anything about

(34:10):
apart from the Fourth of July fireworks or the absolute
crazy heat the Trump event where he's claiming that he's
going to be doing the speech and that you know,
thirty people have shown up, like the level of importance
in terms of New York at least it's right at
the bottom. This is completely overshadowed things in terms of
the wedding and the World Cup. That's all anyone cares
about at the moment.

Speaker 3 (34:29):
Bin has the wedding and convenience New Yorkers or are
they loving it?

Speaker 14 (34:35):
No?

Speaker 13 (34:35):
Look, people love it.

Speaker 14 (34:37):
Look there were fans that were around the arena that
you know, that wanted to get a glimpse of things.
I find that a bit weird, but look, you know
that they were pretty harmless.

Speaker 13 (34:43):
And I know that there are a few newspapers that.

Speaker 14 (34:45):
Went around because Madison Square Gun is above a very
big commuter hub, a big train station, especially long distance
trains that people use every day to get to and
from work. And I know a lot of newspapers that
went down and wrote stories about Okay, we went and
tried to interview commuters to see who was inconvenienced by
the wedding, and literally, and I'm not over exaggerating, all
these articles said we couldn't find one person that will

(35:06):
that was like, oh yeah, the Taylor Swift wedding really
interrupted us. So even like the miniature, minuscule sorry road
closures around the arena was really nothing.

Speaker 13 (35:15):
In the end.

Speaker 14 (35:16):
It was just so a couple of trucks would get
in and out and really just for crowd safety more
than anything.

Speaker 13 (35:20):
People are loving it.

Speaker 3 (35:21):
And then you mentioned that they've given away New Zealand
about forty six million dollars to charities. Is there to
kind of defflict maybe from the amount of money that
there's spending on this wedding.

Speaker 14 (35:30):
Well, it's a great PR move, right, and something that
Taylor sometimes doesn't and makes a show out or people
that she's donated to make a show about, and sometimes
she does in private.

Speaker 13 (35:39):
I have friends that I know.

Speaker 14 (35:40):
That during COVID we're having hard times and she saw
on social media because they're fans of her work, and
she literally would just message them on Twitter and say, hey,
wa'ts your PayPal?

Speaker 13 (35:50):
I want to help with your rent or your expenses.

Speaker 14 (35:53):
It's a very good PR move And she did this
every tour of the Eras tour, where she would find
a food bank or other like an animal shelter and
she'd donate a certain amount of money. So like whether
it's a you know, whether you want to be cynical
about it or not, especially considering how expensive it would
be to put on a wedding of.

Speaker 13 (36:11):
This, of what those stature.

Speaker 14 (36:13):
It's huge, right, It's still money that's going to good causes.
But look, whichever way you look at it, it's a
good cause. But it was also a great and very
smart pr move from her and also the couple like
Taylor Swift to get married, but also Travis Kelcey, a
very very important NFL player, did get was a green
groom there.

Speaker 13 (36:28):
He did have some sort of involvement.

Speaker 14 (36:30):
I'd think Adam Sandler, being the celebrant, was probably his choice.

Speaker 3 (36:33):
Cool, thank you so much, being really nice to talk
to you. That was cyrus X and radio host Ben Harlem,
who was on the ground in New York observing all
this madness. It is six to ten.

Speaker 1 (36:46):
The Sunday Session Full Show podcast on iHeartRadio powered by
News Talk.

Speaker 14 (36:50):
To be.

Speaker 3 (36:53):
Right up next, I'm joined by Kiwi actress Tandy. Right now,
you will know Tandy from Shortland Street eight hundred words,
nothing trivial. She's also starred in many international shows and
films as well. But I'm not sure I've ever seen
her in a role quite like her latest as a
grieving mother an Evil Dead burns. So I think this
is like the seventh Evil Dead film, and it is

(37:16):
full on what's exhausting watching this film. It is scary,
it is gory, it is hilarious. It's also a little
moving at times. Tandy joins me to talk about how
grueling this physical role was and how special it is
to see so many Kiwi's headlining this popular, hugely popular
franchise that you know, does really really well all around

(37:38):
the world. So Tandy Wright is with us next.

Speaker 2 (37:41):
Now.

Speaker 3 (37:41):
I don't know if you've had a spare moment this
week that a new TV show called l kicked off
on Prime. It takes us back to the nineties, and
I tell you what, it's a bit like Rivals. You know,
you listen to Rivals and the next thing you knew
you were making an eighties playlist. Well, if you watch al,
you'll be making a nineties playlist. It's got all sorts
of fabulous songs on it, including Queen the song Don't

(38:03):
Stop Me Now by Queen. This also features anyway Steve
Mills been taking a look I'm not entirely sure. Steve
is a demographic that the Stow is aimed at, but
he is going to give us his thoughts on it.
Mixed out.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
You're a new still.

Speaker 9 (38:25):
I'm having such a good time. I'm having a bar.

Speaker 15 (38:31):
You want to have a good time, just.

Speaker 2 (38:34):
Get a dull one stumper.

Speaker 1 (39:00):
Welcome to the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin and Wiggles
for the best election of it reads.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
It is seven past ten. You're with the Saturday Session.
I'm prints can I came with you until the day,
love you to have you with us right cold. Classic
horror franchise The Evil Dead is back in cinemas this week.
The latest installment was filmed here in Auckland and starts
our very own key with actress Tandy Wright. It's called
Evil Dead Burne.

Speaker 9 (39:34):
We found you, William I, sweet boy.

Speaker 15 (39:43):
I would give anything for us to be together again.

Speaker 2 (39:51):
Our grandfather believe the devil would return if anyone read
from the Book of the Dead. Cool it.

Speaker 8 (40:04):
The whole family.

Speaker 2 (40:07):
Can be reunited.

Speaker 3 (40:11):
I can confirm. It's absolutely exhausting and terrifying. Tandy Wright
is in the studio with me. Good morning, Tandy, Yeah,
what a good morning? Tandy Tandy Tandy, I have seen
this film obviously anticipation of this interview. I'm still not
sure I have recovered.

Speaker 16 (40:29):
I haven't seen it yet. That is crazy, That is
absolutely crazy.

Speaker 3 (40:34):
How much of a fan of evil Dead films are
you not?

Speaker 8 (40:37):
At all?

Speaker 17 (40:38):
I mean, this is the hilarious thing. Horror freaks me out.
I find it very hard to watch. It's so interesting.
This is changing because I think horror is evolving, or
maybe I'm evolving or both. But you know, when I
as a teenager, horror was a lot of women and
can be clothing racing, making bad choices, heading off to

(40:59):
the woods and getting chopped up with a chainsaw, and
so I was like, yeah, I'm not so sure there's
stuff in.

Speaker 15 (41:06):
Here for me.

Speaker 17 (41:06):
But but now horror is having such a moment, and
you know, the interesting thing about the genre is that
because we're not quite in the real world with it,
it can be playful and incredibly creative. And now I
think it's there's a lot of political issues that are

(41:28):
I'll be explored in horror. There's a kind of an
intellectual a darkness underneath or you know, so it's much
more complex, I think than perhaps historically it has been.
And also some of the best female characters I've played
in recent years have been in horror that you know,
complex and flawed and wonderful.

Speaker 3 (41:50):
It's interesting you say that because the women are very
strong in this film. It tend to be a little
bit braver maybe than some of the men. You know,
they really step up, but as you said, they're also
very complex. Yeah, tell me a little bit about the
character you play.

Speaker 17 (42:02):
Yeah, So, Susan is she is used to being in
control of her family. She's a matriarch of the family.
And what I sort of love and what I was
definitely playing in the story is basically it's a story
about a family that implodes, and like everyone can relate

(42:24):
to that, Susan's control of everything. She's across her sons.
She has a mom who's living with dementia and she's
the main caregiver for that.

Speaker 3 (42:32):
For her, she lost her sister.

Speaker 17 (42:35):
Some years hence her marriage is kind of slightly dried
out to an old husk, so it's a slightly loveless
situation she's in. So she's kind of in grief and
she's kind of lonely actually, but she's trying to hold
it together, and then the series of events unfolds and
it turns out she can control nothing, and it's sort
of like all the pieces going everywhere at once and

(42:58):
there's nothing she can do. It's wonderful to play. It
was so much harder to play than I thought, you know,
because when you get offered a horror film, well, I thought,
all right, I'll be I'll be running around in a
cold west Auckland studio and I'll be covered in blood.
I can do that, no problems. But what this film
required of me emotionally was really surprising. It was I

(43:21):
was using all of the tools in the tool bag
I was, it was head, it was heart, and it
was really physical as well. So it was the most
wonderful acting challenge.

Speaker 7 (43:32):
I want to get to.

Speaker 3 (43:33):
The physical side of it in a moment, because that
did strike me.

Speaker 16 (43:36):
I'm very much about the physicality of this role.

Speaker 3 (43:39):
It's also a story about a young woman who is
caught up in an abusive relationship as well. And this
comes back to you sort of saying, Okay, we've got
we've got this. We've got all the blood and the
gore and things. But underneath it there is there is
stories with substantial weight to them.

Speaker 17 (43:54):
Definitely. Yeah, and I and you know, the filmmakers really
clear that that's what they that's the story they wanted
to tell. But it's it's funny as well, and it's scary,
and it's it's like it's all all the good things.
It's a really great ripping yarn with some pearls. You
know that you're gonna go away and think about.

Speaker 16 (44:13):
I'm sitting here laughing.

Speaker 2 (44:14):
I've seen it.

Speaker 15 (44:16):
I know, I know.

Speaker 3 (44:17):
You're selling it. I love it. It is full on,
it is relentless, it is exhausting. But as you say,
it would get so ridiculous, I would. I was just
laughing out loud. And that's something I noticed with Horrors.
It's a really seeing it in a theater with other
people is a really communal experience. We're all on the

(44:38):
same roller coaster, and I think we feel that it's
okay to actually I mean, I was very vocal less screaming.
I was yelling, and it's making all sorts of sounds
and laughing, but we feel.

Speaker 16 (44:49):
We can Yeah, totally.

Speaker 2 (44:50):
I know.

Speaker 17 (44:51):
It's really interesting, isn't it, Because Horror is having such
a moment that you sort of it's definitely satisfying some
need that we have currently. And there the communal experience
of being in the cinema, people are really enjoying that.
I think it's a bit more like being at live
theater or something where you're you're having this physical experience

(45:11):
together and someone screams in the back row and everyone
laughs to kind of let out the tension. It's I mean,
it's a really interesting community vibe.

Speaker 3 (45:20):
It certainly is. But look talking about the how physical
this role is, because it really struck me that it's
very very physical. How much of it was you and
how much of it was you know, your stunt double
being smashed and thrown through.

Speaker 16 (45:34):
Walls and downstairs and various other things.

Speaker 17 (45:37):
Yes, I did have a wonderful stunt person, Elidi, who
was just a magician, and the great New Zealand stunt
team just fantastic. I mean I was in harnesses, I
was upside down, I was running around, I was doing
as much as I could and setting a lot of
the choreography. And then you know, if you have to
get pummeled into a wall ten times, Elidy takes.

Speaker 16 (45:59):
Over because she can do it better than me.

Speaker 17 (46:02):
You know, she won't break a bone, I will.

Speaker 3 (46:05):
Did you get a few bruises though?

Speaker 17 (46:07):
Yeah, a few, yeah, but really not that many. It's interesting.
We there's a I think it's an amazing sequence in
a bathroom which is a fight between my character and
another character, and that it's it's kind of the climax
of the film in a way, and the.

Speaker 3 (46:27):
Choreography is very good of that stunt. Tonty.

Speaker 17 (46:29):
Yeah, yeah, it's so cool, and that's what I mean
about the creativity of this genre. The camera is doing
some wild things and I was looking at the shots, going,
I've never seen this in cinema. This is so playful
and kind of it was very it was exhilarating actually,
but then you know, I was upside down. I was
definitely Mahannas for that stuff. And in the end we

(46:53):
had to We shot that sequence for two days, and
in the end we actually had to cut it down
because there was too much material and we were running
out of time.

Speaker 3 (47:01):
Now, I do want to talk to you about this
because I believe that, I mean, this is rated inn
Ar six scene already, and I believe I mean, I
thought it was pretty full on, but apparently there was
stuff that was even more full on that had to
be cut than ordered to get the rating right. So
how does it feel as an actor when you've kind
of put the work out there and you've done that,
to have it affected by something like that.

Speaker 17 (47:18):
Yeah, I mean I haven't seen it, so I don't
know it's gone. Ah, but I think you know, you
just can't judge it.

Speaker 2 (47:26):
You're not.

Speaker 17 (47:27):
It's not my job to judge the work or I
just have to be in the moment doing what the
character would do. I do often though, when I'm in
the cinema or when I'm watching a piece back, I
get because I know the script and all the little
bits and pieces. When stuff's chopped out, I get really
worried for the audience because I think, no, they're not

(47:48):
going to understand that that's gone, that joining piece of infige.
So I have quite a technical experience.

Speaker 3 (47:53):
You got to trust. You just got to trust at
the end of the day, your directors, don't you Your director.

Speaker 17 (47:57):
Trust the director, and the audiences are smart, they'll they'll
be fine.

Speaker 3 (48:01):
Do you in a role like this, which obviously, as
you say, you're doing a fight scene which is taken
two days. Ah, they're quite brutal.

Speaker 17 (48:10):
Do you.

Speaker 3 (48:12):
Switch off completely when you leave the set each day, like,
how do you kind of, yeah, revert back to kind
of trying to keep it light at lunchtime and things.

Speaker 17 (48:23):
You know, it's so funny. The darker the material is,
the more silly we are right when we're offset, you know,
the more stupid games and you know, pathetic jokes. And
the cast ensemble was wonderful. We were there was not
one diva. Everyone was on the page. We totally formed
a family. It's interesting we in fact, almost our first

(48:48):
day of filming, we had some weather stuff, so we
had to bring material forward that had been scheduled later.
And there's a big dinner party sequence and that really
was the first thing we all filmed together. And that
is almost operatic and at scale, and all of the
family are there and all the dynamics are kind of
at play subtly around that table, and it was the

(49:11):
most wonderful way to start the project because we all
kind of got to know each other as our characters,
and then that became the architecture that we hung the
whole kind of film on. All those relationships were set
where we went into the other material.

Speaker 3 (49:27):
Were there any days or any scenes that actually did
freak you out a little bit? Did you get a
bit scared or a little bit unloved?

Speaker 17 (49:34):
Or was it? I mean it was sometimes very dark,
and sometimes we were actually outside and there was a
full moon and we were in this crazy spooky house
with a crazy spooky dog and all that department and
there was all this dry eyes, so it was all
kind of foggy and you couldn't really see.

Speaker 3 (49:51):
That was a bit freaky. Yeah, but no, no, yeah, okay,
are you are you prepared to become part of just
this massive, sort of could classic sort of franchise.

Speaker 17 (50:04):
I mean, I I actually can't believe it. It's such
an honor. Really, it's people who love Evil Dead, really
love it, and they take it, you know, they take
it seriously, have a lot of fun with it. But
it's this franchise has been going for forty plus years
and a lot of the films, I think since twenty thirteen,

(50:26):
they've all been made in New Zealand, so there's a
really strong kind of history and culture of it here
and a lot of In fact, most of the crew
that we're working on that film have worked on the
previous films, so they've already got a shorthand with each other.
They're already, you know, building stuff. I know the makeup
team when they're building their prosthetics, they're already putting in

(50:49):
bits and pieces for blood rigs because they know, I
know these details you see. But it saves time. It
saves everyone's time. Amazing.

Speaker 3 (50:59):
Your daughter is now eighteen. She's gonna love this. She's
love watching mum really kick bart.

Speaker 17 (51:05):
You know, yeah, I think she is. I think she'll
I think she would have impressed. Yeah. Yeah, it's so funny.
I did a film a few years.

Speaker 3 (51:14):
Ago called Pearl, which was also a horror.

Speaker 17 (51:16):
Film, and unbeknownst to my daughter because she's not seen it,
but it kind of became cool among her school friends
at high school. And then she was like, ah, Mum,
everyone's seen Pearl, Like what's going on? They know who
you are.

Speaker 3 (51:34):
This could be a nice little mother daughter trip to
the cinema. You can both watch it together. Tendy, you're
the vice president of Equity New Zealand, representing actors rights
here in New Zealand. How are local actors faring at
the moment.

Speaker 17 (51:48):
Well, I'm going to be honest. Stuff out there, it's
quite in the industry. At the moment. What I do
want to say about this Evil Dead film is that
three of our top six cast are New Zealand performers,
and I am so happy about that. I'm so grateful
to Rob Tappert and rommel Add and Sarah Spurway because

(52:08):
they know and trust New Zealand actors and are happy
to cast them in lead roles because they know how
good we are. They know that we are of international standard.
When offshore productions come here that don't have producers who
know us, they are much less willing to do that
because it's a big gamble if you don't know people.
Other countries that we might consider ourselves comparable to Australia, Canada,

(52:32):
UK all have really strong protections and incentives to use
local actors. In New Zealand we have almost none. It's
very easy to bring an offshore performance. Of course, you've
got to need your big leads, you big you know,
your Tom Cruisers or whoever finance is attached to. But
there is no reason in the world why they can't
be surrounded with great key we talent, and we have it.

(52:55):
And the thing about that is that once our actors
gain experience, they gain profile, on the world stage. That
starts to snowball and then and eventually our actors are
able to attract finance and we bring that back to
our own domestic industry.

Speaker 3 (53:13):
It's interesting you say that, you know, talking to morgana
O'Riley over the last year or two and her getting
a little bit more global recognition, she says, I am
basically trying to use that to get peep things off
the ground in New Zealand, to get people interested in funding,
to get New Zealand actors and things.

Speaker 17 (53:27):
You know, one hundred percent, it's kind of crazy that
we've left our actors out of the jigsaw because our
crew is very highly regarded, isn't it Indeed? Indeed, yeah,
and that sort of makes sense. People come here, they
know the crew is really skilled, and you know, there's
a production comes here, they're not going to bring eighty
percent of their crew. They are going to use locals.

(53:48):
So when productions come here and access our magnificent tax breaks,
you know, and we're delighted that they do. But the
aim of that should be that that it strengthens our
domestic industry and that means including New Zealand performers because
you know, we become castings like the fairy dust of
of the process. It's the bit that everyone understands. It's

(54:09):
the marketing, it's the international profile and if we have
key reactors at the Helm of Productions, those films become
recognized as Kiwi films.

Speaker 3 (54:19):
It's really important. Oh Tanny, it's been so lovely to
catch up with you, and congratulations on the film. Your
performance is our standard. I will recover in another couple
of days from this film, but thank you so much
for your time.

Speaker 16 (54:32):
Such a pleasure.

Speaker 3 (54:33):
Thanks Francesca, that was keevy actress Tandy Wright for all
your Game horror fans. Evil Deadburne is in cinemas this Thursday,
and don't forget that. After eleven we hear all about
the new circ Allis Show, which is coming to New
Zealand in a couple of months. We're going to talk
to its creator, Simon Painter. It is twenty two past
tenure with newstalksb.

Speaker 4 (54:53):
Relax.

Speaker 2 (54:54):
It's still the weekend.

Speaker 1 (54:55):
It's a Sunday session with Francesca Rudgin and Whig Girls
for the best selection of Greg reads us talk ZB.

Speaker 3 (55:03):
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Speaker 2 (56:00):
For Sunday session.

Speaker 17 (56:03):
I'm only happy when it rain, am I that one?

Speaker 18 (56:09):
It's complicate?

Speaker 3 (56:11):
Hello, I know you can a meat.

Speaker 1 (56:15):
Emily have the when away.

Speaker 3 (56:19):
This is garbage. I'm only happy when it rains. It
is the soundtrack, I suppose the theme song from a
new TV show that's hit Prime called al Yes, this
is kind of a legally Blonde al Woods. We're talking
about illegally blonde based TV show. It's time to talk entertainment,
and Steve Neil joins me. Now, good morning, good morning.

(56:39):
I cannot stop singing that song. I heard it for
the first time and I went straight. I was saying before,
actually the news this show has done what Rivals did
for the eighties for me. So when I watched Rivals
on Disney, I immediately went and made an eighties playlist.
I just loved all the music. And then is this
show's come out. I've watched a few weps and now
I'm putting together the nineties playlist and reliving my nineties.

Speaker 19 (57:02):
It's kind of a double nostalgia fest, right, So it's
a prequels, a prequel series too Legally Blonde, set when
Elwoods is a teenager, so you kind of get nostalgia
for the film franchise, But because it's set in the nineties,
you get nostalgia for the music and the culture at
the time. The legally blonde film from two thousand and

(57:24):
one saw l Go to Law School, and that was
kind of a big fish out of Water kind of comedy.
And the fish out of Water comedy here is that
this blonde, wealthy and spoilt teenager gets transplanted from LA
to Seattle, where everyone's dour and grumpy because it's grungies

(57:44):
and everyone's serious. So it's a really it sort of
minds us I guess a similar vein but in a
different way. And yeah, I think what I found interesting
about it was was that it just has this new
pool of stuff to kind of make fun of. And
you know, sorry, teenagers, but when you're too self serious,
you're pretty funny.

Speaker 8 (58:05):
Sure.

Speaker 3 (58:05):
Lexi mind Tree is the young actress who plays al Woods,
and she does very much look like a young Witherspoon, doesn't.
She in the same facial sort of structure.

Speaker 19 (58:16):
Witherspoon's got a very singular appearance.

Speaker 3 (58:19):
She's pretty similar, but.

Speaker 19 (58:21):
There's a good resemblance. But I think it's also like
great casting of younger actors for older actors. There is
so much of its energy, and I think like Yellowjackets,
Yellow Jackets TV shows a great example of that. Some
of the younger versions of the characters, if you put
them side by side with photos, don't look the same,
but they feel like they're the same person. They're really

(58:42):
embodying the same characteristics. That's really really true here. And
then actually, the other nostalgic thing that kind of jumped
out to me watching it as.

Speaker 2 (58:50):
Well, was.

Speaker 19 (58:52):
It's a lot like Clueless. Yes, it's a lot like
mean Girls. I think it's it's teenage high school setting
allows the show to kind of touch a whole bunch
of other reference points outside the legally blonde.

Speaker 3 (59:05):
I also mentioned you before, although you know, there's this
crazy obsession with this Taylor Tracy wedding that's going on,
even though we know nothing and have seen nothing, Everyone's
very obsessed about it. And I wonder whether it's just
because everyone's after a feel good story. A wedding's a
feel good story. It's you know, it's a happy story.
Al Is As a TV show, I feel there's she's

(59:26):
sort of sprinkling a little bit of her fairy dust
that she does in the film on you know, on
the you know, the people that are around her. I
sort of feel like that show's doing a little bit
as well, it's kind of you know, there's sort of
a there is a goodness to this and a sweetness
to it, and let's just have a little bit of
fun and poke fun at ourselves feel to this.

Speaker 19 (59:46):
Yeah, I've described it as a confection, not in a
bad way, like it's just describing what it is that
that that's on the side of the tin of the
show in a way. And I think that like the
feature film where you know, both these kind of culture
clash sides learned a little something from each other. That's
how these films have to go. And the TV show
is going to have its elements that, but ultimately the

(01:00:08):
character's main character's positivity is going to be irrepressible over
the show.

Speaker 3 (01:00:12):
Tell me about Make That Movie, which is on neon.

Speaker 19 (01:00:15):
This is a real surreal treat Make that Movie. It's
a sort of surreal comedy series from Australian comedian Sam
Campbell made in the UK for Channel four. Sam Campbell
was a great kind of disruptive presence on Taskmaster UK
on Last One Laughing and as Guy Montgomery's co host

(01:00:39):
on the third Australian season of Montgomery's guymont Spelling Bee.
And he's kind of this live Wire quite a narcic
comic presence, so when he makes his own show, he's
kind of actually at the epicenter of the chaos rather
than kind of chippicking from the sidelines. The premise is
that he runs a small team of filmmakers who travel
England helping helping fans who write in make the movie

(01:01:04):
from their lives. Takes a a whole bunch of different
genres along the way. It's kind of a kitchen nightmares,
I guess kind of set up. It's like one of
those reality shows, although it should be stressed this is
straight up scripted comedy. They've got personnel problems, they've got
infighting in the team. Sam Campbell plays a character called
Sam Campbell and he's extremely unlikable. There's so much good

(01:01:26):
stuff going on here. It's kind of hard to condense
down what it is, but it's worth a nosy. This
is definitely a one for fans of more offbeat British comedy,
and keep an eye out for a Rose Madafayo cameo
oh I love later in the season.

Speaker 3 (01:01:40):
Thank you so much. Steve so l is screening on Prime.
Probably pretty good at the school holidays, and also make
that movie that TV show is screening on Neon. It
is twenty seven to eleven.

Speaker 1 (01:01:54):
It's the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin on News Talks.

Speaker 2 (01:01:58):
At B.

Speaker 3 (01:02:01):
Joining me now is doctor Michelle Dickinson.

Speaker 9 (01:02:03):
Good morning, Good morning.

Speaker 3 (01:02:05):
I just loved the time of the study that you
see me, which is why does everything feel impossible when
you first learn it?

Speaker 20 (01:02:13):
I felt like that too, so I loved it too,
and it made me think. You know, I recently hurt
my dominant hand and so I had to brush my
teeth with my other hand, and it is it felt impossible.
I was like, this is stupid. I cannot brush my
teeth on my left hand. Why can I not do this?
So this study is a good explanation for why. And
it's published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

(01:02:36):
It's open source if you want to go read it,
have a look. But basically, we know scientists know that
we are born with a preference for using our left
or our right hand. We have a dominant hand, and
you don't really have a choice in that. But what
these scientists wanted to know is if you have let's
say you're right handed. Is your brain then good at
making sure your right hand has an advantage, so it's

(01:02:59):
always better than your left hand, or both of your
hands actually pretty fair and equal. So the reason why
I like this is I love the experiments they do.
So basically, they put people in a room and they
put them in front of some objects, and they asked
the people to reach to the objects using their left
or the right arm. Now all of these people were
right handed, and then they said, now do this again,

(01:03:21):
but they attached a one point ain't kilo to their
wrists to make it harder for them. And what they
found is that adding weight makes you useless. You were
equally useless for both your left and your right hand.
So that was experiment. One experiment too was they went, okay,
we're going to remove the weight and we're going to
give you this massive lightweight stick. Make you be far

(01:03:42):
away from the objects, and now you have to tap
the object with the end of this wobbly bamboo stick.
And what they found is that your dominant arm is
really good at this. Your non dominant arm literally not
touch things. And the reason why I think that is
because you've spent a lot of time teaching your dominant arm,
how to use tools, how to hold a pen, how

(01:04:05):
to old scissors.

Speaker 9 (01:04:06):
So it took that into account.

Speaker 20 (01:04:08):
But the third experiments, and this is one I want
you want to do on a Sunday because this is fun,
is they basically tied a pen to people's elbows and
ask them to write the letter A and the number
eight using their elbows. Now, I've never written with my
elbows before, and Nora these participants and they all sucked equally,

(01:04:28):
I said, is even if you were right handed, your
right elbow is just as terrible as your left elbow
at writing. They then set them on a training course
where they taught either their right or their left elbow
to write, and they excelled and the one that they taught,
so basically, nobody is born with a natural skill. The
only reason why you're good at stuff, they said in

(01:04:49):
the study, is if you train hard enough, and so literally,
if you want to be good at things, the reason
why you're useless is because you've not practiced. And the
way to get better is number one, attach a pen
to your elbow, or number two, practice the thing that
you're working on more and you'll get better, Which makes
sense when you say out loud.

Speaker 9 (01:05:07):
It was a lovely little study.

Speaker 3 (01:05:08):
This is really interesting because both my children write with
their right hand and yet play sport with their left hand.
They left handed batsman or left handed on surfboard or
something like that. And I was just like, maybe did
I get it wrong? Did they get the pen in
the wrong hand when they begin? But obviously that's just
the way that that's actually.

Speaker 20 (01:05:26):
And they've probably just practiced it enough and now the
good one.

Speaker 3 (01:05:29):
Yeah, they probably went, oh, this feels a bit better
playing sport like this, so I'll just do this. And
that's what they did, and it's isn't that interesting?

Speaker 9 (01:05:36):
So interesting? So if you want to get better at something,
don't diplain it sucks. Just keep practicing and eventually it'll
be easy.

Speaker 3 (01:05:43):
Love it. Thank you so much, Michelle.

Speaker 1 (01:05:45):
The Sunday Session Full Show podcast on iHeartRadio powered by News.

Speaker 3 (01:05:50):
Talks, it is time for our resident chef, Mike Vander Allison.
Good morning, good morning, how are we very good? Thank
you hey. Last week we were talking about the micheline
list of course was announced on Tuesday. It was a
little bit like having our own sort of celebrity wedding,
wasn't it. Everyone was following it on social media. It was.
It was all very exciting. What were your takeouts or

(01:06:11):
takeaways from the list?

Speaker 21 (01:06:14):
I was a little bit there were three very I
didn't realize there was so many layers to the mitchelland
you had you had the first layer, which was the
star layer, then you had what they call the Bibb Awards,
which was the next layer down, and then you had
a third layer below that. So I didn't actually realize
there were so many layers to it. But my takeout,

(01:06:34):
it's got to be good for the country, isn't it.
If it gets people out, If it gets people into
the country dining at all these places, man, it's got
to be a great thing. Pluss. It did what it
said it would do. It got people talking about eating out.

Speaker 3 (01:06:47):
It sure did. And a little bit of you know,
like everybody's got their thoughts on it and who shouldn't
who shouldn't have, and who missed out maybe and things
like that. Was there anyone in particular that you were
disappointed that maybe didn't get up um and looking.

Speaker 21 (01:07:00):
Possibly one of my old chess Fraser, who owns runs
a restaurant in Simon Street called Lilias. I was kind
of hoping he would get either into the BIB or
possibly into the Star. He didn't, but hate there's always
next year. You know, it's not like it finishes at
this you you continue this journey.

Speaker 3 (01:07:18):
Well, I know that that's a hugely popular and very
hard to get into restaurants. So he's okay, he's doing Okay,
that's good, isn't it? Here we go right, So you've
got a little French number for us.

Speaker 16 (01:07:28):
Have you today that.

Speaker 3 (01:07:30):
After a good game of rugby last night?

Speaker 21 (01:07:33):
I did watch that. I was quite tired because we
had farm Shop on yesterday, and and I tell you
it was like watching a rugby game of fast fall.

Speaker 3 (01:07:41):
Holy, it was fun. It was such fun, It really was.
I mean, when we'll talk about this next hour as
well with Piney wasn't perfect, but it was really good
to see that intent back with the backs. So tell
me about the Kroc monsieur.

Speaker 21 (01:07:56):
Isn't an amazing thing. So it translates into mister crunch.
I love that name for a toasted Krouck monteur. It
originates in in the nineteen hundreds. It actually debuted on
a menu in nineteen ten, and back then, like though,
it begets were a massive thing that you'd have your

(01:08:16):
your toasted sandwich would be in a beget But what
happened in this particular cafe in nineteen ten is he
ran out of begett and so he had to go
for a soft square sandwich. And that was the birth
of the crocman. So it came about because of a
shortage of begetts. There we go, There we go.

Speaker 3 (01:08:35):
Why did I did not actually kind of realize it
was toasty? It just sounds so much lesure.

Speaker 21 (01:08:42):
I know, And it has to be one of the
most delicious toasted sandwiches there are. So what makes it
so unique as the beshmel that goes into it. So
it's a toasted sandwich. And the beshmel again came later
in nineteen ten, it was just simply grewey and cheese
ham between two pieces.

Speaker 2 (01:08:59):
Of white bread.

Speaker 21 (01:09:00):
Later on and about the nineteen fifties nineteen sixties, is
they shifted up. So a chef said, hey, what about
if we put a piece of besh mao or a
slice of besh mao or a smother of bechemel onto this.
And what the bechemeel does is bechamel being a white sauce.
As it enrichens it, it makes it super Moorish, and

(01:09:20):
I think that's what makes it crocd mateur so special.

Speaker 3 (01:09:24):
Okay, so we've got egg, slices of thick white bread
sour dough.

Speaker 21 (01:09:29):
This is a good choice also, absolutely so I just
used I actually just used super thick toast bread for
this yesterday. So make up your bechemel sauce. It's pretty simple.
Four tablespoons of butter. Heat that in a medium pen
and in four tablespoons of flour. Cook that out for
a couple of minutes. Then goes and half a liter
of milk. This is going to make four really big

(01:09:50):
toasted sandwiches, So a half a lead of milk, cook
that out into it's thickened and they're a little bit
of salt pinching upmeg. Set that aside. Good to go.
Then turn on your oven two hundred degrees. Take your
pieces of thick white toast smother on a diesel amount
of that beshamala. Then you go a little bit of
digital mustard, and then on top of that you go
some slices of smoked ham and the all important gruel

(01:10:13):
year cheese. That's the first lader. Then put on another
piece of toast, and just go beshamele and cheese for
the final layer. Fire that into the oven two hundred degrees,
like I said, super hot.

Speaker 2 (01:10:24):
It's going to be in there for about five to
six minutes.

Speaker 21 (01:10:26):
And what do you want to see is the top
of that cheese on that top layer just start to
golden up and become nice and crispy, and then you
pull that out, slice it in half and it should
be uber gooey in the center. Honestly, make it up.

Speaker 15 (01:10:40):
You would love it.

Speaker 3 (01:10:41):
It sounds like the perfect sort of winter Sunday afternoon lunch,
doesn't it.

Speaker 2 (01:10:47):
It's amazing.

Speaker 21 (01:10:47):
You could You could pair it up with a bit
of pumpkin soup or you probably should go French French
onion soup French onion.

Speaker 3 (01:10:55):
So yeah, no one, I love it. Thank you so much, Mike.
We'll talk next week. You can get that recipe from
good from Scratch dot co dot inz. Of course you
can head to news Talk z'b dot co dot inz
Ford Slant Sunday. All our interviews, all our information is
up there. It is thirteen to eleven News Talks a B.

Speaker 1 (01:11:13):
There's no better way to start your Sunday. It's the
Sunday Session with Francesca Rutkin and Wiggles for the best
selection of great Breeds news talks that be.

Speaker 3 (01:11:25):
It is time to talk wellness, and Eron O'Hara joins me. Now,
good morning, you got money. You got a really interesting
topic for us this morning. We're going to talk about
IBS and anxiety, that gut brain connection. Should we just
start with IBS? What's that again?

Speaker 22 (01:11:36):
IBS is irritable val syndrome, so it could be consummation, diarrhea, blowshing, cramping,
all those sort of just sort of upset gut sort
of symptoms.

Speaker 3 (01:11:46):
So silly question, is that something that you will have
always had or is it something that could develop? Could develop, okay.

Speaker 22 (01:11:52):
And it could be triggered from anxiety, And that's where
talking about this connection between anxiety and IBS. And actually
around forty percent of people who have IBS also experience anxiety, depression,
or maybe panic symptoms as well, so they're really commonly
closely related. And it's really hard to understand whether anxiety

(01:12:13):
triggers the digestive symptoms or it's actually round the other way,
is that the digestive symptoms are triggering off anxiety as
there is this gut brain connection and they work in together.
And there's some interesting studies. There's one new study that
just came out from Molecular Psychiatry magazine that's looking into
the gut microbiome and understanding the balance of the microbiome.

(01:12:36):
And they found that there's one specific bacteria, folky Cola
vulgaris probably pronounced wrong, but when somebody experiences anxiety and
ibs with diarrhea prenominant symptoms, it's usually lower in their gut.
And they did this study on mice and they studied

(01:12:57):
their guts and they noticed that when they change the microbiome,
what happened is it triggered off this anxiety like behaviors
in these mice. So there's a big relationship between what
is your gut microbiome doing and what is your nervous
system doing. And it's actually to do with the bugs
that are living in your gut as well as the
nervous system.

Speaker 3 (01:13:17):
So so do we know which one to deal with
first to help the other?

Speaker 22 (01:13:20):
Well, that's the complex thing is because it's got this
little bit of a negative feedback loop. Is that when
you're anxious, it triggers off the gut, and then the
gut gets triggered off triggers off the anxiety as you
worry about whether you're going to have IBS symptoms like
diarrhea and constipation from a day to day basis. So
they kind of link into each other. And that's the
reason that makes it so complex of what do you

(01:13:43):
solved first? Do you work on the gut first to
try and solve settling the nervous system, or do you
settle the nervous system to settle the gut. And I
think you probably need to do both. So when we're
looking at practical things that we can be doing to
kind of target this is maybe looking at possibly doing
a low fodmap diet quite often works with people with IBS.

Speaker 3 (01:14:03):
Give it a go.

Speaker 22 (01:14:03):
If it doesn't work, don't continue there, try something else.
Looking at fiber rich foods, which is really the food
for all those microbiom bugs that live in your gut,
So you've got to make sure you're getting a variety
of fiber. And I think that people quite often think
that pre bard at fiber is like complex foods, but
it's actually just your simple fruits, vegetables, nut seeds, grains, beans, lentils,

(01:14:26):
all the things that you probably have in your pantry
at home or can get from a regular supermarket.

Speaker 3 (01:14:30):
That's all the.

Speaker 22 (01:14:31):
Bigger the variety of what you're eating is actually going
to create the bigger diversity of gut bugs that live
in your microbiome as well as well as just lifestyle
things that you're doing, whether it's exercise, which actually has
a positive relationship on the diversity of your gut microbiome.
Sleek quality is also really important for calming the nervous

(01:14:51):
system and settling in the gut as well and managing
your stress. And that's where if you're looking at kind
of this gut and nervous system relationship is things like
calming herbs, which quite often the gut herbs as well,
like your camera male or your lemon balm, which are
going to calm the nervous system but also calm the gut.
Other herbs that are calming Magnolia, passionflower, They are all

(01:15:12):
nice calming herbs, whether you get it in a tablet
form from most pharmacies will tell them or through a
nature path in sort of more a tincture form as well,
but they can all great for like settling the gut
in a calming way, but also calm in the nervous
system too.

Speaker 3 (01:15:27):
So how long does it take to settle the gut?
Like how long if you make changes should you see
some improvement.

Speaker 22 (01:15:33):
Some people get really fast results I've noticed if you
get them on the right formulation and it cert But
sometimes can be just one product that has some calming
herbs they can notice an instant relief within a couple
of days. Is that when their nervous systems calmer, their
gut symptoms also settle down. And then the more confident
they get with their gut being a lot more settled
and balanced, then the more their nervous systems say settled,

(01:15:56):
and then they both improve together. And that's where you
kind of want to target them both together, not just
work on the gut. You kind of want to work
on the gut and the nervous system so you can
actually stop this negative foodback loop from continuing on.

Speaker 3 (01:16:10):
Okay, And if someone thinks that this might be them,
if this is sort of ringing some someone's going on
this all sounds a little bit like me, what steps
should they take?

Speaker 22 (01:16:18):
I think whether it's going to see Natchpath's always a
good place to start because they can give you some
really clear advice of what to do or whether it's
Evan just like he at starting with maybe even some
herbal teaser is a good place to start.

Speaker 3 (01:16:29):
Nice. Thank you so much erin appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:16:31):
We'll talk next week the Sunday Session Full Show podcast
on iHeartRadio powered by News Talks at b.

Speaker 3 (01:16:40):
Righty Ho. Simon Painter is a creative producer and entrepreneur
based in Los Angeles. Originally from London, he began his
career as a classical vinylist, violinist and a fiddler in
Spurred of the Dance remember that the Irish dance phenomenon
that traveled the world Anyway. He soon transitioned into managing
major performance venues, creating commercial theater, and he's behind some

(01:17:03):
of the world's biggest live circus in magic shows, such
as the eu Usionist Circus, Sola Circus nineteen oh three
and the adaptation of the film Now You See Me.
Now he is bringing his brand new theatrical circus spectacular
inspired by Alice's adventures in Wonderland. It's called sirc Alice.
He is bringing it to New Zealand. So I'm going

(01:17:23):
to talk to Simon about his very fascinating career and
also you know how he knows he's got a hit
show on his hands. Your New Dogs V We're back shortly.

Speaker 9 (01:17:35):
Come on, baby, just.

Speaker 1 (01:17:56):
It's Sunday.

Speaker 2 (01:17:57):
You know what that means.

Speaker 1 (01:17:58):
It's the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin and Wickles for
the Best Election of Great Reads News Talks b.

Speaker 3 (01:18:12):
Coming up this hour on the Sunday Session, Jason Pine
on the All Blacks. If you didn't get an invite
to Travis and Taylor's wedding, what might Americans be doing
for Independence Date? Megan takes us through celebrations in New
York and Washington, and Joan has a fascinating non fiction
story about oil Magnet's corporate greed and mercenaries in Mozambique
before the end of the hour.

Speaker 2 (01:18:34):
For the Sunday Session.

Speaker 3 (01:18:37):
From performer himself to creator of world class stage shows,
Simon Painter is the man behind some of the world's
biggest live circus and magic shows, the likes of the
Illusionists Sir to Solie Circus nineteen oh three and the
stage adaptation of the film Now You See Me this
week it was announced Simon's circ Alice is heading to
our Shawls. The show is a reimagining of Lewis Carroll's

(01:18:59):
Alice in Wonderland, brought to life by cast of aerialists,
acrobats and other circus performers. Captain Circus Simon Painter joins
me now from the UK. Good morning, Simon, thank you
so much for your time.

Speaker 7 (01:19:10):
Good morning, thanks thanks for having a sign.

Speaker 3 (01:19:13):
I was wondering if we could focus on your career first.
Am I right? You started out as a performer as
a fiddle player and a classical violinist. Does that correct?

Speaker 2 (01:19:24):
That is correct? It feels a very long time ago now,
but that's exactly how I.

Speaker 3 (01:19:28):
Started, and you were part of spirit of the dance
I was.

Speaker 2 (01:19:33):
I was the guy that had the leather jumpsuit and
a fiddle that set on fire, and I used to
prance around the stage when the dancers is in between
the big dance numbers and entertain the crowd in between
the sort of epic dance numbers. So I was sort
of I was like the fill in soloist in the show.
That was.

Speaker 7 (01:19:49):
That was my gig when I was twenty one years old.

Speaker 3 (01:19:51):
Because spirit of the dance was enormous, wasn't it. I mean,
what was it like to be part of that?

Speaker 2 (01:19:57):
Well, it was completely surreal because I was a classic
violinist and a drummer, and i'd you know, I was
literally like a giggy musician, often very unemployed, and you know,
playing gigs. I was doing, you know, sometimes a couple
of hundred people at night or sometimes five people at night,
as many musicians do, you know, really scrapping away of
living in South London and really you know, not quite

(01:20:19):
knowing where everything was going.

Speaker 7 (01:20:20):
And then all of a sudden I auditioned for this
show and literally a matter.

Speaker 2 (01:20:23):
Of weeks later, I was playing for three thousand people
at night and touring all over the world.

Speaker 7 (01:20:28):
So it was a very surreal thing to happen to me,
very kind of quickly.

Speaker 2 (01:20:32):
But I just loved it. I mean, it was just
an amazing opportunity and I truly loved doing it.

Speaker 7 (01:20:38):
It was it was, It was joyous.

Speaker 3 (01:20:40):
Irish dancing is cool, but there was a trick to
taking it and turning it into a global touring show.
And I wonder if that was when you first started
to learn what it takes to make a successful show
one hundred.

Speaker 2 (01:20:55):
I mean I saw, you know, something going from literally
zero to one hundred really quickly. And I think as
a sort of performer, you know, and we have a
lot of performers that now work for my company, a
lot of people that really started the very lowest rung
of the ladder and kind of climb their way through.

Speaker 7 (01:21:10):
To the choreographers or company managers and directors.

Speaker 2 (01:21:12):
And you know, you forget how much you pick up, right,
So even if you're in rehearsals, but you understand about
the marketing, the promotion, and how good the show has
to be to sort of earn the trust and the
respects of an audience. So whilst you might only be
the performer, you get to see all that stuff, but
behind the scenes, all the rest of it.

Speaker 7 (01:21:29):
And so over a few years you really do kind
of learn what it takes.

Speaker 3 (01:21:32):
So how do you move from performer to creating your
own shows?

Speaker 2 (01:21:37):
Well, it's I was in South Africa touring with the show,
and it was like a really big deal there. I
think it was the first time a show like that
kind of South Africa. So we were completely sold out
and I saw a troop of African dancers in Soweto,
and they were just unbelievably amazing. They sort of did

(01:21:57):
this thing with gum boots on their feet, very syncopated,
and it was very much like Irish dancing, but its
seat of African and so I just jumped out. I
was like, this is going to the next pla thing.
I'm going to have a liver dance. And I worked
eighteen months on this to the project, which was incredible,
and we raised all the I raised all the money.
We made this sort of great promo and this Marty thing,

(01:22:19):
and we had a theater, books and we were just
about to launch the show and very sadly, my lead
investor died of a heart attack and the show never
opened and I lost allay money. So that's how one
does it, the non traditional way, which was obviously terrible
for a number of reasons. But you know, I actually

(01:22:40):
ended up flying back home to England and becoming the
unemployed fiddle plow again. And there's nothing more humbling than,
you know, thinking that you've made it and then being
at the back of the bus playing the fiddle about
three weeks later. But you know, I had nothing to
lose and I jumped back on the sort of horse,
so to speak, and started again, and I ended up
making a search show sort of very similar to certain slay.

(01:23:02):
But when I was twenty three years old and I
just continue and those shows, so you know, I was
getting better, and you know, it got.

Speaker 7 (01:23:11):
Better and better, and eventually the shows went to the
Sydney Opera House and they.

Speaker 2 (01:23:14):
Started touring around the world. And then I moved to
Los Angeles and started a company and things just happened
super super fast. So over the period of years, I
ran venues. I kind of studied ideas, always creating the
ideas first and seeing if anyone.

Speaker 7 (01:23:29):
At all would be interested in buying them. So that's
kind of the very the short version, the chaosic version.

Speaker 13 (01:23:34):
Of how it happened.

Speaker 3 (01:23:36):
It's quite a journey. I mean, you have created some
of the biggest shows in the world. What do you
put your success down to? Is it Does it come
down to the idea?

Speaker 2 (01:23:47):
Look? I think and maybe it comes from being a performer.
So you know, I'm very in tune or with as
a performer, like with what the audience liked, especially the
solo performer, right, so they sort of a good solo
perform and you see this with anyone who's like a
you know, fantastic singer or you know, just an amazing
actor on stage.

Speaker 7 (01:24:06):
They know how to make the audience react in the moment.

Speaker 2 (01:24:09):
And I think, as a before I look that right,
being on stage for so many years, and so I
think when I'm looking at a show, what I'm really
thinking about is would I spend my harder money to
come and see something like this? And often then I,
you know, have the idea, whether it be a sort
of you know game, a throne show, or a Circlis show,
or you know, an illusioning show, a massive magic show,

(01:24:31):
you sort of have the idea like, would is that
something interesting? Is like, you know, the good folk of
news that you don't get to part with their harder
and cash to come and see this. And often the
answer is, you know, like mayor maybe. But sometimes you
find something I really believe in this and that's really
what it's about. And then I sort of often run
it by you know, my wife and my mother and
said a lot of other people. I've probably got twenty

(01:24:52):
five people liked a call and be like, what do
you think if we did Alice in Wonderland as a
search show? You know, and you know, sometimes these ideas
are really wacky and people like it's cool, but maybe not.
And then often you come across things and people say,
well that that could be amazing, and then you sort
of start on the journey of making it. And that's
really sort of how it happens. It's just sort of
me deedling away about what I think people might like.

Speaker 3 (01:25:15):
Tell me a little bit about circ Ellis, because when
I sort of heard that it was inspired by Ellis
in Wonderland, I thought, of course, because it's such an
it's such a it's a story feeled with so much
and sort of imagination and creativity. It's why, yes, it's
sort of perfect for this kind of interpretation.

Speaker 2 (01:25:34):
Well, I absolutely think so. I mean, it's an idea
that my wife actually had twenty years ago. So I've
created a lot of search shows over my life. Fortunate
enough to create a lot of big shows so I
and some smaller boutique shows as well, like Lenoire that
actually I think came through New Zealand a while ago.
So I've done a lot of different search shows and

(01:25:55):
what we're looking for in a searchular other than bringing
the best of the best of the best acts on
from anywhere on Earth to a stage. We're looking at
sort of like motif that can hold the things to again,
able to give the thing a reason to exist. And
Alice in Wonderland, you know, it is just such an
amazing story full of incredible characters.

Speaker 7 (01:26:14):
Right, so you have this the protagonist Alice.

Speaker 2 (01:26:16):
Wandering through there's almost like whimsical nonsense world meeting fantastical characters,
and we thoughts, you know, what could these characters be
if they were to sort of be have to sort
of cirk powers, these sort of superpowers of flight and
of you know, strength and endurance and contortion. And then
we sort of piecing it together, like you know, would

(01:26:37):
the Flamingos be flying with that, would the Knights be
balancing on top of each other? With the contortionists be
caterpillars that kind of form into this contortion And it
actually came together pretty quickly and almost we we I
sort of my children you know, helped a lot actually
because you know, they're you know, they're they're twelve to eight,
and they sort of really understood the story from a
sort of child's perspective as well.

Speaker 7 (01:26:58):
Like what do you think of the three.

Speaker 2 (01:27:00):
Contortionists canna end up looking like a caterpillar, Like yeah,
like that might be cool. So that's how it sort
of started.

Speaker 7 (01:27:06):
And then we really did want to bring you know.

Speaker 2 (01:27:09):
With everything, we do want to raise the bar and
from doing so much work, it sort of like sort
of we do know with the very very finest people
on earth in terms of like their acrobatic prowess, the
gold medal winners, the Olympics sort of medalists are and
we sort of paired those extraordinary people with this sort
of storyline, and that's what we try to do, bring
those two things together to sort of put a show

(01:27:30):
on that inspires us narratively in terms of the characters
and really puts a speedge of our seats in terms
of the talent.

Speaker 3 (01:27:37):
I mean, I'm constantly blown away by the kind of
X that you see in these circus shows and what
the performers can do. Is it the same for you?
Do you keep finding performance and X that blow your mind?

Speaker 2 (01:27:47):
There is nothing I like more than discovering something that's
completely blows me away because I have seen everything, so
you know, for twenty five years, I've traveled around the
world looking for the best talent so when I see
something that blows me away, you know, it really.

Speaker 7 (01:28:00):
Doesn't sound me.

Speaker 2 (01:28:01):
And in this show, we do have some things that
I've never seen before. The two guys play the Knights
are from Tanzania. They do an act where it's trying
to imagine this. A guy is balanced on top of
the other guy upside down on his head, so you've
got an incredibly strong guy and then upside down balanced
on his head is another guy and they do that
whilst climbing up a sort of twenty foot ladder without

(01:28:23):
any staty.

Speaker 23 (01:28:25):
So I thought that, and it's the whole show is
sort of set to classical music, so that sets an
incredible piece of bornings and it's just such you know,
mostive stuff, like you really you sort of understand.

Speaker 7 (01:28:39):
The character and then what they do always just raises
and raisers of arts.

Speaker 2 (01:28:42):
So there's sort of a handful of acts and is
shown that for me, really are things that I hadn't
really seen before. I've seen things that are similar.

Speaker 7 (01:28:50):
But not to the same level, and I was like, right,
we have to bring these people into the show.

Speaker 3 (01:28:54):
Simon, you're very versatile in terms of the shows that
you're making. There's Circus, Broadway Magic, which one is the
most lucrative if I can be impolite and talk money, Wow, the.

Speaker 2 (01:29:05):
Most luc said, Well, they can all be extremely ugative,
and they can all be extremely disastrous depending on the week,
and not because of the shows, but because of things
like you know, global pandemics or you know, we once
got a show shut down because an Icelandic volcano exploded
and we couldn't fly the cast between two countries. So
fortunately we've never sort of lost money on a show

(01:29:28):
because of the show. It's always you know, like some
crazy chaos that thing happens, like the entire world closes
down for a pandemic. The shows, generally speaking, that are
family resonants, so things that like we sort of call
it the three ge of entertainment, which means the three
generations of a family watching a show together. They're the
ones for us that really seem to financially make the

(01:29:52):
most money because you know, as a parent myself, I'm
always trying to find something to do with my kids
that get them off the bloody screens and into something.
And so when I can go, I can bring my mother,
I can bring my wife, I can bring my kids,
you sort of had this three generation of a family
watching a show together.

Speaker 7 (01:30:10):
That's really the star that I really like doing.

Speaker 2 (01:30:13):
And it's a joy, you know, looking out sort of
often on one stage just before the show and I
sort of peeked through the curtain and see that, you know,
three generations of a family waiting to see the show star.

Speaker 7 (01:30:22):
That's lovely. That's a lovely thing to see.

Speaker 3 (01:30:24):
Where is magic ed? I read that magic shows are
having a comeback? Is that true?

Speaker 2 (01:30:30):
Absolutely? So, we we have the license for.

Speaker 7 (01:30:33):
Now You See Me Live. Previously to that, I created
the show called The Illusionists, which I think is probably.

Speaker 2 (01:30:42):
Most Yeah, it was on Broadway in it and it
was at the Cinde the Opera House, and I think
it played four hundred cities across the world. And that's
closed down around the time of the pandemic. And then
recently Now You See Me, which is a big magic
franchise and Lions Gates about magicians that try and rob
a bank using sort of heist and we very luckily

(01:31:04):
got the license and the lines get to take a
look at us.

Speaker 7 (01:31:07):
We opened recently the Sydney Opera House. It's about to
open in London.

Speaker 2 (01:31:12):
It's extraordinarily well in Sydney this summer, and it's about
to open.

Speaker 7 (01:31:17):
At the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in October.

Speaker 2 (01:31:21):
So it is really having a resurgence right now, and
I think, you know, it's a joy to be a
part of it.

Speaker 3 (01:31:28):
You're incredibly busy, Simon. You're also about to open Game
of Thrones, I believe, in a couple of weeks. So
I would imagine that being successful at this career also
you need to be very good at juggling a lot
of balls in the year.

Speaker 2 (01:31:39):
I definitely. I mean, I do have, you know, an
enormously amazing team, Like I do do the juggling, but
they also do a lot more of the juggling. I mean,
I can imagine that my team has spread around the world,
so I don't really have an office. I have like
people that work literally sort of my partners and my
co creators work everywhere from Brisbane to Los Angeles to

(01:32:02):
London to south of France. So it's it's quite a
wide red team, and you know, that's really amazing, and
so they do do a lot of the heavy lifting
in terms of like I have the idea and then
I kind of let them run with it and I
sort of come and hone it and step away in it.
But it's and my wife actually is a puzzlive director by.

Speaker 7 (01:32:21):
Callis, which is incredible.

Speaker 2 (01:32:23):
So we she was the director of my shows for
ten years and then we both start having a family
and she took time off to be like a full
time moment, and then a couple of years ago she said,
I really really want to engage that part of my
brain again. And so she now is what the co
director of Circulus, So it's amazing. She's unbelievably excited to

(01:32:45):
come to Aucklands because it's aspectfit city, so she'll be
coming in in a couple of months time to open
the show and she's over the moon about it.

Speaker 3 (01:32:52):
Oh fantastic, Simon, It's been a real pleasure to talk
to you this morning. Thank you so much for your time.

Speaker 2 (01:32:57):
Absolutely, I can't wait for you to see the show.

Speaker 3 (01:32:59):
Sir Ellis is coming to Auckland at Civic Theater from
August twenty eighth to September six. It's twenty one past
the Panels.

Speaker 1 (01:33:06):
Up next grad we cover it's the Sunday Session with
Francesca Rudgot and Whiggles for the Best selection of great
Greens US Talk sa'd be.

Speaker 3 (01:33:16):
It is twenty four past eleven and time for the panel,
and today I'm joined by host of the Prosperity Project
podcast Nadine Higgins. Good morning, Good morning, and also coasts
Laura Ryany. Good morning, Lorna Kyoda. I would love to
start with Liam Dan's opinion piece on bipartisan Kiwi saver.
I think that ki we save is something that we

(01:33:37):
really all. It's been the elephant of the room for
so long. We need to deal with it. He is
making the caller that he really wants labor to get
on boards a week and just approach us in a
bipartisan manner. Nadine, I'm going to come to you first.
Are New Zealander's good savers? Do we need to move
to compulsory kiwisaver.

Speaker 9 (01:33:58):
No, we're not good savers.

Speaker 15 (01:34:00):
Historically, we've actually had a net negative savings rate in
that we're generally spending more than we're earning all.

Speaker 9 (01:34:06):
Mass, but key we Savor.

Speaker 15 (01:34:10):
It is this fantastic idea, and people like the idea
of it. They're in the scheme. But I think the
statistic is around thirty percent of adults in the scheme
are not contributing, So being in the scheme is not
enough to silver our retirement problem. We actually have to
be contributing, and so I think Liam makes a really
good point that we do need to consider compulsion. And

(01:34:33):
it's not simple because obviously the reason that thirty percent
of adults in the scheme aren't contributing isn't because they
can't be bothered. Well, some of them maybe, but it's
more likely to be that at the moment they've got
another place that dollar needs to go more urgently. So
there'll have to be some thought into how you require

(01:34:56):
it to be compulsory without making people poorer in the
here and now than they currently are. But ultimately, we
need to be saving for the future, and if we
don't do that by choice, then maybe we need to
be encouraged along with a little bit of stick. Because
keep Saver has had carrot. You know, there are reasons
to contribute that make it worthwhile, but that's not enough

(01:35:20):
to get everyone who needs to be saving for their
future actually doing it.

Speaker 3 (01:35:23):
Do you think compulsory is what's going to help us
all save Lorna?

Speaker 24 (01:35:31):
Yeah, when you look at the stats, as Nadine says,
we have a terrible track record. We've been left to
our own devices and we've failed miserably. So I do
think compulsion is the way we're going. I don't think
it is the only answer. It's sort of another political
hot potato, along with capital gains tax and perhaps means
testing of superannuation that we really need to look at.

(01:35:52):
I love the idea of the baby boost where babies
are automatically enrolled. There's wonderful ideas that parents will happily
invest in this Kei we saver account for their own children.
But you know, I think that might be a little
bit of wishful thinking.

Speaker 9 (01:36:10):
But I do.

Speaker 24 (01:36:11):
Believe in the compulsory superannuation.

Speaker 9 (01:36:14):
I like the idea.

Speaker 24 (01:36:15):
I think it was the Retirement Commission that proposed sort
of a sidecar account which might leave up to three
thousand dollars for people if they have a hardship issue
that they can withdraw without too much difficulty and then
build it up again. But yeah, I think that is
definitely the way we're going.

Speaker 3 (01:36:29):
Because Lorna lately I think we should great go.

Speaker 15 (01:36:33):
No, I was just going to say, I think we
actually there to go further than that with the bipartisan approach.
It shouldn't just be for key, we say, but we
actually need a bipartisan approach to retirement in general. I've
actually opinion piece today that is about we need to
solve the cost of superannuation, which at the moment, you know,

(01:36:54):
there's four working people for every retiree, and every retiree
is currently entitled to the full pension no matter how
much they earn and how much they have an assets.
But give that thirty years and it's going to.

Speaker 9 (01:37:09):
Be two to one.

Speaker 15 (01:37:11):
Every working person is going to be supporting two people
in retirement on a full pension. And sustainable not sustainable.
And I know that politicians to date have treated it
like a sacred cow, but it just can't be the
only way you can argue we can afford it is
if you are willing to sacrifice literally spending on anything else.

(01:37:33):
Our health system, our education system, the infrastructure. And I
just can't imagine why people would stay in this country
if you were, you know, twenty years old today and
looking at.

Speaker 3 (01:37:45):
What we're going to be paying for.

Speaker 15 (01:37:46):
Yes, yes, in thirty years time, there will be nothing
left for you. So here's I think we need to
take compulsion seriously. But we also need to take what
we are going to do about the pension seriously.

Speaker 3 (01:37:59):
Okay, yeah, yeap, No, Well I know, well said here's
so here's the fact. We know what labor's going to say.
We're going to say, hang on, there are a lot
of people in This is going to put a huge
pressure on their lives. They can't afford to be paying,
especially if we're putting it up to twelve percent. They
can't be affording that. The compulsion isn't going to work
for them. Are there, I suppose, are there triggers? Are

(01:38:21):
there other ways or other policy that we can instigate
to help people out along the way who may be
struggling but are still within the scheme. Do you think knitting.

Speaker 15 (01:38:32):
I think Laurna made a really good point about the
sidecar savings. I've also written in the past about exactly
how difficult it is to get your KEII saver out.
People think, well, that's my money, and if I need it,
I can call on it. But you basically have to
be going bankrupt before you can access that money. And
even you know when you're ill, if you are not
kind of within twelve months of carking it, you can't

(01:38:54):
get access to that money, and so I do think
that we have to encourage another form within keiwisaver of
having an emergency fund, because that actually makes the difference
to people not going into much more damaging forms of
debt when something unexpected happens. But they need to be
able to access it without having to be, you know,

(01:39:17):
the creditors banging down their doors. So that might be
one way. At the sidecarst saving is what they've called it.
There might need to be some sort of interim measure
that helps smooth the impact of rising contributions. I guess
we have to have a debate about the pace that
those contributions go up, but ultimately there probably will have

(01:39:41):
to be some short term pain for some long term gain.

Speaker 3 (01:39:45):
What about you, Laura, if you were advising, you know,
we would we would like to sort of move forward
with this in a bipartisan manner. Do you think the
Labored Party would has a leg to sand on when
they when they start talking about it's not going to
benefit everybody, it's going to you know, or do we
all just have to accept we have to we have
to take that short term pain together.

Speaker 24 (01:40:02):
I do think we have to accept it, and you
could argue that the low income people who are going
to find this tough, although it will be a graduated
introduction if it happens, but they are the ones who
stand to gain most from it. I mean, there are
other things that I do slightly worry about. The compulsory
employer contributions over the age of sixty five. I'm wondering

(01:40:24):
if that might harm the employment chances for people over
the age of sixty five, who at the moment the
government doesn't have to contribute for. So there's a whole
lot of detail in it, but I do think that
labor need to accept that this is good for their
traditional constituency as well as everybody else.

Speaker 3 (01:40:43):
Lorna, Before we go, I just want to throw a
bouquet to the new stadium in christ Church one, New
Zealand stadium. Did you watch the Rugby last night?

Speaker 24 (01:40:52):
I did watch the Rugby Lakers night, very exciting game. Yes,
we actually you're right. I talked to my fiance and
I were discussing how great.

Speaker 8 (01:41:01):
The stadium looks.

Speaker 24 (01:41:02):
You know, the drone shots that looked amazing. It's so
fabulous to have a covered stadium with a retractable roof.
Of course, but we were also commenting on things. I know,
as if the rugby wasn't exciting enough, We're going, look,
how why the aisles are you can move up down
with which possibly makes us very old, but no, I

(01:41:22):
was extremely impressed, and I even made the comment we
should go down there for a concert or a sport.

Speaker 3 (01:41:28):
It's like you're thinking of your future already. I'd look
at those, but I think I've only seen the stadium
in action, I think in day games, And to be
honest with you, I kind of looked at the inside
of it and when I've driven past it, and I
thought it looked great from the outside, but inside it's
quite underwhelmed. Last night, though, Nadine, when it was it
went dark with let up, they put a show on.
I was like, oh, hang on a minute, we are

(01:41:49):
finally this is a you know, world class standard stadium.
This is awesome.

Speaker 15 (01:41:57):
Yes, and all the Aucklanders would be looking at it enviously. Yes,
imagain if we had a stadium that was right in
the center of the city. And I thought it was
so cool how they set up the night market outside
so that you're turning this into a real event. It's
not just Rugby. It's the market's beforehand, it's the halftime show,
you know, it's the lights. I just thought it was

(01:42:20):
fantastic and I'm not a die hard rugby fan, but
I really enjoyed the spectacle.

Speaker 3 (01:42:24):
Yeah, no, I thought it was fantastic. Lorna and Nadine,
thank you so much for your time today. Really appreciate it.
It's twenty five to twelve.

Speaker 1 (01:42:34):
It's the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin on News Talks
at b.

Speaker 3 (01:42:41):
Coming up at midday is Jason Pine with Weekend Sport.
My goodness, you've got a lot to cover up, cover
up to day.

Speaker 25 (01:42:47):
Jakes, and now to cover a lot to cover up
as well. Yes, it is quite a big body of
work that I've built up over the last five decades. Hey, Francesca,
look I heard you're talking about christ Church and Takaha Stadium.
Lucky enough to be in the Garden City this morning,
bringing the show the day after the first test of
the year. You're right about the venue. It is an
absolute cracker and last night with the extra seating in

(01:43:09):
their thirty thousand capacity, first all blacks test of the year,
Dave Rennie's first Test a real occasion, they got the win.
It wasn't perfect, never is in the first test of
the year, but lots to like. Afterwards, Dave Rennie said,
the feeling is more relief than elation. They'll talk it
up and they'll move on to the next one.

Speaker 3 (01:43:27):
I'm sure David Kirk felt the same way. Okay, so
to me, we started watching and you always know pretty
much immediately whether the All Blacks are on and within
even though you know the front scored in two minutes
and six minutes later we scored. We came back. You
could see the intent, you could see. I love the

(01:43:47):
fact that they were just passing the ball. Yeah, you know,
it was as simple as pass catch, pass catch. You know,
we got back to the basics. They were moving fast,
they seem to move the confidence. When you move that fast,
you make mistakes. That's to be expected. But we didn't
really sort of see that the old box kicked till
second half. I know, I loved it watching.

Speaker 25 (01:44:05):
I loved it the we didn't kick it that much.
I thought that was great. On one of the really
pleasing features here, you can see the intent that Dave
Rennie is asking this team to play with and as
you say, Francisca. You know, especially early on, if you
play with that pace, you are going to sacrifice a
little bit of accuracy. There are going to be a
couple of mistakes, a couple of drop balls, that sort
of thing that'll come with time. This team's only had

(01:44:26):
ten days together, you know, to learn about what Dave
Rennie wants and then to try and execute it. It's
always going to be a big ask, but they'll be
better from the run and now they focus on Italy
next weekend in Wellington. Look a couple of standouts last night.
I thought Cam roy Guard was superb again and Sam
Dowry was another one who's not a guy here talked

(01:44:47):
about a lot, but you know, with a few lockforwards out,
I thought he stepped up and had a really good test.

Speaker 3 (01:44:51):
Last wenek Pney really quick question. What does Dave Rennie
do now? Is he the kind of coach who's going
to I mean, obviously you want to check out how
different combinations work and see different people on the field.
Or is he more likely to go I'm going to
stick with who's inform.

Speaker 25 (01:45:07):
I think because it's a lee you might see more
twists than you would if it was Ireland. Yeah, I
think what he'll probably end up doing is is look
to land on his best team for Ireland and in
a fortnight's time so I think you'll see, you know,
a couple of players who didn't get debuts last night,
Josh Morby and Anton Segna. I think the whole feature
in Wellington. You know there'll be some players of course

(01:45:27):
who back up, either to start or off the bench.
But then I think in a couple of weeks against
Ireland at Eden Park you'll see the best fifteen and
twenty three injury permitting of course, and then we'll get
a good idea as to as to how Davern is
going to move forward with this team.

Speaker 3 (01:45:41):
What else you got on the show?

Speaker 25 (01:45:43):
Mainly rugby for a couple of hours, but also want
to talk of at a World Cup football, want to
talk some cricket, want to talk some Warriors. The Warriors
women start there their season this afternoon, so looking forward
to having a chat to their coach. But yeah, lots
of time for calls and feedback on what we saw
last night under the roof.

Speaker 3 (01:45:59):
I'm pretty sure you're going to get some. Thanks so much, Jason.
Jason will be back at Midday.

Speaker 1 (01:46:04):
The Sunday Session Full show podcast on iHeartRadio, powered by
News Talks b Travel with Wendy Woo tours Where the
World Is Yours Book?

Speaker 2 (01:46:14):
Now.

Speaker 3 (01:46:15):
Joining me now is Meghan Singleton, blogger at large dot com.
Good morning, Good morning, Happy fourth of July.

Speaker 15 (01:46:23):
Yes, yes, and thank you, same to you. And we're
not really all over Taylor Swift's thought of July?

Speaker 9 (01:46:28):
Are we?

Speaker 3 (01:46:29):
Well?

Speaker 9 (01:46:30):
Are the we small hours?

Speaker 4 (01:46:31):
No?

Speaker 2 (01:46:32):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:46:32):
No, Look I have been. I've been talking about that
a little bit this morning, because you know, we went
to New York and they were, you know, the New
York is pretty much no one's interested really in an
independence day or what Trump's doing to celebrate. They're all
about the wedding. But I've just been quite intrigued how
we can be all about it when actually there's nothing.
We don't have any information, nothing has been I've never
seen so many headlines that say nothing that's classic.

Speaker 15 (01:46:56):
So as right now as we speak, in the next hour,
New York are going to be setting off eighty five
thousand fireworks about okay between back and forth between both rivers.

Speaker 3 (01:47:05):
Well, maybe that's what Maybe that's why she's getting married.
Sweekends she's making the most of the fireworks that are
on display. I don't know, but look, if you didn't
get an invite to Travis and Taylor's wedding, how would
you be celebrating?

Speaker 2 (01:47:15):
What?

Speaker 3 (01:47:15):
What does happen in places like New York and Washington
and things?

Speaker 15 (01:47:19):
Yeah, well, this is an extraordinary year. By by I'm
only going to try and say what It is the
two hundred and fiftieth birthday, So the whole of the
US has been building up to this. It's not just
the big cities, although featuring Washington, d C, Philadelphia, Boston,
New York. It's all part of where the declaration was signed.
So I'm just going to go back in a nutshell

(01:47:40):
explain that leading up to today, two hundred and fifty
years ago, there were a lot of unhappy people in
the colonies. So they'd gone out from Britain to start
themselves in new life, but they were still being ruled
by King George the Third arbitrarily taxing them, forcing them
to do business with monopolistic companies, one being the East

(01:48:00):
Indian Tea Company.

Speaker 9 (01:48:01):
You might know where I'm going with this.

Speaker 15 (01:48:03):
But in seventeen seventy three, so this is three years
prior to the declaration was the Boston Tea Party. Then
all war and hell broke out, and finally, in seventeen
seventy six, the Thirteen Colonies signed a declaration of Independence,
which wasn't actually legal and binding until the US Constitution

(01:48:24):
was signed eleven years later, that all people were created equal,
et cetera, et cetera.

Speaker 9 (01:48:29):
So because of.

Speaker 15 (01:48:30):
This now we've got all of the fanfare going on.
We had a big fly over the Hoover Dam last
weekend in New York. In Las Vegas, it's a whole
the celebration is lasting the whole year. So thirty three
degrees right now in New York City, and people have
been waiting all afternoon for their viewing spots of these
rivers because their fireworks are going to start off in

(01:48:52):
about an hour.

Speaker 9 (01:48:53):
Nine to twenty five pm.

Speaker 15 (01:48:54):
But down in DC they're having eight hundred and fifty
thousand fireworks are going to be blowing off starting at
ten thirty pm because Trump's going to make a speech,
very long speech, but their fireworks are going to last
for forty minutes. And I'm excited because the whole thing
is going to be live on CNN.

Speaker 3 (01:49:13):
Oh Okay, that's a long time for fireworks.

Speaker 18 (01:49:17):
I know.

Speaker 15 (01:49:17):
And look, I'm worried about the fire risk and the smoke.
And it's thirty degrees in Washington right now at eight
thirty pm, So how dry is the land although they
are expecting it. They are expecting an electrical thunderstorm at
about eleven pm. Okay, we've got nasty for everyone's standing
out there on the wall.

Speaker 3 (01:49:36):
No, let's let's get it all over and done with. Hey,
really quickly, did you see your play about the Signing
of Yes?

Speaker 15 (01:49:43):
It was amazing inc at Ford's Theater. It was a
musical play. And basically that's how I'm so knowledgeable, Francesca,
because I watched the play and I paid attention to
these thirteen colonies and how they came to finally reach
this agreement to sign this declaration.

Speaker 3 (01:50:01):
It's not brilliant. This is what I like about you, Megan.
You do your homework. I appreciate that. Love you to
talk to you. Blogger at large as where you find Megan.
She's got lots of blogs on Washington and New York
and things, and I'm sure there's be something on there
about Independence Day. It is at thirteen to twelve.

Speaker 1 (01:50:17):
Books with Wiggles for the Best Election of Great Reads.

Speaker 3 (01:50:22):
Joining me now is Joe McKenzie, headbook bar at Wickles.
Good morning. Hello. I'm very excited to see there's another
Karen Slaughter available. I do love her.

Speaker 18 (01:50:31):
Yeah, she's quite remarkable. She's got an amazing body of work.
And the thing about her books is that they're quite detailed.
I'm not going to say complex because that sounds a
bit off putting, but actually she does really detailed.

Speaker 3 (01:50:43):
Plots and good read.

Speaker 18 (01:50:45):
It draws all the characters together really well.

Speaker 2 (01:50:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 18 (01:50:47):
This is the second in a series that she's called
North Falls. It's called The Secrets We Hide and North
Falls is a small town in America, and the first
book in the series was called We Are All Guilty Here.
But like all good authors, you don't necessarily need to
have read the first one to be able to appreciate
the second, but if you have, it just gives you
a bit more background. And in both books, Emmy Clifton

(01:51:09):
is one of the lead characters, and in this new
book she's the town sheriff, and the Clifton family seem
to own North Falls. Her dad was the sheriff before her,
and then she took it on after he died, and
her young and I would say largely gormless son is
now her deputy. So there's a healthy dose of nepotism
going on in the sheriff's department in this town. Her

(01:51:30):
mom dies and on the way to the wake after
the funeral, they hear gunshots and they turn up at
a crime scene where a local woman and her daughter
have both been shot. So Emmy never makes it to
her mum's wake. She instead starts unraveling a really sad
story of domestic abuse and trauma and figuring out who
was responsible for this shooting. There's a very interesting character

(01:51:52):
in this book, who is her much older sister called Jude,
who's an FBI legend, and of course she's there for
the funeral, so she gets caught up helping out with
this investigation, so you know, even more nepotism. The family's
all involved. Like all good small towns, the place is
rife with secrets and lies. Everyone knows everybody else and

(01:52:12):
all their business. But there are several things in this
book that you never see coming, including the secret that
sits right at the heart of these two sisters, and
it's just brilliantly put together. I would actually read anything
that Karen Slaughter wrote.

Speaker 3 (01:52:26):
I'm really interested to hear about this book by Alex Perry,
this nonfiction book and Blood Will Flow. This sounds like
a fascinating story.

Speaker 18 (01:52:33):
It is, And you know that I'm a real sucker
for really good quality investigative journalism. This is quite remarkable.
Some years ago in Mozambique, an enormous gas field was discovered,
and after that, of course, the wealthy foreign company started
turning up and exporting the gas, which benefited them and
the rest of their western friends, but it left all

(01:52:53):
the local people know better off. And this book is
a terrible and largely unknown story of an event which
is apparently the second worst terrorist attack of all time
after nine to eleven, and no one's ever heard about it.
Back in twenty twenty one, the French company Total Energies
managed an enormous operation in this part, this northern part

(01:53:15):
of Mozambique, and they the head of Total was and
I think probably still is a real egomaniac. He's a
Frenchman who rules the company as if it's his own
personal kingdom, with absolutely no regard for the welfare or
the well being of the people of the countries where
they operate, and it was known that there were rebel
gangs in the area, and he paid lip service to

(01:53:37):
the notion of adequate security. So when an ISIS group
arrived and carried out a really vicious attack, no one
came to help them, despite the fact there was a
military base nearby with one thousand soldiers based there, and
there was a corporate security operation operated by Total which
could and should have intervened. And almost twelve hundred people

(01:53:58):
were murdered, a couple of hundred were abducted, and many
others were injured. And this all only came to light
because the author, so, who's a UK based journalist, heard
about it and he spent some time there and couldn't
get any official information. So he put a small team
of people together and they went back and conducted interviews
with all of the survivors and they were able to

(01:54:21):
produce a record of exactly what happened and give a
final tally for Compass.

Speaker 3 (01:54:25):
Okay, I can't wait to pick that up now. Blood
will flow. The book we've just been talking about. It's
not going to be in the South Island stores until
next week. Yeah, probably Monday. Okay. That book was Blood
Will Flow by Alex Perry. The first book was The
Secrets We Hired by Karen Slaughter and Joan. School holidays
are here and it's time for the kids to start
voting for the kids Top fifty.

Speaker 18 (01:54:46):
Yes, every year What Cause produces a new Kid's Top
fifty list, and we would love kids during the school
holidays to get out their pen and paper or their
fingers on the keyboard and vote for their favorite books.

Speaker 3 (01:54:59):
So that is the Kid's Top fifty. Voting is open.
You can do it in store or online. Thanks so much, Joan,
See you next week.

Speaker 1 (01:55:06):
Sunday Session full show podcast on iHeartRadio powered by News
talk edb.

Speaker 3 (01:55:13):
Thank you so much for joining me today on the
Sunday Session. Love you to have your company and get
your texts and things. Thank you so much to Carry
and to Helen for producing the show today.

Speaker 17 (01:55:22):
Very much.

Speaker 3 (01:55:23):
Appreciate that Jason Pine is coming up on mid day
and I know he's going to want to hear your thoughts.
I know he's going to want to hear how you've
thought the All Blacks went last night. I think look,
I think we all enjoyed the moment the game, the intensity,
the score line changing all the time. But I reckon
you've probably slept on it a little bit, haven't you.
You've slept on it, and you've got a few queries,
and you've got a few questions, and you've got a

(01:55:43):
few thoughts to share with Jason. He is looking forward
to hearing from you. Okay, We're going to finish with
a hood one of Michael Jackson Milania's favorite song, Billy Jean.
If you've seen the doco, you'll see her singing along
to this number four, the song on our New Zealand
Singles Charts, the soundtrack from the film. It's sitting at

(01:56:03):
number two on the album's chart, so quite for I
thought the film was a bit of a money grab
and it seems to have turned out well for the
Jackson mistakes. So there we go. Have a great Sunday afternoon.
Take care.

Speaker 16 (01:56:15):
I'll see you next Sunday.

Speaker 1 (01:56:53):
For more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudken, listen
live to News Talks it'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.