Full Show Podcast: 10 August 2025

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks EDB. Welcome to the Sunday Session with
Francesca Rudkin and Wiggles for the best selection of great
reads used Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Good morning, Welcome to the Sunday Session. Good to have
you with us. I'm Francisca Rudkin. It is seven past nine.
Coming up on the show today, labor lead Chrishipkins is
with us. In just a moment after ten, Brett mackenzie
joins us. The Oscar and Grammy winner in one half
of Flight of the Concords is with us to chat
about his new album, freak Out City. It's fabulous. It's
an upbeat album he's put together with the help of

(00:49):
eight an eight piece band. We're going to talk about
the album, wrangling eight musicians, making music for movies, and
inheriting fifty race horses. Later in the show, I'm joined
by actress Kate Burton, daughter of Richard Burton, to talk
about a new movie about her famous father. The film
is called Mister Burton and it's the first time Kate
has got behind a film about the actor. We find

(01:11):
out why and why this film is so special to
her after eleven and as always, most welcome to text
anytime throughout the morning on ninety two ninety two.

Speaker 3 (01:22):
The Sunday session.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
When it comes to politics, a pep heave of mine
is opposition members of Parliament who seemingly do little for
three or six or nine years and then come into
parentsy baffled as to what they intend to do with
the portfolio they're now in charge of. And this applies
to all parties. Anyone in opposition heading into an election,
I find myself wondering what earth some politicians have done

(01:47):
with their three plus previous years in opposition. Look, I
appreciate when you're in opposition you have significantly less resources
than when in government. You don't have great access to
the budget detail or ministry they'll inherit when in power.
But we're not paying opposition MPs just to perform occasionally
in the House and in front of the media. We're
paying them to fully understand their area of responsibility, have

(02:11):
the expertise to challenge the government's ideas and bills so
they can advocate effectively for the best outcome for all
New Zealanders. A special call out here for listening peace
who don't have the added responsibility and duties of representing
an electorate. If you are the spokesperson for a fast
moving portfolio such as education, they're being seen to be

(02:33):
across the government's plans is even more important. Willow jeen
Prime's seeming lack of interest is Labour's education spokesperson in
a generational change proposed by the government for secondary education
this week. Ierks, Well, look, I'm sure she's not the
first MP to with nor correspondence or decline a meeting,
But her refusal to work with Education Minister Erica Stanford

(02:55):
on changes to NCAA erks because it looks lazy, It
looks arrogant. Most annoyingly, it looks like Labour isn't interested
in working with the government on and serious issues that
many New Zealanders would prefer adopted a bipartisan approach. Look,
I get it sucks when your competitor is a government

(03:16):
devlots an initiative and reaches out for a bipartisan consensus.
It's on their terms and it benefits them. But we're
scrapping the current National Standards Program for seeing education and
implementing a new one with a short time period for consultation.
Isn't that something worth coming together on? Isn't that something
worth swallowing some pride for the excuse was that Willa

(03:38):
Jen Prime prioritized engaging with the sector over speaking to
the minister. Yes, engagement with the specter is important, but
you'd presume Prime, excuse me, Prime was already well on
her way to doing that. Being more informed by the
minister surely would only make those engagement conversations more insightful.

(03:58):
Erica Stanford, she is moving a pace. She's been moving
a pace since she took on the education portfolio. Stanford
is an example of a minister using her time wisely
in opposition. There isn't a lot of time for consultation.
Willi Jen Prime is right on that one, but she's
had since March to get her head around the government's
direction and would be much better prepared as she had

(04:18):
accepted Stanford's offer to continue working cross party on this.
As an opposition list MP with a commitment to one
select committee, there's no excuse she should be able to
keep up the Sunday session anyway. Leader of the Labor
Party Chrishipkins is going to be with me in a
moment to chat about this and a labour's visibility problem,

(04:39):
but keen to hear from you as well. You're most
welcome to text ninety two to ninety two. It is
eleven past nine.

Speaker 3 (04:46):
There's no better way to start your Sunday.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
It's the Sunday Session with Francesca Rutkin and whit Girls
for the best selection of Greg Breaths news.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
Talks at me.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
It's fourteen past nine. As I've just mentioned, on Friday,
we learned that the opposition ignored government's requests to meet
over major education reform. Then yesterday Green Party leader Choice
Warlbroke claims the Greens are basically leading the opposition, So
what are Labor up to do? They believe that they
are doing a good job, and Opposition Labor leader Chris
Hopkins joins me. Now, good morning, Chris. Thank you for
your time on a Sunday morning.

Speaker 4 (05:20):
No worries.

Speaker 5 (05:21):
Good to talk to you.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
Should will I Jene Prime have met with the government
over education reforms.

Speaker 5 (05:27):
Yes, and I made that clear this week as well.
I think Willow was texted by your Costenta that I
think the day she got the portfolio and at the
time she indicated she well. At the time, she indicated
to me she wanted to meet with the education sector
representatives before meeting with the government, but she didn't convey
that to Eric Stanford, and she should have done, and
then she should have accepted the invitation to meet. So

(05:48):
I've made that clear. I think Willo's learned a lot
from this particular episode. But I think the key thing
now is that we do need cross party collaboration to
make sure that the changes to the NCAA are enduring
and that you know, parents and students can have faith
in their national qualification system that we have as a country.
I think that is the most important thing and I
would hate for that to be lost in any political

(06:12):
point scoring that's gone on in the last week.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
Is Labor open to collaboration with the government on important.

Speaker 5 (06:17):
Reforms, Absolutely so. If you take in CAEA for example,
that this review process actually started when I was Minister
of Education, and at that time I invited Niki Kay
not just to meet with me, but to meet with
the people who were conducting the review, to meet with
all of the stakeholders. We got all the stakeholders together
into a big stakeholder forum so they could talk about it,

(06:39):
and Niki Kay was invited to that. In fact, I
think Erica Stamford may have attended some of those meetings
brought along by Nicki Kay, because I think this is
one of those areas that needs to be beyond politics.
And when it comes to replying to letters, of course,
Christopher Luxe and there's a number of letters for me
from me offering bipartisan support on a range of issues
which EAS yet to reply to. So I sort of

(07:01):
take their current criticism over the last week with a
little bit of a grain of salt.

Speaker 2 (07:05):
Okay, areas, are you collaborating or or there's sort of
cross party discussion happening at the moment.

Speaker 5 (07:13):
Well, if you look at areas around infrastructure, I think
that's vitally important that we have a more bipartisan approach
to infrastructure because the stop start nature of us, you know,
sorting out infrastructure issues is one of the things that
has got us into the pickle that we're in now,
and it's one of the things that push us up
the cost as well. So we need to collaborate on infrastructure.

(07:33):
I think big long term issues like the national qualification
system for our kids at school should be something that
we collaborate quite a lot on. I think issues around
national security, we do actually collaborate quite a lot on those.
You don't hear us talking about that much because of
the often the confidential and sensitive nature of that, but
we do collaborate on those issues quite a lot, and

(07:54):
I think that's important we keep doing that.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
And I feel like health is another issue too, Chris.
We're buy New Zealanders, we're quite likely to be a
bit more bipartisan action, so we're not only going back
the challenge on policy there.

Speaker 5 (08:05):
Yeah, the challenge with health is fundamentally going to be
about money. You know that the national government want has
been less money on health than we think is required
to actually deliver the healthcare that New Zealanders want, and
so that is going to be always be a bit
more of a political issue because if we want better healthcare, fundamentally,
we have to be willing to pay for it.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
I think one of the things that concerns me is
we need an opposition that's working and it's ready to
hit the ground running if they become the government. And
we're sort of seeing what's taken place this week with
this education portfolio and the spokesperson and things, and you
you're going to ask the question as to whether the
labor is putting the effort in to be ready to go.

Speaker 5 (08:42):
Ultimately, what I don't want to do is go to
the next election promising people are reheateion what we promised
last time. So we're taking our time to actually work
up some new ideas and some new thinking on the
challenges facing the country. You know, we can't just show
up and say, look, you got it wrong last time.
We have to accept the voters made their decision last time.
They didn't vote for us, and so what we offer

(09:03):
next time is going to have to be different.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
So the caucus did meet on Friday, you had an
all day planning meeting of strategy and policy. How close
aren't we to finding out what the Slaber caucus has
to offer?

Speaker 5 (09:14):
As I also said on Friday when we met, you know,
some of the big policy items will be next year,
because it's very hard for an opposition to release big
policy when you've still got a whole year and a
half to run before the next election, because a lot
can change in that time. You know, the government still
got a whole nother budget to deliver, and the last
thing that I want to do is make promises that
I then have to turn around next year and say, well,

(09:35):
we're actually going to have to change that. Now, Christopher
Luxean had to do that. If you remember when he
first became leader, his first policy announcement was that Labour
should give a whole lot more subsidies to businesses to
help them through COVID nineteen. Now, of course the government
is saying we spent too much money on those things.
The National Party is saying we spent too much money
on those things. But at the time he became leader,
Christopher luxem was aging and we needed to spend more.

(09:57):
And I don't want to find myself in the position
of having to go back on things that I have said.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
And look, typically we do get policy closer to the
that is generally how it works. But I suppose, you know,
we're going to want to know a little bit more
about the direction that you're going to want to go in,
and it also helps make you be a little bit
more visible and we've got an idea of what you're
working towards. So how does that timeline look when you
look ahead to next year's election.

Speaker 5 (10:24):
Yeah, there'll be a few policies this year that I mean,
I've said right from the start of the year that
our priority areas are you know, jobs, health, homes, re
election on the cost of living. So those are effectively
the four priority four policy areas that we want to
see more action on, and you'll see more detail of that.
But that is effectively my policy, your jobs, health, homes

(10:47):
and re election on the cost of living, and you'll
see details of that next year, and there'll be a
few announcements before the end of this year.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
Okay, So we've got Chloe s Wawlbrick. She spoke to
our New Zealand Herald journalist Jamie Ensaw and she believes
that the Greens are basically leading the opposition. Matama hinted
it the same thing. And who speak at their AGM
yesterday Do you think you are doing enough in a position?
Are you visible enough?

Speaker 6 (11:09):
Well?

Speaker 5 (11:10):
Love, I'm far more interested frankly, in the government taking
the country backwards and at the speed at which they are,
than arguing with the Greens. I mean, of course they
are hardly going to show up and say, oh, we're
just a junior version of labor, are they. I mean,
they're going to want to differentiate themselves. That's what political
parties do in election campaigns. But you know, I think
we need some fresh thinking. I think we can't just

(11:31):
reheat things that Labor and the Greens were doing when
we're in government last time. We've actually got to have
some new ideas.

Speaker 2 (11:37):
Where do you think your new ideas are going to
come from? What sort of areas?

Speaker 6 (11:44):
Where's this mutiling?

Speaker 5 (11:46):
You'll see quite a lot in the economy area. I
think we do need some fresh thinking on the economy.
We need to make sure that we're investing in productive
businesses and not just making our money as a country
by buying and selling houses from one another, which tends
to have been the focus for the last thirty years
or so. And look where that's led us. That hasn't
led us forward. We need to be investing in productive businesses.

(12:06):
We need to be backing our innovative new businesses to
do better. We need to make sure we're identifying what
we're good at as a country and what the strategic
opportunity is ahead for us as a country. We're not
going to be great at everything, but we can be
absolutely fantastic at a range of things. Where we've got
some key areas of strength, so you'll hear quite a
lot from us about that over the next year.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
You're looking at growth, Chris, Yeah, but it's.

Speaker 5 (12:32):
Growth that benefits everybody. I'm not just interested in economic
growth that gets captured by a few wealthy people. I
want to make sure that the people who go out
and work hard for a living actually benefit from that
economic growth.

Speaker 2 (12:44):
And we'll be expecting an announcement to around tax.

Speaker 5 (12:49):
Yeah, there'll be an announcement around tax. But tax is
not the be all and end all you. Tax is
only one part of the picture. We've actually got to
look at the broader picture of how do we make
sure that New Zealanders who go out work hard every
day can actually get ahead and create a better life
for themselves. And I think there's a lot of key
with out there working really hard, flogging their guts out
at the moment, who feel like they're going backwards all

(13:09):
the time. That is what motivates me to get out
of bed every morning. I think we could do better.

Speaker 2 (13:15):
Where do you find these fresh ideas from? Because a
lot of the time we were often presented with fresh
ideas and policies and things, but they might be a
rehash of something we've done before, or you know, like
it is hard to find a very original, unique, fresh
idea in politics.

Speaker 5 (13:32):
I think we can look here in New Zealand, and
we can look overseas. I mean I've spent quite a
bit of time looking at overseas examples. None of them
are directly translateable to New Zealand. You sort of cherry
pick a little bit here and there and mix it
in with some local knowledge, and that I think is
how you get some fresh thinking. So I've spent a
bit of time looking at countries like Denmark and Ireland.
If you go back thirty forty years, New Zealand had

(13:54):
a standard of living that was comparable, if not slightly
better than those countries and they've leap frogged ahead of
us by quite a wide margin now. So looking at
what they've done over the last thirty or forty years
has been useful. And we're also just going out and
speaking to people here in New Zealand. You know, what
are the things that are stopping us boosting ahead as
a country And Kiwis have actually got a lot of

(14:15):
good ideas about what we can do about that.

Speaker 2 (14:17):
Well, it's good to hear that engagement is taking place,
because that was something that you were criticized a little
bit for during that COVID period, a lack of engagement
with New Zealanders and things.

Speaker 5 (14:26):
Yeah, and I certainly think that there was a fair criticism.
You know, in a state of emergency like we had
with COVID, it's very hard to make decisions quickly whilst
being collaborative. So I certainly felt that by the end
of our time in government we needed to be doing
a lot more to engage with those who had really
good ideas about how we could move the country forward.

Speaker 2 (14:45):
You're talking about the economy, terms of the tax system
being productive, innovative and things like that. It basically implying
that you're going to be able to run this economy.
How do you convince us that you are going to
be better at reviving the economy when just in the
last week the Treasury is said that your government overspent

(15:06):
in COVID. You've got that sixty six billion dollar elephants
sitting in the corner.

Speaker 5 (15:12):
Well, I think one of the lessons from the National
Party is, you know, they took the view that you know, oh,
we'll just run everything better, and that we don't need
to make any major changes other than just cutting government spending.
We just cut government spending and we just bet you know,
they went out there and said, oh, we just we're
just better at running things. I think Keys can see
that that's not the case. They're not better at running things.
If anything, things are getting a lot lot worse under

(15:32):
this government. We are going to need to have some
things that are going to really shift the dial for
New Zealand. We can't just keep doing the same thing
we've been doing for the last thirty or forty years
and expect that we're going to get a different outcome.
But you're not. You know, it's not an overnight process
to identify what we need to do differently. And I
would rather take the time make sure that what I

(15:53):
put out there at the next election of stuff that
we know is actually going to work, because I think
Keys have had enough of reheated policies that ultimately don't disappoint.
I think Keys have had enough of being disappointed by politicians.
They want to see some real solutions that you know,
we've done our homework one and that we're now are
going to work.

Speaker 2 (16:11):
Chris, really appreciate your time this morning. Thank you very much.

Speaker 5 (16:15):
God's great to talk to you.

Speaker 2 (16:17):
Yeah, nice to talk to you too. Thank you very
much for your text. Ninety two ninety two is a
text number. They're flooding in Hipkins and superlone. Do not
convince me one little bit. Another text here, don't forget
Hipkins held every high profile portfolio in Ardeurn's disaster, and
we are still where we are because of his decisions
reheating wealth. Text clueless. Another text, does what Chris just

(16:40):
said actually past the sniff test? Labor needs new leadership
with accountability chairs. Paul and another one here, Willow should
be sacked. Keep the coming. Twenty six past nine this
Sunday session pro tests on the streets of Tel Aviv
overnight as Israel's display anger Israeli's I apologize Israeli's display

(17:03):
anger against Benjamin Nhinya, who's plans to occupy Gaza City.
Global leaders have also condemned the move, with an emergency
meeting at the UN Security Council called for tomorrow. Israeli
journalist Gideon Levy joins me.

Speaker 5 (17:17):
Now, Good morning, Gideon, Good morning Francisca.

Speaker 2 (17:21):
So as I mentioned protests on the street, what does
the general feel of the Israeli people.

Speaker 5 (17:28):
Oh, it's mixed.

Speaker 7 (17:29):
I mean those who are in the streets are still protesting.
But we have to remember that is what he's divided.
There is the other camp, which share continues to support
Natania and will continue to support him to very solid
the political base. So the protest is very impressive, but

(17:50):
he does not have a lot of effect. He can continue.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
World leaders have condemned the move. I mentioned the emergency
meeting of the UN Security Council tomorrow in New York.
Is that likely to have any impact on Nihnyahu?

Speaker 7 (18:07):
No, as long as he has the green light from
Donald Trump, he can totally ignore all the rest voices,
especially when they most of them don't take measures, they talk,
they condemn, But he knows to ignore those things. But
he got there. But he is really most important is
that Donald Trump say clearly publicly. Also, it's up to

(18:31):
Benjamin Antonio to decide. In this case, he has a
green light and he will continue.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
What is his end goal here? What is he trying
to achieve?

Speaker 7 (18:45):
The ad also says that it's all about his political survival.
I am not sure. I'm sure his political survival is
very important and vital for him, But I think that
there is also an ideological goal and makes things much
worse because I think that by the end of the day,
his goal is a total ethnic cleansing of the Gather Strip,

(19:11):
pushing all the inhabitants of Gaza to the south, making
Gaza unlivable, which happened already, and then giving them the
option either to stay in concentration camps or.

Speaker 8 (19:23):
To leave the Gaza Strip.

Speaker 7 (19:25):
This might be the end the end, the end game,
and in this case we are facing an ethnic cleansing
it transfer.

Speaker 2 (19:38):
How long would that take do you think, Irian?

Speaker 7 (19:43):
It depends much on the reaction of the international community.
It depends on the effects on the ground. Nobody can tell.
I'm not sure it is totally possible because until now
there's not one state who is ready to absorb any
kind of exiles from Palestine from Gaza, not to speak

(20:09):
about two point three million people. I don't think that
this program is possible or achievable, but the fact that
this is the idea is outrageous enough.

Speaker 2 (20:23):
What do you think of What do you think is
going to stop them going a hit?

Speaker 8 (20:28):
Here?

Speaker 2 (20:29):
We've mentioned the international pressure, where it comes down to
President Trump. What about pressure from Israelis.

Speaker 7 (20:43):
I wish there would have been a stronger pressure from Israelis.
I wish it would remain an issue which is only
society will solve by itself. But unfortunately I don't see
it happening. It's now twenty twenty two months of an
illegitimate war, at least in its last stages. It's for

(21:04):
sure not legitimate. It is a general side, and I
don't see the is Early societies standing against it. These
are societies protesting for the release of the hostages, which
is a very precious thing, and of getting read of Natanielle.
I don't see the same sense of struggle against the

(21:28):
general side. And this is the worst of all.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
That was Israeli journalist getting in Levy joining me there right.
Thank you very much for the text Andrew textas say,
not a Hipkins fan, but thought he spoke well today.
I thought it was good just dealing with the whole Well,
I gene prime because I'm sorry, but that is an
appalling situation took. You became spokesperson in March. You're a

(21:52):
listing pair. You don't even have an electorate to look after.
You're the Spokespersonit education. You're a once elect committee. You
absolutely should have been engaging both with the government when
they've often to engage with you and the sector should
be all across it. It's what we're paying you to do.
And I imagine that when they hand their strategy and
planning meeting on Friday, that was discussed. But you know, obviously,

(22:14):
you know, Cross Hipkins is medic clear that he does
believe in collaboration, so that's good. I am intrigued by
the desire to not come up with the same solutions
and provide fresh solutions. And I think you know, one
thing politicans are really good at is repackaging, isn't it.
They're they're very good at being able to present us
with something and we go, gosh, hang on a minute,
didn't we do that? You know, like modern learning environments

(22:37):
in our schools and things like that. So it's going
to be really interesting to see, what I mean. The
problem is that typically the opposition parties do not put
out their policy til much closer to the election. So
you know, it's up to Cross Sapkins, if he wants
to be visible, to keep working hard in opposition, you know,
as we wait for these fresh ideas to come next up,
Jamie insaw he has been at the Green Party twenty

(22:58):
twenty five and your general meeting and he's going to
give us an update of what's been happening at the
Australia New Zealand leaders meeting in Queen's as well. It's
twenty seven to ten. You're with News Dogs at B.

Speaker 1 (23:13):
It's the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin on News Dogs
at B.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
New Zealand Herald political reporter Jamie Enzel joins me.

Speaker 9 (23:22):
Now, good morning, good morning, how are you on.

Speaker 2 (23:25):
I'm good, thank you, and I do believe that you're
going to spend the day at the Greens and your
general meeting today.

Speaker 9 (23:31):
That's right, the Greens big kind of come together event
is happening today in Wellington. Co leader Madame and Davidson
spoke yesterday and as you were talking with Chris Sipkins
about she was really emphasizing this point about wanting to
lead to the next government rather than just being a
little bit of part of it. And it's going to
be really interesting to see the move of the room

(23:52):
today because remember it's just a year since the Greens
are in the middle of a really troublesome ror. They
had resignations of the likes of Goldriz Garriman and Darlene Tanner.
They had the loss of Afesso Collins, but the party
seems to have moved on confidently since then. There's no
real sign of dysfunction or any internal issues. And Chloe

(24:14):
Sawbrick is going to give a speech today where I
think she's going to really emphasize the ways that her party,
and this is very much her party, it's a different
Green Party would implement some policies if it was in government.
And I spoke with Chloe earlier this week and we
talked about the likes of the Greens alternative budget, it's
fiscal strategy, and how it's really taken the government to

(24:37):
task over some of the issues in its own budget.
And she really made the point that she felt that
her Green Party was leading the opposition, that she was
the one and her co leader was the ones putting
out policy while Labor hasn't really put forward anything. It's
not really too hard for the Greens to say that
they are leading the opposition when Labor hasn't put forward

(24:58):
any particular policies just yet. And saw Bit's really made
some veiled critiques of Labor over that. She said that,
you know, responsible political parties would be putting forward solutions
to tax issues, and the only party who's done that
so far as the Green So it'll be interesting to
hear how she continues that kind of theme that today's
are meeting.

Speaker 2 (25:17):
Okay, massive NCAA changes will announced this week. And I
know that you've been across this story for a long
time now. I've already expressed my thoughts on Labour's engagement
when it comes to this policy and things. As we
sort of get to the end of the week, Jamie,
how do you sort of sum up the reception to it.

Speaker 9 (25:41):
I think the response has been very interesting in what
it's been focused on. You know, we've had a lot
of teachers and unions and opposition parties come out and
speak about the NCAA changes, but the focus has really
been more on how it's going to be implemented and
the speed of reform rather than the actual substance of
the changes. The Green Party is actually the only ones

(26:01):
who have come out that I've seen who have said
that they don't like the changes. You know, Labor is
pulled back and it's been focused on that consultation period
rather than the move away from a standard spased system
to a subject spased system, or they haven't really made
any criticisms of moving from the excellence merit achieved grading
to out of one hundred, and I think that's really telling. Obviously,

(26:23):
Labor recognizes that making changes to NCAA is needed and
it's probably going to be popular with parents, so they
don't want to be seen as just opposing for opposing sake.
They want to be seen to be constructive. But of
course the issue that we had at the end of
this week is around below jan Prime and her consultation,
and I know you've spoken just with Chris Sitkins about that,

(26:45):
but it really was a terrible look for the party.
It's been calling for cross party consultation and bipartisanship, and
Primes told us that she wants to speak with teachers
and parents before speaking of the minister. But you can
do both ends the same time. Exactly, there's really value
when being in the room and just listening.

Speaker 2 (27:04):
Since much she should have been doing. By anyway, I'm
going to move on now. Tell me how's Queenstown treating
Anthony Albanezi and our prime Minster Crystpha luckson.

Speaker 9 (27:13):
Well, it looks pretty frosty. They went up for a
bit of a walk and that looks like there was
some snow. But the relationship, i should say, is not
all that frosty. It looks like they are getting along
quite well. There wasn't any major announcements coming out of
this meeting. It was a bit more of a catch up.
There was some talk of aligning or harmonizing some of
our regulatory systems, so you know, things can go across
the border a bit more easily and that helps trade.

(27:36):
But even though this was more of just a catch up,
it really does come at a pretty critical time globally.
You know, there's probably some fairly intense conversation behind the
scenes about the crisis in Gaza. Both the prime ministers
said afterwards that they wanted Israel to de escalate and
that any attempt to take over the rest of Gaza,
as has been indicated by the Israeli Prime minister, would

(27:59):
be wrong. Interestingly, the question of when the two countries
may recognize the Palestinian state came up, and both prime
ministers gave a fairly similar answer of it being a
matter of when, not if, and even though both leaders
spoke of how their own countries would make their own decisions,
you would imagine that if Australia was to recognize Palestine,
New Zealand wouldn't be too far behind. And there's going

(28:21):
to be some conversations across the Tasman about when the
best time for those those types of announcements would be,
to make sure there's some sort of alignment.

Speaker 2 (28:30):
Jamie enswel thank you so much for your time this morning.
Don't forget the Brent Mackenzie, the Oscar and Grammy winner
and one half a flight of the Concours is with
us just after ten as well to talk about his
new album. It is twenty to ten.

Speaker 1 (28:41):
The Sunday Session Full Show podcast on iHeartRadio powered by
News Talks.

Speaker 6 (28:46):
It be.

Speaker 3 (28:49):
What's New, What's agat?

Speaker 2 (28:52):
Okay, I'm going to line the moon a little bit
this out. We all love those cute cat videos on
social media, don't we. They're the light relief we need
while doom scrolling on our phones. Wow, you no longer
need your social media feed to get you a cute
cat hit. Cat Video Fest has compiled the best seventy
five minutes of cat videos for you and the opening
weekend has been so popular the event has been extended

(29:15):
to run right across the country. Cat Video Fest director
Will Braden joins me, now, thanks for being with us.

Speaker 6 (29:21):
It's so wonderful to be here. I'm purring so loud.

Speaker 2 (29:24):
It Talk me through what Cat Video Fest is and
how it came about.

Speaker 10 (29:30):
Well, in twenty twelve, the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis
put on the first Internet cat Video festival. They didn't
know if anyone was.

Speaker 6 (29:37):
Going to show up.

Speaker 10 (29:37):
It turns out about eleven thousand people showed up and
the video that I made won the Golden Kitty Award
there that year. And then I just kind of slent
my close into it and kept working with them more
and more, and eventually they moved on to other projects
in twenty fifteen.

Speaker 6 (29:52):
So since twenty sixteen, it's.

Speaker 10 (29:53):
Been my full time job to watch twelve thousand plus
cat videos every year and pick out the best ones.

Speaker 6 (30:00):
So it's the best job in the world.

Speaker 2 (30:01):
Oh my goodness. So how do you choose?

Speaker 6 (30:05):
Oh?

Speaker 10 (30:06):
Well, I mean, there has to be the biggest rule
is that there's got to be something compelling or funny
or informative or silly or whatever. But the other thing
is I really want people to see how many different
kinds of things there are that could still be considered
a cat video.

Speaker 6 (30:22):
So there's animated things, there's music videos.

Speaker 10 (30:24):
There's a little really short, like two minute mini documentary
things in there about rescue cats. There's not just the
traditional cat video that you're imagining of a cat, you know,
falling into a bathtub or something. There's a lot of those,
and those are great, but they would be exhausting after
seventy five minutes. So I want it to feel really curated.

Speaker 2 (30:41):
Okay, so it sounds a little bit more sophisticated than
what we would get on our social media feed.

Speaker 10 (30:47):
It is, although that's the first time that anyone is
referred to me as sophisticated.

Speaker 6 (30:52):
But yes, it is a curated experience.

Speaker 10 (30:55):
It's not just the algorithm using what happens to be
next when you're doom scrolling. It really is a singular experience,
and it's new every year, and it's g rated and
everything that every show that we have benefits local shelters.
So there's really no reason not to go, and that's
why it's been successful.

Speaker 6 (31:15):
People can't say no, Well, I mean, we all.

Speaker 2 (31:18):
Need a bit of lighthearted relief, don't we.

Speaker 10 (31:21):
Yeah, I think this this this year especially, A lot
of people have grabbed me by the shoulders after shows
and said I needed that. I needed to not watch
the news and not want, you know, just kind of
turn my brain off and have fun and do some
good at the same time.

Speaker 6 (31:37):
Everybody needs that, maybe now more than ever.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
And as you mean, dind, you're raising money for charity.
That's for animal charities.

Speaker 10 (31:45):
Yes, every show that we put on anywhere in the
world benefits a local shelter. In the United States, it's
much more spread out, and so really it depends. It
ends up being a different shelter every city. Pretty much
in New Zealand because things are a little more coherent
and cohesive between the shelters. They all benefit the SPCA

(32:05):
of New Zealand, which does amazing work and has you know,
shelters all over the place.

Speaker 6 (32:10):
But it's part of the DNA of the festival.

Speaker 10 (32:12):
If you see an advertisement for us playing somewhere, you
can bet that a portion of the proceeds are going
to a shelter one way or another.

Speaker 2 (32:19):
This was only supposed to run for one weekend, but
due to demand you have extended that. Why is it
resonating with people so much? Why do you think it's
so populous.

Speaker 10 (32:28):
I think there's I mean, my short answer is people
that have dogs. You can take your dogs everywhere, but
there isn't like a take your cat to work day,
nor should there ever be. And so the Internet became
kind of the virtual cat park. But that also meant
that it's kind of isolating in some ways that we
think of cat videos as like the singular, you know,

(32:50):
individual thing. So taking that experience offline and making it
a communal, joyous, you know, social event, there's something really
enticing about that. I think, maybe particularly now when so
many things now are streaming or so many things are
you can just see on your phone. We're kind of
going out of the direction. We're bringing it all out

(33:10):
into the world, and I think there's a lot of
people clamoring for that.

Speaker 2 (33:13):
As you mentioned, the started in North America. How widely
have you traveled to the Cat Video Festival?

Speaker 10 (33:20):
I mean, I think that this year will be our
biggest year ever in terms of different countries. I think
we'll be in about thirty different countries, twenty five or thirty,
and then over Europe and Southeast Asia and course in Australia,
New Zealand, and the US and Canada and Brazil, I
mean pretty much everywhere. The benefit of cats is there's
cats everywhere, So anywhere there's cats, and anywhere there's some

(33:43):
sort of a theater you can show cavity offests and
it'll have some success.

Speaker 6 (33:46):
So there really isn't a lot of limit to it.

Speaker 2 (33:48):
Oh, I love it, will Biden. Thank you very much
for your time this morning. Appreciate it.

Speaker 6 (33:53):
It was my pleasure. Thank you.

Speaker 2 (33:54):
Screenings of Cat Video Fest continue this week. For local
session times, head to Cat Video Fest dot com, or
you can also find more info at Flix dot co
dot nz. It's eleven to ten.

Speaker 1 (34:06):
Putting the tough questions to the newsmakers the mic asking breakfast.

Speaker 8 (34:10):
You increase yet again of kids leaving school with literally
no qualification, sixteen percent had nothing.

Speaker 3 (34:14):
Zervid Simwa's Associate Education Ministry.

Speaker 11 (34:16):
I think the education systems become less appealing because you
don't have a knowledgeable adult standing at the front telling
you stuff.

Speaker 6 (34:22):
That feels like.

Speaker 11 (34:23):
If you miss out, you're missing out on something valuable,
and that's because of the erosion of the curriculum. But
I think it's also true while absolutely critical to run
the government education system, Well, we need alternatives and why
it's surprised you to know my version of that is
charter school. If you set up a school with flexible
fund and same money and so you guys need to
do something different, then I think you can start to
fix some of these.

Speaker 1 (34:43):
Problem Right back tomorrow at six am the Mic Hosking
Breakfast with a Leader News Talk ZEDB grab a cover.
It's the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin and Whikeles for
the best selection of great breedings used Talk zedb.

Speaker 12 (35:07):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (35:10):
This is Cassie Henderson. The song is called Seconds to Midnight.
Cassie was the winner of the Best Pop Artist at
the twenty twenty five AMAS. Now, my producer clocked an
interesting Facebook post last night, because that's how she spends
her Saturday nights on Facebook. I think she was trying
to district herself from the warriors, to be honest with you.
More on that later in Sport. Anyway, she noticed last

(35:32):
night that Cassy Henderson key we sing a Songwriter had
put up a post that said has been difficult keeping
this secret. See you on the Voice Australia tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (35:42):
Night.

Speaker 2 (35:42):
So The Boys Australia is starting tonight in Australia and
I'm pretty sure it is coming here to TVNZ to
keep an eye out for that. I reckon. If you,
I reckon, if you're mentioning it, you gotta have done
well right Fingers crossed, How could she not? Anyway, that's
been a news to you. A few more texts here,
Hipkins and Arsonist returning to the scene of the crime.

(36:02):
Laban needs to go shopping for some gray matter. It's
like listening to the things Hipkins constantly spouts regurgitive drivel.
It kind of goes on like that. So that's the response.
But Labour's new ideas equals new taxes for those of
us who work hard to try and support ourselves without
government hands outs. That was from and Denmark Island. Great

(36:24):
examples way less governance, a smaller parliament overhall, size of government,
regional and local councils, too many layers of bureaucracy. Thank
you very much for those texts as well, very very quickly.
New episode of The Little Things is out now. Michigo
Highlands is a very well known New Zealand macap partlist

(36:44):
and stylist she's worked at TV and C She's dut
does all the celebrities all the time styles that makes
them look fantastic. She joined Louise and I on the
podcast to talk about fashion and middle aged women and
how you know we should dress and basically we should
dress however we like and we should be more adventurous. Anyway,
if you just feel like you need some inspiration this
week to leave the house looking and feeling fantastic, go

(37:05):
and have a listen to the podcast. You can get
at iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts. It's the
Little Things. It is six to.

Speaker 1 (37:12):
Ten the Sunday Session Full Show podcast on iHeartRadio powered
by News Talks.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
B Right the Fabulous. Brett McKenzie has a new album out.
It's called freak Out City and it's just what we
need at the moment. It's outbeats Warm. It's an optimistic
album but with pertinent lyrics. Brett is very busy making
music for movies these days. He wrote a couple of
songs for the Minecraft movie. We're going to talk about that.

(37:41):
We're also going to talk about then, just how easy
it is to define the time to make his own music.
So Brett McKenzie on music, Hollywood and inheriting Fifty Horses
is next you with news talks ab.

Speaker 13 (37:57):
Here are good, woo, here are good?

Speaker 4 (38:06):
Put down the rabbit boo.

Speaker 3 (38:10):
Here I go away.

Speaker 6 (38:12):
Down, go down the rabbit.

Speaker 13 (38:44):
Here I go and go my way down the down
Brad or here I go the way down down the
radit Here I go my way down, go down the.

Speaker 4 (39:01):
Rabbit or what.

Speaker 3 (39:05):
Heres go? There's no better way to start your Sunday.

Speaker 1 (39:10):
It's a Sunday session with Francesca Rutkin and whitggles for
the best selection of great breaths used talk sat be.

Speaker 2 (39:27):
You Goinda. Good to have you with us here on
the Sunday session. This is all I Need. This is
the first release from Brett mackenzie's upcoming album, freak Out City.
Brett mackenzie, of Course Oscar and Grammy winner one half
of the Mighty Flight of the Concords duo. He is
releasing this new album this coming Friday. It's a second

(39:50):
solo album, following on from twenty twenty two's debut Songs
Without Jokes, and Brett Mackenzie joins me, now, good morning,
lovely to be here talk to me about the first single,
because it's a rather romantic gesture. All I need a
lovely song, and it is a love song to your wife, Hannah.

Speaker 4 (40:08):
It's a love song for yeah, for Hannah. And we've
been together a long time. We got together and we're
in our twenties and well twenty I think, and exactly,
and so you do the math. But I'm forty nine,
and yeah, it's funny when you've been in a relationship
that long. You've got to be honest. There are some

(40:28):
days you love each other more than other days. And
this song one of the you know, some one of
those days when things are going great. I sat down
the piano and came up with this song. So it's
a sweet love song.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
Can you tell me how some advice from the Beatles?
How would you write the verse?

Speaker 4 (40:46):
Yes, yeah, good question. I wrote the chorus. And sometimes
songs they pop into your head and you get a
piece of them, and then parts of them are left
and you're not sure what to do with them. And
around the time when I was writing the song, I
watched that Peter Jackson made that documentary about the Beatles,
and I don't know if you've seen that, about eight
hours or eighty hours of hanging out with the Beatles,

(41:08):
and there's one scen where George Harrison is working on
a song and it's actually the chords to something in
the words shimers, you know, but he didn't have the
lyrics and he said to John, you know, I just
don't know what the lyric should be in John goes
just sing pomegranate and the lyrics will come. And I
was like, that's so good because like being a songwriter,

(41:29):
watching the Beatles write songs, it's like a masterclass. And
so it was like, oh my god, that's so great.
So for a whole tour we toured. I toured the
first album, first album, and I sang the song live
and I just sang pomegranate in the verse, just sort
of made up blur and I have a few lines
and then just rhymed them with pomegranate. And Yeah, eventually
it took me a couple of years, but I replaced those.

Speaker 2 (41:51):
It was worth spending all those hours watching that documentary
just for that little chestnut. That's the song writing. Absolutely.

Speaker 4 (41:58):
I don't know if you saw it. There was another
one where you watch Paul McCartney and you see the
desperation that he's got to they've got to come up
with some songs. They've promised that album, and you see
him just hitting the bass, rocking out this beat and
just forcing lyrics out of his mouth. That's good, great
to watch.

Speaker 2 (42:14):
Other than Hannah, what's the inspiration behind this album?

Speaker 4 (42:18):
I think the inspiration behind the album is kind of
a seventies live energy. I wanted a record that felt
like a group of people in a room playing together.
I've got this amazing band of New Zealand musicians and
when we play there's a lot of there's a lot
of life and musical conversation going on, and I wanted

(42:39):
to capture some of that in a record in the
way that I think nineteen seventies records really did beautifully.
And then lyrically, the songs a collection of songs that
I wrote over about a year, and at the time,
you don't have a theme, and I didn't have a
real mission about what the album was going to be.
I just collected my favorite songs that came together. But

(43:01):
then when you in retrospect, you look back and you
see there are some threads of optimism and hope in
a kind of modern world of fairly disastrous global news
and events. And there's one song in particular, eyes on
the Sun, which I think really captures that, which is

(43:23):
it is about. I had a friend who was just
getting so down about social division and climate change, and
I could see that it was breaking her, and I thought, Gee,
you've also got to You've got to bring it's not
helping you thinking about these things, and you're not changing
them by thinking about them, So it's bringing the optimism

(43:43):
in amongst it.

Speaker 2 (43:45):
It is a wonderful time to be releasing this album.
I do feel like we needed. It's just warm. It's upbeat,
but lyrically pertinent.

Speaker 8 (43:50):
You know.

Speaker 2 (43:51):
I think what you've just said there makes a huge
amount of sense from the experience that I had listening
to it. Eh piece band worked on this album with you.
That's quite big. Is that quite a bit of coordinating.

Speaker 4 (44:02):
The eight piece band is not something I would advise
you start. Like the amount of texts and emails to
coordinate a very simple like practice is pretty hilarious.

Speaker 2 (44:15):
Yeah, this album has been in the work for a while.
It was delayed somewhat as you looked after your father
in twenty twenty three and he sadly passed away, and
I know he was a huge fan of your work
and an inspiration to you, breet, wasn't he?

Speaker 4 (44:29):
Yeah, very much, so, big fan, big supporter. Really loved songs,
and he really loved melodies that kind of that. He
loves a lot of nineteen sixties music and the melodies
are really strong, and a lot of that music, he
loved it. When you could understand the lyrics. He got

(44:51):
very angry with rock music or you couldn't hear the lyrics.
But yeah, big fan, And yeah, I sort of lost
a year there. He got brain cancer and it was
quite fast actually, and so it was in some ways
it was pretty lucky, but we lost about there was
I feel like twenty twenty three is a bit of

(45:12):
a blur.

Speaker 2 (45:13):
Yeah, is it true when he passed you inherited fifty racehorses.

Speaker 4 (45:17):
Yeah, good research. Yeah, so my dad it's a horse
trainer and my mum is a ballet teacher, dance dance company.
Really mixed mixed bag and yeah, when dad passed away,
me and my two brothers inherited his farm, which had
fifty race horses, twenty cattle, and about fifty forty sheep.

(45:42):
And none of us are farm people. My brother's work
in hospitality and it and I do show business, and
so we found ourselves on the farm trying to fix troughs.
And I was trying to get the four wheel drive
and not even a four wheel drive. This is how
much farming knowledge I have. The quad bike as what
we call it. I was trying to get the quad

(46:03):
bike going and I had to YouTube a video how
to get it into reverse because I couldn't get it
out of the shed.

Speaker 2 (46:10):
So yeah, yeah, one of interesting times.

Speaker 4 (46:13):
Yeah, my dad's friend said to them in hospital, He's like,
don't you like your children? Don't you like your sons?
He's like, why, because you're leaving them fifty horses. Yeah. Anyway,
we've given away a lot of horses and I've got
a few left. If anyone wants a race horse, let
me know.

Speaker 2 (46:28):
Oh my goodness, what a story, Britt. Songwriting is your
main gig now? Not just for your own albums, but
of course you've been writing for movies for a while. Now,
what's the balance.

Speaker 4 (46:38):
I spend most of my time now, particularly the last
few years, writing songs for films. That's my main job.
I'd say I wrote a few songs for the Minecraft
movie that cannot and they come along. I kind of
love them because they're not They don't take too long,
so you focus on them for a few weeks and

(47:01):
then you kind of move on. They don't wereas film scripts.
I've written some film scripts and they really take a
year or eighteen months. And there's something quite fun about
songs is that I can you can do one, and
then I can go to my kids' school camp and
I can, and then I can do another song and
then do other things around them. It's much more Yeah,

(47:24):
a much more balanced kind of life.

Speaker 2 (47:27):
Yeah, this might be an odd question for someone who
does this for a living, but are there only so
many songs to go around?

Speaker 4 (47:34):
Like?

Speaker 2 (47:34):
Is it quite hard to find this space as well
to work on your own music while trying to also
create for other people and then needs.

Speaker 4 (47:45):
Yeah, it's funny you said that. The other day, I
was working on a song, a demo for a new
animated movie, and I've done quite a lot of work
on I got the demo af I was recording it
and doing some vocals. Then I was playing to keep
a player from my band, Leo. He was doing some
keys on it, and then I pause, I went, oh,
this is the same as as a song called heard Feelings,

(48:08):
like a concord song that I just go. So sometimes
you accidentally fall into your own patterns because you kind
of I think songwriters tend to use similar patterns. Yeah,
that was quite funny. I was like, oh, it's the
same as them. Oh there's a different card. I'll be fine. Yeah,
so that's yeah, maybe there are there's a there's I
think they tend to have similar shapes underneath them, but

(48:31):
then the lyric material ships them around.

Speaker 2 (48:35):
How much freedom do you get when you're creating a
song for a movie or a soundtrack and things. Do
you get a very specific brief or are you just
sort of allowed to be quite creative?

Speaker 4 (48:45):
It depends. Often for a film, I get given a
script and it has a little line, you know, Unicorn
sings a song about wanting to move to the city,
and so then I write a song about that. But
then the Minecraft movie was was very specific. That's the
most specific song I've had where they needed a song

(49:07):
for a fight scene at a certain tempo to match
holding out for a hero. That song that originally cut in,
but they didn't want to use. They wanted sixteenth note
high hats that kind of, you know, ergy sound, and
they didn't want too many sounds that were in the
frequency of punches and swords clashing because it was a

(49:28):
battle sequence. So yeah, and with a theme about being
a hero. That was the brief for that song. And
then they said it was Friday, and they said could
you do it by Monday? So yeah, I wrote the
song and it ended up being used and we got
Benny to sing it, and yeah, it came out. I
Alcoas didn't think it came out really great, but that
was very very specific parameters.

Speaker 2 (49:50):
So when it comes to writing your own album like
freak Out City, is that a bit of a relief
that you've got the ability to kind of have creative
freedom and be in control and do exactly what you want.

Speaker 3 (50:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (50:04):
I think that's what I find attractive about it, to
be honest, is having done so many jobs songs to prescription,
I think I was enjoying writing songs that are much
more open and free and anything can happen in them.
So yeah, that's definitely part of why I'm sort of
writing this new music.

Speaker 12 (50:24):
Britt.

Speaker 2 (50:24):
I know that you go between l A and Wellington
quite a lot, but you're mostly based in Wellington. These
days you can you can do the job from.

Speaker 4 (50:30):
There post COVID. A lot of work is on zoom anyway.
A couple of times I've flown to Los Angeles and
gone to the meeting and it's the meetings on Zoom.
It's quite frustrating the way. Yeah, I know it's pretty ridiculous,
but yeah, I do travel quite a bit. You can
tell you travel quite a bit when the staff on

(50:53):
the airplane no you.

Speaker 2 (50:56):
There might be other reasons though, to be honest, you're true,
but they're like, hey, I go.

Speaker 6 (51:02):
To see you again.

Speaker 4 (51:05):
Yeah, all like the people on the bus that you know,
you know from just commuting with those that many times.

Speaker 2 (51:11):
I heard you say recently that you thought of a
flight of the Concord's reunion with Jermaine, but you sort
of see the two of you as old men. Is
that stuff? Well, I was I think with something in that.

Speaker 4 (51:25):
I was thinking that, you know, stand up is a
really glorious like comedy is a really fun activity, not
actually a fun gig. When you're in your twenties and thirties,
you travel around the world, you get to be out
in comedy clubs and you get to meet lots of
people and it's really fun. But as you hit when
you have kids and you get a little bit older,

(51:47):
it gets a bit weird because you're not really going
out in the same way. And I've got friends who
still tour doing stand up and suddenly it, for some
read it clicks over into like a traveling salesman type
gig at some point, and it's a bit awkward. I
think having forty year old fifty old singing too many
dicks on the dance floor. But I have a feeling

(52:11):
it's going to be really great when we're like in
our sixties, a couple of old gray dudes singing it
about us, singing about our sugar loves. I reckon, that's
going to be much funnier.

Speaker 2 (52:26):
I love it. Now. Look just before you go, tell
me that there's a tour coming.

Speaker 4 (52:31):
Yeah, yeah, I'm going to tour this record. We're just
booking dates. I think it's going to be late summer.
Just find some time the schedule to get around the country.
I love touring around New Zealand. It's so fun. We
went to when we toured the last record was with
the New Zealand band The Whole Band on the road,
and we went through Murchison and we found this little
junk shop there and bought lots of trinkets, some egg

(52:53):
cup holders and salt and pepper shakers and sold them
as merch around the country. Super fun.

Speaker 2 (52:58):
I love it. Thank you so much for the album,
Absolutely loving freak Out City. Good luck with the horses,
and look forward to seeing you on tour at some point.

Speaker 14 (53:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (53:07):
Yeah, once I get rid of the horses, I'll be
on the road. I'll get back on the road.

Speaker 2 (53:10):
That was musician Brett Mackenzie. His new album freak Out
City is out this coming Friday, and keep an eye
out for those two dates. And don't forget that actress
Cap Burton is with me to talk about the latest
film about her father, Richard Burton. After eleven this morning,
it is twenty one past ten here with Newstalk's AB.

Speaker 1 (53:29):
Sunday with Style, the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin and
Wiggles for the best selection of great Reeds News talks.

Speaker 2 (53:37):
Hebby New Zealand. Is are great travelers and many of
us leave these shores with a copy of a Lonely
Planet guidebook in our hands. Lonely Planet, having the premium
travel guides for decades. Their writers visit every location and
profide authentic, up to date and highly useful information which
can enhance your trip and help you make them most
of your time away. Wiggles is the go to destination

(53:59):
for Lonely Planet guides in New Zealand, and they're currently
offering a twenty percent discount on all of them. This
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with the Lonely Planet logo, and that includes a great
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with books, games, puzzles, toys, gorgeous stationary and twenty percent

(54:23):
of all Lonely Planet. There really is something for everyone.

Speaker 12 (54:26):
At WIT calls the Sunday sessiony Blase anchor, it is
time to talk entertainment, and I'm joined by.

Speaker 2 (54:41):
Steve Neil, editor at flicks dot co dot Nz, who
has had an absolutely fantastic week of watching movies.

Speaker 15 (54:47):
Good morning, good morning, you're crime a River. I've been
having such a good time at the movies this week
and some Domoglashan there because last night, well, let's let's
let's kind of start with last night. Last night was
the world premiere of Anchor Me The Domoglasian Story. This
is a documentary on one of New Zealand's revered and

(55:07):
influential modern musicians, from from Blam Blam Bland to the
Front Lawn to the Muttain Birds and his own.

Speaker 6 (55:14):
Soul and material.

Speaker 15 (55:16):
Shirley Horrocks has managed to capture a very colorful creative
life in the runtime of a docco and it was
great to watch with a very very full civic theater
last night. I mean, there are so many interesting beats
and Don's story and it's such an interesting creative soul
that there's lots to enjoy here. And I think many

(55:37):
New Zealand or most New Zealanders have a sort of
entry point into his material one way or the other,
whether it's there is no depression in New Zealand or
a communit right, there's some really universal songs, crazy body
of work and ready creative genius. So that was that
was last night. But the week started off for me
with another New Zealand International Film Festival screening Lurker again

(56:00):
in the Civic Theater. This is a really interesting psychological
thriller about a young man who kind of works his
way into the circle of a pop star, like a
kind of the analogy, I guess would be the sort
of story of from from bygone centuries of people working
their way into the royal court, like kind of charming
their way into the attention of royals. And then you know,

(56:24):
as the film goes on, you start to become aware
that there are other people in this pop stars orbit
that are kind of doing the same thing, and what
could have been a really interesting character study finds really
interesting places to go in the run time of this film.
What I also liked about it was the pop stars
music was a bit crap, and I thought that was
kind of captured something like there is a lot of

(56:44):
blowing smoke up up the proverbial of artists, and it
kind of sometimes doesn't matter if they're good artists or not,
the same behavior has happened. So that was kind of
that's kind of.

Speaker 2 (56:53):
A making money absolutely.

Speaker 15 (56:56):
The following night I got to see Weapons. This is
not a film festival release, but it is still one
of the high watermarks of my movie watching this year.
This is the new film from Zach Kreiger, director of
Barbarian from a few few years back, which was a
horror smash that kind of built a lot on word
of mouth. Had some surprises in it, some twists and turns,

(57:16):
but I think the success of that film was based
on people talking about how great it was. How you
follow that up once you're sort of already starting to
be known as a director is an interesting challenge and
weapons I've kept a very tight lid on the spoilers
for this film, which I'll respect today as well.

Speaker 2 (57:30):
And actually we should because I was sitting in front
of you at the screening, which is slightly embarrassing. Do
you hear me make weird noises? I was thinking, it's embarssing.

Speaker 15 (57:40):
It's a horror, and it's also a horror with a
lot of comedy elements, yes, scattered through it. It's not
a it's not a comedy horror. It's just a it's
a It's a horror that will make you make weird
noises but also laugh in different way.

Speaker 2 (57:51):
Yeah, especially the final act where it really goes black comedy,
which is lots of fun and you need that relief.
But my advice to people is do not read anything
about this film. Do not ask if for insis here.
I saw this film weapons because it's out in cinemas.
Now just stop the right there, I go. I don't
want to know one single thing about this film. Just stop,
because that's the joy how it all unfolds.

Speaker 15 (58:15):
Just to give you the setup, there's at two seventeen am.
Like this is all set up in the first one
minute of the films. This is very low level spoilers.
At two seventeen am, an American town, all the children
of one class walked out the front door and ran away.
No one really knows what happened, and the film sort
of is unpacking what has happened in the aftermath. And

(58:38):
there are strong horror elements in this film and a
fantastically performance from Julia Ghana, who really anchors this. Not
to make another Dommoglasson pun but you know nothing. And
I benefited because I went straight from that film to another.
What will be inevitably another highlight of my movie. Watching
here at the International Film Festival a Serrat. This is

(58:59):
a very tense drama set in Morocco and the Moroccan desert.
It starts at a rave and it goes on an
increasingly kind of tense journey. I was warned before this
one as well, like just going cold, and I think,
I think, like when is that never bad advice? I
think that there's a real tendency to maybe over explain

(59:20):
films before we see them. There are a couple of
intros actually at the Film Festival have have done that
this year, like possibly given a bit too much away
from the.

Speaker 2 (59:27):
The film Festival is all about that's the one time
where you actually you kind of have a read, and
often the guides don't really tell you that.

Speaker 15 (59:36):
Trying to preserve that ambiguousy. And I think that's a
really good at good approach.

Speaker 2 (59:39):
Just pick something and it could be hit or miss.
But that's the joy of going to films.

Speaker 3 (59:44):
Right Yeah.

Speaker 15 (59:44):
I mean I don't want to be told how to
feel a minute before watching a movie, and I certainly
don't want to be told what things are about to happen.

Speaker 8 (59:52):
So there's a bit of that.

Speaker 15 (59:53):
Apparently there's been a bit of that taking place. I've
encountered that slightly as well. But SARAHT was a very
nerve jangler, So Weapons and Sarah were both extremely tense films.
Great Night at the movies. And then the only other
thing that I mentioned is equally kind of troubling and
many and has played at the New Zealand And National
Film Festival and we'll be coming back on general release.
Is ari Asta's Eddington starring Joaquin Phoenix. This is Boy,

(01:00:16):
Oh Boy. Whatever opinions you've got on the pandemic, you
will find these in this film. Everyone's on the Internet
too much, everyone's having all of their own viewpoints confirmed,
and all of these different outlooks on the world colliding
against each other. Sounds like the grimest reality that we've
all lived through. But what's interesting to me about this

(01:00:36):
film is it literalizes the beliefs that the characters have. So,
for instance, if you think Antifa is a real global
fighting force with machine guns, in this movie, Antifa is
a real global fighting force with machine guns. And there's
something really interesting about seeing the kind of ideas that
people are carrying around in little thought bubbles portrayed it

(01:00:58):
as real life.

Speaker 3 (01:00:59):
Watching.

Speaker 2 (01:01:00):
It can be slightly awkward at times and quite frustrating,
and I think some people might think that they're going
to be triggered, but in fact I found myself kind
of almost amused about what we've been through and how
we'd dealt with it and how I'd reacted to certain
things at certain times. It was almost I feel like
enough time has passed for us to be able to
watch the satire and kind of go, yeah, we did that,

(01:01:21):
Yeah that happened.

Speaker 15 (01:01:23):
And I totally agree. This is a film that probably
isn't absent its own viewpoint, but no one's just no
one's safe from the ridicule and examination here. This is
not a this is not a politically charged film. This
is a film about the effects of being siloed, largely
by social media and what that's done to fragment society.

(01:01:44):
Yet it is also quite funny funny, So it's a
really been a Yeah. It's a lot of a lot,
a lot of films with massive contrasts this week, and
if you're lucky enough to have the New Zealand International
Film Festival continuing or yet to come to your town
or city, there's so much to dig into there. I've
given a strong recommendation today Lurker, Sarat and anchor me

(01:02:05):
all excellent and the program and eating okay.

Speaker 2 (01:02:08):
So the International Film Festival is continuing on around the
country until September the tenth, if you are keen to
check it out, and also Weapons is in cinemas now.

Speaker 15 (01:02:19):
It's so good, so so good.

Speaker 2 (01:02:22):
Thanks so much, Steve. We'll catch up next week. It
is twenty seven to eleven.

Speaker 1 (01:02:28):
It's the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin on News Talks at.

Speaker 2 (01:02:32):
B joining me now with her science study of the week,
Doctor Micheldick and Sin Good morning, Good morning.

Speaker 6 (01:02:38):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:02:38):
Now I often tell you how much I learned from
the science studies that you bring in, but today my
mind has been blown. I had no idea about the
origins of the potato.

Speaker 5 (01:02:47):
Do you know what?

Speaker 16 (01:02:47):
Nor did I, and apparently nor did the rest of
the world. That's what I love about scientific research. So
if you want to read this, it's in their journal
Cell and it's a whole study figuring out where the
potato came from. And I'm going to make when I
eat my chips. I don't really think about this, but
if I had a guessed, I would never have thought
the potato came from tomato. No, but that's what this

(01:03:08):
study found. So what happened is researchers analyzed four hundred
and fifty different types of cultivated potato as well as
fifty six wild species of potatoes, and they've basically genetically
analyzed it to figure out nine million years ago that
two very different wild plant lineages, one which is similar

(01:03:29):
to a tomato that we know today, and the other one,
which is called a I think you pronounce it utuberosum
etu bero sum, which is a type of plant that
does not make tubers but looks a bit like a
potato plant at the top, came together somewhere in the
high mountains of South America, and their genetic material combined

(01:03:52):
through something called hybridization, and they created a brand new lineage,
which is called a potota. And this ancient hybrid inherited
just the right amount of genes from both sides that
it actually switched on the genes that were needed to
develop tubers, and the tuber is the part of the
potato that we eat, So that allowed the plants to

(01:04:12):
straw nutrients underground and survive in tough climates and for
us to then harvest that nutrient rich tuba, which is
what we eat today as the potato.

Speaker 2 (01:04:24):
I feel like it's just the beginning of the story, Michelle,
like it's almost like euveene want to know how it's
traveled the world and how it's kind of taken hold
on things like that. Oh totally.

Speaker 16 (01:04:34):
So the thing in this story that's interesting is they
were able to identify the very specific genes, so they're
called SP six A and IT one, and they were
inherited from each parent in sort of this genetic collaboration,
And what they found is that actually even modern genetic
experients show that these two hybrid genes are essential even
today for tuber development and still active in today's types

(01:04:58):
of potato. So that weird hybrid idation that happened nine
million years ago is literally why we have like the
world's mos important staple food that feeds so many of us.
And when you think about how these different you know,
we've got all sorts of different types of potatoes and
styles and types of traveled the world. But actually, if
you think about global food security and we know we've

(01:05:20):
got a huge issue around increasing population, climate is changing,
blah blah blah, I think the potato is going to
be the thing that keeps us all alive. And so
this research is really important for us to understand. One
number one, could we turn these genes onto other types
of plants to create other nutrient rich types of plants
that we can eat, but also how do we improve

(01:05:41):
our current crops to be more resistant to some of
the challenges that we know that we're going to have
on our planet. So this didn't go into how they
traveled the world, but it did go into how they
all then went off and created their.

Speaker 2 (01:05:52):
Other different things. That's just my imagination.

Speaker 16 (01:05:54):
It's well, we can do that next week. But yeah,
if you've ever had a potato this week and gone, oh,
I wonder where that came from, I bet you didn't
guess tomato.

Speaker 2 (01:06:04):
Sure don't, thank you so much. Michelle will catch up
next week. As a southerly blows across the country, Mike
vander Elsen has a Dutch pea and ham soup to
fill our bellies. He is with us next. It's twenty
to eleven.

Speaker 1 (01:06:16):
The Sunday Session Full Show podcast on iHeartRadio powered by News.

Speaker 2 (01:06:21):
TALKSB Joining me now a resident chef, Mike vander Alsen, Good.

Speaker 3 (01:06:26):
Morning, Good morning.

Speaker 2 (01:06:27):
Are you busy out on the land on the farm.
It's a bit chilli because we're pathetical conder. So suddenly
blows through and we go criaking. This is miserable, which
it's pretty normal for most New Zealanders.

Speaker 17 (01:06:40):
Well, I think anyone north of the Bombay might be
potentially feeling a bit colder than the people south of
the Bombay.

Speaker 2 (01:06:47):
That's fair enough.

Speaker 9 (01:06:48):
Were it's been, it's.

Speaker 17 (01:06:51):
Been chilli and this week we've been outside or I've
been outside just cutting all the trees off, all the
fence lines, and it comes through and I had like
two swan drives on. My problem is, and I am,
and I fully admit it is. I don't wear long pants.
I'm always sure in the.

Speaker 2 (01:07:10):
Short ye I know.

Speaker 17 (01:07:12):
Yeah, no matter how many layers of swan drise I
put on, you can't stop that cold.

Speaker 9 (01:07:19):
Breeze from shooting up.

Speaker 17 (01:07:22):
Yeah, shooting up the shorts and turning legs purple. So
I was sing, we need a winter warmer today. We
need something that we can put on and we can
all spend it because it's a beautiful day outside today.
We can all spend it outside doing our gardening, clipping
some edges and then coming tonight to a delicious warming dish.

Speaker 6 (01:07:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:07:40):
And it's a good time of the year to be
talking about the slow coocker because there's nothing better than
getting to the end of the day and go that's
sort of something yummy has been brewing all.

Speaker 3 (01:07:49):
Day, I know.

Speaker 17 (01:07:50):
And this is where like dishes like this is where
slow cookers kind of coming to their own and coming
to their own strengths, because with a slow cooker, it's
long and slow, so there's not a lot of evaporation
that's going on unless you like, if you crank it up, yes, maybe,
but if you put in all the ingredients, you turn
it onto high for like an hour, and then you
turn it down to low, you could pretty much walk

(01:08:12):
away knowing that's what's in. There's going to be the
same as when you come back. It's not going to
evaporate and burn onto the bottom. So I thought I'd
do a dish which was our favorite family dish when
I was a kid.

Speaker 3 (01:08:24):
It's a dish that.

Speaker 17 (01:08:25):
Mum used to always make, and it's a Dutch pen
Ham suit and when Mum made it, it was so
thick you could stand a spoon up in the center
of it.

Speaker 3 (01:08:34):
All right, Yeah, and I've just chat.

Speaker 17 (01:08:37):
I've changed it up a little bit by seven with
some cheesy toasts, so penhm soon, easy piece. You go
down a supermarket. Get a smoked pork coock. They're really available.
All the flavors in that pork for you already. It's
already been done for you. So into a slow cocker
or a pottery. Haven't got a slow cooker chucking your porkcock.

(01:08:57):
I've got a carrot that's been peeled and quartered, onion
that's been peeled and quartered, two bay leaves, a leader
of chicken stock, a lead of water, two cups of
the all important peas. So you've got two cups of
green lentils. I've got half teaspoons of salt and caught
a teaspoon of white pepper. Pop all them on, like
I say, turn it on, crank it up to it
to start with, and after an hour just turn it

(01:09:18):
down and let it do it sing on low. You
can leave that slow cooker going for six hours on high.
You probably want to check it after about four hours.
After this time, take your poorcock out dry, carefully pull
it all out as one unit as you can, because
what you're going to do now is shred all that
meat off that bone, including the skin. Some people like
the skin, so you can set the side of the

(01:09:39):
skin aside and then maybe finally slice it up and
add that back in, or if you don't want the skin,
just add your meat back in and then serve that
with a I've got like there's a gray year toast
or cheesy sort of toast, So just take a cheer
bar to butN slice it, butter it with some dish
or mustard, and then put it. Either put some gruy
your cheese on there, or if you just got some

(01:10:00):
tasty cheese, just grate some tasty cheese, buy them into
the oven under the grill, and toast them until the
nice and bubbly, and then serve them alongside your your
delicious winter warming penhands soup.

Speaker 2 (01:10:11):
Oh sounds great. So you got that off? Watch Watch
Time Flip pop over. That's to real what happens. I
talked to you, Mike. I talked to you, and I'm
just imagining that some for sum reason, someone at home
is listening to this, going, God, what a great idea.
I'm going to get that sort of tonight and when
I get home it's gonna all you know, it's already done.

(01:10:33):
But never mind. Thanks so much, Mike, appreciate it. Pee
and ham soup with cheesy toast. You can find that
recipe good from scratch dot co dot in z or
you can jump on news Talks hedb dot co dot
in z Ford Slash Sunday. It's we put all our stories,
our interviews, our information. You can get everything from the
show there. It is thirteen to eleven. There is a

(01:10:57):
new trend out. Yeah, it's a trend. It's called fiber maxing,
and we're going to get to the bottom of it
and find out whether you should be doing it or not.
News Talksie Beak.

Speaker 3 (01:11:06):
Leep, it's simple.

Speaker 1 (01:11:07):
It's Sunday the Sunday Session with Francesca, Rudcutter and Wiggles
for the best selection of graverys.

Speaker 3 (01:11:13):
News Talks be where you go on the head.

Speaker 2 (01:11:23):
Think a bay them happy.

Speaker 3 (01:11:27):
As you know grand.

Speaker 2 (01:11:28):
Text to say, Francesca love it. Just updated my slow
cooker last week and the first thing I did was
make pe and ham soup. Sounds good. Grunt makes up
some cheesy toast as well to go with it. It
sounds perfect. It's lovely cold weather joining us now is
talk Wellness. Aaron O'Hara Attrebath, good morning, good morning. So
fiber maxing. This is a TikTok trend that says eating

(01:11:50):
fiber is super cool basically, so we've got you to
tell us whether it is or not.

Speaker 18 (01:11:55):
Yeah, the fiber maxing trend is a real popular one,
particularly on TikTok, And if you don't know what it is,
it's basically maximizing your fiber intake insight in your diet
and beyond what's the recommended daily intakes. And it's really
rooted around gut health also the gut brain barrier that

(01:12:15):
brain access for mental health as well as digestion and
regulating sugar levels. And it's become really popular amongst the
young ones.

Speaker 2 (01:12:23):
Yeah, I mean when I think about fiber, I think
about a certain purpose that fiber can you know, we
eat fib before and I'm not sure that I really
want to be over max you know, maxing the amount
of fiber eat.

Speaker 18 (01:12:37):
Yes, it's an interesting way in the way that they're
kind of talking about our bowels move putting it in
that influence so kind of way of calling it fibermaxing.
But actually it's a trend that I'm a little bit
more for than the like. So if your carnivoric diet,
it's actually a really positive one. Most people actually don't
even eat enough fiber full stop. And so actually this

(01:12:57):
is actually quite a good healthy trend. And if you
think back through time back in the nineteen eighties, you
know everyone was eating You're all brand getting the fibrins,
so good for the gut, And actually it is great
for the gut. It's more how do you do that
to make sure you don't get any side effects when
you start to fiber max and suddenly load the gut
full of fiber, it's not always positive straight away.

Speaker 2 (01:13:18):
Do you want to max it or just have a
good amount of fiber. I mean, that's not sexy on
TikTok when you say that, but Na and I think.

Speaker 18 (01:13:25):
We all generally don't eat enough fiber, and fiber is
fantastic for the gut. And when you look at research
studies particularly, there's a landmark mark study that was done
by the World Health Organization in twenty nineteen and it
looks at a fiber rich diet and how it reduces
the risk of heart disease, stroke, type two diabetes, and

(01:13:45):
colorectal cancer by sixteen to twenty four percent, which is
huge and actually, even looking at our younger population, colorectal
cancer is actually a lot more prevalent in our population now.
So I think that movement from kind of moving from
carnivoric diet, which actually increases your risk of colorectal cancer,
to moving to fiber and putting more emphasis on fiber

(01:14:08):
in your diet is actually a real positive one for
our health and well bab.

Speaker 2 (01:14:12):
So where do we get our fiber from? What's the
best sources of fiber? So basically you're.

Speaker 18 (01:14:15):
Looking at eating more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds,
and you're kind of moved away from the all brand
and into more like the cheer seeds and ground flex
seeds and boosting it into your diet in that way.
And I think the one thing to be really cautious
if you are kind of eating just the standard diet
and you started to suddenly trying to put more fiber

(01:14:37):
in your diet, go slow, because if you suddenly go
from eating not much fiber and suddenly put fiber into
every meal and you're sprinkling you know, ground flex seed
and alleys say, and lots of beans and lentils, what
you'll find is you'll get a lot of bloating and
maybe lots of gas and stomach cramps. So that's the
biggest thing to watch out for if you're suddenly jumping

(01:14:59):
on this trend is you must go slow when you
start to reintroduce the fiber into the diet, especially if
you're suddenly eating more beans and lent tools. You don't
want to suddenly have a cup. You better just started
a little quarter of a cup and you up increase
it slowly over several weeks, because then the gut microbuy
and bugs can adapt.

Speaker 2 (01:15:17):
Okay, So how would we know if we're not having
enough fiber in our diet, Like, if we're not even
at the minimum amount, you know we're not having a
good amount.

Speaker 18 (01:15:24):
Well, I think it's more like the recommended World Health
Organization's thirty grams. It's just actually nothing, okay. So I
think it's more maybe just trying to put little bits
extra in each day. Maybe it might be adding an
extra piece of fruit, maybe adding some seeds into so
if you're making things like birch amusely, instead of making
it with just all oats, you might throw some grated
apple and some cheer seeds in there and soak that

(01:15:46):
in overnight. It's just more being cautious that you don't
put like half a cup of chair seeds and suddenly
try and eat that, and you'll end up with one
big bloated tummy that will be very very uncomfortable. And
sometimes also with increasing fiber two quickly. Even though we
think fiber great preventing constipation, however, if your gut is
already bad and you put lots of fiber, you will end.

Speaker 2 (01:16:09):
Up we can beggar backlog. So've just been.

Speaker 18 (01:16:12):
Really careful around that. And the other little tipp is
making sure you're drinking enough water because if you're putting
lots of fiber and you need the water hydration and
it helps to prevent constipation when you're increasing your fiber intake.

Speaker 2 (01:16:25):
So we need fiber with water.

Speaker 18 (01:16:28):
Lots of whole foods, so fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds
and whole grains, legumes, beans, all those good things for
the gut. Go slow as you reintroduce them or increase
your fiber intake, and don't try and rush it too
much unless you want to have a sawtummy.

Speaker 2 (01:16:41):
Thank you so much, erin appreciate it. It is five to.

Speaker 1 (01:16:44):
Eleven the Sunday Session Full Show podcast on iHeartRadio, powered
by News Talks at.

Speaker 2 (01:16:50):
B Wrighty Home. Mister Burton is a new filming released
this Thursday. It tells the formidative story of one of
the greats, Richard Burton. Now, while most films focus on
Burton's hell raising days, this film tells the story of
his childhood, the rejection by his father, and how he
was taken under the wing of an English teacher and

(01:17:12):
a theater director who's responsible for him becoming who he became.
So for the first time, Richard Burton's daughter, Kate Burton,
also an actress, has contributed to this film. She's blown
away by what they have achieved and she is with
me next to talk about why this film is so
special to her. So that's coming up next to our
News to the news talks they've becon and neg with
some new music from rich to Aura. This is joy.

Speaker 3 (01:17:59):
It's Sunday. You know what that means.

Speaker 1 (01:18:01):
It's the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin and Wickles for
the best Election of Great Reads.

Speaker 3 (01:18:07):
Us talk zeb.

Speaker 2 (01:18:14):
Good Dave, you will us. It is a seven past eleven.
Coming up this hour we will talk to Jason Fine
about the loss of Peter Lester sailing legend and Iconic
America's cup commentator. Japan is making changes to its tourism
industry meet and looks at whether this will effect New
Zealanders traveled to Japan and Kristin Hannah is the author
of several extremely popular books, and she's back with a

(01:18:36):
new novel. Joanes sets the scene for us before the.

Speaker 3 (01:18:39):
End of the hour the Sunday Session.

Speaker 2 (01:18:43):
Welsh actor Richard Burton was a global superstar of screen
and stage, nominated for seven Academy Awards, and once referred
to as the natural successor to Laurence Olivier. Many films
have been made about him, his rock and roll lifestyle,
or his marriage to Elizabeth Taylor, but a new film
releasing this week has focused on a young Richard Burton,
an origin story of sorts. It's called Burton.

Speaker 6 (01:19:08):
This plea is everything we worked for and I'm terrified.

Speaker 19 (01:19:14):
This is the chance to establish yourself as a classical
actor in the most prestigious theater.

Speaker 8 (01:19:19):
In the world.

Speaker 2 (01:19:20):
Me understudy to the drunken son of a drunken bloody mine.

Speaker 4 (01:19:27):
Do you not understand the magnitude of that?

Speaker 2 (01:19:30):
Richard Burton's family don't often watch films made about him,
but this film was a little different. One of his
children from his first marriage is Kate Burton. Kate herself
is an actress. You'll know her as Meritless Mum on
Gray's Anatomy or from scandalal Bosh or The Dropout. Kate
joins me to talk to chat about this film and
her dad. Kate Burton, good morning or good evening wherever

(01:19:51):
you are.

Speaker 20 (01:19:52):
Yes, good morning, good evening.

Speaker 2 (01:19:54):
Love you to have you with us. I just want
to say, first up, I very much appreciate you taking
the time to talk because I know that a lot
of people have made films about your father, and I'm
sure that people want to talk to you about him
all the time. That I'm really thrilled that you're able
to talk to us about this film because I think
it's quite special.

Speaker 20 (01:20:12):
I do too. I agree with you.

Speaker 21 (01:20:14):
I mean, to be honest, Francesca, the reason I do
talk about it is because I think it's so special,
exactly exactly as you say.

Speaker 20 (01:20:22):
I mean, I think it's an amazing achievement.

Speaker 21 (01:20:24):
I think they tell the story of my father's you know,
my father's origin story, as they say in the United States.
I think they tell it beautifully. A lot of people
don't realize where my father came from. They know that he,
you know, came from Wales, but they don't know how
poverty stricken his life was, you know, as a young person.
They don't know about this amazing teacher who came into

(01:20:46):
his life, Philip Burton, and you know, and the life
that he was leading. And I think it's just it's
amazing the way they've told it. You know, they cover
my dad's life from sixteen to twenty six. Everybody knows
about Dad, you know, later in life when he met
my stepmother, Elizabeth Taylor, but they don't know about this
young part part of his life. And it's his centenary

(01:21:09):
year here in the UK, so I mean all over
the world it's a centenary year, but you know that's.

Speaker 20 (01:21:13):
A very big deal in the UK.

Speaker 21 (01:21:15):
But this was thrilling to me when I read this
script last summer, I thought it was excellent and I
met with Toby Jones before he started playing Phil Burton,
my grandfather. But I was just amazed by everyone and
Harry Lottie, I mean, his performance going from sixteen to
twenty six is extraordinary. I mean it's just it's nothing

(01:21:38):
short of extraordinary and.

Speaker 2 (01:21:39):
New Zealand as we know him from the TV show industry,
and he's very much an actor on the rise.

Speaker 20 (01:21:43):
And I agree with you.

Speaker 2 (01:21:44):
I think he's fantastic. But is it hard to watch
someone play your father?

Speaker 20 (01:21:50):
Very hard?

Speaker 21 (01:21:51):
I mean, but what was what was funny? I didn't
see him. I didn't watch him through the monitor until
I met him. And when he emerged out of the
little sort of place where all the actors were hanging,
and he came out and he looked at me, and
I looked at him, and we both just just had
a moment of just and I said, this is the
weirdest thing that's ever happened to me. But you know,

(01:22:11):
to be honest with you, Francesca, you know, in terms
of actual films about dad, there's been maybe a handful,
not a ton, and I've seen none of them. The
reality is is that I, you know, neither me nor
any of my siblings Elizabeth Taylor's children, we don't really
spend a great deal of time watching things. I mean,

(01:22:35):
you know, I think probably the best one I've heard
of was was Dominic West and Helen A. Bottom Carter,
and I heard that was very very good by a
bunch of people who I like and trust who saw it.

Speaker 20 (01:22:48):
But you know what, we just don't do that, you know,
we just don't spend time watching those kinds of things.

Speaker 2 (01:22:52):
You know, We're just that makes sense? Yeah, yeah, do
you know what I mean?

Speaker 20 (01:22:54):
It's just a little too It's like, okay, that's so,
that's too weird.

Speaker 2 (01:22:59):
This film in a way is as much of a
tribute to Philip and the role take just can well
in young in a young person's life, as much as
it is we sort of see Richard's origin story, isn't
it right?

Speaker 20 (01:23:14):
Exactly exactly right?

Speaker 21 (01:23:15):
And you know, ultimately what it is is it's this
extraordinarily interesting, very self effacing man who had incredible integrity,
who cared deeply about his students and had a little
handful of students that he really helped them fulfill their frankly,

(01:23:36):
their destiny. And of course he himself, besides being you know,
an absolute incredible academic himself, Philip Burton, he was a
theatrical as well, and he wrote plays, he directed plays.
He was voracious about going to see plays, reading them,

(01:23:58):
you know, and so this very fascinating, complicated man is there.
He is, you know, he spent time in England. He
spent time in Wales. He's from Wales, and you know,
he discovers this this young uncut jam you know, who

(01:24:19):
is who's always getting into trouble because he has a
really troubled childhood and he takes him under his way.
And I don't think, to be honest, Francesca would be
sitting here now in my friend's house in London if
that hadn't happened. You know, I don't believe that I
would have had had it not been for Philip Burton,
I wouldn't have the life I have.

Speaker 2 (01:24:41):
No, it's a very special relationship. And look, you mentioned
before the transformation of Richard's voice and his ability to
project and his you know, and and and you know,
Philip is sort of responsible for sort of creating this
voice that we know that we associate so much with
Richard Burton, which is fascinating to watch. And of course

(01:25:01):
had to lose the strong Welsh accent. How did your
father feel about that?

Speaker 21 (01:25:06):
It well, you know Dad's generation, especially those who chose
to pursue acting, they all lost their their natural accents.
They all were expected in the forties and fifties to
speak in that kind of received pronunciation RP accent there

(01:25:28):
and I think Philip knew this, and Philip himself, you know,
certainly as as as depicted.

Speaker 20 (01:25:33):
By the great Toby Jones.

Speaker 21 (01:25:36):
Oh my god, Philip too spoke and he had a
very soft, soft, little Welsh lilt, but I'm sure that
he could have gone into him you know, intense received pronunciation,
very happy, you know, at the drop of the hat.
And actors of that time, male, female, didn't matter if

(01:25:58):
you were Scotland, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland. You were expected
to drop it, to drop that accent. That was part
part of your drama school training. But you see, my
dad didn't go to drama school, so he had the
drama school of Philip Burton.

Speaker 2 (01:26:15):
He worked hard.

Speaker 20 (01:26:16):
Yeah, he was a work He was a hard worker.

Speaker 21 (01:26:20):
Well you know, he came from a family of hard workers,
with the exception of his father. You know, I mean
Phil dick Bach as we call him, both means you know,
small and Welsh, and he was this was not a
person who was a great worth ethic, but Dad really did.
Dad was also very much an autodidact. I mean he

(01:26:40):
went to university. This is what Phil helped to get
was that short course at Oxford. You know, if you
joined the RAF, they gave you, or any part of
the military, they gave you the opportunity to do six
months at a university. And that is in fact what
Phil helps Dad, do, you know, is do that short

(01:27:01):
course at Oxford. And when he does that, he encounters people.
He encounters. He encountered a wonderful Robert tim Hardy who
was in the original Old Creatures Great and Small, and
they became lifelong friends.

Speaker 20 (01:27:16):
They were friends, I mean tim Hardy was one of
Dada's closest friends.

Speaker 21 (01:27:20):
And you know, so he met people, and he met directors,
and you know, that was where when he was at
Oxford for his very brief stint, that's where actor managers
and managers and representatives and agents saw him because that's
where they'd went. They would go to the drama schools,
but they would also go to Oxford and Cambridge and
you know, some of the other great universities. And see

(01:27:42):
these young young kids, I mean still as they do today,
you know, and watch them, see who are the ones
who they think have promised.

Speaker 2 (01:27:50):
Kate, You yourself has become an actress very familiar to
us all over our screens, graz and at toy scannedal Bosh,
the dropout, you name it. That your dad tried to
put you off acting as a career, which, to be
honest with you, is quite common, I think with yeah
a lot of the time with parents and their children
and this industry.

Speaker 21 (01:28:11):
But you know, his whole I think his whole thing
was he just didn't want me to go into such
a mad, mad profession because my profession is crazy. I mean,
it's here, I am, I've been doing it for over
forty years, and forty three years, I think, no, and

(01:28:32):
you know, I'm still dealing with I have a wonderful
amount of job offers right now. I'm very very honored
and grateful, but you know, I have to make decisions
based on like I also have to, you know, pay
the rent. So the truth of it is that I
have to do the things that makes sense financially as well.

(01:28:52):
And that was the thing that Data always dealt with.
My mother would always say when they were My mother
and my father were married for fourteen years. And the
reality is is that Mom said, you know, it was
always a thing that Data was always concerned, like I
need to, you know, pay for the house, and I
need to, you know, and this is the thing, but
when you're working in show business, as they say, you

(01:29:14):
you don't generally know what's happening one minute to the next,
you know, so you know, you kind of barrel ahead.
And I've just I feel, you know, as I'm touching
what as I say it, I feel so blessed from having,
you know, had such a wonderfully interesting career. I feel

(01:29:35):
so lucky, and I'm still doing it, and I'm still
doing it at this tender age.

Speaker 20 (01:29:39):
We won't go a job well, sure, look it up.

Speaker 2 (01:29:42):
But anyway, it's interesting you mentioned that, okay, because once
upon a time there was sort of this thought that
that a woman in Hollywood got to a certain age
and they were no longer interesting, complex characters available for them.
But I feel it's changed.

Speaker 21 (01:29:57):
A lot, that has really changed. And I really do
think that has changed. Because when I came to California
twenty years ago, I thought to myself, what is this
is a disaster?

Speaker 20 (01:30:08):
You know what what I what am I thinking? You know?

Speaker 21 (01:30:13):
I and I guess, you know, I had just started
to shoot Gray's Anatomy and it had already become quite
a phenomenon.

Speaker 20 (01:30:20):
By the time I got there.

Speaker 21 (01:30:22):
But who knew that scandal was going to happen and
who knew that all the other things were going to happen.
And the thing that was so interesting, Francesca, is that
I played such interesting roles.

Speaker 20 (01:30:32):
I'm c Ellis Gray, which I'm still playing, by the way,
I'm doing an episode in a few weeks.

Speaker 21 (01:30:36):
You know, I played such fascinating characters, and then I
got to be in deep with Armando yu Nucci directing me,
and you know, I was amazing and writing, writing veep,
and then you know all the other things that have
come my way. And it's not I mean, I'm happy
to play you know, mothers and grandmothers, and I do

(01:30:57):
that quite a lot. But I also play such interesting characters,
interesting women, you know, of all shapes and sizes, all
different stripes, and that's what's so gratifying. And I would
say that a lot of us, you know, a lot
of British actresses, Harriet Walter, you know my god Helen

(01:31:17):
Maren of course we worship at her shrine.

Speaker 20 (01:31:19):
Christ and Scott Thomas.

Speaker 21 (01:31:20):
We all get to play really interesting, multi dimensional characters.
I just did a play, my very first play at
the Royal Shakespeare Company and it was such a wonderful
confluence of events because Dad, my father and mother were
both there at the Royal Shakespeare Company in nineteen fifty one.

Speaker 2 (01:31:40):
That is very special. And of course the two of
you did get to act together before your father passed away.
I think it was Allis in Wonderland, wasn't it was
that special? Was that important to you?

Speaker 20 (01:31:49):
It was so great.

Speaker 21 (01:31:51):
Yeah, we did Alice in Wonderland where he played the
White Knight and I was Alice and he's the sweetest
scene and I'm so happy it exists. And then we did,
you know, a mini series with for CBS called Ellis Island.
We did it in London at Shepperton Studios where I

(01:32:12):
had always been with Dad when I was a kid,
sitting on SATs film SATs in the summertimes. And that
was incredible and that was what we did right before
he died.

Speaker 2 (01:32:24):
Kate, I so appreciate the time to talk to you
about this film. I learned an awful lot from the film,
Love you to talk to you. Thank you so much.
That was Kate Burton, daughter of the late Richard Burton.
The film we're talking about is called Mister Burton. It
is in cinemas this coming Thursday. The panel is up next.

Speaker 3 (01:32:43):
Relax, it's still the weekend.

Speaker 1 (01:32:45):
It's a Sunday session with Francesca Rudgin and Wiggles for
the best selection of great breaths.

Speaker 3 (01:32:51):
New's Talk z be.

Speaker 2 (01:32:53):
Panel time and joining me today on the panel we
have director at Capitol New Zealand, Been Thomas Good Morning,
Mornor and broadcaster and journalist of Willemina Shrimpton. Hi, Willemina, Hi,
good morning. Good to have you both with us. We
spoke to Christop Hipkins Chris Hipkins, I should say sorry
at the beginning of the show today. We were talking

(01:33:14):
about what's been happening with education and how it sort
of looks like as education spokespersons decided to do things
on their own term, own terms and in their own time.
Our oppositional members of Parliament ben we expect them to
be doing the work, to be fully engaged with whatever
portfolio they're the spokesperson for, to be collaborating when asked

(01:33:38):
with the opposition. I mean, I expect them to be
doing their job. And I just felt here like well
I doing prime was just I don't know, taking the
money and doing her own thing.

Speaker 8 (01:33:51):
Yeah, sometimes you have a bit of a problem with
former ministers who don't realize that their position in the
world has changed when they go into opposition. You know,
this idea that she basically will a jen Prime, basically
ignored requests from Erica Stanford, the Education Minister, to meet
with her, be briefed on and discuss potential changes.

Speaker 3 (01:34:16):
Until, you know, until she.

Speaker 8 (01:34:19):
Was sort of ready, at which point she should have said,
I'm ready to engage now.

Speaker 3 (01:34:24):
And you know, yeah, as you say, the job changes.

Speaker 2 (01:34:29):
But that's interesting. So do you think that's what was happening,
that she just was sort of stuck in that old mentality.

Speaker 8 (01:34:35):
I think there is a little bit of arrogance that
comes with it. Yeah, you would think that normally they
would be over that by about a year and a
half into a new government. But you know, who knows
that There does seem to be a bit of a
prevalent sort of sense that maybe labor are just waiting
for this government to fail to be reinstated to their
rightful place as government. And you look to their credit,

(01:34:57):
you know that seems to be working okay for Labour's
polic compared to Nationals, but I'm not sure it can
be relied on in an election yet next year.

Speaker 2 (01:35:05):
No, And that's a really interesting comment to make. Well, Amana,
you know we're getting all these comments. The Greens are
telling us that they're the main opposition and that they're
the ones being proactive and that you know, labor has
a visibility issue. But then you look at the polls
and you see that, you know, Chris Hopkins is actually
doing quite well, and you're thinking, well, maybe that's all
he does have to do is sit there and just

(01:35:25):
leave everybody else, make some of a mess of things
and it'll be fine.

Speaker 22 (01:35:30):
Which works to a certain point, right, but we're coming
up to crunch time. Next year is election. Yeah, you
can only rely so much on that Swinging the other way.
I think there's a real danger in being complacent. And
I know that that's actually in the term opposition. It's
their job to oppose things, but it actually needs to
come with some sort of substance. You can't just sit
there and oppose or say publicly that you're against a

(01:35:54):
particular policy or move or whatever and not do something
constructive or not come up with a solution. Otherwise you're
just winging and that's not how you win an election,
that's just that's how you lose arts, Ben, is Labor
doing a good job in opposition, Well, they're doing.

Speaker 8 (01:36:13):
A reasonable job compared to their appalling election result. Right,
They shed about exactly half of their votes from that
twenty twenty sort of bonanza they and they shed it
in all directions to the left, to the right.

Speaker 3 (01:36:28):
And you know, to be to be sort of near
national who which themselves.

Speaker 8 (01:36:36):
Have come down you know a lot since the election.
You know, they would probably be reasonably happy with that.
But look in the long term, sort of tracking at
in the low thirties gives them very you know, limited
leverage if they were to former government with either the
Greens and or to party body. You know, the Greens

(01:36:57):
tend to do best when Labor is weak, and it's
pretty instructive that the Greens are happily tracking along and
you know, ten percent or more, no matter how many
of their MPs leave and disgrace or charged with criminal offenses.

Speaker 2 (01:37:12):
Will Amana do you think Labor has a visibility issue?

Speaker 6 (01:37:17):
I don't think it's.

Speaker 2 (01:37:18):
About what you'd expect that this point out from you know,
an election which is all right way.

Speaker 22 (01:37:23):
All these the huge issues that are dominating the news
cycle really has National at the forefront. I don't know
if it's a visibility issue. I think it's just about
the substance of what they're delivering. It's about the substance
of what they're saying. I think, like I said, when
you're opposing something, there needs to be a solution. There
needs to be another policy, There needs to be something

(01:37:44):
more than just saying something isn't.

Speaker 2 (01:37:46):
Working in order to actually gain a bit of traction.

Speaker 22 (01:37:49):
I mean, I remember, I think it was when just
under Ardun came into power, and I think it was
the second election that she was elected after that the landslide,
and I know there was a lot of criticism about
National just coming out and saying that what they were
doing was bad. They weren't offering a solution, and people
actually want to know that's thing's going to change. They
don't just want to know that it's not working, So
what are they going to do about it?

Speaker 2 (01:38:11):
I'd love to talk about the boot camps and where
we go to from here. Of course, this has been
pretty controversial since it began. We've learned that seven out
of ten participants re offended. This was after leaving the
in house segment of the program, which does last for
the twelve months. What do we judge the program based
on that particular statistic, ben or are we dealing with
people whose lives and it's so much more complicated. There's

(01:38:34):
more to it than just that stat.

Speaker 3 (01:38:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (01:38:38):
I mean, if you look at the recidivism rates of
young offenders who have already offended you twice say, I
think the overall recidivism rate is about sixty percent. And
these participants were selected because they were among the most
serious youth offenders in the country, people with you know what,

(01:38:59):
we would regard as sort of crazy kind of histories
of offending. So I don't think there's any surprise at all.
I think it would be something of a miracle if
this had prevented the reaffecting to a greater extent. Look,
it's probably too seen to tell. I think the history
shows that these military style camps are not some sort

(01:39:24):
of panacea that will solve everything. More important, I guess,
are the new sort of wrap around care elements that
have been brought into this version of it under this
center right government. And maybe the evaluation will show that
you know there have been some positives and that there
should be more work on it. We honestly just don't know.

(01:39:47):
We can't tell from the numbers here. I suspect in
the end these will be abandoned like their predecessors are
after some time, and then a future national party will
campaign on them in ten to fifteen years time on
bringing them back.

Speaker 2 (01:40:03):
Yeah, what do we do?

Speaker 4 (01:40:04):
What Imeana?

Speaker 2 (01:40:05):
Do we keep going with? We stick at it.

Speaker 22 (01:40:08):
Look, seven out of ten reoffending. I definitely wouldn't label
that as a success. It's obviously not going to be
one hundred percent you know, a success rate. But you know,
for example, if you got thirty percent on a test,
would you say that you pass?

Speaker 2 (01:40:21):
Probably not.

Speaker 22 (01:40:22):
I think what needs to be done is there needs
to be a bit of a stock take of what's
actually been successful within that and know being you just
mentioned no wrap around elements and that's been proven to
really work to really wrap around these kids who are
you know, reoffending and getting caught up in crime. I
think it's clearly not working one hundred percent in the

(01:40:44):
current state.

Speaker 2 (01:40:44):
So let's look at it.

Speaker 22 (01:40:46):
Go what were the elements that were successful, Take those out,
add them to something else. Perhaps it's not the traditional
boot camp structure that is good, but not completely throwing
it out and wasting that money in that time and
that investment, but taking the good successful elements and making
it into a hybrid, into something that would work more

(01:41:06):
been forward. I think it would be a shame to
throw out everything, but combining things together is it potential?

Speaker 13 (01:41:15):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:41:15):
No, it's an interesting one, isn't it. Thank you so much,
Ben Thomas and one of the men Strimpton, for your
time this morning. Appreciate it. It is twenty six to twelve.

Speaker 1 (01:41:26):
It's the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin on News Talks
at B.

Speaker 2 (01:41:32):
Coming up at midday is Jason Pine with Weekend Sport
and he joins me, Now, good morning, good morning, very
sad news about Peter Lester, who has passed away age seventy,
of course, sailing legend and Iconic America's Cup commentator.

Speaker 19 (01:41:45):
Yeah, this is very sad and well before it's time.
I mean, seventy so young, isn't it.

Speaker 8 (01:41:51):
You know?

Speaker 19 (01:41:51):
And as I understand that Peter Lester kept himself, you know,
tremendously fit and was clean living and you know, just yeah,
just far, far too early, but you remember, you'll remember
the voice. And I think I what I will remember
most about Peter Lester is his ability to explain pretty

(01:42:11):
complicated stuff to dummies like me. You know, I mean,
we we don't all understand the intricacy, all of us all, well,
let's lump it. Let's lump all of us into that
because apart from you know, the real sailing officionados, we
kind of dipping an out of of sailing, don't we,
Like we do a lot of sports, and Peter Lester
had the ability to explain it to us in terms

(01:42:35):
we could all understand. He used jargon when it was needed,
but only to illustrate a point. And I think that
is a that is a gift. And not every top
class sports person who transosicians across to commentary and broadcast
and the media is able to do that. But he
absolutely was.

Speaker 2 (01:42:53):
He absolutely did, and of course he was a very
successful sailor as well in his younger days.

Speaker 6 (01:42:57):
Was it very much?

Speaker 19 (01:42:58):
I'll look he you know, three America's Cup campaigns, one
time Cup of others.

Speaker 2 (01:43:04):
We about the p class and the laz which is
where some of us began and didn't go anywhere.

Speaker 19 (01:43:11):
Yeah, but he did, didn't he and looked, you know,
a part of part of Victoria's teams in that one
time cup three times, as you say, p class just
across all different classes of yachting and sailing. He had
expertise and knowledge to one part.

Speaker 2 (01:43:27):
There was only so many times that I could sail
and lodge myself underneath the Glendowie Yachting Club that I
realized that maybe the sport wasn't for me. Jason, Yeah,
that's I mean, that's a good term.

Speaker 15 (01:43:35):
That's I mean, that's that gave you a clue.

Speaker 2 (01:43:37):
By the sounds of it, we're or Dad to come
in and drag me out again. Anyway, Let's talk about
the Warriors, because they did not have a good night
last night.

Speaker 19 (01:43:45):
So wet there and Sydney was I'm not sure if
you saw the game, but my goodness, it was absolutely
chucking it down in Sydney. AND's look, yeah, that's three
straight losses now five in the last seven. I'm going
to unpack this after midday, quite keen to hear what
people have to say. Look, you know, we we're disappointed
they've dropped out of the out of the top four. Obviously,
I worry just a little bit now escrow about the

(01:44:07):
top eight. I know we shouldn't be We shouldn't be
concerned about that given how good the Warriors have been
for large parts of the season. But the table doesn't lie.
There are only four points ahead of the team in
ninth place. Your top eight make the playoffs. There's four
games to go, so eight points left to fight for.
Je It would be such a disappointment, wouldn't it if
it all just fizzled.

Speaker 2 (01:44:28):
Out at the end.

Speaker 6 (01:44:29):
I think they'll come again.

Speaker 2 (01:44:30):
I think they'll come again.

Speaker 19 (01:44:31):
But yeah, I think they'll be okay, But what they
really need some guys back. I mean, well, they've had
a lot of bad luck. Hen oh my goodness. Yeah,
injuries are effective life in rugby league, but they have
been afflicted more than most teams, you know. And again
last night Timudi Martin was out after about twenty three minutes.
Had to reshuffle again. Hopefully the Cavalry will return in

(01:44:53):
time for finals. And look, I still think there'll be finals.
But it's just a really untimely stumble at the back
end of the season for the Warriors.

Speaker 2 (01:45:02):
Nothing harder than being a Warrior's stand painties. No, they're right, Look,
if you love cricket, the Black Caps are doing well
in Zimbabwe. I'm not I'm not sure if anyone's been
paying a huge amount of attention.

Speaker 6 (01:45:12):
To this, but I watched it.

Speaker 19 (01:45:13):
Yeah, I watched it and I was kind of flicking
around last night. In fact, just before we move from
the lily, the Warriors women were amazing last night.

Speaker 2 (01:45:19):
Fantastic.

Speaker 19 (01:45:20):
Yes, they smashed the Bulldogs. It was great, It was
really great. Can you remember it was thirty four eight
I think it was. It was real hiding, yeah, real hiding.
So that was that was at least a bright light
in Sydney for the Warriors.

Speaker 10 (01:45:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 19 (01:45:32):
The cricket, I mean, I kind of wonder what's achieved.
You know that across the series Zimbabwe lost all forty
of their wickets across the two Test matches for about
five hundred and fifty runs. New Zealand got six hundred
for three and just this game alone, so you know,
the mismatch was so big, so great, even with debutants.
Three debutants in this latest Test and they hardly raised

(01:45:55):
the sweet you do have to say, right, great building
depth and Zach Folks nine wickets on his Test debut
wonderful for him. But you know that Zimbabwe team Francesca
is no better really than a club side. If I'm honest.
They were just absolutely no match for the black Caps.
But you can only play what is put in front
of you, so they did.

Speaker 2 (01:46:14):
Thank you so much, Piney. Looking forward to joining you
at midday. Jason will be back with Weekends Sport at twelve.
It is twenty to twelve News TALKSB.

Speaker 1 (01:46:23):
The Sunday Session full show podcast on iHeartRadio powered by
News TALKSB. Travel with Wendy wo Tours Where the World
Is Yours book Now.

Speaker 2 (01:46:44):
Megan Singleton joins us now to talk travel. You can
find her at blogger at large dot com. Good morning,
Good morning.

Speaker 18 (01:46:51):
Now, we've been hearing a few.

Speaker 2 (01:46:52):
Changes about Japan as sort of rethinking their tourism industry
a little bit.

Speaker 14 (01:46:57):
Yes, well, it's absolutely heaving under the weight of international
tourists and their wheelie bags, no doubt wizzing through Tokyo.
So like a lot of the other cities around the
world and countries around the world that are having to
bring in measures, Japan has joined that. I think it's
on the bucket lists of just so many people. I
don't know if every does, everyone you know talking about

(01:47:17):
going to Japan because certainly and my.

Speaker 2 (01:47:21):
I know in New Zealand and Australia, and one of
the main reasons is is because the dollars is quite
good compared to if you're going to Europe or if
you're going to the States. So that's exactly what I've
spoken to has said, that's the attraction for them.

Speaker 14 (01:47:35):
The other thing too is that they have had up
until the end of next year, they're going to end
this tax free shopping where you get your discounts directly
at point of sale, and so it was a great
location for you know, shopping spreees and people would travel
from all over for this. So they're bringing an end
to that. But it will mean you can still claim
your tax, but a bit like we have to do

(01:47:56):
in other countries. You just have to keep your receipts
and you take it to the airport and you line
up and you put in for your little tax rebate,
which of course none of us actually do because none
of us have probably spent thousands of dollars on something precious.
But anyway, so that's actually going to save the country
a lot of money. And this all is to go
back into infrastructure. We get that they're also going to

(01:48:19):
bring in dual pricing in popular tourist spots like museums
and temples, maybe ski resorts, amusement parks. A price for locals,
one price for tourists. They were doing this in some places,
but they're going to standardize that, and actually we do
that here in New Zealand. If you have been up
to White Tonguey lately, there's a price for kiwis to pay,

(01:48:39):
and there's a different price for tourists to pay. Auckland
War Memorial Museum is another one I can think of
just off the top of my head. Auckland rate payers
can go in there for nothing.

Speaker 2 (01:48:49):
Want to take your letter? Yeah, yes, your ailities bill? Yeah,
and then find.

Speaker 14 (01:48:57):
Out it's in your PO box and you can't use
it now. So the USA has an ESTER. Japan is
bringing in the JESTER, so the Japan Electronic System for
Travel Authorization, but will come in, but that won't roll
out until twenty twenty eight. That's going to be an
online pre approval visa to visit Japan. I'm not sure
what the cost of that is yet, but that's obviously

(01:49:18):
still three years away, and we've introduced that in New Zealand. Two,
don't forget. We just put our levy up to one
hundred and something dollars for the n z Eta. And
then the last thing they're going to do at the
moment is put visitor caps on places like hiking Mount Fuji.
In fact, that came in last year. They've limited that
to four thousand hikers a day and they early charged

(01:49:40):
them fourteen US dollars per person. So much of Pechu
has the same. A lot of countries are having to
do that sort of thing. I don't think it's going
to you know, deter people from going to Japan. You know,
it's still on our bucket lists for its food and
its scenery and it's shopping and its people and its culture.

(01:50:01):
And I'm actually going to be taking a tour the
next year, which is already sold out. But snow Vember,
I can't wait to see that fall leaves because blossom
time is apparently manak. I would like to go for blossoms,
but I'm going to go for autumn instead.

Speaker 2 (01:50:16):
Yeah, but you know we're having this discussion here in
New Zealand as well. I've just done a quick Google
Google and climbing Mount fuji Is costs you only twenty
six UIs dollars per person. All right, okay, that's not
a huge amount. I mean we were not of looking
at doing this here in New Zealand that we were

(01:50:36):
some of our really popular tree spots and our few
of our walks and things like that. That's not that
huge amount. That's just what they what they've put in place. Now,
I mean I'd go do that to walk some pay that,
to walk some beautiful tracks around there and things. That's
that's not going to stop me. It's going to be interesting,
isn't it. I think we're all kind of trying to
get that balance right of putting the fees on, that

(01:51:00):
putting fees on that we can make a bit of
extra money in order to support our tour businesses, but
not scare people away. I think there's a balances out there.

Speaker 7 (01:51:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:51:10):
Interesting. Thank you so much, Meghan. You can read more
at bloger at large dot com. It is twelve to
twelve newsboks the'd be.

Speaker 3 (01:51:20):
Books with Wiggles for the best election of great Reads.

Speaker 2 (01:51:24):
Joan mackenzie joins me. Now, good morning, good morning. Oh
I do love a Kristin Hannah book. Yes, well, this one's.

Speaker 23 (01:51:30):
Called Summer Island. It's not actually new though. It was
first published in two thousand and one, and of course
she's gone on to write loads of books since, including
the phenomenally successful book The Women, which is doing the
rounds at the moment, and I think her publishers have
probably dragged this out from the archive to capitalize on
the current interest in her writing.

Speaker 2 (01:51:51):
I enjoyed it.

Speaker 23 (01:51:52):
It's an easy read. It won't particularly challenge you, but
it's the story of a mother and daughter relationship which
has broken down irretrievably.

Speaker 2 (01:52:00):
I'd say.

Speaker 23 (01:52:02):
Norah Bridge has made a name for herself as a
nationally syndicated Agony Aren't on a tour back show and
she gives out spiritual and moral wisdom to her listeners
until she's blackmailed by a former lover and she's very
publicly shamed. Her daughter, Ruby hates her, and she's been
trying to make a career as a stand up comedian,

(01:52:23):
with a lot of her jokes being really unkind ones
about her mother. And then when Laura falls from grace,
Ruby's offered a lot of money to write a tale
all book about her, which she accepts and banks the
money inevitably. You know how these books go. They both
end up at the same time, back in the family
home on Summer Island, which of course is the title
of the book. As well as the family drama. There's

(01:52:45):
a love interest. There's a former neighbor who Ruby loved
and left. He's back in town. You can see where
all this is going. But there's nothing wrong with a
bit of reconciliation and redemption. And I found it very
warm hearted and as I said, easy to read.

Speaker 2 (01:53:00):
So are they re releasing this because it's sort of
got She became hugely popular after this book and they
just want to bring it to people attempt to Is
that kind of okay? Yes, that makes sense. There we go,
h Frida McFadden.

Speaker 23 (01:53:13):
Yes, she's quite a name of the moment. Yeah, this
book is called The Surrogate Mother. Freda McFadden's become a
real literary sensation as I understand it. She's self published
a large number of books and has been incredibly successful
and in recent times has been picked up by a
couple of the big international publishers, and they're now going

(01:53:34):
back through some of her self published back catalog as
well as publishing her new books. They're mostly thrillers, and
the most well known one to date, which some listeners
might know of, is called The Housemaid. But The Surrogate
Mother a great premise, as you might imagine with a
title like that, has got Abby, who's a high flying
executive who's been desperate to have a baby but it

(01:53:56):
just hasn't worked out. And her assistant Monica steps up
and says she understands how tough that is, and she'll
she'd like to help, and she'll put herself forward as
a surrogate. But as the months of the pregnancy pass,
Abby has an increasingly uneasy feeling about this woman. There's
lots of red flags and things that Abby picks up
on that no one else does, and no one will

(01:54:17):
believe her, and the coincidences and incidences ramp up. The
twists and turns do and it's fun. It's not challenging,
but it's great escapism and I just ripped through it brilliant.

Speaker 2 (01:54:30):
Thank you so much. Joining those two books, Summer Island
by Kristin Hannah and also The Surrogate Mother by Freda McFadden.

Speaker 1 (01:54:36):
The Sunday Session Full Show podcast on my Heart Radio
powered by News talksb.

Speaker 8 (01:54:44):
Hey.

Speaker 2 (01:54:44):
This week I went to New Zealand blood and I
gave plasma. It was the first time I've ever done it.
And I tell you what, I have never been so
appreciated in all my life. If you're feeling instead of
like no one's appreciating you these days, go and give
blood or plasma. They are hugely desperate for both. Giving

(01:55:05):
blood it look the pro it takes about five to
ten minutes. Takes about an hour in total though to
sort of get organized at the beginning and to make
sure you're okay afterwards, and you will be absolutely fine.
The plasma takes about an hour and a half. You
can do plasma every two weeks. You can only give
blood every three months. It's only four times a year.
But I'm not kidding. I got embarrassed at how many

(01:55:26):
people came up to thank me for what I was doing,
which was a very simple, easy thing to do. Huge
that you very well looked out to capsire Te's and
Bickie's and everyone's in there treating you like a saying
And I actually got a little bit embarrassed. But you
could kind of feel the desperation if you have a moment,
jump online, go to nz blood dot co dot MZ.

(01:55:47):
As I said, they desperately need blood, they desperately need plasma,
and you know, God forbid you or a family member
or a friend may need them. But you never know
when this may happen. So it'd be wonderful if you've
got an opportunity, go do it. They will love you
for it. Nz blood dot co dot m Z. Right,

(01:56:08):
we've got a couple of weeks off because Rugby your
Blacks are playing Argentina, so we've got no shows on
the seventeenth or the twenty fourth. We're going to be
back on the thirty first with the Bests Awesome Key
We Band. Here's some old school music from the Best.
This is Future Me Hates Me. Jason Pine is up next.
Thank you for being with us. Thank you to Care
for prodressing the show. Take care of you in a

(01:56:29):
couple of weeks.

Speaker 1 (01:56:46):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks it B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.

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