Saturday Morning
1,387 episodes - English - Latest episode: 1 day ago - ★★★★★ - 1 ratingA magazine programme with long-form, in-depth feature interviews on current affairs, science, modern life, history, the arts and more.
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Episodes
Kate De Goldi: reading for pleasure
May 24, 2024 23:40 - 19 minutes - 17.5 MBKate De Goldi is one of New Zealand's most celebrated authors, an Arts Foundation Laureate, and a voracious reader. She joins Susie to share three books she's loved; Ironopolis by Glen James Brown, James by Percival Everett, and The Trip by Paul Beavis.
The website revealing how much jobs might pay
May 24, 2024 23:25 - 8 minutes - 7.9 MBRecruiters are reporting an unprecedented jump in job applications in the wake of thousands of layoffs across the public and private sectors. But for those seeking new work, a key question often remains shrouded in mystery, 'What's the salary?' Fortunately there is a tool that can shed some light. Driven by a desire to promote salary transparency, Auckland-based web analytics consultant Tony Lu developed What's The Salary in 2019. Since then, there have been over a million searches, with...
Jake Adelstein: A unique view into Japan's seedy underbelly
May 24, 2024 23:05 - 23 minutes - 21.8 MBHaving grown up in Missouri, Jake Adelstein moved to Japan at age 19 to study Japanese literature. A few years later, he became the first non-Japanese staff writer at Yomiuri Shimbun, one of the country's largest newspapers, where as a rookie reporter he was put on the police beat. Before long he was immersed in the underbelly of Japan, reporting on organised crime and the shady dealings of yakuza bosses. Adelstein's first book, a dramatic memoir entitled Tokyo Vice was published in 2009...
Aussie Lego Masters create retrofuturistic world
May 24, 2024 22:40 - 11 minutes - 10.9 MBAfter wowing audiences in Australia, a retrofuturistic exhibition created by two winners of smash hit television show Lego Masters is coming to Auckland. The RELICS exhibition takes place in the imagined future of 2530, when the human race has departed Earth due to the collapse of the environment. In the absence of people, Lego minifigures have taken over discarded artifacts - inhabiting a VW Beetle, a grandfather clock, and a jukebox with their own intricate environments.
Aussie Lego Masters bring their RELICS exhibition to Auckland
May 24, 2024 22:40 - 11 minutes - 10.9 MBIn 2020, childhood friends Alex Towler and Jackson Harvey won the Australian reality show Lego Masters. Four years on, their elaborate retrofuturistic Lego exhibition RELICS: A New World Rises is coming to Auckland.
Pasi Vainikka: The next step in the food revolution
May 24, 2024 22:05 - 32 minutes - 29.4 MBCreating food from 'thin air' sounds like a futuristic dream. But it's a future that's already arrived in the form of Solar Foods - Europe's first factory dedicated to making human food from electricity and air. What started with hydrogen oxidising microbes has resulted in Solein - a non-farmed yellowish protein product. After several years of lab experiments, production is underway in Vantaa, near the Finnish capital of Helsinki. The goal? To produce 160 tonnes of food a year. Solar Foo...
Opera director Simon Phillips: A new spin on 'Le comte Ory'
May 24, 2024 21:35 - 14 minutes - 12.9 MBThe 1828 comic opera 'Le comte Ory' has been given a facelift by internationally acclaimed director Simon Phillips ('North by Northwest', 'Priscilla Queen of the Desert', 'The Elixir of Love'). Instead of being set in medieval France, this reworked production takes place in present-day Aotearoa, but sung in French with English subtitles. Written by Italian composer Gioachino Rossini, 'Le comte Ory' tells the story of a young count who is a cunning swindler, dedicated to seducing women. T...
Matt Brown: What if Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis debated God
May 24, 2024 21:05 - 28 minutes - 26.2 MBAmerican film director and script writer Matt Brown's new movie, just about to be released in cinemas here, is 'Freud's Last Session'. It stars Anthony Hopkins and Matthew Goode as two of the greatest minds of the 20th century - father of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud and Chronicles of Narnia author C.S. Lewis. The film follows the story of the pair doing battle over the existence of God, the future of mankind, and the complex relationships that made them who they are.
Blooming magic: Toby de Lacey - the Chelsea Flower Show
May 24, 2024 20:50 - 9 minutes - 8.47 MBGardeners flock to the 'Chelsea Flower Show' for ideas about cutting-edge garden design and to see fabulous floral displays. Floral designer Toby de Lacey - a regular behind the scenes - is also instrumental in the simultaneous free flower show 'Chelsea in Bloom' held on Kings Road. Toby came to floristry following a career in engineering, making carbon fibre parts for the Formula 1 and Aerospace. He has only recently returned to the UK after a summer in New Zealand, where he spent time ...
Should all drugs be decriminalised?
May 24, 2024 20:10 - 36 minutes - 33.9 MBMore than 150 experts have signed an open letter calling on the NZ Government to legalise and regulate all psychoactive substances. The letter marks the launch of the Harm Reduction Coalition Aotearoa, which aims to reduce the negative consequences of drug use in a way that upholds people's dignity and rights. It's an idea already in practice in different corners of the world - including Portugal where possession of illicit substances for personal use was decriminalised in 2001. Canada f...
Saturday morning listener feedback
May 18, 2024 00:00 - 5 minutes - 5.38 MBSaturday morning listener feedback.
Joy Womack: the American ballerina who danced for Russia
May 17, 2024 22:05 - 34 minutes - 32 MBAt just fifteen years old Joy Womack left her family home in Texas and travelled to Moscow to follow her dream of becoming a Prima Ballerina at the world-renowned Bolshoi Ballet Company. In the face of incredible challenges, she became the first American to graduate from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy's punishing training program with a red diploma, and the second American woman to sign a contract with the Bolshoi Ballet. Womack's captivating story has been made into a movie by the New Zeala...
Vincent Deary: Why rest is vital to beat burnout
May 17, 2024 21:30 - 31 minutes - 28.4 MBWhen recovering from burnout it's essential to prioritise rest. says clinical fatigue specialist Vincent Deary.
Connie Walker: Stolen, murdered and ignored, Indigenous women
May 17, 2024 21:05 - 19 minutes - 18.3 MBAward-winning Canadian investigative journalist Connie Walker had been telling stories about missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls for years, and wondering why they received so little attention. All this changed with her true-crime podcasts. Missing & Murdered and Stolen have been wildly popular, the latter winning a Pulitzer Prize and a Peabody Award. But despite the prizes and the millions of followers, in a climate where profitability is prioritised over important journalism...
Jonathan Rauch: Allowing free speech
May 17, 2024 20:35 - 23 minutes - 21.1 MBAmerican author Jonathan Rauch argues free speech and robust criticism should be encouraged and defended, even when it's racist, sexist or causes hurt. A gay, Jewish writer and thinker Rauch admits free speech can do harm, but argues minorities are better off in a society where free speech is embraced. Rauch has been visiting NZ at the invitation of the Free Speech Union discussing the necessity of academic freedom. He's a senior fellow in the Governance Studies programme at the Brooking...
New Caledonia unrest explained
May 17, 2024 20:10 - 24 minutes - 22 MBPolice have used tear gas and stun grenades on rioters at an airport near Nouméa as the unrest and rioting in New Caledonia goes into its sixth day. Five people, including two police officers, have died and hundreds of people are injured amid clashes between authorities and pro-independence protesters. They were sparked by anger at a proposed new law that would allow French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for more than 10 years to vote - which some say will weaken the indigenou...
Framing a life: Ans Westra
May 10, 2024 23:35 - 18 minutes - 16.5 MBOver almost sixty years, Dutch-Kiwi photographer Ans Westra took hundreds of thousands of pictures of life in New Zealand. A new illustrated biography Ans Westra - A life in photography interrogates her at times controversial practice. Ans' daughter Lisa van Hulst and author Dr Paul Moon join Susie.
Nazeem Hussain: the totally normal comedian
May 10, 2024 23:05 - 34 minutes - 31.5 MBFollowing a two-year hiatus, comedian Nazeem Hussain is back on the tour circuit with his new stand-up show Totally Normal. Having cut his teeth in the Melbourne scene in the 1990s, Hussain is one of Australia's biggest comedy stars, with his 2022 YouTube special Hussain in the Membrane racking up millions of views. Having performed sold-out shows around the globe - including opening for controversial comedian Dave Chappelle in New York City - Hussein is back for two shows in NZ .
The case for living on Mars
May 10, 2024 22:45 - 14 minutes - 13 MBIn the race to colonize Mars, millions - if not billions - of dollars have been poured into research by people like Elon Musk to see what would make the planet's environment less hostile for humans. But why not spend the money improving conditions on Earth instead? What is driving this obsession? Writer Danyl McLauchlan joins Susie to tackle life's big questions, ideas and thinkers.
India's elections and the cost of colonialism: Dr Sashi Tharoor
May 10, 2024 22:05 - 37 minutes - 34.7 MBIn a crucial year for India, millions of voters are going to the polls in the mammoth six-week election in the most populous country on earth. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hoping to secure a rare third term as the poll hits the mid point. Internationally acclaimed author of twenty-five books, Dr Shashi Tharoor is a third-term Member of Parliament for the Congress and former Under Secretary-General of the United Nations. Dr Tharoor is appearing in conversation with Linda Clark in 'The ...
Jordan van den Berg: the renters' Robin Hood
May 10, 2024 21:05 - 18 minutes - 16.9 MBHousing solution advocate Jordan van den Berg received a wave of fury from landlords and real estate agents recently after posting a video suggesting people squat in houses left empty by their owners. The Melbourne-based lawyer, who posts online under the name Purple Pingers, has been dubbed the 'Robin Hood of renters' for his unorthodox solution to the country's housing crisis. Van den Berg also runs the website Shit Rentals, where tenants can rate undesirable properties and rental agen...
Climate change from a wild animal's point of view: Adam Welz
May 10, 2024 20:10 - 46 minutes - 42.8 MBPromising a new kind of environmental journalism, Cape Town-based conservation writer Adam Welz's book The End of Eden: Wild Nature in the Age of Climate Breakdown explores climate change from the perspective of wild species and natural ecosystems. Prefering climate breakdown to climate change, Welz argues its most powerful impacts are felt by the natural world, including that of the northern Maine moose, parrots in Puerto Rico, cheetahs in Namibia, and rare fish in Australia - all strug...
Saturday Morning feedback for 4th May 2024
May 04, 2024 00:00 - 4 minutes - 4.34 MBSaturday morning listener feedback.
Colour instinct: the art of personal colour analysis
May 03, 2024 23:30 - 19 minutes - 17.9 MBYou might remember women "getting their colours done" in the 1980s. Thanks to social media, the art of analysing which shades complement a person's natural colouring is again having a moment. Rachel Bilu of Colour Lab Stylist tells Susie Ferguson about the benefits.
Finn McCahon-Jones: letters between best friends
May 03, 2024 23:05 - 24 minutes - 22.5 MBA collection of letters written to and from iconic New Zealand painter Colin McCahon sheds light on a special relationship spanning four decades. McCahon met penpal Ron O'Reilly in 1938, when the pair were just 19 and 24 respectively. They wrote to each other regularly, amassing hundreds of letters covering McCahon's art practice, the contemporary art scene, ideas, philosophy, and spiritual life. A selection of the letters chosen by McCahon scholar Peter Simpson has been published in a n...
A curse and a genetic code: PM's Science Prize winners
May 03, 2024 22:10 - 47 minutes - 43.7 MBThirty years ago, nurse Maybelle Ngapere McLeod realised a genetic link to the stomach cancer which killed many of her whanau was much more likely that the effect of a curse. She took her suspicions to Otago university, and the rest is history. Maybelle is part of the team awarded the top Prime Minister's Science Prize for transformative impact. The Hereditary Diffuse Gastric Cancer Team is led by Professor Parry Guilford, Director of the Centre for Translational Cancer Research at the U...
Edible Gardener Kath Irvine: everything asparagus
May 03, 2024 21:45 - 11 minutes - 10.5 MBFor those with asparagus patches: what to do to prep for a boomer crop in spring. Or, if you are planning an asparagus patch: how to kick start it.
Grace Blakeley: Vulture Capitalism
May 03, 2024 21:05 - 40 minutes - 36.8 MBGrace Blakeley takes aim at capitalism in her latest book Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts and the Death of Freedom. In the book, Blakeley asserts that rather than failing, capitalism is working exactly as intended - allowing corporate and political elites to advance their own interests at the expense of the rest of us. Susie is joined by Grace to discuss how instead of feeling powerless, there is a new path we can take to democratise the economy for a better futur...
John Adams: stopping the Stonehenge road tunnel
May 03, 2024 20:45 - 8 minutes - 7.74 MBFrom the A303 in Wiltshire, motorists can catch sight of the megalithic structure of Stonehenge. But as a primary route for both commuters and holiday makers the road is notoriously traffic-clogged, and plans to upgrade the road have been decades in the making. However, the plans face strong opposition. They include building a road tunnel under the World Heritage Site in Wiltshire and costs have surged as high as £2.5 billion ($5.3 billion). John Adams is the chairman of the Stonehenge A...
The sinister side of the man who saved Rwanda: Michela Wrong
May 03, 2024 20:10 - 38 minutes - 35.1 MBIt's thirty years since the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda, perpetrated by the Hutu-led government. British journalist Michela Wrong's book Do Not Disturb, The Story of a Political Murder and an African Regime Gone Bad explores the legacy of the genocide, exposing a murderous in-coming regime that operates on a "grand scale deceit", exercising a destabilising influence on the wider region. Michela has reported from and written about Africa for almost three decades, working fo...
Shaun Higgins: the dawn of NZ photography
April 26, 2024 23:40 - 18 minutes - 16.6 MBThe arrival of photography to New Zealand in 1848 was more about business than art. A cumbersome kit meant photographers needed carriages or horses to lug their gear across unsealed roads to sell their wares. These early images provide a valuable insight to the country's colonial era, with stunning portraits and landscapes now being presented in a new book entitled A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa. Susie is joined by Shaun Higgins who, along with fellow book editor Cather...
Christian Lewis: Finding Hildasay
April 26, 2024 23:05 - 30 minutes - 28.2 MBFormer soldier Christian Lewis had hit rock bottom and was so severely depressed he would shut himself in his flat for weeks. But one day he made an impulsive decision, setting himself the challenge of walking the entire coastline of the UK. Christian joins Susie to talk about his new book, Finding Hildasay, which explores how with just ten pounds in his pocket and a few supplies, he walked himself into a brighter future.
Graham Leonard: New Zealand's B-list volcanoes
April 26, 2024 22:45 - 16 minutes - 15.2 MBNew Zealand's volcanoes are world renowned, and most Kiwis are familiar with our big ones such as Ruapehu, Taranaki and Tarawera. But what about our lesser talked about volcanoes? GNS Science principal scientist Graham Leonard joins Susie to chat about some of the volcanic areas around the country that people are less familiar with - from Northland's periodically active field to volcanoes buried in the Canterbury plains gravels.
Alexi Mostrous: Who Trolled Amber?
April 26, 2024 22:05 - 30 minutes - 27.5 MBYou could hardly avoid the gruesome spectacle of the Amber Heard-Johnny Depp trial - it made the nightly news, but it made a much bigger splash on social media. But was there something else at play? Was Amber Heard the victim of an orchestrated campaign of misinformation? Alexi Mostrous of Tortoise Media is a London-based journalist who has previously tackled catfishing and disinformation in his previous very popular podcasts Sweet Bobby and Hoaxed. Alexi joins Susie to talk about how, w...
Glenn Colquhoun: 'It's well past time Pākeha sung to Māori'
April 26, 2024 21:10 - 45 minutes - 42.1 MBNew Zealand poet and doctor Glenn Colquhoun has released two new books of poetry in te reo Māori, both accompanied by soundtracks. He tells Susie Ferguson about the legacy of Māori oral poetry and the long process of writing songs he could finally "take to the marae".
Dr Matt Baker: en garde for the Olympics
April 26, 2024 20:50 - 11 minutes - 10.9 MBKiwi scientist and champion épée-fencer Dr Matt Baker is representing NZ at fencing in the final Olympic qualifying tournament in Dubai later today. Sydney-based Baker is Scientia Research Fellow in the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences at the University of New South Wales, where he studies the molecular motor that makes bacteria swim. But today it's all about the sport and Matt is the sole NZ gladiator in men's épée. Age 41, and father of two young children, he's en gard...
How to tell if your preschooler is autistic
April 26, 2024 20:12 - 34 minutes - 31.3 MBA first of its kind one-to-one support programme for pre-school children showing signs of autism is about to be trialed in Wellington, with aspirations of going nationwide. Professor Josie Barbaro pioneered the most successful tool in the world for the very early detection of autism. Known as Social Attention and Communication Surveillance or SACS, it identifies autistic children aged 11 to 30 months with an accuracy of 83%, and has identified 96% of autistic children by preschool age. S...
Saturday morning feedback
April 20, 2024 00:00 - 2 minutes - 2.17 MBSaturday morning listener feedback
Ngahuia te Awekotuku: a story of bravery
April 19, 2024 23:05 - 37 minutes - 34 MBAs a curator of ethnology at Waikato Museum in the 1980s, Te Awekotuku was among the first to insist museums rethink how they represent Maori culture, both in New Zealand and overseas. In 1981, she became the first Maori woman to earn a doctorate from a New Zealand university, with a PhD on the effects of tourism on the Te Arawa people. In 1996 she became the country's first Maori woman professor. Te Awekotuku is now poised to release her fiery memoir about identity and belonging, Hine T...
Liam Dann: are we witnessing the death of paper money?
April 19, 2024 22:40 - 18 minutes - 16.8 MBVeteran financial journalist Liam Dann returns to the show to shine a light on left-field economic news and the quirks of New Zealand economics. This week he discusses 'digital cash' and the future of money, and he takes a closer look at the job losses hitting the headlines and what it means amid our current recession. Dann has 25 years of reporting under his belt and is The New Zealand Herald business editor at large. He recently released BBQ Economics: How money works and why it matter...
Grace Millane: New film The Lie explores shocking case
April 19, 2024 22:05 - 33 minutes - 30.6 MBThe 2018 murder of 21-year old British backpacker Grace Millane gripped the country. A powerful new film The Lie explores how the shocking case highlights disturbing attitudes about violence towards women. It painstakingly pieces together Grace's final evening, stepping through the evidence the police used to make the case against her killer. The film also examines the controversial "rough sex defence", used by the defence team at the trial of Jesse Kempson, who was convicted of Grace's ...
Carrie Sun: Private Equity memoir explores dark side of wealth
April 19, 2024 21:35 - 21 minutes - 19.9 MBAt the age of 29 New Yorker Carrie Sun bagged a top job at a top Wall Street hedge fund. As private assistant to the firm's billionaire founder, Sun entered a world of power, privilege and extreme wealth. But as the demands of the job take a toll on her physical and mental health, Sun starts to question everything she had worked so hard for. Her new memoir is Private Equity, which exposes the brutal reality of high finance.
Elizabeth Kolbert: The A to Z of climate change
April 19, 2024 21:05 - 24 minutes - 22.8 MBPulitzer Prize-winning journalist Elizabeth Kolbert tells the story of climate change in her new alphabetised essay collection H Is for Hope. As our world warms up, Kolbert hopes the book will help people understand both what's at stake and what is possible. "How are we going to get our minds around this both in an honest way and also in a way that inspires the kind of action that we need, which is absolutely massive changes to our energy systems?"
The burden of long covid
April 19, 2024 20:12 - 45 minutes - 41.6 MBEvidence indicates long covid presents a considerable burden to New Zealand. Between 4 and 14 percent of people infected with the virus will develop ongoing symptoms, anything from mild to severe. Scientists who conducted a recent evidence summary of long covid in Aotearoa are convinced its prevalence is likely to increase and preventative action is needed. Covid can change your DNA and your immune system and there is no cure for long Covid. Susie is joined by Jenene Crossan, founder of ...
Saturday Morning listener feedback
April 13, 2024 00:00 - 10 minutes - 9.42 MBSusie Fergusons listener feedback for Saturday Morning 13th April 2024
Leah McFall: books my friends borrowed and never returned
April 12, 2024 23:40 - 13 minutes - 12.7 MBWriter and reviewer Leah McFall reckons one of the best endorsements for a book is when your friend borrows it and it never comes back. Leah shares three great non-fiction titles currently missing from her bookshelves: Amy Liptrot's The Outrun, Ruth Reichl's Garlic and Sapphires and Craig Brown's One, Two. Three, Four.
Deborah Frances-White: The Guilty Feminist
April 12, 2024 23:05 - 27 minutes - 25.5 MBDeborah Frances-White opens each episode of her podcast with a confessional catch phrase "I'm a Feminist but.." It's an acknowledgement that you don't have to be perfect in the pursuit of social change. Recorded live on stage, with guest comedians and experts The Guilty Feminist is a joyous mashup of comedy and activism. The podcast has racked up 100-million downloads in eight years, and is coming to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch as part of the NZ International Comedy Festival.
Prof Tim Ryley: the seaplane rises again
April 12, 2024 22:40 - 16 minutes - 14.8 MBHolidays, work trips, cargo, freight and parcels; we rely on aviation personally and for business. But aviation's carbon footprint is huge, so what are some of the sustainable technology changes taking it into the future? A handful of manufacturers are looking at reviving the production of seaplanes for a new age in aviation, including Amphibian Aerospace Industries in Darwin. Professor of Aviation at Brisbane's Griffith University Tim Ryley weighs in on the future of seaplanes.
Prof Karen Willcox: The predictive power of digital twins
April 12, 2024 22:05 - 31 minutes - 28.7 MBNew Zealand born Aerospace engineer Karen Willcox is on the frontline of the rapidly developing field of digital twins. Digital twins are two-way data driven virtual representations that predict real world outcomes, with applications spanning aviation, aerospace, medicine and climate change. Willcox is director of the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin. Willcox spent 17 years as a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech...
Alice Taylor's adventures in cakeland
April 12, 2024 21:40 - 13 minutes - 12.6 MBAlice Taylor may not have won Masterchef in 2022, but she won the hearts of fans, and the judges' attention. Competing in the show inspired the 24 year old to pivot from a planned career in politics to fully embrace her love of baking. She's now working as a pastry chef at Auckland's Paris Butter and has just released a cookbook - Alice in Cakeland. Packed with tips and tricks, it has easy, affordable and adaptable recipes for cakes, desserts, biscuits, breads, brioche, crepes, donuts an...