Episodes
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Saturday morning listener feedback.
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At 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 Zealand filmmaking team of James Napier Robertson and Tom Hern. The biopic Joika, which is currently screening in NZ cinemas, stars actress and classically trained dancer Talia Ryder, and the real Womack served as choreographer and consultant.
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Missing episodes?
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When recovering from burnout it's essential to prioritise rest. says clinical fatigue specialist Vincent Deary.
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Award-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 Stolen is being axed by Spotify beyond the current third series.
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American 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 Brookings Institute, the author of eight books and many articles on public policy, culture, government, and LGBT rights.
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Police 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 indigenous Kanak vote. Correspondent for Islands Business Magazine, Nic Maclennan, who has been covering this story for decades, explains the back-story.
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Over 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.
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Following 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 .
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In 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.
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In 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 Year the World Votes' at the Auckland Writers Festival.
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Housing 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 agents. And he has even taken aim at Aotearoa's terrible rental offerings on his social media page, pointing to a Riccarton rental that was effectively a shed, priced at $260 a week.
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Promising 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 struggling to survive.
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Saturday morning listener feedback.
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You 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.
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A 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 new book Dear Colin, Dear Ron - with an afterword by McCahon's grandson Finn.
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Thirty 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 University of Otago, in conjunction with members of the McLeod whanau and their community in Mount Maunganui. The research has resulted in a genetic test which gives the ability to understand their risk of cancer and take life-saving action. Professor Guilford joins Susie, along with Mabelle Ngapere McLeod and fellow team member, and whanau University of Otago Associate Professor Karyn Paringatai.
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For 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.
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Grace 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 future for all.
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From 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 Alliance, a group dedicated to fighting the project that they consider too vast and intrusive to the prehistoric site.
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It'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 for Reuters and the Financial Times. Michela is visiting NZ this week, giving a series of talks at the invitation of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs.
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