Features

With an election looming you can expect the familiar jobs and growth tropes to be trotted out. Here are five interviews with thinkers who stray from the orthodox.

50 years ago, NZ’s infamous hour of binge-drinking – the ‘6 o’clock swill’ – came to an end when pub closing was moved from 6pm to 10pm. Listen to audio recordings from the period. Audio, Gallery

Making a cello sound like Jimi Hendrix's guitar was no problem for this American who's teaching his 'celtar' to Kiwi kids and breaking down some musical barriers at the same time. Video, Audio

Max Towle is on an epic road trip taking the political pulse of young New Zealanders. He finds drugs, jobs and housing are on the minds of people in the far north.

Luxury homes, cars and handbags used to the hallmarks of the elite, but now the silver spoon is loaded with organic kale and quinoa salad, says author Elizabeth Currid-Halkett. Audio

Simon Morris reviews two female-directed highlights from NZIFF –​ Let The Sunshine In and A Date for Mad Mary – and struggles to make sense of the French sci-fi film Valerian and The City of a Thousand Planets. Video, Audio

The Royal New Zealand’s Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet is a saucy staging of the Shakespeare story that even inspired a wolf-whistle from the audience Megan Whelan was part of.

John Dean knows what it looks like when a president becomes unhinged over leaks and special investigations. He was Richard Nixon's White House counsel during Watergate. Audio

This is a saucier production of Romeo and Juliet than most – one moment inspired a wolfwhistle from the audience, and it’s worth counting how many times they kiss...

Papua New Guinea's government has been urged to wean the economy off reliance on the extractives sector. Audio

The director general of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme says there is growing political awareness of the importance of weather services in the Pacific. Audio

Australia has signalled a closer engagement with the Pacific as the region's main political umbrella group reviews its security policy. Audio

The Voyager probes are sending enormous volumes of valuable information back to Earth, but also taking some treasures from our cultures to outer space. Steve Danby takes an amused look at what aliens might think about whale song and Chuck Berry. Audio

Film score composer Marc Chesterman gets asked to create the darndest things. He's done the score for Florian Habicht's zombie film Spookers. Video, Audio

As politicians talk up their housing policies ahead of the election, renters share stories of stress, illness and why the current system doesn’t work. The Wireless reports.

Who are the 100,000 people who have contributed to another migration record? RNZ's John Edens looks into the numbers.

It used to be stealing a ball point pen from the stationery cabinet, but now there's a new form of employee theft called 'cyberloafing'. Audio

Beauty queens, magic, dangly bits and nip slips - Miss Universe NZ had it all. Katie Parker from The Wireless watched it so you don't have to.

Is it bad to fry with olive oil? What does extra virgin mean? And how bad is butter? The benefits or risks of fats and oils remain a vexed question for many of us. Audio

Take a listen to some of the many jazz musicians who have gone by the nickname 'Red', including the Reds Norvo, McKenzie, Garland, and Nichols, with your guide Nick Tipping. Audio

The first album in more than a decade by the Japanese musician Cornelius sounds like the music of somewhere that didn’t exist, at least until Cornelius dreamed it up. Audio

Enjoy music from Palestine, Spain, Mali, Cuba, Argentina and Trevor Reekie talks to founding member of London based band, Public Service Broadcasting, J Willgoose Esq. Audio

In episode 3 of BANG! 20-somethings on dating and hooking up, Eleanor Butterworth talks 'ethical sex', Hera Lindsay Bird reads a new poem and a website dedicated to female pleasure. Audio

Community groups in Guam are calling for peace amid the bellicose rhetoric of the United States and North Korea. Audio