Features

For five years media kept the story of kidnapped nurse Louisa Akavi under wraps. They've won praise for putting her safety ahead of a scoop but the media's ethics haven't always come out squeaky clean. Audio

Wellington Zoo is playing matchmaker to two solitude-inclined Sumatran tigers, and are hoping the pair hit it off.

Brahms wrote his Third Symphony in the beautiful surroundings of Wiesbaden. It's the most personal of his four symphonies. Edo de Waart conducts the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

American comedian Demetri Martin brings his dexterous deadpan stand-up to New Zealand next month. He speaks to Wallace Chapman about his journey from law school drop-out to talk show writer to comic. Video, Audio

William Dart draws his bow between new albums from the American alt-country band Lambchop and New Zealand folk favourites Tiny Ruins. Video, Audio

The Labour-led government renounced a progressive new tax regime last week, but did Jacinda Ardern ever really plan to introduce one? Dr Bryce Edwards investigates.

Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, Brahms' Clarinet Quintet and even a Triple Concerto ... are all here in this collection for clarinet lovers. Create your own playlist and hum along.

Without the genius of director Guillermo del Toro, this year's Hellboy reboot is predictable and superficial, says Simon Morris. Video, Audio

Auckland rapper Tom Scott's collaborative project Avantdale Bowling Club won the 2019 Taite Music Prize. He joins Kirsten Johnstone to choose songs and share yarns for The Mixtape. Video, Audio

The story of Verdi's Falstaff is an amalgamation of scenes from Shakespeare's comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor. Listen from 6pm on RNZ Concert.

Week in Politics​ - Was Winston Peters solely responsible for sinking one of the Labour Party's flagship policies, or did Jacinda Ardern realise that taking a capital gains tax into the next election could be fatal? Peter Wilson investigates.

This Collection tells the stories of past and present pianists from New Zealand. Richard Farrell, Michael Houstoun, Tessa Birnie and more.

Music producer and DJ Baz Raghib (aka IllBaz) was born in Palestine and moved from Kuwait to Palmerston North as a child. He sits down with Tony Stamp to talk about growing up Muslim in Aotearoa. Audio

It's been a marvellous week for harvesting kiwifruit in Bay of Plenty. And on Marlborough's hill farms, calf weaning has finished and ewes are on a fast rotation while the ram is out.  Audio

Olia Alpatskaya worked as a mining engineer in Russia before moving to New Zealand with her daughters for a better –and warmer – life. She and husband Greg Reid now live on an organic olive and fig orchard in the Bay of Plenty. Audio, Gallery

It's Easter Sunday, so expect plenty of hymns with 'Alleluias'! Hymns on Sunday is presented by Robyn Jaquiery. Audio

Can the experiences of travel be transformed into music? Find out with these musical snapshots taken by three well-travelled New Zealand composers - Gareth Farr, Natalie Hunt and Douglas Lilburn.

Pat Thomas and The Kwashibu Area Band hail from Ghana, a nation on West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea, where Pat is regarded as one of that country's all time greatest vocalists, a man with a golden voice. Have a listen. Audio

For Easter, celebrated choral conductor Stephen Layton directs an Auckland performance of Bach's towering masterpiece St. Matthew Passion.

English writer Oobah Butler shot to infamy last year after he managed to turn the garden shed he was living in into TripAdvisor's top-rated London restaurant. Kim Hill gives him a call to separate fact from fiction. Video, Audio

Vesa-Matti Leppänen, Julia Joyce, Andrew Joyce and Diedre Irons present chamber music by Schubert, Fauré and Brahms.

For athletes like Aussie rugby league player Greg Inglis, nothing can be more terrifying than life after sport. We can only hope he'll get as much support with his transition as Israel Dagg had, writes Hamish Bidwell.

Almost 100 years ago, New Zealand troops waiting to be shipped home from the tiny English town of Bulford carved a 420ft kiwi into the hillside. It's time we celebrated this impressive war-time monument, says historian Colleen Brown. Audio

Martine Abel-Williamson has won many awards for her services to New Zealand's blind community. She speaks to Kate Orgias about her childhood in South Africa, her rough start in this country and how she learnt not to sit on the sidelines. Audio, Gallery