Features

It's easy to pick up air mattresses and tents on the cheap when you're camping at a festival, but not everyone takes them home, and the amount of waste left behind can be huge. Audio

Satirist Robbie Nicol – aka White Man Behind a Desk – is crowdfunding for a video to mock how public funding’s paid out to media. What is the method in this madness, asks Colin Peacock. Video, Audio

Chris Kennedy committed aggravated robbery at a local dairy in his hometown at age 20. Now, six years later, he's attempting to right the wrongs of his past.

The best new music, brought to you every week by the RNZ Music team. Hosted by music obsessive Kirsten Johnstone, Song Crush is a handpicked selection of what's good and great from Aoteraoa and abroad.

Barrie Kosky is artistic director of the Komische Oper in Berlin, whose production of Mozart's The Magic Flute will feature at the Auckland Arts Festival next month. Audio

"New Zealand's no.1 Guitar Pickin' Legend of the 60's", Peter Posa has died age 78. Here's a recent interview about his life in music. Video, Audio

The government has pulled its backing for big irrigation projects, but will this be enough to keep farmers in business and improve water quality? Eric Frykberg investigates. Audio

In the latest episode of Two Cents Worth, Kim Savage discovers it's not uncommon for a Kiwi wedding to cost $180,000 these days. Audio

The Lord of the Rings director says his take on the recording sessions for the Let it Be album turned out to be "funny, uplifting and surprisingly intimate". Audio

The Arizona indie band Calexico are in New Zealand for two concerts. They call into our Auckland studio to perform 'Under the Wheels' from their new album The Thread That Keeps Us. Video, Audio

Cancer sufferers are spending large sums of money on expensive drugs that will not extend their life, says the director of London's Institute of Cancer Policy,  Professor Richard Sullivan. Audio

The Metropolitan Opera in New York has a tradition for New Year of presenting Mozart's charming opera in a family-friendly version, sung in English. Listen on RNZ Concert from 6pm.

Aqua, Vengaboys, and Lou Bega are on their way to Auckland for next week's So Pop festival. Jack Barlow looks forward to one of the biggest and silliest expressions of musical nostalgia NZ has seen.

Marlene Dietrich was the ultimate world-weary songstress. William Dart listens to new albums by John Grant and James Blake, both peddling songs of disillusionment, and, like Dietrich, doing it with beguiling charm. Video, Audio

Mawera Karetai, aka The Wild Cook, has shared with us recipes for things like pheasant enchiladas and rabbit with olives in the past, but today it's a rich, moist zucchini chocolate cake her nine year old can't get enough of. Audio

The release of a piece of audio gear "designed specially for females" has drawn allegations of sexism and condescension from the music tech community. Elliott Childs looks at whether gender bias can affect even the tools used to make music

It's not shocking that the 29-year-old rugby player has parted company with the French club Nevers, writes Hamish Bidwell, but it is concerning.

Aotearoa – the Māori translation for "the land of the long white cloud" – is not a word officially linked to this nation. But one Wellington man is on a mission to change that. Video, Audio

How have the sweltering temperatures affected farmers around the country? Country Life checks it out. Audio

Your new classical podcast for February is Symphony No 5 by Mahler, played by the NZSO with conductor Edo de Waart. Its famous Adagietto has been used for movies, ice-skating & figure-skating, famous funerals, TV series and perfume ads.

Every Friday on Jesse Mulligan's show, we feature a live session with a local act for our musical segment NZ Live. Video, Audio

Zach Condon pulled his old Italian organ out of retirement to recreate that sound which “wraps you up like a blanket” on Beirut's new album Gallipoli. Video, Audio

The Kiwi designers of the Ubco utility bike reckon if it can cope with conditions on an NZ dairy farm it can cope with anything. They're now shipping bikes to the USA, UK and to Australia. Audio

People keen to check out the biggest kapa haka festival in the country are being warned to beware of scalpers. Carl Ross, chief executive of Te Matatini speaks to Susie Ferguson. Audio