Afternoons for Tuesday 15 August 2017

Short Story Club

This week's story is Clean Hands Save Lives by Kirsten McDougall

Email us your thoughts before 3pm Thursday! jesse@radionz.co.nz

1:15 On the Fence Election Guide

A project launched last night aims at get younger people engaged in the election and translating that into a  higher turn out of  younger voters come election day.

Called On the Fence , the online tool is the brainchild of Massey University's Design and Democracy Project.

The same programme was available during the 2014 election and has an improved version is now up and running to use.

Project Director, Karl Kane and Research Officer, Katie Baxter who falls with the demographic being targeted talk to Jesse about the battle to drive younger people to the polling booths.

1:25 Pay parity for mental health carers

Unions and the Government are now locked in a battle over whether careworkers who look after people with mental health issues should get pay parity with those who work with the elderly, and whether the work is similar. 

Vicki Harmon is a Christchurch careworker who has done both, so we ask her how difficult and different each role is.

1:35 Cyberloafing

It used to be stealing a ball point pen from the stationery cabinet, but now there's a new form of employee theft, it's called 'cyberloafing'. It's stealing company time, by checking your social media, answering personal emails and doing a bit of online shopping. Dr Rachel Grieve is a senior lectuerer in Psychology at the University of Tasmania.

1:40 Great Debut Album: Boston 

Boston is the debut studio album by American rock band Boston, released in 1976

2:10 Learning a second language

If you can't learn a second language it might not be your fault

Ever tried to learn a language but failed miserably? It may not be your fault, according to a University of Auckland academic, who has attempted to learn five languages himself.

Professor Zhang will present the lecture, Digging Deep: Developing Second/Foreign Language Expertise, at the University's Epsom Campus on Tuesday 22nd August. He tells us what he has discovered.

2:20 Book critic: Alisha Tyson on speculative fiction

Book critic Alisha Tyson talks about Speculative Fiction - what is it, and what are the genres that come under this umbrella term, and why is there a debate about speculative fiction vs. literary fiction.

She recommends The Weird: a Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer    

Some authors to explore if you want to look at some different genres that branch off from Speculative fiction:    

Ben Okri - an author who writes 'magic realism' but prefers to have his stories known as dream-logic that discus a philosophical question.    

Kelly Link - Slipstream, magic realism    

Shaun Tan - Surrealism, allegorical fiction particularly his book, Tales from Outer Suburbia 

2:30 The Music of Disney films

Dr Gregory Camp from the University of Auckland. He teaches musicology, music theory and musicianship and he has a particular interest is Opera, Monteverdi and Disney films.

He visited Disneyland often as a child and got to know it well. When musicology took over his life he  wanted to combine his personal experience with critical thinking, including the huge cultural  impact of the music of Disney.

3:10 Nixon's White House Attorney on Trump and treason

John Dean knows what it's like to be inside a cover up and inside a scandal. He was a White House attorney for Richard Nixon during Watergate. Dean pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice charges and then led investigators to the proof that Nixon had a  role in the cover-up.

Comparisons are now being made between Watergate and the investigation into whether anyone in the Trump administration colluded with the Russians to win the election. Dean says the Trump presidency is in a world of trouble for operating in the shadow of treason and the sooner everyone cooperates with special prosecutors the better. 

3:30 The Science of...

Alison Ballance from Our Changing World and the team from This Way Up have been working on a new podcast series called The Science Of. They tell us what's in store, including details of their first episode, The Science of Sweat

3:45 The Pre-Panel Story of the Day and One Quick Question

4:05 The Panel with Emma Espiner and Duncan Greive