Afternoons for Tuesday 21 August 2018

Short Story Club

Our short story for this Thursday afternoon is Gina Cole’s Black Ice.  We will give away a copy of Gina’s collection of short stories Black Ice Matter to the writer of the best email.  jesse@radionz.co.nz

1:10 First song: Cellist, Helen Gillet

Last week we were blown away by cellist Helen Gillet who performed live from our Christchurch studio

We got so much positive feedback and were so amazed by what she can do with a cello that when we heard she was going tobe in Auckland too, we invited her back!

1:15 Michelle Grattan on Australia's leadership wrangles

For a brief moment, Australia's liberal party was once again in disarray. 

In the last few hours Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called for a spill and then survived a challenge from Minister of Immigration Peter Dutton. 

Mr Dutton then resigned. 

With more on this developing news across the ditch, is Chief political Correspondent at The Conversation, Michelle Grattan. 

1:25 How to get cheaper power bills

Electricity bills, especially in winter, can be crippling for many households.

We often hear that we could save money by switching providers - but it's not always clear which ones are cheaper and whether changing will make a big difference. Plus, who has the time to shop around and change companies?

Christchurch man, Tim Rudkin decided the best way to combat the complex electricity market was for consumers to join together - so he set up One Big Switch New Zealand, which he reckons gives consumers the leverage they need to force down prices.

1:35 Prisoners baking for people in need

Volunteering makes us feel good, add baking to that and it's a pretty sweet combination.

'Prison Bake' is a programme that partners Rimutaka Prison inmates with the charity Good B*tches Baking. 

It teaches prisoners how to bake and what it's like make treats for those in need. 

Co-Founder of Good B*tches Baking Nicole Murray explains the purpose of the programme. 

1:40 Katy Perry Review

RNZ studio operator Brad Warrington and his daughter Asha are in studio to tell us about their night out at Katy Perry's Auckland concert. You can also read what Asha and her cousin Ruby thought about the experience here. 

1:45 Great album - Robert Plant's Sixty Six to Timbuktu 

2:10 Book critic Jo Cribb

Jo Cribb from the NZ Book Council talks about the writers in schools programme which has been running since 1972

2:20 The rise of Pacific pop in New Zealand

Our regular music expert, Musicologist and AUT lecturer Jared Mackley-Crump takes us on a tour of the history of Pacific Pop.

Here are his Pacific music picks – which he’s put on a Spotify playlist:


 

3:10 Are we alone in the universe?

For centuries humans have looked up into the night sky and wondered, are we alone?  Why would we be?  After all, there are hundreds of billions of plants and stars in the galaxy.

That conundrum is known as Fermi's paradox, the contradiction between the high probability that there is some kind of life on some planet somewhere and the lack of evidence to prove it. 

British  astronomer Stephen Webb offers 50 possible explanations for this galactic paradox.

3:30 Spoken Feature

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

4:05 The Panel with Mai Chen and Alan Blackman