Afternoons for Thursday 18 July 2019

1:10 First song

1.15 Teachers unions taking Novopay to court

The NZEI and PPTA are taking payroll operator Novopay to court over a delay in adjusting teachers' wages and backpay after they struck an agreement with the government earlier this month.

But, after its well-publicised issues years ago, why is Novopay still being used by the government? And how difficult ARE the logistics of paying 100,000 people their wages?

Former principal and current school financial management consultant Wayne Facer joins us to discuss.

1:25 Renovating the Waitematā Harbour seawall 

Did you know that downtown Auckland is protected by a huge seawall? It's called the Waitematā Harbour seawall and it's about to undergo some serious renovations. 

To find out what this wall is all about and you go about restoring an essential seawall we're joined by programme manager Eric van Essen from Auckland Transport. 

1:35 Instagram removing likes count

The social media company Instagram has announced it's getting rid of its current "likes" function - saying it wants people to share quality content, rather than worry about how popular their posts are.

Leilani Momoisea is RNZ's engagement editor and joins us to talk about how this could change the social media game - by making it less of a game.

1:40 Roosters raid Dunedin rest home

The Leslie Groves Hospital rest home in the Dunedin suburb of Wakari has a couple of unexpected new residents: three Plymouth Rock roosters

 Facility manager Max Reid is on the line to explain how this came to pass - and whether rooster soup will be on the menu tonight!

(Spoiler alert - it won't)

1:40 Great album

Mystify: A Musical Journey with Michael Hutchence

2:10 Music Critic: Kate Robertson 

Kate Robertson reviews Something Keeps Calling by Raphael Saadiq and Look What You're Doing To Me by BANKS. 

2:25 NZ Biography: Colin Hogg on Barry Crump

Barry Crump was the original Good Keen Man, the humorous and care-free archetype of the New Zealand bloke

He was a lovable rogue with an succession of female companions - and he tore across our TV screens in a series of TV ads for the Toyota hilux; we bought his books on deerculling and life in the bush or the pub, and we loved his colourful male vernacular.

Colin Hogg wrote his biography, A Life In Loose Strides.

This story was produced using archival audio from Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision.

3:10 Link 3

3:15 Solving the World's Problems

Hawke's Bay farmer Steve Wyn-Harris touches on a range of topics today, from reducing methane and dealing with vegans to turning 60 and vaccinating his ewes ahead of lambing season. 

3:25 The history of comics in NZ

When we think of comics, we tend to think of the US. But what about the history of comics in NZ, including our own domestically produced comics? What can a study of NZ's comic history tell us about our culture?

I recently visited the Kyoto International Manga Museum. Japan has a very popular comic culture. I started thinking about history of comics in NZ. Interestingly, there has been a bit written on this subject, especially recently. The focus today will be on comic strips and comic books rather than political cartoons in newspapers or TV cartoons.

3:35 Spoken Feature

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

4:05 The Panel with Ruwani Perera and Simon Wilson