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Photo: Liminal/Giselle Clarkson/ RNZ/DOC

1:10 Smokefree finalists, Silika and Russell

You may remember Papatoetoe High School student Silika Isaia from the show last year when she performed her own song, Mad Men with her fellow student Russell Sega on keyboard. You can check out the video of that here 

Silika and Russell are still performing together and have made it to the finals of the 2019 Smokefree Rock Quest. They join us in studio to perform live.

Silika and Russell RNZ First Song

Silika and Russell RNZ First Song Photo: Credit Andre Upston

 

1:17 Snowball: ABC podcast about falling victim to a con-artist

In the year 2006, Greg Wards was a Kiwi expat living it up on his big OE in London.

One night he went to a house party and met an American woman.

And this meeting changed his life, and his family's lives, forever.

Greg's brother Ollie is a producer for the ABC's Triple J programme, but he's created a brand new podcast series telling the sordid, mysterious, salacious story. It's called Snowball, and Ollie joins us to explain what it's all about.

ABC producer Ollie Wards

ABC producer Ollie Wards Photo: Supplied/ABC.net.au

Snowball is out now - you can listen to episodes here, or read a sensational longform piece about the story here.

1:27 Globalisation, and what it'll mean for you and your job

Globalisation is a bit of a buzzword these days, but a lot of the time it has an annoyingly vague, ivory tower sort of ring to it.

Professor Richard Baldwin from the University of Geneva is an economist and expert on the topic, and he has a refreshingly specific take on what exactly globalisation is, what it means, and how it'll manifest.

He's in New Zealand as a guest of the University of Auckland and he joins us in the studio to explain more.

Richard Baldwin

Richard Baldwin Photo: Screenshot/Youtube

1:35 Going West Writers' Festival launches this Friday

Something very cool is happening this Friday in West Auckland ... music will fill the air! And the soaring voices of some of our wisest, cleverest, most insightful and inventive writers.

Because it's the 24th Annual Going West Writer's Festival's opening night.

Sean James Donnelly, aka SJD, is an award-winning musician and a quarter of The Bellbirds - a bona fide New Zealand supergroup, who'll be performing on Friday, and he's on the line now to tell us more.

SJD performing live at radio New Zealand

SJD performing live at radio New Zealand Photo: RNZ / Dru Faulkner

Here's the rundown for the festival.

1:50 Wanted for research: unmarried mothers from the 1960s and 70s

The 60s and 70s were a time of tremendous social upheaval: the pill was invented; first-wave feminism took off; the sexual revolution took place.

But attitudes towards unwed mothers were still rooted in hostility, suspicion and disgrace.

Helen Peters, a Masterate student at Massey University, is studying the experiences of unmarried mothers in New Zealand during the 1960s and 1970s. Helen is particularly interested in talking to women who gave birth in public hospitals and who managed their pregnancies out in the community. Medical professionals such as obstetricians, midwives, nurses and social workers who looked after unmarried mothers are also welcome to contact her, as are unmarried fathers. The aim of the research is to track social change and attitudes towards illegitimacy and unmarried motherhood during this time period. All information is confidential and anonymous. Please contact Helen on hlpeters06@gmail.com if you would like further information or to be part of the study.

A photo of a mother helping her child with homework

Photo: gpointstudio/123RF

 

2:10 Book Critic: Pip Adam

New Zealand is a farming nation so for today's book review, Pip Adam talks about three bits of writing that are sparked by ideas of farming animals - and perhaps our relationship to the animals that we farm - Yellow Black NationSoftcore Coldsore, and Meat Tower

2:20 The changing members of Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac is one of the biggest bands in the world. And part of the Fleetwood Mac story is the soap-opera - its various members, the affairs and the "rumours" surrounding the famous musicians.  
 
Next week Fleetwood Mac will perform its first shows in New Zealand with a very famous Kiwi on board. Neil Finn was asked to join the band last year, along with Mike Campbell, the guitarist from Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
 
Music critic Simon Sweetman shares his love of Fleetwood Mac, and tells us about the various versions of the band, including its latest Neil Finn-focused line-up. 

Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac Photo: supplied

 

3:10 JFK's granddaughter on the environmental impact of consumerism 

Valentines Day roses take 114 million litres of fuel and create 360,000 metric tones of carbon dioxide to import. Those yoga pants that wick away sweat are made with a microfibre that causes microplastic pollution in the sea. Everything we do has consequences.

Instead of looking away and feeling powerless, Tatiana Schlossberg wants people to consider the consequences of all our stuff.  She's the granddaughter of President John F Kennedy and she's just written her first book Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don't Know You Have.

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Photo: Elizabeth Cecil

 

3:30 Spoken Feature: Elemental

A journey through the periodic table of elements with chemistry professor Allan Blackman, from AUT, and Alison Ballance. Today's element is Fluorine. 

 

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

4:05 The Panel with Michelle Boag and Selwyn Manning