Afternoons for Tuesday 30 September 2025

 

1:10 Nightmare for pet owners: the anguish of a missing animal

Two weeks ago Matt Jeffery's dog - Sadie - went missing. 

Since then, Matt and his family - who moved here from South Africa for a better, safer life - have been devastated

Not only dealing with the distress of losing your pet, but also the side effects of plastering your phone number of public posters.

Jesse talks to Matt.

1:20 Re-imagining life in Taranaki in the 1940s

Get used to seeing Airana Ngarewa's face, he's got a new novel out and over the next few weeks he'll be up and down the country appearing at book shops and writers' festivals. 

The book is 'The Last Living Cannibal', and it's Airana's third book about the Taranaki region. 

The others covered contemporary life, but this one looks back and reimagines life in Taranaki in the 1940s. 

Airana Ngarewa is with Jesse.

1:35 What exactly are "The Enhanced Games" and are they are game changer?

A new concept called the "Enhanced Games" appears to be sending the traditional sports world into a frenzy. 

The Enhanced Games are the invention of Australian entrepreneur Aron D'Souza, who says the games will "embrace scientific advancements to push the boundaries of human performance". 

A particularly controversial aspect of the event is that athletes will be allowed to compete without being subjected to drug tests.

The event will take place next May in Las Vegas. Creator Aron D'Souza chats to Jesse.

1:45 Tech Tuesday with Tim Batt

Tim joins Jesse to talk about the struggles in the IT sector and tips on what to do if your electronics get wet (hint: it' isn't rice)

2:10 Book Critic: Putting Ali Smith in the spotlight

Ali Smith is a Scottish author, playwright, academic and journalist.
She's a pretty prolific writer, over the last ten years writing 14 novels, 5 short story collections and 8 plays. 

Book critic Pip Adam shares why she's a fan, reviewing the latest offerings but also the classics.

Gliff (Penguin, November 2024)

Glyph (Penguin, 17 February 2026)

Seasonal Quartet by Ali Smith:
Autumn (2016), Winter (2017), Spring (2019), Summer (2020)

2:20 Update on Oz with Brad Foster

Time to talk all things Australia now and our man across the Tasman Brad Foster joins Jesse with the latest from there, starting with an incident in Melbourne yesterday, another triple zero emergency problem, but also touching on that rugby game. 

2:30 Music feature: We remember all the forgotten songs

It's time for our Tuesday Music feature and today we're got RNZ newsreader Todd Zaner in the studio with a collection of forgotten tunes

These are songs that don't have a lot of airplay these days and you could argue have not been ruined by the repetitiveness of over-hearing.

3:10 Feature interview: Is Christianity the tonic the world needs right now?

  Christianity is the load bearing wall that holds up democracy, and it is crumbling says author, journalist, and senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, Jonathan Rauch. A committed atheist, Rauch says citizens need to take a page from the Christian bible and offer compassion to others, forgive and share power otherwise democracy will not survive. He warns that fear and grievance have replaced biblical values and both religion and society are suffering because of it.  Rauch writes about returning faith to focusing on healing instead of dividing in his book, Cross Purposes: Christianity's Broken Bargain with Democracy.

We've got a new segment called 'You're the Judge' where we present an issue that's been sent in by one of our listeners, and you, our audience, decide what the right course of action is. 

So far you have made judgements on if it's okay to kiss your pets then your partner, a family fall out after a funeral, whether a bride and groom can dictate what people wear to their nuptials, and today we're turning our attention to travel - specifically if one person can accept a seat upgrade when travelling with their partner. 

If you've got a pickle you need some help with - email us! jesse@afternoons.co.nz

3:38 Creed Bratton - more than a character in The Office US.

Creed Bratton is perhaps best known for playing the eponymous character Creed in the US Office

A non-speaking part that by sheer force of charisma Creed turned into one of the series' stars.

But what you might not know is that Creed is a musician, and in fact music came first. 

His latest studio album 'Tao Pop' was released at the end of last year. He chats to Jesse.

3:45 The pre-Panel

Wallace Chapman previews tonight's instalment of The Panel.