Afternoons for Monday 3 November 2025

 

1:15 Yellow Legged Hornets: What should you do if you find one?

Since June, Biosecurity New Zealand has confirmed five yellow-legged hornets have been detected in Auckland, and they're asking locals to be on the lookout. 

But what do you do if you come across one and what does it mean for our honey and wild bee populations?

Ruud Kleinpaste, better known as 'The Bug Man' talks to Jesse.

1.25 The bilingual language course making a difference for migrants 

Ten migrants are finishing up a ten-week bilingual course in te reo Māori and English that is believed to be the first of its kind in New Zealand.

The pilot programme, based in Rotorua, has helped them build confidence in speaking, presenting and connecting through both languages.

It's a collaboration between Speech New Zealand, Te Tatau o Te Arawa and the Rotorua Multicultural Council with funding covered by Immigration New Zealand.

1.35 The NZ student who is helping create more leaders

You know you've done well with a school project when one of the country's major local sports clubs takes notice. 

Dhriti Girish was 13 years old when she came up with the idea for her 'Young Leaders' initiative. 

It's designed to support girls in cricket, encouraging them in the sport and helping develop their leadership potential. 

What began as a year-10 student project was later adopted as a fully-fledged programme by Cricket Wellington, and then it won the prize for Best Female Engagement Strategy at the ANZ National New Zealand Cricket Awards. 

Dhriti is now in her second year of university and the 'Young Leaders' programme is still going strong. She chats to Jesse.

1:45 One long song

Today's long song was requested by friend of the show John Hawkesby, who says it's one of his favourite songs of all time. He describes it as "sublime genius"

It's the title track to an album that came out in 1972. It tells a story that moves from France to San Francisco to Belfast to New York City.

But Belfast is the clue. The lyrics make reference to the Troubles and to the singer's early career cleaning windows in Northern Ireland's capital city.

The song is not by Bob Dylan but has been described as the most Dylanesque this songwriter ever gets. 

Here is Van Morrison with our long song for Monday, Saint Dominic's Preview

2:10 TV Critic: Two new. very different, shows to watch

Let's talk about what's good to watch on the small screen now, TV critic Dominic Corry is with me and has two very different shows to recommend:

I Love LA - Sky/Neon
The Last Frontier - Apple TV+

2:20 Bites that left their mark

We're talking about the weird and wonderful creatures that have bitten you. Lots of you are messaging in your stories and so we call a couple of you to hear what happened. 

2.30 Expert: Can they build it? Yes, they can!

Today in our expert feature we're talking to Master Builders. We'll cover choosing a builder, going through the process, what happens if you're not happy afterwards and anything else you want to know. 

So, get your questions into 2101. Even if it's one of those questions that's "more of a comment" we want to hear from you. 

To answer them - Jesse is joined by Ankit Sharma from Master Builders. 

3:10 Feature interview: Family language

Every family has its own way of talking. They share weird phrases, inside jokes, and made-up words that no one else would understand. Georgetown linguistics professor Cynthia Gordon has spent over 20 years studying how families actually talk to each other. She asked them to record ordinary moments, dinner conversations, car rides, chores and found something she calls “familylect”: the secret language that makes a family feel like a family. Share your own familylect by texting 2101 or emailing us at afternoons@rnz.co.nz 

3:35 Here Now: Meeting cheesmakers in Nelson

3:45 The pre-Panel

Wallace Chapman previews tonight's instalment of The Panel.