Nights for Thursday 31 July 2025

8:10 Why screaming phones are a last resort

Dr Sally Potter, founder and director of Canary Innovation Limited - a warning systems consultancy - shares her perspective on the necessity of emergency mobile phone alerts in light of recent nationwide technical glitches.

8:20 The House

Tonight on our Parliament show, Phil Smith considers the less consequential things that happen in the House.

8:25 Philosophy Now: Is buzz-killing a social crime?

Dan Weijers, senior lecturer in philosophy at the University of Waikato, joins Emile Donovan once a month to answer some of life's big questions.

Tonight, we raise the spectre of buzz-killing. Is it a social crime? Do we have a moral obligation to be happy?

8:40 The Reread with Elizabeth Knox

Once a month, we challenge a member of New Zealand's literary community to go back and re-read a book they read long ago that had a real impact on them, to see what has changed.

Tonight on The Reread, Emile Donovan is joined by esteemed Aotearoa author Elizabeth Knox, writer of fantasy, autobiographical fiction, essays, and young adult novels.

Knox is the author of The Vintner's Luck and The Absolute Book, for which she won the Prime Minister's Award for Fiction.

She has selected The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin.

9:05 Nights Quiz

Do you know your stuff? Come on the air and be grilled by Emile Donovan as he dons his quizmaster hat.

If you get an answer right, you move on to the next question. If you get it wrong, your time in the chair is up, and the next caller will be put through. The person with the most correct answers at the end of the run goes in the draw for a weekly prize.

9:25 Author Kerri Andrews on the desire to walk

Kerri Andrews, author of Pathfinding, explores the complexities of motherhood and what it means to rediscover ourselves through the land we walk on.

9:45 Pacific Waves

A daily current affairs programme that delves deeper into the major stories of the week, through a Pacific lens, and shines a light on issues affecting Pacific people wherever they are in the world. Hosted by Susana Suisuiki.

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10:17 The Detail

Tonight on The Detail: when one of our smallest ministries is shredded in the name of saving taxpayer dollars, critics say it feels like cultural vandalism.

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10:45 The Reading

It's time for our final episode of The Trouble Begins at Eight, a four-part series chronicling Mark Twain's lecture tour of New Zealand in 1895.

11:07 The Mixtape

Ahead of their feature The Weed Eaters premiering at this year's International Film Festival, Annabel Kean and Callum Devlin from filmmaking collective Sports Team share some of their favourite songs, and discuss their journey to the silver screen.