Nine To Noon for Wednesday 11 November 2015

09:05 Midwifery groups lobbied against mandatory hospital training

Official documents show the former Minister of Health, Tony Ryall, was poised to make new midwives do mandatory training stints in hospitals but changed his mind after coming under pressure from midwifery groups. Mr Ryall had sought advice over at least two years on getting new midwife graduates to spend 6-12 months in hospitals gaining experience of different birth scenarios before becoming Lead Maternity Carers. But papers obtained by the group Action to Improve Maternity under the Official Information Act show both the College of Midwives and the Midwifery Council fought the move, saying other measures would improve services instead. AIM has been agitating for several years to get more training for new midwives. The same view was expressed by Coroner Gary Evans in his inquiry into the case of Waikato woman Casey Nathan and her baby Kymani, whose deaths he found "were preventable". Coroner Evans said junior midwives should not work unsupervised for 12 months and recommended changes to boost their training and experience. Nine to Noon speaks to Jenn Hooper from AIM and Beverley Lawton, a midwifery researcher and member of the National Maternal Monitoring Group.

09:20 The Drone Papers
The American news website, The Intercept, has published a tranche of documents revealing the inner workings of the United States' drone programme. The documents, leaked by an anonymous whistle-blower, make up a multi-part analysis of the drone programme by a Pentagon task force. They show almost 90 percent of people killed in drone strikes were not the intended target. Nine to Noon speaks to Andrew Cockburn, the Washington Editor of Harper's Magazine and author of Kill Chain: The Rise of the High-Tech Assassins.

09:45 Australia correspondent Peter Munro

10:05 Mark "The Super Samoan" Hunt

Mark Hunt could easily have ended up in a life of crime and prison. Born to a Mormon-Samoan family in South Auckland, he and his brothers were  regularly beaten - and his sister repeatedly raped - by his abusive father, with his complicit mother offering no protection. With two stints in prison, he says it was his resilience built up as a "punching bag" for his father that partly led to the remarkable turnaround in his life.He was picked out of a street brawl by someone who recognised his talents as a fighter and began training as kickboxer, winning a world championship in 2001 and going on to be becoming a UFC - or Ultimate Fighting Championship - fighter. With journalist Ben Mckelvey, the 41-year old has written an autobiography Born to Fight on his harrowing early life and his journey to success.

10:30 New Zealand Books Pukapuka Aotearoa / NZ Literature Review

Expecting Miracles by Peter Bland

Reviewed by Harry Ricketts, published by Steele Roberts

10:45 The Reading: An Awfully Big Adventure by Jane Tolerton

New Zealand World War One veterans tell their stories (Part 3 of 15)

11:05 Marty Duda's artist of the week

Music of the Revolutionary Army Of The Infant Jesus

Marty Duda on an extremely mysterious and obscure band, Revolution of The Infant Jesus, or ROTIJ as they're known to their friends.

The band is an experimental neo-folk, industrial band from Liverpool who work in multimedia creating an ethereal music often compared to that of Dead Can Dance. They released two albums over 20 years ago and then disappeared as quickly as they materialised. They have resurfaced, playing shows in the UK and releasing a new album, Beauty Will Save The World.

TRACKS

Artist: Revolutionary Army Of The Infant Jesus

Song: The Miller (4:09)

Composer: Revolutionary Army Of The Infant Jesus

Album: The Gift Of Tears (1987)

Label: Probe Plus

Artist: Revolutionary Army Of The Infant Jesus

Song: Shadowlands (4:29)

Composer: Revolutionary Army Of The Infant Jesus

Album: Mirror (1991)

Label: Probe Plus

Artist: Revolutionary Army Of The Infant Jesus

Song: A Crowd Of Stars (3:00)

Composer: Revolutionary Army Of The Infant Jesus

Album: Beauty Will Save The World (2015)

Label: Occultation

11:20 Healthcare robots for the elderly  

Small healthcare robots have been deployed to patients in Gore for the past two years - where they can take patients' heart rates and remind them to take their medication. But the Auckland University researchers behind the project say they also provided companionship, with the elderly users reporting that they reduced feelings of loneliness due to their social presence. Health psychologist Dr Elizabeth Broadbent is one of the team leading the initiative.

11:45 Science commentator Siouxsie Wiles

According to the latest news reports, cooking with vegetable oils causes cancer but is this really true? Science commentator Dr Siouxsie Wiles debunks the latest health scare and gives us a rough guide to scientific evidence.

A rough guide to scientific evidence
A rough guide to spotting bad science

Music played in this show

Artist: Hurray for the Riff Raff

Song:   Blue Ridge Mountain

Composer: Segarra

Album: Small Heroes

Label:  ATO

Time: 09:40

 

Artist:   Ray Lamontagne

Song:   She’s the One

Composer: Lamontagne

Album: Supernova

Label: RCA

Time:  10:05

 

Artist:   The Shins

Song:  Red Rabbits

Composer: n/s

Album: Wincing the Night Away

Label: Sub Pop

Time: 10:40

 

Artist:  The Map Room

Song:  Pilot

Composer: Morrow/Gooding

Album: The Map Room

Label: Maproom

Time: 11:43