09:05 Rex Tillerson fired - where to for US foreign policy?

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Photo: AFP

Fourteen months into the job, Rex Tillerson the American Secretary of State, has been fired. In a tweet this morning, President Trump announced the appointment of CIA head Mike Pompeo into the top diplomatic role. Kathryn talks with Robbie Gramer from Foreign Policy magazine in Washington DC, who's just been at Rex Tillerson's media conference at the State Department.

09:20 Vulnerable transient population the size of Hamilton

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Photo: Flickr

New research shows roughly 150,000 people are considered to be 'vulnerable transient' – a burgeoning trend that Auckland Action Against Poverty is calling a national emergency. The country's housing shortage is being tipped as one of major the factors, and social services are urging communities and government agencies to work together to solve the burgeoning issue. The AUT report says females and Maori are most likely to fall into this category. Kathryn speaks with the report's co-author, Gail Pacheco, who is a professor in economics at the Auckland University of Technology and director of the New Zealand Work Research Institute.

09:45 Australia correspondent Peter Munro

The banking royal commission opens with a bang; retirees are under fire on the election battleground; and a public debate has erupted over the problems caused by Australia's soaring population growth.

10:05 "Mad, insane, criminal" Daniel Ellsberg - US nuclear war planning

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Photo: Jock McDonald

The US whistleblower who leaked top-secret documents The Pentagon Papers in a bid to end the Vietnam War, Daniel Ellsberg talks to Kathryn Ryan about laying bare America's 70 year long nuclear war policy; summing it up as "mad, insane, criminal." His book The Doomsday Machine, Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner, draws on inside knowledge to expose a history of nuclear ambition, capability, and intention. He lists 25 occasions between 1945 and 1996 when US presidents either threatened enemies with nuclear weapons, or secretly considered firing them.

10:35 Book review

Quentin Johnson reviews The Shepherd's Hut by Tim Winton, published by Penguin Random House NZ.

10:45 The Reading

Baby No Eyes by Patricia Grace (Ep. 8 of 17)

11:05 Music with Graeme Downes

Salad Boys

Salad Boys Photo: Courtesy of Trouble In Mind Records

Musicologist and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Music at the University of Otago, Graeme Downes, takes a look at the latest album from Christchurch's Salad Boys, This Is Glue – the follow up to their critically acclaimed 2015 debut album, Metalmania.

11:20 Jordan Peterson: 'Worthlessness is the default condition'

Canadian clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, Jordan Peterson.

Canadian clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, Jordan Peterson. Photo: Supplied / Penguin Random House

Two years ago, University of Toronto psychology professor Jordan Peterson was little known to the world. Now, his new book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos is an international bestseller, his YouTube lectures have garnered millions of views, and he has become one of the most polarising cultural critics online.

11:45 Legal commentator Charles McGuinness

Employment lawyer Charles McGuinness discusses collective agreements, who is covered by them, what protections they offer and what a new Bill before Parliament will change.

 

 

Music played in this show

Artist:   Frazerdaze

Song: Lucky Girl

Composer: Murray

Album: Morningside

Label: Flying Nunn

Time:  9.39

 

Graeme Downs played tunes from Salad Boys album This Is Glue

1.Scenic Route to Nowhere

2. Going Down Slow

3. Divided