Nine To Noon for Tuesday 10 September 2019

 

 

09:05 UK Parliament suspension as Brexit deadline looms

With the UK Parliament sitting for the last time for five weeks, returning just two weeks before the Brexit deadline, it has been an historic day and night at Westminister. The Prime Minister Boris Johnson is calling for a snap election, which has already been rejected once, and the Speaker John Bercow has announced his tenure will end at the next election, or by the date the UK is due to leave the EU - 31st of October. Keeping abreast of the latest developments, Kathryn talks to Sir John Curtice, he's a professor of politics at Strathclyde University, and Anand Menon, who is the director of the UK in a Changing Europe initiative. He is also a professor of European politics and foreign affairs at King's College London and the co author of Brexit and British Politics.

09:20 Local businesses: Ruapehu ski operator 'suppressing competition'

Some business owners in the central North Island say Ruapehu Alpine Lifts is abusing its tax-free status and using its monopoly to suppress competition. RAL operates Whakapapa and Turoa ski fields on Mt Ruapehu and is a public benefit entity paying no tax, with all profits going to developing the ski areas. This year it opened a new $25 million high-speed gondola on Whakapapa, but has faced criticism from mountain users over long queues at both ski fields and not enough lifts being open. Last week, five people were injured and three airlifted to hospital when blocks of ice fell on them from the roof of a toilet block at Tūroa. Now, the Commerce Commission is looking at a complaint from retail operator Mike Wiggins that RAL has breached the Commerce Act by setting up retail stores in Ohakune and Taupo, where it competes with local businesses, but does not pay tax.

09:45 USA correspondent Susan Milligan - sharpie storm mapping

Susan Milligan with an erosion of facts surrounding the path of Hurricane Dorian, including the sharpie altered map which erroneously had Alabama in its path. And a look at who is still in the running to take part in the upcoming Democratic presidential candidates' debate in Houston.

10:05 Ben Goodwin: Wētāpunga warrior

Ectotherm keeper at Auckland Zoo, Ben Goodwin looks after reptiles, crabs, fish and lots of native insects. Insects are his stand-out favourite.  Ben has bred and introduced more than four thousand threatened giant wētāpunga to islands in the Hauraki Gulf.  He tells Kathryn Ryan the best part of his job is restoring threatened species to where they would have lived in the past, that thousands of insects go extinct before they've even been named and why they are so important to the ecosystem. Conservation Week starts on Friday.

10:35 Book review - The Institute by Stephen King

Lisa Finucane reviews The Institute by Stephen King, which is published by Hachette NZ.
 

10:45 The Reading

A Sense of Belonging told by Tina Cook (Part 1 of 2) from the series Waitapu by Helen Margaret Waaka.

11:05 Business commentator Kim Savage

RNZ business reporter Kim Savage talks to Kathryn about the capital markets review. With global uncertainty weighing heavily, what does this mean for central bank policy and interest rates?  And is the construction accord with Government working? 
 

11:30 Gabrielle Jackson - the pain and prejudice affecting women's health

Guardian Journalist, Gabrielle Jackson's book Pain and Prejudice had its catalyst in her writing about her own experience with endometriosis. Her article 'I'm not a hypochondriac. I have a disease. All these things that are wrong with me are real, they are endometriosis' struck a chord, with thousands of women getting in touch about their health system experiences. Pain and Prejudice explores how women historically and presently have been under-served by the medical profession. In order for this to change, she is encouraging women to be more vocal about pain and suffering they experience, and insistent on getting the right diagnosis and treatment.

11:45 Media commentator Gavin Ellis

The sub judice rule may be a thing of the past. The Australian on Saturday has begun a three-part investigative series on the man accused of the Christchurch mosque shootings. Social media means it is already circulating here in spite of the high likelihood that no NZ media would risk contempt of court by running it. Also, Three is heavily promoting a series, starting Wednesday in which "Paddy Gower breaks free of his news reporter shackles for an impartial investigation of the world of medical and recreational marijuana." Gavin ponders -  Does that mean it is current affairs or entertainment?

Gavin Ellis is a media commentator and former editor of the New Zealand Herald.  He can be contacted on gavin.ellis@xtra.co.nz