Nine To Noon for Wednesday 18 December 2019

 

09:05 Parents of children with disabilities prepare for summer without support

School's out for the long summer holidays this week, and while everyone else is getting a break, what let-up is there for families of disabled children? Chair of advocacy group Disability Connect, Colleen Brown says there isn't enough relief and appropriate support for such families at this time of year.

09:30 Australia sizzles as Scott Morrison feels the heat over holiday

Australia correspondent Bernard Keane joins Kathryn to talk about the bushfires still raging as temperatures soar in a heatwave hitting parts of the country, while Prime Minister Scott Morrison is criticised for going on holiday during the bushfire crisis.

09:45 2019 - the year of measles

This year New Zealanders were reminded of just how dangerous measles could be, as cases spiked around the country - and particularly in Auckland.  The epidemic turned deadly in Samoa, where 73 people - mainly young children - have died. Kathryn talks to Dr Nikki Turner from the Immunisation Advisory Centre on the disease's devastation, and what it might mean for the country's measles elimination status.

10:05 Al Noor mosque Imam on loss, forgiveness and gratitude

Gamal Fouda had just begun his sermon at Friday prayers on March 15th,  when bullets began tearing through the Al Noor Mosque. 51 people died there and at the Linwood mosque that day or after - in the worst terrorist attack in New Zealand history. 40 people were injured - many of them struggling physically and mentally to this day. A week after the attacks, Gamal Fouda lead thousands of people in a service at Hagley Park. He talks to Kathryn about loss, forgiveness, solidarity, gratitude and peace.

10:35 Book review - Red Can Origami by Madelaine Dickie

Gina Rogers reviews Red Can Origami by Madelaine Dickie, published by Fremantle Press.

10:45 The Reading

'Arboreal Angst: A Christmas Crisis'  a short story written by Lindsay Wood and read by Malcolm Murray.

11:05 Christmas music: The good, the bad and the intolerable

RNZ music journalist Yadana Saw shares and strategies and songs to get you through the festive season.

11:20 Icehouse Investment guru Andy Hamilton

The Icehouse's Andy Hamilton talks to Kathryn Ryan about his two decade mission helping small and medium-sized enterprises to maximise their potential. But now after 18 years he is moving from the top job to let someone else take the reins. That replacement was named yesterday as business leader Gavin Lennox.

11:45 Unlocking new secrets of the human brain in Huntington’s and Alzheimer’s disease

Science correspondent Malvindar Singh-Bains joins Kathryn to talk about how the human brain is the final frontier of medical research: You can replace a kidney, a lung, a liver, even a heart, but it is currently impossible to replace a sick brain. She'll share some of her recent discoveries in Huntington’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease through studies on precious human brain tissue generously bequeathed to the Neurological Foundation of New Zealand Human Brain Bank, located within the Centre for Brain Research in the University of Auckland.

Malvindar Singh-Bains is a research fellow at the University of Auckland.

 

Music played in this show

 

Artist: Jake Xerxes Fussell
Track: The River St Johns
Time played: 9.30

Artist: Tame Impala
Track: Disciples
Time played: 9.34

Artist: Kishi Bashi
Track: Summer of 42
Time played: 10:41