Nine To Noon for Tuesday 11 August 2020

 

 

09:05 Reality biting for school budgets as international students drop

As the Covid uncertainty stretches on, schools budgets are being rejigged and tough decisions made due to the loss of income from international students. Overseas students are worth $750 million a year for New Zealand schools, $5 billion when tertiary education is included. The Auckland Secondary Schools' Principals' Association President Steve Hargreaves, who is also the principal of Auckland's Macleans College, says repercussions extend beyond this year's losses and next year's enrolments. Nelson College Headmaster Richard Dykes is hoping the Education Minister will cut schools some slack.

0920: Lebanon's government resigns after Beirut blast

Lebanon's Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced overnight his government was resigning, as furious protesters took to the streets of Beirut following last week's devastating blast in the capital. BBC Mideast correspondent Sebastian Usher joins Kathryn to talk about whether that will be enough to quell the anger directed at the country's ruling classes.

09:30 A lens on online voting

IT professional, Stephen Judd on the pros and cons of online voting. He has written a chapter addressing the pros and cons of online voting, in a new book Shouting Zeros and Ones: Digital technology, ethics and policy in New Zealand.

09:45 USA correspondent Susan Davis

The latest on the Covid-19 pandemic in the US with a standoff between the White House and Congress over what comes next. And who will be Joe Biden's running mate?.

Susan Davis is a congressional correspondent for NPR and a co-host of the NPR Politics Podcast.

 

10:05 George Friedman: The Storm Before The Calm

Dr. George Friedman is a geopolitical forecaster and best selling author of nine books, whose latest work focusses on the United States, arguing that the country finds itself in a cyclical state of crisis every 80 years. In The Storm Before the Calm, Dr Friedman posits that crunch-time is approaching in the 2020s, bringing with it dramatic upheaval in American society. He says a fundamental reshaping of government, foreign policy, economics and culture is in store, making way for a new stability and prosperity in the United States in the 2030s and beyond.

10:35 Book review - The Tally Stick by Carl Nixon

Louise O'Brien reviews The Tally Stick by Carl Nixon, published by Penguin Random House.

10:45 The Reading

Someone's Wife, episode 2. Written and read by Linda Burgess.

11:05 T&G's strong half year profit, Super Fund buys lab test business

Business commentator Rod Oram joins Kathryn to look at horticulture producer T&G's quadrupling of profit, thanks to a big jump in apple revenues. The NZ Superannuation Fund is buying Healthscope, the biggest medical testing business in the country, with brands like Labtests in Auckland. And British Petroleum has pledged to become a net zero emissions company by 2050 - but how will it achieve that?

11:30 Rock College, Mark Derby on Mount Eden Prison

Historian Mark Derby's latest book Rock College - an unofficial history of Mount Eden Prison. Known as 'The Rock' the imposing Victorian fortress-style building incarcerated those found guilty for more than 150 years, the site of 36 executions, including New Zealand's last hanging in 1957.   Old fashioned and out-dated long before it finally closed in 2011, it's survived by stories, myths and legends.  Mark discusses tells some of them to Kathryn Ryan.

11:45 Media commentator Andrew Holden 

With Parliament having risen, media outlets have announced their planned coverage, including TV debates, Andrew and Kathryn talk about election campaign coverage.

Andrew Holden is a journalist for more than 30 years including five as Editor of The Press (in Christchurch) and four as Editor-in-Chief of The Age in Melbourne.