09:05 Gymnastics New Zealand response to abuse claims review

An independent review into claims of abuse of gymnasts is released at 9am this morning. It was commissioned by Gymnastics New Zealand after athletes spoke out about their experiences of verbal and physical abuse by coaches, judges and administrators. Led by former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, David Howman, over 200 submissions were received, including from 70 past and present gymnasts. Kathryn talks to Gymnastics New Zealand CEO Tony Compier, and former elite gymnast Olivia Jöbsis, who was one of the first to speak out publicly about her experience.

Feet of gymnast are seen on the floor exercise before gymnastics competition

Photo: 123RF

9:20 Understanding 'long haul' Covid19 

As we move into the second year of the Covid19 pandemic we're starting to learn more about the impact that so called 'long covid' is having on patients. Long hauler covid patients are people who recover from Covid19 itself but are left with symptoms of the disease that linger and flare up. 

Some of those symptoms are similar to those experienced by some patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, or ME. Emeritus Professor at Otago University Warren Tate has spent years studying ME. In December last year his team proved that ME, or CFS, is not psychosomatic but has a biological basis. This was a groundbreaking finding and this new research on long haul Covid 19 will be pursuing similar territory. 

Warren Tate

Warren Tate Photo: University of Otago

09:45 Australia: Debate over 2050 net zero, Crown casino loses licence

Australia correspondent Bernard Keane joins Kathryn to look at debate over the 2050 net zero emissions target, as the government's Nationals coalition party refuse to budge over agricultural exemptions. Crown, the huge gambling company part-owned by James Packer, loses a bid for a casino licence, even after it built a huge skyscraper to house it in. And there's continuing debate over the government's attack on Google and Facebook.

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Photo: Wikipedia

10:05 Paloma Gardens: gardening meets art meets motorbikes

Twenty kilometres east of Whanganui at Fordell you can happily get lost in another world for at least a few hours. Nicky and Clive Higgie are the owners of the Garden of National Significance Award-winning Paloma Gardens, which in itself is a work of art, spanning over six hundred hectares of exotic gardens, landscaped with tropical plants from all over the world.  It's set out in ten distinct zones including a Garden of Death, a Valley of Tranquillity, Bamboo Forests, and several arboreta, all dotted with sculptures, and home to vintage motorcycle museum 'Moto 71'.  Clive and Nicki Higgie have been developing Paloma Gardens since the 1970s. They join Kathryn to tell her about their life's work.

 

10:35 Book review - Best of 2020 - Children's books

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Photo: Louise Ward

Louise Ward of Wardini Books with her top picks from last year's books for children:
Voyage of the Sparrow Hawk by Natasha Farrant (Allen & Unwin)
We Are Wolves by Katrina Nannestad (Harper Collins)
None Shall Sleep by Ellie Marney (Allen & Unwin)

10:45 The Reading

Minding Lear, episode 7. Written by Owen Marshall, read by Aaron Alexander.

11:05 Music with RNZ's Yadana Saw 

RNZ Music's Yadana Saw joins Kathryn to look at some local and international tunes, including from Christchurch duo Terrible Sons and a historic gem from Alice Coltrane.

11:20 The business of being a writer

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Photo: supplied

While there are many books available about how to write,  few focus on the profession of being an author. How to find a publisher? How to prepare a manuscript for submission, contracts, editing, promotion, working with booksellers, and more. Deborah Hunn is a lecturer in creative writing at Curtin University in Western Australia and Georgia Richter has taught creative writing, professional writing and editing at universities in Melbourne and Western Australia, and is now the fiction, narrative non-fiction and poetry publisher at Freemantle Press. Their book is called How To Be An Author: The Business of Being A Writer in Australia.

11:45 Climate change and covid, heat-resistant coral and wearable stress detectors

Science commentator Siouxsie Wiles joins Kathryn to look at two new Covid-related study, including one that provides evidence of a mechanism by which climate change could've played a role in the emergence of Covid-19, a new study into coral bleaching that could have application for rebuilding coral reefs and a wearable system that can continually measure stress hormone in humans.

Associate Professor Dr Siouxsie Wiles is the head of Bioluminescent Superbugs Lab at the University of Auckland.