Nine To Noon for Wednesday 23 November 2022

 

09:05 Education Minister Chris Hipkins: Polytech semester finishing, Te Pūkenga waiting in the wings

The Polytech semester draws to a close for the last time, as we know it, this Friday.  It is also just six weeks until the new, single-entity mega polytech is due to launch. Te Pūkenga, New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology mega-structure, will bring more than 16 individual polytechnics under the one umbrella, with 260-thousand students, and 13-thousand staff around across the country.  Key management staff are being sought, eight of them, at salaries between 200 and 300 thousand each, according to Seek, while budget cuts have the union calling for a government bail-out of the sector.   So how ready is the new entity and what experience should students and staff anticipate? Kathryn speaks with Education Minister Chris Hipkins.

09:25 Meta's planned changes for kids' safety - will they work? 

Tech giant Meta says its planned changes to Instagram and Facebook will help keep its youngest users safer online, but the company hasn't ruled out pushing forward with a kids-only Instagram. Yesterday Meta announced Facebook users under the age of 16 would be defaulted into private accounts upon sign-up, and those already with accounts would be encouraged into more private settings. The company says it's also testing ways to protect children from contact from "suspicious" adults and that it intends to announce more detail on work it's doing to limit "sextortion" of teens.. But is this work a case of "too little, too late"? David Monahan is Campaign Director for FairPlay, which has advocating for stronger measures to keep kids safe online and is spearheading a campaign -  in coalition with 100 other organisations - for legislation to do just that. It's also been actively campaigning against Meta's plans to set up a child-only version of Instagram.

09:40 Mt Ruapehu update: will life pass holders stump up?

Life pass holders for Mt Ruapehu's troubled ski fields have two more days to indicate whether they're willing to stump up funds to help save Whakapapa and Turoa ski fields. The goverment has asked life pass holders for a one-off $2500 towards a new entity to run the mountain, along with a future levy of up to $250 per year for two to three years to fund ongoing capital maintenance and development. Turoa and Whakapapa ski fields went into voluntary administration last month, owning an estimated 40-million dollars in the red.In exchange for contributing, the government says it will write-off some of the debt. PWC, the administrator for Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, is also surveying others it hopes might join a crowd funding effort - including local residents, mountain staff and local businesses. Kathryn speaks with Robert Pigou, MBIE deputy chief executive;  and Sam Clarkson,  one of two life pass holders on the creditors committee  - he's also a local business owner.

09:45 Australia: Flight delays, Rudd warning on China, Somerton Man's family photos

Australia correspondent Chris Niesche joins Kathryn to talk about new data from the Department of Transport which shows just 69.3 percent of flights arrived on time in October - guess which airline was bottom of the list? Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has made a startling warning on the possibility of war with China, saying it could happen within the next five years. And the 70 year mystery of the Somerton Man was solved this year by DNA tests, now photos of Charles Webb have been released by his family.

10:05 NZ's natural beauty: geologically speaking

Geologist Bruce Hayward's latest book Mountains, Volcanoes, Coasts and Caves: Origins of Aotearoa New Zealand's Natural Wonders takes the reader around the motu. It tells of the history and geology of land forms, landscapes and coastal wonders, and contains pictures and aerial photography by Alastair Jamieson and Lloyd Homer.

Dr Hayward is a recognised leading expert on living and fossil foraminifera. He's the founder and convenor of the NZ Geopreservation Inventory which documents and seeks greater protection for NZ's geoheritage features.

10:35 Book review: Ancestry by Simon Mawer    

 Ralph McAllister reviews Ancestry by Simon Mawer, published by Penguin Random House

10:45 The Reading

Today we play another of the winning entries in our Short Story Competition. Perfect days, in fiction, seldom end up turning out to be quite so perfect.  Blood Flowers is written by Sionann Mentor-King, and told by Simon Leary.

 

11:05 Music to get you in a flap: Songs about chickens

Ian Chapman was inspired by last week's interview with Dr Andrea Graves on how to raise happy hens, and it got him wondering about how often chickens make an appearance in music...Today's session puts the spotlight on intersections between music and chickens. From opera and ballet to jump-blues, swing jazz and heavy metal, chickens have inspired composers and performers throughout centuries; often, but not always, for their perceived, comedic, put-a-smile-on-your-face qualities.  

Ian Chapman is a Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Music at Otago University.

 

11:25 New Zealand's islands: from tropics to ice

A writing career spanning 50 years has taken Neville Peat around the world, across Aotearoa, and to the very outer reaches of New Zealand's marine realm. Neville has written more than 40 books over that career, covering themes of geography, history and the natural environment, but its the country's many islands that are the subject of his latest book. Home is an Island is a tribute to New Zealand's island character, and to the diversity of the islands in our waters; from the tropics to the ice. During his travels as journalist, a publicist and adventurer, Neville Peat has visited many of these islands and he's chosen eight of them to share short stories and essays that reveal their life, times and diverse histories.     

11:45 Social media adding pressure to how much we spend on Christmas 

The Christmas switch has been flicked on, and it's hard to avoid it. Today Kathryn is joined by money expert Simran Kaur to talk about how social media can help pile on the pressure to get the perfect Christmas gift. How can you make sure to stick to your Christmas budget and not give in to peer - and inflationary - pressure?

Simran Kaur is the co-host of the podcast Girls That Invest. This discussion is of a general nature, and does not constitute financial advice

 

Music played in this show

Music to get you in a flap: Songs about chickens

1) Mussorgsky's 'Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks' by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HPtSftZ3b0

2) Isao Tomia's version of 'Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks' 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=er5pVjWSAuY

3) 'The Dancing Chickens' from La Fille Mal Gardee by the Birmingham Royal Ballet 
https://vimeo.com/28503675

4) Beethoven's 'Chicken Fur Elise' by Two Set Violin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcMNAxS3wHc 

5) 'Psycho Chicken' by the Fools 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zm2sRYfcXk 

6) 'The Heavy Metal Chicken Dance' by Decrepit Birth 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHvMafYG7rs 

7) 'Chick Chick' by Wang Song Song Rollin 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxzgwJ8tSE0  

8) Ain't Nobody here but us Chickens' by Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hH77m_rZdA