Saturday Morning for Saturday 4 April 2020

08:15 Samanth Subramanian: India's 1.3 billion person lockdown

India, the world’s second biggest country, has gone into lockdown mode for three weeks over the COVID-19 pandemic. With a population of over 1.3 billion people, including the poor, the homeless and hundreds of millions of daily wage casual workers, the decision’s posing huge logistical problems.

For starters, millions of people are undertaking cross-country journeys home: this has caused the biggest movement of people seen in the country since partition.

Meanwhile there’s uncertainty over what kind of support and social assistance the Indian government is able to offer the country’s poorest people.

Samanth Subramanian is a journalist, author, and host of The Intersection podcast.

 

08:35 Dr Michael Mosley: The secrets of a good night's sleep

He’s explored intermittent fasting, Type-2 diabetes and the state of your insides...now the science journalist, TV presenter and bestselling author Dr Michael Mosley wants to help you sleep better too!

His first book, The Fast Diet, became a global bestseller. Later ones have examined other ways in which diet can improve our health; for example food that repopulates our gut microbiome, or calorie and carbohydrate restrictions designed to avoid drug-based treatments for Type 2 diabetes.

In his latest book Fast Asleep the self-confessed insomniac turns human guinea pig to test out the latest sleep science. In the process he discovers why sleep is so important to our health and the way we feel, and what we can do to promote it.  

 

09:10 Chris Smith: coronavirus science latest

Dr Chris Smith, consultant clinical virologist at Cambridge University and one of BBC Radio 5 Live's Naked Scientists, is back with the latest science about COVID-19 and its spread.

Among the subjects up for discussion this week are contact tracing, herd immunity, face mask use, antibody amelioration treatments, and listener Linda wants to know if her two cranky cats need to be kept in lockdown too!

 

09:40 Greg Woods: Marble racing commentator

Greg Woods is helping to turn the newly fashionable, socially distant sport of marble racing into a global phenomenon.

His serious commentary accompanies tightly edited footage of gleaming marbles racing around a track.

Originally created by two Dutch brothers, the ‘sport’ now attracts tens of thousands of live viewers, and millions more online. Racing’s even being screened on the ESPN sports network in the absence of any other sport to watch: it’s become one of the only games in town!

We speak to Greg at a critical juncture: the Marbula One racing championship reaches a crescendo this weekend with the final race of the season

 

10:10 Jane Patterson: the politics of coronavirus

RNZ's political editor Jane Patterson has been watching and assessing the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and how it's navigating the country through the realities and tensions of the lockdown.

We ask how she thinks it's doing, and where to from here.

 

10:30 Dr Diana and Mark Kopua: Māori mental health revolutionaries

What would mental health care look like if it took te ao Māori as its foundation?

Psychiatrist Dr Diana Kopua and her husband Mark - a tohunga and Tā Moko practitioner - have been on a mission to answer that very question.

They've developed Mahi a Atua, an approach which uses creation stories to connect with, and empower, those in distress ... and it's remarkably successful.

 

11:05 Mary Kisler: art and museums online

Visits to art galleries and museums are off the agenda for anyone in New Zealand for the foreseeable future.

This week, curator and art historian Mary Kisler has been visiting Monet's garden and the collections of the Getty Museum in LA without leaving home.

She'll have details of the best online tours offered by some of the world's top cultural institutions.

You can find more online museums and art gallery tours here.

 

11:20 Steph Miller: new film Rat Man chronicles the long path to redemption

Steph Miller is a Wellington-based filmmaker.

Her short film Rat Man (co-directed and co-produced with Belle Gwilliam) tells the story of Daryl - a reclusive ex-convict, who becomes the toast of the town when his house and local community are overrun by rats.

Steph Miller joins us to talk about chronicling forgiveness, and the fear that follows people with skeletons in their closets.

 

11:40 Kate Camp: Lockdown literature

When you tire of crashing Houseparty, of DIY hair styling, of home baking, of being able to estimate a two-metre distance in your sleep, of compiling isolation-themed Spotify playlists, and of video-calling every single person you know...how about a good book?!

Poet and writer Kate Camp is back to choose some appropriate (and comforting) reading for the lockdown.

 

TRACK LISTINGS

Paul Butterfield Blues Band- Buried Alive in The Blues

The Specials - Ghost Town

Coronavirus Rhapsody- Vocals by Adrian Grimes Lyrics by Dana Jay Bein Music by Queen

Bill Withers- World Keeps Going Around. 

Stayin' Inside- Coronavirus Bee Gees parody. (Brent McCollough - Vocals/Keys Alex Kilroy- Guitar Adrian Laird - Bass Poduced and written by Brent McCollough)

Simply Red- Heaven 

It's Oh So Quiet- Bjork