Saturday Morning for Saturday 10 July 2021

8.10 Lawrence Douglas: what’s next for the Trump empire?

Donald Trump’s company the Trump Organization and its longtime chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg have been hit with a slew of criminal charges including conspiracy, grand larceny, and multiple counts of tax fraud. 

While the former US President isn’t yet facing any charges, some say it won’t be long before people close to Trump turn on him to save themselves.

Amherst College law professor Lawrence Douglas, whose most recent book is Will He Go? Trump and the Looming Electoral Meltdown, joins the show to discuss.

 

8.30 Aminatta Forna: observations from the window seat

Born in Scotland, writer Aminatta Forna has been travelling the globe since she was six months old, when her family moved to Sierra Leone for her father’s job as a physician. 

Forna’s ongoing love of exploration has been captured in her new book, The Window Seat: Notes From A Life In Motion, a collection of thought-provoking essays that traverse a range of subjects including displacement, identity, memory, and how we encroach on the non-human world.

 

9.05 Jason Ferguson: the story behind football's greatest manager

Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is widely considered one of the greatest football managers of all time, having won more trophies than any other manager in the history of football.

After Sir Alex suffered a near-fatal brain haemorrhage in 2018, his son Jason took on the task of directing Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In, a documentary charting the highs and lows of the 79-year-old’s incredible career.

 

9.30 Thant Myint-U: what will become of Myanmar?

The trial of Myanmar's deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi is currently underway, while deaths continue under the military junta, and civilians train with armed rebel groups in the mountains. 

US-born historian, former diplomat, and former presidential special advisor Thant Myint-U saw it coming.

In his 2019 book The Hidden History of Burma, Myint-U described a country at breaking point. He believes Myanmar is now at a point of no return and the nation will soon collapse.  

 

10.05 Dan Price: the CEO who slashed his salary by $1 million

Seattle-based entrepreneur Dan Price hit headlines around the world in 2015 when he slashed his own salary by $1 million so he could start paying his all employees a minimum salary of $70,000.

The move received plenty of praise as well as a raft of criticism, with Price coming under fire from right-wing media outlets who dubbed him a socialist.

Six years on, his company's business has tripled and staff turnover has halved. However, Price says the experiment hasn’t been entirely successful.

 

10.35 Sue Orr: looping together truth and fiction for new novel

Wellington author Sue Orr's new novel Loop Tracks tells the story of Charlie, a young woman who heads to Australia in 1978 to end her pregnancy, at a time when safe legal abortion was unavailable in New Zealand.

But when the plane is delayed on the tarmac, Charlie makes an impulsive choice that will echo through the generations.

Loop Tracks is Orr’s second novel, following her 2015 book The Party Line.

 

11.05 Courtney Barnett: new song proves good things take time

Slacker-pop songstress Courtney Barnett has just kicked off a near-sold out tour of New Zealand while also announcing her highly-anticipated third studio album Things Take Time, Take Time. 

The tour is the first time the Australian musician has played any proper live shows in more than a year due to Covid-19, and will see her performing songs from the upcoming record - including the freshly released single ‘Rae Street’.

 

11.40 Reuben Paterson: crystal waka reaches for the stars

A 10-metre high waka constructed of hundreds of shimmering crystals has been installed outside Auckland Art Gallery, rising from the gallery’s forecourt pool to suggest navigation to worlds beyond our own.

Made by artist Reuben Paterson (Ngāti Rangitihi, Ngāi Tūhoe, Tūhourangi), the crystalline sculpture 'Guide Kaiārahi' draws inspiration from the legend of a phantom waka that appeared at Lake Tarawera ten days before the eruption of Mt Tarawera 135 years ago.

 

 

 

Books mentioned on this show:

The Window Seat: Notes From A Life In Motion
Written by Aminatta Forna
ISBN:‎ 0802158587
Published by Grove Press

Doughnut Economics
Written by Kate Raworth
ISBN: 9781847941398
Published by Cornerstone

The Hidden History of Burma: Race, Capitalism, and the Crisis of Democracy in the 21st Century
Written by Thant Myint-U
ISBN: 1324003294‎
Published by W. W. Norton & Company

Loop Tracks
Written by Sue Orr
ISBN: 9781776564255
Published by Victoria University Press

Music on the show:

Artist: Courtney Barnett
Song: Rae Street

Artist: Courtney Barnett
Song: Avant Gardener

Artist: Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile
Song: Over Everything