Saturday Morning for Saturday 4 November 2023
8.10 Spencer Ackerman: are America's 9/11 mistakes being repeated?
Spencer Ackerman Photo: Efrat Kussell
Comparisons between 9/11 and the October 7th Hamas attacks on Israel have repeatedly been drawn.
As the Israel-Hamas war enters its fourth week, President Biden has warned Israel not to repeat the US's post-9/11 mistakes.
So what were those mistakes, and what, if anything, been learnt from them?
Spencer Ackerman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning national security reporter and author of Reign of Terror: How The 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump.
He writes a newsletter Forever Wars and for The Nation.
This image grab taken from AFPTV video footage shows Palestinians looking for survivors in a crater following a strike on a refugee camp in Jabalia on the northern Gaza Strip, amid relentless Israeli bombardment of the Palestinian territory. Photo: AFP
8.35 Ana Swanson: can container ships ever be green?
Photo: X
The Laura Maersk, launched in September, is the first cargo ship to set sail with a green methanol engine.
It's a significant milestone in the industry’s efforts to lower its global greenhouse gas emissions, which currently stand at 3 percent of the world's total emissions - roughly as much as the aviation industry.
So what is the the potential for green shipping, and what are the limitations?
Ana Swanson writes about trade and international economics for the New York Times.
Photo: Flickr
9.05 Engineering immune cells to kill cancer
Results have been released for Malaghan Institute's ground-breaking CAR T-cell cancer therapy trial, and they are promising.
The therapy reprogrammes a patient's own immune cells to recognise and kill cancer.
Discussing the treatment and trial are Professor Carl June from the University of Pennsylvania who pioneered the therapy and Dr Robert Weinkove, who leads Malaghan's CAR T-cell programme.
They are joined by writer and poet Michele Leggott, who is twelve months into the trial, for an update on her progress.
Michele Leggott / Dr Robert Weinkove / Prof Carl June Photo: supplied
10.00 Anna Smaill on her new novel Bird Life
New Zealand writer Anna Smaill's first novel The Chimes made the Man Booker Prize long list in 2015.
She's just released Bird Life, an exploration of madness and what it's like to experience the world differently.
Set in Japan, it follows an unlikely friendship between two women.
Photo: Ebony Lamb
10.40 Rosie Morris: the reality of being deep-faked for porn
Rosie Morris Photo: Jack Bradley
Imagine being told that you are an unwitting star of a pornographic film, and then realising there's nothing you can do about it.
It happened to British writer Helen Mort, who discovered her photos had been used to make sexually explicit deep fakes.
London-based filmmaker Rosie Morris' new documentary My Blonde GF tells Helen's story and advocates for greater online protection.
You can watch the film here.
Helen Mort in a still from "My Blonde GF" Photo: supplied
11.05 Nonnita Rees: Robert Lord's Diaries
Nonnita Rees Photo: supplied
Hailed as one of NZ’s first internationally successful playwrights, Robert Lord divided his life between provincial New Zealand and the hedonism of life as a gay man in New York in the 1970s and 80s.
He wrote numerous stage and radio plays, including Well-Hung, Bert and Maisy, and Joyful and Triumphant.
In 1973, he co-founded Playmarket, New Zealand's playwrights' agency and publisher.
Lord candidly chronicled his life in eight diaries, which have been edited into a new book.
One of the editors of Robert Lord Diaries is Nonnita Rees, a long time friend and colleague of Lord's. Rees is also a cultural policy analyst and chair of the Robert Lord Writers Cottage Trust.
Photo: supplied
11.45 Organic gardener Kath Irvine: summer fruit tips
Photo: Kath Irvine
Summer fruits such as grapes, currants and berries are at the stage where they need care and attention to ensure an abundant harvest.
Tackling pests and diseases, thinning fruit trees, and feeding are all on the to-do list for November.
Nomad gardener and author of The Edible Backyard Kath Irvine joins Kim from Kakanui.
Photo: Kath Irvine
Books featured on the show
Reign of Terror: How The 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump
By Spencer Ackerman
Published by Penguin Books
ISBN 9781984879790
Bird Life
By Anna Smaill
Published by Te Herenga Waka University Press
ISBN: 9781776921249
Robert Lord Diaries
edited by Chris Brickell, Vanessa Manhire and Nonnita Rees
Published by Otago University Press
ISBN 9781990048586
Music played in this show
Song: Genius of Love
Artist: Tom Tom Club
Time played: 10.05
Song: Hunter
Artist: Jess Williamson
Time Played: 11:30