Navigation for Sunday Morning

8:12 Insight: Bowel Cancer Screening

New Zealand has one of the highest bowel cancer rates in the world.  It's also the second highest cause of cancer death in this country, with 2800 new cases and 1200 deaths a year. Sometimes there are no obvious signs or symptoms and early detection is vital. Other countries have begun screening everyone over the age of about 50, but current long waiting times for the hospital-based colonoscopy tests that would be involved, has helped hold New Zealand back. A four-year pilot is expected to show if it can be done here, safely and well, and at what cost. The Government will decide in 2015 if national screening will result, but some say it's a disgrace New Zealanders have to keep waiting. Health Correspondent Karen Brown follows the pilot programme which has already detected more than 20 cancers.
Produced by Philippa Tolley.

8:40 Jon Johansson – R.I.P, the Romney Campaign

With an update on the US presidential campaign our regular commentator, Dr Jon Johansson, reckons Romney is dead in the water. But he says the Republicans are in denial about the inevitable failure of the man who the polls show is the least liked presidential candidate ever put up by either side of US politics.
Dr Jon Johansson is a lecturer in comparative politics at Victoria University.

9:06 Mediawatch

Mediawatch looks at the controversial publication of National Standards numbers from our schools this week and asks if this disclosure really helps parents – and is it really all about politics rather than education? Mediawatch also looks at an investigation involving a big New Zealand name which went unreported; how TVNZ’s cutting another current affairs show; and how a major daily paper bummed out its readers last weekend. 
Produced and presented by Colin Peacock and Jeremy Rose.

9.40 Neville Peat – Whisky and Ice

Author Neville Peat was captivated by the story of the 2007 discovery of three cases of whisky embedded in ice under Shackleton’s hut in Antarctica. He was inspired to go on his own expedition to find out about the whisky – a trip that took him to south to Antarctica, and north to the Scottish distilleries.
Shackleton’s Whisky, by Neville Peat, is published by Random House.

10:06 Ideas: Free Food

One of the big environmental problems facing our world is the amount of food we throw away – the United Nations estimates as much as a third of all food produced in the world is lost or wasted. Industrialised countries are a particular problem, where we throw away on average 100kg of food each year per person, much of it perfectly edible. This week, Ideas looks at different ways people locally and globally are trying to curb that food wastage, and at the same time provide free food to those who need it. We'll hear from Keith McHenry, one of the founders of the group Food Not Bombs; go dumpster diving in Wellington and learn about the debate around the practice; and talk to Rebecca Culver, the director of Palmerston North's free shop, Just Zilch, which gives away leftover food free to anyone who needs it.
Produced by Charlotte Graham

10.55 Today’s Track

‘Lazarus’ is a track from a new album, ‘Love This Giant’, a collaboration between the former Talking Head David Byrne and singer songwriter Annie Clark, who works under the name St Vincent.

11.05 Down the List

Where does the real power in New Zealand lie? That’s right, with a bunch of bureaucrats, underlings, officials, and lowly-ranked list MPs that you and I have never heard of.  Whether it’s in sport, politics, commerce, education or the arts, the only way to find out what’s really going on in this country is by going ... Down the List. Written by Dave Armstrong and produced by Radio New Zealand’s Drama department.  Today, spying on selected New Zealand residents and at the behest of the US? Is it possible we could be doing that?  And if it is, how is it possible the PM did not know about it?

11.12 New Flags Flying – Vanuatu: From the Pandemonium to Independence

Between 1960 and 1990, strong winds of political change swept across Pacific countries. Broadcaster Ian Johnstone has captured this change in a series of interviews with Pacific leaders which he presents with his co-editor Michael Powles in a series called New Flags Flying. Sunday Morning features highlights during 2012. Today, Pala Molisa joins Ian, Michael and Chris to talk about Vanuatu’s devastating experience of colonisation and the battle for independence.
Pala Molisa was born in Vanuatu. His parents were involved in the independence struggle and the father of that country’s independence, Prime Minister Water Lini, was his uncle. He is a lecturer in the school of accounting and commercial law at Victoria University.
The full interviews with the Pacific leaders can be heard on Radio New Zealand International.
The bookNew Flags Flying: Pacific Leadership’, edited by Ian Johnstone and Michael Powles, is published by Huia.

11.40 Wayne Brittenden’s Counterpoint: Real and Unreal Heroes

Wayne Brittenden has been Radio New Zealand’s correspondent in several capital cities over the years. Each week he gives fresh insights into a wide variety of topics of national and international concern, followed by Chris Laidlaw’s discussion of the issue with guests. This week: A few days ago an Indian newspaper, the New Indian Express, published a passionate opinion piece about the need for heroes. It’s been a regular theme in the international media since the Olympics and Paralympics. We seem to need heroes, but at what cost? Wayne looks at the sanitisation of some of the world’s favourite heroes, and asks whether we might better honour them by also accepting their all-too-human flaws. Later, Chris takes up the discussion with New Zealand writer and social critic Hamish Keith and American physician Alex Lickerman.