Sunday Morning for Sunday 28 October 2012
8:12 Insight: Mali – Fighting Islamic Separatists
The United Nation's Security Council is a step closer to military intervention in the nation labelled by some “the Afghanistan of West Africa”. NZ journalist Kim Vinnell visited Mali, where the government and its allies have been given a deadline by the UN to table plans on using force to overthrow Islamist rebels controlling the north of the country. In this Insight, she speaks to security analysts, local politicians and NGOs as the nation struggles with rebels, internal refugees and a food crisis after failed crops.
8:40 JF Roberts – Black Adder’s Cunning Plan
Jem Roberts isn’t sure if his obsession with history comes from Black Adder, or the other way around – but he became captivated by the TV show at the tender age of nine. Now he’s written a history of the hit comedy and, almost 30 years to the day since it first screened, he talks to Chris about the rise of Rowan Atkinson and the gradual decline of Black Adder’s downtrodden servant, Baldrick.
The True History of The Black Adder, by J.F. Roberts, is published by Random House.
9:06 Mediawatch
Mediawatch looks at the reporting of a tragic killing which kick-started a campaign to change the law; and while the media publish plenty when the likes of ANZAC Day and Waitangi Day roll around, do they make the same effort on Labour Day? Mediawatch also looks at how freelance journalists can get great stories, but not great money; and how an Australian ad campaign for beer went horribly wrong – and why that means advertisers here have to be more careful.
Produced and presented by Colin Peacock and Jeremy Rose.
9.40 Michael P Johnson – Fighting Family Violence
Professor Michael P Johnson is an internationally recognised expert on domestic violence. He is an Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Women’s Studies and African and American studies at Penn State University in the US. Professor Johnson is in New Zealand to speak at the Women’s Refuge National Conference about his research on distinguishing different types of domestic violence.
10:06 Ideas: Adding Values to Banking Part 2
This week saw the ANZ announce a record profit of more than $1.2 billion for the year ending September. It is profits like these that have seen a growing number of people questioning New Zealanders’ loyalty to the big four Australian-owned banks. Massey University lecturer in banking Claire Matthews talks us through the New Zealand banking landscape from the government-owned Kiwibank and the membership-owned Cooperative and SBS banks, to community-owned TSB and the credit unions. Tariq Ashraf explains the ideas behind Islamic Banking; and the CEO of Prometheus, Sue Cooper, explains the philosophy behind the self-described sustainable finance company.
Produced by Jeremy Rose.
10.55 Today’s Track: Bring Him Back Home (Nelson Mandela)
Hugh Masekela is a South African-born musician, composer, and singer who is performing at the 2013 Taranaki Womad festival. He is known for his fusion of African music and jazz. Masekela grew up in SA during the 50’s and left after the 1960 Sharpeville massacre. His music encouraged political change in his homeland. "Bring Him Back Home (Nelson Mandela)", was a hit for him in 1987 and it became an anthem for the movement to free Nelson Mandela. From Grazing in the Grass: The Best of Hugh Masekela. (Columbia)
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, the Labour Party comes in for a classic Down the List thrashing for trotting out the old chestnut about the need to control immigration to help ‘ordinary’ New Zealanders with finding work.
11.12 New Flags Flying – Micronesia: Nuclear Testing Grounds
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, Ian and Michael join Chris to talk about Micronesia: Four centuries of devastating colonialism followed, for some, by nuclear testing; depopulation; dependence on US aid; and future challenges.
The full interviews with the Pacific leaders can be heard on Radio New Zealand International.
The book ‘New Flags Flying: Pacific Leadership’, edited by Ian Johnstone and Michael Powles, is published by Huia.
11.40 Wayne Brittenden’s Counterpoint: George McGovern
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. Today, George McGovern, the US Democratic Party’s ultra-liberal presidential candidate in the 1972 Nixon landslide, died last Sunday, aged 90. Wayne looks at McGovern’s extraordinary candidacy in the light of the changing American political landscape. Chris follows up with guests Tom Lawrence, a reporter from McGovern’s home-town newspaper in South Dakota, and Norman Pollack, Emeritus Professor of History at Michigan State University.