Navigation for Sunday Morning

8:12 Insight: Leaving Timor Leste

New Zealand peacekeepers have now withdrawn from Timor Leste.  Their departure came ahead of the United Nations formally ending its security mandate for the country at the end of the year. New Zealand troops went into East Timor, as it was then known during its violent battle for independence, in 1999. They returned to the country when law and order collapsed in 2006.  Eric Frykberg travelled to the capital, Dili, to report on the departure of the NZ troops and in this Insight considers their legacy, and what the future holds for the country.
Produced by Philippa Tolley.

8:40 Richard Falk – Call for Peace

Richard Falk is UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories. He talks to Chris about the altered Arab environment following this week’s hostilities in Gaza and Israel and the changing role of the US, and says the growing capability of each side to inflict harm on the other should send a message that violence needs to be replaced by genuine diplomacy and a genuine peace process.

9:06 Mediawatch

Mediawatch looks at rumblings in the week's news ahead of the big day for The Hobbit, how the media made a meal of the Labour Party’s leadership and the community broadcasters covering post-quake Canterbury on a shoestring budget. Mediawatch also looks at yet more campaigns using sex to sell – but did the news media fall for them this time?
Produced and presented by Colin Peacock and Jeremy Rose.

9.40 Barrie Houlihan – Sporting Chance

How important is sport in international relations? What’s the kick-back for a city that hosts the Olympic Games and other big sports events? And how are small nations going to compete with the funding for elite sports that happens in richer countries? Barrie Houlihan is Professor of Sport Policy at Loughborough University, in the UK. He’s been in Dunedin this week for a conference on the future of sport in small nations, organized by the National School of Physical Education at Otago University. 

10:06 Ideas: Democracy Beyond the Ballot Box

Tens of thousands of the residents of Brazil’s Porto Alegre take part in forums that determine how the city’s finances will be spent every year. The city of 1.5 million people pioneered the use of participatory budgeting shortly after the return of democracy in the 1980s. And the idea is spreading, with more than 1000 cities around the world now practising some form of participatory budgeting. Jeremy Rose speaks to Giovanni Allegretti, an architect who studied in Porto Alegre and is involved in participatory budgeting projects around the globe, and Karen Cronin, a science team leader at Landcare Research with an academic interest in participatory democracy; and Chris Laidlaw speaks to Jared Bothwell of Public Voice – a software company that facilitates public consultation and engagement.
Produced by Jeremy Rose.

10.55 Today’s Track

In Today’s Track we feature singer/songwriter Beth Orton combining the acoustic British folk tradition with the electronic beats of trip-hop – down-tempo electronic music with influences of soul, funk and jazz. Orton’s been described as a 21st century folky who is at home with technology. Today we play ‘Magpie’ from her recent album ‘Sugaring Season”(Anti, Inc).

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 Robin Snitcher, Labour List MP, has a stoush with his executive assistant, Courtenay Place, over what he sees as Courtenay’s attempt to undermine his leadership.

11.12 New Flags Flying – The Colonial Masters

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 has featured highlights of these independence stories during 2012 and today we wrap up the series. In this last session, we look the other way – at the former colonial powers – to consider how well they performed in colonial days, how they handed over authority, what heritage they left their colonies, and to what extent they still influence independent Pacific nations.
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

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 it’s about Iran. The head of the UN Nuclear Agency has expressed serious concern over the possibility that the country might be hiding nuclear weapons, and Israel is threatening to attack Iran. Wayne takes a timely look at some of Iran’s forgotten history and finds the west far from blameless. Chris follows up with American historian Professor Lawrence Wittner in New York, and Dr Taneli Kukkunen, senior lecturer in Islamic Studies at Otago University.