Navigation for Sunday Morning

8:12 Insight: The Blueprint for Central Christchurch

As the second anniversary of the February earthquake in Christchurch looms, Insight considers progress in applying the blueprint for rebuilding the central city. Could construction actually get into full swing this year and are the people of Christchurch still as supportive of the master plan for the CBD as they were six months ago when it was launched.
Written and presented by Philippa Tolley.

8:40 Dan Nocera – Fuelling the Planet

Professor Dan Nocera is best known as the scientist behind the artificial leaf, which uses clever chemistry to do some of the things that plants do in photosynthesis. The implications are huge, especially for people in the developing world who in the future could use the technology to provide cheap, renewable and clean energy for their homes. Dan tells Chris that the way of the future is the way of the past – and sunlight and water will again fuel the planet.
Dan Nocera is the Patterson Rockwood Professor of Energy in Harvard’s Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology.  He is due in New Zealand next week for the MacDiarmid Institute’s biennial international conference.

9:06 Mediawatch

This weekend Mediawatch looks at how one wrong number turned a Hutt Valley woman into a national news story – and how the Novopay fiasco might have looked as a ‘good news’ story. Mediawatch also looks at the reaction to TV One’s controversial new current affairs show; talks to the new head of news at Maori TV -- and asks if new ways of backing high-quality journalism in the US could work here.
Produced and presented by Colin Peacock and Jeremy Rose.

9.40 Jacqueline Rowarth – Chemical Controversy

Jacqueline Rowarth is Professor of Agribusiness at the University of Waikato. She says the controversy over the use of the chemical DCD in the dairy industry has been overblown and could have been better handled. Professor Rowarth says other projects are underway to do similar tasks as DCD to mitigate environmental damage – but one of the biggest problems in New Zealand is that new technology is developed which farmers are not allowed to use because of concerns about chemicals.

10:06 Ideas: The Right to Roam

One of the first laws passed by the Scottish Parliament was the 2003 Land Reform Act – which allows the public to roam freely across both public and privately held land. In New Zealand we have the widely known, but little understood, Queen’s Chain and a veritable atlas of paper roads which help Kiwis access the great outdoors. Ideas talks to Marion Shoard – the author of This Land is Your Land and The Right to Roam ­– about public access to land and waterways in Britain and Scandinavia; Mark Neeson of the Walking Access Commission; and high country farmer Sue Aspinall.
Produced by Jeremy Rose.

10.55 Today’s Track

Legendary folksinger Woody Guthrie’s long-lost novel ‘House of Earth’ was published this week, 66 years after it was written. It’s based on Guthrie’s own experiences during the Texan Dust Bowl of the 1920s. Guthrie died in 1967. Today we’re playing Talking Dust Bowl Blues from the album Dust Bowl Ballads (Buddha).

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 Maori Party is told it needs to modernise if it’s to move forward – and a leader promises to get right on it, after his nap.

11.12 Seyed Majid Tafreshi Khameneh – Iran’s Foreign Policy

As Iran celebrates 33 years since the Islamic revolution, that country’s ambassador to New Zealand, Seyed Majid Tafreshi Khameneh, talks to Chris about international hostility towards Iran, progress despite years of sanctions, and how Iran deals with the world in its foreign policy. 

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. Today, Japan and China both lay claim to the supposedly oil-rich Sekaku Islands, and tensions are ratcheted up between the two Asian heavyweights. Wayne looks at the background to the dispute and its wider regional ramifications. Chris follows up with Bruce Jacobs, Professor of Asian Studies and Languages and Melbourne’s Monash University.