Sunday Morning for Sunday 23 August 2020

7:10 Thailand protests: 'The fight is on for the long haul' 

An anti-government protest in Bangkok earlier this week drew more than 10,000 people, the largest political demonstration the kingdom has seen in years. Professor Bridget Welsh is an educator, scholar and political analyst who focuses on Southeast Asia politics. She joins the show to look at the worsening situation in Thailand and the wider issue of unrest in the region. 

7.32 The House

A weekly digest of the events in Parliament with Daniela Maoate-Cox and Phil Smith. In something of a surprise for everyone some MPs were back sitting in Parliament this week. The House has highlights from the week's action in the Chamber.

7:45 Calling Home: Grant Phelps in Valparaiso, Chile

After making wine around the globe, Christchurch native Grant Phelps was lured to Chile by the country's fifth richest man to run his winery. Eventually Grant branched out on his own to make his boutique wine in the basement of a hotel he built in Valparaiso, which is constructed from decommissioned shipping containers and filled with furniture made from recycled bathtubs, sinks, bedframes and barrels.

8:10 US correspondent: Trump's NZ Covid-19 comparison 'unbelievable' 

Joe Biden has accepted his big challenge to defeat Donald Trump in this year's presidential election and bring the United States out of the darkness and towards the light. Meanwhile, Trump's pointing the finger at New Zealand for its supposedly big Covid-19 surge is being laughed off both in the US and NZ. US correspondent Karen Kasler has all the latest. 

8:25 The 'dark patterns' used by shopping sites to make you spend more

How many times have you made a rushed purchase online because you've been alerted to the fact that other people are thinking about making the same purchase? These deceptive 'dark patterns' are used by online retailers to encourage you to make purchases you wouldn't normally make. Mohawk Media Director Helen Baxter is with us to discuss. 

8:39 The Weekend Panel with Jane Clifton & Richard Harman 

Our weekend panellists Jane Clifton and Richard Harman offer their thoughts on the past week's news from Aotearoa and abroad.

9:06 Mediawatch

This week Mediawatch looks at how journalists asking awkward questions have copped flak for undermining the fight against COVID. Also: news stories made by kids at a time when a lot of news is bad - and a conspiracy theory that fell flat on talk radio.  

9:41 Covid-19 update with professor Michael Baker 

Professor Michael Baker is back for another Covid-19 update. Text your questions to 2101 or email sunday@rnz.co.nz 

10:06 Christchurch mosque shooting widow: 'I am my husband's voice'  

Hamimah Tuyan is one of 31 women widowed in last year's Christchurch terror attack. She's now based in Singapore and has had to use all of her holidays and leave both of her children behind to attend the sentencing of the mosque gunman this week. Hamimah thought long and hard about the decision to return to New Zealand for the sentencing, but an overwhelming desire to speak on behalf of her late husband and her two boys made up her mind in the end. She joins the show at the end of an enforced two-week quarantine period. 

10:15 Philanthropic Kiwi couple giving away more than $50 million 

By the time Christchurch couple Grant and Marilyn Nelson retire they would have given away more than $50 million. In the late 1970s, the pair started a business in their garage which proved to be so successful that in 1995 they sold it and started a charitable trust, The Gama Foundation. Over the years the foundation has given millions of dollars to conservation, research, disability, and educational causes, including $50,000 recently awarded to Professor Michael Baker for his work on Covid-19.

10:37 Los Angeles has turned into a 'city of nightmares' 

The rich and famous are fleeing Los Angeles in droves as junkies and the homeless, many of whom are affected by mental illness, walk the streets like zombies. British journalist Caroline Graham has lived in the City of Angels since the early 1990s and says LA is becoming increasingly dangerous and there are no signs of things getting any better.  

11:05 From DNA to RNA: Science's unhealthy obsession with acronyms 

The use of acronyms in scientific publications has spread life wildfire over the last 70 years, according to a study just published in the scientific journal eLife. Study co-author Professor Adrian Barnett is from the University of Queensland's Faculty of Health. He joins the show to discuss science's love affair with abbreviations and why it needs to stop. 

11:26 Why We Drive: Matt Crawford on car culture's essential survival  

Tech companies are catapulting us towards a future of self-driving cars, promoting a vision of safety, efficiency and comfort. But could this driverless utopia do us more harm than good? Philosopher, mechanic, and author Matthew Crawford - a University of Chicago PhD who owned his own motorcycle shop - argues that the ideology of 'safteyism' could cause humans to lose some highly important skill sets. His latest book Why We Drive gets under the bonnet of one of the few remaining domains of exploration, play and freedom.