Sunday Morning for Sunday 4 October 2020

7:09 News and current affairs

7.10 Trump is in hospital with Covid-19. What's next?

American president Donald Trump is in hospital after he, his wife Melania, and one of their top aides contracted Covid-19. The fallout has already seen US stock futures plummet, and with the country's election only a month away there is an air of uncertainty swirling. It all adds up to the most tumultuous year in American politics in recent history, perhaps ever. Washington DC correspondent Simon Marks joins the show to give us an update.

 

7.19 Double Pacific Music Awards win for gospel singer Lani Alo

He was one of the first recipients of NZ On Air New Music Pasifika Funding for his song  'Alo I Ou Faiva'. Now, Dunedin-based gospel singer Lani Alo has taken out two major trophies at the 2020 Pacific Music Awards, which took place as an online ceremony last night. Lani has won both Best Pacific Gospel Artist and Best Pacific Song for 'Alo I Ou Favia'. Lani graduated from Otago University in 2015 with a Bachelor of Music and went on to complete a Postgraduate Diploma in Music Performance with distinction in 2017. He has performed with and opened for local and international acts including Six60, Paramore and the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra.

 

7.32 Hunting for Covid-19 in the nation's wastewater

Geneticist Neil Gemmell is calling for a wastewater monitoring system to find hidden Covid-19 clusters and people who could be asymptomatic carriers of the disease. Professor Gemmell is part of a national group led by the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR), which is sampling wastewater to try and find the virus that causes Covid-19. ESR has a $1.65million grant from MBIE for the research. The group already detected coronavirus in wastewater at Dunedin's Tahuna Wastewater Treatment Plant in late March and April.  He chats to Colin Peacock about how the research project will work. 

 

7.40 Calling Home: Nick Fisher - Budapest, Hungary

For the last few years travel vlogger Nick Fisher has based himself in Hungary and travelled the globe, shooting videos for his YouTube channel Indigo Traveller. The channel documents Nick's travels to what he says are "misunderstood parts of the planet"  and has an impressive 784,000 subscribers. He was in Pakistan when it became obvious that Covid-19 was serious, and so he returned to Hungary to bunker down.

 

8.11 Paul Moon: 'I wasn't going to censor anything'

The unflinching new book When Darkness Stays  by historian Paul Moon is based on the time he spent capturing the oral history of late Tūhoe tohunga, Hо̄hepa Kereopa. Dr Moon thought he was "the last person on the planet" to take on such an important task, and was resistant to the idea when it was suggested to him. But when he met Kereopa for the first time something just clicked.

 

8.40 The Weekend Panel with Jane Clifton and 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 Anna Fifield: Leading the DomPost 

Anna Fifield, the incoming editor of the Dominion Post, says readers can expect to see a lot of emphasis on transparency telling them why the publication has chosen to write stories. After three periods of isolation, Anna is back in New Zealand having left Beijing where she was the bureau chief for the Washington Post. She starts her new position tomorrow, and says Dominion Post readers can expect to hear from younger voices, Maori, Pasifika, with different perspectives. 

 

9.32 Whare Hauora: sensors to help your home health

Whare Hauroa is an organisation that measures the healthiness of homes by using sensors to record temperature, humidity and dew point index. Kaiwhakahaere (CEO) of Whare Hauora Hīria Te Rangi was moved to join the organisation when her own Nan died of pneumonia. Hīria joins the show to discuss the issues of housing, data collection from a tikanga Māori perspective, and finding out her long-lost biological father was Wellington's Ben Hana, aka Blanket Man.

 

9.43 My Current Song: Deva Mahal - 'Stand In'

Wellington-based singer Deva Mahal recently released her stunning single 'Stand In', a track deeply rooted in her upbringing between Hawaii and New Zealand. She joins the show to discuss penning the soulful tune, her return to Aotearoa, and her experience starring on a Netflix dating show.

 

10.10 Nick Bryant: When America Stopped Being Great

When America Stopped Being Great is the latest book from BBC New York correspondent Nick Bryant, which follows on the heels of his 2014 title The Rise and Fall of Australia. In his new book, Nick argues that while the presidency of Donald Trump is commonly seen as an historical accident, by 2016 it had become almost inevitable.  He says not only are we witnessing America’s post-millennial decline, but also the country's disintegration.

 

10.42 Through the lens: the Samburu people of Kenya

In 2018 photographer Guy Needham lived among the semi-nomadic Samburu people of northern Kenya, under the sacred mountain O'Lolokwe. While there, the Auckland-based photographer shot a series of intimate portraits which are being displayed at Studio 541 this month as part of Artweek Auckland 2020. Guy joins Colin Peacock to discuss his work.

 

11.05 Is Covid-induced stress causing more cracked teeth?

A recent article in the New York Times pointed to Covid-induced stress as a potential factor for bruxism - clenching or grinding of the jaw - which can cause side effects such as pain, sensitivity, headaches and even tooth fractures. Professor Mauro Farella from Otago University has spent many years researching bruxism, and says it is too soon to know if the psychological consequences of the pandemic have cause an uptick in bruxism - but he offers some simple advice for awareness and self-management of bruxism.

 

11.22 Danielle Cormack takes director's seat for 'Every Brilliant Thing'

A seven-year-old begins a list when their mum hurts herself as she battles depression. It's a list on Post-it notes. A list of every brilliant thing in the world. The play, Every Brilliant Thing, with actress Anapela Polata'ivao is directed by Danielle Cormack and Jason Te Kare and opens next weekend at Te Tairawhiti Arts Festival. It then goes on to a season at Q Theatre from the 5 Nov - 6 Dec with Silo Theatre. Danielle talks to Colin Peacock about this brilliantly funny play. 

 

11.35 Human 'books' encourage the spirit of understanding

Twenty years ago, Ronni Abergel created a pop-up 'human library' at a local music festival in Denmark where festival-goers could borrow someone for a chat just like a book off the shelf. Today there is human libraries in 80 countries, which is staffed by a range of volunteers willing to share their experiences. They even organise diversity and inclusiveness training for big companies including Google and Rolls Royce. Ronni says it's more important than ever that we challenge prejudice and understand each other by talking to people we may never otherwise meet.