Sunday Morning for Sunday 16 May 2021

7:10 Dr Nicole Lee: Harm caused by meth on the rise

The Drug Foundation organised a symposium at Parliament this past week and one of the keynote speakers was Professor Nicole Lee from the National Drug Research Institute at Curtin University in Australia. Nicole's internationally known for her work in methamphetamine treatment and policy, and her work with Hello Sunday Morning - an initiative out of Australia designed to change people's relationship with alcohol.

7:18 US correspondent's wrap of the week  

United States correspondent Karen Kasler joins the show to discuss the big stories of the week from her part of the world, including Joe Biden's assertion that Israel has the right to defend itself, Liz Cheney being ousted as House Republican conference chair, Bill Gates' association with Jeffrey Epstein, and issues with migrant numbers at the southern border. 

7:45 Calling Home: Dr Lisa Fletcher in Kathmandu 

Lisa Fletcher moved to Kathmandu with her husband, Leighton, and their children, Annabel and Elliot, in 2019. Eight months later the pandemic struck, and now Nepal, like India, is in the midst of a very serious outbreak that's putting immense strain on healthcare services. The family hails from Hamilton, where Lisa usually works as a GP. She's Calling Home this morning. 

8:10 Why we should embrace our fidgeting tendencies 

The fidget spinner craze has come and gone, and now bubble popper fidget toys are doing the rounds with youngsters around the world, but it's not just kids who are doing the fidgeting. Children and adults alike use fidget devices of some sort -- whether they're toys or pens or paper clips -- and many of us do it more than we know. But what actually drives us to fidget in the first place? Harriet Dempsey-Jones is a researcher in cognitive neuroscience at the University of Queensland. She explains what makes us fidget and how it can help us maintain our weight and even reduce the risk of all-cause mortality.  

8:25 Vegetarians have healthier biomarker profiles than meat-eaters

New research suggests people on a vegetarian diet have healthier levels of disease markers than people who eat meat. The research out of Europe looked at the biomarkers of people aged between 37 and 73-years-old - and found lower levels of biomarkers in vegetarians that can lead to cell damage and chronic disease. Otago University's Dr Ali Hill joins the show to explain what biomarkers are, and what this research might reveal. 

8:41 The Weekend Panel with Mike Williams and Lavina Good 

Joining the Weekend Panel this morning are New Zealand Howard League CEO Mike Williams and journalist and philanthropist Lavina Good. Among other topics, they'll be discussing New Zealand Rugby's alternative to the Silver Lakes deal, the police position on speed tolerance, and the possibility of Jacinda Ardern going on to take the top job at the United Nations.

 9:06 Mediawatch

This week Mediawatch looks at the coverage of the shocking supermarket attack in Dunedin this week - and what it revealed about the retrenchment of reporting at our national news media. Also - the Access Radio movement marks 40 years on the air and pushes for a bigger profile in the digital landscape - and the talk radio host who slammed the news media for falling down on the job but got it wrong - and not for the first time.

9:37 Artist posed as billionaire to gain access to NYC's best views 

Andi Schmied is an artist and architect from Budapest, who, during a residency in New York, found herself fascinated with the views offered from luxury apartments in the city. In order to gain access to these premium locations, she pretended to be a very wealthy Hungarian buyer who was interested in living in said apartments. While inside she took photos of the views, pretending they were to show her fictional husband. She joins the show to discuss her experiences and the book she has written, Private Views: A High-Rise Panorama of Manhattan.

10:04 Alice Cooper: 'Covid-19 was like being hit by a truck' 

Rock icon Alice Cooper is a survivor in every sense of the word, having given up a crippling addiction to alcohol and cocaine almost 40 years ago, after realising that he was heading the same way as his "big brothers and sisters" like Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin -- all of whom he used to drink with. Now at 73-years-old, Alice (born Vincent Furnier) is still beating the odds, having recently recovered from contracting Covid-19, which he describes as something akin to being hit by a truck. The 'godfather of shock' joins the show to discuss his Covid experience and hitting the top of the Billboard charts with his latest album, 'Detroit Stories.'   

10:35 Covid-19 in Peru: 'vaccine' made from guinea pig poop 

New Zealander Patrick Emanuel is a surfing pathologist who is based in Lima, Peru. We've spoken to him previously about the situation with Covid-19 in Peru, and now things are looking particularly worrying there with next door neighbours Brazil set to pass the 400,000 fatality mark. He joins the show to look at the "brutal" second wave of the pandemic in Peru and some of the crazy cases of folklore medicine, including claims that a local vaccine has been made from guinea pig faeces. 

10:48 My Current Song: Malcolm Black, 'Julia' 

Exactly two years on from the passing of Netherworld Dancing Toys frontman Malcolm Black, his family has just released his posthumous album 'Songs for the Family.' The eight-track album was recorded in longtime friend and guitarist Jeff Dickie's home studio and included Black's childhood dream team of players. Dickie joins the show the discuss the project, his friendship with Black and introduce the song 'Julia,' which was written about Black's wife. 

11:05 The travel world through Anthony Bourdain's eyes  

Laurie Woolever met Anthony Bourdain in 2002, when she was hired to edit and test the recipes for his Les Halles Cookbook. In 2017 the pair discussed writing a travel guide, or as it's described by Laurie: an atlas of the world seen through Anthony Bourdain's eyes. After his untimely death Laurie continued with the book, called World Travel: an Irreverent Guide. The illustrated pages take the reader to some of Bourdain's favourite places, accompanied with some of his words, and those of people who knew him well.

11:31 Kiwi in Bethlehem: 'We can only pray that the situation will ease'

The death toll continues to rise as Israel presses ahead with a fierce military offensive in the Gaza Strip, with this week's violence being the worst in the area since 2014. New Zealander Peter Bray is the vice-chancellor of the only university in the West Bank, Bethlehem University. He has been there since 2009, and is deeply concerned, given that all the Palestinians involved with the university have relatives or know people in Jerusalem and Gaza who are in the frontline of the attacks. He joins the show from Bethlehem. 

11:36 How 'emotional inflammation' could be impacting your mental health

Emotional inflammation is a phenomenon that's similar to post-traumatic stress, but instead of stemming from an event that happened in the past - it arises from living in today's tumultuous world where we are constantly being besieged by distressing news. Stacey Colino is the co-author of Emotional Inflammation: Discover your Triggers and Reclaim Your Equilibrium During Anxious Times, and she likens it to living in a snow globe that's being continuously shaken up. She joins the show to discuss how to recognise emotional inflammation, and what can be done about it.