Sunday Morning for Sunday 12 February 2023

8:10 Metservice: Cyclone Gabrielle update

We check in with Metservice for the latest on Cyclone Gabrielle.

8:21 Dr Jack Watling: Renewed Russian offensive may have already begun.

As reports continue to come through of Russian preparations for a renewed offensive on the anniversary of the original invasion of Ukraine, we talk to New Zealander Dr Jack Watling, senior research fellow at the defence and security think tank, the Royal United Services Institute.

Jack’s won international awards for his analysis and has spent time with military intelligence in Ukraine and he believes the offensive may have already begun.

8:34 Ruth Miller: Middle-aged women making punk music

For many women, the demands of family and career mean they’re not always able to just make music for the fun of it.

Ruth Miller is the brains behind The Unglamourous Project in Leicester, UK with the aim of creating a local punk scene for older women. Experience not necessary, but enthusiasm is key.

8:47 Dr Kevin Stone: How long does it take to get fit?

The idea of getting fit can be daunting. For some it’s because they’ve never really done it, for others, perhaps they’ve been ill or injured and watched their fitness disappear.

Orthopaedic Surgeon and author of "Play Forever: How to Recover from Injury and Thrive", Kevin Stone has been the doctor for the U.S. Ski Team and the World Pro Ski Tour, various dance companies, even the Old Blues Rugby Club. He explores ways to regain lost fitness and how long it might take.

9:10 Mediawatch

Mediawatch looks at how the government put its troubled broadcasting merger plan out of its misery this week.

Also: media coverage of the rising prices we pay for groceries - and a journalist going solo to cover news in Southland.

9:38 Calling Home: Haydon Dewes in Calgary, Canada

Haydon Dewes grew up in Hastings then worked for a while a reporter at the Dominion Post.  He’s been living in Calgary for years now, raising a family there and founding a craft brewing beer company.

10:07 Professor Phil Hansbro: The Good Gut Anti-Inflammatory Diet

Professor Phil Hansbro is the depute director of Australia's Centenary Research Institute and director of the Centre for Inflammation at Sydney's University of Technology. He's internationally recognised for his work  and in his new book The Good Gut Anti-Inflammatory Diet he gives practical information about how inflammation works in your body and the tools available to limit it.

10:27 Kayt Sukel: The need for quiet in a noisy world.

It's official. The world is getting noiser. Silence is disappearing, increasing stress, raising blood pressure, having a bearing on cardiovascular disease, dementia, diabetes, and of course, hearing loss.

The World Health Organisation says this comes at a cost of one million healthy life years every year in Europe alone, with 20% of Europeans claiming to be suffering physically because of noise.

Science writer Kayt Sukel joins us to talk about the need for quiet in our louder lives now, and how much quiet we need for our sanity.

11:10 Dr Jonathan May: ChatGPT is just another tool we can use

It’s been hard to miss the flurry of media coverage around ChatGTP, the artificial large language model website which can apparently help students cheat with their assignments.

Dr Jonathan May is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at UCLA, the University of California in Los Angeles has been writing about his version/vision of the future, especially with using ChatGPT.

11.25 Cyclone Gabrielle hits Norfolk Island 

As Cyclone Gabrielle bears down on New Zealand, residents and tourists on Norfolk Island have come through relatively unscathed. 

The small Australian territory avoided the strongest winds but still faced a wild night with trees down, roads blocked and widespread power outages. 

Marilyn Granbeau works at Governor's Lodge on Norfolk. 

11:33 Belinda Jackson: A Marlborough welcome

The CNBC business website has released its list of the 10 most welcoming places in the world, and Marlborough has come in 6th. based, apparently, on 240 million reviews assessed on the website Booking.com.

So this would seem to be a feather in the cap of Marlborough.  We get the inside story from Belinda Jackson, a personality in the local wine industry who is well-known to RNZ audiences.  

11:46 Dave Fane: The Heartbreak Choir

Dave Fane, Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, and household face and name from his membership of the Naked Samoans with Oscar Kightley and Robbie Magasiva. Sione's Wedding, BroTown, Outrageous Fortune and Diplomatic Immunity.

Dave was morning radio host on Flava for 10 years.

Now he is starring in the Auckland Theatre Company's first show of the year, a comedy called The Heartbreak Choir.