Sunday Morning for Sunday 15 June 2025

8:13 Mitch McCann: A week in the US 

We get the latest from the US from our correspondent Mitch McCann   

8:24 Israel and Iran - what next? 

Now entering its third day, Israel's "Operation Rising Lion" is the biggest assault on Iranian territory since the Iran-Iraq War of 1980. 

 Dr Alexander Gillespie, Professor of International Law at Waikato University, discusses the latest developments. 

8:36 The Sunday Morning Quiz 

Quiz master Jack Waley-Cohen is back with his Sunday Morning quiz.    

Jack is the mind behind the questions on BBC's infamous quiz show Only Connect, known for being both hard — and at the same time totally obvious.     

Wake up your brain and have a go!  

8:43 The Inaugural FIFA Club World Cup 

Sports reporter Coen Lammers joins us from Cincinatti and the inaugural FIFA Club World Cup, a new tournament with a $1 billion prize purse making it one of the richest sports events in the world.  

9:07 Mediawatch 

Mediawatch talks to an Australian media boss, who once called the shots over newspapers here, about where he thinks our media is heading. Also, local election candidates are already making bold policy promises in the media, and a live global broadcast of a play about the past that echoes what’s happening in the US today.  

9:38 Are Vegetarians more power hungry than meat eaters? 

A study has shown the perception of a peace-loving vegetarian may be due for revision. Professor John Nezlek of SWPS University in Warsaw led the research. He joins Jim to discuss how values differ between those who eat meat and those who do not.  

10:06 The latest on the Russia-Ukraine conflict  

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon joins Jim to discuss developments in the Ukraine-Russia war.  Hamish is a former British Army officer, a chemical weapons expert and is a commentator on military strategy. 

10:26 Death of the dating app 

Why are young people turning away from dating apps? Luke Brunning, co-director of the Centre for Love, Sex, and Relationships (CLSR) at the University of Leeds joins Jim to discuss how people are still finding love on-line – but in places not designed for matchmaking. 

10.48 Is it time to invest in gold? 

Financial journalist and creator of the Making Cents podcast, Frances Cook, is back with Jim to talk about investing in gold, the share market and the state of Auckland’s housing market. 

11:05 The terminal decline of the semi-colon 

A recent study in the UK found that semi-colon use in English books has plummeted by almost half in the last 20 years, and another study suggests 67% of British students never or rarely use the semicolon, with just 11% describing themselves as frequent users. 

Massey University linguistics lecturer, Dr Eleanor Ridge, joins us to give a quick lesson in semi-colon use and discusses its decline. 

11:18 The battle over free speech in the UK 

UK correspondent Christian Smith talks to Jim about all the big stories making news in Britain, including the left and the right claiming the debate over freedom of speech. 

11:40 Can being generous kill relationships? 

Sarah Gundle is a psychologist in private practice and an assistant clinical professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. 

Sarah says she has struggled for many years to understand why extreme or continual acts of generosity may not only fail to inspire lasting appreciation from the receiver but can lead to outright hostility. 

She joins Jim to discuss ‘the tyranny of the gift’.