Sunday Morning for Sunday 14 December 2025

8:10 Is Ukraine on its last legs, or is Russia? 

The war in Ukraine has been widely described as a positional stalemate as front lines have barely moved for months, and neither side has achieved significant breakthroughs.  

Dr Jack Watling, senior research fellow for land warfare at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and author of The Arms of the Future, joins Jim to discuss Zelensky's 20-point peace plan, Trump's involvement, and whether Russia is likely to play ball. 

 

8:25 Sunday Morning Quiz with Jack Waley-Cohen 

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

Jack is the mind behind the questions on BBC's quiz show Only Connect, known for being both hard — and at the same time totally obvious. Wake up your brain and have a go!   

 

8:35 It’s OK not to be calm in an emergency 

In the wake of last month’s deadly tower fire in Hong Kong, what safety advice can help people survive in a similar situation?  

Milad Haghan is a senior lecturer at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UNSW Sydney who studies public safety and disaster prevention.  He tells Jim there’s a wave of outdated survival advice and what he calls “evacuation gaslighting”. 

 

9:00 Mediawatch 

On Mediawatch this week - the finance minister confronted a prominent lobby group over a campaign attacking her record, which made the news even before the campaign kicked off.  

We also hear about the impact of online advocacy and polarisation in politics from a visiting media veteran from the US. 

 

9:35 Calling Home: Jonathon Westphal in Abu Dhabi 

Calling Home this week is Jonathon Westphal. He lives in Abu Dhabi, one of the safest cities in the world, and works at Etihad Airways.  

 
10:10  James O’Hanlon: Liars, Cheats and Copycats 

A new book by Australian science communicator James O’Hanlon explores the ingenious ways animals use deception to survive, and what it tells us about how our own senses can be easily fooled.    
 
James joins Jim to talk about how mimicry and camouflage reveal the biases of our senses. 

 

10:35 Useful Science with Bonnie Harrison  

Bonnie Harrison is here guiding us through the latest weird and useful headlines from the world of science, including whether lettuces respond to music and the benefits of giving your child a posh name.  

 

 

11:10 Penny Ashton: celebrating Jane Austen's 250th birthday 

Poet, comedian and Jane Austen buff, Penny Ashton is marking 250 years since the novelist's birth with a new show, Austen Found. Conjured up with actor Lori Dungey (LOTR, M3GAN) and musician Greg Ward, the show is an improvised romp through the worlds of English gentry. 

Penny joins Jim to give him a taste of what audiences have in store and reveal her own personal connection to Austen. 

 

11:30 Ali Hill: The Nutrition Edition 

Dr Ali Hill from Otago University's Department of Human Nutrition is back with us on Sunday Morning. This week she talks potatoes and whether we should have them mashed or boiled on Christmas day and discusses the five foods recommended for men over 50. 

 

 

11:40 Are your pillows killing your neck? 

Do you wake up in bed with a crick in your neck, wondering what it was you did in the night to cause it? Well, it could be the shape of your pillow.  

Jim's joined by Professor Ben Darlow, a musculoskeletal physiotherapy specialist from the department of Primary Health Care at the University of Otago, to find out more.

 

11:50 How soon until we welcome robots into our homes? 

The recently revealed Tesla Bot Gen 3 has been heralded by Elon Musk as the future of home help. The latest version of the Tesla Bot is said to be ultra dexterous and has up to 4000 useful tasks, including cooking and cleaning. So how far away is this robotic revolution? 

American tech journalist Kurt Knutsson, aka Kurt The Cyberguy, joins Jim to discuss how soon we can expect these humanoid robots to become commonplace.