Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

Codling moths are a pain in the backside for people that grow apples. A week or so after flowering, the fertilised, tiny apples (known in the UK as “codlings”) are the perfect target for the moths to lay eggs in.  The caterpillars emerge from the eggs and tunnel into the developing fruit, causing ugly tunnels, often with fungal infection, brown decay, and “frass” sticking out of the hole. Once these caterpillars are inside, you won’t get them out and the fruit will be rather awful as it develops.  In the old days we used to regularly spray pretty nasty insecticides on our apples: Carbaryl, Organophosphates, etc. Not nice!  The moths are quite pretty: golden colours, about a centimetre in size, flying around the orchard when the flowering has just finished.  The caterpillars exit the fruit when full grown – they descend down the stem/trunk and pupate in loose bark or further down in the soil.  A second Generation develops in summer, especially in the northern parts of NZ.  Second generation moths can be detected by using a Codling Moth pheromone trap, which indicates exactly when the moths are flying again, looking for mid-summer sized apples to lay their eggs on.  Those sticky pheromone traps will trap some of the moths, but not in sufficient quantities to significantly reduce their numbers in your home “orchard”.  To really get rid of the majority of codling moths you better use a specific virus that knocks the caterpillars out before they take their second bite of the apple. This virus only targets codling moths and no other insects. That Virus is called MADEX 3, and the active viral particles are a Granulosis Virus. Excellent and safe to use, unless you look like a codling moth caterpillar!  A couple of stockists of Madex 3 who focus on the DIY online business are: Good to Grow and NZ YUZU. Commercial distributers who purchase somewhere nationally but may not stock Madex at every branch are: Farmlands, PGG Wrightson, Fruit fed Supplies, Horti centre, etc.  This is a commercial product, used by apple growers – it covers large orchards and is very effective indeed. It is also quite pricey (around $180 for 100 ml) but if you put it in the freezer and only use what you need, it’ll last for many, many years. Share it with your neighbours to cut costs, follow the instructions, but KEEP IT IN THE FREEZER AFTER USE.  It’ll be time to use it in the next week or so!  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apps have arrived inside ChatGPT   Another big moment in the company's offerings – this is where ChatGPT has gone from a tool to a platform. Now inside ChatGPT you can ask it to directly ask an app to do something. So, you can ask Spotify to create a playlist for you that is 150bpm for a 45 minute run. Or you can ask it to research hotels in Paris on Booking.com, and it'll return real results you can then book with a click.   You don't need to search through those sites or apps, ChatGPT becomes the interface for that. The apps at launch are selected by OpenAI and more will be added over time  including retailer Target, restaurant booking app OpenTable, and Uber. They’ll also be adding them for the EU users "soon".   Travel and personal assistant type use cases seem to be the top priority for this launch.      Amazon is launching a prescription vending machine   It owns a doctors clinic network in the USA called One Medical, and inside those locations will be a vending machine for commonly prescribed medicines, dispensed by Amazon Pharmacy. It'll debut in Los Angeles starting in December.   How it works: after the patient visits the doctor, they can choose to send their prescription to the vending machine. You then login to your app, scan it, and away you go. It'll have commonly prescribed medications including antibiotics, inhalers, and blood pressure medications, with each location's inventory selected based on needs (I smell some AI here!). Controlled substances and medications requiring refrigeration are not available via the vending machine.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Victoria Beckham  Step into Victoria Beckham's London atelier, as the Spice Girl-turned-powerhouse designer opens up about her life while preparing for Paris Fashion Week (Netflix).    Film Club   Two movie enthusiasts, Noa and Evie, share a weekly film club where their unspoken feelings for each other grow. When Noa decides to move away for work, Evie has a limited time to confess her love before potentially losing him forever (ThreeNow).    The Celebrity Traitors UK   As the players fall deeper into the game, a new day brings new suspicions amongst the Faithful. The mission forces the celebrities to communicate in a way no-one expected, and with the murdering hour approaching, the players take their seats at the Round Table. Will the Faithful work as a team to uncover a Traitor, or will the Traitors' power grow stronger? (ThreeNow)    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Eleanor the Great   After seventy years with best friend, Eleanor moves to New York City for a fresh start. Making new friends at ninety proves difficult. Longing for connection, she befriends a 19-year-old student.     The Lost Bus   A white-knuckle ride through one of America's wildfires as a wayward school bus driver and a dedicated school teacher battle to save 22 children from the inferno.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an utterly delicious way to make the most of seasonal asparagus. It’s simple, packed full of protein, and just as good for lunch or dinner, as a picnic item or party piece.    Serves 4-6       Ingredients  ¼ cup olive oil    1 onion, thinly sliced    400g (approx. 2 medium-large) potato    5 medium-large eggs, lightly beaten in a large bowl    2 tbsps. rosemary, chopped   1 tsp sea salt + ¼ tsp cracked pepper    1-2 bunches asparagus, tough ends snapped off    ½ cup grated cheddar      Method  Preheat oven to 170 C.    Heat half the oil in a large (23-26cm) ovenproof pan and cook the onions until soft.    Peel potatoes and either slice very thinly or chop roughly and put in a food processor and pulse until chopped into pea-sized pieces (I use the latter method). Don’t overdo it or they will turn to mush.   Whisk the eggs with rosemary, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Add sliced/chopped potatoes and toss well to coat. Add in softened onions and stir to combine.    Add remaining oil to the pan then pour in the egg/vegetable mixture. Reduce the heat to low and cook slowly until the edges are cooked – about 10 minutes.    Lay asparagus over the top and top with cheese.    Bake for 20-25 minutes or until set in the middle.    Rest for 10 minutes before cutting into wedges or squares and serve either hot or at room temperature with your favourite chutney.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The All Whites were playing Poland yesterday in the build up for next year’s World Cup. I saw about half of the game. Although we ultimately lost, my main takeaway was that we looked alright. All Whites of old would have faced potential humiliation in a game against Poland – not this team.  But for whatever reason I was also struck by one of the challenges that led to a yellow card in the match, and the way in which the players reacted.  To be clear, it was nothing special. A heavy, clumsy challenge, but one which happens in every top tier football game and probably every Sunday league golden oldies 40+ social game too. The tackle came in. The ref blew his whistle. And in a moment, players from both teams immediately crowded him out.  I don’t get it. I don’t understand why football, of all sports, lets players rush the referee, getting right up in their face to theatrically plead innocence or insist that an opponent should be more harshly sentenced. Sure, the rules state that players can be penalised for dissent, but it happens so rarely. Instead, you see them rush the ref all the time in top level games. Sometimes half a team will run in. It can take minutes to restore order.  I get that sport is emotional, but it’s a curious exercise to compare what football will generally allow players to do to referees with other, more violent sports. In rugby, there’s no way referees would stand for it. There’s a very clear process. If you’ve got a problem, your captain is welcome to bring it to the ref, but if any other players push the line, they risk being penalised. Most players get it pretty quickly.  In American football, if you give much more than a ‘yes sir’ to one of the officials, you’ll be penalised for unsportsmanlike conduct or ejected from the game.  They have trialled similar things in football. They looked at a blue card option in which referees could sin-bin players for dissent. They looked at rules where only captains could approach referees. But so far it hasn’t been adopted in the top leagues with the most money, the most viewers, and the most influence.  Apparently one of the concerns is that cracking down on player treatment of referees will suppress some of the emotion in the game, and emotion makes it fun to watch.   But I dunno. I reckon by being so loosey-goosey and allowing ten or a dozen players to all get up in the ref’s face at once, they’ve ended up incentivising histrionic behaviour. Now, if a player makes a heavy tackle and knows they’re probably in the wrong, they have to go up and scream and yell and stamp their feet at their supposed cruel treatment, because they know the other team will be making just as much of a scene, trying to get them punished. It’s like an arms race – you have to match your opponent’s outrage.   Football is a near-perfect team sport. It’s beautifully simple. The barriers to entry are basically non-existent. The scope for creativity and flare is vast.   But if there is one way the beautiful game might be improved just a bit, it’s the way players treat the referee. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A bit of a change in focus for Jeremy Redmore.  While most will know him from the rock band Midnight Youth, Redmore is going through a bit of a creative evolution, turning his attention to children’s music.  But it’s not the sugar-rush pop you might be expecting, the music instead following a —surprisingly emotional— narrative.  Redmore told Jack Tame it all started when he was writing a children’s book about the superpowers that can be found in singing – the way you can find identity and energy through song.  “That was a book about singing, so I had to have a song,” he said.  “I did the song, and I really enjoyed releasing kid’s music.”  It was at that point he started wondering anyone else felt this way about the power of singing, and so he started researching.  “Turns out there’s all this amazing stuff that happens when kids sing and adults sing as well, but especially when people sing in groups.”  “So I had the opportunity to record an album of songs, and I thought, let's make this really intentional.”   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Taylor Swift has released her hotly anticipated 12th album 'The Life of a Showgirl'.  It's a shift away from the bleakness of her previous album 'The Tortured Poets Department', Swift describing it as a 'vibrant and lively' project. However while it's a departure from TTPD, it's almost a return to for the pop superstar, filled with upbeat pop and soft rock songs - the album centring around her relationship with her fiancé Travis Kelce.  Chris Schulz joined Jack Tame to give his thoughts on the album. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Local body elections are in the works – voting packages sent out and candidates advertising themselves on the streets and social media.  But Kevin Milne has a question: how much weight do the candidates photos hold in securing votes?   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"Whether you’re looking for a beachfront break in Southeast Asia or a flavourful side-trip to enrich your adventures, Penang is a getaway that sure hits the sweet spot. Just a few hours drive from Kuala Lumpur, or a one hour flight from Singapore, the island of Penang is pinned to the Malay Peninsula by some seriously impressive bridges, spanning the Strait of Malacca. One of the bridges includes a 17km stretch over the water! "Blending the best of Penang’s allure, I savoured the stirring cuisine and cultural heritage of Georgetown, while basing myself at one of Malaysia’s best beaches. Gracing the northern shores of the island, Batu Ferringhi is Penang's premier beach destination, edged by a vast 7km-long sweep of blonde sand, beloved for its luxury resorts, water sports like jet-skiing and parasailing, and bustling night market." LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman   Who's got time to think about murder when there's a wedding to plan?  It’s been a quiet year for the Thursday Murder Club. Joyce is busy with table plans and first dances. Elizabeth is grieving. Ron is dealing with family troubles, and Ibrahim is still providing therapy to his favourite criminal.  But when Elizabeth meets a wedding guest who’s in trouble, kidnap and death are hot on their heels once more. A villain wants access to an uncrackable code, and will stop at nothing to get it. Plunged back into action once more, can the gang solve the puzzle and a murder in time?     Culpability by Bruce Holsinger   When the Cassidy-Shaws’ autonomous minivan collides with an oncoming car, seventeen-year-old Charlie is in the driver’s seat, with his father, Noah, riding shotgun. In the back seat, tweens Alice and Izzy are on their phones, while their mother, Lorelei, a world leader in the field of artificial intelligence, is absorbed in her work. Yet each family member harbors a secret that implicates them in the accident.  During a weeklong recuperation on the Chesapeake Bay, the family confronts the excruciating moral dilemmas triggered by the crash. Noah tries to hold the family together as a seemingly routine police investigation jeopardizes Charlie’s future. Alice and Izzy turn strangely furtive. And Lorelei’s odd behavior tugs at Noah’s suspicions that there is a darker truth behind the incident—suspicions heightened by the sudden intrusion of Daniel Monet, a tech mogul whose mysterious history with Lorelei hints at betrayal. When Charlie falls for Monet’s teenaged daughter, the stakes are raised even higher in this propulsive family drama that is also a fascinating exploration of the moral responsibility and ethical consequences of AI.  Culpability explores a world newly shaped by chatbots, autonomous cars, drones, and other nonhuman forces in ways that are thrilling, challenging, and unimaginably provocative.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Spring has sprung and it’s the perfect time to pick up a few simple, sustainable habits that connect you to nature.  Kate Hall has a few suggestions that she joined Jack Tame to delve into, including:   Plant and swap: Sow quick wins like salad greens, radishes, and herbs. Share or swap seeds and seedlings with neighbours.   Line-drying: The spring winds are free! Ditch the dryer and line-dry for that “fresh air” scent and big energy savings.   Clean-out & donate: Spring clean time! Sort your wardrobe, kids’ toys, or kitchen gear. Donate or swap rather than binning - it keeps items in circulation.   Eco-picnics: Pack homemade snacks in jars and containers, bring reusable cups and cutlery, and enjoy local parks or beaches waste-free.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast for Saturday 4 October 2025, Jack cracks into the brand-new Taylor Swift album ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ with music reviewer Chris Schulz.  Former Midnight Youth rocker Jeremy Redmore joins Jack to discuss his creative evolution and turn towards children's music.  Nici Wickes delivers delicious mushroom cannelloni.   And Francesca Rudkin shares her thoughts on The Rock's latest film role.  Get the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast every Saturday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A few weeks after the beginning of Spring is a good time to collect some inspiration for your garden. Check out the local Botanic Garden, take a looksee in open gardens, a visit to the Garden Club, or else a simple walk around the neighbourhood to see what grows well and what goes well.   Thalia Narcissus with white accents (orchid narcissus) and Fritilaria contrasting with green and blue.  Some of our native species stand out in spring:   Pittosporum eugenioides (also known as Tarata) is here just in time for our bees and bumble bees to take advantage of the massive amounts of nectar and sweet dribblings that’s on offer.   Native bees in particular will come and visit.  Amalanchier canadensis (the white flowers) are lovely northern hemisphere trees that end up giving you berries for your sandwiches. They are also known as Canadian Shadbush.   Their white flowers go very well with Chaenomeles (Japanese Quince).  Mind you, the only trouble with Chaenomeles is the fact that their spikes are extremely sharp, making pruning a bit tricky.  Combinations of various plant species allows different colours to be seen from different angles.  Foliage of many plants interact with some flowers. This is what the exact same part of the garden looks like from different angles.    The idea is to combine them to allow contrasts in sun and shade, which means looking in different directions will show new patterns.   Hebe, Euphorbia, and bright yellow Spiraea japonica “Gold Flame”.  When it comes to patterns, some plants create wonderful three-dimensional pieces of art. This Kowhai has dense foliage in random directions.   It is a perfect spot for our birds to build a nest, after flowering has finished…   Nectar feeders will visit regularly so check them out!  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ME by Matahiwi Pinot Noir 2024, Wairarapa   RRP from $21.00   This is a complete wine from nose to palate with a generous core of red berry fruits flavours, a decent structure with fine tannins that are easy to dissolve on the palate, and a fresh line of acidity both framing the fruit core.   Crunchy, fresh, fruity, varietal and loaded with flavours of cherry and fruit spice. Low oak, tautness from youthful, polished tannins and BB of acidity.       Food:   I think best enjoyed with a range of aperitif foods like arancini with a little kalamata olive inside. This is also very good with prawn ravioli dressed with a crayfish bisque sauce and cherry tomato. Or a simple Cacio Pepe spaghetti dressed with parmesan cheese and olive oil.       The Vintage:    In the Wairarapa: Rather excellent with a very good flowering and fruit set. Careful vineyard management led to a great harvest and subsequent winemaking meant the measure of winemaker inputs like wood were very judicious and alongside the level of tannins, acidity and fruit make for a love wine to look out for.     LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Are iGlasses going to be a thing?    Bloomberg is reporting that Apple is giving up on making a new version of its Apple Vision pro headset in favour of creating glasses, like Meta. Meta's glasses have been more successful than anyone expected and are currently leading the market.   Apple has redirected teams to focus on the glasses approach – the first without a screen are expected to be announced next year, then those with a screen in 2027, giving Meta a massive advantage. Apples glasses will apparently rely on voice interaction and artificial intelligence – two areas that Apple hasn't exactly excelled at in recent years.      Imagine TikTok, but none of the videos are real. That's here.   The Sora app is powered by OpenAI's video generation model of the same name. The videos are wildly realistic – in one example where someone does a backflip on a paddleboard, the physics of it all is perfect. The paddleboard on the water, the impact of the backflip, all looks real.   You can even upload data of yourself, give consent, and you can appear in these artificial videos. They say X-rated videos are impossible to create. Public figures cannot be added unless they have given their consent. The app is currently #1 on the Apple App Store but requires an invite code.     LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Billy Joel: And So It Goes  In this candid portrait, legendary singer-songwriter Billy Joel reveals the symbiosis between his life and art, and explores the love, loss, and personal struggles that forged his character and fuel his songwriting (Neon).    The Twelve  Respected barrister Brett Colby returns to the courtroom to face a new murder trial and a new line-up of jurors. The defendant reveals a personal connection to Colby's past, and emotions are heightened as they struggle to reach their verdict (TVNZ+).     Dark Winds  Two Navajo police officers join hands to look for clues and uncover the secrets behind a brutal double murder while battling their own demons and beliefs (Netflix).    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Smashing Machine   MMA fighter Mark Kerr reaches the peak of his career but faces personal hardships along the way.     The Teacher Who Promised the Sea   The buried memories of the Spanish Civil War become unearthed as a woman searches for the remains of her grandfather's father and discovers the story of an idealistic young teacher from Tarragona.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In celebration of Vegetarian Month, this dish of cannelloni filled with mushrooms, tomato, spinach, and lentils and covered with a creamy cheese sauce is divine!   Serves one     Ingredients  2 tbsp olive oil   1 small onion, diced   1 large portobello mushroom, chopped roughly   ½ can crushed tomatoes   ½ teaspoon dried thyme   ½ can lentils, drained   1 cup shredded spinach   4 cannelloni pasta tubes   Topping   1/3 cup crème fraiche   1/3 cup liquid stock or water   1/3 cup grated cheese   Salt and pepper to season     Method  Heat oven to 180 C. Grease a small oven-proof dish that will fit the pasta tubes snugly.   Make the filling by heating the oil in a pan and cooking onions and mushroom for 3-4 minutes until softened a bit. Pour in tomatoes and thyme and heat until it simmers. Add in lentils and spinach and cook, covered, until the spinach is wilted. Remove from the heat.   Take each pasta tube and stamp it into the filling repeatedly until the tube fills with the filling. Fill from both ends if you like. Lay filled tubes into the prepared dish.   Loosen the leftover filling with a splash or two of water and pour this in and around the cannelloni.   Whisk the creme fraiche, stock, and half the cheese together. Season. Pour over the pasta.   Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle remaining cheese on top and cook for a further 10-15 minutes until it’s golden and bubbling and the pasta is tender.   Serve with a simple salad.     Other filling ideas:   Spinach, ricotta, and chilli flakes   Mashed pumpkin, parmesan, and caramelised onion    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the Mangle-Munching Forest there’s a Nickle-Nackle tree, growing Nickle-Nackle berries that are red as red can be. I’ll be very careful so as not to give up the end, but would you believe it’s been fifty years since first those words were penned?  That first sentence I read you is from Lynley Dodd’s Nickle-Nackle Tree. It’s a kid’s counting book that’s a bit of a Dr Seuss-ian take on New Zealand birds. And it was first published in 1976, five decades ago next year.   Truthfully, I don’t think I’ve opened The Nickle-Nackle Tree since it was read to me as a kid. But after our newborn son was gifted a copy, it didn’t take long to commit most of the Nickle-Nackle Tree to memory. My son can’t crawl or speak or catch himself when he topples over, but he can put out his fat little hand and turn the pages as we read.   Lynley Dodd enjoys a bit of market dominance at our place. We’ve got heaps of kid’s books, but there’s just something about the language of her stories that gives them that extra degree… that extra edge. Whether it’s Slinky Malinky or Zachary Quack or a Dragon in a Wagon, her rhyming is technically flawless. The cadence has a perfect, musical quality. If you’ve ever written a poem and tried to perform it aloud, you might appreciate it – that flow is much harder to achieve than you might think.   Lynley Dodd’s books use such rich language: jumbly! Rapscallion! Skedaddled! And I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t know this until my son was born, but she illustrates her books herself, and she does a beautiful job.  Of all her work, of course, Hairy Maclary is top of the pops. It’s amazing to me how those stories connect with different children. When my friends in New York had a kid a few years ago, I sent them the complete Hairy Maclary, expecting that it’d be discarded soon enough for plastic monster trucks and iPads and big city things. Truthfully, I thought it might be a bit quaint for them or perhaps lost in translation. After all, America doesn’t have dairies! But my friends and their son loved it. And I mean really loved it. Today, their book has that wonderful, taped up, slightly tatty quality of having been read hundreds of times.  And that’s the thing about children’s books. They’re designed to be read aloud, and they’re designed to be re-read and re-read and re-read again. It takes a special kind of genius to write a re-readable story that’s still fun for its reader to say aloud. That doesn’t drive its reader mad!  And think about the impact someone like Lynley Dodd has had. The countless moments of joy she’s sparked. Is there anyone in New Zealand who couldn’t finish this sentence: Hercules Morse, as big as a …?  Of course not.  I reckon children’s storybooks are an art form for which a lot of people grossly underestimate just how talented you need to be in order to absolutely nail it. You know what I mean? It’s the sort of thing that seems easy enough but is far more complex than most of us imagine. And I say art form, because finding a blissful blend of story, language, and images, something that delights children and adults, really is an art form. It’s taken becoming a parent for me to properly appreciate just how talented the best of the best really are.  And if the current reading habits in our household are anything to go by… I’d put Dame Lynley Dodd right up there. Five decades since she started publishing, her books haven’t lost any of their magic. They delight my son today as much as they delighted me when I was a kid. They haven’t lost a scintilla of relevance or appeal.   Funny eh… how quality stands the test of time. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stewart Copeland’s drumming helped define a generation.   As one third of The Police, he played at some of the biggest venues not only in New Zealand, but in the world.   He went on to work extensively in composing for film and TV.   And now, 18 years since his last visit to New Zealand, Copeland is returning for a very special spoken word tour - ‘Have I Said Too Much? The Police, Hollywood, And Other Adventures’.   He told Newstalk ZB’s Jack Tame this type of show is a bit more of an intellectual exercise than playing the drums.  “Actually having to form sentences and so on, is a little more challenging,” Copeland said.  “Fortunately in my 70-something years, I’ve had a couple of adventures, which are fun to talk about.”   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mariah Carey is back – and it’s not for Christmas.  ‘Here For It All’ is the sixteenth studio album from the American superstar and her first album since the release of 2018’s ‘Caution’.   The album blends pop, R&B, gospel, and hip-hop, celebrating and building on every era of Carey’s iconic career.  Chris Schulz joined Jack Tame to give his thoughts on the album.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mike Yardley is a seasoned traveller.  He’s been all around the globe, experiencing nearly everything you can imagine, and as a result, is quite familiar with scams and swindlers.   He joined Jack Tame to delve into a couple of the most common scams affecting travellers – plus tips on keeping yourself safe from theft.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When thinking about punishments for crime, at least minor ones, there is often a balance between teaching someone a lesson to make sure they don’t do it again and not being so harsh that it ends up doing more harm than good. New research from the US shows a possible new pathway that might get this balance right, called Creative Punishments.   Creative punishments were made popular by a particular judge in the US who, for example, sentenced a man who didn’t pay his taxi fare to have to walk the same distance as his taxi ride.   Creative punishments are alternative forms of discipline that are designed to fit the specific nature of the crime, often by making the offender experience the consequences of their actions in a direct, meaningful way.   Other examples of creative punishments include:   A woman who threw food at a fast-food outlet employee sentenced to work at a fast-food restaurant for 60 days instead of jail.  A man caught vandalizing a public statue was sentenced to cleaning graffiti.  A young person caught stealing mail was sentenced to go and sort and deliver mail.  It has also been used in workplaces. For example, a worker who verbally abused and bullied a workmate had to go and work in a customer service department that often involved verbal altercations with the public.   The key features of creative punishments are:   The punishment involves doing something related to the harm caused.   It’s specifically matched to the crime.   And the goal is to help the person understand why their behaviour was wrong.   The research showed that the general public think creative punishments:   Are more appropriate.   Teach offenders better lessons.   Are less harsh but still effective at deterring future crimes.   Interestingly, when asked to imagine what it would be like if you were the person who committed the crime, the majority of people preferred creative punishments when given the choice.  Some parents will have experimented with these sort of natural consequences in disciplining their children e.g., for breaking a toy belonging to someone else, the child has to buy a new one for the friend out of their own money, or for constantly not cleaning up Lego, having the Lego taken away for a week.   One of the key things was that creative punishments work best when they match the nature of the crime. Random or unrelated punishments don’t have the same positive effect. Maybe it’s time for our courts to try something new!  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A bit of drama this week raised a question for Kevin Milne.  Though it turned out to be nothing serious, Kevin had a bit of a health issue in the middle of the night. He convinced his wife to put off calling an ambulance, in case it came right, but he’s now pondering the question: should you always call one immediately?  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rents are on the decline and housing is becoming increasingly affordable – but is the property market crashing?  Ed McKnight joined Jack Tame to look at some of the biggest property crashes in world history, and how they compare to New Zealand’s current property market.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast for 27th of September 2025, as one third of The Police, Stewart Copeland has played at some of New Zealand’s and the world’s biggest venues, and he tells Jack about his experiences in the music industry.  Jack is drawing a line with Apple after the release of a new product.  Nici Wickes has a snappy recipe for cheap and easy fish tacos.  Plus, Paul Stenhouse tells Jack new details about the TikTok deal between China and the US, and whether other nations will opt to take the US version.  Get the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast every Saturday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Habits of High Performers by James Laughlin   In Habits of High Performers, renowned strategist, mental skills coach, and award-winning podcaster James Laughlin uncovers the seven musts of a high-performing life.  This collection of principles is a game-changer for anyone wanting to earn more, be healthier, grow, or the best at what they do.  Habits of High Performers will show you that high performance is hormonal and plays a massive role in your ability to perform at your best. Cortisol, dopamine, and oxytocin all influence how we handle stress, stay motivated, and build connections. This book will also show you that high performers focus on their strengths, take their MEDs, supercharge their belief systems, understand that desire is to a result what fuel is to a fire, and when your why is clear, your how is easy.  Habits of High Performers is a roadmap for everyday people to achieve extraordinary things.     The Secrets of Secrets by Dan Brown   Accompanying celebrated academic, Katherine Solomon, to a lecture she’s been invited to give in Prague, Robert Langdon’s world spirals out of control when she disappears without trace from their hotel room. Far from home and well out of his comfort zone, Langdon must pit his wits against forces unknown to recover the woman he loves.  But Prague is an old and dangerous city, steeped in folklore and mystery. For over two thousand years, the tides of history have washed back and forth over it, leaving behind echoes of everything that has gone before. Little can Langdon know that he is being stalked by a spectre from that dark past. He must use all of his arcane knowledge to decipher the world around him before he too is consumed by the rings of treachery and deception that have swallowed Katherine.  Against a backdrop of vast castles, towering churches, graveyards buried twelve deep and labyrinthine underground passages, Langdon must navigate a shadow city hiding in plain sight, a city which has successfully kept its secrets for centuries and will not readily deliver them. This is a battlefield unlike any he has previously experienced, one on which he must fight not for his only life, but for the future of humanity itself.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In case you are trying to call me on the phone in the next few weeks... sorry, leave a message!   I’ve just come back after a week on an offshore Island in the Marlborough Sounds – its name is Maud Island (Te Pākeka).  One of those wonderful closed Island Reserves, managed by the Department of Conservation. All sorts of pretty special birds and native frogs, as well as rare insects of course.   And in the water, all sorts of marine beauties, such as colourful hermit crabs.   These critters move into an empty snail shell to protect themselves from being eaten by predators, live in front of your eyes!    But this wasn’t just a jolly trip to Paradise, it was a lot more important than just a field trip.   DOC organises overnight trips for local school kids in the Marlborough Region. A dozen or so board a boat late morning and end up walking around the island with some DOC rangers, my friend Richard, and myself. And the stuff we come across is literally part of their environmental curriculum that will stick inside their brains for decades to come.   Seeing these students live locally, these 24 hour education experiences are likely to be beneficial for the young locals of the future. This was teaching time for students! Wouldn’t it be a great idea to have these kinds of amazing encounters for all of our kids (so they learn about the Operations Manual of Planet Earth)?  One of the cool things you can do with kids on an environmental trip away, is putting on a bright light at night – especially lights with some Mercury Vapour emissions that attract the moths, beetles, flies, and all the nocturnal flying invertebrates on a nice dark night. The numbers of species can be significant, and the stories always come down to the question: “What do these creatures do, out here in the night? What’s their job? What is the ecosystem service?”  The research is brilliant work for teachers and the kids – it never ends!   The next few weeks (in the school holidays) it’s the teachers turn. The Sir Peter Blake Trust tackles a lot of environmental education in the form of virtual reality sessions whereby kids (and teachers) see the marine creatures through 3-dimensional masks, as well as the quality of our coastlines – or the not so beautiful areas destroyed by pollution and kina barrens.   Gathering plankton and magnifying the incredible life. Visiting Campbells Bay rock pools, Stardome Observatory, getting into Matauranga Māori and spending a day at Tawharanui in the most wonderful forest track with rare birds, orchids and Kiwi. The whole idea is to create nature literate teachers who create cohort after cohort of nature literate kids – a key part of our Education to restore our Country and its Ecology.   And you know what? I love the way we’re going!  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're learning more about how the TikTok deal will look and just how much money will flow back to China This isn't going to be just an ownership play, which largely explains why US Vice President JD Vance said the price tag for the sale would be about $14 billion – far below the $35-$40 billion estimate analysts had expected. They will have an ownership stake, but that's in addition to licensing fees and profit sharing.  This group of investors is said to include names like Rupert Murdoch and Michell Dell, as well as Oracle who currently host TikTok's US data. Between the two, it's estimated about half the profits of TikTok US will go back to ByteDance.  Critics will say the law doesn't allow for "cooperation", while those in favour will focus on the "operation of" part of the language.    Will other nations opt to take the US version?   In Australia this is the question on the table. Liberal senator James Paterson is suggesting that if the deal went ahead, then Australia should move to the US version of the app.   Ad-free Facebook and Instagram is coming to the UK   Paid versions of Facebook and Instagram in the UK will remove advertising from both platforms. Users will be given the choice to pay £3-£4 a month to access ad-free versions of either service. The UK's privacy watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office, "welcomed" the new model, saying it moves Meta away from targeting users with ads as part of the standard terms and conditions. Based on that price point, it means we're each worth about $65 USD a year to Meta – around $110 NZD a year.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I Fought the Law  Determined to overturn double jeopardy, Ann takes her fight to the Home Secretary and the House of Lords. The law is eventually repealed, and Julie's killer is finally convicted of murder and given a life sentence at the retrial (TVNZ1 and TVNZ+, from Sunday).     Wayward   A small-town cop suspects that the local school for troubled teens and its dangerously charismatic founder may not be all it seems (Netflix).     House of Guinness   In 1868, the Guinness family patriarch is dead in Dublin; his four children, each with dark secrets to hide, hold the brewery's fate in their hands (Netflix).    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tacos are a great way to get more vegetables into your diet and they’re quite cheap to make as the fish goes a long way!   Makes 6 tacos – enough for 2-3 people     Ingredients   100-150g gurnard, cut into three pieces (can use any fish really)   ½ tsp sea salt   2 tbsp flour   1 tsp cumin seeds   1 tsp each butter and oil   6 small corn or flour tortillas   Guacamole   1 avocado   A small handful of fresh coriander   Lemon or lime juice   Chilli (fresh or flakes) to taste   Salt and pepper to taste   To serve   1 cup shredded lettuce (or cabbage, spinach, or grated carrot)   1 tomato, diced (leave out if not in season)   Fresh coriander   Hot sauce   A squeeze of lemon or lime juice     Method  Dust the fish pieces in sea salt, then in the flour and finally in the cumin seeds. Fry with oil and butter in a pan over medium heat.   While the fish cooks, warm each tortilla in a dry pan. I do them in a stack and keep rotating and turning them, so they all get well warmed through.   To make the guacamole, smoosh together (in a blender or by hand) the avocado, coriander, lemon or lime juice, chilli, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Thin with a little cold water, if you like, to get a smooth purée.   To serve, smear each tortilla with guacamole, top with lettuce, then fish pieces, tomato, fresh coriander, and hot sauce. Squeeze over some lime juice. Fold and EAT!    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prime Minister   Chronicling Jacinda Ardern's tenure as New Zealand PM, navigating crises while redefining global leadership through her empathetic yet resolute approach.    Holy Cow  After the tragic death of his father, 18-year-old Totone must look after his younger sister and their failing family farm. He assumes even more responsibility when he enters a cash competition for the best Comté cheese made in the western part of the French Alps.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I make no bones about it – I'm a bit of an Apple yuppy.    I was hooked at a critical time. Travelling across the US as a one-man tv-news-making band, I often found myself in seat 32B on a cut-price red-eye flight, totally dependent on a laptop with sufficient grunt to edit HD video for hours at a time, and sufficient durability so that when it got knocked about in the overhead locker, the casing would remain in one piece.   And the way these companies work is that the moment you rely on them for one thing, they get their claws out and squeeze you ever closer. I went from being a MacBook user, to an iPhone user, to an iPad user, to an AirPod user, to an iCloud subscriber, too. I’m more or less trapped within the system now. Locked into paying Apple every month until I leave this mortal world.  But finally, I think I’m drawing the line.  Apple has just released its latest Apple Watch and finally caught up to much of the smart device competition by giving users a daily sleep score.  The idea is that you wear your watch to bed. It measures your heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, temperature, and your movement. It records what time you go down, the number of disturbances you have, your various sleep cycles, and how much time you ultimately spend between the sheets.  And then, 1-100, it gives you a score.    Of course, you can be smart scored on all manner of things in life, these days. You can get a smart toothbrush that’ll connect to an app on your phone and give you personalised feedback on your brushing technique. Breezed over a lower molar too quickly? That’ll affect your score.  You can get a smart razor that’ll do the same thing. Pushed a bit hard on a tricky chin dimple? Stiff cheese. That’ll affect your score.  You can buy a smart water bottle that’ll score your hydration. You can be scored on your light exposure and your posture. Apparently if you’re really curious, there’s even a market in devices that’ll score individual sexual wellbeing. Just maybe don’t Google them at work.  But to me, at least, there’s a fundamental contradiction at the heart of the sleep score concept. If I’m having a bad night’s sleep, few things are guaranteed to make it worse than knowing I’m being assessed. I’d get anxious. I’d stress out, toss and turn, flip my pillow back and forth. And for what? Just to read a number in the morning that tells me what I already know.  I don’t need a smart watch or a special ring to know I’ve had a bad night’s sleep. I know because I feel bad. So I should’ve gone to bed earlier or shouldn’t have had that late afternoon coffee? I should’ve turned off those other screens and devices earlier? Thank you, but instead of looking up a score I’ll look in the mirror instead.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kaylee Bell is one of the most accomplished voices in the New Zealand country music scene.  She’s not only the most streamed female country musician in Australasia, but has a Country Music Award for Global Country Artist to her name.  ‘Cowboy Up’, Bell’s new album, releases next week – an album she made in the midst of being pregnant.  “This record was particularly fun to make,” she told Newstalk ZB’s Jack Tame.  “I was about 34 weeks pregnant when my producer flew out from Nashville .... to bring a bit of Nashville to New Zealand to make the record.”  Previously the record making process was hectic, but ‘Cowboy Up’ came about more collaboratively, created slowly in a studio at home.  “I was like, this is how I want to make my records now,” Bell told Tame.  “It just felt like such a wholesome way to make a record.”  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The last few years have been filled with highs and lows for Tami Neilson, but out of the emotional rollercoaster comes ‘Neon Cowgirl’.   It represents Neilson’s lifelong dream of chasing Nashville and country music – a love letter to the literal Neon Cowgirl in downtown Nashville that watched Neilson grow up and chase her dreams.  Music reviewer James Irwin isn’t the biggest fan of country, but this album might change his mind. He joined Jack Tame to give his thoughts.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kevin met up with more than just family on his trip to London, meeting some interesting personalities with fascinating connections.  Highlights include a mate of one of his sons who works in television over in the UK, working on the likes of ‘James May and the Dull Men’.   And his wife Linda met singer Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters, a friend of their other son.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s been an extraordinary week in Nepal – going from protests and revolution to a new government and peace in a flash.  Mike Yardley arrived in Kathmandu a few days into the upheaval and can assure that he’s had no issues during his time in the area.   He joined Jack Tame to delve into what his experience has been like and the highlights of his trip.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Secret Book Society by Madeline Martin   You are cordially invited to the Secret Book Society…   London, 1895: Trapped by oppressive marriages and societal expectations, three women receive a mysterious invitation to an afternoon tea at the home of the reclusive Lady Duxbury. Beneath the genteel facade of the gathering lies a secret book club—a sanctuary where they can discover freedom, sisterhood, and the courage to rewrite their stories.   Eleanor Clarke, a devoted mother suffocating under the tyranny of her husband. Rose Wharton, a transplanted American dollar princess struggling to fit the mold of an aristocratic wife. Lavinia Cavendish, an artistic young woman haunted by a dangerous family secret. All are drawn to the enigmatic Lady Duxbury, a thrice-widowed countess whose husbands’ untimely deaths have sparked whispers of murder.   As the women form deep, heartwarming friendships, they uncover secrets about their marriages, their pasts, and the risks they face. Their courage is their only weapon in the oppressive world that has kept them silent, but when secrets are deadly, one misstep could cost them everything.     Clown Town by Mick Herron   Spies lie. They betray. It's what they do.  Slow horse River Cartwright is waiting to be passed fit for work. With time to kill, and with his grandfather - a legendary former spy - long dead, River investigates the secrets of the old man's library, and a mysteriously missing book.  Regent's Park's First Desk, Diana Taverner, doesn't appreciate threats. So when those involved in a covert operation during the height of the Troubles threaten to expose the ugly side of state security, Taverner turns blackmail into opportunity.  Over at Slough House, the repository for failed spies, Catherine Standish just wants everyone to play nice. But as far as Jackson Lamb is concerned, the slow horses should all be at their desks.  Because when Taverner starts plotting mischief people get hurt, and Lamb has no plans to send in the clowns. On the other hand, if the clowns ignore his instructions and fool around, any harm that befalls them is hardly his fault.  But they're his clowns. And if they don't all come home, there'll be a reckoning.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast for Saturday 20 September 2025, it's a country music takeover as rising global star Kaylee Bell joins Jack in studio to celebrate her upcoming ‘Cowboy Up’ album release and perform a brand new track.  Plus, music aficionado James Irwin highlights the latest release from Tami Neilson.  Dr Bryan Betty discusses the importance of Blue September.  And Nici Wickes celebrates NZ-grown with a mouthwatering Peach and Vanilla Custard Slice recipe.  Get the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast every Saturday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It can be difficult for people to live sustainably – but what about animals? Is it possible to own a pet and still be sustainable?   Kate Hall tackles the question, offering up a few pieces of advice for pet care that takes sustainability into question.  Choosing pet food: consider brands using by-products or sustainable protein sources (like Feed My Fur Baby).  Compostable poo bags (plus a reusable system I used to have for my dog that involves a little glass jar!) or training cats with eco-friendly/paper litter.   Buy second-hand pet gear where possible (toys, beds, crates). There is SO much out there.   Think about your pet’s impact on local wildlife (especially cats and dogs around native species).   Considering if you truly have a lifestyle that will mean the animal will thrive - most people have apartment spaces, so a dog share situation could work better.   Pets bring joy and small choices in how we care for them can make a big difference.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Its Blue September – New Zealand’s Prostate Cancer Awareness month. We’ve talked about it in the past, however it’s good to remind all the men out there of the importance of the prostate.       Why is Blue September important?   It’s a campaign promoting awareness around prostate cancer.   Raises money for Prostate Cancer Foundation.  Its key focus is to make you think about prostate cancer and talk about it with your GP.   Some key reasons to think about prostate cancer:   4000 men are diagnosed per year – it's the most common cancer for men in New Zealand.  1 in 8 men will develop it over a lifetime.   More than 600 men die from prostate cancer each year.   Early detection often means early treatment.   Most cases occur to those over the age of 60.       What does the prostate do and what do we need to look out for?   The prostate is the size of a walnut and sits at the outlet to the bladder.   It produces fluid for sperm.   Naturally increases in size as get older, which is normal. However, cancer can sometimes develop inside the prostate.   If it enlarges, the prostate can block the entrance to bladder casing, which can result in:  Passing urine a lot.   Getting up at night to pass urine.   Feeling the sudden need to go to the toilet.   A weak urine stream   Any symptoms or change in passing urine, you need to see your GP for check-up.   It often involves a prostate blood test (PSA), sometimes a rectal exam, and maybe a urine check.   High PSA can indicate the need for further tests to exclude prostate cancer.       Should we get a regular prostate check if we have no symptoms?   From the age of 50 it is something you should discuss with your GP.   There is no national screening program so it is an individual decision – many men will choose to have a blood test from the age of 50.   Presently there is no firm evidence that a national screening program saves lives.   However, a big study is happening in Europe to see if it should be done.   Many doctors do recommend check-ups from the age of 50.   If you are concerned or reached the age of 50, please discuss a prostate check with your GP.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Here we go – it’s spring and people wake up to some troubles with their lawns.  Starlings dig their beaks into the soil and cause “holes” everywhere – some dunnocks (hedge sparrows) follow the starling’s idea.  Grass grubs have always been a “problem” in NZ gardens and lawns. C-shaped grubs that live underground, feeding on roots of grasses and other plants/shrubs.   There are a number of species in the Beetle Family Scarabeidae (scarab beetles) but the native grass grub, Costelytra zealandica, has always been in New Zealand. Its traditional habitat and host plants were native grasses, such as tussocks, and they occur at quite high altitudes.   There is no doubt that these beetles considered the new high-nutrient imported grasses as ice-cream, especially when we started planting whole paddocks full of that stuff!  With all those birds, your lawn becomes a lot more biodiverse – personally, I love that!  Mosses grow as the pH lowers; they are miniature forests in which an enormous range of caterpillars, millipedes, beetles, and flies as well as mites and predators, parasites, and other beneficial critters do their brilliant jobs. Moss in lawns is not really a “problem”.  For those people that want to “restore” their lawn, the best time to “sow” a new lawn (after totally spraying the old grasses and weeds, leaving nothing but a bare soil) is autumn. Of course, you can also get yourself a series of rolled-up turf mats (ready-lawn) or, as I noticed some school principals prefer, create an “all weather” playing field from artificial grass – spare me!  You’ve got it, I really am not impressed with perfect lawns – few ecosystem services, very low biodiversity and far too “sustainable” (to use a much over-used marketing term).  A lawn can have flowers and lots of perennials, a place where you can walk from one end of the garden to the other, a pathway, mowed to low growing and easy to maintain – the kids can play there and birds graze the grubs from under the roots.   It certainly should not be a monoculture of grass plants trimmed to an inch of their life and meticulously cut along the edges.  Imagine a lawn with heaps of flowers, and all you have to do is mow a meandering track through it all.  Other troubles: homeowners let their dogs use the backyard as their own personal toilet. Often after a winter of such potty practice, when the snow melts, you’ll often find your lawn speckled with unsightly yellow patches.   What causes these patches? Dog urine contains a variety of nitrogen compounds. Too much nitrogen will burn the grass and create yellow patches. But appropriate concentrations of nitrogen can actually be beneficial to the lawn, which is why you’ll often see rings of thick dark green grass around the yellow patches. This makes sense since the main ingredient in lawn fertilizer is nitrogen.   The concentration of nitrogen in the dog’s urine depends on the type of dog, its sex, and what the animal eats. Larger dogs will pee more and cause more damage. Female dogs also tend to cause more damage than males because they squat and urinate in one concentrated patch whereas the males spray their urine over a larger area. Diets high in protein can increase the concentration of nitrogen in the urine since protein breaks down to release nitrogen compounds.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Trump's expected shakeup of the tech job market   Bloomberg is reporting that President Trump is looking to slap a $100,000 fee on the visa popular with tech firms to access top international talent. The White House claims the visa is being used to undercut American workers and give too many high paying jobs to people from overseas.   There are 85,000 of these visas available each year and many end up going to the top tech companies, but there is abuse of the system by outsourcing and staffing companies flooding the lottery with duplicate candidates.     Jack Tame's desire for one Apple operating system to rule them all is a step closer   Having used the latest OS 26 across iPhone, iPad, and Mac, it's clear Apple is converging the design patterns. It feels like we're now just one step away from having a single OS across all devices. On iPad, the multi-tasking is much, much more MacBook like.     Meta had an absolute demo fail live on stage while showing off their AI glasses   They were trying to show how their AI agent could help you while cooking —it could see the ingredients and help you step by step— but it didn't go to plan. It kept responding with things it wasn't being asked for and the poor 'content creator' paid to do the demo got flustered and blamed the WiFi.   It wasn't the WiFi, but reason was kind of amusing – when the demo asked "Live AI" to do a thing, every device in the room heard it and all tried to respond at the same time. And worse, because they were all connected to the same internet, all their requests went to the same special demo server only expecting to deal with ONE device. Face palm.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Black Rabbit  A rising-star restaurateur is forced into New York's criminal underworld when his chaotic brother returns to town with loan sharks on his trail (Netflix).    Tangata Pai  Five lives collide during a land occupation - an activist musician, a conflicted cop, a grieving nurse, a struggling father, and a torn politician (ThreeNow).    Boyzone: Life, Death and Boybands  30 years ago five lads from Dublin took the world by storm. The remaining members of Boyzone reflect on their accelerated journey to fame - how it affected the trajectory of their lives, relationships, mental health, and the pop music industry as a whole (TVNZ+).    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Splitsville   When his wife asks for a divorce, a man runs to his friends for support, only to learn that the secret to their happiness is an open marriage.      Swiped   Whitney Wolfe Herd breaks into the male-dominated tech industry by launching two innovative dating apps, making her the world's youngest self-made female billionaire.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In spring I start to get impatient for those gorgeous summer fruit. It’s then that I’ll resort to using tinned fruit, and New Zealand peaches are some of the best you can get.   Makes 20x30cm tray     Ingredients   200g butter   1 cup sugar   1 egg   1 tsp vanilla   2 cups plain flour + extra 1 tbsp   2 tsp baking powder   1 can tinned NZ peaches, drained and fruit chopped   1/3 cup sour cream     Method  Preheat oven to 175 C. Line a Swiss roll tin.   Cream the butter and sugar and then beat in the egg and vanilla. Mix in 2 cups flour and the baking powder and press all but ½ cup of the mixture into tin.   Scatter the chopped peaches over the base. Add the extra tablespoon of flour to the remaining dough and mix together. Strew this over the fruit and dab teaspoons of sour cream over the top.   Bake for 45 minutes or until top is golden.   Leave to cool and slice either into fingers or squares.   Serve warm as a dessert with whipped cream or ice cream or keep airtight in fridge and eat as a slice.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For the years I lived in New York, I always had visiting Kiwis crashing on my couch. And more often than not, when they came to town and were listing off the things they wanted to do in the Big Apple, they’d make it a priority to try and get into the audience at one of late shows.    I went to Letterman and Colbert. I actually bumped into Jimmy Fallon at his studio when I interviewed the leader of his band for this show.     Back then, just a decade ago, late night hosts were more than mega-stars. Their shows were institutions. Even with social media, it felt like their programmes or versions of them were set to exist in some form for decades to come.    How quickly things change.    I really love the US, but Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension feels like another little moment in which we are watching a superpower destroy itself in real time.    To be clear, I’m not a huge fan of Jimmy Kimmel. He’s fine I guess, but I wouldn’t seek him out. I thought his comments about Charlie Kirk’s assassination were pretty distasteful. But they were flippant, passing comments, that were clearly the opinion of a comedian. And to see the head of the Federal Communications Commission react by threatening broadcasters for airing Kimmel’s show was extraordinary.    “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” he said. Yeesh.   First, there’s the hypocrisy. It’s only a few months since Vice-President JD Vance told the Munich Security Conference this:   “I believe that dismissing people, dismissing their concerns or, worse yet, shutting down media… protects nothing. In fact, it is the most sure-fire way to destroy democracy.” Interesting. Now his government agency is threatening to remove the broadcasting licenses of companies who broadcast views they don’t like. ‘Cos nothing honours the memory of a proud free speech advocate who was literally murdered while speaking, by actively suppressing, limiting, and punishing the speech of his critics.    Perhaps even more remarkable is the way in which these media companies are routinely capitulating.    On multiple occasions now, big corporates have wilted under pressure in order to try and curry favour with the President and protect their business interests. Paramount and CBS capitulated with his 60 Minutes complaint. Just two weeks later, they fired Stephen Colbert, the best comedian on late night and a frequent brutal critic of the President. And for now, at least, Kimmel is gone too.  It’s interesting to compare the ways in which media companies have dealt with pressure from the White House and the ways other countries have dealt with the US tariffs. It’s pretty similar. Instead of organising a collective response, grouping together with a collective resistance to the pressure, the big acronyms, the likes of CBS and ABC are acting in what they think is their own self-interest. They cut a deal and try to move on. Whether they’re international leaders or media executives, everyone is stooping to kiss the ring. But is there any evidence it works? If you give a bully your lunch money, does he leave you alone thereafter? Or does he come back for more? They think it’s in their self-interest to acquiesce, but one capitulation leads to another, and another... it snowballs, and before you know it, the President of the United States is deciding which comedians are allowed on TV.  He now says some networks that are critical of him should have their licenses taken away. Like everything, it’s hard to know it it’s a serious idea. But the mere suggestion is so profoundly un-democratic, so profoundly un-American. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Elizabeth Knox is one of the country’s most esteemed authors, known best for her novels ‘Vintner’s Luck’ and ‘The Absolute Book’.  She’s also a dab hand at essay collections and young adult stories, though it had been over a decade since she last wrote for a younger audience.  That changed with the release of ‘Kings of this World’, a young adult novel focused on the sole survivor of a cult massacre.   The book is a long time coming, Knox having written it over the span of several years.  “I had the bad habit of writing several books at the same time,” she told Newstalk ZB’s Jack Tame.  “I developed the strategy when I had a lot of distractions in my life, and I decided to distract myself, so I had some power over that.”  “And then I came out of it and thought I'd solved the problem and could always keep doing that, but no,” she told Tame.  “Bad habit.”   Writing young adult fiction is not dissimilar to writing for adults, but there is one central principle Knox abides by when writing for younger audiences.  “You can’t deprive the readers of hope,” she explained.  “With that in mind, I was able to write a, you know, pretty scary thriller, and I don’t think that young readers need to be defended from suspense and fear and things like that.”   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ed Sheeran has released his eighth studio album: ‘Play’. It’s the first of a new series of themed albums, with titles based on electronic media buttons – ‘Pause’, ‘Fast Forward’, ‘Rewind’, and ‘Stop’ set to follow.  Although there’s plenty of new influences and stylistic changes, with traditional Indian percussion, Hindi and Punjabi vocals, and a guest appearance from Bengali singer Arijit Singh, the core of Ed Sheeran’s musical style is clear.   Estelle Clifford joined Jack Tame to give her thoughts on the album.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.