Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

Last week we discussed the six-month hiatus between noticing troubles with stone fruit and the time of activating prevention.   Peach leaf curl is a rather ugly fungal disease that commences 6 months from now – in spring the leaf curl starts to become obvious on the newly emerged leaves of your peach trees.   Taphrina deformans is the name of the disease that targets peaches and nectarines. The infection begins in autumn when the leaves are falling to the ground – a double dose of copper (a few times, 3 or 4 weeks apart) will stop the fungi from settling on the dormant fruit trees.   Follow up questions I got: Does the copper spray debilitate the peach and nectarine’s buds?    No worries! The buds are going to a dormant phase   Another great example of important timing is winning battles from the Lemon Tree Borer.   These borers are mainly found from Nelson-Blenheim north – they don’t like it too cold.   This rather cool, sizeable, long-horn beetle is a native of our country. It was well-established here thousands of years before Charlotte Kemp introduced oranges into Kerikeri in 1819.   Originally lemon tree borers would tunnel into native trees – a wide range of species became host plants (Mahoe, Kowhai, Coprosma, Manuka, etc).  Exotic trees are also targeted by lemon tree borer. I remember them getting into our olive trees and Wisteria in Auckland – Tamarillo, Elm, Chestnut, Gorse, Apple are just a few of the exotic hosts.   The most important species targeted by this borer are the citrus varieties that are grown commercially and in the backyard, but apple, persimmon, almond, cherry, walnut, and grapes are just as much in danger of damage – these beetles are economic pests!   A damaged branch or trunk is the ultimate spot to lay eggs in. Small nooks and crannies are where the female lemon tree borer would leave her eggs – especially in branches where the bark had been removed or in the pruning cuts.    The small larvae emerge from these eggs and start chewing their way deeper and deeper into the wood. A year or two later these larvae will have grown to a serious size before changing into a pupa, ready to turn into an adult beetle.   This is the importance of timing: adult beetles emerge in spring and are active till late summer. Avoid pruning from winter till early autumn.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apple has given more details on the US tariffs   iPhones being sold in the June quarter in the USA will be made in India, while almost all iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and AirPods products will be made in Vietnam. Products made in China will be sold elsewhere in the world.   Apple estimates that, pending nothing else changing, the tariffs will cost them US$900 million. Imports going forward will, at this stage, be exempt from the tariffs.     Meta is working to make your WhatsApp AI chats more private   They'll be creating "private processing" which is effectively a private instance of the AI software running in a cloud only you can access. Meta, WhatsApp, or their third parties can see what's going on. It'll be optional though and you'll need to select it to go into private mode.     Uber's competitor is targeting the silver customer   Lyft is Uber's the big rideshare competitor in the USA and they want to take a new group of people for a ride: the older, and maybe less tech savvy. The regular Lyft app can be turned into a more straightforward mode – think bigger buttons and larger fonts. They'll be connected to more accessible vehicles and there's even dedicated real human help to call between 8am and 9pm. Lyft says just 5% of their ridership is over 65, and they want to grow that.      LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Choir Games   A documentary series about how music can change lives, as it follows two choirs from New York and Kaitaia as they take part in the World Choir Games in Aotearoa last year (Neon, from Sunday).     The Four Seasons    The decades-long friendship between three married couples is tested when one divorces, complicating their tradition of quarterly weekend getaways (Netflix).   Carême The world's first celebrity chef, Antonin Carême rises to the height of culinary stardom in Napoleon's Europe; his talent attracts the attention of politicians who use him as a spy for France (Apple TV+).    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua – Two Worlds  Filmed over the course of four years, this documentary follows musician Marlon Williams as he takes on a deeply personal project — producing his first album entirely in te reo Māori, Te Whare Tīwekaweka. Williams began his musical journey as a teen, songwriting in Lyttleton, then carved out his own distinctive country sound that quickly took him to the world stage. Now, through te reo Māori, he sets out to reconnect with his Ngāi Tahu and Ngāi Tai roots.   Directed by Ursula Grace Williams in her feature debut, the film follows Williams through international tours to quiet home life, all while working on the album.     Thunderbolts*  Ensnared in a death trap, an unconventional team of antiheroes —Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster and John Walker— embarks on a dangerous mission that forces them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From thinking about it to plating it up... 10 minutes maximum for these boozy caramelised bananas! This is the best don’t-have-much-in-the-house dessert.    Serves 4     Ingredients  4-6 bananas   3 tablespoons butter   4 tablespoons brown sugar   a decent squeeze of lemon juice   a pinch of salt   3 tablespoons brandy or rum (optional)   softly whipped cream to serve      Method  Peel and slice the bananas into 2–3cm thick slices.   Melt the butter and brown sugar together in a frying pan until bubbling.   Stir in a squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of salt.   Place the bananas in the pan and cook in the bubbling sauce until softened but not mushy. Add the alcohol, if using, and let the sauce bubble for another 1–2 minutes.   Serve the caramelised bananas smothered in sauce with a dollop of softly whipped cream.    This recipe is featured in Nici's cookbook 'A Quiet Kitchen'. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I was taken aback by how long it had been since I’d last come to town.   It’s amazing how time creeps up on you like that. One minute you’re at Grandma and Grandad’s place every few months, knocking around with your siblings. The next you’re going through Grandad’s drawers, packing him a bag of his most precious possessions. The next, you realise it’s three years since you even drove down his street.   State Highway One was an absolute shocker. I was driving the old straight line, heading South from Christchurch. Rolleston, Dunsandel, Rakaia. The storm was fierce. There was surface flooding and the rivers were up which obviously made things worse, but some of the potholes were so large they could’ve swallowed the irrigators that usually crawl the paddocks on either side of the road.     Those irrigators have brought a lot of prosperity to mid-Canterbury. But not on Grandad’s street. His place was an old state house on what Dad always called the wrong side of the tracks. Given the main trunk line cuts right through the middle of town, it’s a literal thing in Ashburton.  Dad reckons the family moved in in about 1967. A two-bedroom place, clad in a shocking baby blue, an 85m2 state house, on a 900m2 section. They don’t do property like that anymore. The Tames had arrived from UK a few years earlier – migration had cost them everything they had. By the early 1980s, on his limited income, Grandad saved up and for $21,500 he bought the house from the government as a home for life. He spent his working life slowly chipping away and paying off the mortgage. The quarter acre dream.   Grandad always had an amazing garden. He made the most of all that space. There were vegetable beds and fruit trees, a huge compost heap. Flowers out the front. Harakeke. We used to play games of hide-and-seek and go-home-stay-home before retiring inside for luncheon and tomato sauce sandwiches and vegetable soup. At home, our parents didn’t put salt in our food, and it was always a thrill to eat a hot lunch prepared by someone less concerned by cholesterol readings.    The neighbours back then were mixed. I remember Grandad telling us once that if we hit the tennis ball over the fence it was best to just get a new one. I doubt the Police were strangers to the neighbourhood. Inside, I used to curl up in Grandad’s La-Z-Boy and read Grandma’s gossip magazines by the fire. On the times we stayed over, I read old Biggles stories. We’d all get covered in Labrador fur. They had a faux grandfather clock in the living room with a mechanism that filled every silence. Click, click, click.    Grandad lived in that house for 55 years. He raised his sons there. He lost his wife, there. When it finally came time to leave, my cousin found his war medals, hidden away in a clothes drawer.    When I came around the corner, the rain was pelting the windscreen. It took just a moment to get my bearings. The little place next door was gone. A similarly vast section, where once there was a humble cottage, it was filled now with a tidy row of modern units.  But there was Grandad’s. Some of the baby blue cladding was missing. The harakeke and the flowers at the front had all been ripped out. I’m sure the veggie patch is done. But the house was still there. Tired, but still there.  Nothing lasts forever. I can’t say with certainty when I’ll be back. But I know one day I’ll come around that corner, and Grandad’s place will be gone too. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ed Gamble is a man of many hats.  Champion of the Taskmaster UK, podcast co-host, author, television host, standup comedian – on top of this, he’s an absolute food fanatic.  He’s bringing a feast of comedy to New Zealand with his new show ‘Hot Diggity Dog’, filled with his classic “ranting, raving and spluttering”.  Gamble told Jack Tame he describes the show as a collection of things that have happened to him since he last did a show, including a bit about his disastrous honeymoon and one about buying a cat with his wife.   “It’s a lot more exciting than my description of it makes it sound,” he reassured.  “I promise you’ll be on the edge of your seat, even though it sounds incredibly tedious and middle class.”  He’ll be performing live in Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland – tickets available on TicketMaster.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Samantha Fish is offering up nine new powerhouse songs on her latest album ‘Paper Doll’.  It’s Fish’s 13th album, and the first she’s recorded with her touring band, leaning into her strengths as a musician in a way she hasn’t before.  Estelle Clifford joined Jack Tame to give her thoughts on the new release.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Perfect Divorce by Jeneva Rose   Till death do us part. Yours. Not Mine. It's been eleven years since high-powered attorney Sarah Morgan defended her husband, Adam, against the charge of murdering his mistress.      The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue   Europe is racing towards the future. Steam travel is the emblem of progress; industry and invention are creating ever greater wealth and ever greater deprivation; and on an autumn day in 1895 a young woman determined to make her mark on history boards the Granville to Paris Express with a bomb.   With her travel the train crew and her fellow passengers: the men who run the engine, who have built a life together away from their wives; a little boy travelling alone for the first time; a wealthy statesman and his ill daughter; an artist far from home and in search of a muse; and another young woman with a secret of a very different nature hidden beneath the layers of her dress . . .    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kevin Milne has been doing some research into his family history recently – notably the deaths of three of his uncles.  All three were soldiers in the First World War, and Kevin was surprised how much research already exists into the lives of New Zealand’s fallen soldiers.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast for Saturday 26 April 2025, the master of combining comedy with his love for food, Ed Gamble joins Jack ahead of his tour to NZ.  Jack marks an unusual anniversary.  Winter warmers on your mind? Margo Flanagan of Two Raw Sisters delivers a delicious Halloumi Saagwala recipe and discusses options for alternative proteins.  Francesca Rudkin offers her verdict on the much-hyped Sinners film.   And tech expert Paul Stenhouse explains new EU rules for devices to have a mandatory label.  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.

"Few cities in the world enjoy the stature of being a music mecca quite like Salzburg. It’s one of my favourite European destinations and I recently ventured back to this Austrian jewel with Trafalgar, as part of their magnificent 10-day Imperial Europe tour. It’s like a tasting plate of some of Central Europe’s most glittering destinations, steeped in history and spilling with scenic finery. And it’s all spectacularly brought to life with specialist local guides who live and breathe these destinations, with unbridled passion and pride." Read Mike's full article here. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some would argue our world has got too busy, too frantic, that we never get a chance to switch off. An estimate from a few years ago believes we have as much as 34GB of information coming into us every day. Some of this business is likely due to never being able to switch off from incoming info, as well as a loss of “stopping cues” around us, e.g. ads on linear tv, intermissions at movies.  We can get into a pattern of always being on, always “doing”, never stopping and just “being”. It’s arguably not good for our wellbeing —a constant low level of stress— and can also affect relationships, e.g. having a conversation at the same time as scrolling on your phone.  Here are three things people could try if they want to experiment with an antidote to this business:   1) Mindfulness: one aspect of mindfulness is becoming aware of when your attention has shifted and moving it back to just one thing, e.g. your breathing.  2) Concentrating on doing everyday tasks one at a time, e.g. if brushing your teeth, just brush your teeth. Notice all the aspects of it – notice your mind wandering away and practice bringing it back to the task at hand.  3) Watch some slow tv. My best recommendation for the moment is the Great Moose Migration on Swedish tv (svtplay.sw). It’s 24/7 coverage of moose migrating across a river —over 30 cameras but very slow— long shots of Swedish wilderness without a moose in sight. It’s on right now but only lasts for a few more days – you can almost feel your blood pressure lowering.  Give it a go, see if it makes a difference!  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I’m trying a different tack on Newstalk ZB.    It’s something I use with teachers and kids at school: the meaning of scientific names of living organisms helps to remind us how certain creatures operate or how they can be identified.   Once you get that in your gardening vocabulary it becomes a lot easier to prevent or control the problem that’s causing you regular troubles.   Taphrina is the name of a parasitic fungi (belonging to the family Taphrinaceae) that produce asci in a superficial hymenium having an indeterminate margin and cause leaf curling and malformations like blisters on various vascular plants.   It literally tells us it’s a name of Rotter-Fungus that causes curling, malformation, and blisters.   The second name (deformans) repeats the symptoms: it causes deformations. That tells us it is a real bummer to have on your plants (especially on stonefruit: peaches, nectarines, plums, peachcotts, peacherines, apricots, etc).  Ladies and gentlemen: we’re talking about leaf curl on peaches (and Bladder Plum/Plum Pocket on plums).   Spring and summer are the main months of queries on our Gardening programs: how to deal with Taphrina deformans and, while we're at it, Taphrina pruni.   Short answer: in spring and summer you’re too late. Yes, the disease starts in spring, but you can’t spray copious amounts of copper on the new and tender leaves – young leaves will burn!   Right now, in the middle of Autumn you can avoid the infection.  Around mid to late April, when the leaves are falling off the deciduous stone fruit trees, the new buds for the next season are formed. Taphrina deformans will then be invading those new buds and overwinter on those buds to infect the trees again in spring.  First thing to do is to remove all fallen leaves from under the trees. That reduces infection chances.   Next thing is to spray a double dose of copper spray (copper oxychloride, liquid copper, or copper-sulphur mixtures, available form garden centres) on the remaining leaves and on the branches/twigs of the tree. Use a “sticker” if you can to increase coverage and stickability.  Do this again a few weeks or a month later and ensure good coverage of all parts of the tree.   Some people use Lime sulphur. That’s okay too as a winter clean-up – seeing as the trees are getting to dormancy, Lime Sulphur won’t harm the leaves, but I think that lime may not be a great material for apricots as it has the ability to raise the pH levels.   A last smack of Copper spray before budburst should “mop up” the last surviving spores before the flowering and fruiting season begins again.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dengue fever is in the news right now after the death of a young Samoan boy at Starship Hospital last week. As many New Zealanders travel to the Pacific Islands, the recent outbreak means it’s something to consider.  The other interesting fact about dengue fever is as well as being relevant to the Pacific, it’s becoming more common around the world due to climate change – increasing temperature and humidity driving mosquito population and leading to more people being infected.      What is it?   A mosquito-spread virus. You get it when a mosquito bites you that is infected with dengue fever.   Unlike malaria, it’s carried by the small mosquitoes that come out during the day. Not the evening/early morning mosquitoes that typically carry malaria.  It’s becoming more common around the world with climate change – with hotter more humid temperatures.   Endemic in Pacific, which is presently going through an outbreak.   Can actually now be found in places like far North Queensland.   It could it reach New Zealand one day – possibly with climate change.       What happens if you are bitten by a mosquito carrying dengue fever?   Symptoms occur 4-10 days after the mosquito bite.   Typical symptoms: High fever, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint aches (has been referred to as ‘break bone fever’), nausea, vomiting, and skin rash.   Often people recover after 1-2 weeks.   Severe form is called haemorrhagic fever with bleeding, cardiovascular shock, and sometimes death.   Typically occurs when you get an infection a second time – not the first.       What can we do treat it?   Important: There is no vaccine to prevent the disease, once you have it there is no treatment.   Just treat the symptoms:   Paracetamol, not ibuprofen or aspirin as this can increase bleeding risk.   Plenty of fluids and rest.   A majority will get better, however, if symptoms are severe, you need to see a doctor and may need the hospital.      How do we prevent it?   Be aware that Pacific destinations Fiji, Tonga and Samoa have had recent outbreaks.   Outbreaks are often every 2-5 years with year-round risk.   Resorts often put in place protocols to reduce/eliminate mosquitoes.   If mosquitoes are around, protect against getting bitten with insect repellents, long sleeve shorts/pants, and mosquito nets.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

OpenAI would be open to buying Google's Chrome browser   Talk about an instant audience - imagine logging into your Chrome web browser and instead of getting Google results, you get ChatGPT. The DOJ ruled last year that Google is a monopolist in Search – now comes the search to decide what to do with Chrome.   OpenAI told the judge the company would be interested in taking it over. Open AI, with ChatGPT, wants to be the way you find and access information on the web. Attempts to partner with Google Search have been unsuccessful – they only have access to Bing. Only trouble, Open AI says it's not as good as Google. The line between iPad & Mac could be about to be blurred even further   One of the regular Apple leakers has as a scoop: a menubar could be coming to the iPad when the magic keyboard is connected. Assuming it functions like the Mac version, it gives quick access to app and operating system. They also say iPadOS 19 will enhance Stage Manager, the feature that allows a user to plug their iPad into an external monitor. These two changes would make it the most laptop-like iPad we've seen.   Devices in the EU are about to get a mandatory label on the box   Just how long will that new phone or tablet's battery last? You'll now get a way to compare from device to device with standardized labels. The labels will say how many times the battery is rated to be recharged, how energy efficient the device is, and how long the battery should last each day. It'll also rate now repairable and durable the device is.   They will also impose "ecodesign" requirements to make devices more resilient, including being protected from splashes of water, dust, scratches, and drops. All devices on sale across the EU from June 8 will need the label.      LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mobland   Power is up for grabs as two warring crime families clash in a battle that threatens to topple empires and ruin lives. In the crossfire stands Harry Da Souza, a street-smart 'fixer' who knows too well where loyalties lie when opposing forces collide (Prime Video).     Etoile   In an ambitious gambit to save their storied institutions, two world-renowned ballet companies in New York City and Paris swap their most talented stars. From the Executive Producers of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel comes a bold new series celebrating the beauty, humor, and unpredictability of a life devoted to the arts, both on stage and off (Prime Video).     Ransom Canyon   Passions run deep in a small Texas town, as three ranching dynasties fight for their land, their legacies and the people they love (Netflix).    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Margo Flanagan of ‘Two Raw Sisters’ serves up a delicious recipe for Halloumi Saagwala.  Serves: 2   Time: 20 minutes     Ingredients  Saagwala   1 brown onion, diced   1 tomato, diced - large   ⅓ cup coconut cream   4 cloves of garlic   1 tbsp ginger, freshly grated   1 tsp garam masala   ½ tsp chilli flakes   ¼ tsp cinnamon   1 tsp sea salt   5 cups greens (spinach, rocket, herbs, kale, silverbeet)      Fried Halloumi   100g halloumi, cut into cubes   2 tbsp cooking oil      To Serve   1 cup brown rice, cooked   2 tbsp chilli oil   2 tbsp peanuts, toasted and chopped   1/4  cup coriander, chopped      Method Add all of the saagwala ingredients, except the greens, to a pan and simmer for 8 minutes. Add the greens to the pan in the last 2 minutes. Mix until wilted.   Add the saagwala to the blender and blend until smooth and vibrant green.    Clean the pan and cook the halloumi. Heat the cooking oil in the pan until hot, add the halloumi cubes and cook until golden on each side.    Pour the saagwala sauce back into the pan with the halloumi and mix. Heat until you reach your desired temperature.    Spoon cooked rice into a bowl followed by the saagwala, chilli oil, peanuts and herbs. Enjoy    Any leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Alternatively, you can freeze the saagwala sauce without the halloumi for up to 3 months.    Simple Swaps / Additions    Halloumi for chickpeas, paneer or chicken.   Brown onion for red onion.   Garam masala for ground cumin.   Chilli flakes for fresh red chilli.      LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Correspondent  The story of the arrest, trial and imprisonment of Australian journalist Peter Greste, who while reporting on the Arab Spring uprising becomes entangled in a deadly game of rivalries.     Sinners  Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their Mississippi hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I had a funny entry in my calendar this week that took me a moment to decipher.   ‘Mava 1C anniversary’ it said.    My heart skipped a beat. Anniversary?! Oh, hang on. No. Stand down.    Forget romance. What my entry was telling me I’d just reached the anniversary for this very radio show, in which I’d shared with you our decision to become a one car household.   We made the call at the start of 2023 because Mava had an old dunger that needed to go, and in theory it didn’t seem necessary for us to replace it. Sure, it was convenient having two cars. It was what we’d always been used to. But with a bit of coordination and organisation, we reckoned at the very least, moving to one car was worth a crack.    We’re now more two years in, and we are still a one-car household. But in other ways, our circumstances have changed. For starters, there’s now four of us – Me, Mava, our eight-year-old, and our 10-week-old baby. That means a baby capsule AND a booster seat. And we’ve upgraded from my oh-so-cool, grey Toyota Corolla to an oh-so-cool white Toyota Corolla. You could say I’m on a coroll.   Every household and every family is different, and there are things that make our set up easier and things that make it harder. For starters, we live really centrally, which certainly helps. But we also have kids. Kids who have appointments and sports and playdates with their friends. Kids who need to be in different places at the same time.   The way it works is that I default to not taking the car. About 80% of my journeys, I ride my bike. When it’s really heavily raining, I take the bus to work or catch an Uber. When Mava isn’t pregnant or carrying a newborn baby, she rides her bike too.   The Uber thing is actually a big one. Again – easier when you live in a big city. But when we became a one-car house we told ourselves that we wouldn’t feel guilty spending on Ubers if the pair of us had a clash in our schedules or a thunderstorm was rolling through. It didn’t take a Nobel-winning economist to work out that a few big Uber journeys in rush hour traffic probably still wouldn’t come close to what we were spending on insurance, parking and petrol.   That was the theory. In practice it’s been a comprehensive money-saver. Last year we spent about $300 on Ubers. Compared to the price of buying and running a second car, it’s nothing. The hardest thing for me has been when plans change at short notice. One of us is out with the car and the other’s waiting at home, but then the first person gets delayed. And even though I know I have to look at the overall spend rather than one-off journeys, catching a $40 Uber when previously we might have driven still feels a bit galling. So, two years on, what’s the verdict? Sure, it takes marginally more coordination than it did with two separate vehicles, but if anything, it’s honestly been easier than I imagined. I’ve actually noticed that subconsciously, I often don’t even consider taking the car for most of my journeys. The biggest challenge is organising around a clash in our schedules. But there are surprising benefits outside the obvious: I LOVE not having to faff around so much with parking. I’m not saying our set up is right or will work for every household and family. Of course not. You do you. Although, our really good friends are a three-child house in a suburb much further out, and they manage with one car just fine. But not once in the last two-and-a-bit years has either of us doubted the decision. It’s cleaner, and even if you don’t care about that, it’s certainly cheaper. New Zealand still has one of the highest rates of car ownership in the World. I’m convinced it doesn’t need to be so.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ciarán Hinds’ acting pursuits have taken him far from his roots in Northern Ireland.   A quality actor - he lends himself to both villainy and simmering heroics.   His long career has included intimate Shakespearean theatre productions right through to major franchises like Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings and the Disney animated film Frozen.   His latest project ‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North’ is an intimate character study on human spirit – the Prime Video series based on the novel by Richard Flanagan.  He told Jack Tame when he was first introduced to the project, he’d heard of the book but never read it.   “They sent me a couple of scripts and I was immediately hooked by the quality of the writing and the story itself,” Hinds said.  “So I went out and got myself the book.”  “Deeply moved, I was, by the savagery, the cruelty, the brutality, the love, the deep passion, the haunting... it’s a huge and hugely emotional read for anybody,” he told Tame.  “And from then, I said I’m very interested in this project, and so we went on from there.”  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Beirut’s 7th album, Zach Condon returns to a place he had no plans to ever go back to.  ‘A Study of Losses’ was commissioned by the Swedish circus troupe Kompani Giraff, and at first he was hesitant to write a soundtrack for a circus, the idea a reminder of a time he’d been pigeonholed, as he says, “as a whimsical circus waif”.  However, videos of the troupe’s performances and an abstract of the work upon which the new project would be based changed his mind.  Estelle Clifford joined Jack Tame to give her thoughts on Beirut’s new album.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nine Hidden Lives by Robert Gold   Secrets only survive in the dark  When journalist Ben Harper is asked to help re-examine an unsolved murder case from thirty years ago, he immediately agrees. It's not just that the victim was also a journalist, murdered after she'd published a series of shocking interviews with victims of domestic abuse. It's also that he understands all too well the need of victim's daughter, Doctor Uma Jha, for answers.  But it's not long before their investigation leads to threats being made on Uma's life. Ben needs to unravel this crime before it's too late, but instead he finds himself tangled in a web of lies and deception. After all, a crime like murder has implications for many people.  People who have been keeping secrets for thirty years, and will do whatever it takes to protect them.     Strangers in Time by David Baldacci   Fourteen-year-old Charlie Matters is up to no good, but for a very good reason. Without parents, peerage, or merit, he steals what he needs, living day-to-day until he’s old enough to enlist to fight the Germans. After barely surviving the Blitz, Charlie knows there’s no telling when a falling bomb might end his life.    Fifteen-year-old Molly Wakefield has just returned to a nearly unrecognizable London. One of millions of children to have been evacuated to the countryside Molly has been away from her home for nearly five years. Her return, however, is not the homecoming she’d hoped for as she’s confronted by a devastating reality: neither of her parents are there.    Without guardians and stability, Charlie and Molly find an unexpected ally and protector in Ignatius Oliver, and solace at his bookshop, The Book Keep. Mourning the recent loss of his wife, Ignatius forms a kinship with both children, and in each other they rediscover the spirit of family each has lost.    But Charlie’s escapades in the city have not gone unnoticed, and someone’s been following Molly since she returned to London. And Ignatius is harboring his own secrets, which could have terrible consequences for all of them.   As bombs continue to bear down on the city, Charlie, Molly, and Ignatius learn that while the perils of war rage on, their coming together and trusting one another may be the only way for them to survive.        LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Less well known than the days that follow it is Maundy Thursday – the day in which Jesus Christ shared the Last Supper with his 12 apostles.  A theme of the day is humility, and Kevin Milne had a taste of that and a bit of humiliation both earlier on this week.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast for Saturday 19 April 2025, Northern Irish acting legend, Hollywood royalty, and the man who has been in almost every major film franchise of the 21st century, Ciaran Hinds joins Jack to discuss the intimate character study of his new project The Narrow Road to the Deep North.  Jack considers the legacy of the Blue Origin spacecraft against this week's discovery within Earth's very own Big Blue.  Catherine Raynes reviews the latest novel from David Baldacci – the perfect long weekend read.  For those sick of hot cross buns, chef Nici Wickes has an alternative Easter breakfast recipe.  And as Food appreciation month approaches, sustainability expert Kate Hall reframes our view on food scraps.  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.

"You could spill vast rivers of blue Danube ink try to encapsulate the enduring brilliance of Vienna and all that it has lavished on the world. It’s the city that vaulted Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Strauss and his waltz into the world’s consciousness. The city that unleashed the genius of Freud, published the world’s first newspaper, conceived the delicious Torte, and was the powerbase for the imperial Hapsburgs. Vienna remains a city of culture, class and beauty; of churches, castles and concert halls." Read Mike's full article here. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Food Appreciation Month is coming up, and Kate Hall is thinking about food scraps.  New Zealand households are throwing away over 157,000 tonnes of edible food every year, costing the average household $1,326.   Instead of tossing out your food scraps, Kate has a few tips on how you can reuse them, turning them into ingredients and saving money.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A week ago I noticed one of those beautiful red toadstools in our garden – the classic red fungus with white dots all over the skin.   Amanita muscaria or Fly agaric – there are a few different sub-species with different colourations (orange-red to yellow, and various colours of the “dots”). This is a Mycorrhizal fungus that is associated with a few common host trees: Birch, beech and pine trees. It’s not very edible – in fact, it’s better not to muck around with. Some young children have ended up being poisoned and some rather risky adults (trying to go on a Hallucinogenic journey) ended up in similar troubles.   But they look great, and this was the first time I saw this species in our front garden, which surprised me. Of course, I never saw the 7-meter tall Betula which really need pruning away from electricity wires…   Many species are doing a great job in recycling dead materials, fallen leaves, and dead branches, and also dead trunks in all shapes and sizes.   These are some examples of fungi doing the recycling job in forests – small and large and colourful.  Ear Fungus is often found on dead trunks of trees.   This is a weird looking, feeling, and tasting mushroom that can hardly be misidentified: It looks like a human ear, it feels like an ear, and it even tastes like an ear!   This edible fungus was the very first export article that was sent from New Zealand to China in the eighteen hundreds. The Chew Chong brothers in Taranaki were the first people to send container loads of these fungi by ship.   Gardeners will encounter fungi that cause all sorts of problems in fruit (fruit rots), in roots (Phytophthora), and in stems and on leaves. Often preventative gardening will reduce the problems developing. Copper sprays tend to protect a plant from Spores settling on the developing fruit.   Brown Rot on Apricot  What I love to see is interaction between fungi and insects. Here is a stinkhorn fungus with a decent amount of smelly, brown liquid. Flies are keen to harvest that brown stinky stuff and in doing so, they get the brown spores on their body. Those spores are distributed through gardens and forests.   Autumn is the time to go for a walk and just look at fungi; I reckon they actually run this planet!  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Esk Valley Malbec Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2022, Hawkes Bay RRP from $24.99.    From the Gimblett Gravels sub-regional GI of Hawkes Bay     The Wine: Great colour concentration leading to a bouquet of ripe dark red berry fruits, blackberry and roasted plums, a mix of sweet and bitter chocolate, cacao and baking spices. The wood smoke from use of barrel adds complexity and depth. Dry with an abundance of ripe tannins and plenty of acidity for bite and freshness, West drinking from day of purchase through 2030.      The Food:   Great with moderate to high protein foods – from lamb to beef and even some roast chicken. Red meat, say a steak, that is cooked medium-rare has a lot more available protein on the palate than say one cooked to medium-well, or well-done. The rarer the meat the bigger and younger a red wine can be – the protein in the flesh and any juice that might ooze from it soften tannins in the wine making it seem smoother or softer.   The other consideration is the sauce and the seasoning: I don’t mean tomato sauce – though this is full of sugar and salt – I mean a reduction, a jus, or a cream=based sauce will all have a reaction with the wine.   One piece of advice – if you have a chili meter from 1 to 10, 1 being the least heat and 10 being the hottest of hot, don’t add chili spices to the food that is intended to go with red wine beyond a 3 or 4 on the scale. Chili turns the volume up on tannin and alcohol perceptions in red wine and can easily disrupt the flavours within the dish.     The season:   2022 was a very good year for wines from Hawkes Bay. With a warm and dry winter, and the earliest veraison in 30 years.  Then quite a bit of rain before 30+ degree days until harvest.   The wines that I have tasted are balanced, complete and will age through to 2030 for most and 2035+ for the rest.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Google and Meta are being raked over the coals in the US  The two titans are facing antitrust suits for the methods used in their digital advertising networks. Google for running an illegal monopoly within its digital ad network, while Facebook is in front of the FTC for antitrust behaviour in its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, as part of its digital ad strategy.    Steam profits off gaming loot crates  It was revealed that game publisher and marketplace Steam made US$82 million from loot crate openings in one month, from a single game.     LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Patience   Against the backdrop of the historic city of York, detective Bea Metcalf forms an unlikely duo with young autistic police archivist Patience Evans, opening a door into a whole new world for Patience (ThreeNow).   The Stolen Girl   A seemingly ordinary decision turns the world of Elisa, mom to two young kids, upside down. When her daughter Lucia asks to go to a sleepover at her new best friend Josie's house, Elisa agrees. After meeting Josie's mother, Rebecca, she's put at ease by her charming nature and their impressive house. But when she says goodnight to her daughter, she has no idea that she is about to be thrust into every parent's worst nightmare (Disney+).   Diamond Heist  It's the year 2000, and London unveils the Millennium Dome to usher in the third millennium. A group of criminals devise a plan to steal the Millennium Dome Diamond at the heart of the Millennium Jewels collection (Netflix).    LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Penguin Lessons    An Englishman experiences personal and political changes after adopting a penguin during a turbulent time in Argentina's history.    Warfare   A surveillance mission goes wrong for a platoon of American Navy SEALs in insurgent territory in Iraq.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

These pancakes may not only be the most delicious thing you’ll eat this Easter, they may also be the most healthy!    Makes 12+      Ingredients  2/3 cup rolled oats   1 tsp cinnamon    1 tsp mixed spice    ½ tsp nutmeg   ½ tsp baking powder    ½ tsp baking soda    3 tbsps. currants or sultanas    1 banana, mashed   1 medium egg   ¼ cup natural yoghurt    ¼-1/3  cup water or milk   Butter for frying and eating      Method  Blitz the oats in a blender or food processor until it’s like flour. Tip into a bowl and add in spices, baking powder and soda and currants or sultanas.   Whisk together banana, egg, yoghurt and ¼ cup water (or milk) and pour into the dry ingredients. Stir until it forms a smooth batter, adding more water/milk if it’s too stiff.    Heat a pan to medium. Grease the surface with a little butter.    Drop spoonfuls of batter into the pan and cook until browned on one side and puffed before flipping and cooking through.   Serve with butter, or syrup, or whatever you fancy. Happy Easter!      PS. I reckon they’re even better cold.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The pictures made it look like a parody.  Eleven minutes after taking off from a West Texas launch site, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space capsule touched down with its all-female celebrity crew. Bezos opened the capsule door and greeted his fiancé. One by one the women filed out, each in their snazzy blue, flared space outfits. Having technically been in space for just four minutes, the popstar Katy Perry knelt down and kissed the ground.    I feel the same about space tourism as I do about climbing Mt Everest. In the broadest possible terms, the idea is really appealing. I’d love to go to space! But as it stands today, actually appreciating how much resource is involved, and the extent to which money rather than talent is the only thing separating anyone from the loftiest heights... I can’t bear the thought. We all know Jeff Bezos isn’t spending billions upon billions to push the boundaries of scientific understanding. He’s going as a vanity project. It all feels a bit gross.    Perhaps when space tourism is a little more normalised and they can achieve economies of scale, I’ll quietly eat my words and find the whole thing a little more palatable. But for what it’s worth, I’d hand my explorer-of-the-week award not to Katy Perry and Jeff Bezos’ other half, but to the crew of the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Falkor vessel, who just captured the first ever footage of a colossal squid in its natural environment.   Colossal squid are the largest invertebrates on the planet – 500kgs without a spine! And yet for all that science has achieved, we know remarkably little about them. It’s only a century since the species was first discovered, and we know most of what we know about them today because of their predators. Sperm whales, in turns out, are much better at tracking down colossal squid than we are.   600m below the surface of the South Atlantic, somewhere off the coast of the Antarctic South Sandwich Islands, in an area so remote that the next closest humans were on the International Space Station, the group of scientists used an unmanned submersible to film the most extraordinary footage of a juvenile colossal squid. Forget anything that Katy Perry or Jeff Bezos’ wife-to-be might be seeing out the window of their shuttle; set against the absolute black of the deep deep, the squid was purpleish and orange, elegant, brilliantly, beautifully alien.  Isn’t it amazing that our species can send a rocket with a popstar to space, and yet it’s taken us until 2025 to actually record an Earth-based tentacled beast that can grow as long as a bus and weigh as much as a cow?   I just think it’s such a timely reminder. For whatever fascinations and discoveries await us in the infinite depths of the cosmos, there are still so many miracles and mysteries much closer to home, in the infinite depths of the real blue origin. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over a decade has seen Australian pop-dance royalty The Jungle Giants grow from simple lovers of music to fully-fledged artists on the world stage.  They had a massive year last year – playing shows and headlining festivals from hemisphere to hemisphere.  And now, they’re bringing their energy to New Zealand, with shows in Wellington and Auckland.   Frontman Sam Hales told Jack Tame they’ve been in a band together for about half their lives.  “No matter what happens, we know how to support each other, we know how to press each other’s buttons,” he said.  “And I think it really affects the music as well.”  Hales says that having such a supportive band allows him space to experiment.  “Even though it was spooky and risky, they we’re like, ‘Dude, just do, do whatever feels good. We’ve got your back.’”  “For me, knowing that support network was there, it makes me feel just, free to adventure and experiment, which is a really lucky place to be.”  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The creativity of Kiwi musicians is being recognised this month.  The Taite Music Prize is being awarded next week, the purpose of which is to recognise outstanding creativity for an entire collection of music contained on one album.  80 albums were nominated this year, of which only ten made the cut to be finalists.   Estelle Clifford joined Jack Tame to preview the awards.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Together We Roared by Steve Williams and Evin Priest   Steve Williams, arguably the greatest caddie in golf history, teams up with renowned golf journalist Evin Priest to give his definitive account of his 12-year partnership with the legendary Tiger Woods, sharing personal, never-before-told moments of their friendship on and off the course.  When Tiger Woods went on an extraordinary majors run between 1999 and 2008, one man stood at his side: his caddie Steve Williams. Together Steve and Tiger dominated the PGA Tour and won an astonishing 13 major championships, their sights set on breaking Jack Nicklaus’s record 18 majors. Before they could overtake Nicklaus, however, their partnership ended abruptly, and a 12-year period without talking began. Years later, the two reconnected.  Steve, with PGA Tour journalist Evin Priest, reflects fondly on his years as Tiger’s caddie and their relentless pursuit of greatness. He revisits all their best moments, from Tiger’s iconic shot on the 16th hole at the 2005 Masters to the famed Tiger Slam of 2000 and 2001, to his against-the-odds victory on a broken leg at the 2008 US Open. Steve goes behind the scenes of their on-course success and shows their friendship off the course, like Tiger caddying for Steve on his wedding day and Tiger giving a heartfelt best man speech. Steve also shares fascinating, never-before-seen photos and ephemera.  Together We Roared offers an inside look at what it is like to ride alongside greatness and is a heartfelt ode to the friendship that produced one of the winningest duos in golf history.     Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall   Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on the past staying buried. But when Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn’t realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives. For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager—the man who broke her heart years ago. Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident.  As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel’s life, tensions around the village rise and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past resurface, this time with deadly consequences. Beth is forced to make a choice between the woman she once was, and the woman she has become.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"As spring began to bud and bloom in Munich, I embraced the season of renewal by joining Trafalgar on their riveting 10 day Imperial Europe guided coach tour, which strings together a necklace of enchanting destinations. It’s a cracking introduction to the richness of Central Europe – kind of like a glorified greatest hits tour." Read Mike's full article here. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Air New Zealand is refreshing their look, unveiling a brand-new uniform for their staff.  The update comes 14 years after their last redesign – the collection designed by Kiwi designer Emilia Wickstead.  And although Kevin Milne thinks they look pretty good, he does have a few questions.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

School holidays and Easter are both just around the corner, so how do you make the most of your break?  Taking a holiday boosts wellbeing, but the longevity of the benefits depends on several factors: time away, actives, and mental detachment from work.  Dr Dougal Sutherland breaks down the data, offering advice to ensure that the benefits of your break stick around as long as possible.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast for Saturday 12 April 2025, frontman of Aussie groove-makers the Jungle Giants Sam Hales joins Jack to discuss growing from simple lovers of music to fully fledged artists on the world stage.  Jack considers the anti-climactic end to the Treaty Principles Bill.  Awards are in the air... Chef Nici Wickes dishes on her top picks from the Outstanding Food Producer Awards and gives her top tips on how best to cook them.  Plus, music reviewer Estelle Clifford previews an important night for Kiwi music, the Taite Music Prize, ahead of the awards ceremony on Tuesday.  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.

Trump’s tariffs have been wreaking havoc on share markets around the world.  As a result, investment funds and KiwiSavers have been taking a hit, with Ed McKnight’s own account going down by $6.5k over the last month.  He joined Jack Tame to discuss the impacts on Kiwis, and whether people are actually in the right type of fund for their needs.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Believe it or not, I did hear a cicada chirping just a few days ago. Must have been a Late-Comer Boy, trying to attract a female. The buzzing sound is made in the Tymbals (on the belly side of the insect). It literally is a quick clicking sound that creates a smooth buzzing. If you hear clapping as well, it will be smacking the wings on the abdomen.  Egg-laying is very easy to spot: a characteristic “Herring bone” pattern on twigs with a thickness of a pencil.   We’re also not far away from the end of the Black Field Crickets’ truuu truuuu truuu singing in the evening. The further north you go, the longer you’ll hear those quite loud sounds in your lawn. They’re male mating calls, attracting females who are laying eggs in soil to hatch next spring (November).  Damage: eat a lot of grass from lawn/paddock. Easily attracted to lights, and noisy all night.  A fabulous characteristic rasping sound can be heard during the nighttime, starting about 30 minutes after dark: the sound is made by both male and female tree weta.  They communicate to keep in touch – Auckland and Wellington tree weta are rather social species. They live in harem-like communities with a dominant (large-headed) male and a couple of mature females, plus some juveniles. They shelter during the day in the same cavity.  This is mating season and often you can hear frequent communications. Females lay eggs in soft soil, and young ones emerge in spring.  Go outside into the garden with a torch and you’ll find them – patience!  In the afternoon to early evening, you can often hear a faint “Zzitssss” noise – often impossible to tell where it originates. It's usually a call with an irregular pattern, and it’s unmistakable as Katydids.   These orthopterans have the ability to “throw their voice” —like ventriloquists— to put off possible predators that may hunt by following the noise to its source.   They chew buds of flowers and foliage and can do a bit of cosmetic damage to roses and dahlias in autumn (although Julie tends to disagree with that statement – she moves them on with force!).  Generally speaking, the katydids overwinter as eggs and hatch again in springtime as “nymphs”: miniature versions of the adult insect. But I have seen a few of them going right through the winter, snacking of tasty leaves of Mistletoes in the garden.    No doubt they shelter from the occasional frosts by staying deep within the host plants     LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shopify is forcing employees to justify why AI can't do the job they want to hire   It's starting. An AI assistant is about to become your coworker. Before a new job posting can go live, it needs to be proven why AI can't do the job.   Not only that, Shopify's CEO is forcing all employees to use AI in their daily work – even baking it into performance reviews. He wants them to be more efficient and believes AI is going to do that, saying in a company-wide letter: “Frankly, I don’t think it’s feasible to opt out of learning the skill of applying AI in your craft; you are welcome to try, but I want to be honest I cannot see this working out today, and definitely not tomorrow.”    Shopify was the same company who deleted every recurring meeting with three or more people.      New features are coming to WhatsApp   For groups, it'll now show how many people are currently online, make it easier to react to messages like you can on Slack, and have more controls for notifications.   There will be updates for Events around RSVPs and plus 1s.   High quality video calls, with the ability to pinch in to zoom on mobile.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Your Friends and Neighbours    After being fired in disgrace, a hedge fund manager resorts to stealing from his neighbours' homes in the affluent Westmont Village, only to discover that the secrets hidden behind the wealthy facades might be more dangerous (Apple TV+).     Landman   Deep in the heart of West Texas, roughnecks and wildcat billionaires try to get rich quick in the oil business as oil rigs begin to dominate the state. Crisis executive Tommy Norris tries to bring his company to the top during a fuelling boom (Prime Video).     North of North   Siaja is a young Inuk mother who dreams of reinventing herself in her tiny Arctic community of Ice Cove, a town where everybody knows your business. After a spontaneous - and extremely public - exit from her marriage, Siaja finds herself navigating the unpredictable, and often hilarious, highs and lows that come with relationships, motherhood, a new job, and finding your way (Netflix).    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand is filled to the brim with beautiful food and delicious ingredients, and Thursday night saw some of our top producers celebrated at the Outstanding Food Producer Awards.  Nici Wickes decided to focus in on a couple of the winners — Conscious Valley Lamb and Akaroa Salmon— and offer up a few simple cooking techniques for each.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

G20   When terrorists take over the G20 summit, US President Danielle Sutton uses her governing and military experience to defend her family, fellow leaders, and the world.    Crossing   Lia, a retired teacher, has vowed to find her long-lost niece, Tekla. Her search takes her to Istanbul where she meets the lawyer Evrim.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the end it was kind of an anticlimax.    After almost 18 months of anger, obfuscation, hīkoi and haka, and hundreds of thousands of submissions, the Treaty Principles Bill was voted down in fairly emphatic style. I suspect the majority of New Zealanders are so over it.    Looking back, I’d say David Seymour and ACT largely got what they wanted. Te Pāti Māori were perhaps even greater political beneficiaries. And the whole saga will endure as a bit of a stain on Christopher Luxon’s tenure as Prime Minister. It was telling that once again, just as for the first reading, this week’s vote was scheduled for a time when the PM wasn’t in the house. I think being there and suffering through it would have shown greater leadership.   I watched the speeches in Parliament and thought David Seymour was right in his observation. Almost none actually considered the substance of the government’s defined Treaty principles. Like most of the debate outside of Parliament, they were all emotion. At times, I think what was supposed to be a constitutional debate was boiled down to pretty a basic and unedifying level: pro-Māori vs anti-Māori!     Personally, I tried to engage with the detail of the bill in good faith. I think one of the most underrated qualities in people is a genuine capacity to think critically or even change your mind. It’s a curiously strange thing these days to come across someone who doesn’t instantly default to their team or side.    It seemed to me though that there was a fundamental problem with proposed principles. They didn’t accurately reflect what the Treaty actually says. Te Tiriti specifically guarantees Māori tino rangatiratanga. It has, if you like, a Māori-specific carve-out that did not appear in ACT’s interpretation. In my view, that absence was absolutely critical.  Many of the bill’s opponents accused ACT of a cynical approach to the debate. I can’t speak for the party’s motivations, but I do think the most honest approach would have been to define the principles by what is clearly said in the Treaty, rather than what anyone thinks should be said in the Treaty.  And that leads me to my final point: the Treaty is clearly an imperfect document. The English and Māori versions say different things. There is no returning New Zealand to 1840, and in the context of the modern day, it’s clunky. I do think David Seymour’s broader desire about more purposefully defining the Treaty’s application and meaning in modern New Zealand, is a good one (or at least worthy of more consideration). For example, I wonder if 200 years from its signing, New Zealand should aspire towards developing some sort of a written constitution underpinned by the Treaty, that gives it better and clearer effect in the modern World.    I think the Te Tiriti o Waitangi / Treaty of Waitangi was meant to unify New Zealand. If we’re honest, this debate probably had the opposite effect. But I still have faith that once the dust settles, we can collectively find a way to constructively have these conversations and move Aotearoa forward.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of New Zealand’s finest voices, Marlon Williams has released his fourth studio album – written entirely in te reo Māori.    The Kiwi musician has a global presence, having collaborated with the likes of Florence + the Machine, and toured with legends like Bruce Springsteen, bagging six NZ Music Awards and an APRA silver scroll.  But for ‘Te Whare Tīwekaweka’, Williams returned to his roots.  Translating to ‘Messy House’, Williams told Jack Tame the title is a metaphor for the pains of chaos and creation, and how creativity often comes from disorder.  “You have a house full of, of ideas, and, and you sort of sit quietly and let them talk to each other, and then hopefully they form some sort of cohesive thing.”  The idea of writing an album entirely in te reo has been floating around Williams’ brain for a while, he was just waiting for an excuse to begin.  “I grew up speaking a little bit,” he told Tame.   “I went to Kōhanga Reo, but it all sort of drifted away from me again as I went into my, moved on into childhood, into primary school.”   Although he drifted away from speaking the language, Williams didn’t stop singing in te reo.  “It's just such a, a beautifully, a beautifully sung language.”  “I always knew at some point that I was gonna come back around and, and give myself an excuse."  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was Murphy’s Law, of course. An inevitable that’ll-teach-ya for breaking one of the golden laws of parenting: never take off a nappy if you don’t have a replacement immediately to hand.    Especially when your six-week-old baby has been stewing and straining and writhing in his cot. And double-especially (that’s a thing) when he just had the live rotavirus vaccine and it’s playing havoc with his belly.    It was just as I bent his legs up and put a little squeeze on his stomach that I sensed it. Something in the air. A drop in barometric pressure. A little facial expression, perhaps.   It might have been 2am but I threw myself back and across the room, out of the line of fire. It was like that scene in The Matrix, where time stops and Neo dodges bullets.    You know in a horror movie when someone has their throat slit, and the blood sprays on the wall? It’s a pattern, an arc, a kind of parabola of crimson gore.    It was like that. Except yellow. An explosion of you-know-what was in his tummy one second, and literally dripping down the wall the next. And the bin. And on the laundry basket, the exposed floorboards and the corner of the chunky woolknit carpet. Somehow, he got it through the crack of the door to my wardrobe, a patina of tiny little specks down on my shoes.    The distance he covered was unbelievable. I actually pulled out a tape measure the next morning... from the change table to the wall was 90-odd centimetres: twice his height.    In relative terms, it’s as if I pulled, twisted, and strained and pulled up my legs and propelled my last meal across three and a half metres of open territory. Guiness World Records, give us a call!    I hosed him down, delivered him to his mum, fetched the disinfectant and started scrubbing the walls.   The next morning, I put him on the change table again.    This time he wasn’t squirming. His tummy was a bit more settled.    As I re-dressed him and pulled on his onesie, I sang to my son, and he stared up into my eyes.    “It’s our problem freeeee,” I sang. His face changed just a little as he cooed... was that a smile?    “Philosophyyyyy,” he squealed.    “Hakuna Matata,” his little mouth broke out in a giant smile. No question. An unmistakable smile. His whole face, his whole body seemed to smile with him. Just for me.   I felt my chest flood with endorphins. It was the craziest physical reaction, just this rush, this sweep of joy and love.    It said it all, really. Dripping walls one days and his first smiles for Dad the next.    Welcome to parenting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.