Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

Amazon now has its own brand of TVs They want full control of the second most important screen in your home - the big one in your living room. After partnering with TV manufacturers with Fire TV collaborations, they're now branding TVs as their own. There's the Fire TV Omni and the Fire TV Series 4. The Omni model has a higher resolution screen and voice control. Even when the Omni is off, you'll be able to use it like an Alexa. The Fire TV Omni will integrate with your Ring doorbell so the moment someone pushes the button, their video will appear in picture-in-picture. Amazon says there are other smart home integrations coming too. Spotify wants to make your playlists better If you've got a playlist that needs some new life, the new Enhance feature is for you. Based on the songs already in the playlist Spotify will recommend more music you should add. They'll appear in the list with a big green sparkle next to them to show they're auto-magically added, but you can make them permanent additions by clicking the plus button. You'll see the 'Enhance' button at the top of your playlists over the next month. Microsoft admits it doesn't know when offices will reopen The Delta variant has forced companies to change their office mask policies and their return to office plans so many times that Microsoft has kind of given up. They've pushed their October 4th date seemingly indefinitely, not giving employees a new date to work with. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today is the twentieth anniversary of 9/11. The terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda killed almost 3,000 people, and countless more have died from the environmental impacts of being near the collapsed Twin Towers. The attacks prompted the invasion of Afghanistan, we all now know how that ended. They also changed the world as we know it. Can you remember the feeling of waking up that morning and hearing the news? The attacks also upturned the lives of the thousands of people who were travelling that day. Kiwi Elias Kanaris is one of those people. He was flying Chicago to London, when his plane was diverted to the tiny Canadian town of Gander. The town’s population was doubled when 6,700 people were stuck there after panes were grounded following the attacks. Elias is a Resilience and Leadership keynote speaker, and he’s written a book about what he learned from the experience, called “Leading from the Stop”. He's been speaking to Jack Tame. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Francesca has movie picks for everyone. If you're in lockdown, Infinite is available to stream on Neon. If you're luck enough to be heading down the alert levels, there's Respect. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Caramel apple cake This cake has it all going for it – quick to make and bake, soft and moist, incredibly delcious with a thick caramel icing – it’s like a nog soft comforting pillow! The recipe makes a very large sheet pan cake, enough to give away so cheer up someone’s day. Makes 25x35 rectangle cake 220g butter 1 cup water 2 cups plain flour 1 teaspoon baking soda Pinch salt 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 cup sugar 1 cup brown sugar ½ cup yoghurt or buttermilk 2 large eggs, lightly whisked 200g (about 2 medium) chopped apples Icing: 1/3 cup sugar Splash water 120g butter ¼ cup milk 3 cups icing sugar Preheat oven to 200 C. Grease and line a shallow 25x38cm rectangle tin. You could use 2 x swiss roll tins. In a medium pot bring the butter and water to a boil. Sift in dry ingredients – flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and sugars – until combined. Add in yoghurt and eggs and stir to combine then fold in the chopped apples. Pour batter into the prepared tin spreading it into the corners. Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until it springs back to the touch. Cool for 10 minutes then ice while warm. For the icing: in a small pot make a caramel by heating, without stirring, the sugar and a splash of water until it simmers rapidly then turns a golden brown colour – about 5-7 minutes. Swirl the pot, don’t stir it. Once it is dark golden remove from the heat and add the butter and milk, careful as it will spit! You can stir it now. Cool it slightly. (if it solidifes, mix in some more milk and warm it slightly) Heap icing sugar into a large bowl and add the caramel sauce and stir to a smooth, pourable icing. Pour icing over warm cake and leave to set. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kevin Milne's made rediscovered something during lockdown: the joy of nature documentaries. And it's made him see climate change in a new light. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I was a Year Ten high school student. I remember my friends talking about the attacks as we rode out bikes to school. In social studies, our teacher pulled a TV to the front of the class and we sat and watched in silence. I must have spent eight or ten hours watching TV that day. More than anything, I remember the dust.That’s my recollection of 9/11, one of those moments where you remember where you were. And as we all think back to our own experiences of 9/11, the anniversary makes for a good opportunity to sit back and consider the attacks from the eyes of the people who organised them.19 fanatics, armed only with box cutters and a few weeks’ training at a flight school, arguably changed the course of history more than any other people this century. The domino effect from those burning towers is extraordinary. Would the Iraq War have ever been fought if 9/11 didn’t happen? Would the U.S have fought in Afghanistan for twenty years? Would George W. Bush have been re-elected President? Would Donald Trump have ever made it to the White House? Would we have born witness to a series of terrible soft target attacks, the London underground bombings, the Bataclan theatre attack, the Boston and Manchester bombings? Would ISIS, Al-Shabaab, and however many other Islamic-inspired extremist groups have ever been formed?In many ways, our World has changed for the worse because ultimately, sadly, the 9/11 terrorists achieved their awful objective. And some. They killed a lot of people. They brought down the towers. But they achieved more than that. Even though we knew their ultimate goal was to drive America and other Western democracies into a state of perpetual fear, even though their ultimate objective was spelt out clear as day in the name we used to describe them; terrorists, we couldn’t help it. For the last twenty years, Western democracies have lived in fear, and it’s only made the risk of terrorism worse.A few nights ago, I watched a film about the late Middle East foreign correspondent, Robert Fisk. It included a clip of him in a debate about the root cause of the 9/11 attacks. ‘It’s evil, pure and simple!’ said the person he was debating. ‘Evil! Evil! Evil!’. Fisk argued that actually, life doesn’t work that way. It’s not so simplistic. No one wakes up and has a cup of tea and says ‘I’m going to do something really evil!’One person’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter. Think of all the conflicts America was involved with in the decades before 9/11. Consider it from the hijackers’ perspective. Why is it just for American soldiers to invade and bomb distant lands – often Muslim majority countries - but evil when a group of people attack New York in response?Scared people act irrationally. The wars that spun out of 9/11 didn’t eliminate the risk of terrorism. They increased it. With every civilian wrongfully killed by a rocket or a drone, every village torn up by an armoured troop carrier, another dozen potential enemies were created.And here we find ourselves, twenty years on. Is our World any safer than it was on September 10, 2001? For me, I think it’s the saddest thing about those awful events twenty years ago: The plan worked.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve been waiting for a few weeks now. There’s been fire, an ex-wife in a wedding dress, and a lot of unfinished music...but Kanye West has finally released Donda. Estelle Clifford’s been taking a listen. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Before we went back into lockdown life, travel writer Mike Yardley was touring The Great Alpine Highway. He's been giving Jack Tame some hints for when we can get on the road again.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Firewood Collections For those of us lucky enough to have an ultra-low emission burner as a cosy heating source, the yearly job of gathering and stacking firewood is an excellent hobby that keeps us fit and creates interesting opportunities for discovery of organisms. I love looking at tunnels in wood bark beetle scribbles under pine bark and macrocarpa which are elegant sites for caterpillars to pupate (over-winter), and locating the winter hiding spots for native cockroaches, slaters, booklice, barklice, millipedes and centipedes. The reason I study my firewood before bringing it inside to be burned is sometimes you get critters in there that perhaps need to be rescued from a firey end. Native Grassgrub beetles (Odontria) often hide between stacked logs. Outside they are dormant and won’t move a lot at all until temperatures go up in a month or so. But when you take the logs inside, they wake up and fly around like miniature lawnmowers (same sort of noise) in your living room. Lifecycle is completed on the roots of plants, often grass species. These are what you’d expect when you take in Eucalyptus wood. Epithora dorsalis is a longhorn beetle from Australia, relatively recently discovered as an interloper here in New Zealand. The grubs of these beetles create substantial tunnels in gum tree wood. If you find our native huhu grubs in your fire wood, you might have left it too late. The wood is in a state of decay, quite moist and un-burnable! This can happen to the bottom row of wood, in touch with the ground/soil for a long time. A firey end might be human consumption! Spiders are also taking advantage of a place to hibernate: here’s a common jumping spider: Trite auricoma, the Golden-Brown Jumping Spider. White-tailed spiders also turn up frequently; they’ll wake up in the warmth of your lounge. Not very harmful at all, by the way! But the invertebrate that I obliterate immediately on discovery is the queen Vespula wasp, in this case a German wasp. These girls are sitting out the winter and will start a new nest in spring. They are a real pest and their impact can be avoided by getting rid of them before they start building.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kids garden The children are our future and one of the best ways to instil them with healthy eco values is through gardening. It will also change their attitude to food, and may even make some of the old ‘I won’t touch’ foods into favourites. This can be a fun and enjoyable experience for everyone and provides unlimited learning opportunities for kids and adults. Here are some tips: Keep it simple, and probably small. Gardening doesn’t need much space and in fact many successfully garden out of containers. Use just a few easy to grow vegetables, maybe some flowers. Simple means less stressful and more likelihood of success. Choose the right plants. Some veges you can plant straight into the soil because of their large seed size. I suggest peas and bush beans. These both can be eaten raw straight from the plant. Peas have the wonderful ‘open a present’ thing happening. Watch them become a kid’s favourite. If you have room you could try a rambling melon, rock melon or watermelon. Radish are easy and produce very quickly but may be too spicy for some kids. Other easy plants include lettuce, sunflowers, marigolds, carrots, cherry tomatoes and parsley. Make the layout suit the kid. You can have raise beds, containers, or just walk between rows. Make sure the rows are close enough together that your child can reach the middle of the garden without stepping on the soil and compacting it. And make one area which they have complete freedom to experiment themselves. Let them have their own tools. These don’t need to be expensive or new. Can get kid sized gloves, shovel and watering cans. Get them to decorate the garden. Seed markers, special rocks and shells, drift wood. This can be an art project as well. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our Master of Wine Bob Campbell is recommending The Ned 2021 Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough $18.99.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Richard Branson's spaceship has been grounded It turns out the test flight wasn't as successful as we thought it was. The New Yorker reports that after the craft detached and was blasting off to space traveling at twice the speed of sound, the onboard pilots got yellow and red warning lights to indicate the spaceship wasn't vertical enough to make it back to earth safely. The plane uses the momentum of the accent to then set it up for its glide back to the runway on earth. The FAA says the plane veered outside its approved airspace for over a minute. They're now investigating, Their first revenue generating mission, with the Italian Air Force, is now on hold. Twitter looking to archive your old thoughts Tweets from deep on the timeline have caused people numerous problems over the years. Opinions evolve, cultural moments happen and society's social contract changes but the Tweets live on. Twitter needs fresh content every minute, so needs to assure people that posting their thoughts and happenings is a good idea. They're reportedly looking at a feature to archive Tweets from public view after 30, 60, or 90 days or a full year after they're sent. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Back in February, when lockdowns were just a distant memory, a group of Kiwi celebs headed to Kerikeri to compete in Celebrity Treasure Island. Little did they know that when it would be released, we’d be stuck at home, and ready for some light viewing. One of the contestants on the beach is reality star, Art Green, who joined Jack Tame for a chat. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Impeachment: American Crime Story: The third season in Ryan Murphy’s American Crime Story series examines the national crisis that led to the first impeachment of a U.S. President in over a century through the eyes of the women at the center of the events: Monica Lewinsky, Linda Tripp and Paula Jones (SoHo, from 8 September). The Flight Attendant: A reckless flight attendant with an alcohol problem wakes up in the wrong hotel, in the wrong bed, with a dead man - and no idea what happened. Unable to piece the night together, she begins to wonder if she could be the killer (Neon). Only Murders in the Building: Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez star as three strangers who share an obsession with true crime and suddenly find themselves wrapped up in one. When a grisly death occurs inside their exclusive Upper West Side apartment building, the trio suspects murder and employs their precise knowledge of true crime to investigate the truth (Disney+). LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fathers' Day Breakfast Traybake Is your dad a fan of sweet or savoury for breakfast? If he’s savoury, try this fabulous way to cook up “The Big Brekky” – it’s so much easier than cooking up hashbrowns, eggs and bacon separately. Do it for dad this weekend! This is easy to make for one or a crowd – just scale it up or down to suit you! Serves 1 ½ large potato per person, thinly sliced ¼ onion, sliced thinly 2 rashers bacon, chopped roughly Sprig of fresh rosemanry or sage or basil ¼ tsp sea salt + pepper Slash of olive oil 1 egg per person Small handful of parsley, chopped Heat oven to 200 C. Line a large oven tray with baking paper, twisting the corners to give it a lip. Scatter potato and onion slices over the lined tray. Add bacon and rosemary, the seasoning and a drizzle of oil and toss to coat. Spread them out so that they cover the tray in a thin layer. Bake in the upper third of the oven for 10-15 minutes until potatoes soften and begin to crisp. Tease a gap (or gaps if making for more than one person) in the potatoes and break an egg into it. Cook for 10 minutes or until egg is done to your dad’s liking! To serve, season again with salt and pepper and sprinkle over the parsley. Eat up! LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Movie reviewer Francesca Rudkin has some flicks you can catch from your couch this weekend. The musical comedy version of Cinderella starring Camila Cabello, Neon's Infinite, and Neon documentary Class Action Park. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What more could have been done to stop the attack? We don’t know enough yet to answer that with the certainty the gravity of this attack deserves. But we understand a few things.This man was known to Police and authorities. He was known to the Prime Minister. Judging by previous monitoring when he was arrested for buying a hunting knife, I think it’s safe to say he didn’t have the freedom to plan a more sophisticated attack. That’s not to say he wanted to plan a more sophisticated attack – we don’t know that yet. It’s not to say his spree at the New Lynn Countdown wasn’t terrible. But it also wasn’t particularly well-planned. Compared to the Christchurch terrorist, who was able to plan an attack for a long period of time without ever being bothered by the authorities and who used an assault weapons to kill as many people as possible, we are fortunate that yesterday’s attack wasn’t as sophisticated. Part of that may be because this man was being monitored. I thought it was interesting the Prime Minister was so enthusiastic about getting the suppression orders lifted from this man’s case – it suggests to me that she and her advisers feel confident there was nothing more the security agencies could have done to stop the attack.From what we’ve been told, you would have to say Police responded incredibly quickly. 60 seconds, if indeed that was the length of time between the start of the attack and Police shooting the man dead, is a very short period of time. Not short enough for those people who were attacked, but pretty quick.Clearly this will draw attention to New Zealand’s anti-terror laws. In 2017 the man tried to travel overseas to fight for ISIS. He had fundamentalist material at his home. But two days after he was bailed he purchased a hunting knife and was arrested again. Authorities tried to prosecute him under the Terrorism Suppression Act. But a ruling judge said under the law as it stands, the purchase of the knife could not be considered a triggering act. The judge took the unusual step of forwarding his decision to the Attorney-General, Solicitor-General, and the Law Commission. He felt, as many others and the Royal Commission felt, our laws had a gaping hole when it came to the planning of a terrorist attack.This is being changed. New terrorism laws are passing through parliament at the moment. It won’t be absolutely clear until those laws are finalised if they could have prevented this attack. Sadly the change has come too late.One last point: We need to be sure that Police and authorities did everything possible within their powers to prevent the attack happening in the first place. But we also need to accept that power has limitations. Limitations are important. Police and security agencies can’t just lock someone up forever without following a scrupulous judicial process. Sadly, regardless of our terror laws, there will always exist the possibility for an individual to go out and harm innocent people. We should take every prudent step to prevent it from happening. But an independent judiciary and appropriate limits on power help to give us the freedom and security that events and people like this, threaten. They are part of what make New Zealand a good country to live in.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Travel writer Mike Yardley has been dreaming of getting out and about. Recently he was free-roaming in Central Hawke's Bay.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Seven piece Kiwi band Fat Freddy’s drop has released a new album – and it’s the chill vibe we probably all need in lockdown. It’s called Wairunga, and music reviewer Estelle Clifford has been taking a listen.LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Catherine Raynes has been reading The Rising Tide by Sam Lloyd, and One Ordinary Day at a Time by Sarah J Harris.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Relationship expert Steven Dromgool has been giving Jack Tame some tips on how to read your partner's mind. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are heaps of particles that fly in the air (apart from molecules of Oxygen, Nitrogen and Carbon Dioxide, of course). For instance, sea-salt is a biggie near the coast. Others are smoke from bush fires, soot, pollutants, dust. You name it and it flies. We all know about birds, insects, flying fish and sugar gliders, flying squirrels and such critters, plant seeds and helicopter seeds from maple trees. Then there are bio-aerosols (micro-organisms). I’ve read some amazing statistics about fungal spores in the air. Take a puffball. Drop some water on the outer skin and see it release its spores. It looks like smoke. Millions of spores float in the air – amazing dispersal! Fungal spores are very common in the air – you might not see them as easily as the “smoke” from puffballs, but there are estimates of concentrations as high as 10,000,000 spores per cubic meter! Fungi in the groups Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes can cause allergies in humans with over 13,000 spores per cubic meter considered a high concentration. Allergies for some humans! There are many different allergic troubles, such as rhinitis (nasal membranes inflammation), asthma and the famous hay fever. The density of spores in the air is also a pain in the neck for gardeners. Some plant pest fungi distribute themselves through airborne spores. These spores usually appreciate landing on wet leaves – the moisture allows them to “germinate” nicely on the leaves and will then penetrate those leaves. Rust species are probably the best adapted to aerial bombardment. Look around for those orange rust pustules on you garlic/onions/spring onions at this time of the year. Prevention is to try and keep leaves dry, or regular treatment with organic fungicides such as Copper/Sulphur mixtures. These do not allow fungal spores to develop on the leaf surface. A recent walk in the nearby forest during lockdown showed me the famous late-winter pollen dump. Pine flowers are out right now and the pollen which are shed are bright yellow and everywhere. This pollen is very noticeable on the ground, especially where there was the remnant evidence of rain flooding. The pollen literally stick to the “side” of the old “stream bed”. Pollen salso visible as a fine, yellow-ish film on your cars. Mind you – it’s not just pollen from pine trees – other trees are full of it too. Have a look around for flowering trees and shrubs. People can be allergic to all sorts of plant species, including grasses; especially when they are flowering. Christmas plums in flower… a wonderful surprise awaits around the festive season! LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr Bryan Betty has been speaking to Jack Tame about COPD – Chronic Obstructive Airways disease or Emphysema.He's s GP, Medical Director for the College of GPs, and member of the Covid-19 advisory committee. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The world of podcasting has given a voice to some pretty niche communities. When Aussies Mandy Hose and Kate Jones started their show Too Peas in a Podcast, they had an extremely specific community in mind: parents of multiples, and kids with additional needs. They’d met, and bonded, a decade before over their crazy lives as mums to twins with disabilities. But what they found was a community far, far larger than that. They now have a hugely successful podcast with more than 10-thousand listeners a week, which has also seen them produce live tours, work as public speakers, create a merchandise line and now a book "The Invisible Life of Us".Mandy and Kate have been speaking to Jack Tame. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's never been a better time for a weekend of screentime, and Tara Ward has some tips:The Defeated: Historical drama set in post war Germany. Max McLaughlin is an American cop who arrives in Berlin in the summer of 1946 to help create a police force in the chaotic aftermath of the war (Netflix) Clickbait: a tense thriller about when family man Nick Brewer is abducted in a crime with a sinister online twist, those closest to him race to uncover who is behind it and why (Netflix) Celebrity Bake Off: some comfort food for the lockdown soul. Celebrity contestants take part in a special version of the popular British baking competition (Neon). LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apple's internet tax may be in jeopardy One of the conditions for having an app on Apple's App Store was that you must use their payments service where they take up to 30% of your income. You can't even email users with data you've collected from users using your app promoting a different payment method.. that's about to change. A class action lawsuit from US app developers has won a $100 million payout from Apple and a changing of the rules. So now you can email or text users with information collected from the app. Critics say it's just the first step and Apple should re-think the forced in-app payment method because it an anti-trust violation. OnlyFans has reversed its adult content ban In what was likened to Twitter removing the ability for people to Tweet, OnlyFans told its community that adult content would be banned. Apparently there are also musicians, fitness trainers and beauty influencers on the platform doing classes and providing a way for fans to connect. OnlyFans said its banks wouldn't support their business, but news reports suggested they were also struggling to find investors despite being projected to double their revenue to $2.5 billion next year. There is concern about the legal liability for illegal content on the platform. Well, the money must be speaking now because they've reversed the decision and OnlyFans is continuing as is. Afghanistan refugees are being gifted Airbnbs Airbnb is pledging to house 20,000 refugees for free, "as long as is needed". Airbnb's CEO Brian Chesky tweeted that hosts who are open to making their homes available to get in touch. Airbnb launched a non-profit a few years ago to help people displaced by natural disasters and providing essential workers a place to stay away from their families during the height of the COVID pandemic. If you want to help house refugees, you can visit airbnb.org.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

LOCKDOWN ONE BOWL CHEESY HAM & EGG BAKE This is a one bowl winner of a lunch! It’s a crustless pie that the whole family will love. Serves 4 1 ½ cups milk 3 large eggs 200g shaved ham, diced 1 medium onion, diced fine or grated 1 cup grated cheese ½ cup plain flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 2 teaspoons powdered vegetable or chicken stock ¼ teaspoon black pepper ¼ cup chopped parsley (optional) Heat oven to 170 C. Generously butter a medium-sized oven proof dish. In a big bowl, lightly whisk together milk and eggs. Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Scrape into prepared dish and bake for about 45-55 mins or until golden and cooked through. It will puff up and deflate once removed from the oven. Serve hot or cold with chutney and some salad greens TIP: Bacon or salmon could be used in place of ham. Other lockdown lunch ideas: Tacos Quesadillas Toasted sandwiches Fried rice Buttery noodles / spaghetti Fritters Roasted chicken wings The good old sandwich! LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Francesca Rudkin has some movies to watch at your house this weekend: Vacation Friends on Disney+, Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal and Greed on Netflix. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yesterday we learned Chris Cairns suffered a stroke during life-saving surgery, and now has paralysis in his legs.Kevin Milne has been talking to Jack Tame about the news. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s the right decision to extend the lockdown for the whole country. It sucks. But we simply don’t have enough people vaccinated to expose our health system any more cases than we already are.To me, what’s interesting about the daily stats is the Covid-19 case numbers versus hospitalisations. This Delta outbreak totals 347 people according to the latest figures. 19 of those people are in hospital. About 5.5%. Admittedly it’s not a great sample size, but you can see how quickly our health system might be overwhelmed with a few thousand cases, especially if they were centred in one region. Delta would get away on us *incredibly* quickly. For areas outside of Auckland and Northland, I think sacrificing the weekend and a few extra days at Level Four is worth it for the security of knowing there is no Delta in the community. Again, it sucks. But it’s like turning around to double-check you locked the front door when you’re leaving town on holiday. You’re pretty sure you remembered. You’re 98% sure the door is locked and everything is safe. But sometimes the inconvenience that comes with being certain is worth it for the peace of mind.I say that as someone who looks enviously upon a move to Level 3. It’s obviously not happening anytime soon, in Auckland. Again though, I think this is pretty much the government’s only option. And as much as I didn’t want to hear it I’m glad they’re being straight up about the likelihood we’ll be at Level 4 for another few weeks.So, then, reasonable decisions about the lockdowns with the information they have available at this moment. But it would be remiss not to point out that we find ourselves in this moment because of decisions made by the same people and their officials earlier in the pandemic.For whatever reasons – and I think there are like many, some of which were out of officials’ control and some of which weren’t – we have found ourselves woefully behind in the vaccination programme. Ministers are incredibly defensive whenever they are challenged on this. But you can’t take credit for one part of the response and shirk all responsibility for another. The vaccination rates speak for themselves. All I can think, anytime someone stands up at the start of a press conference and says ‘First, some good news...’ is actually now isn’t the time to be setting vaccination records. That time was months ago.Delta is insidious. I’m not saying more vaccinations would have meant we didn’t need some lockdown restrictions. But a much higher vaccination rate would have reduced the likelihood of people getting hospitalised or dying of Covid-19. And isn’t that the government’s long-stated goal?One last thought. By my count, before this outbreak, areas outside of Auckland had spent a total of 51 days locked down in either Level 3 or Level 4. Auckland had spent 79 days at Level 3 or Level 4. That’s right, before this outbreak, Aucklanders had spent four weeks in lockdown more than the rest of the country. If we do manage to eliminate Delta this time, that margin is going to extend a whole lot further. Aucklanders will take the biggest hit.So, with that in mind, a suggestion: Let’s all send our latte-sipping, Lululemon slinking, urban-tractor driving, Waiheke weekending, Ponsnobby-bungalow-flipping mates some good will for a change. Yes, they’re fun to tease! But if we do beat Delta this time, the ‘09’ will have made the biggest sacrifice, once again. I never thought I would say this. I never thought I would utter these words.Let’s all spare a thought...for Auckland.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Remember when we could move around the country to our heart's desire? Well when that was a thing, our resident traveller Mike Yardley had some fun in Napier. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lorde’s third album Solar Power is out today, and our music reviewer Estelle Clifford has been in possession of something that all music fans want: a special early copy of the album. She's been telling Jack Tame what she thinks. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Escapees from the Garden There are quite a number of plants that have become “pests” due to garden escapes. You’ve probably heard of them: Mexican Daisy, Bear’s breeches, Agapanthus, Clematis species, esp. vitalba (Old man’s Beard!). www.weedbusters.org.nz has a heap of them on their website PLUS: alternatives you can plant (“plant me instead”). I am aware that not all “weeds” behave like “weeds” in all places in NZ. For example, agapanthus in Christchurch seem to be reasonably well behaved. Many gardeners dispute biosecurity thinking around invasive weeds: “My plants are not that bad! (a bit like “my cat only brings in dead birds”). In our bathroom we grow “Spanish Moss” (Tillandsia possibly usneoides). it’s a weird plant that hangs from branches in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the Americas. Think Florida, Mexico and the Jungles of Equador and Panama. We grow it as a “curtain” in front of the south-facing window. It doesn’t need a lot of care: once a week we dump it in a batch of cold water and hang it back up. Once a month a sit gets a sight spry/misting with some seafood soup and it just keeps on growing. Tillandsia belongs to the Bromeliad plant Family Bromeliaceae (Close relative of the Pineapple!) and it is an epiphyte: imply hanging from tree branches and not harming the trees at all. Recently I was made aware that it is moving into the New Zealand landscape. These pictures (courtesy of Dave Holland – iNaturalist) are from Whangarei where Tillandsia seems to be doing well in established trees. The debate is now whether or not Spanish moss is having an impact on our Native ecosystems. Time will tell, but I have the feeling that it may not be a great idea to let it just roam the New Zealand landscape. We simply haven’t got enough scientific data on this. Birds use it as nesting material and that may spread it around. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Book reviewer Catherine Raynes has been reading The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz and All Her Fault by Andrea Mara.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Green kids in lockdown Lockdown is a special time - It can be an opportunity to reevaluate what’s important. There are plenty of eco habits we could start, and it’s a special time to spend with the kids. We are going to look at some fun and educational games, projects to do with the kids. Kumara in a jar You can grow beautiful green vines anywhere you want them, and any time of year. You need: kumara, toothpicks, a jar or glass, non-chlorinated water. 1. Wash the kumara thoroughly but gently 2. Make sure the kumara can fit at least a third of its length into the jar 3. Insert the toothpicks a third the way down it 4. Place in jar and fill with water 5. In-between 10-14 days the kumara will start to bud. Make sure the kids are aware of this process. Now for three to six months vines will grow from these bud. You can let them dangle or train them to go where ever you choose. Egg shell people There is a long tradition of starting your seedling in empty egg shells. The egg shells are a fertiliser and will add calcium to the garden - plus you are recycling! Our idea is more for decoration. 1. For a week or so be careful how you crack eggs, leaving half to two thirds and put back in the carton. 2. Wash the eggshell seed pots with warm soapy water and punch a hole in the bottom with a heavy needle or similar, for drainage. 3. Use non-toxic makers and get the kids to draw faces on them. Maybe of people you know like granddad or grandma. 4. Put them in egg cups or the old egg cartoon and explain that the strength they have is because of the shape of the egg even though the egg shell is very delicate. 5. Fill with sterile seed raising mix, and seeds that will come up with lots of small stems, like mustard, cress, or alfalfa. This will look just like hair! 6. Place them in filtered light and keep the water up, and wait for the results. You can do exactly the same thing to start your spring vegetables, herbs and flowers. With these, once they have more than 2 true leaves, they could be transplanted into your garden. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We all know interest rates were about to skyrocket, but lockdown could change that. Enable Me's Hannah McQueen has been talking to Jack Tame about what to do if you were abotu to re-fix your mortgage. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Little breakfast sesame bread rolls To get us through lockdown, here’s a recipe for baking soft, fluffy, yeasty deliciousness every time! Makes 12 small rolls 1 cup warm water 1 teaspoon active dried yeast granules 1 teaspoon honey or sugar 4–5 tablespoons olive oil 2½–3 cups plain or high-grade flour 1 egg, lightly beaten for egg wash sesame or poppy seeds Heat oven to very low, just warm — say 50°C. Step 1: In a large glass or ceramic bowl, mix water, yeast and honey or sugar. Cover with a damp cloth and leave for 10 minutes until frothy. Step 2: Add olive oil and 2 cups of flour to the yeast mixture and mix with a knife until it starts to come together. Knead it in the bowl using a strong spoon or knife, only adding more flour if it is really too wet. This will take about 5 minutes or until the dough comes together in a ball. Tip out onto a well-floured bench. Step 3: Oil the bowl then pop the dough back into the bowl and flip it so it’s coated in oil. Place bowl on a folded tea towel in the warm oven. Turn oven off. Leave dough to double in size, about 30–45 minutes. Step 4: Carefully plop dough out on bench and shape into 12 rolls. Tuck them into a lined roasting dish so they’re just touching. Cover with a plastic bag and leave to rise until doubled in size, about 30–45 minutes. Egg wash surface then sprinkle over seeds. Preheat the oven to 220°C and bake for 15–17 minutes until golden brown. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Let's face it, there's not much else to do during lockdown, so it's time to embrace some screentime. Here are Tara Ward's picks for this week:Nine Perfect Strangers: Starring Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy and based on Liane Moriarty’s best selling novel, "Nine Perfect Strangers" takes place at a boutique health-and-wellness resort that promises healing and transformation as nine stressed city dwellers try to get on a path to a better way of living (Amazon Prime Video). The Chair: Sandra Oh stars in this new Netflix academic drama as the first female English department chair at a major university (Netflix). Superstore: five seasons of the excellent American sitcom about a group of people who work in a mid-Western chain store is on Netflix - and it will take you a full two days to binge watch every episode this lockdown (Netflix). LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Work from the virtual office If we can't all physically be in the office together, could we all be together in a virtual meeting room instead? That's what Facebook is pitching with its new "Horizons Workplace" app which allows participants to put on their Facebook Oculus headsets and be transported to virtual reality. In the meeting you can see the 3D avatars of colleagues (who are also joining by wearing their headsets). Those who join by webcam or phone are displayed on a virtual version of a tv screen. When you're in the meeting, you can look down to your virtual laptop which is where you can make notes, or draw something to share with your colleagues. The whole experience looks very cartoon-ish at the moment. Facebook wants to be the home of the immersive digital experience - they're dubbing the "metaverse". Microsoft to raise its prices for Office365 That will bring it inline with Google's recent price hike too, with basic email and collaboration services going from $5 to $6 USD per person. The prices will come into effect next year, so adjust those IT budgets now. It's the first substantial price increase since Microsoft launched Office365 in 2011. Since then they've added a bunch of additional apps and features like Teams, OneDrive and more.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bexy Cameron grew up in one of the most infamous cults ever The Children of God. It was started in the 60s by a charismatic evangelical preacher who merged religious beliefs with increasingly depraved sexual and physical abuse, sometimes involving tiny children. High-profile members included Rose McGowan and her family, River and Joaquin Phoenix and Fleetwood Mac guitarist Jeremy Spencer. Bexy Cameron is now a film-maker, and has written a book about her experience, called "Cult Following". She's been talking to Jack Tame.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Movie reviewer Francesca Rudkin has some movies you can watch in lockdown: An American Pickle which is on Neon, documentary The Last Cruise on Neon, Luca on Disney+, The Kissing Booth 3 on Netflix.LISTEN NOWSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, there's been a bit of criticism of the journalists at the daily COVID briefing. But Kevin Milne has some praise for the journos of NZ.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I visited Sir Michael Cullen at his home a couple of months ago and had the great privilege of a few hours of his time, at a moment when it was clear his time was very limited. We spoke about all sorts of different things: Rogernomics, the monarchy, the foreshore and seabed. He talked about God (or, in his opinion, the lack thereof). He spoke frankly about his illness and death. For an egalitarian, Sir Michael Cullen lived a very rich life. And upon news of his death yesterday I found myself thinking of one specific policy, one piece of his work that we discussed, that really stands out to me. Kiwisaver is amazing. It’s such a good idea. Simple. Boring. But incredibly effective. More than the Super Fund and more than interest free student loans, I think Kiwisaver will define Sir Michael Cullen’s legacy for generations to come. There is currently about $60 Billion under management in New Zealanders’ Kiwisaver accounts. Just think about that. $60 Billion. For a nation of notoriously bad savers, a nation with ludicrously high house prices and massive personal debt, Kiwisaver could be the difference between dignity in older age and a pretty miserly existence. In a way, the beauty of it is that half of us don’t even know we’re saving. We don’t think about funds or providers. We never consider the power of compact interest over time. If we’re automatically enrolled, it’s much more hassle to organise a Kiwisaver holiday than it is to just keep on contributing. I’ll be honest, as a younger person, I sometimes feel resentful about the future my generation faces. Many people my age will be locked out of home ownership. The sustainability of superannuation is seriously under threat. Climate change is baked in, and we’re the ones who’ll have to live with the effects. And truthfully, we won’t really see the true scale of Kiwisaver benefits for a few more decades, when people who’ve been enrolled in Kiwisaver for the whole of their working lives can access the money they’ve tucked away, when they finally turn 65. There it's my generation, for all the things we feel short-changed by, who will most benefit from Kiwisaver. All of us who are lucky enough to make it that far and who have been in Kiwisaver since the beginning of our working lives will have Sir Michael Cullen to thank for giving us a materially better retirement. A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. I hope we remember him then as we do today.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Billie Eilish has released her second album, "Happier than Ever". Music reviewer Estelle Clifford has been taking a listen.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Book reviewer Catherine Raynes has been reading Red Traitor by Owen Matthews and John Boyne's The Echo Chamber. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Travel writer Mike Yardley has been keeping things domestic, and this week he's got some tips for roaming Palliser Bay. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chaenomeles japonica Gardeners often have a love-hate relationship with plants, shrubs and trees - there's nothing wrong with that. For me it‘s bulbs. I love them when they flower in early spring, but hate them when I forget where they are and inadvertently dig them up. Then there are roses. Some are brilliant flower-producing specimens, but generally they’re a real bugger to prune, especially climbers, when you haven’t got a great deal of hair left on your head! This all brings me to Japanese Quince, Chaenomeles japonica, a deciduous shrub native to Japan, related to both true quinces and Chinese quinces. In the middle of winter, mid-July onwards, this shrub flowers a brilliant orange/red/coral. It’s a beacon that says: “Pollen right here! Nectar available” for those bugs and birds that dare to come and get it. It’s the promise that there will be a spring… at some stage. For six weeks or so it has gorgeous flowers with yellow stamen – the look of fecundity. No leaves yet, just flowers on branches older than a year. It’s hardy (in freezing conditions it’ll thrive) and can be grown in large pots/containers. Chaenomeles also sets fruit, usually smallish and yellow – very hard and bad eating before the frost! After frost it is softer, but still not too great, really. It’s best to use for making marmalade and jellies, and some folks create liqueurs! The fruit is seriously high in pectin and are therefore useful for preserves and jam with other fruit sources. Chinese medicine mentions arthritis and muscle cramps. Japanese Quince likes full sun but will also grow in part shade. Well-drained soils and preferably nutritiously fertile growing conditions. I think a hand-full of sulphate of potash in spring might be useful for flower set next winter. The traditional red flowering variety is my favourite – it can be espaliered against a wall/fence. But that’s where my problem starts: This thing is murderously prickly. Pruning is diabolical, you need welder’s gloves! Using hedge clippers is not recommended either (the plant doesn’t like that at all – it’ll stop flowering because you cut off all the potential flowering wood for next season!). The shrub doesn’t grow that high, but it can become quite dense with branches inside the shrub. Down the road from me, near the entrance of the Halswell Quarry is a nice specimen from which I cut flowering branches in winter. I reckon they are wonderful on someone else’s property. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Bob's Best Buy is Guigal 2017 Cotes du Rhone, $22 LISTEN TO BOB'S REVIEW ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apple shuts down surveys on pay Apple's employees aren't usually in the press - they're good at holding company secrets and keeping internal matters internal but lately we've seen a couple of things spill over. First it was around work-from-home and return-to-office policies and now around pay. Employees say they've been shutdown with efforts to gather data on employee salaries, working locations and diversity information. They say they're trying to ensure minorities aren't being discriminate against. Apple says the surveys are prohibited because they collect personally identifiable information. Samsung's unveils the Galaxy Watch 4 There have been watches to track steps, to measure your heartrate, blood oxygen levels and now.. your body fat percentage. They call it 'body composition'. The tech is a shrunken version of the same sensors used already in smart scales or palm devices, and Samsung says its trials show it's more accurate too. It works by sending a weak electric current into your body - known as bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) - which measures the amount of water you're holding. Fat holds more water than muscle. It's not a perfect measure, but beats out things like BMI. Back to the office delayed.. again. It was after July 4th, then September, some are now hoping for October. Facebook and Amazon are now pushing the return date back to January 2022. That'll be 22 months working at home. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Author Michael Pollan has long been a hugely respected name for his ideas about eating. You’ve almost certainly heard the advice ‘Eat food, not too much, mostly plants’. That’s Pollan, who has written a series of fascinating books about what we’re eating, and where that food comes from. But now he’s turned his mind to psychedelic substances, starting with 2018’s “How to change your mind” where he looked into the scientific revolution around psychedelic drugs. His latest book “This is Your Mind on Plants” looks into the effects of opium, caffeine and mescaline. He's been speaking with Jack Tame. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.