Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

Lawns and their problems Autumn time is a great time to work on “lawns”. This is the best time to “sow” a new lawn, after totally spraying the old grasses and weeds, leaving nothing but a bare soil. Of course you can also get yourself a series of rolled-up turf mats (ready-lawn) or, as I noticed some school principals prefer, create an “all weather” playing field from artificial grass. Spare me! My definition of a lawn is a place where you can walk from one end of the garden to the other – a pathway, low growing and easy to maintain. It can have flowers and lots of perennials; the kids can play there and birds graze the grubs from under the roots. It certainly should not be a monoculture of grass plants – trimmed to an inch of their life and meticulously cut along the edges... You’ve got it: I really am not impressed with lawns: few ecosystem services and very low biodiversity. I prefer a prairie, where different plants come to flowering fruition – a meadow of wild flowers with lots of perennials, carrying pollen and nectar and fibre for nests plus seeds for any animal that desires those seeds. There will be toadstools and puffballs, mycorrhizal fungi and mosses. Now, look at that list! Most people ask me how to destroy those elements in their lawn! Monocultures are usually not very resilient – you’d struggle to keep such a monoculture going in Nature! Nature prefers a Biodiverse make up – it thrives on diversity. Perennials are plants that survive year after year – that makes sense in terms of “investment”; grasses are perennials too. Flowers feed a lot of organisms and they also create organic matter, made from carbon that came out of the air, that will enrich the soil. The thatch is therefore not a problem but a God-send. Mosses grow as the pH lowers. They are miniature forests in which an enormous range of caterpillars, millipedes, beetles and flies as well as mites and predators, parasites and other beneficial critters do their brilliant jobs. Moss in lawns is not really a “problem”. The toadstools, puffballs and fungi indicate there’s a job to do to convert dead organic matter into deposits of slow-release fertilisers in the soil. Those circles of mushrooms in your lawn tell you there are still a lot of dead old roots down below that need to be composted in situ! Many lawn-owners ring me to ask how to exterminate those fungi! The amount of selective weed-killers sprayed on lawns appears to be quite alarming too. The good news is: Now is also the best time to sow a complete wildflower meadow at your place. When it is a few months old, you can literally mow a pathway through your prairie, allowing you to walk from one end to the other. And design it exactly like nature would, with the flowing tracks of animals (not in a straight line). Try it – You’ll like it! LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bob Campbell has a Sav recommendation for the weekend, the Stoneleigh 2020 Latitude Sauvignon Blanc $19.99.LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Microsoft's Edge browser is rolling out a kids edition If you share your laptop or desktop with a younger family member, now you can force the browser into a kids mode so they can only visit approved sites. The Windows version locks the browser so it's the only thing the kid can access. It comes with an 'allowed' list of 70 popular kids sites which you can modify. If they try to visit a site not on the list, the adult can approve that site with their password. It also forces kids into a safer version of Bing search. Netflix has made kids updates too It's trying to make the experience more visual - coz not all kids can read! The interface adds additional images of characters around the show art to help kids better identify what they want to watch. Spotify introduces the 'Car Thing' It's called a thing because it's a new kind of device.. it's a car screen or a car interface designed for cars that don't have the latest and greatest in connectivity options. Basically you connect it to your phone through Bluetooth - that's how it connects to the internet - then connect your phone to your car using Bluetooth or an auxiliary cable. The idea is your can put your phone away and just use this Spotify Car Thing to control your music. It's got a giant knob on the right hand side, and four physical buttons on the top to preset your favorite playlists, albums or podcast. It's got a dedicated mute button too. It responds to your voice too, using "Hey Spotify". What is the purpose? I guess it means you can keep your eyes on the road with voice functions dedicated to Spotify. It's not super elegant though as you need to plug the Car Thing into 12V of power. Otherwise, mounting your phone is kind of the same thing.. which might be why it's launching as a free device, because it really just makes Spotify more prominent in your car. It's US only at the moment. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Nevers: HBO’s new sci-fi fantasy series is an epic tale following a gang of Victorian women who find themselves with unusual abilities, relentless enemies, and a mission that might change the world (Neon). Earth Moods: a new documentary/travel/nature series from National Geographic that promises a visual and soundscape experience. Five unique episodes capture a vast array of colorful and calming corners of the world, from blue glaciers and arid deserts to lush rainforests and pulsating metropolises, paired with an inspiring soundtrack. Slow TV fans will love this. (Disney+). Younger: The final season of the comedy-drama about Liza, a 40-year old suddenly single mother who tries to get back into the working world only to find it’s nearly impossible to start again at her age, and pretends to be in her 20s to kickstart a new career (Neon). LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Covid has done nothing to slow comic Eddie Izzard down. She - yes she does sometimes go by she - has just finished 31 remote marathons and performing 31 remote stand up gigs in 31 days for charity. She's also co-written and produced a new war thriller, Six Minutes to Midnight, based on the true story of German schoolgirls living in Eddie’s hometown on the south-coast of England. Eddie has been speaking to Jack Tame. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Quince and space cakeQuince fruit are a wonderful autumn gift. Making quince paste or jelly is one use for them but poaching them to use in this cake is another and it’s simply gorgeous! 2-3 medium-sized quince ½ cup caster sugar 3 cups water Cake batter 6 big tbsps golden syrup or maple syrup 125g butter ½ cup brown sugar 1 ½ cups + 1 tbsp self-raising flour 1 tsp cinnamon ½ each ground ginger, ground nutmeg and ground allspice 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 2 medium eggs 240ml poaching syrup from the quinces 1. Poach the quince: peel and halve fruit and put in saucepan with the sugar. Cover with water and bring to a boil briefly before reducing heat to a simmer and cooking for 40 minutes, or until flesh is softened. Remove the pan from the heat and let the quinces cool a little in their syrup then take them out. When cool enough to handle use a spoon to scoop out the core and cut each half into 3 pieces. Reserve cooking liquid. 2. Heat oven to 180 C. Grease and line a 22cm round cake tin. Arrange quince in the base of the cake tin. 3. In a saucepan melt together golden syrup, butter and brown sugar. When the mixture starts to bubble, remove from the heat. 4. Sieve flour, spices and bicarb into a big bowl. Make a well in dry ingredients and break in the eggs. Whisk lightly with a fork then pour in a scant one cup of the quince cooking syrup and beat gently to mix. Pour in butter and golden syrup mixture and stir to combine. It will be thinner than a regular cake batter. 5. Pour into prepared tin, over quinces and bake for 40-45 minutes until springy to the touch then remove from the oven and leave to cool before turning out and removing the paper. 6. Serve in thick slices with crème fraiche, whipped cream or plain yoghurt. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Movie reviewer Francesca Rudkin has been watching biographical film The United States v Billie Holiday, and Thunder Force. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kevin Milne has been putting his hand into the dog poo bin in at the dog park.He's been on the phone to Jack Tame, to explain why. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kiwis should be angry about the lack of checks on border testingThis weekend marks a milestone of sorts. Australia, we’re coming at'cha! I’m excited to visit my family over there. My brother and I are really close and it’s been almost 18 months since I saw my grandma. She’s 94 as of last weekend. She’s vaccinated. From the way she’s been talking, she’s in a fearsome vein of gin-rummy form that I’m hoping to end before long. I know for others, this bubble is even an more critical and urgent development. But in a way, we’re lucky this thing is even happening. Not because logistically it’s too difficult – the Australian government has had a bubble up and running for months, now. But because once again, our border defences have been exposed as significantly more vulnerable than we’ve been led to believe. It’s outrageous that at this stage of the response, a border worker could contract the virus and come to work having apparently not been tested for Covid-19 for more than five months. It’s flabbergasting. It’s utterly unacceptable. To be honest, I’m surprised there isn’t more anger. Just imagine how different our Saturday morning might have been if the worker had passed on the virus to just a few more people and we had a wider outbreak. Forget the trans-Tasman bubble, it’s quite possible that we could have all been in lockdown this morning. If this were another country, I could understand why we didn’t have the checks and balances in place to give us certainty that every border worker was being regularly tested for the virus. Unlike other countries where Covid remains in the community, we don’t have to focus as keenly on the daily medical response. We’re not weighed down by debates over schools opening, or the logistics of getting ventilators and PPE to regions where they’re needed most.It’s precisely because we’ve done so well... it’s because we’ve stamped out Covid-19 in the community, that this negligence is so unacceptable.If you make sure the border is as close to perfect as possible, almost of that other Covid-19 stuff management stuff doesn’t matter. Our border protections should be our absolute focus and priority.From what we understand, the Ministry of Health has been relying on an honesty system to record border testing progress. An honesty system, where one little error can cost lives, jobs, and hundreds of millions of dollars.In a way, we’re fortunate to have even learnt about the testing error. I don’t expect you to have tuned into the select committee this week where Ashley Bloomfield and top MBIE officials were asked about their response. Labour MPs spent the vast majority of the session deliberately soaking up time and asking rambling softball questions in order to protect their officials. Why? This isn’t a political issue, it’s a public health issue. It’s a public health emergency. If National’s Chris Bishop hadn’t been able to squeeze in the question about the worker’s last testing, who knows if it would ever have come to light. And don’t forget - This is the second time this border issue has come about. The second time it’s been revealed, that despite all the promises, border workers haven’t been tested regularly. In August last year, we were assured workers everyone was getting swabbed, when almost two thirds had never even had a single test. I can’t believe that after that error, the Ministry of Health didn’t establish apply the highest level of scrutiny, possible. I can’t believe they are not micro-managing the shit out of our border.Maybe third time’s a charm. Chris Hipkins has just made the Border Worker Vaccine Register compulsory for frontline workers. Why it wasn’t mandatory beforehand, I don’t understand.Still.. it’ll be good to see those first flights take between here and Australia. Aussie... The Land Down Under. I’d call it The lucky country, but I’m wondering now if that’s us.LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our music reviewer Estelle Clifford has been listening to the new album by Demi Lovato. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Catherine Raynes has been reading The Last Reunion by Kayte Nunn and A Million Things by Emily Spurr.LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our traveller Mike Yardley's pretty excited about the prospect of some international travel, with this week's announcement of a travel bubble with Australia. But in the meantime, he's been checking out some bites and brews in New Plymouth. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guava Moth It’s an Aussie moth which arrived in NZ 1997 – probably through wind-dispersal. In Australia its main host is a lillipilly – a member of the Myrtle Family, like Manuka, Pohutukawa/Rata as well as guava and feijoa. It’s not a big deal in Australia (kept in check by predators and parasites) but in NZ feijoa as well as citrus, nashi, macadamia, guavas (and plum, peach, loquats) are the main hosts – they are destructive! They are found Northland down to north Waikato/Coromandel at the moment, and they’re heading South. Lifecycle takes about 8 weeks “from egg to egg”. These are laid on developing feijoa fruit; young larvae (tiny caterpillars) tunnel into the fruit (pinhole entrance) and eat the flesh. When full-grown the caterpillars come out and bungy-jump down to the soil to pupate. New moths emerge from these pupae, later in the season. They find each other through pheromone (males are very good at that!) they mate, and new eggs are laid. Main options for control (None of them are very efficient – but it may help): Cover your feijoas with FINE NETTING so that the female moth can’t lay eggs on the skin of the developing fruit. HYGIENE: Remove all the fallen fruit ASAP; infected fruit ripen pre-maturely and drop early (danger!!) Don’t compost them unless you’ve frozen the fallen fruit for at least 24 hrs. Otherwise, plastic bag them and into the rubbish or get chickens or pigs to eat them ASAP. Get a PHEROMONE TRAP (which catches the lusty males) BUT… DON’T RELY On them catching “all” the males – they won’t and you will not find any fewer infected feijoas. The pheromone trap is a TIME INDICATION of when the moths are flying (and hence mating) early in the season. You now know when to put a first spray on the tiny, developing fruit. My guess is to do that about 7-10 days after peak-flight! SPRAYS: Cover the small fruits with either Success (Yates spray that kills mostly caterpillars, especially the small ones) or Neem Oil; I reckon you may need to do that every 10 to 14 days to be partially successful – further research might tell us how successful that would be. Finally: there are (solar powered) light traps on the market that employ UV light to attract and catch moths when on the wing. (they drown in water or oil container underneath the trap) Not happy with that as the by-catch of native moths can be horrendous, especially in summer/autumn. Our native moths (and flies and beetles etc etc) are part of our garden eco-system and are valuable protein for many bird species. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Resident Doctor Bryan Betty has been giving Jack Tame some tips on how to deal with High Blood Pressure. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

UK correspondent Gavin Grey has been speaking to Jack Tame about the death of Prince Philip, and how the royals are preparing to farewell him. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kiwi born Jason worked closely with Prince Philip in Buckingham Palace, and was even invited to spend Christmas at Sandringham. He didn't want to use his last name, but has been speaking to Jack Tame about his experiences. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Siri's gender is about to change Ever since Siri was introduced, the default voice for US users has been female. That's about to change in an effort to promote diversity and inclusion. There are two new voices which sound far smoother and natural than the current voice. The big change here though isn't the actual voice, it's the selection of it. In the next version of iOS, when you're setting up a new iPhone you'll be asked to select which voice you want, with no default selected. That's important because a vast majority of people just leave the default settings. This is going to require an active choice. Interestingly, Siri's default voice in the UK has been male - maybe because of the butler culture? Facebook launched its Clubhouse competitor: Hotline Clubhouse is an audio only live streaming service where people can host what are effectively call-in radio shows. People raise their hand, then the host turns on their mic. I don't understand the hype, but I'm clearly alone in that because it's been valued at $1 billion and it's just hitting one year old. Every company is now trying to replicate it and, I must admit I am surprised to say this, but from what I've read Facebook's clone - called Hotline - might actually be better than the original. The big difference - the host can stream their camera or show a presentation, making it feel more formal or conference/panel-like. It also allows people to submit written questions, which the audience can then up-vote to get the attention of the host. The host can then choose to read the question, or invite the person up to the 'stage' to get more involved. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Screentime Queen Tara Ward has some picks for your weekend. This is a Robbery: The World’s Greatest Art Heist: a true crime documentary series about the events of March 18, 1990, when 13 works of art were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Guards admitted two men posing as police officers responding to a disturbance call, and the thieves tied the guards up and looted the museum (Netflix) The Serpent: The twisting real-life story of Charles Sobhraj, a murderer, thief and seductive master of disguise, who was a hidden darkness in the mid-70's on Asia's hippie trail (Netflix). Burden of Truth: a Canadian drama about city lawyer Joanna Hanley, who returns to her hometown to take the case of a group of girls suffering from a mysterious illness (TVNZ OnDemand). LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Father A man refuses all assistance from his daughter as he ages. As he tries to make sense of his changing circumstances, he begins to doubt his loved ones, his own mind and even the fabric of his reality. The College Admission Scandal Reenactments drive this documentary investigating the mastermind behind a scam to sneak the kids of rich and famous families into top US universities. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

NEW SEASON BUTTERNUT & CHORIZO Though butternuts and other pumpkin is available year-round and we know it’s a good keeper, it’s fabulous to have it fresh out of the garden too. Serves 2-4 1 butternut pumpkin 2 tbsps olive oil 1 tsp smoked paprika 2-3 chorizo sausages 2 spring onions, cut into 5cm lengths Salt & pepper to season Handful fresh coriander Dressing: ½ cup yoghurt or sour cream 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses Squeeze of lemon juice Heat oven to 200 C. Line a shallow roasting dish with baking paper. Halve butternut, scoop seeds and cut each half into 3-4 slices. Lay in dish and drizzle over oil and paprika, toss to coat and arrange in a single layer. Pinch out sausage meat from casings into walnut-sized balls and add these to dish. Scatter over spring onions and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 30-40 minutes or until butternut is soft and golden. Whisk together dressing ingredients. Serve with a handful of fresh coriander and drizzle in dressing. Nici’s notes: Butternut has quite thin skin and once roasted it’s fine to eat. Substitute the chorizo for chunks of bacon, adding it when pumpkin begins to soften. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip has died peacefully, just two months shy of his 100th birthday. He lived a unique life, attending tens of thousands of events in his official capacity and in support of the Queen. Covid-19 restrictions mean the Prince will be farewelled with a small funeral service. Royal expert Robert Hartman is the author of Queen of the World and Daily Mail contributor and has been speaking to Jack Tame. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kevin Milne has been talking to Jack Tame about his memories of Prince Philip, after the Duke of Edinburgh's death aged 99. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Justin Bieber’s new album Justice it out, it hit number one in the US this week, making him the youngest solo artist to hit eight number one albums. One of the singles is Peaches, and he’s celebrated by getting a peach tattooed on his neck, to add to his already extensive collection. Estelle Clifford has been taking a listen.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Barbizon, Paulina Bren Liberated from home and hearth by World War I, politically enfranchised and ready to work, women arrived to take their place in the dazzling new skyscrapers of Manhattan. But they did not want to stay in uncomfortable boarding houses. They wanted what men already had—exclusive residential hotels with daily maid service, cultural programs, workout rooms, and private dining.Built in 1927 at the height of the Roaring Twenties, the Barbizon Hotel was intended as a safe haven for the “Modern Woman” seeking a career in the arts. It became the place to stay for any ambitious young woman hoping for fame and fortune. Sylvia Plath fictionalized her time there in The Bell Jar, and, over the years, its almost 700 tiny rooms with matching floral curtains and bedspreads housed Titanic survivor Molly Brown; actresses Grace Kelly, Liza Minnelli, Ali MacGraw, Jaclyn Smith, Phylicia Rashad, and Cybill Shepherd; writers Joan Didion, Diane Johnson, Gael Greene, and Meg Wolitzer; and many more. Mademoiselle magazine boarded its summer interns there, as did Katharine Gibbs Secretarial School its students and the Ford Modeling Agency its young models. Before the hotel’s residents were household names, they were young women arriving at the Barbizon with a suitcase and a dream.Not everyone who passed through the Barbizon’s doors was destined for success—for some it was a story of dashed hopes—but until 1981, when men were finally let in, the Barbizon offered its residents a room of their own and a life without family obligations or expectations. It gave women a chance to remake themselves however they pleased; it was the hotel that set them free. No place had existed like it before or has since.Beautifully written and impeccably researched, The Barbizon weaves together a tale that has, until now, never been told. It is both a vivid portrait of the lives of these young women who came to New York looking for something more, and an epic history of women’s ambition.Savage Son, Jack CarrDeep in the wilds of Siberia, a woman is on the run, pursued by a man harboring secrets – a man intent on killing her.Half a world away, James Reece is recovering from brain surgery in the Montana wilderness, slowly putting his life back together with the help of investigative journalist Katie Buranek and his longtime friend and SEAL teammate Raife Hastings.Unbeknown to them, the Russian mafia has set their sights on Reece in a deadly game of cat and mouse.In his most visceral and heart-pounding thriller yet, Jack Carr explores the darkest instincts of humanity through the eyes of a man who has seen both the best and the worst of it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Strategies of Masters of Relationships: Who this group is, and some of the things they do differently.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our resident traveller Mike Yardley joined Jack Tame to talk about his recent trip to Waiheke Island.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Use of “common names” in the biological world is not very helpful. Scientists describe all species according to nomenclature rules whereby each organism gets a Genus name and a Species name. Blattella germanica is the German cockroach; “Blatella” is the genus name (with a capital letter) “germanica” is the species name (starting with a lower case letter).There are other species that belong to the Genus Blattella (Blattella orientalis is a good example) and they are closely related to each other. These scientific names are accepted and adopted by all scientist in any language – there is no doubt what we are talking about – this name is connected to one species and one species only.But I’d like to put the use of the vernacular name (common name) in a “confusion basket”: New Zealanders often ask me about Daddy Longlegs… There are three different groups of invertebrates that are commonly called “Daddy Longlegs”The Pholcids: Pholcus phalangioides aka the cellar spiders; cosmopolitan and especially in sub-tropical regions of Europe, Asia and Africa – no doubt distributed with human movement. They make messy webs in houses (human-fabricated “cellars” or nice, warm caves), especially in the corners near the ceiling. They capture a wide range of flying and crawling insects and even spiders. Contrary to public myth, they will trap and kill white-tailed spiders with ease.Another Arachnid, distantly related to the cellar spiders, is the Harvestman, Phalangium opilio. This is the time of the year when you see them a lot in the garden, especially the vegetable garden. Harvestmen are probably so named because you see them around “harvest time”. They’re predators of a wider range of insects and other invertebrate organisms. They love caterpillars, but also the eggs of white butterflies on your newly-sown cabbages. A really characteristic feature is that harvestmen have their head, thorax and abdomen fused into one body part and the coolest thing to see is that their second pair of legs is much longer that all the other legs. They use these to find their way around your garden, not unlike a blind person with a stick.And then there are the Crane flies (Tipulidae). These are those large flies that often sit on a wall, sunning themselves. Some people call them “giant mosquitoes”, but they have little in common with those biting, blood-sucking insects, apart from the fact they belong to the fly Order “Diptera”. “Di” (meaning two) and ptera (wings) indicates they just have two functional wings (not four, like most winged insects). Their hind wings have been modified to small stalks with a little knob at the end. When (crane) flies fly these so-called “Halteres” gyrate to give the fly stability and control. When you see a crane fly at rest, these halteres are easily spotted.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Remember the Casio G-Shock? It's back!This time though - it's a smart watch! Of course it's shock resistant and waterproof down to 200 meters. It's far more rugged than an Apple Watch, designed for outdoor activities from surfing to snowboarding. It's got a GPS, altitude sensor, heart rate monitor and a one and a half day battery. It'll run Android's Wear OS. It's not cheap though at $699 USD.We're starting to get a first look of how civilians will see spaceIf you're rich enough, or lucky enough, to be chosen to fly on Space X's Crew Dragon, you'll get an amazing view. The civilian passenger version of the space capsule will have a 360 degree view of space through a glass dome. It's taking the place of the dock which is used to connect to the Internal Space Station - because they won't be docking anywhere. Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic "SpaceShip 3" looks more like a plane and doesn't have the unobstructed views that the Space X capsule does.You can now Slack someone at a different companySlack has expanded its features to allow people to send messages outside their group/organization - called "Slack Connect". So instead of sending an email to someone, you could simply send them a DM on Slack. The future is to allow people to contact others across a private business network - so if you have vendors you work with, or clients, then they could be added to your network for seamless communication. There is one hiccup - you can send someone an unsolicited message as you 'invite them to chat' which has been flagged as a harassment concern, but this same issue exists in email. Remember though - your organization can see your messages if they want to, so before you add your friends think twice.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New rules on property investmentIt feels like property investors have been up in arms, talking worst case scenarios.Hannah McQueen joins Jack Tame to talk about the ways to help manage the cash impact on your personal finances of owning an investment property that is now going to cost you more, but you want to be able to hold on to it.Visit enable.me for more information.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We all know what it’s like to walk into a room and wonder what on earth you’re doing there, a sudden lapse in memory. But as you get older, you'd be forgiven for starting to worry that perhaps it’s something more sinister. It’s literally brain science, so who better to look into it than The New York Times Bestselling Author and Neuroscientist Lisa Genova, who's just written a new book, Remember. She’s written several books about neurological diseases and disorders .. possibly the most well-known is Still Alice, a fictional story about dementia that was made into a movie. Lisa joins Jack Tame on the show this morning.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Irregulars: Set in Victorian London, the series follows a gang of troubled street teens who are manipulated into solving crimes for the sinister Doctor Watson and his mysterious business partner, the elusive Sherlock Holmes (Netflix)Line of Duty: with a brand new season starting on TVNZ 1 on Sunday nights, it’s a great chance to catch one of Britiain’s best police dramas (Season 6 on TVNZ1 from Sunday, seasons 1-5 on Netflix). Defending the Guilty: a British comedy about an idealistic, young barrister who is shown the ropes by a worldly mentor (TVNZ OnDemand).See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A lamb shoulder is such a succulent cut to use and with the sharpness of lemons and capers this is the perfect celebration dinner at Easter.Serves 6-81.5kg lamb shoulder½ cup white wine½ cup stock or waterSmall bunch rosemary, chopped fine6 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste½ tsp salt and grind of pepper1-2 lemons, skin on, thinly sliced2 tbsps capersPreheat oven to 170 C. Lay shoulder in a roasting dish. Add wine and stock (or water). Rub rosemary, crushed garlic, salt and pepper all over the shoulder then scatter over lemons slices. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 1-1.5 hours.Remove foil, add capers and cook for a further 20-30 minutes, uncovered, until lamb and lemons are nicely browned and meat is falling from the bone. Remove shoulder and rest.To make a gravy, tilt the dish and skim fat, leaving only the cooking juices. Thicken these slightly with cornflour or flour and add more wine and stock/water to simmer for at least 5 minutes.Serve sliced lamb scattered with capers and drizzled with gravy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

NobodyHutch Mansell fails to defend himself or his family when two thieves break into his suburban home one night. The aftermath of the incident soon strikes a match to his long-simmering rage. In a barrage of fists, gunfire and squealing tires, Hutch must now save his wife and son from a dangerous adversary -- and ensure that he will never be underestimated again.The CourierThe true story of a British businessman unwittingly recruited into one of the greatest international conflicts in history. Forming an unlikely partnership with a Soviet officer hoping to prevent a nuclear confrontation, the two men work together to provide the crucial intelligence used to defuse the Cuban Missile Crisis.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kevin Milne joins Jack Tame to talk about the end of daylight saving this weekend.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I was flying into Auckland on Thursday after a spending the first half of this week on Aotea Great Barrier Island.It was a wonderful trip - I’ll tell you more about that soon - and the flight back to the mainland came courtesy of a little Cessna Caravan and Great Barrier Air. If you haven’t been before, flying Great Barrier Air is wonderful. Like other regional airlines, it's pretty much just as chilled out as you might imagine. All the passengers squeeze inside a cabin space about as high and wide as in a car. If you’re in Row A you can pretty much reach out and touch the controls. There’s no fancy safety video. There’s no inflight snack. There’s not even a co-pilot! It’s fantastic. And the views across the Hauraki Gulf are astonishing.But it was coming back into Auckland, flying at a low speed and at a lower altitude than you would in a big commercial jet, that I found myself really focusing a couple of features of our biggest city.For starters, and this is probably pretty obvious, Auckland is incredibly spread out. Just ridiculously spread out. From the far-Eastern suburbs to the outer reaches of the North Shore is a vast suburban patchwork. If it were an unfamiliar city you might think it was home to five million people.Except the other thing you notice, and this might also seem prettttty obvious, is that the houses are all one-or-two-storied. And almost all have backyards.Don’t get me wrong; I love a backyard. I love gardening. I love playing backyard cricket. I think it’s really important for kids to play outside and feel dirt underneath their fingernails. But at a time when we are lamenting the ludicrous cost of housing in this country, and Auckland is top of the pops, I couldn’t separate our crisis from that very simple and obvious observation: Auckland’s houses are too spread out for the city’s population. I understand that as Kiwis, most of us have grown up with a version of the quarter-acre dream. That dream might have been sustainable when Auckland only had half a million people. Indeed, our other big cities are only just starting to experience the pressures of endless sprawl.But it seems to me that one of the most important solutions to the housing crisis is our responsibility. Not the government's responsibility. Not the Reserve Bank's. We are responsible for a collective attitude change when it comes to intensification. That doesn’t mean fifty-storey tower blocks in every neighbourhood. But it does mean smart density. It means many more town houses and terraced housing options in our cities. It means making Auckland’s neighbourhoods look a little more London and a little less Gisborne in the 1950s.Of course, when developers try and bring about these changes, they’re often challenged by existing property owners who moan that more intensive housing will affect the ‘character’ of their neighbourhoods. These are the same people who complain about 5% rates rises even as their house values increase by $150,000 a year. They are acting against the collective interests of everyone else in their wider community. Density is the pay-off for choosing to live in a big city. With the right sort of development and public transport infrastructure, there are all sorts of benefits that come with living in higher density environments. And if you don't like it, simple! Move to a town or a region where space is at less of a premium. I agree with the government on one thing… the housing crisis is going to take a require a massive set of solutions. Many of those policies lie at the feet our elected officials. But there are things the rest of us can do to help ease the crisis. For starters, stand up to the NIMBYs.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Music reviewer Estelle Clifford has been listening to Teeks' long-awaited debut album ‘Something To Feel.’ LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Second-hand shopping like a pro Clothing is a huge part of our unnecessary consumer habits. I would have been shocked as a young person if someone bought a new outfit to wear only once (unless it was the school ball). Now it is quite common! The International Panel on Climate Change has estimated that fashion is responsible for 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, as well as excessive use of water and synthetic chemicals to produce and finish textiles. Second hand clothes are an eco-answer to having the variety you need in your wardrobe. Here are some tips on how to buy well: Dress Comfortably: Wear clothes and shoes that are easy to take off. This might sound like strange advice, but if you're in and out of changing rooms, it makes a big difference to be able to try items on with ease. You can also wear clothes that you can try things on over – like leggings and a tank top. it is a good idea to know your body measurements by heart or have them stored on your phone for quick reference – and bring a tape measure. Know What You're Looking For: Because there are so many options at a thrift store, keeping an ongoing list of items you need helps to narrow down the search. (It's still a good idea, though, to keep an eye out for those unexpected gems.) Know Your Personal Style: Try saving pictures of looks you like to a private collection on Instagram or Pinterest. Reference this when in doubt about what might look good. Look for Quality: You need to develop a critical eye when shopping secondhand. Scan items for stains (particularly underarm), spots, holes, loose threads, missing buttons, broken zippers. Make sure the seams are strong and check that the material isn't worn thin in places. Sniff the item to make sure it smell fresh and clean. Ask yourself, "Would I walk out of the store wearing this?" Depending on your style, many thrifted items can actually look better than new. Think of soft graphic tees, cozy sweatshirts, and trendy ripped jeans that already look like you've put in the years of wear. Choose Natural Fibers Whenever Possible: Natural fibers, such as cotton, hemp, wool, and linen, tend to age better and pill less than synthetic and blended materials. They do not release microplastic particles when washed, and they will biodegrade at the end of their life. They're generally easier to repair, too. (Learn more about the benefits of natural fibers here.) Seek Out Children's Clothes: If you have children, secondhand is a great way to dress them. Kids grow and go through clothing so quickly that it becomes prohibitively expensive to buy new items for them. Look for clothes, outerwear, sporting gear, boots, and shoes at the thrift store, and continue the cycle by donating whatever they outgrow that's still in good condition. Go Online: You will be surprised what’s out there LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our resident traveller Mike Yardley has been on a city break in Hamilton ... and asking himself whether it's now a cool city.LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Book reviewer Catherine Raynes has been reading Other Peoples Houses by Kelli Hawkin and Win by Harlan Coben.LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Growing spinachAs a kid I never really liked spinach. We had kid’s shows on tellie that were based on this vegetable, and I reckon it was to promote the green sludge to the younger generation. Popeye the Sailorman was the marketing tool – he was strong and healthy.And to be quite honest, spinach is a good source of iron and calcium, plus vitamins, protein and minerals. Good for skin, hair, nails (keratin) and calcium of course for bone health. It also contains Oxalic Acid (the stuff that makes the leaves of Rhubarb “poisonous”) and this has the habit of disrupting the uptake of iron and calcium. Cooking spinach breaks down the oxalic acid and voila! All good again. Some people believe the marketing myth of “Super Food”. Absolute rubbish! It’s just good food. I prefer it over “silverbeet”. It’s easy to grow, really. Either from seeds or from seedlings in punnets. You’ll need good, well-drained soil mixtures with plenty of compost. Seeds usually germinate within 2 weeks. Thin to about 7 cm spacing in a row; 20 cm between rows. Cover it to stop birds getting their beaks into your young leaves – netting over the rows will work nicely. Slugs and snails are also looking for good skin and health! I often go and look in the evening with a torch to pick up any molluscs heading for my crop. Beer traps are useless, by the way. Keep an eye on caterpillars too. Some loopers and “cutworm”-like caterpillars love to have a go at small, fresh leaves. There are quite a few varieties of Spinach; look at Kings Seeds catalogue and Yates’s range. I love the harvest of them. When they are young, pick the small leaves and use in salads. Because you pick individual leaves, your plant simply keeps on growing; multiple harvests! Just a reminder that when you keep on taking off leaves, the plant needs nutrient to replace them. Liquid fertilisers tend to be the way to go: every time you water, there will be some N-P-K dribbling into the root zone. A good, compost-rich soil will also sustain the plants. Continuity can be achieved by planting a Spinach row every 4 weeks or so. An alternative to spinach (that chalky feeling on your teeth!!) is cultivating the perpetual spinach. It’s not truly a “spinach”, but a chard (Beta vulgaris). Advantage: you won’t need to sow it in succession; a few plants will do you for more than a year, simply by plucking the leaves you need. They’ll re-grow. Taste a bit milder yet you can use it just like spinach. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bob Campbell has a Rosé to recommend for your weekend. He's been drinking Yealands 2020 Baby Doll Rosé, Marlborough $18.95.LISTEN TO HIS REVIEW ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Zoom's expanding their reach They've released technology to allow developers to effectively build Zoom into their apps to create more tailored experiences instead of needing to use Zoom's app for everything. It's effectively turning Zoom into a platform. So now if you own a fitness studio, you can build you own app, with its own interface, but using Zoom's very scalable and reliable tech in the background. I'm excited to see what people build because we've got used to doing things over video now. Space X's rocket made a dramatic re-entry There were plenty of people on Twitter who though it could be a UFO.. but no, it was space junk. The disposable part of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket usually burns up in orbit, but this didn't so as it came back to earth it put on a spectacular show over Washington & Oregon. This is the bit of the rocket that guides the satellite payload into its proper spot after the booster rockets land back on earth. You can now Slack someone at a different company Slack has expanded its features to allow people to send messages outside their group/organization - called "Slack Connect". So instead of sending an email to someone, you could simply send them a DM on Slack. The future is to allow people to contact others across a private business network - so if you have vendors you work with, or clients, then they could be added to your network for seamless communication. There is one hiccup - you can send someone an unsolicited message as you 'invite them to chat' which has been flagged as a harassment concern, but this same issue exists in email. Remember though - your organization can see your messages if they want to, so before you add your friends think twice. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Screentime Queen Tara Ward has been testing out some TV for your weekend. Total Control: Rachel Griffiths and Deborah Mailman star in this Australian political drama about fearless Indigenous senator Alex Irving, who finds herself at the center of media attention after a shocking event and, barely weeks into her political career in Canberra, must deal with betrayal inside the government (Acorn TV). The Gloaming: An Australian crime thriller. When an unidentified woman is found brutally murdered, Detective Molly McGee teams up with fellow cop, Alex O'Connell, with whom she shares a tragic past, to solve the crime (TVNZ OnDemand, from Sunday). Formula 1: Drive to Survive: a new season of the gripping documentary series about Formula 1 racing (Netflix).See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With our relatively COVID-free status, plenty of people overseas are dreaming longingly of a life in New Zealand. One high-profile American, LA born-and-bred wellness expert Lauren Roxburgh, has been able to make that a reality. That's thanks to her Kiwi husband, producer and director Gus. She’s got a big profile in the US. Lauren is known as Gwyneth Paltrow's "Body Whisperer" and can regularly be found doing media appearances including Good Morning America and E! And if that’s sounding a bit too woo-woo for you, among her former clients is a little known basketball player called LeBron James. Lauren, Gus and their two kids have just made the move to Wanaka and she's been speaking to Jack Tame. And if you want to try her free 7-day body reset, head to this website: www.laurenroxburgh.com/body-reset-guideLISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

FEIJOA & TOASTED COCONUT STRUDEL This strudel recipe uses feijoas as well as apples and adds a hint of the South Pacific with toasted coconut which makes it an even more magical dessert! Serves 2-4 1 cup feijoa flesh (scooped out of the skins), chopped small 1 granny smith apple, grated or diced very small 1 tbsp honey 2 tbsp golden raisins ½ tsp ground ginger ½ tsp vanilla extract ½ cup fresh breadcrumbs 2 tbsp long thread coconut, toasted Zest from ½ lemon 50g butter, melted 4 sheets filo pastry Ice cream to serve Preheat oven to 180 C. Line a tray with baking paper. Combine the feijoa, apple, honey, golden raisins, ginger and vanilla into a saucepan and bring to a simmer over a low heat. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Cool. In a bowl, combine breadcrumbs, coconut and lemon zest. Drizzle in half the melted butter and combine. To assemble the strudel: lay out the filo sheets, one on top of the other, brushing melted butter between each layer. Work quite quickly when you do this so that the sheets don’t dry out. Brush the top layer with butter too. Spoon the breadcrumb mix along the long edge of the pastry, about 10cm above the bottom edge and 3-4cm shy of either side. Pile the cooled fruit filling on top of this. Start to roll your strudel up, bringing the edge of pastry closest to you up over the filling and continue to roll, tucking in the sides/ends about halfway through. Carefully place the strudel on the lined baking tray, seam side down. Brush the top with melted butter. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until golden. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm thick slices with vanilla ice cream. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Movie reviewer Francesca Rudkin has been watching Jodi Foster's Golden Globe winning The Mauritanian and The Grizzlies. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kevin Milne's been remembering Colin Simon, whose funeral was last week. Colin was the man who designed the iconic logo for the Chch Commonwealth Games - where the Union Jack was made kiwi.LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was a slow moving disaster. And now, at it’s worst, it’s a massive intractable problem affecting millions of people. It’s the sort of situation that could have maybe been averted if people had taken action a whole lot sooner, but they didn’t. No, I’m not talking about the container ship in the Suez Canal – far and away my favourite story of the week! I’m talking about the housing crisis, and the government’s new efforts to calm down the ludicrous changes in the housing market.I know I go on about housing but apart from Covid-19 it’s surely the most immediate crisis we face. What do I think of the announcement? It’s a punt. It’s a gamble. A bet. Jacinda Ardern wouldn’t say this week what the changes to the brightline test or interest deductability will do to house prices or rents. In an interview I did with Grant Robertson that will air on Q+A tomorrow, the Finance Minister is similarly non-committal. The government introduced these changes but they don’t honestly know what the effect will be. They hope it cools the market, but they don’t know. Labour was elected three-and-a-half years ago on bold promises to sort the housing crisis. They don’t talk about transformation much any more, but our housing market has certainly transformed, just not in the way they wanted. Since taking over in 2017, the median price nationwide has increased 47%. Of course, the pandemic has played a big role in that. But keep in mind, house prices increased 26% under a Labour-led government’s watch before the pandemic. And that kind of increase wasn’t enough for Labour to push the policies we’ve seen this week. Indeed I think it’s pretty obvious these policies have been put together in a rush. Treasury hasn’t had time to do its sums. They don’t have much of the detail about exemptions and new builds. The brightline extension and deductability changes were not included in Labour’s electoral campaign less than six months ago. Again... this is a gamble. This is a punt.All that being said, from a political perspective, I think it’s a good punt. Labour is doing a much better job of reading the public mood on this, than National is in opposition. They sense that even the so-called Mum-and-Dad investors of the World with a few properties up their sleeves are probably feeling a little uncomfortable with the market’s recent growth.When it comes to broken promises, they’ve clearly misled voters on the brightline extension but from the government’s perspective, it won’t matter. Grant Robertson is taking the fall. If his ruling out the brightline extension last year was really just a case of speaking too definitively, he could have clarified his comments at the time and before people voted. But Robertson will take one for the team. If it was Jacinda Ardern who had emphatically ruled a brightline extension in the same way her Finance Minister did, there’s no way they would have introduced that change this week.From an economic perspective, is it a good punt? It depends who you listen to. Every economist has a different forecast. Maybe the changes will be successful in just getting everything to chill out for a bit. Some forecasts have a drop of up to ten percent.For me, it’s simple. This problem has been left too long. The time to act wasn’t this week. It was years ago. We needed political courage but instead, for years, successive leaders have only introduced policies they were sure were politically popular. Policy-making by opinion poll. The ambulance is officially at the bottom of the cliff. LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Travel writer Mike Yardley has been Roaming Waikato's riches.LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Music reviewer Estelle Clifford has been listening to TV personality Jon Batiste's new album We Are.LISTEN TO AUDIO ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.