The Sunday Session with Francesca RudkinOn the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin Full Show Podcast for Sunday 19th January 2025, author and master of suspense David Baldacci reveals he's had death threats due to the subjects in this books.
Knowing our values might just be the key to living a meaningful, purposeful life. Resilience expert Bradley Hook tells us how to identify our values and live by them.
Urban planning expert Bruce Weir talks about where our building industry is going wrong after news tens of thousands of Auckland homes are overheating.
Our eyelashes might be being compromised by our beauty regimes - Dr Michelle Dickinson has the latest in science news.
And the panel discuss Christopher Luxon's upcoming cabinet reshuffle.
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You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin from News Talks at B. Welcome to the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin and Wiggles for the best selection of great Reads News Talks EDB.
Good morning and welcome back to the Sunday Session for twenty twenty five. Hope you had a good break and enjoyed some quality time with family and friends and are ready for the year. Or if, like me, you've worked through the summer. I hope you've got a holiday to look forward to at some point in the near future. And Franchesca, if I can with you until midday, we have got a fab show to kick off the year. David Baldacci, crime and legal thriller writer joins us ahead of his visit to New Zealand at the end of the month. David has sold over one hundred and fifty million books, which is incredible. I'm sure many of you read one of his books over the summer. He is a prolific writer. He joins me to talk about his work. To see his work issues with adult literacy and the movement to band books in the US. So David Balducci is with me after ten. Now, if you're thinking twenty twenty five is going to be the year when you build a life with meaning and purpose, you are going to love my guest. After eleven, Bradley Hook, author of Start with Values, joins me to talk about identifying our values and the impact that they can have on us if we manage to live by them. He'll be with me after eleven. It is expected the Prime Minister will make an announcement about changes to his ministerial lineup at three pm today, so Jason walls on the reshuffle shortly, and as always, for a small charge. You're most welcome to text anytime throughout the show. On ninety two, ninety two.
The Sunday session, so over.
The summer, the news cycle slows as much as the days do, and there's more time to mix and mingle on news sites. A few weeks back, the discussion about New Zealander is skipping over the ditch for better opportunities came up again after the Western Australian government anounced it would offer New Zealand trades ten thousand dollars to make the move. They need more houses in the West and they want Kiwis to help build them. Ten thousand dollars is some distraction from the fact that you're going to be working in crazy hot temperatures now. Look, I have no issue with New Zealanders wanting to advance their careers, have new experiences, or grow as a person by heading off for a new phase of their lives somewhere else. When you live at the bottom of the world, the call to experience the rest of the world is strong. Australia is an obvious place to start. It's different but as familiar as you can get. But as I scrolled my way through Ossie news websites, I noticed they're dealing with the same challenges as us. While we have similar economic conditions, Australia have been able to weather them better than we have. But it hasn't been a breeze. Last week the Sydney Morning Herald rand stories on Sydney's housing crisis and on the bank of Mum and Dad increasingly being tapped to help younger people through the cost of living crisis. Their trains don't run not too often either. Their beaches are shut due to pollution an effluent waste. They have race issues and the weather seventy thousand lightning strikes were reported on Wednesday. Australia's construction industry is suffering like owls, with Melbourne's Herald Sun reporting on a property giants collapse, that Australia is grappling with the mortgage led surge and calls to the National Debt Helpline, and there's a shocking rise and hospital work has been attacked. Sound familiar. On Brisbane's The Courier Mail, there were stories about TikTok stars and NRLs players, drink driving charges, snake bites, fire bombings and infrastructure woes. There was some good news though, Brazi debut on the Timeout's Best fifty Cities in the World list for twenty twenty five credit where credits due. None of our cities made the list all on all though, it was a reminder that the grass may not be much greener on the other side of the ditch. For sure, you can make Australia work to your advantage. Just the size of the place means more jobs. But to make the move work, you need to end up in the right place for your circumstances, with the right job and affordable living which allows you to get ahead. As one of my talkback callers said to me during summer afternoons, you might be able to have a barbie any night of the week because you know the weather will be great. But there's more to consider. But if Kiwi's decide to, you know, make the move, they should feel right at home. Reading all these papers, I learned the ossies whine about stuff just as much as we do.
The Sunday Session.
So with all this in mind, where is the best place to move to in Australia. We can get the right job and affordable living which allows you to get ahead. And have you done your due diligence on life and Ossie, is it worth the move or not? Ninety two ninety two is the number detext you'll with the Sunday Session on Newstalks. He be eleven past nine.
Keep it simple, It's Sunday the Sunday.
Session with Francesca Rutgater and Wiggles for the best selection of graver releas News Talk.
Now.
As I mentioned before, there will be a reshuffle of national ministers. Only are the Prime Minister woman making his announcement of the reshuffle at three pm today. Claire Trevett has written in The New Zealand Herald that it is expected that Shane Retti will lose the health portfolio, with Simeon Brown expected to pick up that very challenging portfolio. So Jason Wallswory with us shortly to have a chat about that.
Right.
When it comes to building design and planning in New Zealand, we just don't seem to be getting it quite right, do we. A story in the Herald has raised concerns, highlighting an issue with overheating houses. The problem is impacting tens of thousands of terraced houses in Auckland and I'm sure another sunny parts of New Zealand. One man who warned of this issue years ago is independent urban planner, designer and strategic development expert Bruce Ware. And Bruce joins me now, good morning.
Good morning friendships.
So tell me how long ago did you see this issue coming?
Oh? Look, I to be honest, I was aware of it as a as a young graduate. And you know, we were sort of I was quite a sort of classic system. We could see the difference between new buildings and traditional buildings. But you know I fell into the trap myself when I build a house twenty five years ago, and even as a freestanding house on two levels of getting overheating issues and certain parts of the house. So learned the hard way.
What is the main issue around how these houses have been built?
Look, fundamentally, it's a different way of constructing. So the moment we're talking about very very compact footplates and we're talking about party walls. So one of the issues we start with is the way we we even lay out developments for them. So we've got of a suburban mindset and we're trying to do an urban development and that's where the issue arises from fundamentally.
So it's insulation, for example, let's throw that out there. We know that there's a lot of regulations are about the insulation that you need to have in a new build. Does that cause an issue? Or that calls a house, doesn't it?
Yeah, that calls a house.
So when you and it definitely makes a contribution.
But the problem you have is that, I.
If you sort of get back to the basics of it, you want windows and doors, and that's all great, but you're in a really compact living and environment. We all know that heat rises, and we and you know that we want soul again and all those good things, but you want somen at different times of the day and for different reasons. So you want morning sun to warn the house up, and you want a call in the afternoon when it's blazing into.
Your living court. And we sort of.
But everybody's been told that north facing is the best and to have big lots of glazing and you know, passive soul again and all those good things. The problem is when once you get to three level dwellings, you imagine it's heat compounding as it rises up the building, and unfortunately, by the time you get to top levels it's getting pretty damn hot, particularly like you said, in Auckland and Hamilton and Tarong and places like that.
You just have to get airflow, gotcha.
So the main issue is the size of the windows that we face north so that we get all this beautiful sunshine, but we haven't thought about how we're going to move that air through the house. Is that right?
Pretty much?
So?
I mean, when you think about it, we actually built terras house. I mean, terror houses have been built for hundreds of years around the world and in similar climates to what we've got, and in fact we did it really really well. You know, in early Auckland and other traditional centers, and then it lost favor and we went into a suburban model and we expanded and we had sprawled, and now we're coming back in and we're trying to retrofit and we're trying to intensify and where it's really great for developers and they can make a better margin and all the rest. But the problem is the standards. Standards are designed for something well, they're just not fit for purpose fundamentally, and so you and even the way we lay out our developments. You know, if you're lucky enough to do a greenfield's development and you're putting in terrace houses, you want to try and get a wider house so that you get as much opportunity and efficiency for you know, obviously venting it. But you will see most of the terrace houses that have done long and very narrow.
Yeah, totally, the one with the garage at times, you know.
Exactly exactly, and so you've got the limited opportunity to vent it. We don't put in service cares, so we can't retrofit. We can't retrofit sort of any of the good things like HIV and the other thing that's really bad in My opinion is we have really mean floor to floor heights, so you can't even put in ceiling fans and move air around, so you can't cheaply mechanically ventilate, and so you have this all these compounding little things that are coming along and creating just basically pretty much a crisis, to be honest, it really is, and it's very hard to go. You can never get higher ceilings back once you build a building, that's it. So the issue really is at resource consent level. You know, you've got to get the fundamentals right and then you pick up the detail building consent.
I'm not feeling hugely hopeful about the answer to this question, but is there anything you can do to existing houses to rectify the overheating issue?
You can, you can, it's you know, hate being negative. It's not cheap like, it's not as bad as the leaky building. But firstly, you've got to help reduce the sunlight coming in. And what's happening at the moment is you go around some of the streets and you'll see that people have closed the curtains in the middle of the day on a boiling day a they're so close to the street they need privacy, but also they need to keep the sun out, so putting shades or shrouds around windows and it makes a mess of difference, particularly overhead anything canopies. The other thing you can do is we can put selling vents on, you know, like you see the spinners on top of industrial buildings that sit there and suck the air through the building. The issue there, of course is that people close doors for privacy, so you know, rooms still heat up, so you can do things. You can also put an external extract events into rooms, you know, as everybody knows though, when you've got a sort of floor fan or something, they're pretty ineffectual at moving year around, so you kind of need all of it going at the same time. And obviously then you get into really expensive mechanical ventilation. I'm not a huge fan of the hivs and those sorts of systems because you have to close all the windows and doors for them to work effectively. But the main thing is getting airflow. The more airflow you can get through the more and kicking it outside, sucking it in from a cold area and getting it up and out through the roof is probably the best and cheapest way you can. I have seen actually some examples from overseas where they used you can buy now very very slim ceiling fans. I haven't seen them in New Zealand, but they and I'm not sure if they're that great, but that is an option.
And the other one is.
Putting a service core on the exterior of a building. I've seen them dressed up to look like chimneys where they put heat pumps inside what you'd think as a fireplace and running piping up the outside. But yet again, you're you know, you're in the probably tens of thousands of dollars to fix the solutions, you know, problem which could have been avoided fundamentally.
I mean putting in, as you mentioned, a heat pump that you use as an air conditioner, is that going to have an impact? Oh?
Absolutely, Just bear in mind they have limited distance though, so you've got to actually put in multiple ones if you're up three levels, so you know, and then you've got to maintain it. And we're really talking about a cost effective solution and affordable housing solution, and people, I mean, this is the other part of it, isn't it. Those people have these huge mortgages on these tiny properties. And then we're asking them to find another twenty thirty thousand dollars to fix a problem that should not have arisen.
Would you think in a new modern bild you wouldn't be dealing with how you know able to happen? Bruce is someone that have dropped the ball here.
Look, it's.
When you think about it, so urban development that we're talking about, the form that we're talking about has been it's associated with a recent building boom, you know, and it's and it's been basically brought on by councils initially or councils not wanting the density, and then when it did occur, they've tried to retrofit existing suburban rules to kind of manage it. And the National Policy Statement on Urban Development only came out three and a half years ago, you know, that actually provides some sort of guidance and structure around how this is to occur. So there's been a sort of a dropping off the ball at a regulatory level and a kind of a hubrious I guess of not actually looking at what works and what doesn't work and why you do it. And it's different to standard planning rules. So I think national policy, sorry, national standards is absolutely crucial in this, and also I guess some better controls and plans for medium density living, which is what we call it in the business.
Are there any other issues? Yes, Sorry, sorry to interrupt with I just want to get there any other issues that you've identified in current building trends you know that you would like to see a change on as well.
Oh look, I you know there's so I come in up from a sort of a holistic perspective, and we've got all of this density coming in and we're increasingly reliant on mechanical ventilation, let alone electric cars in our environments, and we want what we're doing. We're starting to construct houses that only work for people of a certain age group for a certain period of time and CIN milk and in Europe now they require that a or that they don't require. They're encouraging all countries to install a lift. Core doesn't mean you have to put in a lift, but you allow buildings to accommodate for people with who are less able, who can age in place. You know, I think that's a really good thing. It means buildings get a fraction bigger, but it's a really good future proofing. We like I say, we need more and more power, but our power grids really under stress and we shouldn't be reliant on the power grid. Why aren't we mandating solar and batteries on medium density complexes? You know that you have a level of resilience there. And of course I think fundamentally our floor heights a few our floor heights are too low on very small spaces. You know, it's the cheapest way to make a small space field bigger is to list the ceiling. Yeah, but also you can put in a ceiling fan, which is cheap. It's a couple of hundred bucks versus you know, ten thousand dollars for a height pump system.
So, Bruce, you have given us an awful lot to think about. Thank you so much for your time this morning. A lot to think about, especially if you are looking at buying a terrorist house or in the planning phases of building one. That was Bruce Ware there who is an independent urban planner, designer and strategic development It is twenty eight developer development expert. There we go twenty eight past nine News Talks AV.
It's the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin on News Talks ab.
Thanks so much for your text. We live and we lived in the Sunshine Coast for ten years. It was amazing. What I can say is, at no time did Ozzie's talk about moving to New Zealand, nor was it ever a topic media outlets head up for discussion. Now, I did notice that over the summer while I was reading about it in our news but not on the Aussie news. And we came back to care for sick family. However, we'd be back there in a heartbeat. Whether finance, careers and standard of living are all higher. Thanks for that tech story. Yes, I know a couple of doctors left New Zealand and went to the Sunshine Coast in a last year and they're talking about the just the their Yeah, standard of living is just absolutely fantastic. Now a few more who went to Brisbane, they can access areas like the Sunshine Coast. It does seem to be a very popular area. Thank you for your text. Ninety two ninety two joining me now as news troks. He'd be political editor, talkback host, emergency fill in host Jason Walls. How are you? He seemed to be.
He saw from all the hats that I have the weare.
Do you know what day it is? Do you know what your job you're doing right now?
Technically I'm in a day off, so no job at all, but I'm more than happy to come talk to you.
You're a darling. Thank you very much for that. Hey, we are expecting the Prime Minister to make an announcement about his first reshuffle that he is doing of his minister roles at three pm today? Is that correct?
At three pm?
Yes?
So as I understand that the announcement will be a reshuffle. He hasn't done one of these since about a year ago, where he booted Melissa Lee and Penny Simmons out of their current positions and shuffled those around. And it was quite a ruthless move by Chris Luxon. I mean, there was some internal rumblings from some that you know, he hadn't really given them much of a chance. They'd only been in the role for about six to nine months and he was already rotating them out, so it's time for another role. It's interesting because he told me before the end of the year that he was not thinking about a reshuffle and there would not be a reshuffle before his caucus retreat, which is later this week. So it's interesting to see that he's changed his mind, and I'd be curious to see what it is that has actually made him go from thinking, oh no, everything's fine.
So yes, we do need a reshuffle.
The Herald's Claire Trevette is reporting it's expected that Shane Aretti, who is the current Health Minister, is going to be shuffled out of that health portfolio and maybe somebody like the likes of Simeon Brown will come in and take over that one, which will free him up from some of his.
Already pretty weighty portfolios.
I mean he's Transport and local government and an assistant Economic assistant Finance and a whole bunch of others. So it does leave some room for quite a big reshuffle and some moving round of the titles.
And why do you think that Shane Ritti is expected to lose that portfolio?
Well, it's unclear.
I mean I always looked at Shane Loretti and I thought he was somebody, you know, give him a chance, you know, give him some time. He's very practical, he's very thoughtful and methodical about the way that he goes But maybe Luxelon's decided, you know, that sounded good in theory, but you actually need a bit of a political animal, a political beast in that role.
Somebody that is able to crack the whip.
And really really come down on some of the bureaucrats that are pushing back on the government's vision and that for that you need. You do need somebody like Simeon Brown, who has proved that he is quite good at this sort of role it's playing, you know, towing the party line, where it's also getting results as well.
You need like there's a few at the top like.
That, like Nikola Willis and Simeon and Chris Bishop, the big sort of core group of Luxeon's in a circle, I would say, so.
It's more about the way they operate and manage. I mean, this is health is a mess and it has been for a year and and it's a very complicated portfolio. Is it more about the way you operate?
Well, it must be, I mean if what I mean, and it's Cletchavette. So if she's put it in the Herald, it's obviously right. If that's to be believed, then obviously the Prime Minister has sort of maybe got a bit fed up of waiting for things to turn around, and he's just moving and making quite a decisive move to make sure he gets results.
I mean, I'm a little bit surprised, to be honest.
I thought that Shane Betty needed a little bit more time to bed in and see how he was doing. But you know, the Prime Minister has proved before that he can be quite ruthless when it comes to results, and that's exactly what he appears to be doing here.
Hey, you mentioned just before National Caucus retreat later in the week. It seems to sort of be what everybody's doing this week, isn't it. It's quite busy.
Oh, It's an incredibly busy weekend in politics. We've got Labour's caucus retreat, National's Caucus retreat, we've got the Act Party doing at State of the Nation, We've got National doing it State of the Nation, and we got Ratna as well, which all the political leaders will be at down north of Wellington. So it's one heck of a week. So, I mean, I think that's why Chris Luckson is doing this now. He wants to get out ahead of it and he wants to clear the runway so he can have his announcements, and he can have his vision for the year in the State of the Nation and in his caucus retreat where he refocuses his ministers and his MPs.
A little bit.
So it's interesting. We'll have to wait and see what happens at all of those things. But Chris Luxon is definitely sort of clearing up some media space today, so it doesn't overshadow what he does this week.
Do you think that the National Party will be discussing the Taxpayers Union Courier poll that was released.
On Friday at all listen.
They'll tell us now, they'll be telling us one poll does not an election make, and they'll tell us it's over summer. You know, people don't pay attention, but of course, like they're politicians, it'll be on their mind, and even if it's not discussed overtly, it will be discussed in hushed whispers in and out of meetings, in between various different team building exercises, because they're now into the twenties and it is just one poll, and it is just after the summer break, and it's probably going to turn around that I would say, but I would say it's still on their mind.
Because of course Labor surpassed National for the first time in nearly two years in that poll, But is that more that's not real anything to do with labor, is it not? Want to do without? People feel national and the coalition is well.
I mean we didn't hear it all from the government much over summer, apart from the occasional press release.
I mean, the Labor Party well and truly went on holiday.
And you know it's fine because they're the opposition and nobody cares about politics over the summer, and nobody really cares about the opposition in general, So why the heck would you be making noise in trying getting the news?
And this Pole just shows you don't have to do that.
In fact, the best thing that Chris Hipkins could have done was just lay low over the summer because as Poles went up five four percentage points and he's now a puff National Now, as I said, I don't.
Expect this to stay.
I think this is just sort of like an after summer. Everything's looking pretty grim Pole, but still it'll be pause for thoughts, but Chris Hipkins will be probably feeling quite indicated.
I'd say, Jason Wolves, you go and lay low for the rest of the day. Thank you for talking to us on your day off, very much, appreciate it. We'll catch up soon.
I'm actually driving down to Wellington, so we'll we're lawing that low bit.
While do we go, hitting home and getting back to normal. Thanks so much, Jason. Now, sal GP is having its debut in Auckland this weekend after Dolphin, Gaate and christ Church. How is the weekend unfolding? Chris Steelers soaking up the scene. He's with us.
Next Sunday with Style the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin and Winkles for the best selection of great reeds.
He's talk Savvy a little bit more feedback here regarding over heating housing. Everyone wants warmer, healthier home, so they made the more air tight and warmer. Now people moaning about houses all being too hot. All comes down to regulation, government and council level. Yeah. I thought it was really interesting though, what Bruce was saying. You know, I mentioned the insulation because that actually can keep heat out, So we want the houses to be insulated, keep the heat out, keep the war you know, and warmth in a wind and all that kind of thing. But really interesting what he was saying about the size of the footprint, right, you've got very narrow properties that are very tall, the heat rises, low ceilings, just that footprint and then putting massive sheets of glass and as opposed to some eaves and maybe protecting the property a little bit more so. Yeah, No, fascinating A lot to think about there, especially if you're looking at purchasing a terraced house. Right to sail GP nour stunning day on the water and Auckland yesterday for the opening races. The black Folds are fourth after day one, Australia topped the leader board ahead of Great Britain and Spain. To talk us through day one and preview today's actions, sailing commentator Chris Steel joins me, Now, how are you doing, Chris?
Yeah?
Good days. So Jess you're from here turning out in the water of the yesterday.
Yeah, wasn't it look from what you saw yesterday? Has the move to Auckland been a good call?
Yeah? I think the visuals kind of over exceeded the the expectations. It certainly seemed like the organization of the league was pretty pretty happy with some of those shots. I mean I was out on the water on a sort of comment ty boat with a guest team, and yeah, looking back at the shore and seeing that groundstand just absolutely jam packed it. It was pretty impressive sight.
To see as you sort of walked, you know through the sort of the shoreline part of it, or you might not have had a chance to do that. What sort of was could you get a feel for the atmosphere.
Yeah, there's definitely a bit of a buzz on down there. I mean, I guess there's quite a lot going on in Auckland City as a whole yesterday with a concert on last night as well, so and obviously Auckland to see the football team playing. So yeah, there's certainly a buzz on afterwards. But yeah before racing as well, like as the day sort of goes on, and yet closer to that start time, there's definitely more and more people slaying down there for lunches and drinks and whatnot. And yeah, there's a great of atmosphere down there, and by the time you gets to race time, it's certainly pretty jam packed down there.
But the wind was a little fickle and tricky.
Wasn't it.
Yeah, the sort of northerly direction there, and that piece of water can be a little bit unstable as it comes off the sort of the north shore coastline there being inside the harbor, but it was kind of sort of shifting back and forwards a little bit, which made it pretty challenging out there for the sailors obviously, and made the skill for the guys to get the boats on the foil. So the good news is spectators is that that care. It's quite a lot of passing lanes and the racing is quite exciting to watch. So yeah, I think today's obviously the breeze is going to be up a little bit more and it should be sort of further around to the right bit more sort of northeast eastern, and it'll make the racecourse a little bit longer and hopefully get more steady to the breeze to be pretty exciting out there today.
Do you get a good sense of if you're not a sort of an expert like yourself, Chris, who knows what's going on, do you get a good sense of what is going on? Because eleven falling races on that compact course, it was pretty full on. You had you had boats going up when down wind all sts of you know, is it quite exciting. Do you sort of have a good sense of what is going on?
Yeah, I mean it's obviously for me being involved in the sport for a long time and doing that style of racing myself, it's easy for me to figure out what's going on. But you know, for other people that at sor Worth on the boat, it's definitely difficult. I mean, one of the hard things is the stream on TV with the commentary is quite delayed from the actual live event, and so you know, people don't really know when the race is about to start, so to speak, when you're out there watching. And so I mean I'm sure obviously it's faster because they've got a direct link to the racing on the on the big screens, but yeah, out there on the water there is a little bit of a delay, so it is a little bit difficult. And because the racecourse was so short yesterday, get in the wind direction, you had quite a lot of boats of crossing over, so you know, like you said, I'm going up whence I'm going down when Yeah, you do lose track of the leaders a little bit. But yeah, I mean, like I said, today, the race course to be a little bit longer and the boats, you all sort of be on the same league at the same time hopefully, so yeah, definitely should be a little bit easier to follow today.
Why do you think the New Zealand team had a bit of a slow start? I mean it looked like they were kind of figuring it out and then unracefall they came out and went, oh, we've got this, and they made winning look easy.
You know, just struggled to get off the start line yesterday for the first three races, as you really impressed. In the first race, they had probably their worst start of the day and they were very quickly managed to crawl back and sail through the fleet. And I think they first fad in that first race, you know straight away that sort of told me that they were fast. And they're obviously starting around the racetrack pretty well with the with the decision making regarding the wind shifts and being in the right pockets of breeze and stuff. But yeah, the other two races, they're just I think they're a little bit late with the setup getting into that sort of starting box. They always sort of liked to be one of the last notats to set up and and I guess and venues when the breeze is a little bit more consistent, and there's you know, a couple of less boats and previous sort of seasons that that seemed to work, you know, so all right, but I think it's quite a high risk strategy. And that last race yesterday they changed their approach a little bit and they were a little bit early into the earlier, into the start box, getting into a lineup, and they got off the line and in good shape and from there they just sailed away from everyone. So I think the reviews from from last night from the from the team, so the de Reefs would have just been trying to focus on their starts and if they can figure that out today and get off the line claim and I think they'll be just fine around the racetrack. They're definitely going pretty quick out there.
We've seen some change to the design, there are some new foils. How much further do you think these boats can be pushed when it comes to sort of advancements.
Yeah, I mean that's another thing that's made the racing quite exciting this week is all these teams, the first forget it it foils, some of them never even sailed with them before. They've been tested for a while now, but only by one or two of the teams, so you know, the team's literally got the before at the start of the week when they started sailing, and they've been trying to figure it out. So that's been quite a good level playing good I think for everyone. As they get better and figure out, you know, how they set them up and what works better around the racetrack, I think that they'll get a lot more stable, and they'll probably sort of start having some higher speeds. But I think now that makes the rating pretty exciting. How far can you go from here? Well, I guess ologies are evolving pretty quickly these days. I'm sure they can keep pushing the envelope. But I guess put in the context, these new coilers have been the works for probably almost two years now. Certainly has been testing them for the last of six to eight months, so it's taken a while toie at this point, and if you're going to make any to big changes like that, it does take a bit of time. So I certainly say these will be on the boats for a bitch ye.
Yeah, seasons.
Yeah, Hey, Chris, really random question. How do they get these boats from one destination to another?
Yeah, I had that actually question from tical yesterday. They packed them all down into these forty foot shipping containers. Basically, so the boats are obviously fifty feet long, but the bows of the boats are removable, so they sort of take the twelve foot section out of the front that they peel into the containers, and then the hulls roll in, and then the wing sail, the big solid wing that you see that they olpt they use here on the racetrack. That's actually three different sections. So and then that breaks up the slides into a container as well, and then all the all the race marks and chase boats and all that sort of stuff is the same, and then they check it on a ship and they ship around the lash.
There we go. Thank you, Chris, I appreciate that answer. Really, nice to talk to you. Enjoy your day to day. It is eleven to ten.
Relax, it's still the weekend.
It's the Sunday session with Francesca Rudgin and Wiggles for the best selection of Greg reads used talk z be.
You're most welcome to text anytime this morning and get in touched ninety two ninety two somebody texts to say sale GP looks a mess on TV. Two clattered, really small racetrack. Not great TV. Yeah, interesting to hear. I'm going to be really keen to see it on the Telly today with a biggerat and give it more of an opportunity. I think it's quite exciting. It kind of makes America's Cup with these just two yachts kind of keep going on each other. Well. I find the whole Gene's really fast boat into a small, contained extent area actually provides quite a bit of entertainment. And they do commentate it like it's a race, isn't it. It's kind of it's all go. The animation is quite interesting. There were a few shots at times where it looked like, if you're watching on the TV, that the boats themselves were animated and had been placed on the water. Anyway, I'm interested, I'm back in. I'm gonna watch it again this after known I've been drawn into it more texts about moving to Australia. Our daughter and husbandland on the Sunshine Coast be tweenty years, but four years ago they came home missed their family back here. We love having them close by and nothing compares the joy of being with the three grandchildren. Wonderful, Yes, and that is I think the draw that brings people back, isn't it to New Zealand? Interesting chat re Australia. Our son moved to Brisbane in April twenty two, aged twenty six, and he hasn't looked back. He's just purchased a home in a northern suburban. Although prices have skyrocketed in a couple of years, he's been there still cheaper than many cities here. He has a great job at it with better pay. Whether it's great with a lot of rain and so much to see during the weekends, with sunshine and Gold Coast within easy drives. I can't blame him, but we wish he'd stayed closer to home, like the Wellington area. Good news as there is a spare room for us and we're going over and doing to visit and help with any jobs. Love your show. Oh look, thanks Helen. Yeah, and look, I think that's going to be the case for a lot of us moving forward. I really wouldn't be surprised if that's where my kids end up. To you, Helen, it is six to ten news TALKSBEP.
It's simple, It's Sunday the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudcoater and Wiggles.
For the best selection of gravery. It's News Talks NB.
David Baldacci has delivered over fifty box and several children's books throughout his career, but he's not just interested in providing us with great I'm in legal thrillers. He's also passionate about adult literacy and the life changing role books can have on us. He joins me next to talk about this and the madness of banning books in the US. David Balducci is next, and we're going to finish the hour with KIWI artist Max Elive. This is his latest single. It's called When the Party Ends changes again.
When the party we want to steal your feet, but I don't want to see leaving.
So maybe weekend.
Weekends the bay, leave the cow for a little while for to live only one question?
Can we sow the party, shut up.
The whole No, don take my hands. You can go back home with all your friends. When music dies, move strangers again.
When the party.
Is can we slow dance the party in? Shut the whole herd out? Now, don and take my hand. You can go back home with all your friends. When the music does move strangers again. When the party ends.
It's Sunday. You know what that means. It's the Sunday Session.
Francesca Rutkins and wiggles for the best selection of great reads, new stalks.
E'd been.
This is a Sunday session on news Talks. He'd be good to be back with you. I'm Francisca Rudkin with you until midday to day now. David Balducci is the master of suspense novels and legal thrillers. He's had a prolific writing career In just under thirty years. He's produced fifty novels and several children's books, selling over one hundred and fifty million copies worldwide. David Balducci is now heading to New Zealand for the first time. He'll be speaking at a one off Auckland Writers' Festival event at the end of this month. David Balducci joins me now from Australia. Good morning, how are you.
I'm fine, Thank you agreed to.
Be on You are currently in Australia. I believe that this is the first time that you have been down Under.
It has it's a long time coming. When my kids were little. The timing was ever write when they were in school and because of the opposite seasons, but they came down with us for about three weeks. They're grow now, obviously and are already wanting to come back.
Because I genuinely think, you know, if you've sold one hundred and fifty million copies, well, why we are do a visit?
Yes?
Absolutely, Oh, we were very.
Excited that you are heading to New Zealand as well. What can people expect when you're here for your session with the Auckland Writers Festival? Will't it be very similar to other all the talks within a writer's festival.
Yeah, I like one to tell some funny stories from the road because I always like intersperse my talks with serious points and I've found over time that if you add some humor to it, folks are much more likely to remember the serious points as well. So I want to make it fun. I want to make it inviting and inclusive and just you be engaging and listen to other people, listen to the writers and just having a good time. I think we'll all do that.
So when it comes to the serious stuff, what kind of topics are you talking about?
Some times my books deal with politics, economics, social issues. Even though I write thrillers and escapism, I try to put some points in there that I think are important that people should think about. So I'll probably deal with some of those things now. The world is changing at incredibly rapid pace right now. Lots of things are happening with technology, everything from bitcoin to cryptocurrency, to AI to political strife and movements growing across the world that are important and people need to think about. On top of that, we have climate change as well. So those are some of the probably the issues I'll talk about. Obviously I can't dwell on any of them too long, but people should be thinking about them because they impact everyone, regardless of where you live.
David, I know that you are a king follower of world politics and things. But is it true that you have had d threats because of some of your books?
Oh? Yes, I mean I've always felt like if you didn't rile up some people, then what was the point of writing the book. I must have written a pretty plain vanilla novel. I mean, books have changed the world people. Books can inspire people in many different ways, both for the good and for the bad. So I've always felt that if people were angry enough it's something that I wrote, they would write and, you know, threaten to take my life that I had gotten to them a little bit, and maybe they might think about it a little bit more. Nobody likes to get those types of threats, But it just goes. It goes with the work. Sometimes.
Is it ever in the back of your mind or does it become a fact when you do think about writing controversial topics.
You know, if I did, I might as well just hang my pen up. Yeah, I would have paralyzed myself and taken out any real power that I might have as a writer. If you start second guessing what do you want to write about, and running through a sieve of you know, is this going to be safe or not? Then I think that you know you're done.
Your first book was published in nineteen ninety six. It's about twenty eight years ago. You've written over fifty novels, several children's books, as I mentioned, Do you ever stop writing or thinking about writing books?
No, you don't. It's not for me at least. It's not a nine to five. It's not a job, it's not a hobby, it's not even a passion. It's really what I identify as as writer, So the stories, I can't just tell my mind to stop thinking about stories. I went to the Australian Museum today and they had a big exhibit on machu Peachi. Was my wife and my kids have actually seen. I was in Canada while they were there, but and I started taking some pictures of some of the exhibits and some of the background about them, and because I was intrigued by it and might later show up thematically, at least in one of my novels. So no, you never turned that off. It's really part of who you are. There's no way to separate that out from your other personality.
I had the joy of reading to di For released in November over the Christmas period, and I think, just you know, coming up, we have your new novel, Total Control Out. How do you manage that workload?
I am? You know, I think I'm so prolific because I've never treated it as a job. I ever think about deadlines. I'm just an eight year old kid exercising his imagination all day, every day, and the words come. I'm not saying it's easy. It's not. You can have very frustrating days where the words don't make sense, and the plots seem ridiculously trivial. But when I have some of my friends who are you know, best selling novelists, sold a lot of books, and they complained to me about deadlines and you know, the stories aren't coming, And I said, look, guys, take a step back, take a deep breath, and remember this. You make a wonderful living off of making stuff up. So not many people can say that. So just figure yourself privileged and blessed and get on with it.
That I know that.
You also take your writing seriously, though. Didn't you undertake some military training for the John Puller series?
I did because I thought if I was going to write about that, I needed to know sort of what that life was like. So I went down to one of the big fort's, Fort Benning it was called back then in Florida, and spent three days down there getting my butt kicked from one end of the base the other. Parachute jumping, army, functional fitness training, sniper training, humby rollover tests, lots of stuff. But the best research of all for that was just sitting down with all the soldiers, from the privates on up to the two star who commanded the facility and get into their heads and hearts of why they were doing what they were doing. And that allowed me to bring that human visceral core into the novel through my characters, because really, readers don't connect on a visceral level with plot. They connect on that level with humans, with the characters and the novels. The more authentic you can make them, then all of a sudden you find that readers are either rooting for them against them because they really feel like they're actually authentic people. And to do that you have to really get into the heads and hearts of the people you're writing about, at least in their professions. And that's what I was doing with the John Puller series.
And I'm sure that your legal career you studied, laur and I think you practiced it for sort of just under a decade. I'm sure that that contributed to your legal thrillers, maybe in slightly less of a painful way is going and doing military training.
Yeah, and it also made me great at negotiating my publishers lament the fact that I read and understand and who change all of their contracts over time to make them a lot more fair to writers.
That's brilliant. What do we ever got you?
Miss law?
I missed the sort of gladiator in pen strike suits love. I love trial work. I loved having to think quickly on my feet, being surprised and then having to work myself out of a corner. I love the research. I love the command of the material, going in and performing. I loved all that stuff absolutely So when I go on tour and I go up on stage and I try to take over the stage and command the stage and command the audience, and then after that's over, I crawl back into my little you know, introvert cell and I go back to doing.
I love it. I really want to talk to you about the foundation that you sit up with your wife, Michelle, the Wish You Well Foundation. It supports family and adult literacy. How how needed was this foundation?
The need grows every day. I mean, we have roughly two hundred and thirty million adults in the US, and roughly half of them read at the two lowest levels of literacy, meaning they can't even read a grocery list or directions to a doctor's office. So it's profound. And it's not just ESL English as a second language it's native born Americans as well. The education system has failed at many levels. You know, we have I don't know how it is in Australia, but are in New Zealand. But when we have budget shortfalls, the first thing that politicians cut is education because those people are too young to vote. So we've done that historically over the years, and we've paid the price for that with low information voters. And it's not just so these people can read my books on the beach, so they can be an informed participant in a democracy. So when they go to the voting booth, they can make good choices based on real research and real information, not a Twitter or a clickbait or something they're read online by some guy they don't even know who he is. That can really change election outcomes, and election outcomes can change how you live. So our foundation we funded programs in all fifty states in counting. We poured millions of dollars into this. We've helped millions of Americans to learn how to read at a higher level, made them better able to find better jobs, support their families at a higher level, make better informed choices at the voting booth, and but just become better people all over and I found, you know, just my I've been a reader since I was a kid. I know the profound impact books had on me. I came out of Jim Crow in the middle of racism, segregation of the races, and I could have ended up being a racist. But I went to the library and I read about people that didn't look, praise, eat, think, dress speak like me. But I know we share that common core of amanity because I had met them in the books. I wasn't afraid of the other the boogeyman the politicians sometimes throw up because I had met them in the pages of books. I knew who they were. I wasn't afraid of them. I wanted to include them in my life. That's what books can do for you.
They can make you a better Oh absolutely. And it's really interesting because we're hearing a lot from professes it American and often universities in the UK as well, saying that you know, young people, college students, they don't want to read books anymore. And it's and I find that quite intriguing because I mean, I've got two teenagers who love to read and will still pick up a book and understand the joy in reading a book. But there is this thought that it's not that they don't want to, it's not that they can't, is that they just don't want to. Why when I can have be entertained with short snippets of entertainment via social media? Does that concern you at all?
Oh?
Absolutely it does. But the fact of the matter is that you know the short snippets that you get on TikTok, or you know that you a two minute video or going online and doom scrolling for six hours, one story after another. It's an addiction. Unfortunately, it's like eating too much sugar. Your brain tells you, I'll want more and more of that at the end of the day. When you experience life like that, or empty calories, they add nothing to your mind and you come out of the even emptier than when you went into it. Whereas a book, a book is never finished until the last reader turns the last page. Because you bring your own experiences, perspectives, highlights, and past and opinions onto those pages. Every reader comes away with a different version of what that book is supposed to be, and that's why it's so profound. So those are not only not empty calories, there's some of the most densest nutrition you can actually provide for yourself.
I love the way you put that.
Yeah, And you know, you avoid books at your peril because at the end of the day, how many readers we have will end up dictating what sort of society we live in? The few are the readers the worst of society, because unfortunately those people will just follow the herd over the cliff and take the rest of us with them.
And I also want to touch on the growing movement to ban books in America. And I know that you and fellow author Michael Connolly have donated towards the battle against this. How concerning is it?
It's crazy. It's like every twenty years in America we decide, oh, we need to ban books. Here's the reason why we band books. Where were you banned books anywhere? Pollack? You know, something happens in the world that people don't like. There are too many gay people. Where are all these trans people coming from? Where are they getting these ideas? Ah books? We got to get rid of the books. And we get rid of the books, we get rid of the gay people, we get rid of gay marriage, we get rid of trans people. Because that's where these ideas are coming from. That's why people banned books. They did the same thing years ago with race, they did it with gender everything else. So ninety nine percent of the books banned in America have two issues in them, race and sex, and they don't want that because they don't want those sorts of people who they consider are not real people. And that's why we have book banning. But that shows you on the Congress of that how important books are because he's seeing people are realizing the power of books. They can actually change people's minds about things. So that's why books are so important.
David, I just want to finish off by by asking you about a key we connection that you might have. I saw that you got involved in a fundraising effort with the New Zealand women's lacrosse team, were auctioning off the chance for someone to be a character in your next book.
Is that right?
Yes, it is. I was so thrilled. Like one of my really good friends and one of my financial representatives, his daughter has lived in New Zealand for probably the past fifteen years and raised her family there and she knew I was coming and she reached that to her dad that she was part of this effort to raise money for the lacross team, and she played across in college and so Tom, her father, reached out to me and I was like, absolutely, let's auction off the name and they can use that to help their fundraising drive. And so they did and it raised a lot of money. And I think I'm going to meet with them actually when I'm in Auckland and it'll, you know, help them get to where they need to go for the competition, and I will and whatever character wins that auction, it's going to be a hell of a nice ride for them. In one of my books, I can promise for that.
Would you be kind?
Well, I've always found that people really love it and when I make them evil, we all had a secret inspiration to be bad.
I love it. David Balducci, it has been a pleasure to talk to you. Cannot wait for you to get to New Zealand and enjoy the rest of your time down under. Thank you very much and David BALDUTTI will appear in Auckland on Thursday, the thirtieth of January. Tickets are on sale now. You can find more details at Writers Festival dot co dot nzet his latest release, To Die For is installs now, and keep an eye out for his next book, Total Control, which is due before the end of the month, and I Forget That After eleven I'm joined by resilience expert Bradley Hook to talk about the importance of discovering your values and living by them and how this is key to fulfillment and a good life. It is twenty one past tenure with News Talks at b There's no.
Better way to start your Sunday.
It's the Sunday Session with Francesca Rutkin and whit Girls for the best selection of Greg Reads us Talks ATV.
It's January, so there are two things off on top of people's minds, finding a great summer book to read and getting ready for the kids to go back to school. That's why wit Calls have produced a catalog which helps with both of these things. There's a great selection of summer Favorites books showcasing the very best new reads to while away the summer, and it helps with everything for back to school. The stationary student's need is all there at all at fantastic prices, which will help your kids get set up for the year ahead and save you lots of money. You can see the catalog online or pick one up in store, and you can order your school stationary online by click and collect or by visiting a whit Calls store where their friendly staff will be happy to help. Wit Calls the home of back to School.
Keep It's simple. It's Sunday, the Sunday.
Session with Francesca Rudkot and wit Calls for the best selection of grave reads, news Talks'd.
Be entertainment time now and I'm joined. Hi Steve Neill, editor at flicks dot co dot in ZID. Happy New Year, Welcome.
Back, happen Yeah, good morning. Eased in very nicely with a bit of Billie Eilish. There Yeah, there we go, a gentle start. The traumas of returning to work.
Has it been that bad?
Has it?
No?
But I was thinking about that a lot as I watched the first episode of Apple TV's Severance which came which returned to screens over the weekend. And for a show that when it premiered back in twenty twenty two, the world was in chaos and sort of notions about work and workplaces and what they actually meant and what connection within a workplace meant kind of will been sort of set to one side by the fact we're stuck at home or working from home, or in lockdown or having the awkward interactions. Let's take it two years. Three years is a long time for a show to have between its first and second seasons, and so the possibly a lot of the actual kind of plot machinations of severance have been forgotten by audiences. I know that I forgot it, but as it comes back to air in January, I mean, I've just gotten back to the office too.
So the sort of.
Idea of returning to these characters who are in this almost sort of dystopian workplace all kind of lined up for me. I guess so run about way of saying, oh, holidays are great.
What's work.
So they've had a little bit of time to work on this second series. Presumably it doesn't live up to the first. Is it better?
Yeah?
I'm not sure yet. And I think that gap is an interesting one because you know, when you think about how big shows, I mean, the big sort of water cooler shows of previous eras Twin Peaks David Lynch Rip of course, relied on this kind of shared experience streaming's already kind of fragmented that and yeah, like.
Three years is a heck of a.
Long time between drinks. Having said that, really enjoyed the first couple of episodes. It's a great world to return to. And the time that's been spent between these seasons, you know, impact by things like writer strikes. The first season was filmed during COVID. These things kind of all add up, but the thoughtfulness that goes into the show, and they're sort of an intriguing core proposition of what if you could switch your brain off when you went to work. What if someone else could do that work for you, be a different version of yourself and you never have to had to remember being at the office in the first place. Man, there's still something that rings true about that. Hey, shout out to all my coworkers, Love you guys.
But you know, it's interesting you mentioned David Lynch there. My almost sixteen year old daughter said to me a week or so ago, I'm out of things to watch? What can I watch? What else can I watch? And I said, have you done the original twin Peaks TV show? And she went no. He says, you went off and watching it and came back and went that was amazing, and then was devastated to hear that David Lynch had passed away. But really unique, original character, wasn't he? And sometimes I got it and sometimes I didn't get it. But I love the fact that I watch my children eighteen and almost sixteen, you know, immerse themselves in his work, and you know, really saddened to hear about his passing in the last year.
Big time. And I think, you know, I elected not to make myself super upset talking about David Lynch todays. It's a really really significant loss for me as a cultural touchstone. But I think one of the things that he gave us permission to do was not always get it. Yeah, And that it's not because the puzzles and the mysteries are so obtuse and intellectualized. It's because there are are things that there are many questions that are more interesting than answers, and a show like Severance and every single narrative TV show that holds mysteries at its center post Twin Peaks as a debt to that show, whether it's emulating it or using to not emulate it. There's before Twin Peaks, and there's after twenty two peaks.
Can we Josh Thompson is doing extremely well for himself, isn't he?
Yeah, Josh keeps popping up.
Yeah.
He was a memorable presence in the in Prime Videos Australian expansion of the Office. There's a wonderful there's a wonderful awkwardness to Josh that he carries comedically. And you know, New Zealand viewers will be familiar probably most family Josh from from Seven Days. He's also had some memorable roles in Young Rock Wellington Paranormal and as Pigsy in the Netflix series The New Legends of Monkey. So you know, international foothold kind of growing and growing for Josh. Pixar has their first, their first original new series on the way. It's called Win or Lose and Josh is one of the first people we meet in the trailer for this show, which just dropped last week. You can check it out on flick stock, codo and z it along with all the other stuff you can see coming up. But the concept behind the show does sound a little bit like inside Out when you talk about it, but basically, we're seeing the anxieties of characters as they go through everyday situations animated as if they were in the real world. They're not literally in the real world, but we're sort of seeing these situations and the sort of I guess embarrassments and humiliations that we all carry all sort of animated in the pexar style. And yes, in this trailer we see Josh's character Frank make possibly the ill advised decision to ask out someone working behind the cafe counter. He's a regular rat and he gets shut down. He does not have a good time. That's sort of one of the small examples littered through the show.
So when or lose I think that's out on Disney Plus February, isn't it.
Yeah, it's February nineteen, so about a month away from now.
Brilliant. Thank you so much, Steve. We'll catch up in the next week.
Look for up next.
We honor the EE lation all it does for us, but also look at how it can we can weaken its performance. It's in our Science study of the Week. It is twenty eight to eleven.
It's the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin on News Talks at b.
Dtor Micheldkinsnana Girl, welcome, good to have you back with us in twenty twenty fist.
It's good to be back.
I had a nice summer. It's been lovely. Oh good.
We've been lucky up here in Okland.
It's been good. Sorry Wellington, No, I know. Look, it has been a bit dodgy and certain parts of the country and that's where our wonderful eyelashes will have been very useful.
This is a study that I was like, how did we not know this? But apparently we didn't know. So new word of the day for those of you who are looking for something fresh for the new year is I'm going to break it down for how to pronounce it. It's called a brah christiste, brah christ krone for christa crone for christa cone. It's a physics mathematic rival word for chrystal. Anyway, it lead you to that one, you can take it to your water. It is basically the fastest path between two points using gravity in maths. So, Jessica, if you and I were going to give a ball to each other, I was at the top of the hill and you were at the bottom of the hill a little bit further away, what is the fastest way using gravity that the ball could get to you, and people usually go, oh, just put a slide down and it just goes straight down the slide. A linear slide is not the way. The way mathematically I can get the ball faster to you is to sort of have a slide that was shaped a bit like the second half of a roller coaster, so a really steep slope and then a curve a flick up with ski jump just like that or a skateboard ramp, which is why they're designed like that. So you get this massive gravity pool at the beginning, it built speed and then you get the momentum to take it through to that point, so it actually goes down to go up, but it gets there faster than if it was a slide.
Great.
Why am I telling you this? This beautiful study that was published in Scientific Advances. It's all about our eyelashes. And we've talked about eyelashes before when it comes to helping protect from dirt, but we didn't really understand how it text us from water droplets. So when it's raining and you're running in the rain, or if you're coming out of a swimming pool, why is it your eyeballs don't get wet and your eyelashes are really crucial in this, and number one, it's because of their shape. So if you look at the shape of your eyelashes, they do this shape right, They go down and then flick up at the end. And you can see it really well in baby eyelashes because they had these gorgeous long that is the shape we're talking about, this procrystochrone shape. Mathematically, we have the most perfectly shaped eyelashes to protect us from water droplets externally, which we probably didn't think about, right, you take our eyelashes for granted. Secondly, they put eyelashes human eyelashes in a scanning electron microscope and found that they're made up of these little plate plates that stick on to each other. Think of like the roof tiles on a roof, and they're designed to stack onto each other. The water can't go backwards, it can only drip down, so it drips away from right. It can't go back to your eye, so it's protecting your eye in that way. And third they find that your eyelashes are what we call hydrophobic, meaning that when water touches it, it balls up and rolls straight off. It doesn't wet or make a puddle. So you've got these three separate things, massive engineering principles in one tiny eyelash, and you go, huh, then, amazing, Like, I don't think about my eyelashes very often, and there's all this engineering or mathemetics in it. But then you look at the beauty procedures that we go through and basically we're hurting our eyeballs and doing this. So mascara is naturally hydrophilic, meaning that it causes water to make puddles. So water literally will soak your eyeballs if.
You're wearing the scarbo. Number two.
Women tend to have their eyelashes curled. We have these little horrific machines that you know, the little squeezy things that curl your eyelashes or you get them permanently permed, because apparently have really upright eyelashes is attractive, terrible for wicking water terrible. So all the things that we do to protect our eyes from water, scientifically, the beauty standards have got rid of them all, which I didn't even think about before. But there you go.
So eyelashes facinating because often your common what beautiful eye lashes?
You have?
What loving long eyelashes, you have, and we sort of things. But now you can say to people, what's stunning hydrophobic properties your eyelashes have?
Isn't that fair?
Setting bra Christacrone is our word of the day, and you can say I love the Brochostra home properties of your eyelashes today.
Or maybe you'll find another word.
Ticket.
Thank you so much, Michelle, love you to have you back with us. We'll talk next week. It is twenty one to eleven.
There's no better way to start your Sunday.
It's the Sunday Session with Francesca Rutkin and Wiggles for the best selection of great reads.
US Talks it Be.
News Talks it Be, and our residence chief is with us now. Mike vander Ellson, how are you?
I am back?
You're back?
Sure?
I love it And you're sounding good. You're sounding relaxed.
Break I know. Funny funny thing was I was over the holidays. I was listening to news dogs E B and my name popped up and I was like, oh, what was that about? So I started listening and I actually really do like chip and Bridgie Mite sandwich.
So you can't say anything in this town, can you? You know you'll just you know someone all here, your ears will prick up. I love it. No, no, it was very funny. We were we were talking about the complete and out of disrespect that was shown to New Zealand by the the marmite and chip sandwich. I think hitting number seventeen on the Worst Foods in the World list. And one of my lovely text is just texted is we were people were texting and up their favorite chip, marmite and various other things sandwiches. Someone did text in and go. Rand Elson would be appalled in this. Franchi's good because I do. I don't mind. I have one about one a year. But on New Year's Day, ironically I had had the green onion and marmite chip sandwich and orh it was just what I needed.
It's a great thing. But yes, we went away and we came back to an absolute jungle. So we've spent the last week clearing and cutting and kind of trying to find our farm again underneath all the weeds.
But we're getting there and the plums are on fire.
The plums are amazing.
We've got an old orchard and there's like a whole about five different varieties of old plum trees. I know one of them is black doris.
I don't know what the.
Others are, red flesh, yellow, yellow flesh.
They're all over the place.
But there is nothing better than a juicy plum when they're in season.
It's kind of like a peach, you know.
When they're there, we've got to embrace them. It's kind of like strawberries and cherries and asparagus because we bring the stuff in from overseas in the middle of the winter and.
It looks like a peach.
But does it taste like a peach?
It looks like a plum.
Does it taste like a plum? No, So plums are out now, people, so let's go and embrace the plum. So, you know so many things you can do with plums. You know, you can preserve them, obviously, you can make chuck news out of them. I make it like a plum cause Sunday. You can cut them up, freeze them, you can dry them, you can stew them down, or you can make a spiced plum.
Crostata fantastic, take us through us.
Yeah, so cristata is like an open I guess you could call it an open flanan or an open an open pie. So the first thing you want to do is make up the pastry. So I've got one and a half cups of flour. Chuck that into a bowl, three tablespoons of cast of sugar, and then a pinch of salt. Mix it to get into its welcombined, and then take one hundred and fifty grands of unsalted butter, cut that up into small pieces, and then just start to rub that through your flower Maxian store until it starts to become a little bit crumbly, almost like pea size crumbs. And then I've got half teaspoon of either vanilla paste or essence either either. Add that in teaspoon of almond extract mix, add all through, and then we take half a cup or caught of a cup, say of cold water, and just slowly start to add that until that dough comes together. Once you've got a nice furt like not affirmed dough, but once it's actually come together into a nice bowl, wrap it up and clean film, set it aside, and then we make up our plum mix to go into this. So I've actually got some cranberries in here, so I've got a cup of dried cranberries pop those into a bowl along with a decent maybe three or four tablespoons of brandy and a little bit of warm water. Put that over the top of cranberries, and then just set them aside and they're gonna absorb that delicious brandy water and just plump up and soften. Once while those are soaking, turn your oven onto one hundred and eighty degrees, and then take your plums. I've got twelve delicious plums, cut them in half, remove the stones, mix them in a bowl with three tablespoons of brown sugar a teaspoon of cinnamon. Mix that together, and then drain off the cranberries from the brandy water.
Keep that water, don't throw that out.
We're gonna do something with that right in the end.
And then take your crostata dough. Roll that out to the size of maybe a small dinner plate. Take your plum mixture, place that into the center, and then you want a fold up those sides of that dough. And it's not going to fold all the way over. You're going to keep a center in the in the in the or apart from the center, that's going to be free of dough. So you basically just fold it up around the side, take a bit of water, maybe a pastry brush, brush around the outside of that border, and then just sprinkle over a little bit of ice and sugar. Buy that in the oven. It's going to take about thirty five minutes on that one eighty. And then once it's golden and you can see the plums are just starting to break down, pull it out, set that aside, and then you're reserved brandy like cranberry brandy water. Chuck them into a little saucepan and just reduce it down until it becomes just syrupy, and then cut your plumb cross data serve it maybe with some soft cream or some vanilla ice screen, and then take that creanberry brandy liquor and just pour that over the top and it's delices.
Oh it sounds divine, But look, Mike, what would you put in a chip sandwich?
I just go when I was a foundation or a founding student of Don Bucks Primary, because it's going back to nineteen eighty one on the Henderson and my favorite was Friday because Friday I was allowed to buy my lunch and I'd get a long soft roll and it was already pre pre marmite or that you might either either either, and then you buy a packet Chris and you just shove those and so it's just got to be.
Just the really salted Okay, a classic. Love it. Thanks so much, Mike Talk. Next week you'll be able to grab that recipe on our website. We'll get that up there for you Today News Talks hedb dot co, dot in Zi, Forward Slash Sunday. You can find all the interviews and information from today's show there. If you've missed something you'd like to have a listen to, and you can get it from good from Scratch dot co, dot in z as well.
Now.
One of our most popular podcasts from the series I Do with my mate Luise Ari The Little Things, was a really practical chat that we had with Erin O'Hara and near the end of last year about creating good habits and sticking to them. It is a new year and you may have some changes you'd like to make, so Erin has some health boosting habits for twenty twenty five.
Up next, grab Recover It's the Sunday session with French Good and Wiggles for the best selection of the gratings used Talks that'd be natural.
Path Erin O'Hara is with us now to talk wellness. Hello, welcome, good to have you back with us at twenty twenty five. It will be very pleased to know that while I did over indulge a certain points in the summer and Christmas and things, I then got very quickly back on track and sort of myself out and I feel like I've kind of come out of the holiday period in a good place. Yeah, not moderation, no better off, perfect, good place to end, good place to end.
And now hitting into twenty twenty five, everyone starts thinking new yeah, new you, but doesn't necessarily even need to be that extreme. But I think it's a time where definitely we reflect on our health and our lifestyle and what's been working for us in the last year and what we need to change, and it's a good time to do that is really around creating new habits, finding better ways of doing things, whether it's dropping things habits that no longer serve you and actually just create a better balance going into the new year. I think those sometimes this time a year can be where we can create sort of extreme health plans for ourselves, which research shows they don't work is that we kind of get into that start of the new year and we're like, Okay, I'm going to go to an extreme diet and all this exercise and full of motivation. In a couple of weeks into the year, we're already off the wagon. So it's about creating that happy balance and trying to not be about creating a fad diet and a fad exercise routine instead looking at it as how can you just refine what you're doing with your healthy habits and how can you keep that and maintain that balance going into twenty twenty five. Always with the new year, there's always fad wellness things, which I always find quite amusing to look at of what's the latest and greatest thing of what we should be doing with a health and well being, But just remember back to basics. Is like, actually it's not rocket science being healthy, and that we just forget that simple things make huge changes and keeping ourselves healthy.
It's small steps, right, you can have the big goal, but it's absolutely fine to come to just step it right back and go okay, so what is this, What's a small change I can make which is manageable in practical and I can fit it into my life and slowly work towards maybe the goal that you want to hit to.
And that's where maybe, like this time of year, it's more about creating and setting yourself up for the year ahead, and that might be writing a liss of some of the changes that you want to bring in and incorporate into your healthy lifestyle and maybe just start with one or two of them and actually build into the year. So maybe starting with Okay, I'm going to cut back on them out at our coolm joking. Or I'm going to prioritize sleep and make sure you're getting enough sleep in seven hours and creating a circadian rhythm. Or maybe it's digital detox hours, which we're always on devices at all moments of all days. So how can we kind of pull back on that and create more space for our own self and own our own wellbeing as well. And I think if we have kind of a list that we can start to work through, it doesn't feel so overwhelming and it's not like a big change in what we're doing and actually create the new habit and then have it implemented before we bring in the next thing.
I was going to say, you might have a list, but you should just really focus on one thing, right.
Yeah, one or two things, because then it's actually sustainable. And I think looking at it as wanting to be the best version of yourself and having a beautiful, healthy, balanced lifestyle and not be on a diet or exercise plan, but instead that being part of your healthy lifestyle, and that is what's going to be sustainable. And it's not going to be an all or nothing approach that we're doing. And instead we're kind of just like, Okay, we can sustain this, and what can we keep the balance?
The way the kids write their news resolutions these days, they have an in list in an outlist betweeny twenty five. Is it easier to put something into your life or is it easy to take something out of your life?
I'd say bring something in sometimes can be new and exciting. Yeah, And I think stopping habits that we oh or not good for us are actually harder. So, like if it's things like stopping smoking, really hard to stop smoking, so sort of pulling things out or even cutting back on scrolling on the internet is really hard. So I think just trying to bring in more healthy things will create that balance better.
Erin great to have you back, Thank you very much. It is six to eleven.
Grab Recover.
It's the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudgint and Wiggles for the best selection of great brings used talks that'd.
Be right to day to day. Our values play a large role in our lives. They help us make good decisions, create good habits, and give us purpose. But if you asked a name the three core values that you live by, could you It's more difficult than you think. By any book that talks about resilience, we're having a fulfilling life and they'll ask you to do this, but it's quite tricky. So thankfully, resilience expert Bradley Hook has written a book to practically guide you through the process, and he is with us. Next, we're going to finish the out of the Little Luke Colmb's great reviews coming out of the media and from people about his concerts at Eden Park over the last two nights. Sounds like the Country Star absolutely delivered back shortly.
Just tell maybe.
Welcome to the Sunday Session with Francesca, Rudkin and Wiggles for the best selection of great reeds used talk.
Good morning. This is the Sunday Session. I'm Francesca. What can with you until midday? Good to have you with us. Coming up this our Meghan Singleton ficts her favorite destinations of twenty twenty five. Jason Pine joins us from the sidelines of Sale GP and Auckland, and Joan Mackenzie keeps for holidays going with some enjoyable summer reads.
The Sunday Session Sava.
I was going to ask you right now, what are your core values? Could you tell me how confident are you that you could clearly articulate what it is and what isn't important in your life? I reckon it might be a slightly harder task than we all think, but my next guest is here to tell us just how important those values are. In fact, they might just be the starting point some of us are looking for. Bradley Hook is a speaker, writer, and entrepreneur. He's the founder of the Values Institution and a global partner of the Resilience Institute. His new book is Start with Values, How to Build a Life with Meaning and Purpose. And Bradley Hook is with me now. Good morning, Bradley, Good morning, Francesca.
Hey.
I was wondering if we could start by talking about what the difference is between a value, moral, belief, and purpose.
Well, absolutely, this is a This is a big topic and it has been people have looked into this for centuries. From my perspective, a value is what's most important to us, and that often gets confused with things like ideals. You see many companies putting a list of ideals on their website on the about us page, soon to be forgotten. A value really drives behavior. A moral is a sense of what is right and wrong. A belief is it's almost how we perceive a situation, and that can be based on values and can be based on moral So it's.
A complex field.
Sociologists, psychologists, philosophers have contemplated these areas for many years. But I zoomed in on values as being at the core of what drives our actions.
And that's why they're important obviously.
Exactly.
You know, when we're clear about our values, we can weave a web of habits and we can align our behaviors with what matters most to us. And in my experience and in my research, that brings us a sense of fulfillment. It gives us the sense that our actions are meaningful, that there is something deeper driving our behaviors and we're in alignment with what matters most.
If we are not clear about our values, the.
Chances are that we're finding ourselves feeling distress, or feeling high levels of anxiety, or even just meaninglessness.
I'm sure that people probably think they know what their values are, but if you ask them to sit down and write them outter articulately, it's not that easy, is it not at all?
And many of us have a vague sense. And this is where we get confused with ideals. We say we want peace, love, and joy, for example, but are those really the values driving your behavior? How important is, for example, financial security or growth per small growth and development, or a sense of gratitude. When we deep dive into the science and the practice of values and we really discover what's most important to each one of us, we can then start to use these values as lenses through which we observe both challenges and opportunities, as tools that enable us to navigate life more effectively. But the first step, as you said, is to clearly discover our values.
Bradley, What impacts our individual values on many things?
So there's always the nature versus nurture debate. Many of our values are shaped by what has happened over the course of our life, based on our life experience and also stage of life. So for example, when I was younger, it was all about freedom and rebellion and adventure. But then when my daughter was born eleven years ago, it became about patience and kindness and stability. And then as she progresses a little bit on her own journey, my values become again oriented around personal growth and about exploration and so forth. So values are not static. They change over the course of our lives. And this same principle applies to organizations, which is really interesting.
So how do we discover our values?
So in my books start with values.
I have collated what I believe to be the most comprehensive guide to discovering your values and of course bringing them to life, so that many ways. One is to ask yourself what has brought me fulfillment? Because fulfillment turns out to be the number one skill practiced by the most resilient people. That's through research at the Resilience Institute. So what has brought you fulfillment when you look back, which moments, experiences, events really have made you feel like life is worthwhile, And there's usually some clues hidden in there around your core values. Also, when something is taken away, what brings you the most distress? What can you not live without? That's another good clue. But then as part of the book, in addition to those types of tools, we ask the question what kind of legacy would you like to leave? And core values are often hidden in there as well as those lists. Many people will try and discover their core values online and they'll discover a list of five hundred words, and that can be quite overwhelming in itself. So we really try and help people to go from a list of ten to a list of five and ultimately to three core values because three is the most memorable number.
In terms of these types of tools, mirrorable.
All the easiest to sort of put into the least values you have, obviously the simpler it is to be able to put them into practice, right because you can have them, but you've got to actually kind of action them as well, don't you for them to be useful?
Absolutely, And that's the thing.
Sometimes people will come up with a list of ten values and I've asked them, okay, so which value would you leverage right now? Or which value are you acting in alignment with right now? And they don't know. There's too many there. There's a reason why most kids' stories and books are all about three witches, three wishes, three bears. The ABC's the one two threes. It's just much easier to remember now. Brene Brown, in her work on vulnerability, suggests two core values. But I think that could be a little rigid because to say, okay, can I practice integrity or fitness right now? Well, they're not as adaptable and relevant as if I had, for example, integrity, fitness and kindness. Could I be kind right now?
Okay?
That's an interesting one. So it gives you a little bit more flexibility in everyday practical use.
You talk about intrinsic and extrinsic values, which I thought was really interesting. Can you explain this and why it's important to lean to lean towards the.
Intrinsic Yes, absolutely so. Intrinsic values are things that we can control. Now Ever, since ancient Stoic times, people have talked about focusing on things.
That you can control.
This is especially important in times of challenge, uncertainty, rapid change, which is pretty much where we are right now in the world. Things that you can control are how you act, how you think, how you behave the words that you speak, what's important to you, and that you can actually take access action on where you can build a new habit. For example, if fitness is really important to me, can I build a new habit around this value of fitness and getting really specific, although fitness can have an extrinsic lens to it as well. If the reason I want to get fit is to have a six pack so I can go to a festival looking my best.
But if that's the.
Only reason that fitness is important to you, or you're suddenly placing the control in other people's hands. Because extrinsic values are, for example, fame and recognition and reward, and you know, having a certain number of followers on social media, I'm giving away my control because I need to be validated in order for that value to be satisfied. So I suggest leaning towards values that you can control and weaving a web of habits around those.
Often we feel great, don't we. But this is something to do with you know, having what you call junk values.
Many of us have a few junk values that we've collected along the way, whether as a result of being prescribed them by consumer culture, and we think, oh, you know what, if I just have that new car, everything's going to be great. Or if I have sacrificed my diet for some comfort food, well, you know that's okay. In his book Lost Connections, author Johann Hari says, one of the main reasons for our mental health epidemic, you know, people really suffering, is a lack of meaningful values. We've gravitated towards junk values, and often these are in extrinsic you know, we're looking for that recognition or fame or whatever it might be, or just seeking comfort rather than pushing ourselves deliberately into a little bit of discomfort, which is where growth happens. So in the book, I outline a process for auditing junk values. And remember this is a lifelong process. It's not something that you do once and your perfect for life. We're always going to slip in our habits and that's completely normal, and I say, don't put pressure on yourself, be curious and just keep moving in the right direction.
So, Breddy, we've got our three core values, How do we put them into action? How do we live by them?
Well, many people will have read the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. I think it's the best selling book of all time pretty much in the self development space. But what I suggest is formulating microhabits around your core values. So I'll give you a practical example. If my core values, and they are creativity, kindness, and fitness. Now if I say I'm going to write a book because I'm a creative person, suddenly I feel additional stress. I feel overwhelmed. How can I write a book? It's too big? But what if I say every day at a certain time, I will write one paragraph and that becomes a habit. And when that habit is non negotiable, I can gradually upscale it so that I'm writing for half an hour, an hour, two hours, and eventually I am a writer. A really important aspect of this is to shift from values to identity. So instead of saying I value creativity, I am a creative person. Or instead of I value fitness, I am a fit person. Now what does a fit person do and start ridiculously small? This bypasses the resistance we often feel to habit formation. Even positive change can be really challenging. And eighty percent of New Year's resolutions fail by February. So if anyone's struggling.
In that state or not alone, little bite sized Steves right exactly. It's really interesting.
You know.
I started off by asking you the values and beliefs, and we live in a world in which people struggle. It seems to me at the moment to accept other people's beliefs. And I think, you know, especially when you look at politics, and we may actually all have the same value. We just believe that there is a different way of achieving something. It wouldn't it be nice to see people disagree agreeably, you know, I mean, do we need to actually be more focused on communicating our values, not our beliefs?
Absolutely?
And I think this is really the message I was trying to convey in this book. Is it good to have a wide range of values, and it's good to have a wide range of beliefs. But if we can express the why behind our belief we can find some common ground. Because a lot of the time, one team is saying, you know, we value freedom, and the other team is saying, well, we value safety or tradition or whatever. It might be, but if you dig a little bit deeper, you find that both are coming from a place of self protection or of compassion, or of you know, just wanting to flourish in a busy, busy changing world. Now, if we can find what that underlying value is, we open up a space for saying, ah, look, we're very different, and that's important from a survival perspective. In a tribe on the savannah, you want people to have different values. You want someone to be conservative and stay close to the fire and look after the family. And you want someone to be an adventurer out there in the world, a hunting prey or whatever it might be. But often we'll find that there are some universal core values such as we all want to flourish, such as we all like integrity or honesty and truth, and we all mostly want to look after our planet.
Bradley Hook, thank you so much for you the time this morning, lovely to have you with us. Start with Values is in store now. It's nineteen past eleven.
Sunday with Style, the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin and Winkles. For the best selection of Greg Greeds please talk s heavy and.
It is time now for the Sunday Session panel, and I'm joined by commentator, TV producer and journalist Irene Gardner. Hi Iren, hi yah. Good to have you back with us in twenty twenty five. And also I'm joined by partner at FREET and her lawyers, Liam here. How are you? Liam?
Very well?
Thank you, good morning and have can you yet both of you.
And to you? Can we please start with the news that doctor Shane Letty may be set to lose his health portfolio in a reshuffle that the Prime Minister is going to announce at three o'clock today, Liam, are you surprised by this?
Not really?
I think you know this portfolio is a real Alshon's graveyard sort of ministers. I mean, it doesn't go well for very many people who hold the portfolio. And whatever skills doctor Ritty has, and and presumably they're quite good skills, he's not a very assertive or you know, in a portfolio that looks like it's going to require quite active hands on management and strong will and a driving force, Doc Retty just doesn't fit their bill and never has. I suppose The thing is he was thought suitable for the role because he is a he's a medical doctor, and he's got a background in a health administration, but being a Minister for Health as a completely different skill set. And so it's going through whoever has the job. Probably some of you in Brown is going to find it a tough one, but I wouldn't be I'm not surprised that doctor VI he hasn't hasn't lasted in the role.
What are your thoughts on this, Irene? As Liam said, there, this is his will house. He you know, he is a doctor. He has in depth knowledge and understanding of the sort of a health portfolio, but he just hasn't been up to I mean, it is a it is a portfolio in very tricky situation at the moment.
Oh yes, as Liam says, I mean the health portfolio is is hell really and it kind of always is, but it particularly is at the moment. I find this quite sad in a way because he strikes me as a very good and decent human being and a softer style of politician, and I like that we have some of those, and I think this Solition government suffers a little from sometimes sounding really quite harsh, and I think that's going to hurt them in the longer term. I appreciate that people do like the fast, get things done kind of style, but you need to have some humanity within that, and I do think they're going to potentially come acropper on that. So in a way, I mean, yes, I guess he maybe just isn't the right person for this gig at this time and they need someone who is more of a hard liner. But it does make me feel quite sad if he is going to see that happen, and I hope he is still used in ways that are more suitable to what he has to offer.
I mean, is it a sign of how big the job is or his capability, do you think, Ireen?
I think it's probably both, and possibly more the former. It really is the hell portfolio, And yeah, I don't know. I've also some of got the feeling that with a government that's trying to be tough on a lot of things and cut back on a lot of things in many cases for good reasons, I've always felt that he has sometimes appeared like he's defending things he doesn't want to have to be defending, that he felt a little uncomfortable in the role, So I mean, who knows, maybe he'll feel.
The problem of health in particular, is that you could always spend more on health, right, and anything you cut from health is going to be unpopular. And you're also going to have a lot of resistance because you've got a lot of different movement parts, you've got a lot, lot of different agencies, you've got a lot of different objectives to work towards. So unless you're actually you know what the problem is that if you are a conciliator, a conciliator or a consensus seeker or someone who who's going to to be quite you know, receptive for the vested interests, you're going to end up sort of pleasing nobody, right, And sometimes it's better to be effective and annoy people, be effective and get things done, rather than you know, sort of be conciliatory and also get not getting much done and also actually annoy everyone because you actually can't deliver on what everyone wants. People have infinite needs when it comes to this portfolio, and I just I'm just not sure it's suited to somebody who's not willing to be unpopular.
Because I was wondering Liam whether sorry, sorry, I mean I was wondering Liam whether it was they wanted a better political operator to communicate to the public or to actually get things moving within the portfolio, and it seems like it's both.
Yeah, I think I do think it's both. And that's why I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up with Sime and Brown. He's sort of he's sort of playing that Chris Hoipkins the rod world that Chris Sipkins played for Cinder a dun and he's he's also he's really swim and Brown as someone who's got two things going for him. First of all, he's got excellent staff, he's got excellent advice wises who have been with him for a long time. And secondly, something he learned his ministerial styles from Judith Collins. And whatever you think about Judith Collins, she's actually a very good minister in whatever portfolio she has. And she's also popular with officials because she makes decisions, she doesn't leave them guessing, she doesn't leave people hanging or uncertain about what the direction is. And so I think it's I'll run to the end of last year, we talked about who about our Politicians of the Year was and I said it was Samin Brown. And I think he's going to get another responsibility today and for some reason, I think look for Judith Collins to move up the ranks as well.
Ah.
Interesting, Yes, so it is suggested that one minister will lose their ministerial position. Any idea iren could you pluck it? Could you look into your crystal ball and anticipate who that could be?
It's the suggestion that it was a minister outside of Kepnet. Yes, I don't have any particular in Telly, and Mike proceeds a bit more of that world than me. I mean, I guess the person who's had rather too many gaffs and might be vulnerable is Andrew Bailey. And then I mean, I suppose you might say that Melissa Lee hasn't really bounced back from her earlier demotion. So I don't know, PEPs, they're vulnerable, but Liam may have some inside oil that I don't.
I tried, I tried, but all the friends that I have clammed up. They were wanting to annoying. Yeah, but Penny Simmons, you know, as another possibility, maybe even Matt Doocy. I think you know, those people who just haven't made as much of an impact like that, there's a shock pole for National last week where they actually dipped below labor. I think this was coming anyway, but simply because Luxon said at the artset that he was going to, you know, hold quarterly reviews. He was going to have kafe eyes, and he was going to be pretty ruthless and getting rid of people. Actually can only get rid of people in their own caucus. He can't deal with and his own first or Act ministers, So it's going to be each ruthless of his own people, which is a bit unfair on them.
But it's the break and that's a really good point we should make that we should make that really clear. This reshuffle that's been announced as afternoon as of National ministers only and does not impact on coalition partners. And this is also the first time that he has done a sort of a proper reshuffle. So it's given everyone, you know, given them more thirteen months or so, which I think is fair. Biden. President Biden. Of course, a lot of people are looking back on his legacy at the moment, and you know, is the transition kind of kicks off, a lot of people would say his main job was to prevent President Trump winning the election, and he unfortunately wasn't able to do that, and that has a bit of an impact on his legacy. But I think there's an awful lot more that he has accomplished in his four years, whether it's to do with the climate or structure, or getting people into jobs. Inflation obviously a big issue, Liam, but you know, he's managed to keep the economy kind of keep the economy going again after COVID.
Yeah, the American economy is actually really strong. It's quite funny. But look, look, I think what this goes to show is something that all stakes people have to have sort of set at some point, which is that they do not control their own legacies or a great extent. If Kamala Harris said one, Joe Biden would look like he had accomplished his mission of keeping Trump out, Like, you know, he hit him out twenty twenty, so that's big. But then the thingers Trump's come back and with a greater a mandate than ever and more determined than ever, So he sailed on that front. But if Harris had won, he would have looked like the most statesman, like a far sighted, sax self sacrificing person. But unfortunately, because that's not how the cookies crumbled, he sort of. I know it seems unfair, but he's just going to be remembered for the fact that he was dotttery and old and humiliated by his own party, and for no great purpose given that has replaced the lost anyway, And you know that's maybe history will be climder in years to come, but I think, you know, for the for the time being, he's going to be settled with that unfortunate legacy.
Yeah, I think that will change over time. I ring wind it, I think so.
I think he'll be remembered well with a bit more time. I've actually had a lot of time for him. I think he's a really good and decent human being, a good across the aisle, you know, politician and deal maker. He came in in an incredibly weird time. I mean, thank god he did get in because at least gave us a four year break from the circus of Trump. And look, he has done a good job. The economy is in good shape, you know, post COVID. He's done all the right things. He's tried to work across the aisle hasn't always worked. I think Israel has really dogged him and the Democrats, and yet it is so very complicated. I just don't know how you ever do the right thing as an American president. But yeah, so I think with time, all the good things he's done will come to the fore. And you never know, maybe if he had stayed in the race, maybe a boring old white man is actually what it would have taken Donald Trump.
We will never know, well he thinks. So just very quickly before you go, Irena, you and are you caught up and got obsessed with the sal gp taking place in Auckland?
Ah?
What I know about sailing Franciski? You could right on the back of a very small posted stop stamp. However, I do have a friend and Stanley Point who hasn't Beck with an incredible view of it all. So I'm going over there this afternoon to have a glass with a few people and look at the pretty yacht.
Sounds fabulous, Irene, what about you, Lim? Did you watch it on Telly?
No, I'm not more interested. I've talked rather before. But can I just say, can I just say, look, as a Catholic, Biden is the second Catholic president. The first was jsk the second was Biden, and we're just we're still just hanging out for a Catholic president to finish his terms with his brains intact.
Liam good, Thank you very much. Liam here and Irene Gamer for joining us on the Sunday session. Jason Pine is at SALGP. I reckon he's having a pretty good time. We're going to catch up with him next. It is twenty five to twelve.
It's the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin on news talks at B.
And joining me now is Jason Pine. He'll be with you at midday with weekend sport. How's the weekend of sport going, Jason?
It's going absolutely brilliantly, Francesca. I'm back at sale GPHQ looking out on White Tamata Harbor. The winds got up a bit today. It's going to be absolutely sensational sailing out here from four o'clock this afternoon. Two more fleet races and then the three boat final. I'm just absolutely fizzed for it now.
If a little bit more wind means that they can lengthen the course, which is good, yeah.
Yeah, and I think it also brings so many more variables in in terms of I think, I mean, I don't know this to be true, but I assume that it is that that mistakes might even be more greatly magnified, you know, in windier conditions. Yesterday, the word I heard a lot was shifty conditions. Things changed a lot yesterday, less likely today, I think, but stronger winds. So another variable for these sailors to take into account.
Yeah, very exciting. It might just provide us with a little bit more drama, mightn't it.
Well, I think the word I've heard of it as carnage drama. Drama is another one. Lots of lots of words like that being thrown around. But when the when the sailors talk about it, they don't talk about it with any real sense of trepidation. It's more with excitement, a little bit of a glint in their eyes. So I think they quite enjoy, you know, you know, taking on the conditions as well as the other boats.
Good vibe down there, really good vibe.
Really good. Yesterday was amazing. You know, one who was here or who saw coverage on television. I mean this, the grandstand that that they've put up here, just absolutely jam packed people around, you know, all shapes and sizes and different types of people. There wasn't a you know, I'm not sure whether there's a quintessential sailing fan, but there were all sorts of people here, mums and dads and kids and couples and grandparents and all sorts. So yeah, the vibe was great, will be again today. Yeah, just just really hanging out to get the radio show done so and watch them.
Right and enjoy it. And then you took your good vibes to go Media Stadium where Auckland FC got the job done against Melbourne City. Yeah, that was good.
That was good for after half an hour nil all I thought this is an army resort, this is very much a coin flip. But then Auckland FC with three goals between minutes thirty two and at a time at the end of the first half, all of a sudden they are three nill ahead and they never really looked like they were going to be troubled. So yeah, good bounce back performance from Auckland FC after losing against Perth last week.
They'll be very happy.
Quick turnaround. They go to Adelaide to play Adelaide United, who last night also won and went past Auckland at the top of the league. So this is one v. Two on Wednesday night in Adelaide said to be another cracker.
I know that you've had an incredibly busy weekend working, but probably my favorite, and you might not have had the chance to see this, but probably my favorite sporting moment of the weekend was watching Sean Johnson bowl last night in the Black Clash. It was priceless. I mean, you know what, I watched this when my teenage son was playing cricket. You get to a point where you get good enough that if someone was a terrible bowling, the batters couldn't get they couldn't hit the balls because it was so bad. And that's kind of what it reminded me of. He was fantastic.
Yeah.
Look, I mean I caught a little bit of it, and I've had some reports from those around me this morning. They tell me you dropped a couple of air bombs, which is very Sean Johnson. I don't mind it. I don't mind it. Like it's a great event sport tainment. I think it's been described as big crowd there last night. They love it down there. Look, I think I hope it goes on for many, many, many all years to come.
Piny looking forward to the show, so we will be joining you at midday with Weekend Sport it As twenty to twelve.
Sunday with Style, the Sunday Session with Francesca Runcin and Wiggles for the best selection of great Reads, news, Talk Zebby with Wendy Woo tours where.
The World is Yours for Now, and Meghan Singleton, blogger at lunch dot com, joins us. Good morning, good morning, and happy New Year and to you too, lovely to have you back with us. A lot of people are probably back from holiday and going gosh, that was good quite like that break? When is the next one? And of course we've seen some sales I've seen obviously in New Zealand's head a sail on. Jetstar's got a sail on. Good time of the year to book a flight somewhere. What are some of your favorite destinations for twenty twenty five?
Yeah, well, I've gone through gosh, that's a hard question, right, and people always ask me where's the best place you've ever been?
It's super super hard.
So but I've pulled eight together destinations that I think will be great for twenty twenty five, and I haven't just plucked them out of my hat. New York Times has got them on their list see an End Traveling Letter and Blogger at Large. So yeah, all those lofty publications, you're a good company. Yes, So my top eight I'm just going to whip through them. I have written up a blog post explaining why I think people will like them and why I like them. I'm going to put Kosamui on my list. Kastamui, Thailand on my list for this year. It is actually where season three off The White Lotus was filmed, and while I haven't got up to that far yet, I know that a lot of people have and they've got the most idyllic and beautiful results with infinity pools, and to me, Thailand, I'm moving into a more of a phase where it's it's infinity pools and rooftop bars and a bit of markets and a nice little river, cruisy tours and things like that, not so much the backpackering. So that I've put Kostamur on my list, and that'll be fantastic. Florence, Florence, Italy, that was my most favorite city that I've ever seen in Italy, And this year there's a new orient Express train that is being launched La Dulce Vita. Orient Express is going to do eight journeys from Rome to Venice. So that'll be a sleeper train and it'll be all the glam of sixties and seventies Italy. So if you're into that, that will be cool.
You can't sorry, and I'm just gonna say, you can't go past Florence. It is extraordinary. It's just this incredibly cultural place. But it's just gets so busy at certain times of the year, now, doesn't it.
Yeah, so the trick for me and fortunately we know we're on the crazy time zone, right, so we wake early, get out early, take your camera, go withr phone, go and watch as the sun rises up.
I've got a photo in there that I took.
I crouched right down on ponte Vecchio Bridge and I took a picture of across the cobblestone.
Ground and up into the bridge. You can get so much fun. No people in it, and there's one and I'm looking at it now, perfect time of day.
And then you know what they say, Oh, don't sit down in the cafes and Italy because they'll charge you. Well, they charged me eight euros for a croissant and a cup of coffee and I sit down at their table outside right beside the cathedral.
That was priceless to me. Eight euros. That was no problem.
I thought that was the best thing I ever did actually in Florence, was to Alan sit there and spend my eight euros.
Yeah, so we've got time to go through the reason.
Yeah, Look, Mexico's on the list.
Love Mexico.
Going back March with a small group tour, We're going to whizz through Mexico. But I've put Carbo on my list. At the bottom of the Baja Peninsula, and there's.
Two little towns there.
One's more busy and lively and got the marina, do boat trips and whale watching and nightlife and stuff. And one is more historic where there's artisans and you can go and watch them paint and sculpt and they have walks every Thursday that are free to just walk around.
And so I've put that on my list. I think more kiwis should go down.
There's two and a half hour flight from La down to Cargo, so we need to be getting there.
Pick one more from your wonderful bloggers.
All right, one more I'm going to pick because it's on my heart it's Santa Monica.
Now. I just got a press release from Santa Monica Tourism this week.
Obviously very close to those dreadful fires, but not affected by the fires. So they're actually saying, look, we are here, we are well and good. We would love your custom, your tourism, your business. Locals and visitors are like, please come back. They've got a whole lot of new hotels, they've got the beautiful sunsets on that Pacific beach. It's my favorite Los Angeles place to stay. And then there's a reason for that because it's got everything. So yeah, Santa Monica would be my final pick for this year.
Wonderful. Thank you so much, Meghan, And if you want to read Meghan's full list, do If you want a bit of inspiration, just head to blogger at large dot com.
It is twelve to.
Twelve books with wiggles for the best election of Word.
Joan mackenzie, Welcome back, Happy New year, Thank you, Happy New Year to you. Good to see you. I just want to say real quickly before we talk about these books. I read a book over the summer that you recommended, The Ministry of Time, which I just loved Me too. Oh, just fevulish. It's one of those books that you put down and you go, I can't pick up another book right now because it's just not going to be as good and I just need to sit with this book for a while.
Yeah.
Just oh, very clever, so good. But we have some new books to tell people about today.
What have we got?
Well, what I say about both of them before I start is that today's books have characters, none of whom are terribly likable. And I don't know if that matters to you, but it is a theme today, and I think sometimes it can give you some really interesting dynamics as you read a story with people that actually you don't care that much about, but you know that they're peddling madly under the water to maintain this facade of everything being fabulous while you're about to discover all of the stuff underneath the water which is ruining their lives. So the first one is called The Note by a woman named Ala Fair Burke, who some readers may be familiar with the work of James Lee Burke, who's a terrific American thriller writer. She's his daughter, and she has a big back catalog of books, and I've loved many of them. In this one, to be fair, it took me a little bit longer to get into it because she sets the scene with three young women who've known each other for a long time and they have complex histories, don't see each other very often, and decide to get together in the Hamptons, which is that really ritzy exclusive area on Long Island outside of New York where the beautiful people go. And they decide to meet there for a weekend and they're going to do a lot of drinking and gossiping and eating and drinking. And on the first night, they go into town to go to a restaurant, and as they're patiently waiting for a car park, as the vehicle that was there leave, somebody swoops in and takes this park, which really riles them up. And they get to the restaurant and they start talking about how they can get back at these people for taking their park. So alcohol is consumed, and on the way back from dinner, one of them leaves a note on the windshield of that car which comes back to haunt them very very badly. And as the police get involved and their pasts come to light. The whole thing wraps up beautifully.
It's that thing about the consequence of anger is worse than what made you angry in the first ye place.
Yes, oh, I love it, very salutary.
Okay. And you've also got a book from Rebecca Heath. It's called The Wedding Party.
Yes, this one said in Australia over the course of just three days, although there are flashbacks to a time twelve years ago, and these three days are leading up to the wedding of a young couple, and the wedding party is at the beach ready for the nuptials to take place. But as I said earlier, not particularly likable characters. And you realize that there's a whole seething underworld of stuff going on that slowly revie itself to you. So the bride clearly doesn't much like the bridegroom doesn't really want to get married. He's a very dodgy character. Her parents are just awful. And it turns out that twelve years prior, these are families who've been going to this beach for years, and twelve years prior, a boy sadly drowned. He died at the beach and his grieving mother has never got over it, and she turns up as part of the wedding party. So there's all sorts of complex dynamics about to play out, and I think it's just perfect escapism for the start of the year when you really don't want to get into anything heavy. But it's light and it's fun and very.
Entertaining, fantastic. So the first book that Joan mentioned was The Note by Ala fair Burke, and the second book was The Wedding Party by Rebecca Heath Catain. Next week see you then, Thanks.
Joanep It's simple.
It's Sunday the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudgoter and Wiggles for the last selection of Great Rings News Talk zed Be.
Thank you so much for being with us today on the Sunday Session. Great to be back for Thank you to Carry for producing the show. Don't forget that Jason Pine is with you next with Wee Can Sport. He is down at sale GP bringing you all the action and next weekend next Sunday, star of the Netflix show The Night Agent Luciana Buchanan is going to join me and hey, look, if there is someone in your family that thinks they know will love us to know everything about everything, You're gonna love My other guest next Sunday, the National Explainer, editor for The Sunday Morning, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Felicity Lewis, is with us with some really fascinating facts. Enjoy the rest of your afternoon. I will see you tomorrow morning, nice and early on Early Edition at five am. Have a good afternoon, everybody.
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen live to News Talks it B from nine am Sunday, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
