Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

Raised at the bottom of the world, Sam Cullen is on his way up.  The Invercargill-born musician is rising in the music world, having already performed on the main stage at Rhythm & Vines, as well as playing on some of the coolest stages around the country.  He’s been working quietly behind the scenes on his self-titled debut album, which is set to release soon.  Some of the songs on the album, he revealed to Jack Tame, are about five or six years old.  “It’s kind of been less of a, I’m going to sit down and write an album,” Cullen said.  “But the last five years of my life, these are like, the best songs I’ve written and haven’t released yet.”  Only being 25 years old, this means the songs were written throughout the early days of his adulthood – resulting in themes of coming of age and entering adulthood weaving throughout the album.  “I’m pretty proud of it and excited to have it out.”  LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A couple of interesting quotes came to light this week – one from the late Jane Goodall and the other from Queen Camilla.   Kevin Milne joined Jack Tame to chat about the two quotes and his thoughts on them.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The fifth solo studio album from American musician Jeff Tweedy, Twilight Override is packed full.  It’s a triple album, with a total of 30 tracks, created with the intention of overwhelming the ‘ennui’ that was being squeezed into his life with his own creative works.  He’s credited the prolific output to his belief that creativity “eats darkness”.  James Irwin joined Jack Tame to review the album.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fly, Wild Swans: My Mother, Myself and China by Jung Chang   Jung Chang’s Wild Swans was a book that defined a generation – the story of ‘three daughters of China’: Jung, her mother and her grandmother and their lives during a century of revolution. Fly, Wild Swans is, quite simply, what happened next.  Jung Chang arrived in the UK in 1978 aged 26, part of a Chinese scholarship programme for study abroad. Finding herself in the London of punk, political protests and Ziggy Stardust, she felt as if she’d landed on the moon. She and her fellow students had all grown up in complete isolation from the west, living in fear as to what might happen if they broke any of the strict rules imposed upon them by their government. It was an invaluable opportunity but came at a cost of long-term separation from her mother and family in China. As Jung began to adjust to life in the West, she warmed to the fashion scene, rebelled and thrived. Her studies took off and she became the first person from the People’s Republic of China to be awarded a doctorate from a British university. Fly, Wild Swans is, in many ways, Jung’s love letter to her mother set against China’s development from the relative freedoms of the late-1970s and untrammelled capitalism of the 1990s to the current authoritarian repressive rule of Xi-Jinping. With vivid flashbacks to her family’s experience in communist China, the book offers an extraordinary account of Jung’s research into the genocidal regime of Mao Tse-Tung, the many fictions she uncovered and the political consequences of publishing her subsequent biography.   As Jung becomes a successful academic and writer in the West, Fly, Wild Swans demonstrates how much she relies on her mother still living in China and the painful years in which politics has prevented them meeting.  Through the arc of their respective lives, she gives an immersive, deeply moving and unforgettable account of what it is like to live in a communist dictatorship and the threats modern China poses to the international world order. It is family history at its best.    Circle of Days by Ken Follett   A FLINT MINER WITH A GIFT  Seft, a talented flint miner, walks the Great Plain in the high summer heat, to witness the rituals that signal the start of a new year. He is there to trade his stone at the Midsummer Rite, and to find Neen, the girl he loves. Her family lives in prosperity and offers Seft an escape from his brutish father and brothers, within their herder community.  A PRIESTESS WHO BELIEVES THE IMPOSSIBLE  Joia, Neen's sister, is a priestess with a vision and an unmatched ability to lead. As a child, she watches the Midsummer ceremony, enthralled, and dreams of a miraculous new monument, raised from the biggest stones in the world. But trouble is brewing among the hills and woodlands of the Great Plain.  A MONUMENT THAT WILL DEFINE A CIVILISATION  Joia's vision of a great stone circle, assembled by the divided tribes of the Plain, will inspire Seft and become their life's work. But as drought ravages the earth, mistrust grows between the herders, farmers and woodlanders - and an act of savage violence leads to open warfare . . .  Truly ambitious in scope, Circle of Days invites you to join master storyteller Ken Follett in exploring one of the greatest mysteries of our age: Stonehenge.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"For even the most intrepid of travellers, India can be a sensory assault – confronting and riveting in equal measure. If you’re a first-timer to the subcontinent, the Golden Triangle which threads together New Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur offers the best crash-course in getting to grips with India. I first tripped around the Golden Triangle fourteen years ago and I’ve recently completed a return visit with Wendy Wu Tours. It was fascinating to discover the remarkable changes and dramatic swing in living standards, while many aspects to the allure of the Golden Triangle remained unchanged." Read Mike's full article here. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ll know that we’ve just had Mental Health Awareness Week. It’s a great initiative by the Mental Health Foundation to normalise talking and thinking about mental health!   Pop quiz – how many Kiwi adults do you think will, in their lifetime, experience a major mental health problem?   According to Ministry of Health, it’s 47% of us.   But data from the Dunedin Longitudinal Study suggests this figure might be closer to 80%. So that means most of us will experience some mental health problems in our lifetime – that shows it’s pretty normal!   This year, Mental Health Awareness Week’s theme is Top Up Together – focusing on how to “top up” your mental health with others, which can help protect us against developing mental health problems.  To top up our mental health we can use the 5 ways to wellbeing: Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning, and Give. I wanted to share some of my tips to top-up in each of the 5 areas:   Connect – very 3rd Thursday of the month me and a bunch of friends get together for “Thirsty Thursday” at our local. Some of us have a beer, some have a soft drink – it doesn’t matter. Sometimes there are 6 of us sometimes 16 – whoever can make it, makes it. We talk about everything from how to cook brisket to the state of cricket in NZ to what makes a “good” or “bad” person.   Be Active – try and make this an everyday habit. I go for a 45min walk every morning at 6am. It’s now so much of a habit that I need to do it otherwise I really notice it   Take Notice – I’ve just sparked up my mindfulness practice again   Keep Learning – I’ll use my lovely wife as an example here – she’s halfway through an online Te Reo course – she’s doing this together with others   Give – give time, or social support, or resources to help others – can be volunteering at your local soup kitchen or coaching your kid’s sports team or helping replant native bush. In a few weeks time I’ll be helping out at the St Michael’s church fair in Kelburn – giving some stuff and helping run the white elephant stall. Lots of research shows that the act of giving is just as helpful to the “giver” as to those receiving the help   The challenge for listeners – how can you top up your mental health together with others. And check out www.mhaw.nz for more tips!  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast for Saturday 11 October 2025, rising Kiwi musician Sam Cullen joins Jack in studio for a live performance and to chat about the upcoming release of his debut album.  Jack considers the lack of rules around treatment of referees in football.  Tara Ward shares details on the brand-new series of The Celebrity Traitors UK, starring Stephen Fry, Alan Carr, and Celia Imrie.  If you're considering your first trip to India, Mike Yardley has his top tips on navigating the sensory contrast.  And Dougal Sutherland discusses Mental Health Awareness Week.  Get the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast every Saturday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Motor neurone disease is a devasting condition that’s recently come to prominence in the media with the diagnosis of former English rugby captain Lewis Moody. Another famous person who suffered from the condition was Stephen Hawkins.      What is motor neurone disease?   It’s a progressive nerve disease.   It damages and kills nerve cells in the spinal cord and brain that control muscle movement in the body.   The damaged nerve cells mean the brain can no longer signal muscles in the body.  Muscles slowly lose the ability to function.       Why does it occur?   The exact cause is not fully understood.   It’s thought that up to 10% of cases are inherited and related to a patient’s genes, while 90% are random with no clear genetic cause.   Several things may be important:   Abnormal accumulation protein in the nerve cells, destroying them.   A possible inflammatory or immune system malfunction.   Possible environmental factors like exposure to heavy metals or pesticides, however there’s no clear evidence.       What are the symptoms?   It's difficult to diagnose initially with subtle changes: clumsiness in hands, slurred speech, tiredness.   As time goes on, the main issue is weakness in the arms, legs, and hands – the person gradually losing the ability to use them.   Speech and swallowing become difficult.   Breathing problems as the muscles around lungs weaken.   There can be mood swings.       Can it be treated?   Unfortunately, it is incurable.   On average, patients live 2 to 5 years.   Stephen Hawkins was an example of someone who actually lived with it for much longer – he was diagnosed at age 22 and lived to 76, which is very unusual.   There are some experimental drugs that may slow progression that are being looked at.   However, most treatment is supportive – trying to improve the person’s quality of life.     LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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