The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

Return to Blood by Michael Bennett: sequel to Better the Blood from a couple of years ago, featuring Hana Westerman who in the first book was a detective in Auckland, but she’s moved now to a small town looking for a fresh start. A skeleton is found in the sand dunes near her house – the bones of a young Maori woman who’s been missing for five years, and Hana has a connection to the case. Twenty years ago, a friend of hers was found buried in the exact same spot but the man who did that is in prison. She goes looking for answers – initially through her former husband who is himself a Detective Inspector – but when she’s cut out of the investigation she realises she will have to go it alone. Great local resonance – the landscape and the language, and Hana is a terrific character. The Everything War by Dana Mattioli. This is the story of Amazon – how it’s become a household name, beloved by consumers around the world who’ve benefited from the company’s focus on Customer Obsession. Behind the scenes though, this benign mantra masks a relentless attack on anyone and anything which stands in their way, using their size, leverage and access to data across many industries to choke competition. It’s a fascinating - and alarming - account of a company which has never paid its fair share, while sometimes using ethically questionable and even illegal tactics to bulldoze their way to global supremacy. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tourists may think twice before visiting Venice, with a new entrance fee set to be put in place. The tax will be levied on tourists who come to the Italian city for just a day. BloggerAtLarge writer Megan Singleton says this move has been met with scepticism from residents and critics alike. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on The Sunday Panel, Front Page host Chelsea Daniels and producer and commentator Irene Gardiner joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the week - and more! Is health the best area to be making cuts in? Is there a difference between making cuts, and making cuts to bring an organisation back to budget? Are we concerned that this will have an impact on hospital care for patients? New research shows more people than ever are retiring at 67, up from 61 two decades ago. Does this mean we need to raise the superannuation age?   The Wiggles have released dance remixes of their greatest hits- do we see this catching on? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's a lot of hype around 'free-from' diets - but will they do people more harm than good? There's been an uptick in people avoiding certain ingredients for dietary reasons, including gluten, dairy, eggs, and soy. Naturopath and wellness expert Erin O'Hara unpacks this trend - and examines the drawbacks. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The New Zealand International Comedy Festival begins this week - and one Kiwi comic is set to make a return to the stage. Actress, writer and Billy T nominee Alice Snedden has been making waves overseas, having written and directed international hit series Starstruck with Rose Matafeo. She says it's been difficult returning to the world of stand-up after four and a half years. "You have an expectation of how good you'll be at it - and then you have to measure up against the reality. It's like if I hadn't exercised for four and a half years and then I'm like - now I'll go run a marathon." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chorizo paella with green chili and coriander: Cook time: 45 minutes Prep time: 5 minutes Serves: 6 2 tbsp sunflower oil 1 white onion, peeled and diced 3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed 2 chorizo sausage, sliced 1/2 tsp smoked paprika 1/2 cup red wine 1 1/2 cups long grain rice 3 cups vegetable stock 2 tsp tomato puree 1/2 tsp salt good crack of pepper 12 cooked prawns 1 green chili (cayenne or similar) 1/2 cup fresh coriander 1 lemon, cut into 6 Start by pre-heat your oven to 180*c Place a deep EngelElzen pan or deep cast iron pan onto a element and start by sautéing the onion and garlic in the sunflower oil until soft. Add in the chorizo and continue to sauté. Once the chorizo starts to colour up slightly, add the rice. Reduce the heat and sauté the rice for a couple of minutes before you add in the red wine. Reduce the wine fully before adding in the vegetable stock, tomato puree and season with salt and pepper. Place a skillet pan or lid onto the pan and fire it into the oven for 35 minutes. After this time, remove and check the rice is just cooked through. If it is, scatter over the prawn and place back into the oven without a lid for a further 10 minutes. After this time, remove and top with sliced green chili, coriander and lemon wedges. Serve. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I am not a robot. It’s a common box that you have to tick on many websites as you log in - which apparently proves that you are a human, and not a robot. Many people however, seem to be more robot than human as they struggle to get the correct answers - which in some cases could mean the difference between getting tickets to a sell-out show or not. Captchas (an acronym for 'Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart') are puzzles designed to safeguard websites from spamming bots attacking networks and websites. The captchas can be as simple as checking an 'I am not a robot' box or more difficult such as deciphering artistically drawn letters or numbers, or sometimes seemingly impossible like identifying images in a grid that contain a stoplight. The bad news for those of us who already struggle to solve the current captchas, is that they are about to get a lot harder. Since captchas were launched in the year 2000, bots have become much smarter, meaning that now it's the humans that need to keep up. Researchers at the University of California, Irvine recently found that bots could consistently answer the captchas that showed distorted text with almost 100 percent accuracy. With the advancement of artificial intelligence powered image recognition - bots can now also identify images including stoplights, bridges and the other common images that captchas ask humans to find. Ironically, while humans still struggle with these image tests trying to decide if the tiny corner of a stoplight, or bridge within a square is enough to be selected or not, the bots have learned exactly how much is needed to pass through the system. So what do we have to look forward to? To try and outsmart the robots again, captchas are moving to puzzles that ask humans to solve puzzles that will seem to make no sense. As robots and AI struggle with nonsensical problems it is hoped that presenting puzzles that don’t look like real life could give humans the advantage again. New puzzles might show you a picture of a wild animal that is dressed in human-like clothing including a vest and jacket. Rather than be in the forest, the animal might be floating around with some watermelons. The captcha request could be to click on the animal’s bowtie. Hopefully easy for a human, but perhaps more difficult for a robot with so many parts of the image being out of context. Other puzzles might ask you to identify two objects in a photograph that are the same shape, or to click on the non-aquatic animal in a photo containing lots of different sea creatures. So if you are just learning how to be more human than a robot in a test, get ready to redefine your humanness once again. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Comedy, action and romance come together in The Fall Guy - now playing in theatres. Starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, the film explores the world of stunts and movie-making it between romantic drama and brewing conspiracies. Flicks.co.nz editor Steve Newall examines whether or not this film is worth a watch.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Irish author Marian Keyes is back with her 16th book - My Favourite Mistake. She's already sold 35 million books over the course of her career, and even has a Netflix adaptation in the pipeline. Keyes says she felt inspired to write about relationships, friendships romances and community during a turbulent time in the world. "I've subsequently discovered that people are craving love stories. Because what we read goes through phases - I still read a lot of crime because everything gets sorted out in a crime novel. And the same with love stories, things get fixed." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kiwi kids will return to school tomorrow - but the cellphones won't be part of the experience. The Government's ban on phones in schools kicks in from term two, meaning students won't be able to use them during the day, including lunch time and breaks. NZ Secondary Principals' Council chair Kate Gainsford says schools across the country already have measures in place - but these changes will make it easier to stop distractions. "Parents have really appreciated the support, because they're often having the same kind of conversations in their own family home about the harmful effects and about limiting screentime, so having the adults working together is helpful." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prime Minister Chris Luxon has pulled no punches in his first Cabinet reshuffle during his tenure. Media Minister Melissa Lee and Disabilities Minister Penny Simmonds have both been dropped from their portfolios, after a string of controversies surrounding them. ZB political editor Jason Walls says Luxon has acted on the number one rule in politics to remove all distractions. But he says he has a bit more sympathy for Lee, where the Government was hamstrung on what they could do amid the media's woes. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was amazing to see so many people out commemorating ANZAC Day at Dawn Services and parades around the country this week. We may move chronologically further away from the horrors of World War I, but it’s heart-warming to see so many people continue to honour the sacrifices made by our servicemen and women at any point in history, and currently. Our Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister was in Turkey and delivered a moving tribute at the dawn ceremony in Gallipoli, which was quickly identified as having a few passages that closely resembled the sentiments of a famous speech by a former US President. Abraham Lincoln, no less! The minister’s speech went from being praised to being questioned. Was it inspiring or embarrassing? The answer is, both. It was a good speech. It fitted the occasion. It followed the structure you’d expect, commemorating the lives of those lost in war, and reflecting on how that sacrifice can guide us today. Regardless of whether the passages would have benefited from referencing Lincoln or quoting him directly and attributing them to the rightful author - and so avoiding the embarrassing taint of plagiarism - the importance of the message itself shouldn’t be lost in this little controversy. Let’s be honest, unless you have a robust knowledge of political speeches throughout history you’re not going to have recognised the references, and even now, when we understand the origins, it doesn’t change the meaning and purpose of the speech the minister gave. There are plenty of more embarrassing situations when politicians have been caught using other people’s words. After being re-elected as a UK Labour MP, Kate Osamor’s speech to her constituency was borrowed from one of Barack Obama’s post-victory speeches in Chicago. The changes were minor – she removed “American” and replaced it with “Edmonton”, her constituency. American politicians have borrowed from the UK as well. In 1987, Joe Biden copied several passages from a speech by former UK Labour Leader Neil Kinnock without attribution. It ended his campaign for president, and Kellyanne Conway was all too happy to bring up again in the 2020 election campaign. Kinnock came out in support of Joe, so that backfired. Some plagiarism has you scratching your head, such as in 2016 when Melania Trump was accused of plagiarising a speech by Michelle Obama. How anyone thought that was a good idea, I just don’t know. And then we have our own Prime Minister, taking things to his own unique level, by referencing himself at his Waitangi Day speech earlier this year. Turns out, some people are so good they only need to quote themselves. Hope you had a good ANZAC Day. Let’s keep focused on what’s important. We will remember them. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

WARNING: This interview mentions suicide and may be distressing. Reports of online 'sextortion' are on the rise, according to experts. Recently, police have issued a warning claiming reports of online child exploitation have quadrupled in the last five years.  Bloomberg investigative journalist Olivia Carville says the FBI has labelled this issue a 'hidden pandemic' for users. "This crime has exploded in recent years- as the New Zealand police have pointed out as well. It's not just happening in New Zealand and America, this is a global issue." LISTEN ABOVE      See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Broadcaster and Podcaster Brodie Kane joins Director at Capital and political commentator Ben Thomas on The Panel.   LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ava DuVernay is a critically acclaimed, Hollywood film-maker who's not afraid to push the boundaries.  She's behind films such as Oscar nominated Selma, and documentary 13th.  Her latest film has been labelled rebellious and radical - based on the book Caste by Pulitzer Prize winning author Isabel Wilkerson, the film is called Origin. Ava joined Francesca to discuss her newest film.    LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Studies show about a third of people wake throughout the night, with various reasons for sleep disruptions.  Erin O'Hara is a naturopath and joined Francesca Rudkin to discuss ways to get better sleep.   LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bacon and Egg Pie    Cook time: 40 minutes  Prep time: 10 minutes    1 packet of flaky puff pastry, 5 sheets  10 fresh eggs  150g streaky bacon, cut into 1 cm dice  ½ white onion  1 stick of rosemary (optional)  ½ tsp flaky sea salt and cracked pepper  2 T sesame seeds    Preheat your oven to 180 degrees  Take a heavy 26cm EngelElzen cast-iron or similar pan and lightly spray the inside with cooking spray.  Crack one egg into a small bowl and lightly beat with a fork.  Start by laying one sheet of flaky pastry on side of the pan then another 1/3 of the way around, brushing with eggwash where the pasty touches. Then the third sheet to cover the remaining pan. The whole inside of the pan should now be covered.  Spread the bacon out across the bottom, the crack in the remaining eggs. Sprinkle across the sliced white onion, seasalt and a good crack of pepper.  Lay the remaining 2 sheets of pastry across the top, again using egg wash to bind the 2 sheets. Fold over the outside edge and roll to seal. Sprinkle over the sesame seeds and leaves of the rosemary.  Heat the pan on the stove top for 4 minutes before placing into the oven on a lower rack.  Cook for 40 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve the next morning with some spicy tomato jam. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Scientists off the coast of south-east Alaska used an underwater speaker to play a recording of a humpback whale greeting call.  A humpback whale broke away from its group and approached the vessel, in which is thought to be the first time humans and whales have communicated with each other in the humpback language.  Nanogirl Dr Michelle Dickinson discussed this and more with Francesca Rudkin.   LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Steve Newall from flicks.co.nz joined Francesca to chat nominations for the Aotearoa Music Awards, as well as Zendaya's new film Challengers.    LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last weekend in the aftermath of the Bondi Mall stabbings, we saw a prime example of how badly wrong the internet can go.  For 14 hours, Sydney student Ben Cohen was widely named and wrongly identified as the killer - and it spread like wildfire internationally. By Sunday morning, his name had made its way into the mainstream media - with Australia's 7News misidentifying Ben as the attacker.  Barrister Chris Patterson joined Francesca to discuss how this happened.    LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.