Saturday Morning With Jack Tame

Eden: In the idyllic coastal town of Eden, Australia, the disappearance of a young woman triggers a devastating chain of events which lays bare the dark, hidden heart of the community. Beneath its beautiful veneer, this faltering Eden can never be the same again. One missing girl. Eight stories. Who do you believe? (Neon)  Sweet Tooth: Filmed in New Zealand and based on a comic book, this unique Netflix drama follows a young boy who is half-human and half deer as he survives in a post-apocolyptic world, searching for a new beginning with a gruff protector.  Happy Birthday Mr Bean: TVNZ 1 screens this celebratory documentary which looks back at the 30 years since comedy legend Mr. Bean landed on our screens. With classic clips and interviews from key creators, including star of the show Rowan Atkinson, hear how Mr. Bean has gone on to become a global superstar with an animated series, two top grossing feature films and an online phenomenon, with more than 110 million online fans and growing. (Tuesday, 6 July).

John Volanthen was at the absolute epicentre of one of the biggest global stories in 2018. Before COVID took over the international news cycle, 12 boys and their soccer coach became stuck in a flooded Thai cave, and the world watched the increasingly desperate rescue effort.  The first person to reach the boys was John, a cave diver, who then helped to get them to safety.    He’s an IT consultant by day, but also a world record-holding British caver and diver.Jack Tame has been speaking to him, and started with claustrophobia was ever an issue when he was first learning to cave dive.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Perfect Toastie  Some of the best combinations:Cheese & onion & kasundi (Indian tomato chutney)  Sausage, mustard & edam  Tomato, basil & parmesan (my childhood fave was always creamed corn, cheese & onion)   Tips for the perfect toastie: The bread; for once I'm not going to advocate for using a quality ingredient because frankly, thick white toast bread will still produce a great toastie! But a sourdough will add a tang and good texture and a rye could offer up a great flavour. Avoid bread that has big holes in it, like ciabatta.  Butter or mayo; Mayonnaise is full of oil so will give you a golden crust and it's less likely to burn than if you butter the bread. However butter does have the edge when it comes to flavour in my view. So, both are good.  Fillings: anything goes but consider the soggy factor and more is not necessarily better. Try to have a balance of dry (meats, beans, onions) vs wet (chutneys, tomato, cheese, pickles) ingredients The cut; the cooked toastie should always

Kevin Milne's been looking at a case where he thinks an insurance company has been very generous with a home owner. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What comes next? Isn’t that the gazillion-dollar question for Covid-19?! But now that we’re officially in the second half of 2021, the year in which all adult New Zealanders should be vaccinated for the virus, it is an increasingly appropriate and pressing question.What happens in a few short months when we’re vaccinated? What do we do at the borders? What do we do for vaccinated people arriving in the country? What do we do when there’s an outbreak in the community?Scott Morrison caught a few people by surprise yesterday in announcing the roadmap for Australia’s Covid-19 future. It’s not a plan that has heaps of detail in terms of timings. It’s more of a framework, really. But at the centre of it is one giant shift.Australia will move from a suppression strategy – the Australian version of elimination - to a management strategy. Scott Morrison has basically told Australians that in the years ahead, living in a country with no Covid-19 is not feasible. Even once the population is vaccinated, there is going to

Kiwi singer-songwriter Louis Baker has racked up 25 million streams for his brand of soul, and his second record “Love Levitates” was out this week. Our music reviewer Estelle Clifford’s been taking a listen.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Catherine Raynes has been reading US politician Stacey Abrams' new politican thriller “While Justice Sleeps”, and thrilled When They Find Her by debut novelist Lia Middleton.LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Travel editor Mike Yardley has made it out of the country! He's been giving Francesca Rudkin some tips on what's happening in Brisbane.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Until around 1916, making soap at home was commonplace. Using wood or plant ashes and leftover animal fats, families produced their own soap for cleaning their clothes and themselves.During World War I, when animal fats were in limited supply, German scientists developed synthetic detergents — and commercial soap was born. Homemade soap became less of a necessity, and gradually the practice dwindled. In recent years, back-to-the-landers and simple-living adherents have revived the homemade soap-making process. It’s not only in favor with those who leave the big city for rural life or those with an anti-commercialist bent. For anyone interested in living as self-sufficiently as possible, it makes good sense to make your own soap.  Homemade soap is good for your wallet: you can make big batches of soap from scratch for less than it costs to buy bar after bar at your local drugstore, and you can reuse leftover bits to make new soap. It's good for your body, without all the potentially harmful chemicals in commer

Bird Feeding stations and Bird Counting We’ve often talked about the food of birds, especially in winter. Many folks have got bird feeders that will attract a range of native and introduced birds: Seeds (on seed dispensers or stuck to solid blocks of dripping) are preferred by sparrows and finches (chaffinch, green finch)  Nectar feeders in the form of SUGAR Water attract tui, bellbird, silvereye (and kaka if you’re so lucky to have them around – Yes Wellingtonians, you’re lucky.  Fruit feeders love those bits of apple, orange and banana; tui bellbird kaka and Kereru are some of your guests, but I have literally seen wars break out when silvereyes spot a peeled banana! Education and Observation  In the school holidays these feeding stations could be great subjects for a little bit of Citizen Science and education. Let’s see who comes to which feeding station and observe their behaviour. Do they travel in flocks, like silvereyes tend to do? Is there any animosity? Can you identify the local “owner” of the terr

The Commons: A futuristic Australian drama starring Joanne Froggett (Downton Abbey). In a future beset by environmental crises and dwindling supplies, one woman grapples with the decision to begin a family (TVNZ OnDemand).  This is Pop: A new documentary series that takes a deep dive into the nostalgic world of pop music, sharing the untold stories and big moments that shaped our pop culture (Netflix)  Talkback: A brand-new local comedy-satire to TVNZ. Talkback is shot in a fly-on-the-wall mockumentary style and follows New Zealand’s leading right-wing radio host Malcolm White and his team as they fight to resurrect his flagship breakfast show, which has fallen to number two in the ratings for the first time in over a decade, and regain his title of King of the Airwaves (TVNZ OnDemand from 30 June). LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anyone with kids, of almost any age, is likely to be talking the thorny issue of how to teach consent. In fact in the age of #metoo, it's something we’re all talking about more.   Enter Doctor Melissa Kang and broadcaster Yumi Stynes, who’ve just written a book called ‘About Consent’. Melissa and Yumi didn’t know when they started writing it 2 years ago that the topic would be so big by now.   As one twitter user put it ‘It’s out! Get this book into the paws of kids, teens and federal parliamentarians you know" - of course referencing federal parliamentarians after the recent sexual abuse scandals in the Aussie parliament.  Dr Melissa Kang will be known to women of a certain age as the real-life Dolly Doctor, to the rest of you, she’s a doctor and academic who specializes in sexuality and sexual health.  She's been speaking to Francesca Rudkin alonside co-author and broadcaster Yumi Stynes.   LISTEN ABOVE    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Microsoft announces Windows 11  The biggest change - the start menu and task bar has been redesigned and centered making it look a lot more like macOS. Microsoft has really leaned into the one operating system for both laptops and tablets and the centered start menu makes it easier to adapt to various screen sizes. It also brings search front and center with results available from your device, your OneDrive and the web. Windows Widgets are just a swipe away with real time information and quick actions.  There are changes for power users too: There is now support for multiple desktops - so you could have one for work vs home There are better transitions when you connect a monitor that's a different ratio, or using a second monitor. You can now snap windows to a layout to make it easier to bounce between apps.  Microsoft Teams is directly integrated with the operating system replacing Skype for calling and connecting with your friends and family.  Android apps can also load on Windows 11 through the Windows App

Fresh flounder with caper & horopito butter  Horopito is a native shrub, which is also known as the pepper tree and it lends a lovely spicy flavour to flounder in this dish.   Serves 6-8  3 fresh flounder 4 tablespoons butter, softened   3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley  2 tablespoons, capers ½ teaspoon horopito 1 teaspoon sea salt 1-2 lemons, sliced thinly  Heat the oven grill to high.  Lay flounder onto a large shallow baking tray. Make a few cuts in the grey side of each of the flounder. Mix together butter, parsley, capers, horopito and salt and rub this into the cuts and skin. Scatter over lemon slices. Grill on high for 12-15 minutes or until butter is bubbling and fins crisp a bit. Change oven from grill to bake 180 C and cook for a further 7-10 minutes or until flesh is cooked through.  Squeeze some of the cooked lemon over and serve at the table!   Nici’s note: Horopito is great for relieving stomach aches and toothache and it is available from various specialty or online food stores. I get m

This weekend, TVNZ is running at story about former Christchurch mayor Sir Bob Parker and his recovery post-stroke. Kevin Milne wants to take the opportunity to share the love for his mate. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With Francesca filling in for Jack this weekend, we've brought in Chris Schulz to do this week's movie reviews. He's been watching Lin-Mnuel Miranda's new movie, In the Heights, based on the stage musical of the same name - and Spanish true-crime doco Murder by the Coast. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week Black Ferns Sevens Captain Sarah Hirini and two-time Olympic champion rower Hamish Bond were named New Zealand’s flag bearers for the Tokyo Olympics.Two thoughts spring to mind. Firstly, congratulations. How cool that a change in Games rules means that for the first time we’ll have a male and female athlete jointly carrying the New Zealand flag at an Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. It’s not the first time two athletes have shared flag carrying duties. In 2016, Peter Burling and Blair Tuke were both announced as flagbearers, but only Burling got carry the flag. I’m presuming this year Hirini and Bond will have a flag each?My second thought was, how is it possible these Olympics Games are happening at all? A world full of medical experts and epidemiologists, and the people of Japan, have been asking the same question for months. For good reason. It’s simply absolutely bonkers for thousands of athletes, officials and journalists to travel from all over the world to Japan at this time.The Japanese Prime

The government's agreed to add debt-to-income lending restrictions to the Reserve Bank's bag of tricks. They haven't been introduced, but the prospect is making property investors AND first-home buyers nervous. Enable.Me's Hannah McQueen has been speaking to Jack Tame about the impact they may have. LISTEN ABOVE government have been discussing debt-to-income ratios. The RBNZ now has a mandate to impose limits on how much people can borrow as a multiple of their income –will they go ahead with it? It would have implications for first home buyers, depending on where they set it, as much as it will have an impact on investors who are leveraging based on the value of their properties. Enable Me now called ‘enable.me – financial strategy & coaching’ (rather than financial personal trainers) Website: www.enabletghg.me       See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Maroon 5 has a new album, Jordi, and it’s brought out some brutal reviews.Pitchfork says “The most you can hope for from Maroon 5 is oblivion. The band hummed and strummed their way into perpetual background music, cooing sanded-down soft rock in every Starbucks. It was anaesthesia. Levine became a bland, steady presence in pop culture, preaching banalities and judging TV singing competitions.”   Even worse from Paste Magazine “The new Maroon 5 album Jordi makes me fear for the future of civilization.”  Estelle Clifford’s been giving her take to Jack Tame.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Catherine Field has been reading Three Weddings and a Proposal by Shelia O'Flanagan, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.