Saturday Morning With Jack Tame

A common problem in our homes, especially in the cooler areas of Aotearoa: gazillions of flies settling into your spare room, on the ceiling of a quiet place, or in the roof cavity.   The flies arrive at your place in autumn and find a good spot to hibernate – just like they do in their countries of origin: Sweden, Finland, Netherlands, Germany, the UK, the USA, and Canada.    Pollenia pediculata is the cluster fly species we discovered on the North Shore for the first time in 1984. It may have arrived in some containerised luggage or cargo (we were not sure when we found it), it’s now well-spread, often in the cooler spots of our country.   It is quite a gorgeous fly species, with golden hairs on its back – easy to spot as it often sits quietly.   Flies have just one pair of wings whereas other insect orders usually have two pairs of wings in the adult stage. The second pair of wings is turned into small “halteres”: modified hind wings that provides stability when in flight.   F

Poker Face  Charlie Cale, a casino employee, has an exceptional ability to detect lies. She drives around the country and begins to solve cases of random individuals she meets on the road (TVNZ+).    Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes  In London, July 2005, police hunt a rogue terrorist cell. An extraordinary series of events during a surveillance operation leads to the misidentification of an innocent young Brazilian as a suspect, resulting in his fatal shooting. As his relatives battle misinformation, they find support from an unlikely source, and the Met is plunged into crisis, forced to confront hard-truths about the shooting (Disney+).    Long Way Home    Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman get on their refurbished bike and travel from Ewan's home in Scotland to Charley's home in England; they take a two-month-long route, passing through the Arctic Circle and continental Europe (Apple TV+).    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for

Bill Gates will go broke to make the earth better   The Microsoft founder says he plans to give away 99% of his vast fortune over the next 20 years. In a blog post, he wrote that he will not die rich. He cited Andrew Carnegie’s line: “The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.”   His foundation will close its doors permanently on December 31st, 2045. Before that it will be spending down its endowment, as well as almost all of Gates’s remaining personal fortune.   The Gates Foundation has spent $100 billion towards its health and development mission and plans to spend another $200 billion. The foundation is credited with eradicating Polo from Africa. Today, wild polio is found only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It's helped reduce childhood deaths from 10 million a year, to five million a year.    The goals for the next 20 years:   No mum, child or baby dies of a preventable cause.  The next generation grows up in a world without deadly infectious disease.  Bring hun

Another Simple Favor  Stephanie Smothers agrees to travel to Italy to be the maid of honour for the devious and cunning Emily Nelson. However, she soon suspects Emily's good will is part of an elaborate plan for revenge.    The Wedding Banquet Hoping to stay in the country, a gay man proposes a green card marriage to a female friend in exchange for paying for her IVF treatment. However, things soon get complicated when his grandmother surprises them with plans for an extravagant Korean wedding banquet.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is one of the simplest and quickest sticky bun recipes I know, and the buns are top notch.    Makes 8-10 large buns      Ingredients   Syrup   ½ cup brown sugar   3 big tablespoons butter   4 tablespoons maple syrup       Dough   1 cup warmed milk    2 teaspoons active yeast granules   1 teaspoon sugar    3 cups plain flour   ½ teaspoon salt   1 large egg   100g butter, softened       Filling   2 tablespoons butter - melted   1/3 cup brown sugar   3 teaspoons each cinnamon and mixed spice   1 cup walnut pieces, chopped roughly        Method  Line a 23cm cake tin with baking paper, making sure it comes up the sides.    Melt brown sugar, butter and maple syrup and simmer for 1 minute. Pour half of this into the base of the lined tin. In a small jug stir the yeast and warm milk and sugar together and leaving to froth f

The centre of the world.   It’s a funny concept, really, because on a planet with 8 billion people, the world’s attention never settles on any one event or thing for much more than a moment. Most of the time you would probably argue that the world’s attention is divided and scattered. It takes an historic moment, something really big, truly significant, to hone those 8 billion sets of eyes to one point. And to be there in person, to actually experience it for yourself is to be an eyewitness to history. I met a guy who was on his OE in Europe in 1989 when he woke up one morning and heard maybe something was stirring. He hustled to a train and ended up with his photograph in the New York Times, tearing down the Berlin Wall.    Truthfully, I can’t compete with that. But by the nature of my job, I guess I’ve been fortunate to witness some reasonably significant events, first hand.    I sat there as Pope Francis addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations. I’ve seen Presidential i

Ben Macintyre captivates readers with true stories.   He expertly unravels complex historical events, explaining sharp subplots and side characters while artfully deploying dry humour to make the true stories he tells digestible.    His most recent non-fiction work is The Siege – a story of how in April 1980, six men stormed the Iranian embassy in London and took 26 hostages they held for six days.   Macintyre told Jack Tame he was 17 when the situation took place, and since that point he’d always wanted to write about it.  “It was the most dramatic thing I’d ever seen on television,” he said.  “It was one of those stories that entered mythology very quickly – it became a sort of story of, sort of SAS daring do, and kind of you know, fighting against the odds, and you know, the story itself is much more complicated than that.”  “I've really enjoyed writing this one.”  Macintyre is coming to New Zealand for the Auckland Writer’s Festival, delving into his work at three d

Prominent businessman, author and former politician Sir Bob Jones has died in Wellington after a brief illness - aged 85.   Jones formed the New Zealand Party in 1983, which stood for 10 years.    He received a knighthood in 1989 for services to business management and the community.   Kevin Milne told Jack Tame he will be remembered as a terrific writer.  He says Wellington already feels all the more grey for his passing.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of New Zealand’s most treasured musical acts, Sir Dave Dobbyn, will perform at Auckland Town Hall, the first time he has hit the stage there solo. The 68-year-old has previously performed at the prestigious venue with his band Th’ Dudes, but has never showcased his own set. That will change on June 4, when he and his touring band look to cover songs from his 45-year recording career. Announced as part of the Auckland Winter Concert Series lineup, Dobbyn and his band will perform everything from his celebrated anthems to “an extraordinary catalogue of deeper cuts”. Estelle Clifford joined Jack Tame to discuss the event. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Good Mistress by Anne Tiernan   Juliet never planned to be the other woman, but Rory was the only man she'd ever loved. She was sure he'd leave his frustratingly perfect wife - until he went and ghosted her, literally. Maeve is a bestselling novelist, and yet between her exasperating husband, teenage sons and ailing mother, success feels hollow. When she dallies in a surprising infidelity of her own, her carefully constructed life begins to unravel. Erica was the perfect wife, but Rory knew things about her that no-one else can ever know. And now she's left with a question she doesn't want the answer to: had she lost Rory long before he died?   As three women's lives collide, they must reconcile the realities of love, betrayal and the limits of forgiveness - because what does it truly mean to be 'good', anyway?     The Other People by C.B. Everett   Ten strangers.  An old dark house.  A killer picking them off one by one.  And a missing girl who’

"Budapest has long been a punching bag for invading powers and battled over by a litany of imperial bullies. But the legacy is a city stacked with historic layer upon layer of intrigue and faded glory, some layers still decaying while others have been ambitiously restored.  I was back in the Hungarian capital with Trafalgar, one of the headline stops on their splendidly curated 10-day Imperial Europe tour." Read Mike's full article here. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Although we all try, budgeting doesn't work for everyone. Instead, Ed McKnight has what he calls the 'Economist's Pay Routine', an alternative that allows you to budget without budgeting. He joined Jack Tame to break down the method. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast for Saturday 3 May 2025, author Ben Macintyre joins Jack to discuss his expertise in espionage and latest non-fiction book ‘The Siege’ ahead of his trip to NZ for the Writer's Festival.  Jack reflects on dear memories.  Nici Wickes serves up a recipe that can be whipped up in no time with ingredients you likely already have in the pantry.  Now is the time to act to protect your stonefruit for next summer. Man-in-the-garden Ruud Kleinpaste discusses what to look out for and the importance of timing.  Plus, Dave Dobbyn has announced a special show at Auckland's Town Hall. Estelle Clifford digs deep into his archive to take a punt at what the setlist may feature.  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.

With Mother’s Day coming up soon, many will be casting around for ideas of what to get that special figure in their life.  Kate Hall has a few ideas on how to keep the day sustainable.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last week we discussed the six-month hiatus between noticing troubles with stone fruit and the time of activating prevention.   Peach leaf curl is a rather ugly fungal disease that commences 6 months from now – in spring the leaf curl starts to become obvious on the newly emerged leaves of your peach trees.   Taphrina deformans is the name of the disease that targets peaches and nectarines. The infection begins in autumn when the leaves are falling to the ground – a double dose of copper (a few times, 3 or 4 weeks apart) will stop the fungi from settling on the dormant fruit trees.   Follow up questions I got: Does the copper spray debilitate the peach and nectarine’s buds?    No worries! The buds are going to a dormant phase   Another great example of important timing is winning battles from the Lemon Tree Borer.   These borers are mainly found from Nelson-Blenheim north – they don’t like it too cold.   This rather cool, sizeable, long-horn beetle is a native of our

Apple has given more details on the US tariffs   iPhones being sold in the June quarter in the USA will be made in India, while almost all iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and AirPods products will be made in Vietnam. Products made in China will be sold elsewhere in the world.   Apple estimates that, pending nothing else changing, the tariffs will cost them US$900 million. Imports going forward will, at this stage, be exempt from the tariffs.     Meta is working to make your WhatsApp AI chats more private   They'll be creating "private processing" which is effectively a private instance of the AI software running in a cloud only you can access. Meta, WhatsApp, or their third parties can see what's going on. It'll be optional though and you'll need to select it to go into private mode.     Uber's competitor is targeting the silver customer   Lyft is Uber's the big rideshare competitor in the USA and they want to take a new group of people for a ride: the older, and maybe less tec

Choir Games   A documentary series about how music can change lives, as it follows two choirs from New York and Kaitaia as they take part in the World Choir Games in Aotearoa last year (Neon, from Sunday).     The Four Seasons    The decades-long friendship between three married couples is tested when one divorces, complicating their tradition of quarterly weekend getaways (Netflix).   Carême The world's first celebrity chef, Antonin Carême rises to the height of culinary stardom in Napoleon's Europe; his talent attracts the attention of politicians who use him as a spy for France (Apple TV+).    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua – Two Worlds  Filmed over the course of four years, this documentary follows musician Marlon Williams as he takes on a deeply personal project — producing his first album entirely in te reo Māori, Te Whare Tīwekaweka. Williams began his musical journey as a teen, songwriting in Lyttleton, then carved out his own distinctive country sound that quickly took him to the world stage. Now, through te reo Māori, he sets out to reconnect with his Ngāi Tahu and Ngāi Tai roots.   Directed by Ursula Grace Williams in her feature debut, the film follows Williams through international tours to quiet home life, all while working on the album.     Thunderbolts*  Ensnared in a death trap, an unconventional team of antiheroes —Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster and John Walker— embarks on a dangerous mission that forces them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy

From thinking about it to plating it up... 10 minutes maximum for these boozy caramelised bananas! This is the best don’t-have-much-in-the-house dessert.    Serves 4     Ingredients  4-6 bananas   3 tablespoons butter   4 tablespoons brown sugar   a decent squeeze of lemon juice   a pinch of salt   3 tablespoons brandy or rum (optional)   softly whipped cream to serve      Method  Peel and slice the bananas into 2–3cm thick slices.   Melt the butter and brown sugar together in a frying pan until bubbling.   Stir in a squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of salt.   Place the bananas in the pan and cook in the bubbling sauce until softened but not mushy. Add the alcohol, if using, and let the sauce bubble for another 1–2 minutes.   Serve the caramelised bananas smothered in sauce with a dollop of softly whipped cream.    This recipe is featured in Nici's cookbook 'A Quiet Kitchen'. LISTEN ABOVE See om

I was taken aback by how long it had been since I’d last come to town.   It’s amazing how time creeps up on you like that. One minute you’re at Grandma and Grandad’s place every few months, knocking around with your siblings. The next you’re going through Grandad’s drawers, packing him a bag of his most precious possessions. The next, you realise it’s three years since you even drove down his street.   State Highway One was an absolute shocker. I was driving the old straight line, heading South from Christchurch. Rolleston, Dunsandel, Rakaia. The storm was fierce. There was surface flooding and the rivers were up which obviously made things worse, but some of the potholes were so large they could’ve swallowed the irrigators that usually crawl the paddocks on either side of the road.     Those irrigators have brought a lot of prosperity to mid-Canterbury. But not on Grandad’s street. His place was an old state house on what Dad always called the wrong side of the tracks. Given the main trun