Saturday Morning With Jack Tame

"For Kiwis heading to Asia or onwards to Europe, Singapore can feel like the gateway to the world. But rather than just transiting at Changi Airport, breaking up long-haul flights with a restorative layover in the Lion City is one of my tried and trusted ways to minimise the insidious scourge of travel fatigue. For Kiwi families travelling with children, I strongly recommend threading a stopover on Sentosa Island into your long-haul plans to combat jetlag. It’s like a holiday within a holiday, a destination within a destination. Some of the youngest members of my wider family recently enjoyed a wondrous time on Sentosa – and it far exceeded their expectations." Read Mike's full article. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dear Debbie by Frieda McFadden   Sometimes, enough is enough…  Debbie Mullen is losing it. For years, she has compiled all of her best advice into her column, Dear Debbie, where the wives of New England come for sympathy and neighborly advice. Through her work, Debbie has heard from countless women who are ignored, belittled, or even abused by their husbands. And Debbie does her best to guide them in the right direction.  Or at least, she did.  These days, Debbie’s life seems to be spiraling out of control. She just lost her job. Something strange is happening with her teenage daughters. And her husband is keeping secrets, according to the tracking app she installed on his phone. Now, Debbie’s done being the bigger person. She’s done being reasonable and practical. It’s time to take her own advice.  And now it’s time for payback against all the people in her life who deserve it the most.     Meet the Newmans by Jennifer Niven   For two decades, Del and Dinah Newman

We’re all guilty of buying things we don’t need sometimes, but there are ways to curb that behaviour and make things a little bit more sustainable.  Kate Hall has a list of things she’s not buying in 2026, paper towels, seasonal decor, and fast fashion just a few, but instead of giving them up entirely, she’s figured out a few alternative options.  She joined Jack Tame to discuss her full list of swaps.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For one reason or another, many people don’t think about what will happen when they die. What will happen to their belongings, their money, their assets.   But in a world where blended families and complicated dynamics are becoming increasingly common, it’s becoming more and more important to ensure you have a will organised.   Ed McKnight joined Jack Tame to discuss the importance of having a will – telling a story of how the lack of one tore one family apart.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast for Saturday 31 January 2026, two-time Winter Olympic medallist Nico Porteous joins Jack to discuss his decision to step away from high-level competition, how Kiwi athletes will be feeling in the lead-up to the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, and who he has his eyes on as ones to watch.  Jack considers the parental juggle.  Jack's success at growing a singular pomegranate is being celebrated! Chef Nici Wickes uses it to transform kūmara from side dish to star performer.  And Ruud Kleinpaste shares tips on growing pomegranates of your own.  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.

Growing Pomegranates is not a very popular gardening subject in New Zealand, yet, once you get into it you might be surprised what the shrub looks like and how the fruits taste when fully grown and mature.  Punica granatum is the one with red flowers that hails from the Mediterrané and Tropical and Sub-Tropical regions.  The Socotran Pomegranate hails from the Socotra Island (Yemen) and has pink flowers but less sweet fruit when it ripens.  My research tells me they grow well in warm regions, but I saw them growing well in Canterbury too, as long as the frosts aren’t too extreme.  Plant in winter…  Generally speaking, plant in a sunny spot (regular sun-light for most of the day) with a large area of well drained fertile soil of good depth (50 cm deep is a good start). Regular watering (not over-watering!) is appreciated and will allow the plant to move upwards.  Citrus fertiliser (with a decent amount of Potash in the N-P-K ration) is a great boost from springtime till autumn. E

Apple makes a surprise acquisition   Apple isn't known for being an M&A machine, but has made a $2 billion deal (according to the FT) to purchase an AI company – surprise, surprise. Q.ai is a four-year-old startup in the speech detection space, which can understand whispered speech and improve speech detection in noisy environments. They also have a patent to read your lips and understand micro-expressions on your face. I'd expect to see this new tech deployed on the Vision Pro and the AirPods. Q.ai has 100 employees – that's $20m of value per employee.     Apple beat Wall Street’s expectations   They announced $143.8 billion in revenue for Q4, which was about 4% higher than expected. CEO Tim Cook said the iPhone 17 was seeing “unprecedented demand”. The stock didn't pop, with fears around memory prices surging, supply chain issues, and Apple's seeming lack of AI strategy.     Amazon let 16,000 people go  A staggering number, and it was done by email. Some woke at 3am to

Wonder Man  Hollywood actor Simon Williams is thrust into the world of superheroes as he gets powers of his own, and becomes the new superhero Wonder Man (Disney+).     Memory of a Killer   Losing one's memory is a devastating hammer blow for anyone, but for Angelo, the stakes couldn't be higher. His hit man job would be perilous enough, but there's an added pressure: Angelo lives two totally separate lives -- fearsome NYC hitman, and sleepy upstate Cooperstown photocopier salesman and father.   Having built and maintained a brick wall between his two worlds, Angelo has seamlessly juggled and compartmentalized for years. But now that's all about to change, because Alzheimer's is a foe he can't outrun, and he knows too well how this ends, as his older brother is already lost to the condition (Neon).    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Secret Agent   In 1977, Marcelo, a technology teacher, moves from São Paulo to Recife during Carnival to escape his violent past and start over. He finds the city full of chaos, and his neighbours begin to spy on him.    Nouvelle Vague   The story of New Wave icon Jean-Luc Godard making Breathless, told with the same rule-breaking, freewheeling style he used to make it.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This dish magically transforms kūmara from side dish to star performer, and I can’t get enough of it.    Serves 2-4      Ingredients   2 orange kūmara, halved, skin on   2 tablespoons olive oil    1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses    1 teaspoon smoked paprika   ½ teaspoon sea salt   4 tablespoons pumpkin seeds   Small handful of mint & coriander   ½ cup fresh pomegranate arils/seeds   Yoghurt Dressing   ½ cup Greek yoghurt    1 tablespoon tahini   1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses   ½ teaspoon sea salt      Method  Heat oven to 180C. Line a tray with baking paper.    Mix oil with pomegranate molasses and paprika and rub/brush all over the kūmara. Lay out on the prepared tray, sprinkle with salt and roast for 45 minutes or until soft and cooked through.   Toss in the pumpkin seeds in the final 5-10 minutes and they will toast and puff up.   To make the yoghur

In our house this week, the juggle gets real.  After a year’s maternity leave, my wife is heading back to work. With a nearly-one-year-old and a nearly-nine-year-old, we’re balancing the two kids with two working parents. Every day is logistical jiu jitsu.   My wife has been making this point for ages, but as we’ve counted down the days to the new normal, I’ve come to appreciate its salience more than ever. Even though young people are the key to our future, economic and otherwise, somehow we’ve created a society that makes things incredible tricky for many young families.  First of all, to have a reasonable middle-class, home-owning life, most households need two working parents. There are exceptions of course, but I reckon most need two working parents. It’s my sense that this didn’t use to be the case. In the post-war years it was quite normal to have households with one working parent. It wasn’t that families were flush with cash! It’s just that relative to incomes, housing and the cost of

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is a globally acclaimed celebration of military tradition, music, ceremony, and cultural performance.   It has been running for 75 years and in that time has only ever been performed overseas on five occasions.   And for the first time in a decade, the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo will return to New Zealand – performing for the very first time at Auckland’s Eden Park in February with the theme ‘The Heroes Who Made Us’.    Staff Sergeant David Fiu is a standout member of the NZDF Army band and will be taking part in what is set to be a phenomenal event.  He told Jack Tame he’s been fortunate to attend the Tattoo in Edinburgh seven times during his career with the NZ Army.  “I certainly do not take that for granted,” Fiu said.  “I really check myself when I’m there because it’s probably easy, midway through the season, to sort of get a little bit complacent.”   It’s a bucket list moment for many, Fiu explained to Jack Tame, and many

An ode to a Kiwi-created sport.  The Manu World Champs are currently underway, with the Grand Final taking place in mid-March.   It’s such a quintessentially Kiwi sport, and Kevin Milne would love to see it grow even further.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

January is nearing its end, but there’s plenty to come throughout the rest of the year.  Chris Schulz joined Jack Tame to preview some of the albums set to release this year, and delve into some of the rumours floating around the music scene.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Winner by David Baldacci  The Dream  She is twenty, beautiful, dirt-poor, and hoping for a better life for her infant daughter when LuAnn Tyler is offered the gift of a lifetime, a $100 million lottery jackpot. All she has to do is change her identity and leave the U.S. forever.  The Killer  It's an offer she dares to refuse...until violence forces her hand and thrusts her into a harrowing game of high-stakes, big-money subterfuge. It's a price she won't fully pay...until she does the unthinkable and breaks the promise that made her rich.  The Winner  For if LuAnn Tyler comes home, she will be pitted against the deadliest contestant of all: the chameleonlike financial mastermind who changed her life. And who can take it away at will...     On the Edge by Kate Horan   Desperate people do desperate things...  Sixteen years ago, teenage Maddie Marshall's body was found on a desolate beach near her hometown, Carrinya. Vibrant

A spree of global travel industry specialists have been reading the tea leaves, seeking to map out what are the trends to look for, in the way we travel, where to travel to, and what we're travelling for. Mike Yardley sifts through the lists of touted travel trends to identify the most commonly pinpointed features. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast for Saturday 24 January 2026, standout member of the NZ Army band SSGT David Fiu joins Jack ahead of their performance in the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, set to take place in Auckland next month.  Jack shares the change of perspective becoming a parent has had on his reaction to natural disasters.  Nici Wickes shares comfort food with a summer twist.  Mike Yardley tracks the hottest trends in travel for 2026 and explains why grocery stores are becoming hot spots.  Plus, Oscar nominations are out. Francesca Rudkin gets stuck into one of the high hitters 'Marty Supreme' and shares her thoughts on the Best Picture picks.  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.

Turns out that not only is swearing good for pain, but it may also increase performance.  In many situations where physical effort or performance is required, people often hold themselves back, and holding back emotionally can lead to underperforming physically as well.  Dr Dougal Sutherland joined Jack Tame to discuss the growing evidence that “letting it all hang out”, aka shouting, grunting, and even swearing, can benefit your performance.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In my Gum trees I have a good colony of Aussie Silk Moths, aka gum emperor moth caterpillars – they live and feed on gum trees (but also on liquidambar).  Now’s the time to look for them in the “wild” – in the South Island they occur all the way down to Canterbury (Lincoln and Banks Peninsula is as far south as they get). The smallest caterpillars are quite dark in colour – almost blackish and about 8mm long. As they grow (and shed their skins) they change their colours and cause distinct chewing marks on the lower gum leaves.    In a few weeks they’ll grow bigger and bigger until they end up being 12 centimetres long and absolutely gorgeous. If you think that daddy longlegs are fascinating, show the kids these caterpillars!  The growing caterpillars move further and further upwards in the tree, often preferring the freshest leaves. In the meantime, caterpillar colours have become green and blue with stunning legs, feet, tubercles and nodes in orange and red, pretending to be “poisonous”

Concerns over skin cancer with many Kiwis still getting sunburnt.  A new Cancer Society and Otago University survey, has found 64% of respondents were sunburnt at least once last summer, including 26% severely.  Rates were highest among 18 to 24-year-olds, with more than a third reporting at least three sunburns.  Dr Bryan Betty joined Jack Tame to break down the data and discuss some of the best ways to push skin protection to the youth.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.