Afternoons

It's time for New Zealand Sporting History and today we are talking to league legend Daryl Halligan!

Let's talk relationships now, Jesse is joined by Professor Kirsty Ross from Massey University's School of Psychology If you have a tricky relationship issue you'd like some advice on - please get in touch: email is jesse@rnz.co.nz or text us on 2101. This week the pair discuss cheating in a marriage and making friends as an adult.

Here on Afternoons we love celebrating New Zealanders doing great things, like our next guest Sophie West. Sophie has just been named the winner of the 2026 James Dyson Award for her innovative design of a reusable period device. She chats to Jesse.

For the first time in over 30 years, a new major exhibition on Picasso is coming to Auckland Art Gallery. The October exhibition encompasses pivotal points throughout the artist's career, such as the Blue and Rose periods and Cubism. Here to tell us more is Sophie Matthieson, Senior Curator of International Art at Auckland Art Gallery

Today in Wellington, representatives from the five Super Rugby clubs, 26 provincial unions, NZ Maori Rugby Board and the Pasifika Rugby Council are coming together for a "Rugby Summit". Why? Well, it seems NZ Rugby has money troubles - it is carrying a structural debt of around $20 million a year, and current projections show it'll continue to lose a combined $66 million across 2027-2030. RNZ's sp...

Liz recalls her memories of meeting Kenny Everett

Kelly Gibney is with Jesse Mulligan to share this week's Easy Eats. She says tray bakes are such a weeknight win. Most of the cook time is hands-off and this one can easily go straight from the oven to the dinner table, where everyone can tuck in and serve themselves.

Heading Off is your chance to travel the world without leaving the comfort of your home. If you've got a trip you'd like to share, please do get in touch on 2101. Today we're off to Kenya!

Every Wednesday we like to find out what RNZ Podcast Our Changing World's been looking into. Host Claire Concannon is away this week so producer Ayana Piper-Healion is with us to talk sand dunes.

We saw a story in Farmers Weekly about how New Zealand's flower market could be an opportunity for farmers and growers looking to diversify and we wanted to know more. Florist Lissie Johns is the founder of Provenance Brokers, a new business dedicated to helping small growers break into the commercial market. She's with Jesse to discuss.

On the morning of August 26, the Himalayan landscape above a Nepalese district a mass of ice and rock broke loose high in the mountains and sent down a violent surge of water, mud and debris. The torrent travelled through valleys, swept away settlements and infrastructure and eventually reached the Nepal-China border. By mid-September, more than 1,400 people had been reported dead and at least 6,0...

Lonely Planet has just released its Best in Travel 2027 and a couple of New Zealand destinations have made the list .. but they might not be what you expect. Lonely Planet Destinations Editor for Oceania, Jessica Lockhart is with Jesse to reveal the places!

Health NZ has released the latest results for its five health targets. The numbers are from March to June and reflect how quickly people are seen in emergency departments, get elective surgery, see a specialist for the first time, are treated for cancer, as well as how many children are immunised. Nationally, the stats for all five targets have improved on the year before. But dig a little deeper...

It's been seven years since Aziz Ansari brought his stand-up comedy show to New Zealand and there's a lot to catch up on. There's been a pandemic, a marriage, a move to London and plenty of change in the world to observe along the way. Aziz Ansari recently wrote, directed and starred in Good Fortune alongside Keanu Reeves and Seth Rogen, and will always be remembered for his show, Master of None a...

Every Tuesday we play You're the Judge - your chance to weigh in on someone else's dilemma. This week should you give money to an office wedding present if you're not invited to the wedding? Text us on 2101 with your reckons!

Tim Batt joins Jesse to talk about what's making waves in the world of tech.

Time for our Tuesday music feature, where we take a deep dive into an artist, album, style or era. Today we're looking at a staple of the American indie-rock scene, The Shins. For some listeners this might be a band they know well, but for others it could be an introduction. So we're focusing on the band's first three albums, which were released on the legendary Seattle label Sub Pop. To guide us...

Afternoons' book critic Catherine Robertson joins Jesse to share what she's been reading: The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune (Tor) The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce (Penguin) Light Over Liskeard by Louis de Bernières (Vintage)

It's time for Mayoral minutes .. where we speak with a local mayor about the challenges they're facing ... how they're working to solve them... and what makes their community special. Today we're heading to Whangarei in Northland from where Mayor Ken Couper chats to Jesse.

It seems saunas are super popular right now, and it turns out, humans aren't the only creatures who like to reap the benefits. University of Otago Professor Crid Fraser has published research showing some birds use geothermal steam as health spas. Professor Fraser is with Jesse to discuss the details.

There has been a lot of research about the benefits of sleep for young people but most of it is based on environmental conditions and lifestyles in places like America and Australia. Now for the first time researchers are turning their attention to the Pacific region and specifically Samoa. Here to tell us more is University of Auckland chronobiology scientist Dr Nicola Ludin.

Now usually Dr Grant Morris joins us to talk about New Zealand legal history .. but that's not his only speciality area .. he's also extremely knowledgeable about mediation in New Zealand. So knowledgeable in fact, he's just published his second edition book on the topic .. it's called Mediation in New Zealand. Grant chats to Jesse about the topic.

A new advocacy group has launched with the aim of giving parents a more organised voice in New Zealand's ongoing debates around education. The Parents' Alliance says it wants to be evidence-based and non-partisan, and to have a say in the way education policy is made. Its' co-founder and executive director is Anya Zohrab. Anya is a mother of three who's worked in the public sector, in banking, she...

Faith is sometimes hard to come by .. just ask any Warrior fan. For years, the story of religious faith has been the story of decline. But the reality is more complicated than that. New data from the Pew research center shows that in America anyway, young people aren't just moving away from faith, they're moving away from certainty. Former Baptist pastor Ryan Burge is now a professor of practice a...

Afternoons TV critic Philippa Rennie shares what she's been watching with Jesse. This week it's Good Bones (TV3) and Billy Idol Should Be Dead (TVNZ+)