The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

During the winter months, it's quite common for us to take a vitamin C supplement. But what is Vitamin C and how is it used in the body? Will it boost your immune system and help you get better from a cold/flu faster? Naturopath and wellbeing expert Erin O'Hara joined Francesca Rudkin to discuss the benefits of the supplement.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's no denying that hiccups can be a real pain in the throat - they are annoying and sometimes exhausting as you try to get rid of them. Everybody has their favourite cure, from scaring people to drinking a glass of water quickly.  Well now one group of scientists have invented a new type of straw that they say stopped hiccups in around 92 percent of cases!  Called “the forced inspiratory suct...

Two very different shows are making a comeback this week. Amazon Prime detective drama Bosch, starring Titus Welliver, is back for its seventh and final season which streams this week. And for a different type of audience, animated comedy Rick and Morty is back for its fifth season. Flicks editor Steve Newall joined Francesca Rudkin to discuss the two completely different shows. LISTEN ABOVE See o...

Landing the job as editor in chief of Elle Magazine was all Justine Cullen had ever dreamed of since she was a teenager. However, her dream did not turn out to be all she thought it would be. The award-winning fashion magazine editor details her time at the helm, as well as her experiences raising four kids that she co-parents with three Dads, in her new book, Semi-Gloss: Magazines, motherhood and...

Coq au vin with parsnip mash (serves 6) 1.5kg skinless, bone-in free range chicken thigh 2 cups red wine 6 baby white onions, outer skin removed 2 tbsp oil pinch flaky salt and white pepper 200g button mushrooms 6 rashers streaky bacon 1 cube chicken stock dissolved in 1 cup water ¼ cup chopped Italian parsley + extra for garnish 12 Cos lettuce leaves 6 slices wholegrain bread, toasted 6 tbsp Dijo...

New Zealand First supporters will be holding their breath this morning ahead of a significant speech by leader Winston Peters. It’s one of the first public appearances he’s made since being booted out of Parliament last year. Chief political reporter Jason Walls says much is riding on what Peters has to say. He says the veteran politician has gone to ground since the election, making his keynote s...

Sir Michael Cullen is known for a number of roles while in politics: former deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, Attorney General, deputy leader of the Labour Party from 1996 to 2008. He left parliament in 2009, but certainly didn’t slow down, going on to hold a number of public service roles. He has slowed down over the last year, after Sir Michael was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer,...

One person is dead, one injured and residents of more than 1200 mostly Papatoetoe homes - 60 of which are now uninhabitable - have been left picking up the pieces after an ordinary Saturday morning turned to terror when a tornado ripped through South Auckland. It was just before 8.30am when the tornado struck, in a matter of seconds tearing off roofs and garage doors, uprooting trees, smashing win...

Loop Tracks by Sue Orr The latest from the award-winning Kiwi writer starts in 1978 when young Charlie boards a Pan Am flight to Sydney to deal with an unplanned pregnancy. Fast forward 40 years and she’s living in Wellington with her grandson, but the quiet world they’ve built for themselves is changed when her grandson discovers first love, and then meets the father he’s never known – and Charli...

Queenstown is known for its skifields and snowboarding - but what is there to do if you hate the snow and heading up cold mountains?  Travel blogger Megan Singleton is one of those people, and she has compiled a list of the 12 things people can do in Queenstown that doesn't require strapping skis to your feet. She joined Francesca Rudkin to discuss her highlights, including the buffet lunch at the...

The family of a March 15 terror attack victim has written to Hollywood star Rose Byrne asking her to refuse the role in a proposed new movie, saying it is too soon. Early plans for a new film, They Are Us, which would focus on the response by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern were revealed last week and met with outrage and horror by many of the victims' families and the wider New Zealand Muslim commu...

Passing gas is something we all do naturally, no matter how embarrassing it might seem. But there are some natural ways you can make your flatulence a little less noticeable. Wellbeing and health expert Erin O'Hara joined Francesca Rudkin to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alison Bruce has just been a constant on New Zealand stage and screen since the late 80s. She’s been in some fabulous shows from Mercy Peak to The Almighty Johnsons, and more recently The Gulf, Golden Boy and One Lane Bridge. Now, Bruce is now heading back to the theatre in award winning production Everything After in Auckland.  She joined Francesca Rudkin to discuss her moving new project and wha...

Mike's Power Bars 2½ cups cooking oats ½ cup shredded coconut ½ tsp vanilla essence ½ tsp sea salt ½ tsp ground cinnamon ½ cup chopped dried apricots 2 tbsp almond butter 100g good quality dark cooking chocolate ½ cup raw honey Preheat oven to 160*C and line a 20 x 30cm baking tray with baking paper. Mix first six ingredients in a large bowl. Place almond butter, chocolate and honey in a heavy-bas...

If you’ve ever been hangry – so hungry you become angry – you have something in common with fruit flies. When these insects don’t get enough to eat, they lash out at others and some even make a kind of fencing manoeuvre with their legs to fight other fruit flies. Researchers from the University of East Anglia (UEA) and University of Oxford observed male fruit flies get more aggressive the longer t...

Lorde's first release in four years - Solar Power - was met with much fanfare. Since the song was released on Friday, the music video has reached more than 3.8 million views. So what did the critics think? Freelance entertainment writer Chris Schulz told Francesca Rudkin that it is link between what she has done in the past and what she will release in the future. "The problem she has is she is re...

Next month marks 10 years since the passing of singer Amy Winehouse. Aged just 27, the Grammy winner died at her home in London from accidental alcohol poisoning, after years of battling alcohol and drugs in the public eye that began as synonymous with her image as her music.  Now a new book is marking a decade since her passing and aims to shine a new light on the real Amy Winehouse. Her best fri...

By Adam Burns, Local Democracy Reporter The Labour Party's Rangitata MP Jo Luxton has admitted the timing for the announcement of a new $785 million cycling and walking bridge across Auckland Harbour was "not the best", but is defending the Government's Canterbury flooding response. Luxton said there was plenty of work still to do to establish the full financial fallout of the one-in-100-year floo...

The debate around the inclusion of transgender athletes in sport has been reignited this week. 43 past and present elite athletes have written a letter to the Government over proposed guidelines around including trans female athletes in sport, with their concern focused around fairness and safety in all sport. But what do trans athletes make of the latest developments?  One woman fighting for the...

As the world becomes increasingly reliant on technology, one thing tech companies have begun to consider is what happens to your data once you die. Apple this week announced a digital legacy service. It will allow users to nominate one person who can access their data when they die. But what exactly do services like this cover, and why have they become a necessity?  Professor Elaine Kasket, author...

On Friday evening, The National Islamic Youth Association started a petition asking for a film about Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's response to 2019's Christchurch terror attack, currently titled They Are Us, to be cancelled. As of this Sunday morning, the petition has gained almost 41,000 signatures. Over the years, I’ve watched a lot of films based on true events. They represent stories that sh...

Have you been to the gym recently, and then had the opportunity to review your form online? It wasn’t until I read about the mild stoush between TV journalist and host Kim Vinnell and a F45 fitness outfit in Hawkes Bay that I realised this was a thing. The last time I belonged to a gym was over 3 years ago, and thank goodness no one was rushing to photograph or video me. I tend to wear my exercise...

Judith Collins is distancing herself and her party from former candidate Jake Bezzant, calling his recent actions some of the "most disgraceful things" she's seen in politics. The former party member, who ran for Upper Harbour at the 2020 Election, resigned this week after allegations surfaced he impersonated his former partner and shared explicit images of her online without her consent. Bezzant...

Madhouse at the End of the Earth by Julian Sancton. True story.  In 1897 the Belgica set sail from Belgium for Antarctica, with dreams of exploration glory and charting areas unknown to man. The journey had many low points – they spent almost a year stuck in pack ice whilst battling scurvy, ill health and madness and theirs is a story that NASA studies today in its research on isolation for missio...

The Silencer will not be silenced! The bubble is open and Chopper’s finally making it across the ditch, bringing his show that’s been three years in the making to Aotearoa from June 17 – July 17. Panic, terror, stupidity, crisis; they can all form a queue and suck the wrinkles out of Chopper's walnut wallet because he has stopped giving a f*** and is done with suffering fools. Anti-vaxxers, lock-d...