The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

The people behind one of Hollywood's top awards shows is facing increased pressure to change its ways or miss out on being invited to the party. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association came under fire shortly before this year's ceremony for having no black members in its insular, 85-member group. In the wake of the backlash that followed, the HFPA this week pledged to increase membership amongst m...

Many will know Michelle Langstone as an actress, best-known for the likes of McLeod’s Daughters, The Almighty Johnsons and 800 Words. She’s also a writer and a regular contributor to The New Zealand Herald, The Spinoff and North and South, having won awards at the last two Voyager Media Awards. Now Langstone written a beautiful book of essays called Times Like These, which captures stories of love...

A knock at the door over 35 years ago turned Verna McFelin’s life turned upside down. It was the Police there to arrest her husband for kidnapping. He was tried and sentenced to 11 years in prison, leaving Verna on the outside with four children. Five years into her journey she connected with other woman going through the same thing, and in 1988 Verna used her experience to found Pillars, an organ...

Speaker Trevor Mallard has used the legal immunity of parliamentary privilege to say that a worker - who he apologised to for falsely accusing of rape - did commit sexual assault. In a debate in the House on Tuesday during the annual review of the Parliamentary Service, for which he is the responsible Minister, Mallard sought to paint himself as on the side of victims and the Opposition as not. Th...

Travel is set to resume between New Zealand and New South Wales at midnight. The bubble was paused after two community cases of the virus in Sydney. But Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins has given the green light to allow flights again, as long as there's no significant developments today. Leading scientist and disease modeller Shaun Hendy told Francesca Rudkin he's comfortable with the dec...

Back in 2016, New Zealand launched Predator Free 2050 – an ambitious goal to completely rid our country of the three most prevalent predators, including rats, stoats and possums. The challenging goal seen necessary to protect our native wildlife,  over 4000 of which are on the threatened species list with many more considered vulnerable. A new podcast and television documentary series focusing on...

India continues to face the world's worst outbreak of Covid-19. The South Asian nation's rampant second wave has topped 400,000 new daily cases for the first time. It also takes out the record for the highest daily count globally, after 10 consecutive days with over 300,000 cases. More countries are limiting travel out of the country in order to curb the spread of the virus and deadly new variants...

James and Isey is the latest documentary from Northland filmmaker Florian Habicht.  It tells the story of the then 99-year-old Isey in the lead up to her 100th birthday back in 2019. Isey lives on a small farm in Kawakawa with the youngest of her five children, James, who has devoted the last 20 years to looking after his Mum and helping her reach her centennial.  The movie is a celebration of the...

The Quiet People by Paul Cleave The latest from the New Zealand-based writer has a great premise – a husband and wife are thriller writers, and joke at a public appearance that they’d be able to set up the perfect murder. So when their son goes missing, the police assume they’ve done it. Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner Helen has it all – a lovely life and now a baby on the way. When she meets...

As some parts of the world bounce back from Covid-19 and ramp up their vaccination efforts, the travel industry is gearing up for a return.  But just how different will travel be in 2021 and beyond compared with pre-pandemic? Travel blogger Megan Singleton joined Francesca Rudkin to discuss what people should prepare for.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mental health remains a major crisis in New Zealand, especially around young people - with many people having issues accessing professional resources or help.  Naturopath and wellbeing expert Erin O'Hara joined Francesca Rudkin to discuss some of the ways that people can care for themselves.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Researchers have known for a while that recurrent concussions can have a long term impact on sports players - however, not much work has been done looking into the effect on children.    This week saw a rare study released into the effects on children, and the findings published in British Medical Journal found that a third of kids develop a mental health problem after concussion.  The review invo...

The month of May is upon us - and once again, it means New Zealand is celebrating Music Month.  The annual celebration of Kiwi music is back for another year, but with the ongoing success of local acts - highlighted by Six60's massive Eden Park concert, complete with multiple local opening acts - do we still need a month to celebrate the industry? Flicks editor Steve Newall joined Francesca Rudkin...

There are only three weeks to go until the Government unveils its budget for 2021, and speculation is rife on what we may expect. The 2020 Budget was strongly shaped around the Covid-19 recovery, and with international borders still closed to everyone but Australia, and the global economy still being impacted by the ongoing pandemic, 2021 is expected to be no different. The 2021 Budget will be unv...

A New Zealander stuck in India says he's desperate to return home. The country is facing a record outbreak of Covid-19, and has topped 400,000 cases of Covid-19 for the first time. Uppkar Kashyap flew to India on the first of April for his father's funeral, but is now struggling to get home as there are limited commercial options to get back to New Zealand.  Kashyap told Francesca Rudkin he didn't...

Meatballs in tomato with polenta (serves 4)  Prep time: 15 mins  Cooking time: 30 mins  1 small onion, finely diced  500g pork mince  1 ½ cups grated pumpkin  2 cloves garlic  ½ tsp white pepper  1 tbsp Dijion mustard  4 tbsp breadcrumbs  2 tbsp olive oil  4 tbsp finely grated parmesan   Preheat oven to 180*. Mix the first 8 ingredients in a large bowl until well combined. Form into balls. Heat oi...

After five years, international comedy superstar – also actor, movie star, author, podcaster – our very own Rhys Darby is back on the stage at this year’s NZ International Comedy Festival. Darby is bringing his podcast The Cryptid Factor to the stage, alongside fellow hosts Dan Schreiber and Buttons. The comedy festival kicks off this week, and Darby joined Francesca Rudkin to discuss his return t...

I feel for Uppkar Kashyap, one of the Kiwis stuck in India trying to get home to his young family in New Zealand. But this is the world we live in. When you make a decision to travel, you risk the rules changing when you’re overseas and you find yourself stranded. Initially flights were suspended from India by the Government for two weeks and now, while Mr Kashyap, a New Zealand citizen, can retur...

Chiefs 39Blues 12 Blues captain Eloise Blackwell says her side's defeat to the Chiefs in the maiden New Zealand women's Super Rugby match at Eden Park proves the female game deserves proper investment. The Chiefs comfortably upstaged the Blues, putting away their neighbours 39-12, but in many ways the result was secondary to giving women in this country a Super Rugby platform to aspire to. "It's b...

Travel blogger Megan Singleton joins Francesca Rudkin to talk about her drive from the Crown Range to Cardrona for a spot of lunch, a gin distillery tour and the famous bra fence on the way to Wanaka.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

More than 50,000 Six60 fans sold-out Auckland's Eden Park for its first ever concert last night. CEO Nick Sautner says it was the biggest post-Covid party in the world. He says the response has been phenomenal with a number of people congratulating the team on the effort to get to this point. "We managed to deliver one of the most memorable events in New Zealand music history." Eden Park was grant...

Tall Bones by Anna Bailey First novel from a young writer (I think she’s around 24) – set in a small conservative and deeply religious Colorado town, with all the hypocrisy that can go along with that. Emma and Abi are best friends and when Emma leaves Abi at a party out at the place on the edge of town known as the Tall Bones, she doesn’t realise it’s the last time she’ll ever see her friend. As...

It's time to talk about the need to celebrate even the smallest successes when we are trying to be healthier. We need to feel a reward for our efforts and that helps wire in the new behaviour. Kent is a certified health coach at Kent Johns Health – kentjohnshealth.co.nz He joined Francesca Rudkin to share his health advice. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Auckland based singer-songwriter Reb Fountain, this song is Samson and it’s off her 2020 self-titled album which she released in May 2020. The album has received critical acclaim and this week earned Reb the prestigious 2021 Taite Music Prize. If you are unfamiliar with the award it is a celebration of independently released music. Reb’s album was up against 9 other independently released albums f...

This week is all about something known as the Brazil Nut Effect. Have you ever noticed that the dried fruits or nuts in your breakfast cereal are not evenly spread out inside the box but that some things seem to be at the bottom while others gather at the top? This is most prominent in a bag of mixed nuts where no matter how you initially place the nuts in the bag, after a bit of movement the heav...