The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

8 Rules of Love by Jay Shetty – author of Think Like a Monk which is brilliant. It’s a guide to every stage of romance, drawing on ancient wisdom and new science.   Nobody sits us down and teaches us how to love. So we’re often thrown into relationships with nothing but romance movies and pop culture to help us muddle through. Until now. Instead of presenting love as an ethereal concept or a colle...

San Francisco's own Bucket Man was found dead aged 64 of unknown causes. The streets of San Francisco host all sorts of performers, one of them being Larry Hunt with his makeshift plastic bucket drums.  Larry Hunt performed for many tourists over the years, including BloggerAtLarge's Megan Singleton.  Megan talked about her experience with the Bucket Man and some other performers she met on the st...

Ben Thomas, Director of Captial PR and Morgan Godfery, Senior Lecturer at Victoria University Faculty of Law joined this week's edition of The Sunday Panel to discuss the following topics of interest: Environmental engineer Jamie Simmonds helped relocate the Queensland town of Grantham after the town was hit by a deadly flood in 2011. He believes vulnerable regions should look into managed retreat...

Self-discovery and personal change are often overwhelming to think about. Your Life Live It founder Dr Amanda Foo-Ryland hopes to make that journey easier for readers in her new book 'Knowing You: The Difference that Makes the Difference'.  Dr Amanda Foo-Ryland has worked with thousands of clients around the world to achieve personal change, and put her findings into this helpful guide. She says i...

Popular perception says that stress causes premature greying- how true is that?  Wellness expert and Golden Yogi director Erin O'Hara says the two are linked, with stress definitely speeding up the growth of grey hairs. Erin O'Hara explains that exposure to sun, diet, smoking and prior health conditions like inflammation can accelerate the growth of grey hair.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/list...

This weekend, we are talking about the mighty mushroom.   Whilst they are not in season right now for the wild varieties, most of the mushrooms we eat have been grown commercially indoors, allowing us to eat them all year round.   The beautiful thing about mushrooms is, yes the wild varieties may taste somewhat better and have a deeper depth of flavour, commercially grown mushrooms are pretty clos...

Want to wake up more mentally prepared for the day without needing to have more sleep?    A new study out this week shows that the simple act of wear an eye mask at night can boost your both your cognitive skills and reaction time as well as help you to wake up more refreshed.   The research published in the journal Sleep  carried out two experiments.   In the first experiment, 89 adults were aske...

Amazon Prime dropped their latest original miniseries on Friday: 'Daisy Jones and the Six'. The ten-episode series, based off the novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid, follows a popular rock band in the 1970s from their origins to the height of their fame- and subsequent split. Flicks.co.nz editor Steve Newall says the fictionalised events in the series are inspired by Fleetwood Mac's career, with plenty...

After a seven-year wait, The Veils are back with a new album: 'Out of the Void Came Love'. The New Zealand/English indie rock band released the double LP on Friday, and it features plenty of local talented musicians and special guests. Lead singer/songwriter Finn Andrews says he went through a lot in those seven years between albums, from a broken scaphoid bone, to lockdowns, to the birth of his d...

The first weekend of March is a big one for Kiwi cheese fans. Judging is underway in the New Zealand Champions of Cheese Awards, which celebrates 20 years of recognising the nation's best cheeses.  Champions of Cheese Awards Master Judge Jason Tarrant says the New Zealand cheese industry has come a long way in those 20 years. Jason Tarrant can't give too much away before the judging is done, but s...

Chris Luxon is set to deliver his State of the Nation speech to showcase what the opposition can offer the country. Luxon has made two attempts to schedule and deliver the speech, but was foiled by Cyclone Gabrielle and the resulting clean-up. Newstalk ZB political reporter Sophie Trigger says the cost of living and Government spending will be high on the agenda for Luxon. Sophie Trigger says Chri...

Relocating properties may be a necessary step to prepare for future natural disasters. The Queensland town of Grantham was hit by a deadly flood in 2011, prompting the decision to relocate the entire town up the hill – a project that was completed in just one year.  As the nation recovers from Cyclone Gabrielle and begins repairs, a managed retreat could be a possible solution ahead of the next di...

How can you keep yourself occupied if you're stuck on a flight for 16-17 hours? BloggerAtLarge.com's Megan Singleton has two long-haul flights planned for 2023, and she's prepared some tips through getting through the long stretch in the air. Megan Singleton recommends booking a comfortable seat at the back of the plane for fewer disruptions and lining up some entertainment options you haven't had...

In this week's edition of The Sunday Panel, NZ Herald senior writer Simon Wilson and partner at Freebairn and Hehir Lawyers, Liam Hehir joined on a discussion about the following issues of the week: National has announced their policy response to Three Waters. Is it enough? Is it a good enough alternative to reassure those who would like to see some long term substantial improvement to water infra...

Former Crusaders player Tim Bateman has made the leap to children's author. Tim retired from rugby in late 2022 to spend more time with family, and switched into the wellness industry. Tim Bateman has also written two children's books: 'The Lonely Lemon' and 'The Sad Banana', designed to teach the importance of gratitude, self-acceptance, emotional regulation and  building resilience. Tim Bateman...

How can we counteract the negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle? The modern world forces us to lead sedentary lives- we sit on a bus or in a car to get to work, we sit down for eight hours a day, and then get home to sit down and unwind with a favourite TV show. Wellness expert and Golden Yogi director Erin O'Hara says sitting all day increases our risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular dis...

This week we are going back in time, back to my Dutch roots and a dish they call Stamppot!   Imagine this combination : Potatoes, kale, smokey sausage and canned pears. YUM!    A lot of people don't think it's so YUM, including my wife Bee and our youngest Ivy, but at least I have one other member of the family that enjoys it, my little Hazel. So much so that Stamppot is her favourite dish.   What...

How much time does your teenager spend on social media each day?   Adolescence is a vulnerable period for the development of body image issues, eating disorders and mental illness.  New research published in the journal Psychology of Popular Media finds that cutting the amount of time that teenagers spend on social media can significantly improve how they feel about themselves, their weight and th...

Oddball dark comedy 'Cocaine Bear' was released to theatres this week. The film was based on a shorter, sadder headline from 1985, in which a black bear ingested a batch of cocaine dropped by an airborne drug smuggler and overdosed. Flicks.co.nz editor Steve Newall says 'Cocaine Bear' offers a dramatised version of that story that imagines the more dangerous side effects cocaine could have on a 79...

Accomplished screenwriter Monica Heisey has released her debut novel 'Really Good, Actually'. Monica Heisey is best known for her work on TV hit 'Schitt’s Creek' and Netflix original series 'Workin’ Moms'. Monica Heisey says 'Really Good, Actually' was inspired by her first divorce and deals with the unique feelings around the millennial divorce experience. 'Really Good, Actually' is in stores now...

A collection of the biggest names in Kiwi music came together to raise money for Cyclone Gabrielle victims. Otautahi 4 Aotearoa had Lorde, Neil Finn, L.A.B, and Tiki Taane among others performing at Christchurch’s Town Hall to support the affected communities. The impromptu relief concert managed to sell out the 2000 tickets less than six hours after they went on sale. Promoter and former drummer...

National has revealed that they intend to scrap Three Waters and return water assets to direct council ownership. National plan to establish a new water infrastructure investment regulator, which would ensure that councils are investing adequately in water infrastructure and charge appropriately for said investments.  NZ Herald political editor Claire Trevett says that National's plan is a return...

A group of West Auckland homeowners have joined forces to ask authorities to buy out their flood-prone properties. West Auckland Is Flooding wants the local council, the Government, and insurance companies to pull together to pay for their red and yellow-stickered homes. Property lawyer Joanna Pidgeon says the Government and councils have no obligation to buy out these properties. Joanna Pidgeon s...

In 1993, I headed off on a crazy adventure, travelling from Hong Kong to Paris via the Trans-Siberian Express.   I spent about 4 months travelling through China, a country which had only opened up to foreign tourists in the late 1970's. By the late 80's the tourism industry was taking off, but there were still restrictions on where you could go and where you could stay, it had to be in foreigner a...

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels  by Janice Hallett. This is ingeniously done with enough clues and twists and turns to really keep the reader on their toes. The Alperton Angels were a cult-like group who were convinced that one of their member’s babies was the anti Christ and they had a divine mission to do away with it – until the baby’s mother came to her senses and called the police,...