The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

Cyclone Gabrielle has done substantial damage to Hawke's Bay, Gisborne, Napier and the Coromandel. This burst of extreme weather will disrupt businesses in those areas, at a time where they need extra economic support. Blogger At Large's Megan Singleton says local companies will still want to operate and advises people to check if favourite businesses are still trading, or order online to show sup...

On this week's edition of The Sunday Panel, Coast's Lorna Riley and Newstalk ZB host Andrew Dickens joined in on a discussion about the following talking points: Cyclone Gabrielle did some damage in the Coromandel, but did people forget about it after the damage to Hawke's Bay and Gisborne? We think of the region as resilient, but will their community be able to recover? Rebuilding after the cyclo...

Alt-right extremism may seem like a new phenomenon to New Zealanders, but new research says otherwise. New Zealand's far-right community first rose to prominence after the 2019 mosque attack and received more exposure during the Covid-19 pandemic. Researcher and author Byron C Clark has been studying this community since 2015 and written about its development in Fear: New Zealand’s Hostile World o...

Get support and reach out to those close to you. This is the advice from wellness experts about how to overcome the stress and anxiety of recent weather events. Clean up from the cyclone continues on the East Coast, where about 90 percent of Napier remains without power. Wellness expert and Golden Yogi director Erin O'Hara says sleep and nutritional food are good places to start. LISTEN ABOVE See...

Do you have a song that always makes you feel happy when you listen to it?   New research surveying over 200 people found that music is one of the most powerful influences on their mood. Two thirds (64 percent) of the respondents said they listen to music to cheer them up, most often when they are lonely (43 percent), sad (42 percent) or when it’s cold and dark outside (40 percent).   If we can us...

The White Lotus theme has gone viral enough to get its own EDM remix. Remixes of the show's opening music have been playing in nightclubs, and now Dutch DJ Tiësto has dropped his official version on streaming services. Flicks.co.nz editor Steve Newall says The White Lotus theme is one of those rare 'unskippable' intros that resonated with audiences before it made its way to club playlists. LISTEN...

It's still sinking in just what's happened to our tiny little community of Muriwai. So much destruction and so much loss. The two firefighters lost. I didn't know them personally, but I know they were very highly regarded within the Muriwai community.   And we are just a small part of the massive destruction, which is still unfolding around the North Island.   We had our damage, lots of trees down...

Kiwi film producer Ainsley Gardiner is back with a new project that speaks to young experiences. She's been behind plenty of beloved New Zealand classics including Boy, Cousins, Eagle v Shark, The Breaker Upperers, Night Raiders and Waru. Ainsley Gardiner's new series is Not Even, a comedy depicting several Maori and Pasifika young adults navigating life in Wellington. "What I loved is that it rep...

Rihanna's Super Bowl performance lit up social media, but one presence managed to steal the pop star's thunder. All eyes were on her sign language interpreter Justina Miles, whose energetic performance went viral after the event. Platform Interpreting Director Kelly Hodgins says the popularity of Justina Miles' performance brings positive awareness to deaf and ASL performers. Kelly Hodgins says th...

Cyclone Gabrielle has flooded roads, buried houses and claimed over six bridges in the upper North Island. With climate change predicted to make extreme weather events more common, experts are warning rebuilds will need to factor these in. Professor John Tookey from AUT's School of Future Environments says it's possible to rebuild infrastructure to withstand extreme weather, but compromises will h...

The rural Hawke's Bay village of Puketapu has set up preventative measures to deter looters. Several road blocks have been put in place around the village, with residents manning them getting approval from the police and NZDF. The Puketapu community had already been hit by a group of looters on Friday attempting to rob a property, sparking concerns. NZ Herald reporter Adam Pearse says the communit...

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton – who of course won the Booker Prize for The Luminaries . This book could not be more different – and is astonishingly good. Set in NZ, it’s about an ideologically driven guerrilla gardening group who plant crops in unused spaces, and when they hear about a farm in the South Island which has been abandoned after a major slip cut it off, they think that could be a grea...

BloggerAtLarge's Megan Singleton plans to host a girls trip to Rarotonga where everyone brings a gift to the local schools. Megan wanted to be sure her gifts were the right mix of practical and delightful, so she got in touch with a school principal in the area and asked what supplies they might need.  This school will be receiving a donation of books and coloured pencils, but Megan also recommend...

This week on the Sunday Panel: Nick Mills, host of Newstalk ZB's Wellington Mornings and b roadcaster Brodie Kane joined in on a discussion about the following issues- Cyclone Gabrielle is just getting started, but the early reactions seem familiar. People are panic-buying at the supermarket and being rude to staff at sandbag depots. Why do we react to big events like this? Has the Covid-19 pandem...

With 1.7 million followers and rising, DeuxMoi is the go-to girl for Hollywood gossip.  The popular Instagram account is run by an anonymous woman living out of New York, where anonymous tips and celebrity rumours are posted and shared. The success of the account has led to a weekly podcast, and more recently inspired DeuxMoi to release a novel based on her story– 'Anon Pls'. The mysterious woman...

More research is being done on the importance of gut and brain health, and now it's been revealed those parts are closely linked. The gastrointestinal tract is sensitive to emotions. Anger, anxiety, sadness — all of these emotions can trigger symptoms in the gut. A troubled intestine can send signals to the brain, just as an overwhelmed or anxious brain can send signals to the gut.   Wellness expe...

With Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine and the climate crisis, we seem to be closer to a global catastrophe and the demise of human civilisation than ever before.   Luckily, a new study has confirmed that New Zealand is better placed to survive an apocalyptic winter than most other nations. Researchers from The Univeristy of Otago and Adapt Research studied 38 island nations and judged them on 13 r...

Happy Valentine's Day!   Well not quite yet, but it certainly is going to be a welcome distraction from the looming storm about to hit Auckland.    I'm not sure if Valentine's Day is still as important nowadays as it has been in the past? Maybe it's just because I'm just getting older, or it's just become too commercial and lost its charm somewhat.   I can remember going to all lengths and costs w...

Tomorrow's Super Bowl promises an entertaining lineup, between the half-time show and the star-studded commercials. Rihanna will be performing live for the first time in 5 years, having taken a break from music to focus on her fashion and makeup companies. The commercials will also feature some big names, with Jennifer Coolidge, Clueless star Alicia Silverstone, Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston, Sere...

Since launching in 2017, Sharesies has helped many Kiwis learn the basics of investing. The share market is another way to build wealth and generate a passive income, and the team behind Sharesies have helped thousands start investing. Sonya Williams is part of the team that co-founded Sharesies, and she explained their new book 'The Sharesies Guide to Investing: Your roadmap to financial freedom'...

Small signs of hope are emerging from the devastation in Turkey and Syria. The death toll from the earthquakes has now passed 25,000, however officials fear this could double. In addition, over 100,000 buildings are currently believed to be uninhabitable. Newshub Europe correspondent's Lisette Reymer says she felt pure joy and elation watching a rescue. She says the fact they are still finding peo...

This coming Tuesday, Chris Hipkins will table his annual Statement to the House outline. This will outline what the Government will set out to do for the rest of the year. NZ Herald political editor Claire Trevett says this will likely add to the list of scrapped policies from last week's Cabinet meeting. Claire Trevett says some areas currently under review are Light Rail and the Clean Car Discou...

North Islanders are warned to prepare for the worst as Cyclone Gabrielle moves closer. MetService has issued a Red Heavy Rain Warning for the Coromandel Peninsula and Gisborne, north of Tolaga Bay. Up to 400 millimetres of rain could fall on the regions , with peak intensities of up to 30 millimetres per hour tomorrow. Northland, Auckland, the rest of Tairawhiti and Hawke's Bay are under Orange Wi...

The upper North Island is bracing themselves for the worst of Cyclone Gabrielle. Heavy rain started falling this morning, but the worst of the weather is likely to hit on Monday and Tuesday. Metservice Meteorologist Lewis Ferris says that Sunday is a warm-up day for the cyclone, with Monday into Tuesday bringing the worst weather and damage. Lewis Ferris says the good news is we've had plenty of f...

Last week, before the weather turned, my 14 year old daughter and I set off from just behind the Chateau Tongariro, on an overnight tramp in National Park. As we went past the Chateau she said, I’d really like to stay there one day. Instead, I had a DOC hut lined up for her! It was my daughter’s first stay in a hut so we picked the flash one – Waihohonu, about a 15.3km walk from Chateau, and sitti...