Full Show Podcast: 3 November 2024

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
It's Sunday. You know what that means.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
It's the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkins and Wiggles for
the best election of great reads US Talks ed B.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
Good morning and welcome to the Sunday Session. I'm Francisca
bud can risk you until the day. What about that rugby?
That was a very intense start to a Sunday morning.
I'm sure I was not the only key we hissing
in a whisper at the TV this morning, expressing my
excitement and frustration at the game while not trying to
wake everybody else up. It was a lot of Yes,

(00:50):
I know, why are you doing going on in my house?
Let me know what you thought of it all. We
get Elliott Smith's take on the win later this hour,
and of course it's a big week in the year West.
We'll talk the election shortly. Hey, got some great guests
for you on the show after ten. The one and
only Rick Rick Astley was one of the biggest pop
stars of the nineteen eighties and he's back. He's playing Glastonbury,

(01:12):
releasing new music. He's become an Internet sensation. He's released
a memoir. Rick Astley is going to join me to
talk about being a pop star and the music industry
after ten. After eleven, I am joined by Abbot Kayla,
an American historical non fiction writer who has written a
new book called Eden Undone. It tells the story of
a group of Europeans when the nineteen thirties moved with

(01:34):
small island in the Galapagos. They wanted to live in
isolation and find utopia. But what happened to these people
is a mystery that involves sex and murder, and it
is a very fascinating story. And Abbot talks us through
with After eleven and as always, you're most welcome to
text anytime throughout the morning. On ninety two, ninety.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Two the Sunday Session.

Speaker 3 (01:57):
If you care about the mental health of our young people,
if you're a parent of a childhood was struggling or
advocating to get your child or young adult diagnosed and treated,
the last thing you want to hear in the news
is more gotcha moments abound the I Am Hope charity
and politicians reacting to it as someone who has first
hand experience with how overwhelmed our mental health system is

(02:19):
and how long and hard parents must fight and wait
for the life changing and often life saving treatment our
children and adolescents need. There is nothing appealing about politicizing
the issue. This is not the time for grandstanding. This
is not the time for the opposition to count hits
against the coalition government, and this is not the time
for the government to sweep their decision making under the carpet.

(02:41):
These are children's lives we're talking about. This is families
in distress and disarray. Please can we do away with
the sound bites and headlines and get on with the job.
The Prime Minister was right when he said this week,
do not play politics with youth mental help, He said health.
He said this in response to calls for his government
to review funding for Mike King's mental health charity I

(03:03):
Am Hope, in the wake of an ill considered and
out of context King made about alcohol being a short
term fix for those going through a rough period with
their mental health. But when you grant one charity twenty
four million dollars over four years, more than the whole
contestable Mental Health Innovation Fund, promised by National Then I
am sorry, Prime Minister, but you have opened this issue

(03:26):
up for scrutiny. At the beginning of October, the Order
to General raised concerns about the process in which the
Mental Health It's sorry in the process in which the
Ministry of Health allocated to the funding and I quote,
without an open, transparent and competitive procurement process. The ministry
took the hit, but the push to do what they
did came from the government. So it is on the

(03:47):
Ministry and the Mental Health Minister Matt Doosey to es
sure this investment is achieving the performance measures set in place,
that it is helping make a difference to the stretched
public service by providing support for young people in distress.
And if it's not, to do something about it as

(04:08):
the gun boot fight at Friday and I am hope
forget the commentary and the politicking and get on with
what you are so determined to do improve the mental
health of our young people. We all need this to
work and we will all benefit when it does, so
I strongly suggest everyone stick to their own lanes and
just get on with it. The Sunday session, it's so

(04:32):
keen to hear your thoughts. This is an issue that
shouldn't be politicized, but it has been and will continue
to be so. I just feel it's time for everyone
to put their heads down, do their job and deliver
the best possible results. Keen to hear your thoughts. Most
welcome to text on ninety two ninety two.

Speaker 4 (04:48):
Right.

Speaker 3 (04:48):
The US election is finally upon us. I found it fascinating.
I have no idea who's going to win. We are
going to head to the States for election week. Chat next,
you're with News Talks, EB. It is eleven past nine.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
Relax, it's still the weekend.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
It's the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin and Wiggles for
the best Selecttion.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
No great breads US Talks. It'd be good to have
you with us.

Speaker 3 (05:10):
It's a fourteen past nine. A huge week coming up
in the US as Americans head to the voting booths.
The US election will be held this Wednesday, New Zealand time.
The polls are showing an incredibly tight race between Donald
Trump and Kamala Harris. To talk us through the week ahead,
I'm joined by former US Ambassador to New Zealand, Mark Gilbert.
Thanks so much for your time. Make good morning.

Speaker 5 (05:32):
Now my pleasure. Good morning, Kiota.

Speaker 3 (05:34):
The polls are, as I mentioned, incredibly tight. Did you
expect the campaign to be this close?

Speaker 5 (05:44):
I believe everybody did. It's been a post race. The
polls have been pretty locked in for the last month
or so. But the good news is Kamala Harris is
in contention in all seven of the battleground states, and
we believe she has a slight lead in all seven

(06:05):
of them, and we hope our ground game and late
undecided voters breaking our way will be what she needs
to win the election.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
Have you seen a race this type before?

Speaker 5 (06:21):
Pauls had been this type before, but I don't think
the race was this type before. Everybody thought the Mick
Romney Barack Obama race in twenty twelve was this close.
But internally we had ourselves winning what at that time
ten of the twelve battleground states. One we thought would

(06:42):
be close, and back then we knew we were going
to lose the state in North Carolina. But we feel
we're in a good place in the seventh states, and
those are the seven states that count, and we believe
we're going to prevail. An election day time is.

Speaker 3 (06:58):
Very precious, which candidate do you think is used at
beisher Over the last.

Speaker 5 (07:02):
Week, Interestingly, former President Trump has traveled to a number
of states that he cannot possibly win. There's some people
who believe he just wanted to go there for large crowds.
There are others who believe that he went there to
help with house. Our House of Representatives all four hundred

(07:25):
and thirty five members are up for election. But Kamala
Harris has been in all the battleground states and one
big advantage our campaign as over his. He draws good
sized crowds to his events. Jd Vance his running mate,
you know, much smaller crowds, but he's traveling the country.

(07:48):
He advantaged Kamala Harrah Eris has is not only she
and Governor Tim Walls out campaigning, but she has both Obama's,
both Biden's, both Clinton's out campaigning. So an extra six
high quality surrogates out hitting the pavement for her.

Speaker 3 (08:09):
Do the next couple of days count mark? Are people
still making up their minds? Is there something that one
of these candidates could do to sort of separate themselves
in how closely this rice is?

Speaker 5 (08:24):
I think we're pretty locked in. We have seen movement
just in the past week. You may have seen about
the rally that former President Trump did at Madison Square
Garden where a comedian really insulted the Puerto Rican community,
and there have been major Puerto Rican elected officials, entertainers

(08:49):
who have come out and we've seen a dramatic swing
in the polls just in a few days in that
community and in many of the swing states. I'm currently
working in Pennsylvania. There are more than four hundred thousand
Puerto Ricans in Pennsylvania. Former home state of Florida there
one point two million Puerto Ricans, and we have Bill

(09:11):
Clinton going to Orlando, Florida for US, which is where
the largest Puerto Rican community is in Florida, to help
drive out the vote there.

Speaker 3 (09:22):
Harris's campaign has been about ninety days, which is normally
unheard of. You know, a candidate would be preparing for
this election for you know, a good year or two.
How well do you think she's done.

Speaker 5 (09:36):
I think she's done great. She's actually run at a
fallless campaign over the last three months, and I think
there's been a big benefit for the campaign being short
for her. The only negative is that when we're out
talking to undecided voters. You know, we run across a
lot of people saying, oh, I can't vote for Donald

(09:58):
Trump again, but I don't know her yet. So it's
really been trying to introduce her to voters all around
the country. And I think she's doing a very good
job at.

Speaker 3 (10:10):
Yeah, that was going to be my next question. Has
she been able to define herself enough?

Speaker 5 (10:17):
I think she really has. She gave a speech on
the Ellipse, which is part of the White House grounds,
same place Donald Trump gave his speech on January sixth
back in twenty twenty one. More than seventy five thousand
people turned out to hear her speak and two thousands

(10:40):
were turned away went back home to watch it. But
when I'm out talking to undecided voters, I tell them
to watch that speech. And I think what you saw
there was someone defining what her administration would look like,
that she would bring Republicans into her cabinet and part

(11:01):
of her administration. And I think for those people who
are looking for bipartisanship, somebody who's going to try to
bring the country back together versus dividing it in hat,
I think they would have been very impressed by her speech.
And I thought it was pitch perfect, and I think
that will also help convince a number of voters to

(11:23):
come her way.

Speaker 3 (11:24):
Make you're close to Kamala Andoe Biden. What is the
feeling in the Democratic camp.

Speaker 5 (11:32):
We're cautiously optimistic. We believe that we're in a very
good place. We're out doing the work. And one other
thing that I didn't mention earlier, which I think is
playing really well in certain communities that historically don't vote
for Democrats, is We've seen a number of former military

(11:56):
officials who normally do not participate in politics at all.
They say bipartisan. They don't talk about Donald Trump's former
Defense Secretary chief of Staff, who is a four star
Marine general, national two National Security Advisors, Chairman of the

(12:21):
Joint Chiefs, plus the generals who rant special operations and
Afghanistan for US, and Admiral mcgraven who is a four
star admiral who was in charge of our special forces
who led the raid on Osama ben Laden all came
out within the last two weeks talking about how dangerous

(12:43):
a person Donald Trump is and why he should be
nowhere near the Oval office. So I think that will
play very well in certain communities that was one of
the things that the Vice president has also talked about
on the campaign trail.

Speaker 3 (13:02):
Mike Trump's campaign style is very similar to the style
that we've seen him use in the past, and he's
really been trying to appeal to young meen was that
a good idea to young mean vote?

Speaker 5 (13:19):
I think being in New Zealand, remembering I was there
during the twenty sixteen campaign, you don't see the rhetoric
and the campaigning every single day. You get clips, you know,
on the news, and his campaigning has been very different,

(13:40):
much more aggressive, much more erratic, much more divisive than
it was in sixteen or in twenty. He's making this
about being a base election, really trying to appeal to
his base, and actually turning away a lot of Republicans
who may have come home with them, such as Nicky Bailey,

(14:03):
Republicans or Republicans that you know, didn't favor him being
the candidate but would still come home. And I mean,
we're going to know on Tuesday, but to me, it
feels like he's turning more people away than he's bringing in.

Speaker 3 (14:21):
Mirke, this is a campaign where we've seen two assassination
attempts and a third thought it on Donald Trump. Is
the concern around security and safety this week? Are both
camps being extra vigilant.

Speaker 5 (14:36):
The US Secret Service are in charge of that. I
think that security has been beefed up. As you know,
I served during the Obama administration and the number of
threats during his administration rose to an all time high.

(14:58):
But believe it or not, during the Trump administration, those
numbers more than double. It has been on the rise here,
you know, political violence here in the United States, and
I believe that comes from the terrible rhetoric that Donald
Trump and many people in the Republican Party are using.

(15:19):
Hopefully this Tuesday, Kamala Harris beat Donald Trump, beats trump Ism,
and we can get back to having a two party
system that works together on behalf of the United States.

Speaker 3 (15:31):
And how quickly do you think we're going to have
a result?

Speaker 5 (15:37):
It's hard to tell, you know, when you have polls
swinging at the very end, which is something I don't
focus on, but we've seen some traumatic swings. And as
a matter of fact, in two and a half hours,
the poll out of Iowa will come out about what's
happening on the ground in Iowa. And we've seen in

(15:59):
a lot of these Midwest states that Trump may have
won by fifteen twenty points in twenty twenty, and supposedly
these have closed to five six eight point races, not
that Kamala Harris would win. The fact is it's so
dramatically moved in her fashion that we may have some

(16:20):
surprises on election night. The states to focus on early Virginia,
Virginia closes early. If they make an announcement right after
the polls close, that's a very positive sign for her.
If they come out Florida, although Florida is in two
time zones because of how big it is, but if

(16:42):
they come out in Florida and say the election's too
close to call, that's also a very good sign for
Kamala Harris. So we'll see how things play out on
election night. And you know, because of state like Pennsylvania,
those Republican legislature changed how mail in ballots or counted.

(17:05):
They don't start tellingham to the day of. It's different
than many other states where when the ballots come in,
they're loaded into the system and when the polls close,
you push a button you know the results. So Pennsylvania
has intentionally slowed the process. And because that's Pennsylvania is
the most important battleground state this time. That could take

(17:26):
some time together a result.

Speaker 3 (17:29):
Mike, really appreciate your time this morning. Thank you. That
was US Ambassador to New Zealand, Mark Gilbert. Cautiously optimistic.
I think both sides are probably cautiously optimistic. I have
no idea who's going to win this an issue, the
good could guy either way. I don't think anyone really
does to be honest with you can to hear your thoughts.
Maybe you've been able to assist this better than I have,

(17:49):
and no clearly which way it is going to go.
Twenty seven past nine, you're with the News Talk ZBB.

Speaker 1 (17:58):
It's the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin on NEWSTALKSTB, and
it's time to.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
Talk local politics now and I'm joined by New Zealand
Herald political reporter Jamie Enzel. How are you this morning, Jamie?

Speaker 6 (18:12):
Very good?

Speaker 3 (18:13):
Excellent.

Speaker 7 (18:13):
Hey.

Speaker 3 (18:13):
I started the show by talking about how an ill
considered comment by Mike King has put I am Hope
back in the spotlight, and it's really just time that
we all stop politicizing youth mental health and get on
with doing the job that we're supposed to be doing.
But of course the opposition has sort of said that
the government needs to deal with this. What are they
wanting the government to do and what should the government do,

(18:36):
just to kind of put all this to bed so
we can move forward and get on with the job
of looking after our kids.

Speaker 8 (18:42):
Very good points. Yeah, Parliaments will return from a recess
week this week and you can expect that this whole
drama around Mike King and his comments about olcohol will
be front of minds for members of the Labor Party
that said the government needs to review its funding of
the gun Boots Friday program in light of what what
Mike King has said. Now, the Minister for Mental Health,

(19:05):
Matt Doocy has told the Heroes that even though he
disagrees with the comments that Mike King made with regard
to alcohol, he defended continuing to fund Gumboot Friday, saying
that it will help young people access free mental health
counseling and that it was an impressive program. But Labor
says that you know, these deeply problematic comments, those were

(19:25):
the words of Labour's in Gridillary. They send the message
to young people that alcohol uses a recognize treatment for
mental health. Issues when it isn't and that to continue
funding gunbroot Friday would be the wrong thing to do.

Speaker 2 (19:39):
Now.

Speaker 8 (19:39):
The Prime Minister responded to that by saying that Labor
was trying to politicize this issue, but you would have
to say it's been a fairly political one from the beginning.
It was parties in this government that pledged to give
Monday the money to gumboot Friday during the election campaign.
Would helped the usual contestable process for public money. So

(19:59):
wait and see what happens in question time this week,
but it definitely will be a hot topic.

Speaker 3 (20:03):
Yeah, no, I mean, look, the government has politicized it
by the actions, but they also now just need to
get on. They need to They need to be measuring
the targets, they need to be making sure it works,
do all that.

Speaker 5 (20:13):
You know.

Speaker 3 (20:14):
They just need to get on to their child, don't they. Anyway,
Let's move on to party. Marty has admitted that one
of its MP's is fall short of their expectations. That's
an admission that they don't often make. And this was
a comment to I believe it a a select committee.

Speaker 2 (20:27):
Was it?

Speaker 8 (20:29):
It happened during the Justice Select Committee this week. It's
considering some amendments to the Foreshore and Seabed legislation. Takuta
Theorist who is its party Muori MP, had been questioning
two of the submitters about their support for the legislation
when he was cut off by the chair of the committee,
National's James Mega. Now as Mega tried to move on

(20:50):
to the next submitter, Feris could be heard saying besing racist.
Now making such a comment in a public session with
submitters there, It was pretty shocking for a politician. An
actor has now written to the Speaker to raise this
as a matter of privilege. That means that they believe
Faeris has broken some of the most important rules of
Parliament and it will be up to the Speaker decide

(21:12):
whether to escalate this to the Privileges Committee, which is
essentially Parliament's court. Now Ferras is already facing a complaint
at the Privilegeous Committee over whether he misled the House
last month when he appeared to call some other MP's
liars but then deny of doing so. Mass is a
privilege don't come up all that often. It's very rare
to see an MP face one, so for Fairest to

(21:35):
be potentially facing two complaints at the same time as
really notable. But like you said, to Party Maldi's co
leaders have said Ferris's conduct full short of the expectation,
and that's really rare for to Party Maldi to admit,
and it speaks to how serious of an issue this is.
So we'll have to wait and see what the speaker

(21:55):
says potentially sometime this week during its session, but this
is definitely going to be one to watch for Takuta theists.

Speaker 3 (22:03):
Jamie, thanks so much for your time this morning. That
was Jamie Ensaw, New Zealand held political reporter. Hey, don't
forget that Rick Ashley is with me outter ten. Yeah,
they're never going to give you up. Rick Ashley is
with me and the All Blacks Northern Tour kicked off
this morning with a win against England. Just, oh my gosh,
what an intense way to start the morning. Elliot Smith

(22:24):
is with us Snakes. That is twenty five to ten Sunday.

Speaker 1 (22:28):
With Style the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin and Winkles
for the best selection of great reeds.

Speaker 3 (22:35):
Use talks envy okay, so the text machine is split
down the middle. Carmela will win God bless you, we
say one says Trump will win by a landslide. The
reason being is in regards to the polls, nine out
of ten Harris supporters will tell you their voting for her,
whereas five out of ten Trump supporters tell you they're
voting for Trump. There is a huge volume of silent
Trump supporters. That was from Tony. Thank you for your text.

(22:57):
You're free to text anytime this morning. Ninety two ninety two.
While we've had some cracking, tight smarning contests this weekend
and the All Blacks kept that theme going with a
thrilling come back against England at Twickenham this morning.

Speaker 9 (23:10):
They're looking for the best opportunity for the trough goal,
George Ford for.

Speaker 4 (23:14):
The drop goal, for the truck.

Speaker 5 (23:19):
Looks away.

Speaker 6 (23:21):
Away when I throw the right tum twenty four twenty four.

Speaker 3 (23:31):
Oh, I felt very much the same as very excited
news talks. He'd be Rugby commentator Elliott Smith this morning,
he joins me now from Twickenham.

Speaker 4 (23:40):
Good morning, Elliot, Good morning Francisca.

Speaker 3 (23:43):
So I love a dramatic game. I don't mind a
messy win. But as exciting as this game was, it
was also hugely frustrating with too many erarors and penalties,
and not only did the English put pressure on the
All Blacks, the All Blacks put pressure on themselves. Quite frankly,
it was just too much this morning, Elliot.

Speaker 9 (24:02):
You've summed it up exceptionally well, Francesca. I couldn't have
said it better myself. The All Blacks won in spite
of themselves at times, and I don't mean that means spiritedly,
but I think the All Blacks could have played a
lot better. They had opportunities to play a lot better.
They had poor discipline during that game. The penalty count
at one point was eleven to two against the All Blacks.

(24:23):
It tied it up a little bit later on, but
they made a lot of errors, they were ill disciplined,
and yet somehow they won by two points. I think
the All Blacks will take that, but no, they have
to be a lot better with Ireland and France looming.
But it was a game they could have lost. So
it's really hard to sum up, Francesca, just how the
All Blacks should be feeling and just what transpired over

(24:45):
that eighty minutes.

Speaker 3 (24:47):
Razer sounded very relieved at the end of the game.
What were his thoughts post game?

Speaker 9 (24:52):
Elliott, Yeah, well, he said he came into the media
conference and after asked if it was a relief and
he said, jell me to say relief, and sure enough
he did say it was a relief. But he's also
pleased I guess to come back from eight points down
twenty two fort and the game could have slipped away
at that point. Marcus Smith foot England up by aids.

Speaker 4 (25:11):
The All Blacks, as.

Speaker 9 (25:13):
We discussed, were conceding penalties and making errors and allowing
England to take the ascendancy in the game. But the
All Blacks managed to find a way from eight points
in arears. They scored that penalty goal from Damian mckens
and then a bust remarked to lay down the right
wing flank and Mark Cleer had already been subbed off,

(25:33):
then came back on to win it. So he praised
the closure I guess from the All Blacks to come
back in a game that was beginning to slip away
from them, to brail themselves back in, get their noses
in front and hold their composure at the end as
England mister penalty goal mister drop goal could have gone
either way and the All Blacks managed just to get
their noses in front at the full time whistle.

Speaker 3 (25:56):
You're right, there were some good aspects of the game
and the bench worked well and it was good to
see the All Blacks scoring some points in the second half.

Speaker 9 (26:03):
Yeah, this is the tricky thing to the All Blacks
is that the bench has performed well and maybe for
the starters didn't necessarily perform as well as they would
have liked. I thought Patrick Tweople a lot who had
a storming game coming on. He was willing to carry
plenty across the line, broke the advantage line as he
did so the.

Speaker 6 (26:22):
Scrum works visa.

Speaker 9 (26:23):
When the reserves came on the park, Cam Broygarter thought
added something from half back and then Damie McKenzie slotting
a crucial penal goal as well to pull the All
Blacks to within five at that point in the game.
So they can be really pleased with the bench, and
that's what you want out of the bench and the
games and the balance all year. Behind those are the
game changes that you want to throw on. And it's

(26:43):
been a tricky aspect for the All Blacks this year.
They haven't always got it right they've had the back
half of games they've drifted out of. This time, they
close the game with the wet sale and head to
London with their spirits up. It could have been so
different and they could have been leaving London to flate
it tomorrow morning. But as it happens. You know, a
win cures a lot of things. But they do have

(27:05):
a few worries as they had to Dublin. Not only
that discipline the errors, but some injuries as well and
potentially disciplined rey issues too.

Speaker 3 (27:14):
Okay, so how's Cody Taylor.

Speaker 7 (27:17):
Yeah, not an ideal.

Speaker 9 (27:18):
Look, we're still waiting on a full picture from the
All Blacks, but went off with an HIA in the
first five minutes. Now it will depend as my understanding
on the nature of the HIA, but the fact he
didn't even go down the tunnel would suggest that he
is out for next week. Get such a short turnaround,
I don't think he's got time that he can be clear.
There are some aspects of the HIA that if you

(27:40):
complete it later on this evening, it sort of resets
the clock and you can prove yourself fit. But Scott Barrett,
so Scott Robertson was saying in the media conference he
wasn't overly optimistic of having Cody Taylor Bowden. Barrett also
went off with an hia to both Vie look to
be limping with a leg injury, and then Angel Lennart
Brown went off with a yellow slash red cards that

(28:03):
we haven't heard the outcome of. Incidentally, at least at
the stadium, that could have him in hot board at
the Judiciary. So there's plenty for the All Blacks to
chew over as they prepared to leave London head to Dublin.

Speaker 3 (28:15):
And how good has Wallace the tit I think I've
got a new.

Speaker 4 (28:18):
Faith exceptional, really exceptional.

Speaker 9 (28:22):
I'm in all of how he's slotted into this All
Blacks environment and doing what has been asked for him
and more. I don't think anyone could have seen the
rise that he has taken this year from the opportunity
got briefly against Fiji earlier in the year in South Africa.
He has made every post winner since and cannot now
be left out of this All Blacks environment. All Blacks

(28:44):
twenty three and the best team. What is the TD
is in the run on team? Know that you know
mad at the match first was it to twickle him today?
He was exceptional set up the first rider Mark Tala.
Every time he gets the ball in hand, it seems
like he snaps the advantage line in half and gets
over it and could have had another try set up
as well for two bo Vi. Just the stumble before

(29:04):
halftime they score that the all and the game is
very very different again. So I thought he was exceptional
today and he is turning into some special player for
this All Blacks team.

Speaker 3 (29:15):
Ireland next, how do you think that one's going to go?

Speaker 9 (29:17):
Elliott Well of Ireland as it stands for the best
team in the world ranked number one. We know the
hillatious battle they had last year at de France. That's
or the All Blacks not Ireland out. They've continued though.
Island is still a very very good team. They've had
a retirement here or there, but continue to be a
dominant force in rugby and going to Aviva Stadium in

(29:39):
Dublin has become one of the toughest asks for any
team world rugby to try and do six Nations South Africa,
All Blacks, whoever it might be, it is a really
tough place to play. I will step it up a
level from England and the All Blacks are going to
have to lift again when they get to Dublin on
a six day turnaround as well, so the acid will

(30:00):
come on the All Blacks again next week. Dublin is
a ferocious place to play. If you're the visiting team,
your Blacks are going to have to find at that
other level to go to from what they delivered tonight
here at Wokingham.

Speaker 3 (30:11):
Thank you so much Elliott Smith for your time. Appreciate
it boys a pleasure. I think this is going to
be a really exciting tour. I found myself firmly back
on the rugby train. Now I'm going I'm going to
be hooked on these next few games. It is a
fifteen to ten news talk there be all the big.

Speaker 2 (30:29):
Names are wrong, the mic Hosking.

Speaker 10 (30:31):
Breakfast, Boris Johnson. I had the best time with them yesterday.
I hooked up with them yesterday morning. I just at
the very beginning, I said, look, look, Boris, can you
can you like give us just thirty seconds on the
UK budget?

Speaker 11 (30:43):
You know, business is being how had I just got
a message from a children's clothing business. It's being hammered
by these cats. Is on employment, it will crush enterprise.
It's it's a totally the wrong way for the country.

Speaker 10 (30:56):
Back tomorrow at six am the mic asking Breakfast with
the Rain Driver of the Lam News Talk ZIB.

Speaker 2 (31:01):
There's no better way to start your Sunday.

Speaker 1 (31:04):
It's a Sunday session with Rancesca Rutkin and Wiggles for
the best selection of great breaths us.

Speaker 2 (31:10):
Talk sat the.

Speaker 3 (31:13):
Twelve to ten Now. Last month stats in OECD alcohol
data showed alcohol consumption at record low levels. And it's
a trend we've been seeing for a while now, wasn't it.
The total value of the low or no alcohol drinks
category is now worth thirteen billion dollars globally, a five
percent increase on previous years. One company driving the change

(31:34):
here in New Zealand is Free AF. They have become
a bit of a staple in our house and founder
Lisa King joins me. Now, good morning, Lisa, Hi, good morning.
Why do you think we're seeing this sort of long
term trend towards no or low alcohol products? What do
you think is driving it?

Speaker 12 (31:52):
Yeah, Well, I think there's just a real shift in
how people are thinking about alcohol and that people are
becoming more mindful about the impact that alcohol has on
your mind and body. And so we're seeing a real
shift towards moderation, not complete sobriety, but definitely a reduction
and moderation and drinking. And I think that's particularly driven

(32:14):
by the younger generation. You know, they're very much more
health conscious. They don't necessarily feel the same social pressure
to drink, and they're also not willing to sacrifice, you know,
their time and weekends being hungover or not feeling good.

Speaker 3 (32:28):
I wonder if the other thing driving it too For
someone like myself, it's like there are now some other options,
but you know that was the thing, wasn't it. Like
you know, you went out and you went drinking alcohol,
you look around and go, I want water or rejuice.

Speaker 12 (32:40):
Yeah, you know, And that definitely was when we first
started AF, when I first started not drinking just around COVID.
You know, they're just with such a lack of options,
and as well, people kind of didn't get the idea
of alcohol free drinks. When I was telling people about
my idea for AF, people would be like why, like,

(33:00):
why would you have a gin and tonic you know,
without the alcohol? And now we just don't get those comments.

Speaker 3 (33:07):
And you make a genatoic, it makes me feel like
I'm drinking a gin and tonic. This is quite a
big swing though for New Zealand culture, isn't it. I mean,
has it surprised you how much it's grown?

Speaker 6 (33:18):
Yeah?

Speaker 12 (33:18):
I think, you know, from those early days and really
trying to convince people that this was a thing and
convince retailers to stock our products to now, you know,
a very short time of you know, mare four years,
we're just seeing such acceptance and given the heavy drinking
culture of New Zealand, it was surprised that it happened
so quickly.

Speaker 3 (33:37):
You're in the US now too, Were they seeing the
same trends as US?

Speaker 12 (33:41):
Yeah, even faster. We launched in the US last year
and none of the supermarkets actually had you know, shelf
space for products like ours, so we were one of
the first, which was surprising, you know for a market
like the US. But in a short eighteen months, pretty
much every grosser, every retailer now stock these types of products,

(34:02):
including your big box retailers like Target and Walmart, so
they're really heavily investing into the space.

Speaker 3 (34:09):
Lisa. This week you released your first alcohol free wine.
I celebrated the all black success this morning with a
sparkling red alcohol free. What was the driver between moving
into the wine sort of area.

Speaker 12 (34:22):
Yeah, we did a pop up store a couple of
years ago, and we'd bought products from all around the
world and people kept asking for wine. And so there
are very few good non olk wines. I'm not sure
if you've tried.

Speaker 3 (34:37):
Something, I've been through them all probably yeah, and.

Speaker 12 (34:41):
They're not great. And so there was but people kept
asking for it, and so we thought, well, why don't
we try making it ourselves using our approach to making
non olk drinks, and so we launched a sparkling rose
last year in cans, and it was so popular it
sold out several times and quickly became one of our
best selling products. But people kept feeding back, like, oh,

(35:04):
I really want to take it somewhere and share, or
you know, take it to baby shower or weddings, but
I don't want to take cans and I want something,
you know, in a beautiful bottle that I could share.
So that's what we've been working on for the last
six seven months is finding this beautiful bottle you know
wanted it with the cork like a champagne bottle for

(35:25):
people to be able to pop open, particularly in the
lead up to this festive season and New Year's and
summer and weddings. So yeah, it's launching this week.

Speaker 3 (35:36):
I feel like you're a bit ahead of the game
when you came out with AF Drinks. Did you strike
at the right time? I mean, did you see this
trend coming or was it just fantastic luck on your partly?

Speaker 12 (35:45):
So timing, you know, there's definitely a bit of luck
with that when it comes to business. When I was
looking at it, I definitely saw the trend happening in
places like the UK, and it kind of made sense
to me that was going to come to New Zealand.
And so the team, you know, we worked really hard
over like eight months to try and be one of

(36:06):
the first to launch this in New Zealand and so yeah,
timing has been on our side for sure.

Speaker 3 (36:15):
Is there anything else exciting in the pipeline? Where do
you sort of think this market of drinks is going
to go in the future.

Speaker 12 (36:20):
Yeah, well, it's still you know, it's one of the
fastest growing categories in beverages globally at the moment, and
there's lots happening in it, but you know, people are
still getting used to it, and so we're always looking
at like drink trends, what people are drinking, you know,
what's coming up for the summer. And so yeah, we've

(36:40):
got a few new products coming out early next year.
And I think the cagory is just going to keep
growing and growing. And we're seeing in places like Spain
and Germany, you know, nine out drinks in our ten
percent of total alcohol sales, and so I think there's
just so much room for these types of drinks.

Speaker 3 (37:01):
Nice to talk to you this swarning. That was free
af founder Leasa King there, just talking about out the
rise in the desire to drink alcohol free drinks that
we're seeing. It is six to ten, Keep it simple.

Speaker 1 (37:14):
It's Sunday The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkat and Wiggles
for the best selection of Gregory Lets, News Talks, Envy.

Speaker 3 (37:24):
Eighties pop star Rick Astley was in his own words,
thought of as a bit of a twat and manufactured
pop star, but there is no denying he was one
of the biggest pop stars of the eighties. Not only
was he a number one selling artist in the UK
and Europe, but he cracked the US as well, something
many British artists have struggled to do over the years. Anyway,

(37:45):
after a pretty crazy six to seven years, he quit.
He'd had enough the pop star life. But now he's
back and he's released a memoir. It's called Never. He
joins me next to talk about his difficult childhood life
as a pop star and just how glamorous it was
or was not, and how the music industry needs to
look after its young stars a little bit better. Rick

(38:07):
Estley up mixed here on the Sunday Session.

Speaker 2 (38:10):
It's been going on the game. Relax, it's still the weekend.

Speaker 1 (39:04):
It's the Sunday Session with French Escar Rudkin and Whitgles
for the best selection of great reads used talks that'd be.

Speaker 3 (39:28):
Oh look, doesn't this bring back memories? One of the
biggest hits of the nineteen eighties. I've got this vision
of my older brother dancing in his bedroom to fascione.
Oh sorry, Marcus, but yeah no. I used to love
this little number. Released in nineteen eighty seven, Never Going
to Give You Up introduced to young Rick Asthley to
the pop world and completely changed his life. What followed
was a best selling album with millions of sales worldwide, tours,

(39:51):
a whirlwind of TV appearances, and all the scrutiny that
comes with fame, and after only six years, Rick retired
and walked away. He has shared his journey and thoughts
on fame in his first ever memoir, Never Is in
stores Now and Rick Ashley go into me record.

Speaker 13 (40:07):
Good Morning, Good Morning.

Speaker 3 (40:10):
You've been asked to write an autobiography before you turned
down the opportunity. Why now?

Speaker 14 (40:17):
I think it's been a few things, to be honest.
One of the things is that I'm fifty eight and
I'm going to start forgetting things. I'm already forgetting most things,
so I'll forget most of my life and career, I
think if I carry on more importantly, my mum and
dad both passed away in the last few years, and
I felt I really wanted to be honest, because I
wanted to be honest about everything in the book, but

(40:37):
especially about my upbringing because it wasn't particularly an easy upbringing.
I don't want anybody to feel sorry for me, because
I've had a great life, and I think that that
upbringing kind of pushed me to want to do several things,
one of which was have a stable family life. And
I've been with the same woman since nineteen eighty nine
and we have a thirty two year old daughter. So

(41:00):
my two older brothers and my older sister all in
long term relationships. But our mom and dad divorced when
I was about four, and I'm the youngest of the
four kids, and just various things within my childhood I
think pushed me towards once in a career, basically on stage,
if you like, if that's what to putting it down to,
because I think I wanted love and attention wherever I

(41:22):
could get it, because I don't feel I got enough
from my mom and dad in a nutshell, And I
don't blame them. They had a very very tough life themselves,
and they had a very terrible experience where they lost
a son before I was born and before the next earl,
this Mike, was born, So just dealing with that and
other things, I think it was incredibly tough for them.
And obviously I was brought up in my dad's house,

(41:45):
and obviously that I think is again it was very
strange back then. So there were just a lot of
things in my childhood that pushed me to have this
pop career if you like. And it's not as simple
as that sentence explains it, but yeah, I just wanted
to be really honest and actually delve into.

Speaker 2 (42:00):
It a bit.

Speaker 3 (42:00):
You know, No, you absolutely do. What was it like
being a teenager in the early eighties in the north
of England.

Speaker 14 (42:09):
Well, I wouldn't say great, if I'm honest. The little
town that I'm from was kind of a tough town,
I think. I mean, it's not like the typical, you know,
story of like, oh it was grim up north, as
British people say, but it wasn't. It wasn't sexy and
exciting unless proty that way. And there wasn't a lot

(42:32):
of opportunities really in terms of like trying to get
into a band and stuff. There were a couple of
bands in my school, one of which I was in
and I was the drummer, and then I went on
to join another band later after school days and stuff.
But it wasn't exactly like a hotbed of music a
little town that I'm from, and we had Manchester and
Liverpool either side of us, kind of like twenty miles
each way either way.

Speaker 13 (42:55):
But I think in terms of like I think.

Speaker 14 (42:57):
What was part of my weekly routine was to go
to the local cricket club to a disco.

Speaker 13 (43:04):
And hear DJ's play.

Speaker 14 (43:07):
Kind of cool records, not just the pop records that
were in the charts, but cool records. And I kind
of loved that and that was a bit of salvation,
I think, and just being in a band with some
friends that was as well, you know what I mean,
it really kind of it was getting me out of
my home life. Let's prove it that way, and I
kind of needed that, I think, But it wasn't It
wasn't great. I don't look back on living in nutlu
Willows where I'm from, as an amazing experience, to be honest,

(43:30):
not doing it any disservice, but I am doing it
a bit of disservice.

Speaker 3 (43:33):
But they go, how did you get adamusion?

Speaker 14 (43:36):
Well, I met a guy called Pete Waterman who was
part of the you know about to be Fabulous stockache
in Waterman who dominated the pop charts for quite a while.
But when he saw me, I was in a band
with some friends and we were okay, you know, we
were playing the local pub scene and stuff like that,
but we weren't great, and he wasn't interested in signing

(43:57):
a band. He just wanted to sign singers. And I
didn't know who was but he had red leather pants
and he had a jack, so I thought, that'll do.
That's a good start for a pop maestro. And I
just went to London with him and then you know,
from meetings and stuff like that, and I went to
their studios and I didn't know Stockhaking Watermen were. Nobody

(44:18):
did really, you know, they were just in the beginning
of what they were doing. And as I signed a
deal with them, about a few months later, they had
their first massive record with Dead or Alive called used
Being Around like a record and it was such a
great song that I think in a great track, and
it was massive, and it kind of like was their
calling card to the rest of the industry. And they
never stopped. They just kept having hits after hit. So

(44:38):
in the meantime I ended up kind of being one
of the t boys at the studio because I had
to go on the back burner. They didn't have time
to work with me, you know, because they're getting big
artists who were already having hits kind of thing were
coming to them to say, give us another one kind
of thing. So yeah, that was kind of weird really,
but it was also a bit of an apprenticeship, you know.
I got to be at the studio through some of

(44:59):
the most amazing moments that they had, you know, where
they were literally having a hit record every couple of weeks,
which I thought not was normal, but I kind of thought, well,
other studios must be doing this, but they weren't. Obviously,
hit records were being made in London, of course they were,
but I mean these guys were doing it every few weeks.
So it was an amazing place to be. And obviously

(45:21):
I got I think I got the best song they
ever wrote, which is never going to give you up.

Speaker 3 (45:25):
So did How were they as they sort of started
tuning out all these hits? How were they regarded by
the rest of the industry now?

Speaker 14 (45:33):
And listen, I mean the music industry didn't really particularly
like them. I mean record labels did you had pop artists,
because they would send them over there and they'd give
them a hit kind of thing in the beginning, you know.
And then obviously they started signing things themselves like Kylie
and Jason and lots of other stuff.

Speaker 13 (45:48):
But the music press kind of hated.

Speaker 14 (45:51):
Them, and that was that was tough, I think for
me and probably some of the other artists that work
with them, because they kind of hate you before they've
even heard the record, because they've just seen stock Atking
Mortman's name as writer producer and gone, we hate this
before we.

Speaker 13 (46:03):
Even hear it.

Speaker 14 (46:04):
So I don't think I got as much as some
people did working with them in terms of negative But
one of the things I loved about going to America
is that nobody knew who they were, so I kind
of went to America and it was like, okay, great,
so if they liked the record, they liked the record,
that's it. There's no you know, they just weren't interested
in talking about them because they didn't care. Because they
didn't they didn't really have many hits in America. You know,

(46:26):
my stuff kind of slipped through the net and I
had a few there, and and that sort of changed
perception of me a little bit. I think even in
the UK it's sort of you know, if you if
you're a British artist and you go to America and
have a number one record, people just suddenly raise an eyebrown,
go what is going on because lots of British artists
who are massive and could be massive obviously, you know

(46:47):
in where you guys are and you know, Australian all
that sort of parts of the world. It doesn't always
mean that they're going to crack America. You know, they
can crack the rest of the world sometimes and just
not crack America. It's weird, but I'm not saying I
cracked it, but I had, you know, quite a few
hits there and stuff. I'm toured there and everything, and
I think it did change people's perspective. I think they
were a bit more open to well, we'll see what

(47:10):
happens with this guy.

Speaker 3 (47:11):
You know, so Pete Woodman, he pitched you to SAA.
They gave you the deal and kind of off you wined.
I mean, you were so young at the time. Were
you paying attention to these deals? Were you you know,
your folk?

Speaker 6 (47:24):
No?

Speaker 14 (47:26):
Not really, No, I didn't really care, to be honest.
I mean I don't think many people do when they
get into music. I mean I have met people who
like have been through every minute shop of the deal
they're going to sign, and the points of this and
if we have a break point here what does this mean?
And if I have to buy the album back in
seven years time, would it blah blah blah whatever. But
most people who get a record deal just go great,
let's get on with it. That means I get to

(47:47):
make a record and we'll see what happens. And that's
kind of where I was.

Speaker 2 (47:51):
It was a bit.

Speaker 14 (47:53):
It was a bit strange because obviously I spent so
much time at the stock aching Waterman Building while they
were making a lot of these early hits that they
had making Tea for Banana, Armor and God and alls
who else, that you start to hear things and you
do start to understand, okay, so publishing is a completely
different thing.

Speaker 13 (48:11):
And I didn't know that.

Speaker 14 (48:12):
You know, I knew nothing, and you sort of got
a grasp of the fact when someone had a hit
record because I was around Pete a lot.

Speaker 13 (48:19):
I lived in his flat for quite a few months.

Speaker 14 (48:22):
I used to go into work with him every morning,
and I'd be in the pub with them at night,
and I'd just sit there just I wouldn't say much.

Speaker 13 (48:27):
I just sit there soaking it all up. And you
would start to realize that, well, okay, well, if I
actually have a biggot record that's going to I mean,
I know, you know that's going to change your life,
but you you can actually see it when you're around it,
if you know what I mean.

Speaker 14 (48:39):
Because the guys kind of all bought Ferraris after about
twelve months, you know what I mean, So you think, Okay,
well this this does seem to work, you know.

Speaker 13 (48:49):
But I wasn't really bothered.

Speaker 14 (48:50):
I mean, it's easy to say that because I did
make quite a lot of money, but I mean, I
don't think I was bothered about it. I just don't
think that was really I just wanted to make a record,
I think, and yeah, and obviously go on tour and
do all of that.

Speaker 13 (49:03):
I don't think that.

Speaker 2 (49:04):
I don't.

Speaker 14 (49:05):
I don't think many people motivation is, you know, the
money straight off. That's I don't know, it's I just
don't think it is.

Speaker 13 (49:13):
Really.

Speaker 3 (49:14):
How was the pop star life in those early days.

Speaker 14 (49:18):
Yeah, it was, To be honest, it's unbelievably boring of
me to say this, but it was a bit monotonous
because I wasn't I wasn't in a band with three
or four other friends where we wouldn't turn up to
things because we were all hammed from the night before.
I just told the world with a manager doing promo
basically for like a year and a bit before I
ever got to do gigs, because nobody wanted me to

(49:40):
do concerts, because they didn't make money out of me
doing concerts, particularly, you know, they made money out of
me doing TV shows that sold a million records, you know.
So that's what I did, and I just I did.
I kind of did what I was told. And I
don't mean that in a kind of like being a
child or being an innocent or being what have you.
It was kind of I didn't have anything to compare
it with. Someone just showed me a fax with like

(50:02):
a load of dates on it and went, that's where
you're going for the next six months, and I went.

Speaker 13 (50:05):
Okay, let's go, and I just did it.

Speaker 14 (50:09):
And also think because just traveling, I mean I never,
you know, as a kid, I went to a few
European countries, but just for holidays and stuff, and only
a couple. And then literally I was on a plane
almost every day of my life. And I was going
absolutely everywhere. I mean, even in that first the first
six months, it was mainly Europe. I seem to remember

(50:30):
I don't even think we went to America or Japan
or obviously you know, down to Australia, New Zealand anything
like that for I think even into the next year
of it. But in that next year I probably went
to America like four or five times, I think, and
consider i'd never been to like not constantly, but kind
of going like I can see it on that list,
we're going again. And also when we went to America

(50:50):
as a as a real kind of kind of idea
of it, we'd go for weeks. We didn't just go
for like five days. I'd go to America for three
or four weeks and be doing radio on TV every
single day. And I'm not that's not a complaint. That's
what it takes off a hit record. It's a big
old place and you have.

Speaker 13 (51:07):
To keep at it. But I just don't thinking I'll
use that word again. It wasn't very sexy.

Speaker 2 (51:13):
It just wasn't.

Speaker 3 (51:14):
And this is what's so great about the book, and
just could have you know, I mean, I totally lived
the eighties pop scene and so just all these names
in these stories and things, and it's all just I
so enjoyed reading it. Fame is it is it fun
or did you struggle with it?

Speaker 13 (51:32):
I struggled with it a lot.

Speaker 14 (51:33):
There's parts of it that are fun, and there's parts
of it that are more fun today than they were
when I was truly, actually really famous. I think now
I get to enjoy it and it's a bit more
of a switch now. I mean, I am not exaggerating
to say that I sometimes play in front of, you know,
even at my own gigs, sometimes ten thousand people, because
I do arenas now in the UK, not everywhere, but
in the UK can and I'll go and do that.

(51:54):
And I can be putting petrol in the car on
the way home if I'm not on the tour bus
because I've decided to go on for a day or so,
and I'll not not I could jump on the front
bonnet of the car and sing never going to give
you up and no one would no one would care,
Honest to god. It's it's frighteningly weird sometimes because I've
got the more screaming the song at me at the

(52:15):
end of the gig, and like I say, in front
of an arena full of people. And then I can
be on the motor on the way home, think I
better get some petrol, and I don't even think twice about,
you know, whether whether I should do it or not,
or oh, someone's going to recognize me or anything.

Speaker 13 (52:31):
I don't even think twice about it. And that I
think is an amazing, wonderful thing.

Speaker 14 (52:35):
Whereas I think back then, I think I would have
been spotted a lot more, and I would have been
I just would have been more intimidated by it. Whereas
now I can see it in people's eyes if they've
recognized me as I'm strolling to pay for my petrol
and uh, and I can just I just they'll.

Speaker 13 (52:50):
Kind of look at me and I go all right,
and they'll go, oh, yeah, it's him, isn't it. And
I go yeah, you know, and that's it.

Speaker 14 (52:55):
It's it's kind of crazy, but it's that's I think
that's a much more comfortable way to experience fame than
it was back then.

Speaker 13 (53:03):
Back then it was a bit nuts. Really.

Speaker 14 (53:06):
Obviously, most of the people who recognize me are older,
and they don't have that hysteria thing about it anymore.
There's not like fifteen year old girls kind of going
a bit loopy because you know, Morton har Kits just
turned up, you know, what I mean.

Speaker 13 (53:18):
Well, actually they still turn a bit loopy for Morton actually,
to be fair, but they don't do it for me.

Speaker 7 (53:23):
Rick.

Speaker 3 (53:24):
Writing this book, I wonder, you know, if you really
sort of reflected on that period of time in your
life and the impact that it hit on you.

Speaker 13 (53:33):
I did, definitely.

Speaker 14 (53:33):
I mean I spoke to my two older brothers and
my sister about it quite a lot. Spoke to my
wife obviously about it because we've been together for all
that time, and our daughter a little bit as well,
even though she didn't really grow up with me being famous.
I'd kind of stopped in it when she was two
or three. And I think it's just important to get
other people's perspectives a little bit and to talk to.

Speaker 13 (53:55):
Them about how I remember things.

Speaker 14 (53:56):
And also my old manager, my ex manager, tops, because
he was there through most of that, a lot of it.
You know, I think what happens is you without you
realizing it. It is quite cathartic and therapeutic and all
those things. Because but I have done a lot of
therapy in my life, not for a long time now,
but I did in my late twenties early thirties, because
I guess I probably needed it. Because of that four

(54:18):
or five years of madness. But I also needed for
things that happened in my childhood, and I think I
wanted to. I really wanted to kind of be able
to be a dad who wasn't like my dad. And
I loved my dad and he loved me. But bless him,
he should have been diagnosed and treated. I think he
was like seriously depressed and seriously down at times, to

(54:41):
the point where it was like mania, and you're thinking
kids should not be around that. And I've got a
bit of his temper and I've got a bit of
his depression, to be honest, I do. But I've been
really super lucky. I've done the therapy, so at least
I see triggers sometimes and I know when I'm getting
in a crappy mood, and I can sometimes just you know,
put Gladiator on, get the biscuits out, make a cup

(55:04):
of tea and say, oh, go for a long Walter
and just say.

Speaker 13 (55:07):
Look, you won't feel like this in an hour with
a bit of lock.

Speaker 14 (55:10):
Just don't go there, you know. And I think my
dad couldn't do that. It was impossible for him. He
had a switch again, talking and switches, but he had
a switch and it just got flicked and that was it.
He'd go from like singing Frank Sinata to us all,
you know, in like the greatest mood ever, to I
just want to smash everything, you know, And it just
wasn't easy to be around really. So yeah, there's been
a lot of therapy going through my brain, I think,

(55:32):
and you know, going over the whole process of it,
I think, and also because of my career, you know,
it's like it's pretty hard for a twenty one year
old to be put on that conveyor belt and just
say go and run with it. No one tells you anything,
No one gives you a clue of how to do
any of it or what to feel. The ups and
downs of it there and listen, we'll see it. We've
just seen it recently again with somebody. It pushes into

(55:55):
the very very edge sometimes because we're not all built
that way to deal with it, even though we might
look like we're dealing with it, because we might be
good at smiling on Telly, but it doesn't mean to
say that you're actually dealing with it, you know. And
obviously I wouldn't swap with anybody. I wouldn't change any
of it. I'm super super happy, I'm super grateful for
everything that happened, and I'm in a really good spot

(56:17):
right now. So but I do know that sometimes when
I see certain artists, younger artists especially, and I kind
of think somebody needs to help them, because I've been
through this a little bit, and I can see that
they're not really happy, you know, and I think that's
I don't know, I think I'm not I'm not I'm
not calling out record labels here, but I'm saying I

(56:38):
don't think it'd be a bad idea to get somebody
to just sit down with someone for a couple of
hours and say, you know, almost in a therapy way, like, look,
you've got to be careful.

Speaker 13 (56:47):
You've got that, you know. I don't know where that happens. Mate.
It didn't mean my day, but maybe it does now.

Speaker 3 (56:51):
Record's been such a delight to speak to you and
a real pleasure. And thank you so much for the book.

Speaker 13 (56:58):
Thank you, Thank you, appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (57:00):
Never by Rick Esley is in stores now. I don't forget.
Later on the show, I have a face true life
crime story for you from the nineteen thirties. It involves sex, murder, philosophy,
and a crazy bunch of Europeans trying to find utopia
on an island in the Galapicus and see it's one
of those you know, too crazy to be true stories. Anyway,
Author Abbott Kayla is going to be with me after

(57:22):
eleven to talk us through that story. It's twenty five
past ten News Talks ATB.

Speaker 2 (57:28):
Grab with cover.

Speaker 1 (57:29):
It's the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin and Wickles for
the best selection of great brings used Talks EDB.

Speaker 3 (57:36):
It's November already and with Christmas not so far away,
Wickles have released a Christmas catalog showcasing all the amazing
books and other gifts available. You can pick one up
in store and see it online. They have a terrific
selection of great gift ideas and at this time each year,
Wickles offer the cutest Wickles Bear, which you can buy
for just nine to ninety nine when you spend thirty

(57:58):
dollars or more. This year it's Franklin Bear and it's
become a tradition for many people to choose to buy
and then donate him to charity supporting children and families.
Over the years, Wickles. The Wickles Bear has brightened the
Christmas of literally thousands of kids. Each Wickles store chooses
their favorite local cause to support, and thousands of Bears

(58:18):
go towards their Christmas parcels with books, games, toys, puzzles, gorgeous, gorgeous, stationary,
great gift ideas, a Christmas catalog and the wick Calls Bear.
There really is something for everyone at wick Calls.

Speaker 2 (58:31):
There's no better way to start your Sunday.

Speaker 1 (58:33):
It's the Sunday Session with Francesca Rutkin and Wiggles for
the best selection of great breeds Use Talks at the Times.

Speaker 3 (58:51):
Welcome time to talk entertainment now and I'm joined by
Steve Nell, editor at flick Stock. Cod I can zid,
good morning, fresh back, we've we've got a microphone working there. Yeah, yeah,
there we are, fresh back from a trip to the
US where you actually happened to see Charlie xx and
Bratt has been chosen as the Colins Dictionary Word of

(59:12):
the Year.

Speaker 15 (59:13):
You know, I think most people probably familiar with what
the word bratt meant before Charlie's album released in June,
but since then it's sort of becomes synonymous with an
attitude that a party hedonistic attitude that's kind of come
to define the back end of twenty twenty four for
a lot of people, and for Colin's Dictionary, they have

(59:34):
selected this characterized by a confident, independent, and hedonistic attitude
is what they describe about it a word that resonates
with people globally, with Brat's summer establishing itself as an
aesthetic and a way of life.

Speaker 3 (59:47):
It kind of celebrates individuality, doesn't it, And sort of
a carefree attitude.

Speaker 15 (59:53):
Yeah, and I think in an era where all social
media presentations sort of so put together in precise this
kind of being a bit messy and not not giving a.

Speaker 3 (01:00:04):
Whatever way to go. Look, Charlie is going to be
playing Laneway Festival here in New Zealand early next year.

Speaker 16 (01:00:12):
What was she like live?

Speaker 15 (01:00:13):
The show's fantastic. I saw it as a co headline
with Troy Sevan, so the pure headline Charlie XCX. Not
too sure what the formata of that show will look like,
but the record Brat sounds fantastic live and I guess
the show boils down mostly to trying to turn a
big arena or a stadium into a club type environment.
A huge success in that regard, really really worked and

(01:00:38):
sent people home extremely satisfied.

Speaker 3 (01:00:40):
I think that's really interesting. Have you ever seen a
being to a show where they've been two headline x
where one artist performs a small bunch of songs, the
next artist comes on again, they just keep swapping over.

Speaker 15 (01:00:50):
I don't think so it worked really well. I think
if you've got something in common with your collaborator, you've
got some songs and material in common, or just an
aesthetic and a fan base that really works. So over
the course of a couple of hours, this is how
the shows on the Sweat Tour worked. Would be a
two hour block of Charlie and Savann. Kind of trading
off little sections of the show means to give you
things like costume changes, which are a big part of

(01:01:12):
a pop show without derailing the momentum. And so no
one ever stopped dancing for two hours, as opposed to
kind of I've got to wait for an hour. There's
got to be a Beyonce costume change that will take
a that'll take a few minutes. Let's throw to a
let's throw to a video.

Speaker 3 (01:01:25):
It's a tricky note to get in and out of it.

Speaker 15 (01:01:27):
It's going to take time.

Speaker 3 (01:01:28):
Yeah, yeah, it's interesting. I thought of when I heard
about Brad, I thought, oh, they're just kind of jumping
on the bandwagon. And I was trying to think of
a bitter word to describe the year. And I'm sure
that everybody will have their own word to describe their year.
But actually it's quite a good one.

Speaker 15 (01:01:40):
Yeah, there's there's some there's some contenders. A Delulu was
a contender.

Speaker 3 (01:01:43):
What does mean it's diluted, diluted, Okay, just.

Speaker 15 (01:01:47):
Use the word diluted one. Look, you can give Collins
a call after the show and get them to get
them to sort out. But it's it's kind of typical,
I think, to to include reframe usages of words. So
like lockdown, you know, was some and that existed before
twenty twenty. Obviously the kind of tone of that changed dramatically. Anyway,

(01:02:11):
as we say, I'm Charlie six headlining lay My Festival
at Auckland's Western Springs on February sixth. It's going to
be a.

Speaker 3 (01:02:18):
Doozy Quentin Tarantino quarter headline. And actually I kind of
get where he's coming from. Even though I did love
the June films, I felt this year when it comes
to cinema, that Hollywood has been playing a very safe game.
They you know, probably post strikes, post COVID, want to

(01:02:38):
know that they're going to make some money. And it
feels like the year of sequels and remakes, and Quentin
Tarantino has got some thoughts on that.

Speaker 15 (01:02:45):
Yeah, and look, Hollywood's built on remakes and existing ip
but definitely it's definitely been mind kind of harder than
it ever has before, as these big entertainment providers kind
of look for sure bets, right, it's safe things, remind
sell things back to people that they already know to
some extent, But there is also a new audience that's
out there that hasn't seen things like June or Showgun,

(01:03:06):
which were the two titles that he referred to. Tarantana
was asked if he considered June Part two one of
the best movies of the year, and he said, I
don't need to see that story again. And I can't
do his voice justice, but if you just imagine motormouth
and his very specific, fast talking accent, I don't need
to see spice worms. I don't need to see a

(01:03:26):
movie that says the words spice so dramatically. He still
is the quote factory.

Speaker 2 (01:03:33):
He used to be.

Speaker 15 (01:03:35):
But yeah, he kind of says, Look, there's lots of stuff.
In the case of Ripley, there's six or seven Ripley books.
If you do one again, why are you doing the
same one that's already been done, done already. But look,
Quentin will be delighted to know that June Prophecy, which
is a prequel series to the films, set ten thousand
years before the events of June and June part two,

(01:03:57):
it's coming to sky Max and Neon on Monday, the
eighteenth of November, So that is something new Quentin.

Speaker 3 (01:04:04):
Before there we go, Thanks so much, Steve lovely to
have you back.

Speaker 2 (01:04:09):
Right.

Speaker 3 (01:04:09):
What's been your best first date? Do you go for
a safe option, you know, something simple or something impressive? Well,
according to science, heading to the movies is one of
the best ways to get to know a stranger. Doctor
Michel de Conson explains why. Next twenty four to eleven
News Talks AB.

Speaker 1 (01:04:30):
It's the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin on.

Speaker 2 (01:04:33):
News Talks at B.

Speaker 3 (01:04:36):
And joining me now is doctor Michel de Conson now
a girl with our science study of the week, Good morning.
This is an interesting one. And as I just mentioned
before the break, you know what would be your sort
of the safest, the most comfortable first date, and I
think going to the movies. It kind of does depend
on what movie you go to, because it could be

(01:04:56):
a very awkward first date. It's depending on the material.

Speaker 17 (01:04:59):
And I was like, oh, first date, why would you
go to the movies because you can't talk to the
person perfect? Why would like, shouldn't somewhere where you get
to know them, like a cafe or a bar or whatever.
But actually research that's the best place to go on
a first date is the movies, and you should watch
a comedy together if you want to bond with this
new person. This is all based on So this is

(01:05:20):
a new research published in the Royal Society Open Science Journal.

Speaker 3 (01:05:24):
You can read it.

Speaker 17 (01:05:24):
It's a lovely easy to read paper and the research
is based on research that happened over a century ago
by sociologists called Emil Durkheim who observed intense emotional events
reinforce social bonds between group members and he sees that
this is a foundation of things like sporting events or

(01:05:45):
social protests where you're basically you're with a group of
strangers you'd experience and you're emotionally charged and you feel
really bonded. And what they found in that research is
that if you're in sort of these emotionally charged social gatherings,
you actually feel more connected to the strangers that you're
next to and more committed to this group of people
that you don't know. So they took this one hundred
year old research instead of undred for it applies to dating.

(01:06:08):
So they ended up with one hundred and twelve volunteers.
They paired them up, they sat them side by side,
sixty centimeters apart from each other, very specific in a
dimly lit room with a movie screen, and they made
them watch three emotion enticing videos. One was a positive video,
it was a comedy. One was a negative video which

(01:06:29):
was a documentary of the suffering of captive animals. One
was a neutral video, which was somebody taking footage of
a university library and you just walked through. And as
they were watching this movie together or these movies together,
they had an ECG measuring heart activity. They measured their

(01:06:50):
respiratory activity so how fast they were breathing, and skin
conductance to look at how you're sweating and other things
like that to measure your emotional response. And what they
found is that if you're watching a comedy together and
it's fun and you're laughing together at the same things,
even you don't know each other, you have a stronger
sense of connection and a self identification of yourself which

(01:07:13):
helps you identify with the other person, and those positive
emotions en hence your feelings of mutual understanding and affiliation
with this stranger, meaning that you're more likely to get
on with them, to bond them, to feel connected to them.
And I was like, who'd have thought, Like, this is
pretty weird, but and it made me think about things
like social protests. I hadn't thought about these emotional things

(01:07:35):
actually human with social creatures, right, we actually need these
things to bring us together.

Speaker 3 (01:07:40):
So that was the study.

Speaker 17 (01:07:41):
They said, if you ought to go on a first date,
take them to a comedy, sit next to each other,
and you'll have a great time.

Speaker 3 (01:07:47):
I love it. Yeah, just avoid the hour sixteen contains nudity, violence,
and sexual content. Maybe that could just be awkward. Thank
you so much, Michelle. It is eighteen to eleven.

Speaker 2 (01:07:57):
There's no bitter way to start your Sunday.

Speaker 1 (01:08:00):
It's the Sunday Session with Francesca Rutkin and Wig Girls
for the best selection of great breeds.

Speaker 2 (01:08:06):
Talk say.

Speaker 3 (01:08:08):
Our resident chef, Mike vander Elsen joins us.

Speaker 2 (01:08:10):
Now, good morning, Good morning Halloween.

Speaker 3 (01:08:13):
I'm really good. We're pickling today.

Speaker 18 (01:08:16):
Hah hah.

Speaker 3 (01:08:17):
I love a pickle because sometimes it takes a vegetable
or a food that you might not be hugely fond
of and turns it into something else split actually.

Speaker 2 (01:08:26):
Is quite palatable, like radishes.

Speaker 3 (01:08:29):
Yeah, is that is that?

Speaker 19 (01:08:30):
Is that?

Speaker 3 (01:08:30):
Am I just being mean to some vegetables?

Speaker 6 (01:08:32):
Or do you think I can't eat a raw reds
like unpickled radish?

Speaker 12 (01:08:36):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (01:08:37):
Yeah, pickle them. Let's just they do smell like they
do think the room out, I must say that. But
otherwise radish is great.

Speaker 3 (01:08:45):
I'm the same with pennyl, I'm not. I prefer probably
a pickled fennel.

Speaker 6 (01:08:49):
Yes. And that that photo that I plastered through that's
got fenyl, cucumber and radishes in it. Because we had
we had an event last night and I was like
we we tend to pickle, or at least do a
pickling sort of ingredients most of the events, and and

(01:09:10):
like you say it just you make up this basic pickle.
And what I say to everyone is make up the
space basic pickle. And even if you're not planning or
pickling anything, just keep the pickle in the fridge. And
then when you kind of go, hey, I feel like
a little bit of pickled cabbage to go with my
Southern fried chicken burger, you've got it. You've got the

(01:09:31):
pickle there. So the idea is keep the pickle in
the fridge. And if it's grown under the ground sod
carrots be true. For instance, you heat the pickle up
and you pour the pickle over hot and so it
cooks it and pickles at the same time. And if
it's grown above the ground, so things like cucumbers, bradishes

(01:09:52):
are kind of above or below, and onions, even onions.
So if it's grown above or in tomatoes, then you
pour the coal pickle over the item that you're pickling,
so it retains the color more than.

Speaker 2 (01:10:04):
In the couse.

Speaker 3 (01:10:05):
There we go, right, take us three pickled.

Speaker 6 (01:10:08):
Super easy, so this will make it will make about
four way, it'll probably make about four to five cups
of pickles. So the first thing you do is toast
off your seeds. I've got a tea spooner, fettle seeds,
tea spin a, coriander seeds. Pop them into a little
fried pan, Heat them up until they're starting to become fragrant.

(01:10:31):
Pop them into a pot along with two fresh chilies
or dried chilies if you want, two bay LEAs, tea
spoon and mustard seeds, three hundred mills of cider vinegar,
two fifty meals of water and quarter of a cup
of sugar. Bring that to the boil, turn it off,
and that is that. And like I say, what I
do is I just take little jars and say, if
you're doing a few cup of pickles, I just take

(01:10:52):
little jars. I cut my cucumbs into little bands, I
jam them into my little jars, and then just pull
your pickle mix right on right up to the top,
seal it off and then fire them in the fridge.

Speaker 3 (01:11:03):
Simple enough, simple. Hey you're in Malbras this week?

Speaker 20 (01:11:08):
Yeah, isn't that great?

Speaker 6 (01:11:09):
On Thursday I'm doing a demo at the Garden, Melborough,
which is very excited. First time I've ever been to
Garden Melborough or to the festival itself. So Thursday night
I'll be down there and then on Friday I'm giving
a seminar on making lifestyle blocks work for you. So
getting the most I know, I know I'm not going
to be able to convince you away from it being

(01:11:30):
a slave sotyle.

Speaker 2 (01:11:30):
Block never but.

Speaker 6 (01:11:34):
And so jump onto Melborough or Garden Melborough. Jump onto
the website the doo a little promo just for me
which is really cool. You can jump on buy a
ticket to either the demo on Thursday night, which is
going to be really cool, heats of information and loads
of fun, or to come to the seminar the next day.
Just punching Mike Twinning you get twenty bucks off your ticket.

Speaker 3 (01:11:56):
Close fantastic, Thank you Mike. So Mike was it staying
there on Thursday the seventh November six thirty pm. He
is doing the cooking demo and the workshop on making
sustainable gardens and lifestyle blocks. That's at Friday nine am.
So if you just if you've got a garden Marlborough
and you punch in Mike twenty when you're buying your

(01:12:17):
tickets into the promo code, you get a bit of
a discount there. It is twelve to eleven News talks
at Baby Sunday.

Speaker 1 (01:12:24):
With Style, the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin and Wiggles
for the best selection of great Reads news talks.

Speaker 3 (01:12:33):
Joining me now to talk wellness is Erin O'Hara. Good morning,
Good morning. I love it that on the morning of
the Auckland Marathon, where people are conquering long distances, we're
going to talk about just short booths of energy and
exercise and how great they can be for us.

Speaker 2 (01:12:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 21 (01:12:51):
Absolutely, I think that you know, if you're at home
and still in your pajamas maybe this morning, and haven't
got out for a half marathon or a marathon there,
maybe short bursts of exercise are the perfect thing for you.
And there is so much good research on exercise or
a short burst of exercise and how they can really
improve your focus and mental clarity and energy and your

(01:13:14):
overall health. And I think when it comes to exercise,
so many people think that they've got to get out
there and really slog it out for half an hour
an hour, But there's so many benefits from these short
bursts of exercise for your overall health. And there's actually
no evidence that indicates that exercising for longer periods like

(01:13:34):
over ten minutes is better than shorter bursts, and there's
more and more research in this area.

Speaker 4 (01:13:40):
Now. If you don't know what exercise.

Speaker 21 (01:13:42):
Snacks are, now these are short bursts of exercise that
you do throughout the day.

Speaker 4 (01:13:48):
So it's not just the one minute exercise and that's it.

Speaker 9 (01:13:51):
For the day.

Speaker 21 (01:13:51):
You're going to sprinkle them throughout the day instead of
going to get sugary snacks, maybe while you're at work
or studying for exams, instead bringing in little exercise breaks
where you will exercise and get your heart rate up
and your breathing rate up for one to two minutes,
so you really going vigorously, not just a couple of
short strolls around the room, but instead getting a heart

(01:14:14):
rate up, really getting the whole body moving, and then
getting back to whatever you were doing. So it's something
easy to bring into the day and anyone any age
can do this throughout their day.

Speaker 3 (01:14:25):
What kind of exercise snacks should we be doing.

Speaker 4 (01:14:29):
Well, there's some good things. It's whatever like you enjoy
to do, but here's some ideas.

Speaker 21 (01:14:34):
So it might be squatting or I like to call
it stand up sit down, So you might want to
go sit up and down on your chair so you
sit down and get.

Speaker 4 (01:14:41):
Straight back up and do that at a vigorous rate.

Speaker 21 (01:14:43):
It'll get your heart rate up and also really good
for building leg strength. Maybe press ups, lunges, walking with
high knees at a vigorous pace, or jogging on a spot,
star jumps, burping, burpees. Also, if you have a stationary
bike or rowing machine, get on for a minute or two,
go really hard and then get off.

Speaker 4 (01:15:05):
Or jump rope.

Speaker 21 (01:15:06):
Also a great idea to get outside skipping and you'll
feel so good after a couple of minutes.

Speaker 3 (01:15:11):
I mean, some of these things are a bit awkward
to do during your day if you work in an office,
but you can always just go to a down to
the car park or walk up and down the stairs.
But actually, the great thing about doing these things while
you're at work and trying to find someone where you
can can do your exercise snack is it there's a
real connection between the exercise and brain too, isn't there.
It's good good for your day's work.

Speaker 21 (01:15:30):
Absolutely, there's great research around how these exercise snacks can
improve your focus, your mood, also help with focus, productivity, energy,
because quite off from when we're busy working or get
quite sort of tired and unmotivated, and bring in that
little exercise snack and just get some nice blood circulating,

(01:15:50):
and you'll feel more motivated to continue on with whatever
you're doing, studying, working, and.

Speaker 4 (01:15:55):
You'll have more energy for the rest of the day.

Speaker 3 (01:15:58):
It's sort of an extension of that whole idea and
that we shouldn't just go to work sit at a
desk for eight hours like we've always been. With me,
you know, there was some who said at some point
sitting in new smoking, which might be a bit of
an exaggeration, but it's kind of a it's sort of
a step forward on that whole concept, isn't it. Just
don't find yourself sitting all day in one place.

Speaker 21 (01:16:17):
Absolutely, And I think we've just got to all get
on at that more movement. And you said about the
works place of feeling a bit weird doing those things,
but maybe a group of you together can be like, Okay,
it's ten o'clock, let's do our exercise snack, and maybe
it can be a new thing that you bring into
the office place, is that everyone gets their body moving
on the hour and see how you all feel.

Speaker 6 (01:16:37):
Love it.

Speaker 3 (01:16:38):
Thank you so much. Eron Talk next week, Grab a cover.

Speaker 1 (01:16:41):
It's the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudgin and Wiggles for
the best selection of greens used talk Zedb.

Speaker 3 (01:16:50):
I think you very much of your text A lot
of you really enjoyed. That interview with Rick Astley if
you were a fan back in the eighties, really worth
a listen. He's very open and honest about life as
a pop star. You can find that interview at newstalkzb
dot co dot and said for Slash Sunday or it
will be You're about to find a link on our
Facebook page the Sunday Session right. This is a true story.

(01:17:12):
In the nineteen thirties, a German couple decided to leave Europe.
They headed to the Galapagas Islands to live a simple
life away from the chaos of civilization. But they were
followed by two more small groups of people, and funnily
suddenly they found themselves in a microcosm of society that
they've been so keen to leave behind. This is a
fascinating true story. Author Abbott Kayla is going to unravel

(01:17:33):
it for us next. This is some new music by
Alyssa Xileith. It's called Ordinary Love.

Speaker 1 (01:17:50):
Welcome to the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin and Wiggles
for the best selection of great reads used talks.

Speaker 3 (01:18:05):
Good to have you with us. I'm Prettesca Rudkin. This
is a Sunday session. I'm with you until midday to day.
Coming up this hour, Piney on the All Blacks performance
and all the other sport that's been going on this weekend.
Goodness me, it's been busy. We're going to look at
the rise and trend of tour tourism. And Joan has
the latest book from actor and food lover Stanley Tucci.

(01:18:26):
Right now, I have an absolutely riveting, stranger than fiction,
true life crime Yan for you. The story is set
in the Galapagus, around the height of the Great Depression.
A group of scientists find a bunch of people living
on a remote island. They also find two bodies on
another nearby island. Those living on the island had escape
society to create a utopian paradise, but what prevailed was

(01:18:49):
absolute chaos and ultimately murder, we think. Author Abbot Kayla
has used unpublished archived documents to tell this strange tale.
Her new book was called Eden Undone. Abbot Kayla, thank
you so much for.

Speaker 20 (01:19:04):
Joining us if I having met, very excited to speak
with you.

Speaker 3 (01:19:07):
Yeah, I just the story is fantastic. But you've written
this book beautifully. I've loved it.

Speaker 4 (01:19:13):
Oh, thank you.

Speaker 20 (01:19:14):
I really really appreciate that.

Speaker 3 (01:19:16):
Incredible story, isn't it.

Speaker 20 (01:19:19):
Oh, it's just the most bizarre nonfiction story I've ever
come across. I think it's yes, and I've come across
a lot, so I had a lot of fun with it.

Speaker 2 (01:19:29):
Good.

Speaker 3 (01:19:30):
This is going to air on Sunday morning, So on
Sunday morning, I'll do a live introduction sort of explaining
a little bit about the story and things. But today
I'll just start with a good morning, if that's okay. Oh,
and but just checking, Kaylor. Is that how you pronounce
your surname?

Speaker 20 (01:19:44):
Yes, Kaylor is correct?

Speaker 3 (01:19:46):
Yes, fantastic. Always good to check.

Speaker 20 (01:19:48):
And yeah, are we doing video or just audio?

Speaker 3 (01:19:52):
No, we're just recording audio. But I'm really if you
like to talk to someone, I'm really happy to put
my video. Okay, So we've recorded that interview, but it
turns out that we haven't started quite in the right place.
I really need to hear my ongoing chat with Abbot
there as we discussed the book, so we we'll get

(01:20:14):
you to the beginning of the interview so we can
get on with this crazy story. But it was really
interesting what she was saying there. And Ebbitt does write
quite a few historical numbers and has not discovered a
story quite as nutty as this one. The book is
called Eden Undone And here we go. How did you

(01:20:39):
come across this story and what was it about it
that grabbed you?

Speaker 6 (01:20:44):
Well?

Speaker 20 (01:20:44):
I was actually researching a different book. This is about
twelve years ago, so this story is a long time
in the making. But I was researching a different book.
I was going through newspaper archives and I came across
a headline in a nineteen forty one edition of the
San Francisco Examiner, and it was the most bizarre headline
I've ever read in my life. And I could read

(01:21:06):
it for you now it goes quote was doctor Ritter
with his steel teeth poisoned in Paradise. Was the baroness
otherwise known as Crazy Panties, who ruled the island with
a gun and love murdered by one of her love
slaves after she had driven the other to his death.
And I was intrigued by Okay, here's a doctor with

(01:21:28):
steel dentures, a baroness with love slaves who's also called
crazy panties. What is the story? And so I did
a little bit more digging and discovered this really incredible
story of a group of people who tried to find
utopia on a Galapagos island in the nineteen thirties and basically,
instead of utopia, it turned into like and I geta
Christie Murder mystery.

Speaker 3 (01:21:49):
It sure does tell me a little bit about doctor
Ritter and his partner Door.

Speaker 20 (01:21:56):
So doctor Ritter was from Germany. He was working on
a medical practice in Berlin at the time that the
book opens. He was a World War One vet and
a little bit trematie from that, and he had some
very unorthodox ideas about healing and medicine. And when he
met Dorri Strutch, who was one of his patients, she

(01:22:16):
was suffering from multiple sclerosis, and he told her that
she could cure her ms just through the power of
her mind. Of course, every other doctor was telling her
that it was incurable, but he sort of went to
her and said, you have the power in your own mind,
and she was intrigued by him. They were both unhappily
married to other people, and he started talking about how

(01:22:37):
he wanted to abandon civilization. He said civilization had nothing
to offer him, He had nothing to offer it, and
he wanted to go to a deserted island and practice
his medical theories and also try to become a world
renowned philosopher. He was a big fan of Nietzsche, for one.
And Dorry wanted to get away from her husband. He
was boring, and she wrote that the sex was bad,

(01:22:59):
and she was very intrigued by this doctor Ritter. And
so they made the decision to leave their spouses and
go to Floriana Island in the Galapago.

Speaker 3 (01:23:07):
As you do, I mean this whole idea, this whole
idea though, of abandoning life for a simpler life, to
get away from the chaos and things of society. It
is something which resonates today, doesn't It Is that what
you thought when you sort of started and looking at
the story?

Speaker 13 (01:23:27):
Oh?

Speaker 20 (01:23:27):
Absolutely. And in fact I tried to pitch this book
to my publisher. This is why it took twelve years.
They kept saying no, They said, this is you write
American history, you write American characters. And I said this
isn't an American story, this isn't a European story. This
is a human story. You know, who among us hasn't
desired to flee and abandon our lives and go off
in pursuit of something better, or something greater, or something simpler.

(01:23:50):
Who hasn't wanted to flee the badding crowds and all
of the pressures of modern day life. And he really
understood that. And I think that's what people will be
drawn to. In addition to the story of these bizarre characters,
it's just a human emotion that I think everybody has
felt one way or another.

Speaker 3 (01:24:06):
Absolutely, What was their mission? What did they want to
try and achieve when they got to the island?

Speaker 20 (01:24:12):
Well, I think that you know, doctor Ritter wanted to
become paradoxically, he wanted to go to the remote island
and become famous for his philosophical works. So he wanted
to write them in solitude. And then he was thinking
of you know, posterity and dorry. I think just you know,
she decided it was her duty in life to help
him in this endeavor. She was going to be you know,

(01:24:34):
his word of mouth, his support system. And just to
give you an idea of their dynamic. She wrote in
her memoir that she believed that she was the only
woman whom Frederick did not truly despise, which gives you
sort of an idea of their relationship and not a
very ringing endorsement of his view of her and his
view of humanity in general.

Speaker 3 (01:24:55):
And so, of course they set up their hermit life
on the island, and then doctor Ritchard got exactly what
he wanted. They became global headlines. How did that happen?

Speaker 20 (01:25:04):
Well, they were there for about six months, settling into
their life. They managed to build a sort of ramshackle house.
They were maintaining a garden, and in January of nineteen
thirty an American millionaire named Eugene MacDonald shows up in Floriana.
He was the founder of Zenith Radio, which was a
big radio company in America, and he had no idea
that anybody was living on this island. He was just

(01:25:25):
inspired to do some scientific exploration, maybe pick up some
exotic flora and fauna, bring it back to the United States,
and be a big sensation there with his discoveries. But
he did not expect to find these two people there.
Dorian Frederick so he meets with them, he gives them
some gifts, including floor polish, and he makes the joke
that I don't know what doctor Ritter is going to
do with floor polish, unless it's to polish as steel dentures.

(01:25:49):
And he goes back to America announces that he found
quote a modern day Adam and Eve. And the headline
spreads throughout the world and of course intriguing more people
and inspiring more people to come to Floriana.

Speaker 3 (01:26:02):
And that was yet kind of the result, wasn't it.
All of these guy will hate Because a few more
people did arrive, tell me a little bit about them.

Speaker 20 (01:26:12):
So the next people to arrive was the Whitmer family.
Heines Whitmer was also a World War One veteran. He
was also traumatized by this, and he had also been married.
He had a twelve year old son from his first marriage.
But he met this woman named Margaret. They fell in love.
They decided to abandon their spouses as well, and they
had heard of doctor Ritter and Dorry and thought, wow,
what an intriguing experiment. Heines was also a high ranking

(01:26:36):
member in the Weimar Republic, and of course, at this
time Hitler was starting to ascend a power, and his
political enemies were out there, and I think he wanted
to flee that situation as well. So they show up
on Floriana and they go to pay their respects to
doctor Ritter and Dorry, and Frederick is immediately annoyed. He
did not come down to Floriana to practice medicine. And

(01:26:57):
now here is Margaret, who's five months pregnant. She shows
up five months pregnant, and he's already anticipating the burden
of having to take care of this woman and her baby.
And Dorry, of course, looks at Margaret and says, what
kind of idiot would choose to give birth on a
remote island like this? And Margaret looks at Dorry and says,
what kind of idiot is quoting Nietzsche on a remote island?

(01:27:19):
Who are these people and their ridiculous pretensions? So they
don't get off on the right foot, but they eventually
settle into an uneasy piece and try to coexist, but
there's always tension at the edges.

Speaker 3 (01:27:31):
But then the Baroness arrives and things really become what
you know, egy on the island, don't they.

Speaker 20 (01:27:40):
Yeah, So the Baroness otherwise known as crazy Panties in
the headline. She actually did live up to the nickname,
shows up on Floriana with her two lovers, And just
to give you a little bit of background about her,
because she's such a fascinating character. She's Vienna's woman by birth.
She was living in Paris at the time the book
opened up, and if anybody has ever heard of this story,

(01:28:01):
they always hear you know her called a self proclaimed
baroness or a so called baroness. She was actually a
real authentic baroness. Her grandfather got the title of baron
through his bravery during the Austro Prussian War, and so
she inherited it from him. She was from an aristocratic family,
quite well to do, and she was very well known
in Parisian circles for having an orgiastic lifestyle and being

(01:28:25):
very much a libertine. She was married to a French
war hero, but seduced men and women alike and had
wild parties in Paris. She told people later on that
she heard a voice belonging to God telling her to
go to the Galapagos Island and take over She was
supposed to go there, take over Floriana and become the
Empress of Floriana according to God. So she shows up

(01:28:46):
at Floriana with her two lovers and the first thing
she does is washes her feet and the whitmer's drinking water.
Margaret and Hines, of course, are not pleased about this.
And the second thing she does is announced that she's
going to turn Floriana into Miami. She's going to build
a hotel catering to American millionaires and millionaires from around
the world and turn it into a sort of little

(01:29:08):
microcosm of Miami. And of course Frederick Ritter was not
happy about this at all.

Speaker 3 (01:29:15):
The irony, of course of the story is that you know,
Rita and Dory when they left, they just wanted to
escape society and all the chaos that comes with society.
And in the end they end up on this island
with this it's almost microcosm, their own microcosm of society
and exactly what they were trying to get away from.

Speaker 20 (01:29:38):
Yeah, it's really you hit the noil on the head.
I mean here they were fleeing Hitler, the rise of Hitler,
the collapse of the global economy at a Wall Street
had collapsed. Everybody was suffering around the world. There was turmoil,
there was conflict. It was you know, clearly World War
II was in sight, and on this island that was
supposed to be this idyllic respite from all of this,

(01:29:59):
you had warring factions. You had murderous and tent You
had people who wanted to kill each other. You had
people who always were looking over, waiting for the next
bad thing to happen. And really it's it just goes
to prove the old adage. You know, wherever you go,
there you are. You could try to escape your problems,
but they inevitably come with you.

Speaker 3 (01:30:18):
Did any of them find the utopia that they were
looking for?

Speaker 20 (01:30:23):
I would say that, without spoiling too much, there is.
There is a family. There are some descendants there of
the original settlers, and I think that they have achieved
as close to a utopia as you can on Floriana Island.
When I visited there, it was quite remarkable just to
see the legacy of this story. Everybody there still haunted

(01:30:43):
by it, and all of the people I talked to
said that when they were growing up as children, they
went around looking for bones.

Speaker 3 (01:30:51):
It is such a harsh, brutal environment, isn't it. Any
So many people, and you touch on this throughout the book.
Aside from just the characters that you're talking about, so
many people were attracted to it and tried to try
to try to they was it about the place? Is
it the isolation? Is it the wildlife?

Speaker 20 (01:31:11):
I think, oh, I think that there's just a mystique
about it, and there is just that draw that if
you can, if you can sort of carve out your
own utopia, that is, that is an ideal place to
do it. And I think also people sort of drew
like the challenge of Floriana. You know, the Galapagos Island
is not this golden sand, waving palm trees, lush vegetation ideal.

(01:31:34):
It is a volcanic islands covered in lava rock. A
lot of them don't even have a fresh water source.
They they're not capable of sustaining life. I think, you know,
even Charles Darwin was, you know, saying this place is
incredibly barren and sterile. And and I think people, especially
Frederick Gritter, really liked that challenge. It fed into his
port of dark Nietzschean fantasies about what what the human

(01:31:58):
being can conquer and what people might conquer. But of
course the problem is people have different ideas of what
a utopia is. It's a very subjective concept, and when
a bunch of varying, you know, these diverse group of
people have different ideas of utopia, it's bound to ruin
utopia for everybody.

Speaker 3 (01:32:14):
You also touch on the number of you know, scientists
and very wealthy people that lead expeditions down there for
the wildlife. I mean, zoos were filled with the wildlife
of gallapagus, weren't they.

Speaker 20 (01:32:28):
Yeah, so, I mean one of the great pastimes of
wealthy people during the nineteen thirties, or at least wealthy Americans.
Although this there were explorers from all over the world
coming here to do similar explorations. They were inspired by
Charles Darwin and were recently a man named William Biebe
who was an American and naturalist who published a book
in nineteen twenty six about the Galapagos wildlife. So they

(01:32:51):
showed up there with their big, you know, yachts full
of scientific equipment, bringing these poor animals out of their
natural habitat and back to the America, to America where
they really don't fare very well. And to me, it
sort of became this interesting metaphor. You know, you take
these wild animals out of the Galabago's, bring them to
a place where it's not their natural habitat, and they

(01:33:12):
don't They don't do well, many of them die. And
you bring these exit European exiles out of out of Europe,
take them to the Glacgos island, which is not their
natural habitat, and of course many of them don't fare
very well either and end up dying.

Speaker 6 (01:33:25):
Well.

Speaker 3 (01:33:26):
I'm so pleased that a publisher said yes, the yan
is fantastic and the book is brilliantly written. Thank you
so much for your time today.

Speaker 20 (01:33:34):
Thank you so much for having me. It was great
to speak with you.

Speaker 3 (01:33:36):
And that was author Abbott Kaylor. The book we were
talking about is called Eden Undone and it is in
stores now. Panels up next.

Speaker 2 (01:33:44):
Deep It's Simple.

Speaker 1 (01:33:45):
It's Sunday, the Sunday Session with Francesca Rutgater and Wiggles
for the best selection of great readings.

Speaker 2 (01:33:51):
News Talk Zibah.

Speaker 3 (01:33:55):
Joining me this morning on the panel, we have New
Zealand Heralds Senior writer Simon Wilson. Good morning, Simon, Hi,
Francisco and news Talk ZDB Wellington morning hosts Nick Mills,
how you doing, Neck, Yeah? Thanks, Okay, Simon, we are
days out from the US election. Can you make an
educated guess as to who was going to win the selection?
Or do you have a gut feeling as to who
was going to win the selection?

Speaker 18 (01:34:16):
I think an educated guess is that you can't say,
And my gut feeling is actually I can't say either.
I suppose I'm fearful of the idea that if it's
this tight now there will be a sort of sag
in support for Harris and people will quietly going vote Trump.

(01:34:37):
But on the other hand, I keep reading stuff that
suggests that, you know, when you dig further into it,
Harris is a little stronger in Pennsylvania than people say.
Blah blah blah.

Speaker 2 (01:34:47):
I just don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:34:49):
And it doesn't matter what you read, Neck, it seems
impossible to pick.

Speaker 4 (01:34:52):
Well.

Speaker 7 (01:34:53):
I went really hard for Kamala right at the beginning.
Right look, I think you know, her first speech was good,
she looks articular, she's bright. I thought, oh my god,
how could she lose to trap?

Speaker 6 (01:35:04):
You know?

Speaker 7 (01:35:04):
And then now sitting on the fence, I'm not going
to sit on the fence. I'm going to stick with here.
But I spoke to a colleague in America that I
was trying to get on my show during the week
during next week, and he said, thanks, Mac, that's like
throwing me a hand grenade right now. And I went, gosh,
how what a great way to explain that it really is.
And then I got thinking, right, and Simon will probably

(01:35:26):
sorry to saying about this. I got thinking about, what
are the repercussions of it isn't clear cut, you know
if it is, and it's not going to be clear cut,
and I think the world needs a headache in America
now after what we've been through over the last five years,
like an absolute hole in the head, and I'm starting
to get really really nervous of what happens.

Speaker 3 (01:35:46):
What. Yeah, my first concern is that it's going to
take days and days and it's going to be quite
a chaotic process to find out who you know, to
name a president, Simon, you know that that's my first
concern is just getting through the election process and claiming
a winner.

Speaker 18 (01:36:02):
I think I think you're right, and I think Nick
Nick's absolutely right if it's certain, and that's going to
breed a level of frustration and anger among many people.
I did read something pretty reassuring about this just yesterday
that suggested that surveys have shown that people who believe

(01:36:23):
Trump should win and believe that the election was stolen
from him last time, are going to vote for him.
But they when they're asked directly if he doesn't win,
or if it looks like he's not winning, what will
you do, they basically say, well, we're going to go home.
You know that, Actually, the number of people who tried
to storm the Capitol on January sixth, twenty twenty one

(01:36:46):
with a tiny fraction, a tiny tiny fraction of the
Trump supporters. Most of them don't pick up their guns
and go marauding. It only takes a few to do it,
of course, to create real havoc, but it's not like
half the population is going to go on the rampage.

Speaker 3 (01:37:03):
And it done back to what you mentioned before about
Kawala Harris, you sort of had a nail on the
head there because there was so much momentum after that debate,
and I think you look at the campaigning now and
you go, why did she not pull ahead? You know?

Speaker 7 (01:37:16):
And I go even further back to that when when
Biden made that horrific speech or do something really bad.
And she came she was questioned outside about half an
hour later, and she came across, so damn well, you
know he's she just spoke well confident. I just thought, well,
she's a perfect person to put in there. I just
think America is America, and I think males in America

(01:37:39):
are males in America. I think there's a whole lot
of a whole lot of that involved. And I just
think that, you know, color in America, there's a whole
lot to put in the pie that's going against them
to be really really perfectly on us. I think she's
probably the right person at the right time and the
right decision. But that's that's and that's coming from a
non political person. I'm not left or right. I'm just saying, hey,

(01:38:01):
for New Zealand, for America, you know, for America, for
the world, she's the right person. I don't get to
vote no.

Speaker 3 (01:38:08):
And look, that's the thing. There's nothing we can do
about it. We just have to deal with the hand
that we're dualt when it comes to New Zealand having
a relationship with the United States, does it worry you
or do you care who wins.

Speaker 18 (01:38:20):
It absolutely worries me. I'm in the camp that is
extremely fearful of what a Trump presidency will mean, not
just for Americans, obviously for Americans, but also for the world.
I think global instabilities in the Middle East, Ukraine, with China,
climate change, all of those things are going to be

(01:38:41):
very precariously balanced. And precariously balanced is not a phrase
you want to use around Donald Trump, because he's not that.

Speaker 2 (01:38:51):
NICKI.

Speaker 7 (01:38:52):
And you know what, the other scary point, the real
scary thing is what I've been reading, because obviously they're
going to do a few days over the next week.
They've been everywhere, and what really scares me is that
apparently Trump's got rid of all the people that question them.
So anyone in his camp that had anything to do
who were saying, hey, that's wrong, Donald, pull you ahead
on there, and they've all gone. So it's almost like tatorship.

Speaker 18 (01:39:13):
I think. I think that's a really really good point.
People say, look, what, why are you so scared of Trump?
We've seen him in power for four years.

Speaker 2 (01:39:20):
It wasn't that bad.

Speaker 18 (01:39:21):
Well, it was that bad for a lot of people,
but he burnt off or he burned off almost everyone
who worked for him, and a number of the people
who did were in senior positions, conservative generals who now
call him a fascist, who people who you would think,
you know, would have been much more, would have been
much more loyal. He couldn't work with any of them.

(01:39:44):
And next time around, he's not going to have those
kinds of people. He's going to have much more unquestioning
loyalists who will do what he wants. And there are
people around him now lining up for those word for
those jobs.

Speaker 7 (01:39:58):
Can I just ask you guys both a question, Because
I've never been a political person, and I've not been
on radio full time for for that long. I had
never known an American election like this. Am I right?
Or am I wrong?

Speaker 18 (01:40:11):
I think you're right.

Speaker 3 (01:40:12):
No, I think you're right.

Speaker 18 (01:40:13):
Yes, you go back to sixty eight. Sixty eight was
the election when the Democratic Party in Chicago had its
convention and there were riots in the streets, anti war
riots in the streets. And that was the election where
Lyndon Johnson, who was the president and had announced in
an election year that he wasn't going to stand again.

(01:40:35):
So Herbert Humphrey stood up to beat a candidate, and
it was Thanny against Richard Nixon, and Nixon won that
election that was incredibly heated and there were riots and
a Holida social disorder. But this is this is something
else again. This is a real point where America it

(01:40:55):
feels to me like we'll go this way or we'll
go that way, and those two ways are very.

Speaker 7 (01:41:00):
Different, and the world does not need it right now.

Speaker 18 (01:41:06):
We're all more sensible than American.

Speaker 3 (01:41:09):
Right, gentlemen, I want to talk about the cracking twelve
hours or so of sport that we've had over the weekend.
What has been your favorite win? Is it the All Blacks?
Is it the tong and comeback against the Kiwis last night? Simon?

Speaker 18 (01:41:20):
Well, I'm just going to say thanks, Francesca. I have
been avoiding the news, so I didn't know until just
about what five seconds ago, But that's all right. I
will I will watch it with pleasure, even knowing the outcome.
But please don't tell me the score. That will help.

Speaker 3 (01:41:36):
Okay are you talking about Yeah?

Speaker 18 (01:41:40):
But I've got to say Tongue are beating New Zealand
in the league. You know, why do people keep thinking
Tongue is not as good as it is? They are amazing?
That was a firestorm of the first half, and you know,
I'm just full of admiration for tongue and sport.

Speaker 3 (01:41:57):
Nock ho. Are you feeling about the fact that it's
taken in Auckland FC team, you know, to fill your
stadium down there in Wellington at a football guy.

Speaker 7 (01:42:06):
Obviously delighted that the tools were ringing in the capital
city and every week was great apart from the results.
The big money boys came in and gave us a
little tap on the backside. But that's okay, that makes
it more good money. That's the big money boys. You
know what I've going to suggest. I've got David Domes
on the show tomorrow. I'm going to suggest that he
takes us next one to eat him part.

Speaker 18 (01:42:26):
Imagine.

Speaker 7 (01:42:26):
Now, let's be really smart about this. You get twenty
four thousand and fifty eight at Sky Stadium and Willington.
You imagine if you took your home game to Eden
Park against Auckland FC, you get forty five thousand dollars.

Speaker 18 (01:42:40):
Show me the money. You're absolutely right right, bring it on, yep.
Fantastic competition, isn't it and it will be the edge.
If you were in rugby, you'd be pretty worried about
this because this now gives New Zealand, the New Zealand
competition a real edge, professional level, great sport in football,
which of course is already a major sport among kids,

(01:43:00):
and have the capacity to keep building in this country.

Speaker 3 (01:43:04):
Look, thank you both very much, Timon Will and Nick
Mills and Simon Yeah, I know you're gonna sit down
and watch rugby now. It's not a relaxing time.

Speaker 13 (01:43:11):
Just warning you.

Speaker 3 (01:43:12):
I haven't mentioned the score though, twenty five to twelve.
We will cover off sport next with Jason Pine.

Speaker 1 (01:43:21):
It's the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin on News Talks
at b.

Speaker 3 (01:43:27):
Jason Pine joins me, Now, good morning.

Speaker 22 (01:43:30):
Good morning.

Speaker 3 (01:43:30):
Were you up early? I was, so was I Yeah,
and live in quite a small house and I was
on my own, so there was a lot of very
intense whispering being done at the television this morning.

Speaker 8 (01:43:43):
What it like?

Speaker 17 (01:43:44):
What are you doing?

Speaker 18 (01:43:46):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (01:43:47):
It was just like it was.

Speaker 3 (01:43:49):
Honestly, I was beside myself watching that game. It was
full of Look, I love the drama. I don't mind
a messy win. It was very exciting, but you know,
hugely frustrating. Piney, so many eerrors, penalties, just mad stuff.

Speaker 22 (01:44:07):
It was like criky proper test match. Yeah, all those emotions.
You're right, it was stressful, But I loved it. I
loved that because I didn't know it was going to win.
I was we always hope we're going to. We always
I think think we're going to I didn't know if
we were going to win that game, and there was
a lot of the end and exactly right, yeah, exactly right.

Speaker 3 (01:44:29):
But I loved it.

Speaker 22 (01:44:29):
I honestly there was Yeah, there's heaps to work on, absolutely,
and I'm sure we'll unpack some of that after midday.
But I just they found a way, and we're bemoaned
all yeah, the fact that this team.

Speaker 9 (01:44:39):
Had to do that correct.

Speaker 22 (01:44:41):
They have not been able to and they want ten
points behind with about twelve minutes to go, and they
found a way. And that's an All Blacks trade mark.
They found a way.

Speaker 3 (01:44:49):
Oh my goodness. You know, that was a very intense,
exhausting way to start a Sunday morning. Also last night,
the Kiwis versus Tongua. What a game. My son was
working at the game and he loves his league and
he just went that was the best game I've ever watched.

Speaker 22 (01:45:05):
Yeah, And look, I didn't have you know, I didn't
have a singular focus on it. I was sort of
recovering from the football a couple of hours earlier. But
I did watch it, and yeah, I mean we need
to we need to accept that tong are a good
rugby league team. We just need to need to accept
that now, you know. I see there's a lot of

(01:45:26):
lot of comic being thrown around about Stacy Jones's lack
of coaching. Now I'm not sure you can lay it
at the feet of him, you know, exclusively, but there
will be some conversations. They've got a win next week
now they'll get relegated down from this this top tier
of the Pacific Championship. So there's a big game next weekend.
But yeah, no, it was another great contest and a big,

(01:45:47):
big crowd at Mount Smart too, as there was in Wellington.

Speaker 3 (01:45:49):
You saw that, Yes, great crowds. Good on Auckland sc
to nil win against Wellington Phoenix.

Speaker 22 (01:45:56):
That's quite enough of that, thanks for I just thought i'd.

Speaker 3 (01:45:58):
Mentioned that the cricket Do you know where the crickets at? Yeah,
so much going on.

Speaker 22 (01:46:04):
I know there is a we're nine down with about
a lead of one hundred forty, so that probably won't
be enough. I'd say they'll probably bowl us out and
get the runs, and you know, in the first session,
maybe the first couple of sessions. So but it doesn't matter,
it doesn't We've already won that series. No tick, No
need to worry, no need to worry.

Speaker 3 (01:46:19):
Hey, look, I'd be really interested to know this afternoon
on the show. You know, I've enjoyed rugby this year,
but I've probably enjoyed my league a little bit more.
And I think I just got put off with rugby
by that just maybe the way rugby was managed right.
And I've got to be honest. I sat there and
watched that game on my own this morning, and I thought,
I am back on the rugby train. I'm interested again.

(01:46:41):
You've got my attention. I'm interested to know where that
other people are sort of feeling the same with it.

Speaker 22 (01:46:46):
I'm gonna write that down. I'll write that down. Are
you feeling the same as Francesca?

Speaker 7 (01:46:50):
Are you back?

Speaker 3 (01:46:51):
Are you back on the rugby track? I've written it down,
all right, Piny, we'll see it midday. Thanks for a jest, Pony,
be back at midday with Weekend Sport Sunday with.

Speaker 1 (01:47:03):
Style, The Sunday Session with Friends, Jessica Rudkin and Windles
for the best selection of Great Reeds News talks. Travel
with Wendy wo Tours unique fully inclusive tours around the World.

Speaker 3 (01:47:18):
Megan Singleton joins us now to talk travel. Good morning,
good morning.

Speaker 16 (01:47:25):
Yes, good morning, am I welcome?

Speaker 3 (01:47:27):
Yes, good to have you with us. Hey, you're going
to talk about tour tourism today and the impact that
it can have on a city. I mean, it can
be massive, can't it.

Speaker 16 (01:47:38):
Yeah, it can, and we're really missing it in New Zealand.
I mean, I don't know if you've been speaking to
various uber drivers or whoever you've had contact with hospitality,
you know, retailers, accommodation operators. We've been really missing tour tourism.
We've had a difficult winter. The last winter, of course,
we had the FIFA Women's World Cup, so that had

(01:48:00):
a great impact around.

Speaker 4 (01:48:02):
New Zealand for all of that.

Speaker 16 (01:48:04):
The uber driver I was speaking to you last night
when I was here into the Breakers game said it's
been really tough and they're looking forward to like Christmas
office dues and things like that, and so Coldplay will
be a great injection of goodness into the hospital scene.
I just had a quick look and all three Auckland
dates are sold out, as are all their Australian dates

(01:48:24):
sold out, and even Travis Scott with his change of
dates got fifty thousand people at EA in part. So
I've got some stats from last year's Pink Concert around
what impact that had on the economy, and I just
thought it was really fascinating that over eighty eight thousand
people attended the concerts across two nights, thirty eight percent

(01:48:47):
of those came from outside of Auckland, with a total
spend of eight point nine million dollars. Now, the government
Central Government, of course, takes fifteen percent in GST, so
I asked chat GPT what that totals, and that it
told me one point three three five million was the
you know, GST take of the spend for the Pink concept.

(01:49:11):
So instead of perhaps the Auckland rate payers and other
city and regions around the countries rate payers having to
come up with extra money to lure events into their cities,
I'm thinking maybe central government should be investing a little
bit of that back in to lure some of these
big events that have such positive uplift into across so

(01:49:34):
many businesses around the country.

Speaker 19 (01:49:36):
So I'm just posing that to you today.

Speaker 3 (01:49:39):
Posing that and then maybe a new stadium that's big enough.
Do you know, take all we want them.

Speaker 16 (01:49:43):
No, we want the Mowbrays to build that.

Speaker 4 (01:49:46):
They can build that.

Speaker 16 (01:49:47):
And I tell you what, an Eden Park could be
decommissioned into an old people's home for rugby nuts.

Speaker 20 (01:49:52):
How about that it is.

Speaker 3 (01:49:54):
I think you raise a really good point. I think
it's always been very difficult to measure the impact and
the economic impact of a lot of these events, but
there was absolutely no doubt. You only have to look
at gigs that we see, whether it's Coldplay or Travis
Scott last week, everybody. A lot of people plan to
travel to these events. They come to the city, they
need somewhere to stay, they need to eat some food.
So you know, it's hard to deny that there isn't

(01:50:14):
a positive metafit. And also it just makes the city
feel alive, so you know that that's a good thing
as well. Nice to talk to you, Meghan. You can
find Megan at blogger at large dot com.

Speaker 2 (01:50:25):
Books with Wiggles for the best selection of Grape Reeves.

Speaker 3 (01:50:30):
Joining me now to talk books is Joe McKenzie. Good morning. Hello, Hey.
I must say we had Abbott Kayla on the show
today talking about her fantastic book Eden Undone. You'd recommended
it to me. What an amazing story and beautifully written. Yes,
just want to know is that in your Jones, Picks
and Wickles. Yes it is, okay, so it's really easy
for our listeners to find. And it's very graphic book.

(01:50:52):
Oh isn't it? Just yes, so thank you for that recommendation.
What have you got for us today? I've got a
really interesting novel. It's called This Kingdom of Dust by
David Dyer, who I believe is an Australian writer. But
it's set in nineteen sixty nine at the time of
the Apollo moon landing, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldron
walked on the Moon, and it takes a really interesting

(01:51:13):
premise which is essentially imagine what might have happened if
the lunar landing module had stuck on the Moon and
catastrophically failed and couldn't get them off again, and so
there they might be stuck on the Moon forever. And
it's told through three voices.

Speaker 19 (01:51:30):
Through Buzz himself, who is on the moon and clearly
facing his own mortality. There's his wife, Joan, whose back
living in a very nineteen sixties American suburb, surrounded by
other astronauts, wives watching the television, knowing that something might
have gone wrong. And for me, one of the really
interesting things about this book was the interaction that the

(01:51:50):
wives had with NASA and the way that NASA clearly
tried to control them and limit their access. It was
very interesting. And the third voice is a journalist called Aquarius.
That's the name by which he's known.

Speaker 6 (01:52:01):
Now.

Speaker 19 (01:52:02):
I understand that back in nineteen sixty nine, when the
moon landing happened, Truman Capoti was hired to write the
story of the moon landing and called himself Aquarius for
that purpose. And so in the book, this journalist character
takes the name Aquarius, and he's been hired to write
the story of what happens, But of course what does
eventually happen is entirely different from what he imagined he

(01:52:25):
was going to be covering.

Speaker 3 (01:52:26):
I love the way people rewrite history. It reminds me
a little bit of the Apple TV show For All Mankind.
I don't know if you've seen it. I love that show.
I love the way because it is such a fascinating
time and error to kind of rewrite it. Okay, that
sounds good. Now I'm going to have a little look
at this book because you've got it with you. This
just looks divine. Stanley Tucci.

Speaker 19 (01:52:46):
We love Stanley Tucci, don't we?

Speaker 3 (01:52:48):
Yeah, I do.

Speaker 2 (01:52:49):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:52:49):
I thought there'd be pictures.

Speaker 19 (01:52:50):
No, there's no pictures. This is called What I Ate
in One Year and other related Thoughts. And he's taken
the year twenty twenty three and kept diary notes from
the first of January to the thirty first of December
about where he was, what he was doing, and what
he ate And I have to say he is entirely
selfless in his pursuit of fine food, and he eats

(01:53:13):
an extraordinary amount. But it's much more than that. And
it's very fitting actually that it's come out just now
because he is starring as one of the cardinals in
the Robert Harris movie Conclave, which has just opened in
theaters here, so good timing. But this is a man
who is not shy about the fact that he lives
for food. It's one of his abiding passions, and so

(01:53:35):
every day he'll tell you. At the beginning of the book,
first of January, he's arrived in Rome to start filming Conclave.
He's in an apartment. First thing he does is get
the ingredients to make a meal. He eats out all
the time, he eats with friends and family. He tells
you what he ate, why he loved it or didn't
love it, and it's quite charming.

Speaker 3 (01:53:55):
Actually, we're not all going to get fomo. We're not
all just going to.

Speaker 19 (01:54:00):
Read not just about the food, but about the people.
He knows, all the famous names that come and go
through his life. But it really is charming, and it's
one of those books that you can easily dip in
and out of because with diary entries day after day,
you can just pick it up and put it down.

Speaker 3 (01:54:14):
It's lovely. Yeah, and I like the bold orange cover
and just the simple photo of him as well.

Speaker 16 (01:54:20):
There it is.

Speaker 19 (01:54:21):
You know what you get it and if anyone's thinking
of gifting for Christmas, it's a lovely, beautifully produced hardcover.

Speaker 3 (01:54:27):
No, it's great, Thank you, Joan. The Kingdom of Dust
by David Dye was the first book we mentioned, and
what I Ate in One Year by Stanley Tucci is
the second. We'll talk next week see.

Speaker 2 (01:54:36):
Then Heap It's simple.

Speaker 1 (01:54:38):
It's Sunday the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkater and Wiggles
for the best selection of the great brings News Talk Senvy.

Speaker 3 (01:54:46):
Now, are you a fan of the TV show The Bear.
It's such a great show. It's an Emmy Award winning show.
Maddy Matheson stars in the show as the character Neil Phack.
He is the handyman. He is actually a celebrity chef,
so he was bought in not as an actor. He
came onto the show The Bear as the the culinary

(01:55:07):
expert to make sure they're doing everything right and everything,
and then they gave him a role, so he ends
up acting with all these very seasoned actors. It was
a crazy experience. Anyway, he's released a new cookbook and
he's going to join me next week on the Sunday
Session to talk about this crazy journey that has been
The Bear and also his love of soup and salads

(01:55:27):
and sandwiches and my goodness, he makes an incredible sandwich.
So that is next week. Make sure you join me
on the Sunday Session. Hey, Union exams and NCEEA. I
think UNI exams have started. NCAA starts this week. Best
of luck to students out there and to their support crews.
Hope the week goes well. Congratulations. If you were running

(01:55:48):
the Auckland Marathon this morning or any version of it,
well done to you. Jason Pine is up next here
on newstiok ZBH.

Speaker 1 (01:56:51):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks it B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Full Show Podcast: 3 November 2024

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

All Episodes

Full Show Podcast: 3 November 2024

Stuff You Should Know