Afternoons

Every fortnight Professor Kirsty Ross from Massey University's School of Psychology joins me to help with those tricky predicaments we sometimes find ourselves in. Do let us know if there are any topics you would like Kirsty to cover at [email protected] Today we're talking about managing adult sibling relationships; navigating narcissists and when do you stop paying for your kids?

Aiutaki in the Cook Islands is home to about two thousand people, with around 40 thousand tourists visiting annually. It is also home to a lot of rubbish, which, according to our next guest, wasn't being dealt with properly. So he came up with a way to help. Garth Falconer joins Mark to explain how.

The Rural Games over the weekend saw fencing competitions, the NZ gumboot throwing championship, and our very own International Champ of tree climbing Steph Dryfhout. Last year Steph had a golden run across the international circuit, finishing as the Woman's World Champion in Christchurch - the first time the 50-year-old international event had ever been held in New Zealand. Steph joins Mark for a chat.

It's not a stretch to say we have a problem with roaming dogs, especially in Auckland and Northland, where three out of the four recent fatal dog attacks took place. Lots of people have been calling for change and now it looks like the Government is taking action. It has combined forces with the SPCA to invest nearly 1.2 million dollars into programmes to desex roaming dogs. But does that go far enough? To discuss, Mark is joined by SPCA Scientific Officer Dr Alison Vaughan.

We're going to start today's show talking about petrol .. because as our next guest told Morning Report, all bets are off over NZ petrol prices after Iran's gas fields were struck overnight. So how can you make sure you get the most out of a tank of petrol? AA fuel spokesperson and former general manager of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority Terry Collins shares some tips and tricks.

Conan O'Brien may have just hosted the Oscars, but the award for best sidekick in a reality checking role belongs to his longtime assistant turned podcast co-host, Sona Movsesian. She never hesitates to remind him that even if he is a comedy legend, he's still the guy who has to ask her where his phone is. On Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, Movsesian brings her trademark mix of curiosity, impatience, and unfiltered honesty often cutting through Conan's antics. Now she's channeling that same sharp humor into motherhood. In a new book out later this year, she writes about raising twin boys and realizing that parenting may be even more chaotic than working for Conan.

Wednesday means Easy Eats, a meal that is full of flavour but doesn't take hours to prepare, Kelly Gibney is away, but we're thrilled to have Shared Kitchens' Julie Biuso here to share a recipe. Click here for the recipe

Time for Heading Off our chance to share in your travel adventures without leaving the house. If you have been somewhere interesting, whether somewhere in New Zealand or overseas and you'd like to chat to Jesse about it on the radio please do get in touch You can text on 2101 or email me at [email protected] Today we're speaking to Kate who recently went to the Chatham Islands.

Host of Our Changing World Claire Concannon joins Jesse to talk about the North Island brown Kiwi.

A $3 billion data centre in Southland is being touted a game changer - delivering the most significant upgrade to New Zealand's digital infrastructure in a generation. Datagrid has received resource consent for a 78,000 square-metre data centre, which will be built in Makarewa, north of Invercargill. The development is descibed as an "AI factory", a data centre built to serve AI technology. So what are the implications for something of this size, and should we believe the hype around it? David Williams is Newsroom's South Island editor - and has been following this development for years - he joins Jesse to discuss.