Afternoons

A Wairarapa man's love for the art of chocolate has won his brand 14 medals at an international competition. Johnty Tatham from Lucid Chocolatier scooped the medals at the Academy of Chocolate Awards. It's been a real journey for the bean-to-chocolate maker who started off in the kitchen of his family farm. Johnty is with Jesse.

A high court case against Minister for Climate Change Simon Watts kicked off today The case is brought by Lawyers for Climate Action & The Environmental Law Initiative. They're arguing that the government broke the law when it scrapped - or changed - hundreds of climate change policies in the wake of the 2023 election They claim there wasn't proper consultation, and the new plans rely too heavily on offsets rather than reducing emissions. Jesse is joined by University of Canterbury professor and Director of The Sustainability, Citizenship and Civic Imagination Research group, Bronwyn Hayward.

We're starting the show talking about petrol because right now Finance Minister Nicola Willis is holding a press conference to discuss the latest petrol stocks and what the Government will do should this pain at the pump continue. Petrol price monitoring app Gaspy says the average price of 91 petrol is now above $3 and has risen 20 percent since the start of the month. We get reaction to Nicola Willis words from Bernard Hickey, author of the Substack column 'The Kaka'.

The only bear in New Zealand lives at Wellington Zoo. Her name is Sasa and she's not a panda, brown, or polar bear, but the smallest of the eight bear species: a Sun Bear.

Let's talk about gardening now, our green thumbed guru Lynda Hallinan is with me to share some seasonal tips and tricks.

Let's talk food now because Connie Clarkson, the manager of Auckland Council's The Kitchen Project is with me, with a great sounding duck breast recipe.

Afternoons film critic Kate Rodger joins Jesse to review Ryan Gosling's latest offering Project Hail Mary and to preview the Oscars.

One of our favourite comedians Chris Parker has just announced his latest tour, "Take a Good Hard Look at Me" Jesse gets the inside word about what to expect.

It's time for Freaky Friday, your home for spooky stories and eerie coincidences, if you have an experience to share or maybe you have a scary campfire story that you tell so well it belongs on the radio get in touch on 2101 or email me at [email protected] and one of the Afternoons team might give you a call. Today we're speaking to Jack about a couple of his ghostly encounters.

Tomorrow is a big day for the capital, with the grand opening of the new Te Matapihi ki te Ao Nui Central Library. The central library was one of Wellington's most beloved public spaces until structural concerns forced its closure in 2019.