Afternoons

Each Tuesday we play You're the Judge - we share a problem with you, our audience, and get your help solving it. This week's deals with a challenging father n law when dining out in restaurants. 2101 to chime in or email us [email protected].

Tim Batt joins Emile to share the latest from the world of tech. This week he's focusing on the latest announcement from Steam Machine. That's a small scale but high powered gaming PC that's designed for your living room but comes with a whopping price tag.

Our book critic Lisa Glass delves into the theme of sociopaths - picking three very different books about them. Sociopath: A Memoir by Patric Gagne. Confessions of a Sociopath: A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight by M. E. Thomas. The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout.

Our Kiwi Cover Song Contest is back for 2026! Yes, we want the best versions of a Kiwi song. So tell all your musician and singer friends. The winner the band or person who records the best cover song gets to perform it on Afternoons and you will also get to release the mastered version of it on whatever platform you like. This competition is open to anyone - professional or amateur. All the details are on our website rnz.co.nz/afternoons or text COVER to 2101 and you'll get the link. You have until the 2nd of August to get the song to us. The competition is now open and we will be playing you the entries as they come in. Here is Lorde's Green Light performed by Fiona McMartin from Fiona & the Glow.

It's time for Mayoral minutes, where we speak with a local mayor about the challenges they're facing, how they're working to solve them and what makes their community special. Today we're heading to the Western Bay of Plenty in the North Island - where you'll find Waihi Beach, Katikati, and Te Puke and from where Western Bay of Plenty Mayor James Denyer joins Emile.

Space it seems, is no longer the final frontier, in fact it's rapidly becoming an adventure holiday option for billionaires. As we saw with Space X's IPO launch, people are very interested in the idea of setting up a base on Mars and even what asteroid mining could look like. But how does that actually all work? In a place where the laws here on earth don't apply - is space just finders' keepers, first to plant the flag gets the land? To help answer those questions and more. Aotearoa's premier space law expert Anna Marie Brennan chats to Emile.

A new short documentary, Stoat's Last Stand, tells the story of Waiheke Island's ambitious community-led effort to eradicate stoats from the island. Seven years into the project - the group is seeing incredible success with native species returning - and their mahi is attracting attention from conservation groups around New Zealand and the world. Aaron Cluka was inspired to tell their story after learning of the damage stoats do to wildlife while tramping the Routeburn track. Stoat's last stand will be screening at the Doc Edge Festival 2026 which opens tomorrow in Auckland and then moves to Wellington next month. Aaron Cluka joins Emile.

Following the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's resignation last night, the UK is set to get its seventh Prime Minister in ten years. Seven different leaders in a decade reflects one of the country's most politically turbulent periods in modern history. As one BBC commentator said, if you go back 40 years it would be unthinkable to have such a high turnover of Prime Ministers in such a short timeframe. Currently it looks the next leader will be Andy Burnham, former Mayor of Greater Manchester, and front runner to claim the top job. Whoever becomes the next leader of the UK, they will have to move fast to stabilise the country. Marcus Ganley is a public law specialist with firm Franks Ogilvie but was previously a ministerial adviser to the Clark government and held senior roles in Australian federal politics. He joins Emile.

Ralph Jackman thought he'd seen plenty during a career that took him from the war in Bosnia to the world of elite sport. But nothing quite prepared him for his first day as a teacher at Melbourne's Parkville Youth Detention Centre, when a student threatened to kill him. Teaching the boys inside gave Jackman an education of his own. He came to see young offenders not as headlines or statistics, but as teenagers whose lives had been shaped by trauma, violence, neglect and disadvantage. His new book is a powerful account of the students he taught, the lessons they taught him, and his fight to ensure that even children behind bars have access to education, opportunity and hope. It's called Detention: A Rookie Teacher in Australia's Toughest Prison School.

[picture id="4JMMZY3_ralph_jackman_jfif" crop="16x10" layout="full"]

Let's talk about what's good to watch on the smaller screen now - actor Michelle Langstone is with Emile to share what she's been watching. Tip Toe - TVNZ+ Tea with Judi Dench - Neon

[picture id="4JMS88I_tip_toe_webp" crop="16x10" layout="full"]