Nights

Today is the longest day of the year in the Southern Hemisphere.... also the shortest night Our summer solstice officially took place at 4-59 this morning... marking the beginning of the astronomical summer. Dr Ian Griffin, director of the Otago Museum has marked the occasion with a very special project he's been working on for six months.

There are calls for a reduction in overseas arrivals, to stop MIQ hotels being overrun with Omicron. The new Covid-19 variant has prompted the Government to lengthen the quarantine stay of all arrivals, shorten the pre-departure test period, and push back quarantine-free travel from Australia. But experts say that's still not enough and there are concerns the red traffic light would be insufficient to avoid rapid spread of Omicron if it leaks into the community. Alexandra Birt from Grounded Kiwis, talks to Bryan about the change in rules and puts the case for relaxing the rules.

Military Historian Damien Fenton recounts the story of 'Charlie' Brown and Franz Stigler.

Lorna Piatti-Farnell, Professor of Film and Popular Culture at Auckland University of Technology joins once again - this time she'll take a look at the enduring appeal of Christmas movies.

New South Wales has recorded 3057 new Covid cases - the first time daily cases have reached the 3000 mark anywhere in Australia. Hospitalisations have increased today and 39 patients are in intensive care. The ABC's Jean Kennedy talks to Bryan Crump.

Socio-linguist, Julia de Bres joins us once again she's interested in how language is used to challenge or reproduce social inequalities and is currently doing a research project with parents of gender-diverse children.

We're joined by Zoe George, from Stuff in Wellington and Shannon Byrne from Darwin to take a look back at 2021 - and look forward to 2022.

Bryan talks to Alma Tuli from James Cook high School.and Lucas Taeiloa from Massey High School.

Paula Rigby, Chair of Te Roopu Raranga Whatu o Aotearoa/Māori Weavers New Zealand joins us to talk about the exhibition Te Puna Waiora: The Distinguished Weavers of Te Kahui Whiritoi that opened at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu.

The Takaka Hill road has been restored to two lanes, almost four years after it was extensively damaged by Cyclone Gita. Road access to and from Golden Bay was cut off for several days following the February 2018 incident, but was reopened to a single lane after almost $3 million of emergency repairs. Tasman Mayor, Tim King chats to Bryan Crump about the long wait to get the road reopened.