Nine To Noon

Sci-fi lovers rejoice! There's a heap of new fantasy shows out there. Film and TV correspondent Chris Schulz looks at House of the Dragon, The Sandman and Ring of Power.

Kathryn talks with parenting coach and education consultant Joseph Driessen about helping children overcome the effects of the Covid epidemic, at home, at school, and with their friends.

Technology correspondent Bill Bennett looks at what European countries are doing to boost rural fibre networks - should New Zealand do the same? GCHQ in the UK is looking to recruit more female coders to tackle online threats, Google is accused of "airbrushing" out aviation emissions and more than half of all Bitcoin trades may actually be fake.

Airini Beautrais reviews The Wandering Nature of Us Girls by Frankie McMillan, published by Canterbury University Press.

When his first novel was rejected by publishers in Australia, Matthew Reilly did the ultimate DIY job - he took out a loan, published it himself and convinced Sydney book stores to stock it. The book, Contest, was picked up by a commissioning editor at Pan MacMillan - and the rest is best-seller history. Matthew has written over a dozen books and short stories - including his Jack West series, selling over seven and a half million copies world-wide. He recently directed the Netflix film Interceptor and his new book Cobalt Blue, is out on bookshelves now.

Matt Dathan has the latest news from the UK. Boris Johnson is on a farewell tour ahead of his departure from No10 on Tuesday. A new prime minister will be announced on Monday, and is widely expected to be Liz Truss. She'll be inheriting the cost of living crisis and a soaring energy price cap. Meanwhile Boris Johnson has refused to rule out a comeback. Matt Dathan is Home Affairs Editor at The Times

Nine to Noon continues to look at who's in the running to head up our biggest cities after local elections in October, with a focus today on the 11 candidates vying to be mayor of Christchurch. Three-term mayor Lianne Dalziel announced last July she'd be stepping down as mayor, having overseen nearly a decade's worth of the city's rebuild following the devastating earthquakes. The two major contenders for the role are Burwood city councillor Phil Mauger and former Canterbury District Health Board chief executive David Meates. Other contenders include the city's Wizard, a coffee boss, pro-gun pastor and a candidate who's stood in every election since 1971. For more, Kathryn is joined by David Williams, the South Island correspondent for Newsroom.co.nz.

The NZ Drug Foundation is proposing a trial of an overdose prevention centre in central Auckland, providing a safe, medically-supervised setting for people who are taking drugs. The three year pilot programme would also provide basic health, harm reduction and support services. The Drug Foundation hopes it will take drug use off the streets, reduce harm and save lives. Its main focus will be those experiencing homelessness, and people who are taking synthetic cannabinoids, a drug which was caused at least 51 deaths between 2016 and 2020. Kathryn speaks to Sarah Helm, executive director of the Drug Foundation.

Science correspondent Allan Blackman wishes Rutherford a happy birthday for yesterday - he'd have been 151. Allan will talk about his achievements - and the things often misattributed to him. He'll also talk about a six month investigation by Science magazine into an Alzheimer's study that may have been fabricated and look at how magnetism in space could help astronauts breathe.

A computer game developer from Hawke's Bay has found massive success on the global sales charts with his new game, Sapiens. David Frampton is the solo developer of Sapiens, which shot to number two on Steam, the world's largest computer game platform. A true labour of love which took David seven years to develop, the game allows you to create your own prehistoric civilisation, and starting from scratch, lead your tribe to build towns and industry, and advance through thousands of years of technological breakthroughs. Kathryn speaks with David Frampton about his company Majic Jungle, and the success of his latest game, Sapiens.