Nine To Noon

Tilly Lloyd from Unity Books reviews The Bread the Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agostini, published by Myriad Editions UK Pub by: Myriad Editions UK, RRP: paperback, $30

Candice Carty-Williams had a smash hit with her first novel, Queenie, which she decribed as the black Briget Jone's Diary. She was 26 when she wrote it, and it sold more than 500,000 copies, winning Book Of The Year at the British Book Awards in 2020, making her the first Black author to win the award. Queenie was all about a young black women working for a predominantly white newspaper, trying to straddle two cultures. Her new novel, People Person, is all about family relationships. She's one of nine siblings with the same father, so there's resonance with the non-nuclear family at the heart of People Person - a family that comes together, rather than falling apart.

The Prime Minister of Samoa has confirmed her government is looking at halting the open recruitment process for RSE workers. In her address to horticulture industry leaders in Hawke's Bay, Fiame Naomi Mata'afa made it clear that Samoa's government wants to raise the quality of the RSE scheme and strengthen it. And the Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong has met with her counterpart, Nanaia Mahuta in Wellington. She has criticised the Coalition for failing to intervene to stop the Solomon Islands - China deal.

Thirty years ago three children disappeared from the same street in a small town in New South Wales. They became known as the Bowraville Three: Sixteen-year-olds Colleen Walker-Craig and Clinton Speedy-Duroux and four-year-old Evelyn Greenup. One man was considered the main suspect in all three murders - he was tried and aquitted over two murders, but the three deaths were never heard together in one trial. Director Allan Clarke spent years documenting the Aboriginal community's long fight for justice - talking to family members about the disappearances, the initial investigation, trials and attempts to change the law. The result is The Bowraville Murders, which premiered late last year in Australia and is screening now in New Zealand as part of the DocEdge festival.

A team of four students at Christchurch's St Andrew's College have won an international mathematics award for their work modelling the most time-effective way for passengers to board and disembark a plane. The four year 13 students; Toby Harvie, Luke Zhu, Corin Simcock, and Tom Edwards were one of three teams in the world to get an Outstanding Team award at the International Mathematical Modelling Challenge. The team spent five days simulating different boarding and disembarking methods, taking into account variables like people with carry-on luggage and groups boarding together. They found the fastest method for a narrow-body aircraft was for window seats to board first, followed by middle seats and then aisle seats, and for a wide-body aircraft, the fastest boarding was by section - from back to front. Kathryn speaks to one of the students; Toby Harvie, and Phil Adams, the teacher in charge of digital technologies and mathematics at St Andrew's College.

The economy has shrunk, interest rates are on the rise, house prices down, and the cost of living soaring. Are we in store for a recession ? Gross Domestic Product fell 0.2 percent in the March 2022 quarter, well below expectations. Kathryn speaks with ANZ Senior Economist Miles Workman who says consumer spending is holding up for now, but when New Zealanders start closing their wallets, a recession - soft or hard - will just be a question of time

Film and TV correspondent Laumata Lauano looks at a new offering from Disney and the Marvel universe: Ms Marvel. It scores high on the diversity list, but why was it subject to review bombing on the IMDb site? She'll also look at the long-awaited season three of Umbrella Academy (Netflix) and the TV version of the popular book The Time Traveler's Wife (Neon).

Author and parenting coach, Maggie Dent, talks to Kathryn about her new book Girlhood: raising our little girls to be healthy, happy and heard. She says it is vital that parents enable young girls' voices to be heard, and help girls navigate the challenges of modern times. Maggie is the mother of four boys, and the proud grandmother of four girls. She's a former teacher and counsellor, the host of the ABC podcast Parental as Anything.

Tech commentator Paul Matthews joins Kathryn to look at why one of Google's Artificial Intelligence chatbots hit the news this week. One of its engineers went public with big news: he thought it could now feel, perceive and think for itself. What's really going on and is this the dawn of a new AI era?

It's official - the economy has contracted. Gross Domestic Product fell 0.2 percent in the March 2022 quarter, according to the latest data from Stats NZ, just released. This compares with a rise of 3.0 percent in the December 2021 quarter. The annual rate of GDP slowed to 1.2 percent from 3.1 percent in 2021. Meanwhile the local share market has posted its first substantive gain in more than a week, following the positive mood on Wall Street, after the US Federal Reserve hiked interest rates to get inflation under control. Kathryn speaks with RNZ Business Editor Gyles Beckford.