Nine To Noon

Many listeners may already have had time at home with Covid and other winter ills. So what's the best way to get through the time together? Ellie Gwilliam is with the Parenting Place, and has just gone through it with her family. She joins Kathryn to talk survival tips.

Technology correspondent Bill Bennett joins Kathryn to talk about PimEyes, a company offering the ability to scan people's faces on the internet - with great accuracy. Anyone can use it - and images of people were able to be found even if they had a mask on or had their face turned away from the camera. Chorus showed off its 25 Gbps fibre broadband last week - that's about 75 times faster than most fibre connections. The 2degrees merger with Vocus has created New Zealand's third largest telco, and Skinny Jump is offering low-income families a way to stay connected.

Lisa Finucane reviews Death at the Belvedere by Sue Williams, published by Text Publishing.

Egyptian born New Zealander Mohamed Hassan is an award-winning writer, journalist and poet. He grew up in Cairo before moving to Auckland. His new essay collection How to be a Bad Muslim explores immigration and grief, Islamaphobia and love, family and society, identity, surveillance, migration and language. It blends storytelling, memoir and non-fiction he maps the experience of being Muslim in the 21st Century. His poems have been shared widely online, and are taught in hundreds of schools internationally. As a journalist, Mohamed covered ethnic affairs at RNZ, investigating counterterrorism, workplace discrimination and Islamophobia. In 2013 he won the Rising Voices Youth Poetry Slam and the National Poetry Slam in 2015, representing New Zealand at the Individual World Poetry Slam held in Arizona in 2016.

UK correspondent Hugo Gye joins Kathryn to talk about how Prime Minister Boris Johnson is trying to get on with business following his narrow win in a confidence vote earlier this week - but will rebel Tory MPs continue with efforts to oust him? The government's plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda was supposed to start next week - but may be stymied by legal challenges. And there's been trouble at the airports - now train chaos is set to strike the UK over summer.

Autistic people say they don't want research to be focused on finding a cure, and say they need to be actively involved in any future research to do with autism. These are some of the findings of a study by the University of Canterbury that asked Autistic people what specific research they would like to see in Aotearoa in the coming decade. Earlier research from Canterbury University found that two thirds of funding awarded for autism research goes towards biological projects seeking to understand the difference associated with autism, compared with a third of funding invested in research into support for autistic people. Participants also told the latest study they want a better understanding the health, mental health and wellbeing needs of Autistic people, specific to New Zealand and not research into "cure" or behaviour management. Kathryn speaks with two of the project investigators Lisa Marie Emerson and Ruth Monk.

Auckland councillor Chris Darby says the scrapping of the controversial container terminal at Ports of Auckland is an expensive mess that will exacerbate supply chain issues and affect the ports' reputation. The port's new board has quashed the project at Fergusson Wharf, costing the council-backed port 65 million dollars. It was supposed to lift productivity and profitability, with driverless straddle carriers or cranes load and unload trucks. The Ports former board has decided to fund it, amid claims it was groundbreaking and innovative. Auckland Mayor Phil Goff has previously called for a review of the project which he says has failed to deliver. Councillor Chris Darby says the cost of the failure will ultimately far exceed a 65 million dollar write-off.

The Solicitor-General has launched an investigation into the role of all the Crown lawyers ever involved in the case of Alan Hall. Mr Hall was found guilty of murdering Arthur Easton during a violent home invasion 35 years ago, but the Supreme Court yesterday quashed his conviction. The Supreme Court found police had unfairly obtained statements from Mr Hall, and failed to disclose evidence such as witnesses' descriptions of the killer as Maori, which Mr Hall is not. Investigator Tim McKinnel worked on the case, discovering evidence that lead to yesterday's conviction being quashed. He says evidence has been known for 30 years and there are many questions that must be answered.

The law around who inherits your property when you die looks set for a shake-up - and some of the proposals are proving to be quite controversial. The Law Commission reviewed the legislation governing succession laws - and made 140 recommendations, including streamlining old statutes into one Inheritance (Claims Against Estate) Act. The Commission was concerned in particular about family trusts, recommending courts be given greater powers to access them. And how old is too old to make a claim against a parent's estate? One option from the Law Commission would prevent children over the age of 25 from doing so. To unravel the proposals, Kathryn is joined by Professor Nicola Peart from Otago University, an expert in family property and succession laws.

If you've ever driven the remote and rugged State Highway 94 from Te Anau to Milford Sound you'll probably have appreciated the many potential hazards that threaten that stretch of road. Rockfalls, powerful avalanches, volatile weather, and its remoteness are just some of the challenges that make it one of the world's most unique roading programmes. That's why there's a dedicated team working year-round to keep the 119 kilometre stretch of road open and safe for travel. The work of the Milford Road Alliance is the subject of a short film, screening at this year's Doc Edge Festival, called The Milford Road. Cole Yeoman directed and produced the film when he was a student at the New Zealand Broadcasting School.