Nine To Noon

Yum Jar is a Porirua based, zero-waste company that serves their customers' dinners in jars. Even the delivery method is environmentally friendly - with the food boxes brought to customers' doors via electric vehicle. The business is also living wage accredited. The meals take less than 30 minutes to make and are all plant based. Head Chef and CEO at Yum Jar, Ottilie Smith speaks to Kathryn about what inspired her business.

Ben Thomas and Shane Te Pou discuss changes in the messaging coming from the big two political parties - is Labour trying to get away from being the Covid government and can either of them afford to ignore the big challenges to hip pocket issues? Ben Thomas is a PR consultant and a former National Government press secretary. Shane Te Pou is a former candidate, campaign manager and executive member of the Labour Party, and a former union official. He is no longer a member of any political party. He is a Director and HR Manager for IT Company Mega.

Mary Fawcett of Schrödinger's Books in Petone reviews Sticky by Laurie Winkless, published by Bloomsbury

They are enormous, highly intelligent and threatened. Vice president of Asia-Pacific Marine Programs at Conservation International Mark Erdmann leads a team of researchers trying to build on our scant knowledge and understanding of oceanic manta rays. Mark's work largely focuses on the management of marine protected areas. Having lived in Indonesia for a couple of decades, he's logged a couple of hundred new species of reef fish. Apart from reef fish his speciality is mantis shrimp, endangered sharks, rays and skate. But he tells Kathryn Ryan, manta rays are his absolute favourite animal of all. Mark is a professional marine biologist of some thirty years. His research work has influenced policy and management decisions, and contributed to the expansion of marine protected areas in West Papua. Sightings of manta rays in New Zealand can be logged here.

Joe Biden calls Vladimir Putin a 'butcher' and says he 'cannot remain in power'. An off-the-cuff remark at the end of a speech in Poland has the world wondering if the US President had drastically changed his position on regime change in Moscow. President Biden also called Putin a 'butcher', 'dictator' and 'war criminal', in his toughest language yet since the Russian president began his invasion of Ukraine. But the White House quickly tried to clarify the remarks, saying the US was not advocating regime change. Joe Biden spoke at Warsaw's Royal Castle and also visited a stadium where large numbers of Ukrainian refugees are being looked after. Earlier, in a show of unity with Western allies, Biden held talks with EU, NATO and G7 leaders in Brussels.

When Paralympic skiier Corey Peters sped to the medal podium, he did so in a ground-breaking sit-ski designed by engineers at the University of Canterbury. Corey took home two medals from the Beijing Paralympics - a gold in the Men's Downhill Sitting and silver in the Men's Super-G Sitting. In mid 2020, the university was approached by Snow Sports NZ to improve the aerodynamic design of Peters' standard, off-the-shelf sit ski. Sit skis are made up of a seat and suspension system mounted to a single ski. Mechanical Engineering Lecturer Dr Natalia Kabaliuk, along with three students used scaled down models, computer modelling and a wind tunnel to test out the design. Expecting to get drag down by one to two percent at best, the team decreased the drag of the ski by a whopping 10 percent - a design that's being described as "world leading." Dr Kabaliuk and Master's student Tessa Impey spoke to Kathryn Ryan about the project.

The Environmental Law Initiative is concerned re-classification of Stewardship land is being pushed through too quickly, with potentially disastrous consequences, including that some of our public conservation land will be sold off for mining. Cherished land including pristine parts of the Southern Alps are included in the 2.7 million hectares (9%) of New Zealand's land area that has been designated as Stewardship land and is now up for review. Kathryn speaks with The Environmental Law Initiative's Senior Legal Advisor Allan Brent and Senior Researcher Matt Hall who fear the reclassification process is bearing down without adequate transparency, particularly with regard to vested interests like mining, and that the speed of the review lends to the possibility for disposal. They are concerned a cabinet paper directs panels to prioritise "the assessment for reclassification of any stewardship land where applications are sought for mining access arrangements", raising fears surrounding land's conservation classification and value could also be compromised, resulting in fragmented ecosystems where conservation land borders national parks. For example in South Westland they fear any weak classifications, or disposals for mining within the World Heritage area would endanger its very status. Government-appointed review panels are due to report their recommendations for Westland and open them up for consultation in early May, for a forty day period.. In Westland alone there are 500 parcels of Stewardship land.

Our comedians Comedians Te Radar and James Elliott have ducks and bread lamps on their minds.

Sam talks to Kathryn about the long-awaited return of spectators to sports games this weekend, after two years of empty or sparsely populated stadiums. Also the White Ferns impending Cricket World Cup exit, and will Ross Taylor's farewell will be a bang or a whimper?

Melissa Oliver from Unity Books Wellington reviews Remember Me by Charity Norman, published by Allen and Unwin