Nine To Noon

This summer, Victoria Bruce and her seven-year-old daughter Emilie hope to become the first solo mother-daughter duo to walk the length of New Zealand. Their journey on the Te Araroa Trail is part of Victoria's healing from a breakdown - and also a way to raise money for Federated Mountain Clubs and the Mental Health Foundation.

Neale Jones, Brigitte Morten, Pattrick Smellie Siouxsie Wiles and Andrew Holden look back on a tumultuous year.

Film and TV reviewer Tamar Munch joins Kathryn to talk about Being the Ricardos (Amazon Prime), a revealing glimpse into the complex romantic and professional relationship of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. She'll also talk about a gritty OnDemand series Shortland Street: Retribution, which will screen online over summer while the main show is on a break. And finally Landscapers (Sky Soho), a miniseries starring Olivia Colman and David Thewlis as a mild-mannered couple who come under investigation after two dead bodies are found in a back yard.

Christmas Day is a time for families to get together - but also a time when families can fall apart. There's no magic cure for making Christmas less emotionally challenging, but we can rehearse 'positive coping', says psychologist Kirsty Ross.

Tech commentator Mark Pesce joins Kathryn to look at some of the biggest themes that have emerged this year, including the computer chip shortage that has ground the industry to a halt and forced billions in funding for new foundries. He'll talk about the recent supply chain hack that's going to set 2022 off to a rocky start. And of course, the terrible year that Facebook has had - brought about entirely by its actions and documented in great detail by a whistleblower.

Ralph McAllister reviews The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles, published by Penguin Random House

Jane Henley left a senior job at the World Bank in Washington DC to return home to Aotearoa, where she's turned her energies to our housing crisis and the part off-site construction can play. She was the founding Chief Executive of the Green Building Council, going on to lead the global Green Building Council, before joining the World Bank as Global Operations Manager of Green Building for the Bank's private sector arm. She also gained a Masters in Business from MIT. But like many kiwis abroad, the Covid pandemic awakened the urge to come home, which she did with her young daughter last year. Jane Henley now consults to Kainga Ora, the government housing agency, on its strategy, particularly in the area of off-site construction or pre-fab housing. She says it is undoubtedly the way forward for New Zealand to solve its housing crisis - in a sustainable, innovative way.

Britain is now recording close to 100,000 cases of Covid a day, driven by the rise of the Omicron variant, but the government has decided against imposing any more restrictions before Christmas.

After seven years watching over the privacy of New Zealanders, John Edwards is off to do the same for those in the UK. He was first appointed to the role of Privacy Commissioner in 2014 and reappointed in 2019. He finished up just over a week ago, and will head to the UK to start the new year as Information Commissioner. During his time he's been outspoken in the role, and a champion for privacy - as one might expect. But his criticism of Facebook in particular, in the wake of the Christchurch mosque attacks - which were livestreamed by the social media giant - netted him international media attention. Kathryn talks to him about his time in his watchdog role here, and challenges in the next.

Advocates for people with autism say more research funding should be going towards how to support people, as opposed to biological projects that sees autism as a deficit. Researchers at Canterbury University have found that two thirds of funding awarded for autism research in New Zealand goes towards biological projects seeking to understand the difference associated with autism. This compares with a third of funding invested in research into support for autistic people. The researchers found no investment in research aimed at maximising the quality of life of autistic people by addressing the accessibility and quality of services, or into the needs of autistic people as they age. Autism advocacy organsiations say the emphasis is wrong. Kathryn speaks with Dane Dougan - Chief Executive of Autism New Zealand and National Manager for Altogether Autism, Catherine Trezona.