Nine To Noon

With the last test of the year for the All Blacks and the Black Ferns, Sam discusses whether they can turn around their form to send out 2021 on a high - and will it be enough?. And the Black Caps move on from World Cup disappointment straight into one of cricket's toughest tours.

Ash Davida Jane from Unity Books Wellington reviews 12 Bytes: How We Got Here. Where We Might Go Next by Jeanette Winterson, published by Jonathan Cape.

Paul Kilgour has probably visited more huts than anyone else in New Zealand. He's a wanderer, a long-distance tramper and one of New Zealand's most famous hutbaggers, although he shies away from the term. Paul has visited over 1200 huts in New Zealand - not a bad feat, considering there are only supposed to be 900 DOC huts nationwide. His book Gone Bush: A Life in the Backcountry and Beyond has just been released. It's a memoir of a lifetime walking New Zealand's backcountry and tells stories of the eccentric characters he's met along the way and the huts he's visited. He speaks to Kathryn about some of his most unforgettable journeys, including his 'long walk home', from Fiordland to Golden Bay.

The Director General Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) Kosi Latu's response to COP26, more pledges and promises without real action. Also, a small New Zealand emergency medical and logistics team has gone to Bougainville to help with a surge of Covid cases.

The Big Carrot in Ohakune, the Hundertwasser Toilets in Kawakawa, a Toothbrush Fence in Te Pahu and the Bluff Paua Shell House all make up New Zealand's many weird and wonderful landmarks that dot the country. They've now all been compiled into one book, Quirky New Zealand, celebrating our most offbeat, unusual, and most importantly - beloved attractions. Kathryn speaks with the book's author Eleanor Black about what it is about these attractions that New Zealanders love.

Critics of a planned data centre for Clyde in Central Otago are raising concerns about just what it'll be used for, saying it'll be of no benefit to the region - or even the country. Contact Energy wants to build the datacentre for UK-based company Lake Parime just under the Clyde Dam, along with a new substation - to be built and run by Aurora Energy - to power it. The datacentre would be made up of eight containers, each holding 368 servers. Lake Parime says it works with renewable energy operators to provide sustainable computing infrastructure for things like machine learning, modelling, data visualisations, block chain and cryptocurrency mining. It's that last one that have critics concerned, and question if this is the best option for New Zealand's renewable energy resources. Contact Energy says a key condition of the agreement with Lake Parime was that it would offer a diverse range of data services. Kathryn speaks with Duncan Faulkner, chairman of Guardians of Lake Dunstan, Murray Dyer, general manager for Simply Energy, a subsidiary of Contact Energy and Sath Ganesarajah, founder and CEO of Lake Parime.

Film and TV reviewer Laumata Lauano joins Kathryn to talk new black and white film Passing (Netflix), which looks at the complicated friendship of two black women in segregated 1920s America, one of whom is "passing" for white. She'll also look at Christmas romantic comedy Love Hard and one for all the Da Vinci Code fans out there - a new prequel series called The Lost Symbol (Neon).

Kathryn talks with Clinical Psychologist Sarb Johal about the challenge of loneliness for parents, particularly during a pandemic. He says parenting can be tough at the best of times, but when you're stuck at home in lockdown, or you have to keep your kids at home because they're unwell, it can be very isolating.

Technology correspondent Tony Grasso joins Kathryn to look at how the FluBot malware is spreading by text, rather than email. A software error that causes Tesla's autopilot to slam on the brakes raises questions about the balance between safety and business. And a 22-year-old Ukrainian hacker who was extradited from Poland has now been charged for his part in the REvil ransomware gang, thought to have netted more than US$200m and encrypted at least 175,000 computers.

Michelle Rahurahu reviews Out Here: An Anthology of Takatapui and LGBTQU+ Writers from Aotearoa edited by Emma Barnes and Chris Tse, published by Auckland University Press.