Nine To Noon

Auckland is now at alert level three, but just how much of our biggest city can actually get back to work? Finance Minister Grant Robertson says 85 to 90 percent of economic activity is still possible under level 3. But some in the sector question that, saying the numbers of businesses able to fully operate is much lower. Kathryn speaks with Brett O'Reilly, Chief Executive of the Employers and Manufacturers' Association and ANZ Chief Economist Sharon Zollner.

The High Court in Australia has ruled that media companies are liable for defamation for comments made on their social media platforms. Also Andrew looks at the musical chairs at Mediaworks and other news organisations.

Film maker Jade Jackson was thirty when she first learned of the Dawn Raids. For the Samoan - Palangi woman, it was confusing and upsetting to never have learned about such a significant and traumatic part of her community's history. But that motivated her to take action, and the recent film school graduate had the perfect outlet. She's now released the short film, Raids, which took her back to her home town of Porirua and into a moment in history that left deep scars on the psyche of her community.

Pattrick talks to Kathryn about the geopolitical and economic implications for NZ of the AUKUS defence treaty. He also looks at low user electricity tariffs finally being abolished and at the three water policy. Pattrick Smellie is the editor and co-founder of BusinessDesk and has reported on the New Zealand economy and business since 1983.

Louise O'Brien reviews The Women of Troy by Pat Barker, published by Hamish Hamilton.

There are some dishes that are ubiquitous around the globe. Every culture taking its own spin. Portland chef and activist Jenn Louis has spent several years exploring our relationship with chicken soup. She has collected dozens of recipes from all around the globe and put them in a beautiful tome titled The Chicken Soup Manifesto. Jenn still lives in Portland but has moved slightly from running a restaurant, or restaurants in her case, to making sure that people in Portland's homeless population have food to eat. Food and politics are intertwined in Jenn's world, and that's also true of every chicken soup in her book.

A federal panel has approved COVID-19 boosters for high-risk Americans, including those aged 65 and over, health care workers and the immunocompromised as Joe Biden heads to the UN General Assembly meeting and is expected to try to boost global vaccinations. Kelsey also discusses the ongoing fallout between the US and France over AUKUS. Kelsey Snell is a congressional correspondent for NPR, based in Washington DC.

A New Zealand health-tech company is trialling technology that could help sufferers of chronic pain 'retrain' how their brain responds to nerve signals from the body. Exsurgo has developed a headset that uses electroencephalography (EEG) neurofeedback to monitor a patient's brain activity, feeding that data back to the patient in a way that reinforces positive changes to the pain signals. It offers an alternative treatment to traditional drug-based therapies for chronic pain, which can carry risks of side effects or addiction. Chronic pain affects up to one in five people around the world and is a massive burden on healthcare systems and economies, costing the New Zealand economy $13-15 billion annually. The New Zealand trial will be the world's largest clinical trial using EEG neurofeedback. Kathryn speaks with Richard Little, the chief executive of Exsurgo.

Hong Kong-raised businessman, Desmond Shum's book Red Roulette is a no holds barred account of the life he lived as a wealthy businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist in China in the 1990's and early 2000's. He writes about the how the Chinese business system and the Communist Party works and the connection with wealthy individuals, corruption, and vengeance. His story is all the more intriguing following the mystery disappearance four years ago of his ex-wife, billionaire, Whitney Duan. She suddenly resurfaced earlier this month.

Bill McKay talks to Kathryn about the myth of lack of land. He says sprawl is a problem in big cities and small towns, whether it is new suburbs or big box commercial developments on the outskirts. Developers and some politicians regularly call on Councils to "free up" more land for development. The reason for this is that all Councils have city or district plans that zone land and the use / activity that can take place on it eg rural or commercial or housing.