Nine To Noon

Comedians Te Radar and Irene Pink with the intriguing tale of the Catholic bishop who fell in love with a writer of Satanic erotica.

Sam looks at the debate and complexity around whether athletes deserve special treatment regarding quarantine stays after trip to compete abroad. And it's been announced that all teams for the next America's Cup must have both a youth team and a women's team that race in the warm up regattas - with inclusion and pathway to the America's Cup cited as the leading reasons.

On his debut full-length Still Slipping Vol 1, Grant says UK producer Peter O'Grady (Joy Orbison) puts his idiosyncratic stamp on a variety of club styles, folding in the voices of his family members to add emotional resonance. We'll hear two key tracks from that today, alongside gems from London rapper Lil Simz and Auckland writer/ broadcaster/ producer, Stinky Jim.

Briar Lawry from Unity Books Auckland reviews Julia and the Shark by Kiran Millwood Hargrave and Tom de Freston, published by Orion

Deputy editor of The Economist Tom Standage's new book is A Brief History of Motion: From the Wheel, to the Car, to What Comes Next. It is in fact, five and a half thousand years of the history of land-based human transport, from the invention of the wheel all the way through to the driverless car, analysing the very significant social impacts along the way. And just to make it even more fun, Tom has included some transport trivia here, including: why red means stop (and green mean go), why countries drive on the left or the right, and that electric cars were initially marketed to women.

As Delta remains active in Auckland, mass vaccination for the Tongan community is underway at at drive-through pop-up site at the Free Wesleyan Church in South Auckland. New Caledonia has declared a state of emergency as covid numbers soar in French Polynesia, and a four month old baby has died of covid in Fiji.

Sunday marks the fortieth anniversary of the notorious 'flour-bomb' incident at Eden Park, when violence erupted outside the ground where the third and deciding rugby test between the All Blacks and the Springboks was being played on 12th September 1981. Lynn speaks with Dr Sebastian Potgieter, a Teaching Fellow at the University of Otago's School of Physical Education Sports and Exercise Sciences. Sebastian is a South African who moved to Dunedin to research a PhD on the Springboks tour, after researching the tour for his Masters back in South Africa. He's a rugby player himself. In fact, he arrived in Dunedin on a Wednesday and on the Friday was playing his first game for Dunedin's Alhambra Union Rugby Club. So far Sebastian's research indicates interpretation of historical events may shift in accordance with a desire to impose meaning on the past.

Should early childhood centres be allowed to open in Auckland when the region reaches alert level 3? Early childhood education centres are currently required to open at level 3, if there is demand from parents who are essential workers and need to return to work. Official guidelines allow for this, but a public health expert specialising in early childhood education says daycare centres are the second highest risk environment for transmission of Delta, after MIQ facilities. Dr Mike Bedford, ECE researcher and Massey University senior tutor says it's irresponsible to force all daycare facilities to open at Level 3. Lynn also speaks with Dr Darius Singh, the president of the Early Childhood Council and also runs daycare centres in Auckland and Tauranga.

Shortcomings in Transpower's tools and processes were responsible for last month's power outages, according to the first phase of a review by the Electricity Authority. 34,000 households lost power on one of the coldest nights of the year on August 9th when demand hit a record high and supply could not match it. The Electricity Authority's initial review finds Transpower did not give enough information to power distributors in order for them to increase supply in time. Chief Executive of the Electricity Authority, James Stevenson-Wallace speaks with Lynn Freeman.

Film and TV reviewer Tamar Munch joins Lynn to discuss American Rust (Neon, SoHo); a family drama set in a Rust Belt town starring Jeff Daniels, Only Murders in the Building (Disney+); a comedy about three strangers' obsession with a true crime podcast starring Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez; and the annual release of Someday Stories (website/Facebook, RNZ, Stuff).