Nine To Noon

Learning magic tricks promotes creative thinking and self-esteem so we should be seeing it happen in schools, says experimental psychologist Richard Wiseman.

A Manawatu chef is serving restaurant quality meals to front line workers and people in need in the community - all out of his own pocket. Grant Kitchen, who runs the kitchen at the Apiti Tavern, north of Feilding, is sending out the likes of smoked beef brisket, or signature-dish smoked pork belly with apple jus followed by apricot custard cake, creme Anglaise, or chocolate soil. He tells Kathryn he's sending the meals out at a ate of a hundred a day, and supporters have gifted over $4,000 so far to help him.

From next Tuesday everyone over the age of 12 will be required to keep a record of every "busy place or event" they've been to. The move is to combat low levels of scanning or signing in outside of a Covid outbreak and help assist with contact tracing. But with the big increase in information about to be gathered - what are the privacy protections in place? That's something of concern to Dr Andrew Chen, a Research Fellow at Koi Tu: The Centre for Informed Futures, at The University of Auckland. He's written an open letter to Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins asking for legislation to clarify that data collected for contact tracing purposes will ONLY be used for contact tracing purposes.

Film and TV reviewer Laumata Lauano joins Kathryn to talk about new Latin-feel kids' movie Vivo (Netflix), eight-part thriller Clickbait (Netflix) and teen slasher film based on the books by R.L Stine, Fear Street Part One: 1994 (Netflix).

How much screen time should you let your children have? How and when do you talk about sex? What can you do when your kid throws a tantrum? Why should you let your children just play? Maggie Dent is the mother of four boys, a former teacher and counsellor who is one of Australia's foremost parenting experts, known as the "Queen of Commonsense". Her latest book is called Parental As Anything: Toddlers to Tweens, and she is also the host of the ABC podcast Parental as Anything.

How much screen time should you let your children have? How and when do you talk about sex? What can you do when your kid throws a tantrum? Why should you let your children just play? Maggie Dent is the mother of four boys, a former teacher and counsellor who is one of Australia's foremost parenting experts, known as the "Queen of Commonsense". Her latest book is called Parental As Anything: Toddlers to Tweens, and she is also the host of the ABC podcast Parental as Anything.

Technology commentator Bill Bennett joins Kathryn to talk about the decision by China to limit children's gaming time to three hours per week. There's confusion over an upgrade to Windows - and the company isn't making it any clearer. New research shows the internet didn't create trolls, it just helped amplify people who were already so-inclined. And Amazon has plans to build department stores - just what could they look like?

Anne Else reviews A Good Winter by Gigi Fenster, published by Text Publishing.

Wellington goldsmith artist Dorthe Kristensen specialises in recycling clients' vintage gold and gemstones, creating new from old, while respecting the sentimental value of the original. Her gallery, Vilders, is well known in the Capital's Aro Valley. She's originally from Denmark but has made New Zealand home since 1999. Dorthe was trained in London and Copenhagen and describes her style as "organic with Nordic minimalism". She also runs night classes in her workshop for people who want to create their own pieces.

UK correspondent Hugo Gye joins Kathryn to look at the questions the government faces over its commitments to Afghan civilians that worked with British soldiers during the 20-year war and whether it should establish relations with the Taliban. There are fears Covid case numbers could rise as school goes back after summer, a battle is brewing over a proposal for a tax on disposable nappies and NZ-born alpaca Geronimo loses his fight for a stay of execution.