Nine To Noon

The Reserve Bank moved yesterday to hold the official cash rate at 0.25 percent, which has cleared the way for interest rates to rise later in the year. It comes as Stats NZ prepares to release the consumer price index data for the June quarter. RNZ Business Editor Gyles Beckford looks ahead to the ramifications.

Science commentator Siouxsie Wiles joins Kathryn to look at the new studies into long Covid, including one that found patients could take up to a month to return to normal sleep and exercise patterns, and another that found poorer people are less likely to be tested for Covid and more likely to be hospitalised, enter ICU and die.

A mother and son musical collaboration has shown we can live better through singing in public - anything from singing in a choir to singing together on a family drive somewhere.

Bronwyn Wylie-Gibb of University Book Shop, Dunedin reviews Meet Me in Another Life by Catriona Silvey, published by HarperCollins.

Ultramarathon runner Dean Karnazes has been described as the fittest man on the planet. His achievements in running are a testament to the sheer power of human endurance.

Australia correspondent Chris Niesche joins Kathryn to talk about Sydney's Covid outbreak after 89 new cases were recorded yesterday.

There's been a global resurgence of interest and trading in Pokémon cards during the pandemic, and it seems New Zealand isn't immune. Figures from Trade Me show there were over 300,000 searches for Pokémon in June, with trading in the cards up 309 percent on the same month last year.

Kathryn speaks with the two women lead the team who created the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in just ten months. Oxford University Professor of Vaccinology Dame Sarah Gilbert started designing a vaccine just two weeks after reading about a mysterious type of pneumonia emerging in China. She was joined by geneticist Dr Catherine Green who then made it in her lab. The pair have documented the myriad hurdles they encountered in a new book Vaxxers: The Inside Story of the Oxford AstraZeneca Vaccine and the Race Against the Virus. Kathryn asks Sarah Gilbert and Sarah Green about this race, and where to from here.

Andrew looks at the broad question of public broadcasting and where it might go. The BBC is touting its success, with 90% of UK adults accessing its content each week. And Broadcasting Minister Kris Faafoi is talking about the TVNZ/RNZ "merger" allowing for an expanded role for state-owned media.

Being humble is a bit of a national personality trait, but a recruitment expert says Kiwis need to put it to one side when it comes to the job hunt. Author Tom O'Neil has worked in recruitment and HR for decades, and runs his own career and life coaching company, careercoach.nz.