Sunday Morning

The Coronation - constitutional conundrum or just a king-size media spectacle?; political defection takes media by surprise.

Vanda joined us the day before the funeral of the Queen. Now she joins on the evening of the coronation in the UK.

It has been predicted by some in the UK that the monarchy could be on its last legs by 2030.

New Zealand journalist Christian Smith joined the crowds in London's Hyde Park to watch the coronation.

As the longest-serving heir to the throne in British history is crowned at Westminster Abbey. We catch up with the Daily Mail's Royal Correspondent, Rebecca English to reflect on the day's events.

New Zealand's first rainbow listing of a significant building has just been announced. 23 Ridgway Street in Whanganui was the private office of the city's former Mayor - Charles Mackay. In 1920 Mackay shot returned soldier Walter D'Arcy Cresswell through the chest because Cresswell was threatening to out Mackay as homosexual, if he didn't resign as mayor immediately. Former District Councillor and Whanganui Businessman James Barron was behind the campaign to get the building recognized. Other buildings on the Heritage New Zealand Rainbow Project list include Frank Sargeson's Takapuna residence, and a 19th Century Cuba St building in Wellington connected to Carmen Rupe, the trailblazing transgender woman and entertainer. James Barron explains to Sunday Morning the importance of recognising these buildings.

This week an open letter signed by more than 25,000 people, including Elon Musk and Apple's Steve Wozniak has called for all Artificial Intelligence labs to immediately pause the training of AI systems more powerful that GPT-4 to for at least six months. The letter asked rhetorically, 'Should we risk loss of control of our civilization?' Associate Professor Grant Duncan from Massey University says the letter assumed that 'our civilization' is something that 'we' had been controlling. He joins Sunday Morning to explain why he believes the open letter was unrealistic about the effectiveness of a six-month pause and what could be achieved within that time.

Psychotherapist Sandra Russell shares her experience of confronting the emotional challenges of living with incurable cancer in her book The Feeling of Cancer. Beyond the physical and medical demands of modern cancer treatment, she looks at the emotional impacts and how cancer can threaten not just your life, but your very identity.

Author Morra Aarons-Mele is a (mostly) happy, successful person. She also identifies as an extremely anxious overachiever, and she's working to normalize anxiety. In her latest book "The Anxious Achiever: Turn Your Biggest Fears into Your Leadership Superpower," she digs deep into how we can manage and use our anxiety to our advantage. She says the book is not just for anxious people, it is for anybody who feels like anxiety is impacting their daily life.

In 1979 an aspiring filmmaker, cameraman and sound recordist went to a little Masterton school to follow the lives of a group of students. The school was Makoura College, a small, predominantly Maori low decile school. For two years the students felt like film stars while the crew followed them around the campus. It made them dream big, consider the infinite possibilities of life and what might happen when their high school years finished. For many years the film, Learning Fast couldn't be found. It was finally tracked down and has been digitised by Nga Taonga Sound and Vision and will feature at this year's Wairarapa Film Festival. Festival organiser Jane Ross has invited the filmmakers to return for the screening. The director is none other than Dame Gaylene Preston, the camera operator Alun Bollinger, and the sound recordist, Lee Tamahori, all now internationally acclaimed filmmakers. Jane is now hoping to find the stars of the film and bring them all together at the Wairarapa Film Festival.