Psychological tricks and traps using deceptive website design techniques are starting to overwhelm online shopping.

What's being termed 'dark patterns' are becoming increasingly prevalent on shopping websites as online businesses scramble for your dollars

Guests:

• Chris Shulz - Consumer NZ senior investigative journalist
• Alex Sims - University of Auckland commercial law professor

Learn More:

• Read Consumer NZ's Invisible Influence report here
• Here's the report Alex mentioned that found websites using dark patterns had double, sometimes quadruple participation rate compared to websites that didn't
• Read more about the Hello Fresh case here

Find The Detail on Newsroom or RNZ

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Two big political memoirs have hit the bookshops this year - but which high profile politicians are missing from the shelves

From memoirs to biographies; autobiographies - both authorised and unauthorised - to the mid-career manifesto, the documented lives of politicians come in many forms

Guests:

• Tim Murphy - Newsroom co-editor
• Jim McAloon - Victoria University professor of political history

Learn More:

• Listen to previous podcasts from Tim Murphy with The Detail here and here
• Listen to a previous podcast from Jim McAloon with The Detail here

Find The Detail on Newsroom or RNZ

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

A surprise reversal on high beef tariffs has been a welcome relief for farmers, but with Trump in the White House, celebrations are muted

U.S President Donald Trump no longer has beef with some Kiwi exports, but others are still stuck paying a high price - and an economist warns it's anyone's guess how long the relief will last

Guests:

• Brad Olsen - New Zealand economist
• Kate Acland - Beef and Lamb New Zealand chair and New Zealand Meat Board chair

Learn More:

• Read more about the tariff removal and what it means for New Zealand here, here and here

Find The Detail on Newsroom or RNZ

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Kākāpō numbers are recovering at such a rate that we are running out of pest-free islands to put them on

2026 could be the year that the kākāpō breeding programme takes such a big leap forward that conservationists can finally take a step back

Guests:

• Alison Ballance - Kākāpō Files

Learn More:

• Read DoC's blog on the 2026 mast season
• Learn about Auckland Zoo's kākāpō programme

Find The Detail on Newsroom or RNZ

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Government pressed for action as scandal over police handling of McSkimming complaints sparks national reckoning

A week after a bombshell IPCA report raised allegations of high-level cover-ups and triggered accusations of corruption, the fallout continues to grow, with public trust in our Police in the spotlight

Guests:

• Jared Savage - New Zealand Herald's senior investigative journalist
• Sam Sachdeva - Newsroom national affairs editor

Learn More:

• Read Sam's article on the case here
• A Newsroom analysis written by Tim Murphy
• Jared's New Zealand Herald article on the McSkimming case

Find The Detail on Newsroom or RNZ

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Sexual exploitation of children is seen as one of the worst crimes out there - but do the prison terms reflect the severity?

An advocacy organisation says it receives calls from people covertly asking for help to avoid offending - but despite evidence that programmes work, resources to help are thin

Guests:

• Tim Houston - manager of the digital child exploitation team at the Department of Internal Affairs
• Eleanor Parkes - National Director for ECPAT NZ

Where to get help:

• Stop: South Island 
  • Email [email protected]
  • Call 03 353 0257
• WellStop: Lower North Island 
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Call 04 566 4745
• Safe Network: Northern North Island. 
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Call 09 377 9898

Learn More:

• The Detail's first episode on child exploitation
• Government's Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) Amendment Bill

Find The Detail on Newsroom or RNZ

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Type 1 diabetes used to be called 'juvenile diabetes', and Type 2 affected adults. But that's no longer the case, and the number of kids with Type 2 in New Zealand is rising.

A specialist in treating childhood diabetes says that some children are born "almost what we call 'programmed'" to have the disease - but new medicine could help put them in remission

Guests:

• Dr Craig Jefferies - Paediatric Endocrinologist at Starship
• Guyon Espiner - RNZ In Depth

Learn More:

• Read an article from Best Practice Journal on how primary care can help with the rise of type 2
• Read more on the difference between type 1 and type 2 here
• Learn more about the rise in amputations associated with type 2 diabetes

Find The Detail on Newsroom or RNZ

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

For years, a father has been fighting for Waka Kotahi to do more about the dangers of a vehicle braking system involved in his son's death. Now a coroner's report backs him up, but NZTA still disagrees.

After a death on a construction site, a coroner's report has called a braking system found in some 70,000 vehicles around New Zealand "inherently unsafe". Waka Kotahi disagrees.

Guests:

• Louisa Cleave - Checkpoint senior producer
• Selwyn Rabbits - safety campaigner

Learn More:

• Read more reporting on cardan shaft brakes, starting in 2021, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here
• See NZTA Waka Kotahi's guidance on cardan shaft park brakes

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Editing scandal at BBC sparks 'existential crisis' for public-service broadcaster and puts the spotlight on trust in journalism

From editing error to boardroom exit, how the BBC's reputation took a blow and what this means for global journalism

Guests:

• Jim Tully - Journalism educator and media commentator
• Sean Hogan - Freelance Correspondent in the UK

Learn More

• Read the BBC's own reporting on the events
• Read Al Jazeera's timeline of the events

Find The Detail on Newsroom or RNZ

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Space terrorism is no longer relegated to sci-fi movies: it's happening already, and one legal expert warns we're far from prepared

An attack on satellite can take modern life offline, affecting everything from basic communication to banking. But international law is lagging, and an expert warns we risk turning the final frontier into the next frontline.

Guests:

• Anna Marie Brennan - University of Waikato law lecturer

Learn more:

• Read Anna's article on the threat of space terrorism here
• EU chief von der Leyen's plane hit by suspected Russian GPS jamming
• An overview of the cyber war between Ukraine and Russia

Find The Detail on Newsroom or RNZ

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details