RNZ: Afternoons with Jesse Mulligan

Nicola Toki joins Jesse to put the spotlight on a New Zealand critter that's endangered. This week it is the squeaking longhorn beetle.

Tony Murrell from Tony Murrell Gardens joins me to discuss what to do with your plants that are struggling to thrive.

Connie Clarkson loves this dish because, apart from being tasty, it's so good for you too. A recipe from Southern China, this recipe is perfect for cuts of meat which requires long looking. Think chuck, shin, brisket, it's fantastic value for money, really easy, healthy (only 1 tsp oil is used) and gravy is aromatic and very lush. Beef is a very nutritious package, containing 'a lot in a little' - protein, zinc and vitamin B12 - just one serving of lean chuck steak, trimmed of fat, contains less than 10g fat! All ingredients readily available in the supermarket.

Jesse whips around the country sharing some of the events on this weekend for you to get amongst.

Fridays are when we talk films here on Afternoons, our critic Dominic Corry joins Jesse with his recommendations: Fuze and The Mummy - both in theatres this week.

Freaky Friday is our home for all your ghost stories and brushes with the supernatural. If you have a story to share we'd love to hear from you, text 2101 or Jesse@afternoons.co.nz Today's Freaky Friday guest initially got in touch with this story two years ago, but emergency back surgery meant he had to postpone our chat, so we're delighted to finally say hello to Phil Power

Move over Ryan Fox and Dame Lydia Ko, there's a new Kiwi golfer heading for the world stage. Tauranga Dad, James Goatley, is off to the UK next month to represent New Zealand and compete for a world golf title too. A mini golf title. James chats to Jesse.

Now we've all heard of basketball - but have you heard of 3x3 basketball? It features half a court, one hoop, two teams, and six players. And it turns out our New Zealand men's team is really good at it. They've picked up The Asia Cup and qualified for the three-ex-three World Cup in June. 3x3Tall Black, Aidan Tonge is with Jesse.

Landscape designer Jules Moore has just gold and 'Best Feature Garden' at the Shenzhen Flower Show - one of Asia's largest garden showcases - where Jules' display got more than two million visitors. Jules chats to Jesse. [picture id="4JQ16LL_Garden2_JPG" crop="16x10" layout="full"] [picture id="4JR69Q5_Garden_JPG" crop="16x10" layout="full"] [picture id="4JR9GHE_Threading_kina_JPG" crop="16x10" layout="full"]

Kea Kids News celebrates children doing incredible things all over New Zealand, made by kids for kids, it offers a really cool perspective of what's going on in our country. And it is super successful .. the stories garner big numbers on YouTube, getting 9.8 million views a month and it's most popular video got 73 million views. 73 million views! Here to tell us more about it and how the kids in your life can get involved is Kea Kids News Executive Producer Luke Nola.

Every second Thursday we talk to Mary Holm about money matters, today she's going to focus on laddering - the best way to invest bank term deposits. Mary will explain how to set up laddering, how to ladder your mortgage and the importance of bargaining with your bank.

Last night the Football Ferns beat Papua New Guinea 1-0 to qualify for a sixth consecutive FIFA Women's World Cup. The 2027 event takes place June & July next year in Brazil. Today on Sporting history we're hearing from a woman who played at the last five. Ali Riley Ali captained the Football Ferns from 2017 through to her retirement from the game in 2025 She made it to five football World Cups, four Olympics, and has had stints at Chelsea, Bayern Munich, and multiple teams in the US pro league.

Please get in touch if there are any topics you would like Kirsty and I to cover at afternoons@rnz.co.nz

It looks like Queenstown is about to get even busier with a new film and TV production village getting fast track approval from the Government. It'll be known as the 'Ayrburn Screen Hub' and it is planned as a 7,200 square-metre space for studios, offices, and accommodation units. To find out what this means for the local economy and New Zealand's screen industry, Film Otago Southland chair George Dawes chats to Jesse.

The year was 2012, and legendary Black Cap Kane Williamson was at the receiving end of a ball from Dale Steyn. The ball hit Kane right in the box - which actually split from the impact. To avoid a repeat of the incident, Kane started a new sports protection company called Cover. One of the team who helped develop better protection is Dr Keegan Hall, who spoke to Jesse.

We're starting today's show talking about money matters - and just how tough some of you are doing it right now - because we're hearing that pensioners are increasingly turning to food banks to get by, as the cost of essential goods continue to rise. You might remember that last year Jesse spoke with Marie Stanley, a 72-year-old pensioner struggling to make ends meet, we reached out to her to see how she was getting on, and she said she was happy for us to update you all and share her text: "I would like to tell you that next months power is expected to be about $170 from an average payment of $90 per month. Insurance went up a week after the pension increase. Internet went up $10. My social housing rent is doubling because my unemployed son has moved in. Food has become a constant battle. I need a new washing machine and I can only put $20 a fortnight away towards it. When they talk about the pay increases they talk about gross figures. and they add the three raises over the 3 years so it looks like we're rolling in it. I get my pension and spend time budgeting, I am now in tears. Right now I have $1.85 left from my last pension." To discuss what support groups are seeing, Jesse is joined by Good Shepherd policy and advocacy lead Brittany Goodwin.

Lila Byock is a mum who got mad about how much time her young son was spending on an iPad in the classroom. He was a math whiz with traditional teaching, and then his ability and his enthusiasm for numbers tanked. But she didn't just get mad, she got organized. Lila Byock is an Emmy award-winning writer and producer behind shows like HBO's "Watchmen" and "The Leftovers". She founded a grassroots coalition of parents and teachers called Schools Beyond Screens to rein in excessive device use and advocate for policies that put face-to-face learning at the center of teaching.

Fables is led by Auckland musician Jess Bailey, who garnered a lot of buzz with her debut EP and the singles that have teased the upcoming album. It's called 'Change Is A Slow Moving Beast', and music critic Matthew Crawley is with Jesse.

Every Wednesday we share an Easy Eats recipe - something that's light on time but heavy on taste - Kelly Gibney is with Jesse.

Time for heading off, our weekly travel segment and this week we're heading to the stans, that is Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. They fill in the gap between Iran, China and Russia. But to take us there - Jesse is joined by Kay Garton

The news follows struggles with funding and form. Veteran commentator, Tony Johnson joins Jesse to discuss.

This week on Our Changing World - Claire Concannon learns about a New Zealand-developed ketamine tablet aimed at helping those with treatment-resistant depression.

Starboard Maritime Intelligence is a Kiwi company that uses technology to track marine vessel activity around the world. They're all about safeguarding oceans, trade, infrastructure and strengthening defence. Moritz Lehmann is a Senior Oceanographer with the company - he chats to Jesse.

For the first time, World War One soldiers who died by suicide will be recognised as casualties of war during this year's Anzac commemorations. This afternoon in Wellington descendants of the New Zealand Tunnelling Company will come together at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park to mark the 110th anniversary of the Company's arrival on the Western Front. Event organiser Sue Baker Wilson joins Jesse alongside Retired Major General and friend of the show John Howard.

Each week we take a situation and get your take on how it can be resolved - this week we're looking at whether children should pay rent if they are living at home as adults. Let us know your thoughts on 2101 or afternoons@rnz.co.nz

There is a lot going on in the world of tech, and not much of it good, our technology expert Tim Batt is here with the latest on leading AI company Anthropic's new AI tool that is apparently too dangerous to release.

Afternoons book critic Anna Rankin joins me to share what she's been reading. Transcription, by Ben Lerner Childish Palate, by Shariff Burke, a debut short story collection from Tender Press, a New Zealand independent press.

It's time for Mayoral minutes - where we speak with a local mayor about the challenges they're facing - how they're working to solve them, and what makes their community special. Today we're heading to the Thames-Coromandel District from where Peter Revell joins Jesse.

People are having less sex. It's a trend across much of the modern world. Intimacy and desire are shifting, especially among younger generations, for reasons that go far beyond morality or busy schedules. Dr Debra Soh is a writer and a neuroscientist who specializes in human sexuality. She investigates what's behind this quiet sexual recession, from technology and porn to mental health, hormones, and cultural anxiety and what it could mean for the future of human connection. Her new book is called, Sextinction: The Decline of Sex and the Future of Intimacy. Here is a link to her book. Here is a link to the study she mentioned.

David Lomas has been reuniting Kiwis with their loved ones for years - and now he's back with a brand new series. Debuting tonight, David Lomas Breakthrough, sees him tackle those impossible cases, where a search has seemingly hit a dead end.

When Coromandel teenager Roman Carley was doing beach clean-up, he noticed there was a type of rubbish that kept appearing. Plastic ice bags. So, he decided to take action, Roman Carley joins Jesse to tell us all about it.

The US began a blockade of all ships entering and exiting Iranian ports this morning - warning that all vessels - regardless of flag could be intercepted or captured Traffic through the Strait has come to a near standstill, analysts estimate that around 800 ships have been stuck in the Gulf since the war began To explain the blockade, Jesse is joined by Jennifer Parker, Jen is a naval expert who served 20 years with the Royal Australian Navy. Her last appointment was as Director of Operations in Bahrain of the Combined Maritime Forces, a 47-nation coalition promoting maritime security in the Middle East and Indian Ocean region

Christopher Beha didn't lose his faith because a prayer went unanswered. He lost the Catholic faith he practiced his whole life because a prayer was answered. After his twin brother survived a devastating traffic accident, Beha found himself shaken not into belief, but out of it. The former Harper's magazine editor expected atheism to bring clarity, but instead it left him facing the same brutal questions, why suffering exists, what meaning looks like, but now without God. Beha traces his return to Catholicism not as a comforting certainty, but as a way of living with doubt, mystery, and moral responsibility in his new book, Why I Am Not an Atheist: The Confessions of a Skeptical Believer.

Afternoons TV Critic and actor Claire Chitham shares what she's been watching: DTF St Louis

Each Monday we are joined by an expert. Today it's Nic Randall - he's an anaesthetist based at Middlemore Hospital in Auckland and an expert on intensive care units. Nic joins Jesse to talk about ICUs in New Zealand. How many do we have in the country? What is the busiest one? And what does a typical day in the ICU look like? If you have any questions for Nic, text them to 2101 and we'll do our best to answer them.

Each Monday Jesse hits the clubs - best time of the week to be there and meet some fellow clubbers. If you've got a club you'd like Jesse to join get in touch 2101 or jesse@rnz.co.nz This week Jesse joins the Hamlug Club.

We take ten minutes to catch up on what's hitting the headlines in Australia. Our man on the ground, Brad Foster joins Jesse.

We talk a lot about electric cars, especially with fuel prices so high - but we're also a coastal nation that loves being out on the boat. New Zealand has around 250,000 3-6 metre boats, the majority of these have 2-stroke motors and are some of the most polluting vehicles in New Zealand. When two water skiing cousins couldn't find an electric boat on the market they took up the challenge of electrifying recreational boats and have proven it's possible for roughly the same price as replacing a 4-stroke outboard. E-Stroke co-founder Jeff Smit joins Jesse.

When Dylan Beca was 13 he found himself stuck on the couch with two broken collarbones, so he put the time to good use, teaching himself how to use product development and bike design software He never thought he'd actually build his own bike till his dad challenged him to. Fast forward a few years and Dylan has not only built a bike; he won the U17 NZ National Enduro Champs on a bike he built. Dylan chats to Jesse.

While all eyes are on Iran and USA negotiations: Israel and Lebanon are still attacking one another, to find out what is happening there, and why, we're joined by New Zealand journalist Anna Fifield. Anna is the former Asia-Pacific Editor and Beijing Bureau Chief for The Washington Post; Anna writes the World Bulletin Weekly for the Spinoff and the author of the Between Giants foreign affairs newsletter.

Nicola Toki and Jesse discuss the Moehau stag beetle as this week's critter of the week. These beetles measure between 2.1 to 2.7 cm, with males reaching 2.7 cm while the females top out at 2.3 cm. They are black in colour, which can be glossy or dull. Their exoskeleton has tiny indentations which makes them appear pitted.

We talk about all things doors with the wonderful design guru Sylvia Sanford.