RNZ: Afternoons with Jesse Mulligan

Gardens really don't take holidays do they? If only you could put the weather on hold for a month, so our gardens stay in a holding pattern too! Lynda has lots of helpful advice for sorting out wild gardens.

Julie Biuso from Shared Kitchen is with me now to talk us through a lovely summery dish. pasta with white beans and roasted tomatoes. Recipe is here

We're kicking off our 21st year of NZ Live and today I'm joined by Theia in Studio B Theia's debut album Girl in a Savage world has received rave reviews, you may remember we gave away her album last year Theia joins us ahead of a limited run of shows here in Aotearoa before she heads off for a tour across North America

Movie critic Dominic Corry joins Jesse in the Auckland studio to review: Send Help - in theatres The Wrecking Crew - Prime Video Marty Supreme - in theatres.

Freaky Friday - that time of the week where we hear your spooky, ghostly or simply unexplainable stories. If you've got one to share, get in touch on 2101 and one of our producers will be in touch.

It feels like every day there is another company going bust, or downsizing, which means lots of you are living in a state of constant change or doing more with fewer staff. Jane Ward runs an HR company called Tomorrow's People, and she wanted to know how such workplace trends affect HR professionals, when she couldn't find the research she wanted, she did it herself.

Whether you love losing yourself to dance - or dancing like no one's watching - for many dance brings joy. But it also keeps people active, provides community spaces and can help young New Zealanders find their tribe if traditional sport isn't their thing. In fact, according to our next guest, more and more kids are choosing to dance. Ash Habgood the owner of Auckland dance studio Neverland talks to Jesse.

Remember when flipping houses seemed like a sure-fire way to make a dollar? Well, it turns out those days might be behind us. New data from TradeMe shows New Zealanders are changing their habits, its survey showed 49 percent of buyers are looking for a house that already feels new, 16 percent looking to build from scratch, and 6 percent looking for a "fixer-upper". Barfoot & Thompson real estate salesperson Rawdon Christie chats to Jesse.

Time to talk Classical Cupid now, our chance to celebrate classical music and your chance to be matched with music that suits your profile. Earlier in the week we asked for you to send us a dating profile of yourself and a description of the music you like .. our friends at RNZ Concert then select the tunes they think will fit the bill and help sparks fly. Today our selector is RNZ Concert producer Anna Van Der Leij and the man looking for sparks to fly is listener Oliver.

For many of you summer might mean beach time, BBQs, camping and evening strolls. For Dr Grant Morris summer means road trips with a twist - a history road trip.

Time to solve some of the world's problems. Simon Wilson is here to help put some wrongs to right and today he's focusing on a huge issue; how we prepare ourselves better for the climate crisis.

It's time for New Zealand sports history and today Jesse is joined by our most successful male Paralympic swimmer Duane Kale. Duane won four golds, a silver and a bronze medal in the pool at the 1996 Atlanta Games - the only games he competed in. After retiring from competitive swimming, he moved into sports governance and administration, and late last year he was appointed the Chair of Sport NZ.

A lot has been happening in the world of pop culture over the last few weeks, and for my next guests, the notifications on their group chats have been going off! Jesse is joined by film critic Kate Rodger, Culture 101's Perlina Lau and Afternoons' Senior Producer Olivia Wilson.

A study out of Netherlands has shown that being a hands on grandparent is good for your brain. Researchers found that grandparents who had some childcare responsibilities scored higher on cognitive tests than those who didn't. We chat to some grandparents about what they love about spending time with their grandchildren.

It's been just over two weeks since Scott Robertson was sacked as the All Blacks Coach. We're now in prime speculation territory: what really happened, and who is going to pick up the reigns? Jesse is joined by sports journalist and author of a great Substack newsletter - The Bounce - Dylan Cleaver.

Scientists say the ocean around NZ is warming twice as fast as the global average; now a new research project out of the University of Auckland is going investigate some of the effects of that. The nine-million-dollar project aims to determine how changes in ocean temperatures drive huge shifts in our weather. Project lead Melissa Bowen joins Jesse.

We begin today in Australia, which is currently experiencing a record-setting heatwave. And it's not just the high temperatures, it's also the longevity - eight consecutive days above 40 degrees Celsius. The hottest day was recorded in the South Australian town of Ceduna, which reached 49.5 degrees on Monday, to put that in some perspective, New Zealand's highest air temperature for 2025 was 35.6 degrees in Kawerau in early December - that's 15 degrees cooler than Ceduna! It is hard to imagine how you cope in 49-degree heat, so here to share what it's like to live in such sweltering temperatures Jesse is joined by the Mayor of Ceduna Ken Maynard.

Wallace Chapman and producer Jose Barbosa preview tonight's instalment of The Panel.

The Kakapo Files podcast is back with what is set to be the biggest breeding season of all time for our favourite parrot. To listen to the full episode head here. If you're keen to watch the Kakapo Cam, which is livestreaming from the nest of Rakiura the kakapo, 24 hours a day, hit this link. The Kakapo Files and Our Changing World will be back every Wednesday here on Afternoons, but from next week, they'll be at the new time of 1:45.

Singer-songwriter Katie Waissel shot to fame on The X Factor in 2010, the same season that launched One Direction. Since then, she's spoken candidly about abuse, exploitation, and what she believes is the industry's failure to protect young artists. Now an outspoken advocate for artists' rights, she's involved in O-W-H-L, a group pushing the industry to take real responsibility for the people it profits from.

It's time for Bookmarks, and today we're joined by celebrated playwright and director Hone Kouka A special 30th anniversary production of his play 'Waiora Te Ukaipo - The Homeland' returns to the stage this March with the Auckland Theatre Company Hone Kouka joins Jesse from our Wellington studio to share his picks of what to watch, read and listen to. His picks: Books One Hundred Years of Solitude Marquez. Potiki Patricia Grace. Any novel by Haruki Murakami. Voss Patrick White. Death of a Salesman Arthur Miller Music: Geese / Cameron Winter Crusades. Bailter Space X. Taua MA. I Want Your Love Chic. Freddie Freeloader Miles Davis. I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man Prince Films: One Battle After Another. Anything by Akira Kurosawa. Finding Forrester. Ngati. Wings of Desire / Paris Texas Podcasts: Economics for Rebels. Thinking Basketball. Cric info Stump Mic

Kelly Gibney is back with her first Easy Eats recipe for 2026. The recipe is here! A few shortcuts like store-bought pastry and frozen spinach make this beautiful tart come together quickly on a weeknight. Parmesan, lemon zest and plenty of fresh basil make the filling super fresh and fragrant. Serve with a big green salad and lemony olive oil dressing for a lovely dinner or bring along to shared meals and picnics. It's delicious warm or cold. Don't skip the pine nuts. They add a tasty, toasty flavour and the texture is fantastic.

It's time for Heading Of, our chance to travel to places from the comfort of our homes. This week we are off to the United States with Nick Robinson, who late last year did a road trip around the South, covering 7 states in 2 weeks.

Most of us have been back at work for a couple of weeks now and some of you might be realising your job is no longer sparking joy. In fact, according to our next guest, three quarters of us would change careers if we felt we could. It's easy to come up with reasons not to take the plunge - but what about reasons to just do it? Career coach and head of the Career Development Association Jennie Miller joins Jesse to discuss.

Over the weekend a brand-new theater opened on Hamilton's Victoria street, it kicked off with an opening show from Teeks on Friday and spent the weekend hosting Dave Dobbyn. The Waikato Regional Theatre is the long-anticipated replacement to Founders Theater, which closed almost a decade ago. But unlike Founders Theatre, it is right in the CBD. Graeme Ward was the project lead on the new theater and has been involved from the start. He speaks to Jesse.

There's Verian, Reid Research, Ipsos, Curia, all of which survey Kiwis to - theoretically - give a sense of how we're feeling about the parties and politicians. But, how much do we really know about these polls? How are they conducted, are they trustworthy, and are they really indicative of how New Zealanders feel about their political options? Dr Nicole Satherley is a senior researcher at iNZight Analytics, and in 2023 she co-authored the paper 'Understanding Public Opinion Polling in Aotearoa New Zealand'.

Wallace Chapman and producer Tessa Guest preview tonight's instalment of The Panel.

For a healthy 2026, ignore most of what you hear from the multi-billion-dollar wellness industry and just eat the ice cream.

Elliot Childs with his pick of podcasts: Talk Easy and In the Dark Season 2: Blood Relatives (The New Yorker)

With a week or so left of school holidays for some, it's a great chance to get kids in front of books not screens .. Catherine Ross is the Director of Library at Auckland Grammar School and joins me now with recommendations for younger readers. For Ages 10+ Serafina and the Black Cloak Robert Beatty Spark Hunter (Aotearoa Book) Sonya Wilson For Ages 11-12+ Small Spaces By Katherine Arden For Ages 13+ The Raven Boys By Maggie Stiefvater

We're introducing a new segment where we speak with a local mayor about what's happening in their area... the challenges they're facing... how they're working to solve them... and what makes their community special. First up is Tararua District Mayor Scott Gilmore

It's Tuesday the 27th of January and for many of you, the school holidays are still going. Some of you might in fact be wondering if they will ever actually end. Lots of you are back in the office and now juggling parenting, work, weather woes and children. But we are here to help! To give us some ideas on surviving the final couple of weeks Jesse is joined by Parenting Place's Dayna Galloway.

Whether it's a story idea, interview request or a correction, we love hearing from you. Briana emailed us over the break with an issue she was hoping we could put to Ruud "The Bug Man" Kleinpaste. Because we're happy to help where we can, Ruud joins me now to hopefully solve Briana's problem and take any other questions you might have. Do text us 2101.

Did you set a New Year's Resolution? And more importantly, have you stuck to it? Global data and research shows that weight loss and health related goals are consistently people's number one New Year's Resolution, but experts are concerned that meeting such resolutions might see people choosing the likes of Ozempic or Wegovy as an easier solution. While a lot has been said and written about going on Ozempic; what happens after you've been on it for a while, or try to go off it? Registered dietitian and co-founder of The Food Tree website Rachael Wilson chats to Jesse.

Over the last few months there has been consistently heated debate around the tactics, and indeed presence of, immigration agents in the United States. That debate has reached fever pitch after the death of nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. This isn't the first fatal incident involving ICE agents, Alex Pretti is the second US citizen killed in Minneapolis this month. So what is going on? And why does it seem that wherever you look there is a different narrative surrounding what took place and who is to blame? Washington DC correspondent Simon Marks joins Jesse.

"This is Donald Trump's world and we're all just living in it", so begins the annual issue of The Economist magazine's "The World Ahead in 2026" edition. Every year, we kick off the new year talking to Tom Standage, Deputy Editor of The Economist and Editor of the special issue that gives us a cheat sheet for what we might expect to see in world events. 2026 will continue to be a year of Trump shaking things up and the world trying to adjust. Standage and his team also say 2026 will also be the year of cheaper GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, peak wine consumption and possibly the end of the Commonwealth Games.

TV Critic, actor, and writer Michelle Langstone joins Jesse to discuss what's worth watching - or not - on the telly. The Pitt - Season Two (Neon) Frauds - TVNZ+

Time now for our expert feature - this is your chance to pick the brains of someone who knows their stuff on anything from wedding planning, space, cosmetic dentistry to dinosaurs. Today's subject is part science part philosophy ... we're looking at perception and how our brains work. Do you have an inner voice? Do we all see colours the same? How do optical illusions work? Whatever your question is, text us on 2101 or afternoons@rnz.co.nz on the email. Cognitive Neuroscientist and Auckland Uni Professor, Paul Corballis tries to answer them.

After two on a Monday means it's time to hit the clubs! Jesse has chatted to the Hawkes Bay Racing Lawnmower Club ... the Christchurch Quilters... Manawatu Cactus and Succulent Society among others. If you have a club you'd like Jesse to join for the day, please get in touch .. we'd love to hear from you on afternoons@rnz.co.nz Today, we're talking to Warren Harris from Ham Radio Club.

It's an anniversary day for many in the North Island, but today also marks Australia Day so to find out what's happening in OZ to mark it, we're joined by our man on the ground Brad Foster. Brad shares this year's Australian of the Year, update on the recent spate of shark attacks and some sport!

Mustering the energy to walk the Te Araroa trail is one thing, carrying an extra load while you do it, is another feat entirely. But that's exactly what one British hiker has done. Katie Evans has been on the trail since November, she was deep in the woods near the Lake Sumner stretch when she came across a little black kitten. Katie joins us from our Christchurch studio to tell us what happens next.

Conversations about AI seem to be everywhere, the pros, the cons, the what ifs, the why nots, the list goes on. On Afternoons we've spent time discussing how AI can affect learning. On one hand it's wonderful that you can type a question into your device and get an immediate answer, on the other hand, it takes away the chance to research, to consider, some might say to actually think critically. Are we doing ourselves, and younger people, a disservice by letting AI give us all the answers? To discuss, Professor Deborah Brown, director of Queensland Universities 'Critical Thinking Project', joins Jesse.