Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

The co-host of the award winning podcast, ‘The Worst Idea Of All Time', Tim Batt is one of New Zealand's sharpest comedic minds. He's taken some time away from the festival circuit to raise his children, but has decided 2026 will be his return. Batt is bringing his dry humour to the International Comedy Festival with a brand-new stand-up show, ‘Eternal Optimist', in which he, in his own words, “makes light” of the rising tide of fascism and offers a sincere apology for accidently causing a dire situation. He told Jack Tame that while the world's not looking the best it ever has at the moment, it's important to keep your chin up whenever you can. “For me it comes from a place of like, I wanna be useful, and I think you're not useful to anyone if you're sort of paralysed by the world, by all the negativity.” Circumstances have been getting tougher and tougher over the years and Batt believes the funk that causes can make people easier to manipulate. “We've really been put through the meat grinder,” he told Tame. “And I think that there are some pretty evil, very wealthy people who have taken advantage of the fact that they've got a lot of power and they've tricked us into thinking the wrong people are our issue.” Since everything seems to be getting worse in real life, Batt decided to take a more optimistic approach in his comedy show. Kind of. “I went in with a hiss and a roar being like, hey, let's flip the script a little bit. Yeah, we'll be radically positive in this one. Is that in the show? A bit!” Batt explained, agreeing with Tame's assessment that the show would be more “optimism adjacent”. His show won't be over the top “himbo comedy”, he stressed, focusing only on the positives – there will be some gallows and black comedy too. “I've got a lot of Irish heritage,” he told Tame. “I'm certainly down for having too many whiskeys and talking in a, very dark pub about how bad everything's gotten as well.” LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Kiwi company is flipping the bird, pivoting from making environmentally friendly wool shoes to AI. After years of losses, Allbirds sold all its assets this month and now plans to lease GPUs – chips used to train AI software. It's revised its moniker to NewBirds AI. Kevin Milne joined Jack Tame to talk about the rise and fall of the company. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"After taking in the retro charms of Route 66's on a romp across northern Arizona, the desert was calling. I pointed the car south, driving through the achingly gorgeous Oak Creek Canyon route to Sedona, bound for Scottsdale. Towering red sandstone cliffs and an undulating quilt of ponderosa pine create a riveting scenic medley. "Situated on the eastern flank of the sprawling Phoenix metroplex, Scottsdale has been dubbed “the Beverly Hills of the Southwest” and “a desert version of Miami's South Beach.” It's desert chic, unmistakably stylish and manicured, but it's also stimulating, creative, and rugged. The singular beauty of the landscape is sublime, inspiring Frank Lloyd Wright to set up shop here, ninety years ago. It's the same reason artists have been swooning over Scottsdale ever since – drawing inspiration from rugged nature and the soft light. And all of that derives from the Sonoran Desert, one of the world's most diverse ecosystems." Read Mike's full article here. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

English singer-songwriter Holly Humberstone has released her second studio album, ‘Cruel World'. It's a shift for the artist, delving into a more upbeat pop sound, whilst dealing with themes of belonging, steadiness, repair, and discipline. The atmospheric style and intimacy of Humberstone's musical style has seen her compared to artists like Lorde and Bon Iver, and she herself has described her style as “quite self-exposing". Chris Schulz joined Jack Tame to give his thoughts on the new album. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Saoirse by Charleen Hurtubise In the wilds of Donegal, Ireland, 1999, Saoirse is an artist living an outwardly idyllic life. Her tender husband Daithí and two beloved daughters are regular subjects for her work, and in them she has found the safe home that she has always longed for. She tends not to talk about her past, and those that love her have learned to accept that the full story is too painful for her to disclose. When her Dublin exhibition unexpectedly wins a prestigious award that invites a swarm of publicity, Saoirse is left panic stricken. The unanticipated recognition threatens to expose a decade's worth of buried memories and past crimes. Because what her family and friends don't know is that Saoirse has been on the run since she was seventeen, she has stolen an identity to survive, and whilst Ireland might now be her home, it wasn't her first - and now her past life is poised to reclaim her. The novel weaves between flashbacks to a complicated childhood in Michigan, and Saoirse's journey to and in Ireland to forge safety for herself. Hope Rises by David Baldacci Walter Nash, working under the alias of Dillon Hope, is on the road to revenge after becoming an informant for the FBI against a global criminal operation headed up by Victoria Steers. Steers has ripped everything Nash held dear away from him. He has nothing left to lose and with long, rigorous training under his belt the gentle and sensitive Nash has transformed into something he never thought he'd be: a physically imposing man with lethal skills. And now he has only goal left in life: taking down Victoria Steers. In order to succeed, he's going to need to cross enemy lines and work the job from the inside. But Steers is shrewd and only brings those with her complete trust into her inner circle. Nash must rely on every ounce of his hard-earned skills in order to prove himself an ally to Steers if he's ever going to get close enough to decimate her criminal empire. Yet, despite hating the woman for destroying his life, Nash finds himself oddly drawn to Steers in ways that he never could've imagined. And what he ultimately discovers will turn all he believed upside down, forcing Nash to do something truly unfathomable. So, will the truth set Nash free? LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Disgust is a basic human emotion, probably designed to keep us safe and well as it makes us avoid icky things. Yet as a parent of a baby we are constantly exposed to disgusting things – known officially as “effluvia” (think anything that flows out of a baby). It would make sense that constant exposure to baby ones, twos, and vomit would have some impact on our sense of disgust, otherwise we probably wouldn't ever get near them! New research compared parents to non-parents and showed them images of disgusting images. It found that non-parents looked away from these much more quickly than parents. This suggests that parents get inoculated against disgust, as looking away quickly is a sign of being grossed out. But the impact on parents only occurred after babies had started to wean. Also, parents who had older kids and who also had a newborn milk-fed only baby showed the same disgust response as non-parents. So what might be going on? It may be that parents' sense of disgust is present with newborn babies in order to help keep them safe – newborns are obviously particularly sensitive to infection and so it makes sense that their parents might stay highly attuned to disgusting things that might harm their babies. Then as babies grow into toddlers, their “outputs” change to being more adult-like (think of the difference between a milk-fed baby nappy and the nappy of a baby who has started solids) parents disgust gets blunted, probably through repeatedly being in contact with these outputs. But, it seems that the inoculation against disgust is only a time limited thing as it re-emerges for parents as their kids grow up – this would make sense if we think of disgust as a core emotional response that is designed to keep us away from stuff that might make us sick. I'm sure this reflects many parents' experience of getting used to dirty nappies and cleaning up after a child's been sick and maybe why it's a bit more difficult to get back into it as a grandparent (speaking from experience). LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ecosystem Services... sounds awfully like an Economical Job! Thank goodness it's not an ecological gig: Ecosystem Services are the ecological contributions organisms make to the smooth running of our planet. Invertebrates, spiders, birds, trees, shrubs, fungi, whales, and insects, etc, do a variety of jobs that help us and all other creatures we share this Earth with. And we often forget about this! Pollination Without it, many of our plants, shrubs and trees won't be able to reproduce. A third of everything you eat has had the services of a Honeybee (or Bumblebee) involved! Others such as hoverflies, native bees (28 species!), thrips, beetles, birds, and heaps of flies love to visit the flowers – we often seem to forget about these beautiful green flies, known as dung-flies! Photo / Getty Images Dolomedes Minor – The Clever Nursery Web Spider An endemic Spider Species that occurs only in New Zealand and are very clever in many ways. In late spring, the female is starting a web site on some grassy bit mixed with fine silk, that can hold a good, large piece of silken nursery. A couple of hundred juveniles or more grow bigger every time they change their external skin. When all juveniles come to the third skin development, the female spider knows it's time to get the kids in the web site, where they can run about. This is also the time when mum chews quite visible holes into the edges of the nursery web – the juveniles know it's time to find some food outside the silken website. It's good food, and material that allows them to find some “Ballooning Silk”, which enables them to travel with the wind in all sorts of directions. Many, many kilometres without the use of petrol… Predators, Parasites, and Parasitoids In everybody's garden you'll find there are hundreds and hundreds of critters that will keep your plants, the grasses, and the gardens in perfect condition. As a Dutchman I could even use the term “in perfect condition and for FREE!” We often seem to overlook the presence of these free critters that clean the place on a regular context! Left to right: Giant Centipede, Alexander Beetle, Praying Mantis, Predator Mite Huge native centipedes are always tricky customers, especially in the northern parts of the North Island. They often hide in rotting logs and will come out when you least expect it, in the middle of the night. Yep I have been bitten by these rotters – no sense of humour! The large beetle (Alexander Beetle) is one of my favourite insects in the garden – fast moving, and easy to make themselves invisible! They'll eat anything on their soils and once they grab your skin it's not easy to get them off! But 100% Predators in your garden – they're a brilliant creature to endorse. I love the Praying Mantis in our garden; their perfect way to find a food species helps you all the time. Keep a good eye on them as their eyesight is a fabulous way to get all the critters that cause troubles. If you've never seen these tiny Predator mites, this is your chance to learn how to get them in your Modus Operandus. Honestly, once you get what you are looking for, you'll always win the game from spring right through to well into autumn. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast for Saturday 18 April 2026, one of New Zealand's sharpest comedic minds, Tim Batt, joined Jack to chat about his major podcast success and return to the festival circuit. Jack reaches a Duolingo milestone. Chef Nici Wickes was in studio with a delicious dark chocolate and feijoa recipe. Francesca Rudkin reviews the latest instalment in 'The Mummy' franchise. Plus, Dougal Sutherland considers the impact of being a parent on your sense of disgust. Get the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast every Saturday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What is testosterone? A hormone ‘anabolic steroid' produced by the testes and ovaries It's important for energy, libido, muscle mass, and bone health It's becoming more common – being marketed on social media as “anti-ageing” or performance-enhancing When is testosterone use appropriate? It's intended for replacement therapy, not body enhancement Clinically confirmed low testosterone in males, gender-affirming therapy, low libido around female menopause Consistent symptoms (fatigue, low libido, reduced muscle mass) and repeated low blood levels It should be prescribed and monitored by a doctor Where does misuse occur? Anti-ageing and wellness Promoted for tiredness, weight gain, low energy It's often labelled “Low T” or “male menopause” Normal ageing is medicalised – most men don't meet treatment criteria Bodybuilding and athletic performance Used at high doses to increase muscle and strength Often involves “stacking” multiple anabolic steroids Banned by organisations such as the World Anti-Doping Agency Supplements and online products Marketed as “testosterone boosters” or “Super T” Often unregulated, lack evidence, and may contain harmful substances What are the risks of misuse? Excessive dosing can heighten the risk of heart disease and strokes (via thickened blood), and cause breast enlargement and hair loss in men In women, it can result in a deepened voice and excess hair growth (which may be irreversible) Mood changes, including anxiety It can mask underlying conditions such as depression or thyroid disease Key points Testosterone has a clear medical role. Its benefits are often overstated, while misuse carries significant risk. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Spotify is... selling books? Spotify has been in the audiobook business for two years, now operating in 22 markets with 700,000 titles to listen to. They say users want a 'multi-format reading experience' which allows them to go from listening to being able to pick up a real book. Their 'Page Match' feature allows you to take a photo of that page of the book to instantly jump to the audio version, or vice versa. In the US and UK, they'll now offer you the opportunity to buy the physical book right in the app. What's old is new again, I guess? Old business data is turning into a gold mine for AI There are now startups who help a company shut down with all the classic things —payroll, government filings, etc— and then also create assets out of the 'operational exhaust' of these now defunct companies. Old documents, presentations, slack conversations, and email archives can all be used to train new AI models. This way, the data reflects real people, the way they interact, and makes the agents more personable and informed. Additionally, all this data can then be turned into 'reinforcement learning gym' which allows AI companies to test how their latest models would work in a financial services firm, or a SaaS business, etc. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Beef The Emmy-winning series returns with a brand-new story of two couples whose blackmail war upends a country club, starring Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan (Netflix). Margo's Got Money Troubles The daughter of a former Hooter's waitress and an ex-pro wrestler, Margo is a recent college dropout and aspiring writer. Faced with a new baby, mounting pile of bills, and dwindling number of ways to pay them, Margo must find a way forward (Apple TV+). LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lee Cronin's The Mummy The young daughter of a journalist disappears into the desert without a trace. Eight years later, the broken family is shocked when she's returned to them. However, what should be a joyful reunion soon turns into a living nightmare as she starts to transform into something truly horrifying. Outcome Beloved Hollywood star Reef Hawk becomes the target of an extortion plot when he receives a mysterious video that's sure to shatter his image and end his career. Hoping to identify the blackmailer, he soon embarks on a soul-searching journey to make amends with anyone he could have possibly wronged. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This chocolate cake is rich yet light and spongey too and it's studded with gorgeous chunks of feijoa. Makes a 20cm cake Ingredients 150g butter, softened + extra for greasing the tin 1/3 cup dark cocoa ½ cup boiling water ¾ cup brown sugar 2 large free-range eggs 1 ½ cup self-raising flour 1 tsp baking soda ½ cup sour cream or plain yoghurt 1 ½ cups scooped chopped feijoas Whipped cream to serve Method Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 20cm spring form tin and dust with cocoa (or flour). Whisk cocoa with boiling water. Cream the softened butter and brown sugar with an electric beater until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating for 20 seconds between each. Fold or gently beat in sifted flour and baking soda, alternating with the sour cream (or yoghurt if you're using it) in two batches. Pour in the cocoa water and stir to combine. Scrape into the prepared tin and scatter over the chopped feijoas. Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cake for five minutes before gently removing the rim of tin and setting on a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar to serve. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

361 days. That's how long my streak on Duolingo is. This week, all going well, I will pass the 12-month mark on the world's biggest language learning app. A year of consistent daily Español. Although of course, if you've ever used Duolingo, you might know that a 365-day-streak does not necessarily mean a full year without missing a lesson. The thing about Duolingo streaks is that if you happen to miss the occasional day for whatever reason, and you've racked up a bit of a streak already, it forgives you your absence. It freezes your progress for a day. I thought it was a cop-out feature until I flew across a time zone and faced the prospect of having my record thrown on the scrap heap. One of my great educational regrets is that I cannot fluently speak multiple languages. I've always loved the sound of languages. I've loved what they reveal about culture. I get such a thrill from being in a place and speaking something other than English, connecting with another person. I swear that when I dragged my family to Latin America last year, you could hear my wife rolling her eyes as I cleared my throat and began attempting to converse with the guy in the customs booth. But while I've ebbed and flowed with my Māori and Spanish over the years, I've never got to fluency. It's one of those slightly embarrassing things about New Zealand. Roughly 20% of us can speak two languages – a figure that has been increasing as our population becomes more diverse. But when you travel, you quickly come to appreciate that not only can most Europeans breezily switch between at least two languages, many people in developing countries with limited formal education opportunities also have impressive language skills. Two thirds of Europeans are multilingual. Indonesia has roughly 200 million people who can switch between languages, let alone people in the sub-continent or sub-Saharan Africa. For many, multilingualism is a utility and English skills are vital for economic reasons. For those of us who've grown up in Anglophone countries, the case for learning can perhaps seem less urgent. I can see competing forces in language trends. While te reo Māori has recorded an incredible surge in interest over the last decade, new language tools make it easier for those of us who are also interest in foreign languages to opt out of doing the hard stuff. Real-time live translation tools are amazing (when they work) and they're only going to get better. It's not inconceivable to think that in a few years, live translation will become the default way of travelling. For many, it already is. No more blind pointing at a menu and hoping for the best. No more language barrier charades. I can see how those tools and that technology might make someone like me give up and throw in the towel. What's the point in a Duolingo streak if you can open a different app on your phone and that'll perfectly communicate on your behalf? But I hope not. I think the connections you form with another person when you communicate in their language are ultimately un-replicable by technology. And what's more, there is something nourishing about forming a learning habit. It's like you can feel the neural pathways trying to fire. There's something humbling, too. It's 25 years since I started learning Spanish, and here I am again confusing a verb conjugation. I think from time to time, being humbled isn't such a bad thing. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Horror is having its moment. It's dominating the film industry, with ‘Sinners' recieving a record 16 nominations and four wins at this year's Oscars – Frankenstein and Weapons getting their nods as well. And a man who will forever be synonymous with horror is Robert Englund – the original Freddy Krueger. Even though he's long since hung up his fedora, striped sweater, and razor-fingered gloves, he's still involved in highly influential thriller projects, including Netflix's Stranger Things. “I'm so proud of Sinners for, for kind of being one of the first horror films since ‘Silence of the Lambs', then before that, perhaps ‘Rosemary's Baby', to really kind of be taken seriously at its time by the academy,” he told Jack Tame. “I think Sinners has really begun another kind of renaissance,” Englund said. “I sort of thought for a minute there that maybe all the zombie projects had sort of exhausted the audience, you know, for a while, but you know, Sinners was so fresh and so wonderful.” Some may take a view that horror is a lower form of art, that the actors just turn up and snarl, unaware of the training many horror actors have. Englund for example, was classically trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. “What it does is it gives you a technique if you need it,” he explained. “I sometimes get parts, I can't believe they want me for these roles ... so then you have this technique to rely on. It's an opening.” Performing for stage is also quite different than performing for screen – on stage you have to exaggerate things, perform to the back of the room, whereas screen acting requires a more naturalistic performance. But for Freddy, he brought those elements of stage acting into his performance. “I didn't worry about my thinning hair, and I didn't worry about my good side or my bad side, and I was able to change my voice and I was able to move differently than Robert Englund would normally move on film because Freddy occupies this sort of surreal imagination,” Englund told Tame. “I don't like to use the word dance, but I was able to physicalize him more, kind of paint him into the frame of the imagination of whoever was having a nightmare about him, and that was really liberating.” “Playing Freddy for all those years was actually a very liberating thing for me, and it kind of gave me a career on the other side that I know I wouldn't normally have had because I had been established as a genre star.” LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the most well-known music festivals in the world is currently taking place. Coachella is a ten-day festival that takes place in the California desert, with dozens of the biggest musical acts performing on its stages. The festival is also livestreamed, free to watch on YouTube. Chris Schulz isn't at the festival physically, but in his opinion, watching the streams is the TV event of the year. He joined Jack Tame for a chat about Coachella. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Keeper by Tana French On a cold night in the remote Irish village of Ardnakelty, a girl goes missing. Sweet, loving Rachel Holohan was about to be engaged to the son of the local big shot. Instead, she's dead in the river. In a close-knit small town, a death like this isn't simple. It comes wrapped in generations-old grudges and power struggles, and it splits the townland in two. Retired Chicago detective Cal Hooper has friends here now, and he owes them loyalty, but his fiancée Lena wants nothing to do with Ardnakelty's tangles. As the feud becomes more vicious, their settled peace starts to crack apart. And when they uncover a scheme that casts a new light on Rachel's death and threatens the whole village, they find themselves in the firing line. The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon In a self-running, smart house, a young and sentient Roomba listens as her owner, Harold, reads aloud to his dying wife, Edie. Mesmerized by To Kill a Mockingbird and craving the human connection she witnesses in Harold's stories, the little vacuum renames herself Scout and embarks on a journey of self-discovery. But when Edie passes away, Scout and her fellow sentient appliances discover that there are sinister forces in their midst. The omnipresent Grid, which monitors every household in the City, seeks to remove Harold from his home, a place he's lived in for fifty years. With the help of Adrian, a neighborhood boy who grows close to Scout and Harold, as well as Kate, Harold and Edie's formerly estranged daughter, the humans and the appliances must come together to outwit the all-controlling Grid lest they risk losing everything they hold dear. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"If you're keen to savour a bite-sized sampler of America's Mother Road, Arizona's Route 66 is a bumper section, tightly packed with time-honoured attractions and kitschy Americana curios. A century on from its launch as the nation's first cross-continental route, the pioneering highway endures as a metaphor for the pursuit of new possibilities. Route 66 was officially decommissioned forty years ago by the multi-laned march of the I-40, but the evocative, retro-wreathed, roadside towns remain." Read Mike's full article here. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Especially in this economy, catching up with someone doesn't have to mean spending over $40 at a cafe or a bar. Kate Hall has a few suggestions on how you can turn your social time into something fun, practical, and a bit cheaper. Ideas to try: Seed or plant swap – everyone brings seedlings or cuttings, go home with a garden upgrade Baking swap – make one thing, leave with a full spread Meal prep swap – cook one big dish each, swap portions = dinners sorted Clothing swap – especially good for the autumnal seasonal change or kids clothes Pantry swap – jams, chutneys, sourdough starter, bulk goods Home goods swap – books, decor, kitchen extras Why it works: It saves money It reduces waste And it builds actual connection (not just sitting across a table spending money) LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Just have a look, will you! Just when you think the Dahlias are on their way out, you're asked to come to the Botanic Gardens in Christchurch or a local beauty garden, somewhere nearby. A series of colourful plants that shows you a range that's totally unexpected – how do you get these at your place? From left to right: Mick's Peppermint, PomPom Rusty Orange, Le Baron, and KennemerLand Cactus. Currently it's still “growing time”, or seriously, keeping the plants producing before the beginning of winter. Generally speaking, the Tubers won't be available until mid-winter. Some varieties are able to be planted slightly earlier, others a bit earlier – just ask the people who produce the next generation. That means we have still plenty of time to go and visit the various Dalianthic “Hot Spot” and order the beauties you are looking forward to growing – Oderings, Dahlia Tubers, Stillwater Flowers, DahliasNZ.com, Mitre 10, Apollo Farm, etc. Bluetiful Dahlia Springtime is the planting time of the Tubers – no more frosts, etc. Plant about half a meter apart in well-drained soils, containing good compost with great fertilisers in the soil, where the new plants will benefit from the next level of NPK. All the fertilisers will be used to create new parts of the plants. Support them if they grow upward in a hurry, as some often do… Give them a good watering from time to time. They can be grown as Potted Dahlias, especially if the potting mix is of great quality. Once you start with Dahlias, you'll never forget this colourful movement ever again! LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Čuvar Iris Pinot Noir 2024, Marlborough RRP $29.99 A ripe and fruity expression with core varietal flavours of cherry and raspberry, red flowers, and boysenberry. There are some wood spice moments and earth-smoke suggesting clay. A dry wine with fine easily dissolved tannins along with a refreshing acid line. Balanced, well-made and ready to drink from day of purchase through 2029. The Food: A vegan or vegetarian risotto that is also gluten free. The tipping point in flavours is often what style of cheese to use. For vegans I suggest either the Veesey grated mozzarella or Epic brand Cheddar. For regular vegetarians a standard parmesan or similar. Also good to mention is using a whole leak, lots of peas and corn if you have any, and any other veges makes this an ideal match to the Pinot Noir from Čuvar. The Season: Rather epic for Pinot Noir from Marlborough. The region enjoyed warm to hot days and some cool night allowing for ripeness and acidity and ripe skin tannins too. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast for Saturday 11 April 2026, the original Freddy Kreuger actor Robert Englund joins Jack to discuss the popularity of the horror genre and his visit to New Zealand for Armageddon. Jack shares his thoughts on the Artemis II mission to the moon. Chef Nici Wickes shares a hearty soup recipe for the stormy weather. And Chris Schulz chats mega music festival Coachella. Get the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast every Saturday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The next level of AI is about to be released, and there are major concerns The models just keep getting better and better and now Anthropic, the maker of Claude, says its software engineering capability is now so advanced that it's finding thousands of vulnerabilities in software that no one knew existed. Anthropic says "the fallout for economies, public safety, and national security could be severe". Anthropic has shared its new model Mythos with an alliance of cybersecurity companies as well as another 40 organizations. The CEO of Cisco, the maker of networking equipment, says AI has reached a level where critical infrastructure needs to be protected. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met with critical US banks in the wake of the model's preview release. Three quarters of parents fear their child could not make safe online privacy choices The survey by the UK's data watchdog shows we need to be teaching kids about online safety just like we would road safety, because it's an essential life skill. 35% of parents think their child would share personal information in exchange for game tokens. 22% of children had shared health details with AI tools. 24% of children had shared their real name or address online. and 21% of parents had never discussed online privacy with their children. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Grand Designs New Zealand Tom Webster meets aspirational New Zealanders on their daring, determined and sometimes perilous journeys to build the residential homes of their dreams, using innovation and a Kiwi can-do attitude to overcome the odds (TVNZ1 7.30pm Sunday April 12, TVNZ+). My House, My Castle A local television classic return to our screens to tackle a very different housing market to the one it left behind. A mix of relatable consumer stories, jaw-dropping home transformation, aspirational designs, and a masterclass of expert opinions (Three, Three Now). LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Undertone A podcast host covering spooky content moves in to care for her dying mother. When sent recordings of a pregnant couple's paranormal encounters, she discovers their story parallels hers, each tape pushing her toward madness. The President's Cake As people in Iraq struggle to survive, 9-year-old Lamia has been selected to prepare a cake to celebrate the president's birthday. In a landscape of fear and scarcity, she sets out on a journey through the big city in search of eggs, flour and sugar. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This hearty soup is full of comfort and takes full advantage of the late-season, cheap tomatoes available right now. As for canned beans, they are pure nourishment – affordable, varied, and yummy. Makes 8-10 servings Ingredients 4 tablespoons olive oil 1 medium onion, diced 2 carrots, diced 2 stalks celery (or small bulb fennel), chopped 2 litres water 4-6 fresh tomatoes, grated (see note) 1 x 420g can crushed tomatoes 1 bay leaf 5 handfuls of dried pasta shells or macaroni 2 x 400g can mixed beans, drained and rinsed salt and pepper to taste – use plenty of each chopped parsley to serve crusty bread to serve Method In a large pot, heat the oil and sauté the onion, carrot, and celery for 5–10 minutes or until softened. Add water, fresh and canned tomatoes, and bay leaf and gently bring to the boil, then simmer for 15 minutes. Add the pasta and continue cooking until the pasta is almost cooked —about 12 minutes— before adding in the beans to heat through. Season with salt and pepper to taste and add more water to thin if you feel it needs it. To serve, garnish with chopped parsley and serve with lovely crusty bread. Nici's Notes: Use a box grater to grate fresh tomatoes – you will end up with a lovely pulp and the skin leftover which can be chopped and added to the soup. Add chopped chorizo or bacon to enrich. Serve with grated cheese on top. Feel free to add frozen vegetables like peas, corn, etc. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kevin Milne has music on his mind. Paul McCartney released a new single last month, Days We Left Behind, the lead from his upcoming album ‘The Boys of Dungeon Lane'. It's a nostalgic song, and got Kevin thinking about a story a friend of his son tells about meeting the musician. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nine days, 22 hours, and 32 minutes. That's how long the Artemis II crew has been away and as we speak this morning, they're entering the final, critical hours of their mission. All going well, by the time Jason Pine welcomes you to Weekend Sport after the midday news, the capsule will have splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. The four people who've travelled further from Earth than any other human beings ever will be fished out and whisked off, home to NASA in time for supper. As someone who wasn't here for the Apollo missions, Artemis II represents the most exciting crewed space mission of my life. There have been other big moments: rescue missions to the International Space Station, perilous repair jobs that have needed specialist, highwire space walks. But Artemis is the first crewed mission to leave low Earth orbit since Apollo 17, 54 years ago. For me, that's what's significant. When many of us think of the view of Earth from space, we think of something from the movies. We think of Earthrise, a marble hanging in space. I have that photograph hanging on our wall at home. It's seductive to pause for a moment and think of our planet in the context of the big black. But that's not what most astronauts see. I've done the maths. Well, no. I've looked up the geometry. The International Space Station orbits the Earth at a distance of about 400km. About 10 or 12 times the cruising altitude of a passenger jet. That's high, sure, but if you look out the window at that altitude, the Earth is right in front of you, and rather than a sphere floating in space, it looks like a giant curved surface. You've got to go more than twice as far to see the whole Earth as a sphere. At 1000km, it still fills a huge part of your visual field, but you have to scan your eyes from left to right to take it all in. At 10,000km you can see the whole Earth, the whole sphere, the whole she-bang without moving your eyes. I reckon this is when the most significant shift must take place. It's a view no one's had in more than fifty years. Artemis II travelled 400,000km from Earth. What are you doing? Can you extend your arm out? Reach out and put your thumb up in the air. In the context of your whole visual field, look how small it is. That's how big Earth would have appeared from that distance. I sat at the dinner table with our nine-year-old this week as the Artemis crew prepared for their 40 minutes of unbreakable solitude, the little window of uncontactable-ness as they passed by the far side of the moon. He had so many questions. He was so full of wonder. And almost every time he started with “but how do they...” my answer was “Well... maths.” I can only imagine what the Apollo missions must have been like to follow from Earth. It must have been extraordinary. The difference this time around is the technology. The photos sent from the crew are beamed back to Earth and almost immediately shared by NASA. The interactive tools online let you plot capsule's route. You don't have to be a nine-year old to feel the wonder. You don't have to be 400,000km from home to have a little sense of what those crew members must feel when they look back at our planet as a distant sphere in the epic vastness of space. It must make of our quibbles and disputes seem so petty and trivial. Simultaneously humbling and profound. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stephen K. Amos does the talking so that audiences can do the laughing. Many will know the British comedian from his regular spots on UK television shows like ‘Live at The Apollo' and ‘QI'. Right now, he's working the festival circuit in Australia, before he heads our way in May with his new show deconstructing the science of laughter. The show is called ‘Now We're Talking', and it delves into what exactly laughter does to a person, physically and emotionally. “And then I talk about how it's important for us to keep talking in a world where there's a lot of noise out there, and people aren't listening enough,” Amos told Jack Tame. But why is laughter so infectious? Amos says it's do to with human connection. “The mirror neuron – you see somebody laugh, you laugh.” “It's a shared experience, and on your own, I suppose people don't want to look odd if they're just sitting by themselves and then guffawing like a bit of a lunatic.” “But it is, it's good for the soul.” LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Humankind is returning to the moon. NASA launched its first manned mission to the moon in over fifty years earlier this week – sending four astronauts on the Artemis II on a ten day journey to circle the celestial body. And though many young kids dream of being an astronaut one day, Kevin Milne isn't sure he could hack it. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

UK singer-songwriter Arlo Parks has released her third studio album – Ambiguous Desire. It's a departure from her previous albums, both of which held more rock and alternative elements, whereas this one is filled with the sounds of nightlife – house, garage, and techno. Chris Schulz joined Jack Tame to share his thoughts on the album. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bonfire of the Murdochs by Gabriel Sherman When Rupert Murdoch made a fateful decision about who should inherit his media colossus, he believed that pitting his children against each other would produce the most capable heir. Twenty-five years later, that gamble would tear apart one of the world's most powerful families and trigger a multi-billion dollar reckoning in a succession battle featuring betrayals, lawsuits, and revenge plots. In Bonfire of the Murdochs, bestselling author Gabriel Sherman tells the inside story of this epic family war, one whose seeds were planted a half-century ago in Australia when the complicated patriarch left his homeland to conquer the world and please the ghost of his judgmental father. That quest culminated in a media empire that controlled Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and tabloids on three continents, which wielded more political and cultural power than any single company in modern times. But Rupert's plan to rip up the secret trust controlling his empire and anoint his conservative firstborn son Lachlan as successor set him on a collision course with his three more liberal children. What price would Rupert pay to secure his legacy? For the aging patriarch, this would be his final and most personal deal. Based on interviews with more than 150 sources, Bonfire of the Murdochs is a richly textured narrative where each child plays their predestined role in a blood feud that explodes in a courtroom showdown. There, Murdoch's children weaponize his own secrets against him. It is a tragedy Shakespeare would have appreciated, where getting everything you want costs everything you love. Hooked by Asako Yuzuki Eriko really wouldn't mind being savaged, if it was her best friend doing the savaging ... Eriko's life appears perfect - devoted parents, spotless apartment and a job in the seafood division of one of Japan's largest trading companies. Her latest project, to reintroduce the controversial Nile perch fish into the Japanese market, is characteristically ambitious. But beneath her flawless surface she is wracked by loneliness. Eriko becomes fascinated with a popular blog written by a housewife, Shoko. Shoko's posts about eating convenience store food and her untidy home are the opposite of the typical Japanese housewife's manicured lifestyle. When Eriko tracks Shoko down at her favourite restaurant and befriends her, Shoko is at first charmed by her new companion. But as Eriko's obsession with Shoko deepens, her increasingly possessive behaviour starts to raise suspicion. As Eriko's carefully laid plans begin to unravel, how far will she go to hold on to the best friend that she's ever had? Beautifully translated by Polly Barton, Hooked is a thrilling and unsettling story of the line between friendship and dangerous obsession. A delicious exploration of food, loneliness and womanhood in contemporary Japan, Hooked brings together all the ingredients for which Asako Yuzuki is so adored. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"One of life's great truths is that Las Vegas never rests on its laurels. It is constantly in a state of evolution and reinvention, unfurling ever brighter and more ambitious embellishments to enrich its entertainment arsenal." "No matter how you tackle Sin City, Las Vegas requires a suspension of disbelief, as you're swallowed up within the whirling, swirling haze of escapist gratification. Blend the best of new and old Las Vegas, sampling the latest and greatest hits in town." Read Mike's full article here. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As we approach the Easter break —a time typically filled with texts, chocolate, memes, and quick check-ins— new research from 2degrees suggests Kiwis may be craving something more meaningful. The study reveals a modern contradiction: Kiwis have more ways to stay in touch than ever, but two thirds say meaningful conversations are harder to come by. While texting and social media have become the default, a phone call still has the greatest emotional impact - 77% say they feel meaningfully better after speaking to someone close to them, yet only 15% regularly pick up the phone. Always on, rarely connected: 67% of Kiwis say meaningful conversations are harder to come by despite having more ways to stay in touch than ever Nearly one in three (32%) are making fewer calls than five years ago 23% of Kiwis can't recall a single phone number apart from their own How Kiwis use their phones to communicate: 68% say text-based messaging is their primary way of keeping in touch vs just 15% who default to a phone call When asked where their thumb instinctively reaches in a spare moment, 45% said social media vs just 5% who make a call, meaning Kiwis are nine times more likely to scroll than call. Top reasons Kiwis don't call more: Messaging feels easier (31%) Not wanting to interrupt (27%) Feeling too busy for a proper conversation (20%) Or a phone call feeling too awkward or unexpected (19%) The case for calling: 77% feel better after a phone call with a loved one 59% say there is someone in their life they wish they called someone more often LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast for Saturday 4 April 2026, British comedian and tv personality Stephen K Amos joins Jack to talk about the joy in connecting through humour and why it's important not to take it all too seriously. Jack reflects on the gift and simplicity of being in nature. Chef Nici Wickes has the perfect easter treat, Easter Rocky Road. Economist Ed McKnight looks at the house buying trends that happen every election year. Plus, travel contributor Mike Yardley is in Las Vegas and has all the latest and greatest from Sin City. Get the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast every Saturday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We all know about the direct effects of elections —financial, policy, crime— but they also seem to effect the housing market. Ed McKnight analysed 11 elections going back to 1993, and discovered a few patterns that appear in the housing market around that time. He joined Jack Tame to discuss his findings. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It might not be obvious in Aotearoa, but there's something like 1400 different species of snails! They're in many groups and with many different jobs to do, in the forests, in liquid habitats, on tree trunks, and in your garden. Native snails consume dead and decaying leaves, fungus, and algae (they don't eat your veggie garden) and leave behind nutrient-rich poo for soil health. The Leaf-veined slug is one of those Molluscs that slithers around in the evening and at night. Their movement can be relatively smart, especially when they cruise on outdoor furniture or on leaves. Here they clean surfaces – literally! I've always called them the Wet & Forget slug, simply because they leave those clean tracks where-ever they went. Paryphanta the kauri snail. A serious native snail with almost 80 mm diameter shell. It occurs from Kaitaia to the southern parts of Northland. It's even distributed to Titirangi and Laingholm, where I used to have it on our lawn, especially at night. I'll never forget having to remove these massive snails before mowing the lawn! They are carnivorous: eating worms, insect larvae, and other snail species. The way they catch the worms is akin to sucking up spaghetti from the layers in the soil! Limax maximus (literally: “the largest slug”) also known as the leopard slug. Introduced into New Zealand and has a habit of getting inside our homes, especially when there's a cat with milk in its bowl. The slurping by this slug can be heard by the neighbours! And here is one of those introduced snails that can cause a lot of damage to your garden: Cantareus Asperses, the Brown Garden Snail. It's originally from Northern Africa and taken to France, a long, long time ago, it was introduced to NZ with European settlers. Troublesome eater of leaves etc in massive numbers; hiding under pots during the day and always more numerous than you think. One of the so-called “control” measures is spreading sharp chicken eggshells around the plants, so that the snails can't walk over those sharp items. This picture shows one of those snails crossing over a brand-new, super sharp knife… One historical story is far more important than sharp knives: this snail species is one of the preferred snails that French people cultivate and use to create Escargot. Snail farming in New Zealand might not be a bad idea – it makes that protein a lot cheaper with the rising prices of our food! LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australia's social media ban's first report card is in and there's room for improvement The regulator says the big social media companies are not doing enough to keep children off their platforms, particularly having insufficient measures to prevent kids from creating new accounts, not providing effective ways to report under-16s, and allowing those who said they were under 16 before the ban to say they were actually over 16. Social media companies Meta and Snap say they are doing the best they can to comply, but it's very difficult to know how old a person is. Meta suggests that the App Store is the best place for age verification, which would effectively move the problem to Apple and Google. Amazon's adding a fuel surcharge to orders The 3.5% fuel surcharge will be added to orders that are fulfilled through its distribution centres. It'll come into effect on April 17th. The company says it can no longer continue to eat the additional cost, adding that this surcharge will only partially recover the cost. This is not the first time – the war in Ukraine pushed oil prices over $100 a barrel and a surcharge was added then too. Amazon says the surcharge is temporary but will be in place for the foreseeable future. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Something Very Bad is Going to Happen A bride has a feeling that something horrifying will happen at her wedding — and the closer to the altar she gets, the worse it becomes (Netflix). Your Friends & Neighbors When a financial titan suddenly finds himself divorced and jobless, he starts robbing his wealthy neighbors to stay afloat. Stealing from his own social circle strangely exhilarates him -- but he gradually gets tangled in a deadly web (Apple TV+). LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With the price of Easter eggs through the roof this year I'm making this rocky road as the ultimate sweet treat for the long weekend! Makes one tray Ingredients 200g dark chocolate, chopped   200g milk chocolate, chopped  50g butter 1 tablespoon golden syrup or maple syrup 100g roasted almonds, chopped roughly ½ cup chopped dried apricots 1 cup chopped marshmallow eggs 1 cup mini eggs, some chopped some left whole Method Line a shallow 20x20cm dish with baking paper. Gently melt both chocolates, butter, and syrup in a pot over a low heat. Stir in the almonds, apricots, and pieces of marshmallow eggs. Scrape into the dish and smooth the top as much as possible. Push the mini eggs down into the surface and chill for 3 hours or overnight until set. Cut into squares. Nici's note: You can get inventive with this recipe and use any type of nut and dried fruit really – try hazelnuts and golden raisins or walnuts and prunes. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Drama A happily engaged couple get put to the test when an unexpected revelation sends their wedding week off the rails. Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice Two friends navigate the dangerous world of organized crime, testing their loyalty and survival skills as they get deeper into the criminal underworld. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For my birthday this year, my wife went above and beyond. I didn't want a product. I didn't want a thing. For the last year of my thirties, I asked for an experience. And a couple of months before the big day, I casually dropped it into conversation. “How would you feel,” I asked. “If for my birthday this year, you took on all of the family duties for a bit... So I can duck off for a couple of nights in the bush?” I'll admit to a bias —I've spent more time in that any other— but I reckon the Kahurangi might be our best National Park. Although Fiordland National Park obviously boasts the majesty of Milford, Doubtful, and Dusky Sounds, and Abel Tasman has the golden sand beaches, between the nikau groves meeting the Tasman and the true sub-alpine, I reckon nothing can rival the Kahurangi in terms of sheer variety of landscapes. I was reminded of that diversity this week, when, for my birthday escape, I joined my brother and brother-in-law and drove up the Wangapeka River enroute to climb Mt Owen. We started at the Blue Creek resurgence, where beautiful, perfect, clear water pours from the vast underground caves. Not too far away (as the crow flies) is the Pearse Resurgence, where cave divers recently set an extraordinary and terrifying record, diving 245m deep into the earth. Like so many beautiful spots in the South Island, the Kahurangi had a gold rush. Unfortunately for the hardy souls who braved the Wangapeka River in the 1860s, the quantities of gold recovered were ultimately modest at best. The older I get, the more I marvel at the ridiculous, old, gold works, the huge bits of rusted iron machinery that once upon a time took were hauled up the least-hospitable valleys, only to be abandoned and left to be slowly consumed by the bush. We climbed straight up. It was too steep for chatter and we soon fell into the rhythm of the bush. The crunch of our boots, the gasping, heavy breath, the birdsong. So much birdsong. Again, the older I get, the more I appreciate it. There were countless bellbirds, robins, piwakawaka, and my new favourite cutie of all the New Zealand natives: tomtits. We paused for a moment for a handful of pick-n-mix, and two tiny, sweet little rifleman came and perched on a twig right next to us. We climbed above the bushline and then down into another valley, up an old creekbed to the tidy DOC hut. It was pretty busy and we still had legs, so we kept climbing, up another hour to a couple of tarns, where we pitched our tents for the night. We were surrounded by three mighty limestone mountains, a little plateau with spongey earth and tussock. Mother Nature's colosseum. We dropped a couple of beers into the tarns to cool them off as we pitched our flies and cooked dinner. We were at 1500m. Hardly Everest, but high enough for the temperature to drop fast. One minute your clothes are rotting with sweat, the next you're double socking. We slept in puffer jackets and polyprops. Without any clouds or light pollution, the sky was so pure and bright. I had to pull a beanie over my eyes to try and doze off. Is it even tramping if you have a good night's sleep? In the morning we left our camp and started climbing before sunrise. From the little plateau, we worked up through the huge glaciated marble karst that builds to the mountain summit. You can see why these landscapes were chosen by the location scouts as Lord of the Rings country. Mind your step. Skip the crevasse. Up, up, up. The views from the top were awesome. Not just ‘awesome' as in good, but awesome in the true sense of inspiring awe. We could see incredible ranges on all sides, clouds sitting deep in the valleys below. In one, cloud spilled over the lip of an alpine ridge and down the otherside, like water tipping from a glass. Several times we all just stopped. How often in life are you ever in a time and place where we can't see or hear any sign of human civilisation? I'm impossible to buy for but for my birthday this year, my wife nailed it. I walked out with burning quads and a couple of blisters, so content, so full of gratitude. And to think these landscapes are there for all of us. That it's our home. What a gift, indeed. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.