RNZ: Sunday Morning

The media and politicians: are the media now calling the shots? And if so, why are so many media people in Parliament, or trying to get in?; a paper publishing handy hints for hackers; little people in the ring; and a birdcall bungle.

Harriet Tuckey didn't get on with her father, Griffith Pugh, and didn't know that the first ascent of Everest would not have been possible without his contributions. Pugh designed the oxygen and fluid-intake regimes, the acclimatisation programme, the diet, the high-altitude boots, the tents, the down clothing, the mountain stoves and the airbeds. Realising the extent of his involvement, Tuckey has written the account of the forgotten team member who has been left out of the stories told about the 1953 expedition. Harriet Tuckey's book, Everest - the First Ascent is published by Random House.

Weight loss surgery is investigated in this Award Winning Insight for 2013 by Philippa Tolley.

This weekend the Millions Against Monsanto demonstrations are taking place in more than 40 countries. Wayne looks at the GM industry and revealing new research on comparative crop yields. Chris follows up with Canterbury University's Professor Jack Heinemann, and Zack Kaldveer, of the US Organic Consumers Association.

Peter Jan Honigsberg is a law professor at the University of San Francisco and the founder and director of the Witness to Guantanamo project. He talks to Chris about Barack Obama's failure to deliver on his promise to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, how the US public turn a blind eye while the rest of the world watches, and the fate of a large group of hunger strikers at the prison.

The National Government seems to rate the paying of family carers of the disabled as a low priority -- a 'nice to have'. And it doesn't appreciate being legally challenged on its decisions.

New Zealand has thrown its hat in the ring for a place on the 2015-16 United Nations Security Council. The bid has seen Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully traveling the world trying to rustle up votes. So what's in it for New Zealand? And how would a New Zealand term on the council differ from that of its competitors for the seat, Spain and Turkey? Ideas speaks to RMIT lecturer in international relations Binoy and former New Zealand ambassador to the United Nations Terence O'Brien. Produced by Jeremy Rose.

Climate change commentator and the United Kingdom's former Government chief scientific adviser, Sir David King, is in New Zealand next week for a series of public lectures entitled 'Improving human well-being on a resource-limited planet - can we do it?' The lectures will address the challenges of climate change, ocean degradation, and maintaining affordable and sustainable food, mineral, freshwater and energy supplies.

Mediawatch looks at a documentary asking big questions about our role in Afghanistan and whether our media have covered the issue properly. Mediawatch also talks to an Afghan journalist covering the conflict in his own country; and how the patience of people in Christchurch is wearing thin and the same is true for the city's reporters. Produced and presented by Colin Peacock and Jeremy Rose.

Guy Salmon has led a three-year consensus-building exercise for the management of the Mackenzie Country. The Mackenzie Agreement was unveiled earlier this month and saw key environmental groups and farmers sign up to a plan to allow both ecological restoration and intensive dairying to occur in the Mackenzie Country.

After creating a super city is the tensions with the Government now hindering future plans. Todd Niall investigates.

Today, 130 years ago the word 'eugenics' was coined by Charles Darwin's half cousin, explorer and anthropologist Francis Galton. Eugenics was seen as a valid science by many, even after the Nazis took it to new depths. Wayne looks at the history, and suggests that it's making a sanitised comeback. Chris follows up with psychology professor Tony Taylor.

Last week saw the release of the 'Sustainable Australia Report 2013: Conversations with the Future'. It is the first report of its kind in Australia. The Chair of the National Sustainability Council of Australia, Professor John Thwaites, talks to Chris about the challenges facing his country - including the growing gap between rich and poor, an ageing population, climate change, and pressure on energy, resources and food.

Sky City Casino gets a couple of hundred new pokie machines and some black-jack tables in exchange for a new international convention centre. Sounds cheap, but what will be the real cost of this 35-year deal?

The Quakers not only played a leading role in the anti-slavery movement - they founded many of Britain's best known companies. The Seventh Day Adventist church founded, and still owns, New Zealand's most successful cereal manufacturer - Sanitarium, and many of New Zealand's early business elite were devoutly religious. Jeremy Rose talks to Sanitarium general manager Pierre van Heerden and James Walvin, author of 'The Quakers: Money and Morals'; then Chris Laidlaw talks to historian and author Ian Hunter about the influence of religion on the history of business and the economy in New Zealand.