RNZ: Sunday Morning

Rob Strathdee says more can be done to reduce the influence of social background on educational achievement. Professor Strathdee, Head of the School of Education Policy and Implementation at Victoria University, talks to Chris about the connection between education and the labour market, and what needs to change to allow education to help deliver the promise of social mobility. He delivers his inaugural lecture, 'Social Class, economic change and the competition for advancement through education', on 4 September and it is open to the public.

Professor Zhu Feng, from Peking University in Beijing, is one of the world's leading authorities on China's foreign policy and North Asian security issues. He's now based at Victoria University where he holds the Sir Howard Kippenberger Visiting Chair for 2012. He will deliver the annual Kippenberger Lecture on 3 September on the topic: 'China's Response to America's Asia-Pacific Rebalancing: Implications for Regional Order'.

Where does the real power in New Zealand lie? That's right, with a bunch of bureaucrats, underlings, officials, and lowly-ranked list MPs that you and I have never heard of. Whether it's in sport, politics, commerce, education or the arts, the only way to find out what's really going on in this country is by going ... Down the List. Written by Dave Armstrong and produced by Radio New Zealand's Drama department. Today - National List MP Simon Rogers-Flaccid struggles to get his head around child poverty.

Epuni Primary School's Common Unity Project aims to produce enough fruit and vegetables to feed not only the school's 110 pupils but their families as well. It's a classic example of what's been called Asset Based Community Development - or ABC Development.

Emma talks to Chris about the trials and triumphs of her 100 days of design project.

An outsider's view of the media response to disaster and recovery in Canterbury and Pike River; one year on from the death of the UK's top-selling tabloid, is the world better off without The News of the World?

For adventurer Steve Gurney, life is about taking risks and he fears that New Zealand society has become over-regulated, risk-averse, and wrapped in cotton wool. His challenge is to let children make mistakes, climb trees and play bullrush - to help them learn how to find their limits in later life. Eating Dirt, by Steve Gurney, is published by Random House.

Dr Teresia Teaiwa joins Ian, Michael and Chris to talk about the role of Pacific women in political upheaval, and how some managed to overcome mistrust, suspicion and sexism to make major contributions to political life.

Funding potholes in the plan for Roads of National Significance.

In 2009, Venezuela became the first country in the world to ban any and all video games that involved shooting people. To date New Zealand has banned seven games. Jeremy Rose talks to his 13-year old son, Edi Rose, about the attraction of shooting people on screen; deputy chief censor Nic McCully and classification officer Hamish McCormick talk us through the process of rating a video game; and academics professor Brad Bushman of Ohio State University and Waikato University's Dr Gareth Schott discuss the evidence for the widely held belief that violent video games have a desensitising effect.

David O'Sullivan is the head of the European External Action Service (the EU's diplomatic body). He is in New Zealand before leading the EU delegation to the Pacific Islands Forum.

A TV veteran tells Mediawatch about four decades in investigative journalism, and why he now fears for the future of it here. Mediawatch also looks at how a minister's move to bypass the media backfired, some rough numbers for our newspapers, and the revival of a long tradition of telling Russia's rulers where to get off.

In 1912 five separate teams were exploring Antarctica - expeditions from Britain, Norway, Australasia, Germany and Japan. Chris Turney tells the stories of these teams of adventurers and their lasting legacy for science. Professor Chris Turney is a British geologist who has recently been awarded an Australian Research Laureate Fellowship with the University of New South Wales. His book, '1912: The Year the World Discovered Antarctica' is published by The Text Publishing Company.

Philippa Tolley travels to Australia to speak to New Zealanders about what's been called official discrimination

Hilary Charlesworth is Professor and Director of the Centre for International Governance and Justice in the Regulatory Institutions Network at the Australian National University.