RNZ: Best Of The Week

Highlights from RNZ National's programmes for the week ending Friday 24 June. This week..... a leading campaigner for voluntary euthanasia shares his story of how watching his father die led him to his views, the campaign to boost the number of refugees to this country, the clean up of thousands of toxic waste sites is dropped as a priority by the government, plans by Sky TV to merge with giant telco Vodafone, media Entrepreneur and founder of the Huffington Post on the value of a good nights sleep as a key to success, the photographer who is an activist against denigration of fat people, we go to Kapiti Island to look for the endangered North Island Kokako, the annual Garden Bird Survey turns ten this year, a dance company that performs amazing vertical routines on sky scrapers, a mystery novel set in Wellington's bohemian Aro Valley,and the much loved song Poi E is the subject of a new film.

Highlights from RNZ National's programmes for the week ending Friday 17 June. This week..... John Key's recent visit to Fiji draws attention to the fact some journalists are not welcome there, a new auto race is underway: to build cleaner, cheaper and even self driving cars, a navigation game thats helping with dementia research, how New Zealand businesswoman and philanthropist Katherine Corich became a global entrepreneur , we hear from the founder of the iconic music label flying Nun, should we wash ourselves so often, research on the effect of pesticide on bees, the work of Anna Marbrook - an award winning director and creator of theatre, film and television, and choreographer/dancer and poet Jahra Wasasala on what influences her creativity.

Highlights from RNZ National's programmes for the week ending Friday 27 May. This week.....the life of the working poor in the United States, the media are now reaping the benefit of people revealing all on social media, growing tensions in the road versus rail debate in Northland, what its like working for five winters in Antarctica, how space weather affects earth, we join a farrier at work, an interview with one of the most successful jazz pianists in the world ahead of his first show here, the wierd world of competitive tickling, and the music created by the Eiffel Tower .

Highlights from RNZ National's programmes for the week ending Friday 22 April. This week..... media coverage on the issue of banning beggars from our city streets , an expose on poverty and housing in the United States, what's working and what's not in educating children with special needs, the work of a rural adult literacy trust, the use of anti-depressants is skyrocketing in New Zealand, the thrill of poring over maps, we have some laughs with comedian Rhys Darby, a live performance by Dave Dobbyn and his band for world record day , a documentary on the life of a New York heiress who was a true renaissance woman, and a tribute to Sir Noel Coward.

Highlights from RNZ National's programmes for the week ending Friday 24 December. This week....should Auckland workers be paid more for living in our most expensive city; media highlights for 2015; virtual reality for helping with phobias; using humour to tackle big issues like race; a new habitable planet just a mere 14 light years from us; Robert Dessaix on adoption, love and writing; Jim Sullivan ends Sounds Historical; the Royal Society report on our natural collections and stories from the people who perform for all of us at this time of year.

Highlights from RNZ National's programmes for the week ending Friday 18 December. This week.... fun with mathematics, it's a hundred years since Einstein's ground-breaking Theory of General Relativity - what if he is wrong? throughout his childhood in state care, young Aucklander Tupua Urlich felt he had no voice, now he's involved in a review of Child, Youth and Family, New Zealand's first woman Prime Minister shares her thoughts and memories, Mediawatch looks at how the Government came under pressure to pay for another costly cancer wonder drug, what is Methylphenidate hydrochloride and why are students using it as a cognitive enhancer? a new wasp pesticide that has achieved more than 95 per cent reduction in wasp numbers without hurting bees, we meet a Southland man recently crowned Australian Backgammon champion along with a visiting international author who has invented Sino-English, we're in Devonport to hear the Devonport World Song Choir and photographer Alexander Halag tells us about his new book. Shhh… The Music is Talking.

Highlights from RNZ National's programmes for the week ending Friday 11 December. This week.... the political pressure on public service; the media views of the perjury trial of cricketer Chris Cairns; what leads young people to join terror groups like Islamic State; death of the video store; learning about lampreys - vampire fish; oil exploration in NZ and improving our chances of finding it; poetry parking meters; inside the mind of a recording engineer; killer kiwi and baroque conductor Nicholas McGegan on the power of Handel's Messiah.

Highlights from RNZ National's programmes for the week ending Friday 4th December. This week.....the risks of banking and using cards online, how pundits, politicians and presenters have been pushing their preferences in the flag referendum in the media, why a leading obesity campaigner is quitting the battle, the stories of migrant taxi drivers, how to combat fear of flying, ecologists are ringing alarm bells about native birds and insects, how smell is being used to lead consumers by the nose, Beaujolais Nouveau is celebrated in defiance of the recent terror attacks in Paris, and highlights from the public memorial service for Jonah Lomu this week.

Highlights from RNZ National's programmes for the week ending Friday 27 November. This week.....RNZ's chief executive explains it's multimedia strategy; how well are we doing for all NZ children; what we do about ISIS; frightening cats with cucumbers; poet Sam Hunt turns 70; young ethnic leaders planning to make a difference to our future; the history of the Polynesian Panthers; the Indian Ink new play on the plight of elephants; the beauty of bats and fighting fish in seas in Bali.

Highlights from RNZ National's programmes for the week ending Friday 20 October. This week...This week...... shaming people in the media; the adrenalin rush of big wave surfing; what should we believe about food fads and what are myths; when you can't imagine visually in your mind; everything you wanted to know about every species of fish in NZ; what overseas agricultural journalists think about our rural sector; our critter of the week; choosing from thousands of New Zealand photos for a book and exhibition; the Coromandel's Barry Brickell on dismissing birthdays - all 80 of them and Peter Garrett on the formation of Midnight Oil.

Highlights from RNZ National's programmes for the week ending Friday 13 October. This week...Insight explores the real issues in West Papua; Radio New Zealand changes its name to RNZ which has puzzled listeners; busting myths around treatments for osteoporosis and the award winning scientists who changed its clinical management; Kiwi caddie Steve Williams and his relationship with Tiger Woods; the artistry and mental fortitude to high-wire walk New York's Twins Towers 40 years ago; the power of Hedda Hopper's Hollywood gossip; using clydesdales to work Erewhon Station; what influenced activist, turned MP Sue Bradford; exploring bioidenticals for menopause and The Dead Daisies on performing in Cuba.

Highlights from RNZ National's programmes for the week ending Friday 6th October. This week; how the media butchered the story about the cancer risks of red meat, and the science of processed meats, the Police say it may be time to look at the age someone can get a firearms licence, the dying forests in Northland, a court reporters perspective on grisly crimes in New Zealand, what its like to be a child genius, the "sweet science" of boxing, the creative force behind groundbreaking Scandinavian TV dramas, and creating the wow visual effects in movies.

This week........John Campbell reveals what his multimedia programme will bring to Radio New Zealand, Judge "Billy" Murphy, Jr. on the law and policing in Baltimore , gay and transgender people still face discrimination nearly two years on from the first same-sex weddings, the uncoventional life of a lesbian Yorkshire landowner in the early nineteenth century, a young Indian New Zealand entrepreneur's award winning technology saves lives around the globe, actor Alan Alda on helping scientists communicate, tracking the Lapita people - ancestors of modern Polynesians across the Pacific, Australian rugby great Michael Lynagh on recovery from a major stroke, the talents of poet and musician Roger Lusby, and 92 year old musician Bill Sevesi is to be inducted into the NZ Music Hall of Fame.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 7 August. This week.....how the media dealt with the secretive TPP negotiations; Dame Siliva Cartwright on the Khmer Rouge trials; the frustrations of passing lanes and those slow drivers who always speed up; ballistics testing, volcanic eruptions and silly-putty filled condoms - geologists at work; making films on low budgets; calving season in full swing; saving eels from dams; taking chamber music to the people; playing bullrush at school and bringing rap back to basics.

This week.....The Serco run Mt Eden prison is much in the news - an investigative journalist looks at how Serco operates in other parts of the world, it seems just losing your rag in front of the cameras can turn into a news lead, the Lawson quins turn fifty and reveal the dark side of their life story, the rising use of the drug Ketamine, latest global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the opening of the new Len Lye centre in New Plymouth, playing mathematical games, warnings of black magic witch doctors in south Auckland, we meet 103 year old Bill Tuckey, and his royal badness Prince mentors a young Melbourne artist.