RNZ: Best Of The Week

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 21 February. This week....Brendon McCullum becomes the first New Zealand cricketer to score a triple century; Radio New Zealand's new boss explains on air changes; Belgium extends euthanasia rights to children; combining Maori and Pacific dance moves in a fitness class - Hula Active; the science behind fireworks; we recall the Mazengarb Report on the sexual delinquency of Lower Hutt school children in 1954; Cixi, the concubine who launched modern China; steel becoming art at the Iron Ridge Quarry Sculpture Park; aviation history - safety comes from tragedy and still protesting - Billy Bragg's heading back to NZ.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 14 February. This week.... inequality in New Zealand business; big brands spinning the media; the personal investigation by a dedicated sister into her brother's murder; our poor treatment of sharks; the 94 year old Canadian track and field athlete who's motto is giving up is never okay; stroke survivors go fishing; your rights when donating valuables to museums; the vision of jumping spiders; Peter Davison on being the fifth Doctor Who; at the beach for our first ever beach polo competition and the New Zealand connection for Shirley Temple fans and wannabes.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 7 February. This week.... oil exploration may bring fracking to the East Coast; we assess the return of daily TV current affairs shows; the myths around sleep - how much and what type is best; keeping fit and active through Maori Tennis; the composers going Inside to make a difference to prisoners; the sanctuary here for Cambodian buddhists; exploring our subantarctic islands; we meet a man with a passion for miniature bottles; floating in a tin can - Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield; 40 years of NZ birds on Radio New Zealand; and the world's longest echo - echo echo echo..

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 31 January. This week.... Lorde comes home with 2 Grammy's; boosting our economic growth by encouraging more mothers back to work; annoyance by the media's coverage of David Bain's wedding; the amazing tiny world of Willard Wigan; paying tribute to musician and social activist Pete Seeger; Dave Dobbyn to compose a tribute to Pike River's 29 miners; the spitfire trap and new searches for predator control; why men want to be a part of the Big Buddy programme; and the open source collaboration seeking a cure for malaria.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 20 December. This week.... the next 3 Avatar movies to be made in New Zealand; are new laws in store for our incoming Privacy Commissioner? investigating poisonous toxic blooms in the Hutt River; understanding bitcoins - the virtual currency; Baroness Caroline Cox - bringing awareness to slavery; travelling to European galleries, a lifelong dream for autistic artist Daniel Phillips; socialising dogs safely; the geothermal attractions of Te Puia; helping the Parkinson's "freeze" with a metronome; bridging the divide - NZ Chinese WW2 pilot Willie McWong and our internet searches for 2013.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 13th December. This week.... the passing of Nelson Mandela - we hear from Mac Maharaj who was in jail on Robben Island with him, and former Prime Minister Helen Clark who says Mandela has been an inspiration throughout her adult life, One of the biggest publishing companies in New Zealand admits running stories with fabircated details, the relationship between women and alcohol, what the future holds for our America's Cup skipper Dean Barker, we go to the World Alpaca Expo in Hamilton, and the Maori mens and womens basketball teams make a big impression at this years FIBA Oceania Pacifica Basketball Championship.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 6th December. This week.... the switchover to digital television is now completed over the entire country- but its come in for some criticism, the challenging vocation of cartoonist Tom Scott, how the communities of Seddon and Ward have been affected by the Cook Strait quakes this year and how they are rebuilding for the future, the complex workings of the brain and nueroscience is entering the courtroom, the story behind the letters of the alphabet, the relationship New Zealanders have with their companion animals, and travels through Britain in search of Dr Who.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 29 November. This week... we hear about the The Rerewhakaaitu Project from the Country Life, a focus on DOC from the Insight team, saving heritage food plants and seeds from Sunday Morning, a belly laugh from This Way Up, Our NZ Society feature gets in to the cockpit with two of our country's top aviators, Our Changing World joins Massey University's Michael Anderson on Hauturu-Little Barrier Island in an attempt to catch a long-tailed cuckoo and attach a satellite transmitter, a White Ribbon rider talks about taking the Stop Violence message to communities across Aotearoa from Te Ahi Kaa, One In Five sets sail on a tall ship purpose-built for an all-abilities crew, Mediawatch looks at how the media reacted to a snub from New Zealand's football squad when it returned from being mauled in Mexico recently, the role of animals in wartime from Afternoons, a former Prime Minister's memoir from Saturday Morning and Spectrum relives the days when Stratford hospital served the people of central Taranaki.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 22 November. This week.... dealing with rogue announcers in the world of talkback radio; shaking up our teaching of sex education in schools and dealing with cyber-bullying and weapons in schools; teaching physics to girls and Maori and Pacific students; how NZ developed laser technology can keep hunters safe; recycling phosphorus with algae; living with gout; From Earth's End: The Best of New Zealand Comics, the first major book dedicated to the subject and the film industry's Moa Awards

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 15th November. This week ........... the media's handling of the story about a group of young men in Auckland , who have over a period of two years been boasting online about sex with intoxicated underage girls, the difficulties of making a complaint of sexual assault and getting a conviction are highlighted in an interview with a young woman who was fifteen when she was sexually assaulted, four influential figures in rugby on how leadership in sport can have an impact on social change , to mark Armistice day on Monday a book on the history of the First World War from a New Zealand point of view, the winners of this year's Prime Minister's science prize, and celebrations to mark twenty-five years of bungy jumping.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 2nd of August . This week ......warnings that plans by the Reserve Bank to restrict some types of home loans could backfire and undermine financial stability, increasing numbers of journalists are earning a living simulating reporting of made-up military confrontations, spammers are using social networks to harvest our personal data , the art of cartooning, Gardening with Soul - an inspiring documentary about the life of a Wellingon nun in her nineties, and filming on Sir Peter Jackson's Tolkien sagas ends after fourteen years.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 26 July. This week ......memories of the 1855 Wellington earthquake; the proposed changes for the Family Court; veterans return to Korea after 60 years; Coca Cola launches an anti-obesity campaign; experiences of forced adoption in NZ; defending media freedom; treating cancer using our own bodies; are mega-vitamins safe; was George Mallory the first to Everest's summit and expressive writing to help with physical and mental health.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 19 July. This week ......The ousting of Australian PM Julia Gillard - was it sexist; the last telegram service closes; brain cell regeneration and other interesting brain facts; the excitement of the Feilding stock sales; From the Big Bang to God - Sir Lloyd Geering on secularism; river care; using native kawakawa to heal and soothe; the Poo Machine; the eradication of the Red Vented Bulbul bird and NZ's love of recipe books

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 12 July. This week ......are motoring writers only looking at the good side of the motoring industry; covering the internet as a journalist, blogger and digital activist; unocering technology behind neurosurgery's Stealth brain imaging system; David Sheffer - one of the main men behind the International Criminal court; getting a taste of the wild; changing your lifestyle to prevent diabetes; why do spotted shags regurgitate small stones; recalling our worst maritime disaster - the loss of HMS Orpheus in 1863 and we remember theatre pioneer Richard Campion...

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 5 July. This week ......not everyone is happy with government plans to expand offshore petroleum exploration; is Sky TV's monoploy of sport over; Sitiveni Rabuka talks Fiji coups and constitution; steel guitar legend Bill Sevesi releases another album aged 90; the inside scoop on the TV show Yes, Minister; bringing Pacific people together through celestial navigation sailing; Duncan the kokako is found and relocated after 2 years in hiding; Raelene Castle - the female boss of the NRL's Bulldogs and if it has a keyboard Geoffrey Higgs can look after - pianos of all sorts in Spectrum...