Saturday Morning

08:12 The burden of long covid

Evidence indicates long covid presents a considerable burden to New Zealand: on our health system, sectors of the workforce and the economy.

Between 4 and 14 percent of people infected with the virus will develop ongoing symptoms, anything from mild to severe.

Scientists who conducted a recent evidence summary of long covid in Aotearoa are convinced its prevalence is likely to increase and preventative action is needed.

Covid can change your DNA and your immune system and there is no cure for long Covid.

Susie is joined by epidemiologist associate professor Mona Jeffreys of Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington and the Long Covid Registry, and co-founder of Long Covid Support Aotearoa Jenene Crossan.

08:50 Kiwi scientist and champion fencer en guarde for Olympics

Kiwi scientist and champion épée-fencer Dr Matt Baker is representing New Zealand at the Olympic fencing qualifier tournament in Dubai next Saturday.

Sydney-based Baker is Scientia Research Fellow in the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences at the University of New South Wales, where he studies the molecular motor that makes bacteria swim.

Matt is the sole NZ gladiator in men's épée.  Age 41, and father of two young children, he's en guarde against some up-coming young stars, all hungry for success at the Asia-Oceania Zonal Qualifier for the Paris Olympics.

09:05 Elizabeth Kolbert: The A to Z of climate change

In her new book H Is for Hope, author Elizabeth Kolbert explores the landscape of climate change in a series of 26 animated essays arranged in alphabetical order-from "A", for Svante Arrhenius, who created the world's first climate model in 1894, to "Z", for the Colorado River Basin, ground zero for climate change in the United States.

Kolbert is a staff writer for The New Yorker and author of several books, most notably Pulitzer Prize winner The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, which chronicled previous mass extinction events and compared them to the accelerated, widespread extinctions of our present time.

09:35 Carrie Sun: Private Equity memoir explores dark side of extreme wealth

At the age of 29 New Yorker Carrie Sun bagged a top job at a top Wall Street hedge fund.

As private assistant to the firm's billionaire founder, Sun entered a world of power, privilege and extreme wealth.

But as the demands of the job take a toll on her physical and mental health, Sun starts to question everything she had worked so hard for.

Her new memoir is Private Equity, which exposes the brutal reality of high finance.

10:05 Grace Millane: New film The Lie explores shocking case

The 2018 murder of 21-year old British backpacker Grace Millane gripped the country.

A powerful new film The Lie explores how the shocking case highlights disturbing attitudes about violence towards women.

It painstakingly pieces together Grace's final evening, stepping through the evidence the police used to make the case against her killer.

The film also examines the controversial "rough sex defence", used by the defence team at the trial of Jesse Kempson, who was convicted of Grace's murder.

The Lie is released in cinemas on April 25 .

10:40 Liam Dann: are we witnessing the death of paper money?

Veteran financial journalist Liam Dann returns to the show to shine a light on left-field economic news and the quirks of New Zealand economics.

This week he discusses 'digital cash' and the future of money, and he takes a closer look at the job losses hitting the headlines and what it means amid our current recession.

Dann has 25 years of reporting under his belt and is The New Zealand Herald business editor at large. He recently released BBQ Economics: How money works and why it matters.

11:05 Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku: a story of bravery

As a curator of ethnology at Waikato Museum in the 1980s, Te Awekōtuku was among the first to insist museums rethink how they represent Māori culture, both in New Zealand and overseas. In 1981, she became the first Māori woman to earn a doctorate from a New Zealand university, with a PhD on the effects of tourism on the Te Arawa people. In 1996 she became the country's first Māori woman professor.

Te Awekōtuku is now poised to release her fiery memoir about identity and belonging, Hine Toa: A story of bravery. Heralded as 'heartbreaking and triumphant', the memoir traces what was possible for a restless working-class girl from the pā, who became a founding member of Ngā Tamatoa and the Women's and Gay Liberation movements.

Kate De Goldi: reading for pleasure

Kate De Goldi is one of New Zealand's most celebrated authors, an Arts Foundation Laureate, and a voracious reader.

She joins Susie to share three books she's loved; Clear by Carys Davies, The Caretaker by Ron Rash, and The Puppets of Spelhorst by Kate di Camillo.

 

Books featured on the show:

H Is for Hope
By Elizabeth Kolbert
Published by Potter/Ten Speed/Harmony/Rodal
ISBN: 9780861548668

Private Equity
By Carrie Sun
Published by Penguin Random House
ISBN: 9780593654996

BBQ Economics: How money works and why it matters
By Liam Dann
Published by Penguin Random House
ISBN: 1776953851

Hine Toa: A story of bravery
By Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku
Published by HarperCollins New Zealand
ISBN: 9781775542322 

Clear
By Carys Davies
Published by Granta
ISBN: 9781803510408

The Caretaker
By Ron Rash
Published by A&U Canongate
ISBN: 9781805301653

Puppets of Spelhorst
By Kate di Camillo
Published by Penguin Random House
ISBN: 9781536216752