Rnz: Afternoons With Jesse Mulligan

Our weekly segment where we ask the audience to help with irks or pickles that listeners have sent in. Today - should grandparents be paid to help care for their grandchildren?

This week Thrift is looking into decorating your home, without breaking the bank. In this second episode with an op shopping expert, Katy Gosset looks at home design on a budget and tags along on a thrift shop mission.

When John Fugelsang was growing up, his parents and his church taught him that Christianity was about kindness, forgiveness, and helping your neighbor. But he says somewhere along the way between the televangelists, the politicians, and the endless culture wars, Christianity got hijacked. He says he's watching in disbelief as people use Jesus as a campaign slogan while promoting laws that seem more judgmental than Christian. A comedian, radio host, and actor who was in the film Coyote Ugly, Fugelsang challenges Christian nationalism and the politicians and influencers who he says promote the wrong answer to the question; What Would Jesus Do? His new book, Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person's Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds.

Jesse catches up with Brad Foster about the news across the Tasman. Today he'll chat about The Liberal Party's decision to abandon net zero by 2050 climate target; where Australia is at with the play sand recall and the latest in sport.

Catherine Ross, the Director of Library at Auckland Grammar School and creator of the blog 'The School Book Wizard' joins me with some recommendations that would make good Christmas presents. For Ages 10-12+ The Grimmelings by Rachael King (Aotearoa Author) Published in 2024 Wolf Road (#1 in series) by Alice Roberts Published in 2023 For Ages 13/14+ Best of all Worlds by Kenneth Oppel Published in 2025 For everyone and anyone (over the age of 11/12 depending on their reading maturity!) Alanna: The First Adventure (Book 1 in the Song of the Lioness Quartet) By Tamora Pierce Anniversary Edition published 2025

It feels like every day there is something new to be across when it comes to artificial intelligence and keeping across the hype and the fear is rather daunting. Fortunately like most things now, there's a podcast that has you covered! It's called The Last Invention and our podcast critic Ximena Smith tell Jesse whether it's good or not.

A Taranaki programme which provides training and pathways into work has won an environmental award. Tupu a Nuku is delivered by local iwi Ngati Maru and helps rangatahi develop conservation skills. The programme has won the Taranaki Regional Council's Environmental Action in the Community award for 2025. The judges said Tupu a Nuku exemplifies excellence in hands-on, culturally grounded conservation education and the programme's work will have inter-generational impacts. Jayden Waiwiri from the Tupu a Nuku team joins Jesse.

Last night at Parliament the Prime Minister's Space Prizes were presented. These prizes were established to recognise the talented people working in space and aviation and also to inspire younger people to get into the industry. And it seems like it's working, Sophie Ineson, a Year 12 student from Southland Girls' High School won the prize for Student Endeavour, for her project to design better wound care for astronauts. Sophie's prize is NZ$50,000 for tertiary study; she tells Jesse what she plans to do with it!

The Hawke's Bay East Coast Branch Construction Awards celebrates outstanding infrastructure achievements... and we reckon infrastructure in Hawkes Bay, post cyclone Gabrielle, is something we should all be excited about. Jesse talks to one of the judges Greg Lumsden.

A new report by Netsafe and the global anti scam alliance shows that New Zealand lost a record $3 billion to scams this year, which is up 30 percent from the prior year. In response the Government says it is taking action with a planned law change that it says will see potentially fraudulent ads being taken offline quicker. But is that enough? Jesse talks to former scam victim turned scam rescue adviser Glenn Baker.

It's time for our expert feature and today we're talking about navigating divorce & separation Alongside the death of a loved one, separation and divorce can be one of the most painful and difficult periods of someone's life. Divorce and separation coach Kimberlee Sweeney joins Jesse for the next 30 minutes to answer all your questions

You know it when you see it. An email from a co-worker or marketing pitch from a company that lands in your inbox, but you know it was written by artificial intelligence. AI promised to make work faster, smarter, and more efficient, but sometimes those emails take time to unpick and fix. There's a word for that, "workslop". It's content that masquerades as meaningful but requires others to interpret. Dr. Kate Niederhoffer is a social psychologist and vice president of BetterUp Labs. She co-authored a new study and says workslop is becoming a growing source of frustration in the workplace. Link to the survey here!

We're trying something new here on Afternoons, we've decided Monday is club day, a chance for Jesse to hit the clubs. If you have a club you'd like Jesse to join for the day please get in touch at afternoons@rnz.co.nz Today, we're starting Jesse's clubbing adventure with Barbs Peterson from Auckland based choir Stimmung.

Let's talk what to watch on the box now and who better to tell us what's good right now, than actor Michelle Langstone. Film Club (Three Now) Educators - Season Four (TVNZ)

Mimiro is an ancient Maori building technique that sees wooden supports fastened together using joints similar to tongue and groove and then the whole structure is fastened to the ground with rope. It's an example of building techniques that architect and academic Professor Anthony Hoete says could and should be used more in construction. He speaks to Jesse.

Last week we spotted an invitation to an event in Hamilton that had us intrigued; it was a conversation about how artificial intelligence can help identify the birds singing around us. We hear so much about how terrible AI is, we wanted to learn about how it could be used for good. Dr Andrew Lensen certainly thinks it can be, he's a computer scientist leading MBIE-funded "AI for good" work, including using computer vision to recognise individual kaka and related projects on kiwi call recognition.

Concern is sweeping the country admid a possible asbestos contamination of coloured play sands, with 120 schools and early play centers having contacted the Ministry of Education on this issue. Asbestos expert and co-director of the Environmental Innovation Centre Professor Terri-Ann Berry spoke with Jesse Mulligan on just how worried the public should be.

We all know the climate is in strife, and something needs to change. We've talked at length on Afternoons about Government, council and individual action and how it can make a difference, but what about our diets? In his Climate Matters Substack, Lindsay Wood posed the question: "would we all be better off eating horse instead of beef or lamb?" He joins Jesse to discuss.

On Tuesday night we held a Critter of the Week live event to celebrate ten years of talking endangered species. Nicola Toki Forest and Bird's Chief Executive and I chatted in front of a live audience, but we didn't want you to miss out - so we're playing some of the conversation for you today. We've heard about the grossest critters which were like something out of a horror film, so to cleanse our palettes, Jesse also asked Forest and Bird CEO Nicola Toki about the most beautiful ones.

Earlier this week we held a special event in Auckland celebrating a decade of Critter of the Week. Forest and Bird Chief Executive Nicola Toki and Jesse sat in front of a live audience to chat about critters and conservation. We so appreciate the people who took part - in person or watching via the livestream - and it was such a terrific evening we thought we should share it with our radio audience too.