Afternoons for Monday 16 October 2017

1:10 First song

1:15 Vodafone/Sky announcement reaction

Vodafone will offer a one-stop set top box including broadband internet, pay and free-to-air TV channels as well as the ability to subscribe to online services like Netflix.

The telecommunications company tried to merge with Sky TV in February but was denied by the Commerce Commission on the grounds the merged company would dominate the market.

In June when Sky said its sale and purchase agreement with Vodafone was terminated, it did say the two companies would continue to work together and today's announcement is the result of that.

We'll talk to the chief executive of the Telecommunications Users Association, Craig Young.

1:25 How to deal with contradictory scientific information

As we know, scientists don't always agree. For example some argue that we should ditch the food pyramid and that fats aren't the cause of heart disease - others strenuously reject this.

So where does that leave regular people trying to work out what to believe, and what advice to follow?

Professor Rainer Bromme of Muenster University in Germany is currently visiting the University of Auckland for its Distinguished Visitor Seminar, where he will talk about What citizens need to know for coping with science experts...

1:30 Bleed for You

When New Zealand born director, screenwriter and producer Vanessa Alexander discovered the global female hygiene market is set to reach 42 billion by 2022 she realised there was a huge opportunity to start moving some of those huge profits back to women themselves - rather than lining the pockets of male dominated companies like Johnson and Johnson.

So she set up Bleed for You - an organic, chemical free tampon delivery company - where 50 percent of the profits are given to charities that support women.

She tells us how it works and why she set it up.

1:40 Hidden Figures about Great Barrier Island

Lillian Grace from Figure.nz on the figures held about Great Barrier Island - which is north of the Coromandel Peninsula, 90km from downtown Auckland.

1:45 Great album: Grace Jones: Nightclubbing

2:10 Television Critic Jane Bowron

2:15 Black Sheep

William Ray tells the story of Richard Burgess - who may be the most prolific murderer New Zealand has ever seen.

It’s estimated the death toll his gang of outlaws inflicted while roving the goldfields of the South Island in the 1860s might have been 35 people!

2:35 Expert feature: the Church in NZ

Today's expert is religious historian Peter Lineham who's book Sunday Best has just been released looking at the role the church has played in New Zealand as well as the role New Zealand has played in the development of religion here.

It's an account about how our society and culture are intertwined with our religious past.

"Religion sat partly in the private sphere, and gaining an understanding of this ought to unlock explanations for many aspects of society and culture, including music, literacy, cultural memory, class consciousness, family formation and gender identity."

3:10 The Lost Art of Sleep

Our brains need sleep but our culture has other plans. Writer and former Jesuit priest Michael McGirr bid farewell to a good night's sleep when he became the father of twins. His quest to find a way to get more shut eye led him to explore what's going on in our bodies when we sleep and what happens if we don't get enough.

He discovers how some of our greatest achievers, like Shakespeare and Thomas Edison negotiated the world without enough sleep in his book, Snooze: The Lost Art of Sleep

3:35 Voices

3:45 The Pre-Panel Story of the Day and One Quick Question

4:05 The Panel with Barry Corbett and Irene Gardiner