Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Guest details for Saturday Morning, 20 September 2008

8:12 Nomi Prins

Nomi Prins is a journalist and author whose work focuses on corporate governance, economic policy, Wall Street and the political/regulatory environment. Before becoming a journalist, she served as a managing director for Goldman Sachs in New York and ran the analytics group at Bear Stearns in London. Her 2005 book, Other People's Money: The Corporate Mugging of America (New Press, ISBN: 9781595580634), goes into great detail about how Wall Street took advantage of Glass-Steagal repeal, and exactly how this would cause the kind of crisis developing at present, and her 2006 book, Jacked: How "Conservatives" are Picking your Pocket (Whether You Voted For Them Or Not) (PoliPoint Press, ISBN: 9780976062189), recounts her travels across America and the financial issues affecting US citizens. She is a senior fellow at the Demos network for ideas and action.

8:30 Michael Brooks

British journalist and author Michael Brooks holds a PhD in quantum physics and is a consultant at the weekly magazine New Scientist. His writing has also appeared in the Guardian, the Independent, the Observer, the Times Higher Educational Supplement, and Playboy. In 2006 he resigned from the position of senior features editor at New Scientist to write a book based on his cover feature exploring scientific anomalies (including placebos): 13 Things That Don't Make Sense. It will be published in New Zealand next year. He is currently co-writing a TV series that will explore the known universe through the eyes and imagination of Professor Stephen Hawking.

9:05 Alastair Thompson

Alastair Thompson is the co-founder, co-editor and general manager of independent online media organisation Scoop. As well as New Zealand political coverage and comment, Scoop is also conducting a campaign for electronic election integrity in the United States. Alastair and his wife Wendy recently went on a pilgrimage across Northern Spain, walking 810km from the village of St Jean Pied de Port in France to the city of Santiago Compostella in Spain.

9:45 Kate's Klassic

Kate Camp will discuss the 1961 novella The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (Penguin Modern Classics, ISBN: 978-0-14-118142-4), which was first published as an article in The New Yorker magazine.

10:05 Playing Favourites with Aidan Lang

Aidan Lang has had a career in opera spanning 23 years. He is currently General Director of the NBR New Zealand Opera, which will present the Glyndebourne Festival production of Janacek's opera Jenufa (in Auckland from 20 to 27 September; Wellington from 11 to 18 October).

11:05 Roger Beattie

Canterbury entrepreneur and conservationist Roger Beattie lived on the Chatham Islands for many years, and established the first ocean-based blue pearl farm at Whangamoe Inlet in 1989 (he now has five farms around New Zealand). He brought wild Pitt Island sheep and the Buff Wekas back from the Chathams to the mainland; he has been breeding them with the goal of harvesting them commercially. He also harvests giant kelp from Akaroa harbour for kelp pepper and organic fertiliser.

11:30 Alanna Mitchell

Canadian writer Alanna Mitchell is an associate at the International Institute for Sustainable Development, and author of the acclaimed 2004 book, Dancing at the Dead Sea: Tracking the World's Environmental Hotspots (Transworld). Her new book is Seasick: the Hidden Ecological Crisis of the Global Ocean (Pier 9, ISBN: 9781741962307).

Music played on the programme

The Temptations: Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)
The 1970 single from the 1995 2CD compilation: Anthology
(Motown)
Played at around: 9:40

Playing Favourites with Aidan Lang:

Edmunds Lydeck, Len Cariou, Victor Garber: Pretty Women
From the 1979 original cast recording of Sweeney Todd
(RCA)
Played at around 10:15

Wiener Philharmoniker, conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras: Wedding Dance
From the 1981 recording of Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen
(Decca)
Played at around 10:25

Concerto Vocale, conducted by Rene Jacobs, with Bernada Fink and Christoph Prégardien: Illustratevi, o Cieli (final duet)
From the 1992 recording of Monteverdi's Il Ritorno d'Ulisse
(Harmonia Mundi)
Played at around 10:35

Julia Zenko (vocal) and Gideon Kremer (violin): Yo Soy Maria
From the 1998 recording of Piazzola's Maria De Buenos Aires
(Teldec)
Played at around 10:45

Staatskapelle Dresden, conducted by Marek Janowski, with Hans Günter Nöcker (baritone), Jeannine Altmeyer (soprano), Matti Salminen (bass): final duet, Act 2
From the 1984 recording of Wagner's Gotterdammerung
(Eurodisc)
Played at around 10:55

Studio operators

Wellington engineer: Anna Veale
Christchurch engineer: Hamish Doake