Sunday Morning for Sunday 19 December 2021

8:12: Poll: Covid disrupts two thirds of Kiwis' holiday plans 

New Zealanders are going to be having their summer holidays - many of them in other areas - regardless of Covid-19. 
That's one of the key findings from the latest survey conducted by Research New Zealand, who polled a sample of Kiwis on what they were planning to do over the Christmas/New Year holiday period and whether their plans had been impacted by Covid.
The poll found that two in every three people have had their plans disrupted by Covid, but that's not stopping them from leaving their local areas over summer, with 44% of respondents stating they intend to travel to another part of the country during the holiday period. 
Research NZ Partner Emanuel Kalafatelis is with us to cover off their final poll of the year. 

8:19 Professor Gary McLean on the Omicron variant 

We may think we have a handle on the Omicron variant, but are we sure? People are certainly being hospitalised, and some are dying, albeit thankfully in low numbers.
Dr Angelique Coetzee in South Africa, the woman who alerted the world to this Covid-19 variant, says there's no need to hospitalise people with "mild cases" of Omicron. So why is there so much global consternation? 
Dr Gary McLean is a Professor in molecular immunology at London Metropolitan University and a researcher with Imperial College. He's an international authority on coronaviruses. He joins Sunday Morning for the final time this year to discuss the Omicron variant and the question not of Long Covid but Hard Covid, down the track. 

8:34 End in sight for teacher on seven-day marathon odyssey 

For a lot of people, completing a marathon is a once-in-a-lifetime achievement that they can dine out on for years after. 
West Auckland primary teacher Harrison Sanders doesn't fit into that category. The 23-year-old is about to set out on his seventh marathon in seven days (a total distance of 295.4 kilometres) to raise money for children who are doing it tough this Christmas. 
Sanders was hoping to raise $5000 to buy food vouchers, stationery and sporting equipment for children in need ahead of the new school year, but by Saturday morning he had already powered past the $7000 mark. Each marathon has been done on the same route, starting at Hobsonville School and ending there too. 
Harrison joins the show to preview his seventh and final marathon this week.

8:39 The Weekend Panel with Lynda Hallinan and Chris Wikaira  

Joining us on the panel this morning are journalist and author Lynda Hallinan and BRG Communications and Public Affairs Director Chris Wikaira. Among other topics, they'll be discussing Omicron threatening to cast a shadow over Summer, whether the tide is turning against the Government, the townhouse bill becoming law, and do we all need to be slowed down on our streets?

9:06 Mediawatch

This week Mediawatch looks back at how the media handled 2021 - a stressful year with plenty of bad news to report. Also: a former news editor tells Mediawatch our news media are becoming less centrist and more ideological. 

9:37 Calling Home: Dean Treml in Luzern 

Hawke's Bay native Dean Treml is a self-employed photographer who shoots mostly sports and has been working for Red Bull for over 20 years, having started out in 1999 when he was still living in New Zealand. Many of his images have become iconic and an integral part of the brand's history. 
Treml, wife Romina and son Diego live in the countryside in the canton of Luzern, about 25 minutes drive from Luzern city and 35 minutes from Zurich. They've owned their current home  (which is a 140-year-old farmhouse) for three and a half years, and have no plans of leaving the area anytime soon. 
Along with his Red Bull work, Dean has covered Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, Rugby World Cups, the America's Cup, and the Le Mans 24 hour race, among myriad other big sporting events. He's Calling Home this morning. 

10:04 The Kiwi photographer on Ukraine's frontline 

New Zealand photojournalist Amos Chapple has just returned from a stint on the frontlines of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. 
Working for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Chapple travelled to the frontline to find out what the situation is like there amidst talks of an invasion from Russia. 
It was only seven years ago that Russia seized part of southern Ukraine and backed separatists who started a conflict in the east, but Chapple says the Ukrainian soldiers he spent time with dismissed the threat of attack as little more than "political games."    
Nevertheless, a Russian military buildup near Ukraine continues to raise fears in Kiev and the West that Moscow is about to attack its neighbour.
Chapple, who is now back at his Prague base, reflects on his time on the frontline.  

10:25 The IT worker who threw away £340million of Bitcoin

Welsh IT worker James Howells was an early Bitcoin adapter, having first joined the network in February 2009. 
He has spent the last eight years asking the Newport City Council for permission to search its landfill after claiming he unintentionally dumped 7,500 units of the cryptocurrency (now worth £340million) in mid-2013. In fact, he's even gone as far as offering the council a quarter of any treasure that is found. 
However, bosses at Newport council have refused to even sit down with him to discuss the possibility of doing something, despite the fact the former landfill operations manager had entertained the idea of a search.  
Howells says he inadvertently threw out the hard drive containing the crypto fortune when he was cleaning out his office back in 2013.
But he's not giving up hope of one day finding his fortune. 

10.35 Allyson Gofton on the changing face of Christmas eating 

Christmas Day is a time of tradition for a lot of people, but that sense of tradition doesn't always extend to the dinner table. Indeed, more and more people are shunning the season's traditional fare in favour of alternative options.
The queen of New Zealand kitchens, food writer and author, Alysson Gofton, joins the show to give listeners a few tips on what they could serve up at Christmas to ensure people aren't left underwhelmed by another stodgy and predictable December 25 offering. 
She'll outline a few delicious Christmas alternatives and explain how ham, turkey and baked vegetables are becoming the ghosts of Christmas Past for a lot of people. 

You can find Allyson's recipe for Christmas Baklava here, Apple Spice Glazed Ham and Slow Roast Fillet of Beef

11:05 Why Homo sapiens are doomed to go extinct 

In his new book, A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth, British palaeontologist and evolutionary biologist Dr Henry Gee offers a rather blunt assessment of why humanity might already be a dead species walking. 
Pointing to falling birth rates, pollution, lack of genetic variation and stress caused by living in overcrowded cities, Dr Gee, who is also the long-time editor at the science journal, Nature, outlines why the human species is set not just for shrinkage but collapse. 
Dr Gee points to habitat destruction and something called 'extinction debt' (the future extinction of a species due to events of the past) as the most insidious threat to humankind, writing that as soon as 2100, the global population size is likely to be less than it is now. 

11:40 How new eyedrops could improve close-up vision 

A new FDA-approved eye drop medicine could replace reading glasses for millions of people who have age-related blurry vision.
The newly-approved eye drop, Vuity, hit the market in the US this month and has been billed by the company as a "life changer" for people who have trouble seeing close-up. The new medicine is said to take effect in about 15 minutes, with one drop in each eye providing sharper vision for six to 10 hours.  
Vuity is the first FDA-approved eye drop to treat age-related blurry near vision, also known as presbyopia. 
Dr Sid Ogra is an Oculoplastic and Cataract surgeon working at both Greenlane Clinical Centre (Auckland District Health Board), as well as the Manukau SuperClinic. He joins the show to explain how the eye drops work and what they can do for vision.   

11:48 The US year in review with Karen Kasler 

Our US correspondent Karen Kasler will join us for the last time this year, talking about the state of America and the big stories that are in play there at the moment. 
Karen, who is the Ohio Statehouse Bureau chief, will discuss why Joe Biden is so unpopular, whether 'woke' has had its day, why Americans are being told to mistrust birds, and, given what the House Select Committee is hearing, can Donald Trump really make a run for the presidency in 2024?