24 Nov 2017

The Panel with Leonie Freeman and Mark Knoff-Thomas (Part 2)

From The Panel, 4:05 pm on 24 November 2017

The BBC has released the notes its staff made on the auditions of various artists. Many of the artists went on to become some of the greatest musicians of their generation but at the time Elton John material was labelled as "pretentious" and "dull", The Who were assessed as "A slightly above average R&B group" and David Bowie was called an "amateur sounding vocalist". Meanwhile the music quality of CDs, Vinyl and Streaming has been tested and CDs have come out on top. We ask the panellists how they listen to music. What the Panelists Leonie Freeman and Mark Knoff-Thomas want to talk about. New Zealand retailers have latched on to the 'Black Friday' phenomenon, offering deals and bargains depite New Zealanders not traditonally celebrating Thanksgiving. We ask the panellists what they think about these deals being offered and also look at the rise of Amazon in Australia - will it hurt reatilers here? Smoking rates aren't dropping noticeably despite the push for a Smokefree Aotearoa. Massey University professor of public health Marewa Glover says one of the reasons is that there is misinformation being spread about e-cigarettes. Research out of England states that vaping is 95 per cent less harmful than traditional tobacco. Dr Glover explains why vaping is the key to bring down smoking rates. A self-taught scientist is attempting to prove once and for all that the Earth is flat. The Californian is hoping to dispell what he believes is a conspiracy, the Earth is a spehere, by launching himself 1,800 feet high this weekend, in a rocket he built from scrap metal. The panellists discuss how this theory continues to have its supporters.