Rnz: Afternoons With Jesse Mulligan

If you have one you'd like to share please reach out via text - 2101 - or you can email us, afternoons@rnz.co.nz. Today Tim joins Jesse to share his spooky tale.

A dubious honour for New Zealand this week. The country received the 'Dirty Ashtray' award at a WHO tobacco control conference, and that followed the news that we've fallen from second to 53rd in the global tobacco industry interference index. That's on top of news that the tobacco black market in Australia is doing a raging trade right now. All of this has had us thinking about smoking rates, reputation, vaping and the black market here in New Zealand. Professor Janet Hoek is co-director at ASPIRE Aotearoa, a University of Otago research centre, she joins Jesse.

The tv programme A Dog's Show ran from 1977 to 1992. It seems slightly bonkers in 2025, but for those of you who don't remember it, it was a show about sheepdogs wrangling sheep and for many it was must watch tv. Now a new feature film inspired by A Dogs Show is in production, due for release late next year.

Black Friday traditionally marks the start of the Christmas shopping season in the US and is the busiest shopping day of the year there. Over the years, retailers here have embraced the promotion, and we are now bombarded by offers of specials and discounts for Black Friday. But are these discounts really specials? And what do we need to look out to make sure we don't get end up getting sucked into the hype. Abby Damen from Consumer NZ chats to Jesse.

We want to start the show with some good news; Black Sticks' Grace O'Hanlon has been awarded goalkeeper of the year by the International Hockey Federation. It's the first time a New Zealander has won the prestigious award. Grace O'Hanlon joins Jesse.

Wallace Chapman previews tonight's instalment of The Panel.

It's time to talk about your money now, personal finance whizz Mary Holm joins Jesse and today she's going to address some of your feedback. Focusing on home ownership versus renting and investment strategies.

It's time for NZ Sporting History, and today Jesse is joined by our oldest living Olympic medalist Barry Magee. Barry is best remembered for taking home Bronze in the 1960 Rome Olympic marathon. In 1961 he led the world 10,000m rankings and was part of New Zealand's world-record-breaking 4 × 1 mile relay team. After retiring from international running in 1965, Barry moved into coaching, where he became one of the country's most influential distance running coaches.

It's time now for group chat, a chance for us to talk about the topics filling up your phone, distracting you from work or helping pass the time while you wait for coffee. Culture 101's Perlina Lau and Afternoons Senior Producer Olivia Wilson join Jesse to talk about Tom Cruise's Oscar win and whether honorary titles and awards actually devalue the prestige, plus if smoking cigarettes is back in vogue.

Recently on the show we've been talking a bit about Genetic Modification, and the Gene Technology bill currently in front of Parliament. So far, we've mostly focused on food. The pros, cons and issues with labelling. You can listen to all of those via the afternoons page on the RNZ website. Today we're looking at another application of the technology - helping us meet our predator free 2050 goal. To that end, Professor Peter Dearden is leading a research project at the university of Otago to create genetically modified wasps. He talks to Jesse.

When we talked about how the country is running out of cemetery space last week we were inundated with your messages. So when we saw that the NZ's first water crematorium, which was opened earlier this year, is proving a popular option for people, we wanted to know more. Also called Alkaline Hydrolysis, the process claims to be gentler on people and the environment. Debbie Richards started Christchurch Water Crematorium back in June, and she joins Jesse.

Yesterday on the show we started a conversation with Professor Boyd Swinburn about ultra processed foods, and new research he has been part of that shows just how damaging these foods are. Lots of you got in touch to say you want to know more about what constitutes as ultra processed and what we should be eating in its place. So today Jesse is joined by registered dietitian and co-founder of The Food Tree Rachael Wilson.

Dairy prices fell for the 7th time in a row at last night's Global Dairy Auction with butter - a hot topic of conversation this year - falling 7.6%. When prices were on the up a few months ago, the talk was all about how our prices move in line with global prices. So now that they're heading down - so should the price of butter in the shops right? NZX Head Of Dairy Insights Cristina Alvarado chats to Jesse.

Time now to catch up with Our Changing World's Claire Concannon, she's been talking to an Auckland-based team of chemists that have developed a new way to help oil and water mix.

Wednesday means we're halfway through the week, which is often when all cooking inspiration, or indeed motivation, goes out the window, But don't worry, we've got you! Kelly Gibney is with Jesse to share a perfect mid-week recipe.

Time for our weekly travel segment Heading Off. On this segment last week we focussed on slow travel - and we continue that theme this week. "Welcome to my Garden" is a network of free guest accommodation across the world where travellers can camp for free in a host's garden. The only proviso? You must be a slow traveller. Brigitte Masse and her partner have just returned from six months of slow travel around the world and say using "Welcome to my Garden" was one the highlights of their time away

A landmark trans-Tasman dance collaboration will honour Douglas Wright, one of New Zealand's most revered choreographers. The restaging of his iconic work Gloria is being presented by The New Zealand Dance Company (NZDC) and Co3 Contemporary Dance Australia, for next year's Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts New Zealander Raewyn Hill is Founding Artistic Director of Co3 Contemporary Dance - and she joins Jesse from our Wellington studio.

This morning - New Zealand time - the US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly - 427 to1- in favour of the Epstein Files Transparency ACT. That means the US Justice Department has to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein. And while that all might feel a long way away from New Zealand, this is a story that seems to have gripped the world, so we wanted to know more. Washington DC correspondent Mitch McCann joins Jesse to discuss.

Ultra-processed foods are becoming so dominant in our diets, they are causing a surge in diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and depression, that's according to research that has just been released this afternoon. The findings are in three papers by a group of scientists from around the world, including one from New Zealand and published in the medical journal, The Lancet. It's estimated that consumption of ultra processed food here in New Zealand is around 50-60 percent of our diet. The New Zealander who co-authored one of The Lancet papers is Auckland University Professor Boyd Swinburn. He talks to Jesse.

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?