The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

Olympic paddler Luuka Jones-Yaxley's lined up an unexpected project after her success in Paris.  Shortly after retiring from the high-performance canoe Slalom at the Paris Olympics, Luuka received a call and an offer to appear as Charlize Theron’s stunt double in the Netflix film Apex.  She says the offer felt like an 'April Fools joke' at first, but she was on a plane to the South Island to begin filming before she knew it.  "I just received at text from a friend down in the South Island and he called me and said he's been doing a bunch of water safety on some films and that this film had approached him and they needs a kayak double for Charlize Theron - and it kind of went from there."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Travel expert Megan Singleton's been in New York seeing the sights, and making some unexpected discoveries.  After she learned the Abyssinian Baptist Church was booked out, she checked out the spring blossoms in Central Park, explored the Met and visited Little Island - which is built on wine glass shaped stilts across 4 acres in the Hudson River.   Read more of Megan's travel tips here. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Additives are added to processed food to keep it fresher for longer but these might unexpectedly affect the health of the microbes in our guts. A diverse microbiome is key for our overall wellbeing, as it influences everything from our mood to our metabolism and our brain health, and processed food can have a harmful impact. Naturopath and wellness expert Erin O'Hara explained further.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last week I started my editorial with: ‘Well, it was a rather chaotic, eventful week in politics wasn’t it’, and went on to speak about how I thought it was a mistake that the Prime Minister has decided to decline appearing in a weekly spot on TVNZ’s Breakfast.   But it appears that ‘chaotic’ and ‘eventful’ is likely to be how we’re going to describe the next 27 weeks until the election, if the coalition can hold itself together through to November.   The nonsense and the scheming this week included what could quite possibly have been a leaked story about embattled TVNZ reporter Maiki Sherman, lawyers letters flying between media companies keen to report the juicy details, Winston Peters releasing emails under an OIA request revealing the Prime Minister’s potentially damaging views on the US war against Iran, and a feisty retaliation by the National Party on NZ First. All I could think at the end of this week was - surely both the media and politicians can do better.   I get it - everyone is coming out firing on all cylinders - that’s what you’ve got to do in election year. National has a new campaign leader and communications adviser, and I am sure many National voters like the new fighting spirit being shown by the Nats. After all, the Foreign Affairs Minister was out of line this week.   But with Winston Peters stating, 'No, we won’t do a deal with Labour or their Marxist and separatist mates', then you’d think that having ruled out being part of an opposing coalition there would be some shared effort to sell this one to voters.   The number of people who this week said to me, 'I don’t want to vote for any of them' was a bit of a surprise. Civility is often put aside during an election year, and yet I think it’s what most of us are craving right now. We’d like the people we have entrusted to run the country to act like grown-ups and get on with the job without the backstabbing.  Budget month is going to be tough, and yet all National and the coalition have to do to sell this budget is deliver it straight-up. We all know the story - whatever economic recovery and confidence we were gaining heading into 2026 has been wiped out by decisions made elsewhere in the world.   It’s not just our story - it’s happening everywhere. This week, the Bank of England warned inflation could hit 6.2 percent in the UK by early 2027, and food prices could rise by 6-7 percent by the end of this year. In Australia inflation rose to 4.6 percent in March, with an expectation it will peak higher with consumer prices now growing at their fastest pace in two and a half years.   No. It’s not the economic recovery story National was hoping to campaign on, but with little policy or innovation coming from the Labour Party there is an opportunity to double down on their fiscally responsible approach to managing the economy.   The revelation of Christopher Luxon’s support for the war wrecking our economy - isn’t helpful for him. But what would be more damaging is having coalition party leaders calling out each other for poor judgement over the coming months. Luxon has done a good job keeping the coalition together, but if they’re going to spend the next 6 months sabotaging each other rather than continuing to work on how they can come together on policy, selling the budget will be the least of National’s problems.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

 Fired duck livers with port and cream  Cook time: 25 minutes  Prep time: 30 minutes  Serves: 6 250 gm duck livers   1/2 cup red wine   1/4 cup port   3/4 cup cream   6 field mushrooms   1/2 onion, peeled and sliced thin   2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced 2 tbsp sunflower oil   Salt and pepper Take a large cast iron or similar pan. Heat to a high heat.   Add the oil and quickly add in the onions and garlic. Then add in the livers and continue to cook for a couple of minutes until the livers are well coloured on both sides.   Add the red wine and port and quickly reduce. Once it reduces by half, add in the cream, mushrooms, salt and pepper. When the livers are pink inside, remove and continue to reduce the sauce until thick.   To serve, toast some sourdough or similar and spoon the livers and sauce over the top. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's growing concerns about the impact of social media on young people, with advocates calling for tighter regulations. Politicians have voiced support for a teen social media ban in line with Australia, but experts say more needs to be done in this area. B416 advisor Jade Varney says education is important, but the technology's gone too far to let young people use it without a proper intervention.  "These technology platforms have been engineered to intercept our control functions in our brains, and a young person relying on the knowledge they've been taught in school just may not be enough at this current stage." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The A-League will have a new champion after Auckland FC ended Melbourne City's season in a thrilling 14-goal penalty shootout. The Kiwi side will play Adelaide United across a two-leg semi-final. CEO Nick Becker says it was 'crazy' watching the team's performance on the night. "Sport is such an incredible thing, I think with football especially, because it's such a low-scoring game - the scarcity of goals and then the drama... it was a real emotional rollercoaster.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

James Reyne is regarded as an Australian musical icon thanks to his success in Australian Crawl, and he's set to celebrate the band's success in his new tour. Alongside the full band, Reyne will be performing the hits of Australian Crawl next month in Auckland and Wellington. Reyne says he knows it's unusual to celebrate the fall of a band, but it felt right. "I'm very grateful for that, as I get older, I realise how grateful I am."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Other Catherine by Lauren Keenan: this is the story of two women bound together through generations of a family, each making their own way in a turbulent world. In 1793, eighteen year old Catherine is sentenced to the colonies and finds herself in the abject misery of the hold of a convict ship sailing to Australia where, despite the horrors and deprivation, she manages to forge enduring bonds with some of the other convicts. Two generations later, another Catherine - known in her native reo as Keita - finds herself and her loved ones caught up in the arrival of sealers and whalers to the shores of Aotearoa, and a profound change to their way of life. History and blood unites these two women, each of whom navigate their way through periods of great change. Murder in Paris ’68 by Edward Chisholm. Paris in 1968 was a world of chic, celebrity and glamour alongside a parallel underworld in which the demimonde lived dangerous and darker lives. Alain Delon was a movie star of the era - globally famous, he moved in fashionable circles. When a young man was found dead on a road outside Paris it was initially assumed he was indigent, but his clothes and well manicured fingernails told a different story and he was soon linked to Delon. This is extraordinary narrative nonfiction in which politicians, police, diplomats, gangsters, petty criminals and a raft of famous names became caught up in scandal and corruption.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin Full Show Podcast for Sunday 26 April 2026, in 2024 mental health campaigner Jazz Thornton feared for her life when a stalker flew to New Zealand and turned up on her doorstep.  She was shocked to learn New Zealand had no laws in place to protect her.  She joins Francesca to talk her own situation and her new documentary Stalked. It's been 40 years since the end of iconic Australian band Australian Crawl, lead singer James Reyne is commemorating the end with a tour, he joins Francesca to talk about the hey day of the band that shaped the sound of Australian music. When Dr Clive Price moved to New Zealand from the UK, he saw gaps in our bowel screening processes. He joins Francesca to talk about what he's doing to help younger people be more proactive about bowel screening. Francesca looks at Christpher Luxon's decision to cancel his weekly Breakfast interview with TVNZs Tova O'Brien and questions whether it makes him look like he can't handle the pressure. And the panel discuss Anzac Day and whether it hit a bit differently this year with the current world situation. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mushrooms have been found to have plenty of health benefits - and they  enhance immunity and protect the brain through high levels of antioxidant compounds. They also give you a Vitamin D boost, improve gut health and have been linked to reduced cancer risk. Naturopath and wellness expert Erin O'Hara explained further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Walk through almost any neighbourhood today and you’ll see an oodle - Goldendoodles. Labradoodles. Cavapoos. Cockapoos. These 'designer dogs' have exploded in popularity, often chosen for a simple reason - they’re supposed to be easier.  Easier to train. Better with kids. A perfect blend of the 'best' traits from two breeds.  But a new scientific study suggests the reality might be a lot messier.  Crossbreeding isn’t new, but “doodles” are a modern phenomenon.  The logic seems straightforward. combine two desirable breeds (like a poodle and a Labrador), and you’ll get a dog that inherits the best of both.  It’s a concept rooted in something called hybrid vigour, the idea that mixing genetic lines can reduce inherited health problems and improve traits.  But behaviour isn’t that simple. In a study published in PLOS One, researchers set out to test whether these popular beliefs hold up.  They focused on three common poodle crossbreeds:  Cockapoos (cocker spaniel × poodle) Labradoodles (Labrador × poodle) Cavapoos (Cavalier King Charles spaniel × poodle)  And compared them to their purebred parent breeds. Instead of relying on anecdote, they collected large-scale behavioural data from over 9,400 dogs, one-third of which were crossbreeds. Their owners completed detailed surveys covering 12 behavioural traits, including:  Trainability  Aggression Attachment to owners Fear responses Excitability Interaction with other dogs  Across the dataset, the results challenged the popular narrative.  Crossbreeds showed more behavioural problems in 44 percent of comparisons and they showed fewer problems in only 10 percent. In other words, doodles were more likely to have behavioural challenges than their purebred parents, not less.  The differences weren’t trivial.  Across all three crossbreeds, researchers found higher levels of:  Non-social fear (e.g. loud noises, unfamiliar objects) Separation-related behaviours (distress when left alone) Excitability and over-arousal  Cockapoos stood out the most, showing the highest levels of undesirable behaviours compared to their parent breeds. Cavapoos also showed elevated issues, but Labradoodles were more nuanced - better behaved than poodles, but worse than Labrador retrievers.  Behaviour is what scientists call a complex trait, it emerges from the interaction of genetics, environment, training and early life experiences.  The data showed that owners of crossbred dogs were more likely to be first-time dog owners and rely on non-professional training advice  This is important information as a dog’s behaviour isn’t just what it is, it’s what it experiences.  As demand for designer dogs has surged, so has poor breeding practice.  High demand can lead to:  Less controlled breeding Reduced focus on temperament Stress on breeding dogs Early-life environments that aren’t ideal  All of these factors can shape behaviour long before a puppy ever reaches a home.  This study isn’t really about whether doodles are “good” or “bad” dogs. It’s about how mixing two breeds doesn’t guarantee a specific behaviour and what matters most is:  Early socialisation Consistent training Environment Informed expectations  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.