The Weekend for Sunday 13 January 2019

 

08:12 Theresa May at odds with Parliament as Brexit vote approaches

The withdrawal agreement Theresa May has negotiated with the European Union faces a crunch vote in the British House of Commons this week. The British Prime Minister has been speaking to Labour MPs and union leaders in a bid to try to get her deal through the Commons, where scores of her own Conservative MPs oppose it. Five days of debate are underway over the withdrawal agreement, but lawmakers have brought greater pressure on May to come up with a "Plan B" if she loses the vote, and the risks of a "no-deal Brexit" loom on the horizon. Providing analysis is Lisa O'Carroll, the Guardian's Brexit correspondent.

 

8:35 Raqi Syed: Filmmaking that plays with reality

Raqi Syed is a leading figure in developing New Zealand's virtual reality film industry. She is a Sundance New Frontier Story Lab Fellow, and is developing a short film that will be part of Sundance's New Frontier programme in 2020, in which viewers can experience the story as both a spectator and as a main character. Raqi has worked on numerous Weta Digital films and teaches design technology at Victoria University.

 

9:05 Craig Richard: Whisper therapy with ASMR

Craig Richard is the founder of ASMR University, author of the book Brain Tingles, and professor of biopharmaceutical sciences at Shenandoah University, in Virginia. He studies the curious online phenomenon of ASMR, in which viewers use videos of people whispering or making soft sounds as a tool for relaxation, or even getting to sleep. Dr. Richard, who uses ASMR as a relaxation aide himself, explores whether the scientific evidence on the trend stacks up - and whether it matters.

 

9:30 Insight: Should New Zealand schools ban mobile phones?

When students in France returned to school in September, their mobile phones were no longer allowed - by law. But how are New Zealand schools dealing with the constant distraction? Insights heads into classrooms to find out more.

 

10:05 Rukmini Callimachi: Chasing ISIS

Rukmini Callimachi is the New York Times' foreign correspondent covering ISIS and Al-Qaeda. She is renowned for her work using abandoned paperwork created by members of the Islamic State - including invoices, registration forms, and human resources documents - to discover new information about the inner workings of the group. Her podcast series, Caliphate, centres on Rukmini's interviews with a young Canadian jihadi whose accounts of his time in Syria include killings - and seeming remorse. She is a three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, and prior to the Times, reported for the Associated Press in West Africa.

 

10:35 Ashleigh Young: Creativity and self-consciousness

Poet and essayist Ashleigh Young was the first New Zealander to win Yale University's Windham Campbell Prize for Non Fiction. Her second book, Can You Tolerate This? , is an acclaimed collection of essays about isolation and coming of age in heartland New Zealand. Ashleigh works as an editor at Victoria University Press, and in 2019 will edit The Friday Poem for The Spinoff Review of Books. Her poetry and essays have been widely published, and she blogs at eyelashroaming.com. 

 

11:05 Musical Obsessions: Simon Price on Manic Street Preachers

Simon Price is a Welsh music journalist and DJ, whose book, Everything (A Book About Manic Street Preachers) is acclaimed as the definitive work on the long-running Welsh rock band. He wrote and edited music journalism for Melody Maker for nine years and was formerly the rock and pop critic at the Independent On Sunday. Simon chooses his favourite Manic Street Preachers tracks, and discusses their surprise second act as a three-piece act after the band's lyricist and guitarist Richey Edwards disappeared in 1995.

 

11:45 Kitchen Stories: Timēna Apa cooks Samoan food 

Timēna Apa is a director and editor, including for Coconet TV, New Zealand's largest hub for Pacific content. She loves cooking Samoan food, and brings recipes for Sapasui (Chop Suey), Oka (Raw fish with coconut cream), and Pineapple Pie.