The Weekend for Saturday 15 January 2022

8:05 Djokovic drama at Australian Open 

The story of the tennis player, the vaccine mandate and the federal government continues to twist and turn in Victoria. Novak Djokovic is set to be detained by Australian immigration officials again today as his lawyers urgently prepare to fight the cancellation of his visa for a second time. Djokovic has been ordered to attend an interview with immigration officials in Melbourne this morning, after which he will be formally detained, following a late-night court hearing on Friday. Emile is joined by veteran tennis journalist and broadcaster David Luddy who has been watching the case like a hawk. 

8:15 Political and royal omnishambles in the UK 

It feels like every week is a busy one in British politics, but this was an especially full one. Downing Street was forced to apologise to Buckingham Palace for two staff parties in No 10 on the night before Prince Philip's funeral. This comes after weeks of investigations, accusations and revelations about parties, work events and gatherings held by political staff at Number ten Downing St. 

The UK's Prime Minister Boris Johnston has been fending away questions about his involvement, saying he is waiting for the results of an independent inquiry led by Sue Gray. Meanwhile, Prince Andrew's military titles and royal patronages have been returned to the Queen and he will stop using the title His Royal Highness in an official capacity. This comes after a US court ruled that a civil action over sexual assault allegations brought by Virginia Giuffre could go ahead. So, what on earth is going on? Emile is joined by UK correspondent Olly Barratt. 

08:12 Rouben Azizian - Kazakhstan on a knife edge 

Foreign affairs commentators are optimistic a combustible situation in Kazakhstan has stabilised. Over the past couple of weeks Al Jazeera reports Kazakh security forces detained almost 10,000 people over the unrest, which descended into violence - at least 164 civilians are dead, including children, as well as 16 police. 

In an attempt to calm the unrest, the government was dismissed by president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and a state of emergency was declared - but the protest escalated into calls for a change in leadership. Earlier this week it was announced troops would start to leave Kazakhstan after Presidentt Tokayev nominated a new prime minister.

But where does this leave oil-rich Kazakhstan, a key geopolitical area between Europe and Asia? Rouben Azizian is the director of Massey University's Centre for Defence and Security Studies - he was a visiting professor at the Kazakhstan State University for eight years between 2006 and 2014.

9:05 Latif Nasser: the worst year on record 

Was 2021 the worst year on record? A lot of people have been saying they thought it was a real annus horribilis. But is it the worst we've seen as a species? It got co-host of the Radiolab podcast Latif Nasser think, and he went on a mission to find out. He came up with a few candidates for the worst year of all time and he joins me now to talk about the runners and riders in this horrifying race to the bottom.

9:30 Margalit Fox: The Confidence Men 

What three things would you want for a prison escape? Would a ouija board, a strong imagination and a credulous captor be on your list? They were key tools in 1916 for two prisoners of war in the First World War who carried out one of the most remarkable escapes in the history of the genre, without breaking a sweat. They're the subject of author and journalist Margalit Fox's latest book 'The Confidence Men'. 

10:05 Māmari Stephens: the Tohunga Suppression Act

There has been a lot of discussion over the previous year about what role Mātauranga Māori can have in Aotearoa New Zealand. There was the famous letter to the Listener in which 6 academics argued that it wasn't science, and a roaring response from Pākehā and Māori academics alike. 

In December the Waitangi Tribunal  found that "Māori were put at a disproportionate risk of being infected by Delta" and that Government was in breach of the Treaty of Waitangi for what the tribunal referred to as "political convenience". These ideas and disparities have a strong history in Aotearoa New Zealand, and no more so than in the Tohunga suppression act. But what actually was that, and what is it's legacy now? Emile is joined by Ahonuku - Reader in Law at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington Māmari Stephens. 

10:35 Lady and the Tramp: Humpridge 

Over the next summer months we'll be taking a few trips  around the country with the former Prime Minister, head of the UN's development programme, and tramping enthusiast Helen Clark, who after many years of travelling around the world has put her time in Aotearoa to good use by walking some of the Great Walks around the country.

Today we're hiking over Hump Ridge, and we're packing the camp kitchen! 

11:05 Who Lived There: St Mary's Tikitiki 

We're going on a journey into Aotearoa's past now! We're continuing our series  'Who Lived There' this morning, it's based on a book of the same name which came out last year. Jane King took the photographs and Nic McCloy researched and wrote down the stories of dozens of significant buildings and places. 

Nic is taking us through these amazing buildings over the course of the month. This weekend we're looking at churches and Nic's eye has fallen on St Mary's in Tikitiki. 

11:20 Nick Bollinger: sounds of Aotearoa's counter culture 

What exactly is counter culture? Were Baby Boomers every actually cool? Musician, historian and critic Nick Bollinger has been on a mission to find out what the cultural moment of the late 1960s and early 1970s sounded like in Aotearoa. He's got a book coming out later this year on the subject, but he's fresh out of the archive now and ready to play us some hits, from a period of great change.