RNZ: Sunday Morning

Author Neville Peat was captivated by the 2007 discovery of three cases of Scotch whisky embedded in ice under Shackleton's hut in Antarctica. It inspired his latest book - Shackleton's Whisky.

This week the Mediawatch team looks at: the controversial publication of National Standards stats; an overseas investigation unreported here; TVNZ cuts another current affairs show; Paul Henry hassled by critics and; a paper hits a bum note.

Comparative Politics lecturer at Victoria University, Dr Jon Johansson, talks US politics and what he predicts is the inevitable failure of the current Republican Campaign for the White House.

Karen Brown Insight follows a pilot programme to screen for bowel cancer - NZ's second biggest cause of cancer death.

What the listeners have to say on today's programme.

Wayne looks at an extraordinary citizens' case against certain provisions in the US National Defense Authorization Act. A law suit by a group of academics, journalists and activists resulted in a New York Federal judge permanently enjoining the controversial Section 1021 with its allegedly Orwellian measures. The Obama administration swiftly appealed. After Wayne's analysis of the NDAA, Chris talks with two of the plaintiffs, Chris Hedges and Tangerine Bolen.

Adrian and Chris take a big picture look at the way the international community has dealt with climate change since the 1980s and where it's headed now.

In an attempt to save money, government departments are cutting staff. But when some of the departing staff turn up as highly-paid consultants, where are the savings?

Ideas explores the place of children in a democracy with: Jessica Palairet - a member of the Commissioner of Children's Young People's Reference Group; Caleb O'Fee - the president of Feilding High School's student council; Cindy Blackstock of First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada; and Bronwyn Hayward, the author of 'Children, Citizens and the Environment: Nurturing a Democratic Imagination in a Changing World'.

Dr Elisabeth McDonald this week delivered the 2012 Suffrage Day lecture at the University of Otago. She says that despite law reforms over the last 30 years, there's been little real change in the level of sexual violence, conviction rates for sexual offending, or the distressing impact of prosecution experienced by complainants. She's been investigating the problem and talks to Chris about how things might change so real justice is served.

A right royal row over private pictures; shots fired over the blurred boundary between old and new media; The ODT's editor on resisting reinvention; which paper had its eagle eye on the Russia's Tsar?

Richard Towle, UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency) Regional Representative for Australia, NZ, PNG and the Pacific says some of the measures being considered by Parliament in the Immigration Amendment Bill - also known as the Mass Arrivals Bill - are reasonable. He tells Chris that others are punitive and disproportionate to the risk.

Philippa Tolley asks whether weight loss surgery is worth the cost.

The Mediawatch team runs through listeners' queries and comments and updates recent stories from the programme - with guest Alison McCullough. This month: The Herald's new format; flaky columns; Christchurch two years on; one small mistake by a man; the La Leche League hits back; chickens on the cover; bloggers vs. the mainstream; a shoutout for Stockholm; who first warned the Tsar?

Each week Wayne gives fresh insights into a wide variety of topics of national and international concern, followed by Chris Laidlaw's discussion of the issue with guests. This week Wayne considers Anglo Saxon attitudes towards punishment, and the trend in some countries, including NZ, towards privatised prisons. Chris follows-up with two guests - David Brown, Emeritus Professor of Crown Law at the University of New South Wales and Tony Taylor, Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Victoria University.