RNZ: Sunday Morning

Ross Roberts is a geotechnical and geological specialist at the Auckland Council. He talks about a 2015 engineers' report provided to Auckland Transport that recommended a cheap solution to monitor land problems at Rawene carpark.  Now it's costing millions to fix. 

Gisborne District councillor Meredith Akuhata-Brown explains why she thinks the name Poverty Bay should be dropped altogether. Her comments come after the Council voted to submit to the NZ Geographic Board that the name be changed to Turanganui a Kiwa/ Poverty Bay - a dual name.

Wallace reads texts, emails, tweets and Facebook feedback received from listeners.

The King's Singers are considered masters of harmony. They've developed their own techniques and hold workshops educating other a cappella groups. The double Grammy-winning King's Singers in in New Zealand in March and one of them is a New Zealander - baritone Chris Bruerton has been with the group since 2012. He and long-time singer Jonathan Howard talk to Wallace. And The King's Singers perform in Christchurch on 8 March, Wellington on 10 March with the Voices New Zealand Chamber choir as part of the New Zealand Festival and in Auckland as part of the Auckland Arts Festival on 11 March.

British film director Sally Potter is best known for her 1992 arthouse film Orlando with Tilda Swinton, based on the novel by Virginia Woolf. She's been writing and directing films since she left school at 16 and has written every script she's directed. Potter is a groundbreaking female storyteller and one of the UK's foremost film directors. Her latest film, the political comedy The Party, starring Timothy Spall and Kristin Scott Thomas, took out The Guild film prize at the 2017 Berlin Film Festival. She says it took a mere two weeks to shoot, in a pressure-cooker atmosphere. Sally Potter's website also features a section called SP-ARK an online educational area for film-makers.

Kiwi actor Simon London is best known for his role in The Hobbit playing elf Feren but how he's returning to Auckland for the Auckland Arts Festival production of 1984. It's been touring Australia for a year and he saw it there - now he's playing Charrington in the NZ season. London says Robert Icke and Duncan MacMillan's adaptation reimagines the story and isn't a piece of conventional theatre - it's a visceral experience that really grabs theatregoers like no other. 1984 runs at the Auckland Arts Festival from 9-25 March.

A former drug policy advisor to the UK's Labour government is in New Zealand to talk about how psychedelic drugs could help control a number of mental health problems and why the war on drugs is a failure. Professor David Nutt has carried out recent clinical trials using LSD and psilocybin (or magic mushroom juice) to see how it affects the brain and why, in some cases, it helps relieve anxiety and depression. He was also sacked from his advisory job after he suggested the decriminalisation of drugs to reduce harm and believes that alcohol is more dangerous than drugs. Professor Nutt is holding a workshop in Christchurch on clinical management of anxiety and depression. He's also speaking at the University of Auckland on drug law reform. His public lecture is in Auckland on 26 February, 6pm.

Steve James is best remembered as the director of the award-winning "Hoop Dreams" documentary in 1994, inexplicably snubbed for an Oscar nomination. But on March 5 (NZ time) at the 90th Academy Awards he's in the running, for his documentary "Abacus: Small Enough to Jail". It's the story of what happened to Abacus bank in New York in 2012, in the fallout from the American mortgage crisis of 2008. Documentary maker Steve James explains.

Little local papers culled by big publisher Stuff; NZME signposts a paywall for premium content; Look - no hands! The rise of 'voice'; time to return the Mail's bogus yarns to sender.

The Casketeers is a local TV show that's been an unexpected runaway success - following the owners and staff of Tipene Funerals. It negotiates the fascinating world of death, grieving relatives and the reality of running your own business and its success comes from its blend of humour and pathos. It also gives a special insight into the way Maori and Pasifika funerals are prepared. Funeral directors Francis and Kaiora Tipene explain how they have turned running funeral homes into must-watch television.

A building boom in Auckland, open plan offices and classrooms and urban intensification - Teresa Cowie has been out onto the streets and into homes asking about noise levels and what all that racket is doing to our well-being.

The NZ Transport Agency says a complete rebuild of at least one section of SH60 from Takaka to Riwaka is needed, but on Sunday from 9am until 5pm NZTA will provide restricted single-lane access on the road under escort in guided convoys. Takaka Hill resident Charmaine Petereit explains why that's no ideal for everyone.

Te Auaha, the New Zealand Institute of Creativity will offer the world's first Bachelor of Creativity.

Dr Jarrod Gilbert from the University of Canterbury has likened Andrew Little's intent to reform the prison system, with the abolition of the death penalty by Minister of Justice Ralph Hanan in 1961. He says it's that big.

John Sinclair has recently returned from studying penal systems overseas and found there are some countries that are reducing their prison population and, unlike New Zealand, closing down jails.