1225 - Bridget Vercoe, W-S-P-A

Over the weekend, New Zealand's representative at the International Whaling Commission Sir Geoffrey Palmer reiterated our government's position - that is, whaling nations should be allowed to resume commercial operations but with a gradually reducing catch. Sir Geoffrey, and the government say this is the only option which will improve the situation. Our position is at odds with Australia - who'd rather take a case to the International Court of Justice if diplomatic measures this year aimed at stopping Japan whaling in the Southern Ocean fail. Sir Geoffrey called this a very uncertain position, and if the case FAILED, we'd be in a worse position than we are now. He's careful to say we DON'T want commercial whaling at all, but remain pragmatic. Well, collaborating under the banner of ‘Save the whales, not whaling’ - NGO's Greenpeace, Project Jonah, Forest and Bird, World Society for the Protection of Animals and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society are all challenging the government. Bridget Vercoe - a spokesperson for the group, will be on the show at 1225 to tell us how.

1245 - Igor Volsky, Washington DC

If you were listening to breakfast this morning, and caught regular US correspondent Jason Leopold, you would've heard that today is an historic day over there. President Obama and his merry band of democratic senators are poised to push their nearly TRILLION dollar health care reform legislation through congress. They have the numbers, a Senate sign-off is a given, so essentially it's on. At 12.45 I'll be talking with (above) from the Centre for American Progress, a think tank dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through ideas and action. I'm usually pretty skeptical of the words think and tank, but we've had Igor on the Wire before and he knows his stuff. He'll be live from Washington DC, with news of the vote as well as some reaction.

1325 - Thai Protests

Around 1325 I'll play an interview Hamish did late last week with Andrew Drummond - a freelance journalist and documentary maker based in Bangkok. Andrew's done work for the Evening Standard, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, News of the World and Observer and The Times. Hamish spoke to him about the massive protests that have spilled onto the streets of Thailand in the last week - calling for the resignation of the prime minister. As we'll hear from Andrew though, he doesn't think they're likely to amount to much.

1345 - BBC Journo Lucy Hockings

And then at 1345 we're lucky to hear from Lucy Hockings, a kiwi who's now working about as high up the journalism ladder as one can get - presenting the BBC World Service. She's a household name in the UK and has worked some of the biggest stories of the decade. AND she has recently become a Global Young Leader as voted by the Economic World Forum. This high-achiever is back in New Zealand talking at universities (and their radio stations) about her work at the beeb.

ENDS

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