The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin Newstalk ZB

The Borrowed Hills by Scott Preston. Set amidst the foot and mouth scare in Cumbria in 2001, this is the story of two men, William and Steve, who have neighbouring sheep farms and are forced to destroy all their stock. They attempt to hide the remnants of one of their flocks from the authorities, and then when William falls in with a criminal shyster, Steve is roped into their plans to travel south to rustle a pedigree flock from a faraway farm to give them something to go on with. William’s new friend brings chaos and destruction close to home. Whilst this is set against a somewhat brutal background. the author’s craft lifts it to another level entirely. 

A Calamity of Souls by David Baldacci. In southern Virginia in 1968, a black man and his wife are charged with the murder of an elderly white couple. Jack Lee takes on their case and is joined by a young black lawyer who’s a crusader for justice and civil rights. Everything is stacked against them and the relentless march towards Death Row for their defendants looks inevitable. This took David Baldacci ten years to write and is his most deeply personal story yet – and even for those of us who have read a lot of legal thrillers set in similar circumstances, the degree to which racism was entrenched in the State at that time is truly shocking and makes for a highly charged novel. 

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If you're about to embark on a first cruise or you're carrying out a post-Covid bucket list adventure, there's plenty you should be aware of before you set sail.

BloggerAtLarge's Megan Singleton recommends returning to the ship on time during planned excursions, and taking advantage of the dining room- among more travel tips.

Read more of Megan's advice for what not to do on cruises here.

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This week on the Sunday Panel, Coast's Lorna Riley and senior PR consultant at One Plus One Communications, Damien Venuto, joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the week- and more! 

There's growing concern locally produced Kiwi content could be facing more difficulties. On top of the Newshub and TVNZ cuts, there's fears TV shows like Shortland Street could be scrapped. Should we do more to save Kiwi content? 

World Athletics recently confirmed it plans to offer gold medallists a cash prize in the upcoming Paris Olympics. Is this the right decision?

Rage rooms- would you pay to go somewhere to work out your anger?

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Dietary fibre supplements are enjoying a resurgence in the world of wellness.

Research shows fibre has plenty of benefits- it helps with regulating bowel movements and gut health, weight management and blood sugar regulation.

Naturopath and wellness expert explains the benefits of fibre, and other ways we can get it besides supplements.

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Beer battered fish with creamy tartare sauce
Cook time: 5 minutes

Prep time: 20 minutes

Serves: 6

4 sides white fish like, gurnard, snapper, or similar

2 bottles beer

1 cup flour

salt

oil for frying

Creamy Tartare
2 egg yolks

1 Tbsp white wine vinegar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

300ml grapeseed oil

3 Tbsp crème fraiche

2 Tbsp chopped capers

2 Tbsp chopped gherkins

2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

juice and zest of 1 lemon

salt

freshly ground black pepper

Start by making the the tartare.

Place egg yolks, vinegar and mustard in a food processor and blitz to combine. With the motor running, gradually add the oil until the mayonnaise is thick and smooth. Now add all of the other ingredients and stir to combine.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Pour the beer into a bowl and sift over the flour and whisk in until a smooth thin batter forms. Season with salt.

Heat enough oil in a pot to 180*c, you can test a small drop of batter to check temperature. It should float to the surface and not colour up too quickly.

One by one run the fish through the batter and then slowly lower into the hot oil. Moving the fish round until fully submerged. This will stop the fish from quickly dropping to the bottom of the pot and sticking.

Once golden keep hot in an oven until all the fish is finished.

Serve alongside the tartare and some greens.

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If you are feeling angry, you might be tempted to vent, but science has a much better, evidence based solution for you.

Research published this week in the journal Scientific Reports involved scientists asking 100 volunteers to write an opinion piece about important social issues such as whether smoking in public should be banned. They were told that their writing would be evaluated and feedback would be provided to them.

The volunteers spent time writing their pieces, and no matter how good they were, every volunteer received insulting and negative feedback about their work and were scored low on intelligence, interest, friendliness, logic and rationality.

They also received insulting feedback that included statements like 'I cannot believe that an educated person would think like this'.

Immediately after receiving the insulting feedback, all of the volunteers showed an increase in their subjective rating of anger.

The volunteers were then given a piece of paper and asked to write down their immediate thoughts and feelings about the situation.

One group was asked to either throw away the piece of paper or to place it in a paper shredder and watch it be shredded. A second group was told to keep the paper either in a clear plastic box or a clear folder on their desk.

The results showed that the volunteers who kept their paper thoughts stayed angry, however the volunteers who threw away or who shredded their written thoughts returned to their initial calm state very quickly.

The researchers themselves were surprised at how effective destroying or disposing the paper was in immediately reducing feelings of anger, and seem to have found a cheap and easy way to help people to feel calm.

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