Canterbury Mornings

In the Next Room, or the vibrator play. is the lastest production at the Court Theatre Set in a time before the vacuum cleaner or the television – but not the vibrator - In the Next Room was written in 2009, but takes place in the 1880s: a period of corsets, industrialisation and the dawn of women’s liberation.Chris Lynch was joined in studio by stars of the show Amy Straker and Jonathan Martin for a taste of what to expect from this new heartfelt comedy.

A panel of air safety experts have concluded that the captain of flight MH370 most likely deliberately crashed the plane.However with no hard facts or evidence to back this up it's not great comfort to the family. Chris Lynch spoke to Sara Norton, the sister of Paul Weeks, a Kiwi passenger on board flight MH370 when it went missing in March 2014.Sara says "it's absolute rubbish, a group of experts using conjecture, assumption and their own opinion without any evidence to back it up".  

Chris Lynch spoke to Spokes spokesman Don Babe following his submission to Council on the Long Term Plan asking them to reconsider the plan to have the cycle-ways project 2029 and instead have it completed within 5 years.   

Chris Lynch spoke to Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb about the size of some of the apartments coming up for rent in the inner city for high prices. 

Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel joined Chris Lynch for the regular weekly catch up on the issues facing Christchurch residents.This week they discussed the water chlorination situation causing issues for many residents, the potential tourist levy and how it will affect tourism in the city, plus Bob Dylan coming to Christchurch.  

Richard Green was joined by Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb and National MP Nicky Wagner to discuss the issues affecting Canterbury this week. This week up for discussion is the East Lake, should we be concerned that Regenerate has potentially mislead the public and the potential Tourist Levy is this necessary and will it work?On the East Lake - Nicky Wagner says “When decisions like this are made they must be very clear why these decisions are being made, they need to be evidence based, they need to be understandable and people need to have the confidence in them”Duncan Webb says “The Red Zone is the biggest opportunity, outside the central city, for our generation, we absolutely need to use it for something that’s going to last a very very long time and I think there is right caution around any proposal that is going to use significant portions of water and affect the drainage of Christchurch”

A Christchurch Pharmacist says they are dealing with a large number of customers coming in with skin complaints who have never had eczema or dermatitis beforePharmacist and owner of Unichem Cashel Pharmacy and Post Centre Annabelle Turley told Chris Lynch she believes it is a direct result of the high levels of chlorine in the water.Turley says these people have never suffered before and now are having to spend money on treatments to clear up their normally healthy skin. 

A University of Otago expert is part of an international collaboration that has created a new machine learning tool that can detect whether emerging strains of the bacterium Salmonella are more likely to cause life-threatening bloodstream infections rather than only food poisoning.Richard Green spoke to Dr Paul Gardner from the Department of Biochemistry at University of Otago about what this development means for the public.

A stoush is heating up among supporters of a water sports lake and Regenerate Christchurch.A number of sports groups are alleging Regenerate's CEO told them - the real reasons for not going ahead with the proposed Avon River Corridor lake wasn't about algae growth or drinking water supply - but land use criteria.Meri Gibson of the East Lake Trust and Dragon Boating Christchurch, was at the meeting and she spoke to Richard Green about what she heard. 

Richard Green spoke to Kiwi born Margo Ward, CEO and Founder of KidsXpress, a Sydney based charity which uses evidence-based therapy techniques to treat childhood trauma – in particular play therapy.Margo believes play therapy could be of particular help to the children of Canterbury in dealing with the lingering trauma of the earthquakes and is looking into ways they can bring play therapy to New Zealand. 

Schools and residents in the Papanui-Bishopdale area in Christchurch have been notified that a person with offences against young people is going to be residing in the area.Richard Green spoke to Southern Regional Commissioner for Corrections Ben Clark to discuss the process and challenges involved in reintegrating child sex offenders into the community upon their release. 

Christchurch resident Ema Moore is outraged after being informed by Corrections and the police at her door that a person with sex offences against young people will be residing nearby. Ema told Richard Green that as a sexual abuse survivor herself she has done everything she can to provide her children with a safe environment and feels that as Corrections has let her down in the past so what is to stop it happening again now.She says this is an area populated by young families, with schools and early childcare centres nearby, all of which would be putting this person in the direct path of temptation.  

A widowed father who was unable to get access to paid parental leave after his wife died in childbirth will be compensated by the Government.Workplace Relations Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says the Christchurch-based father would get an ex gratia payment of the equivalent amount to the paid leave he had missed out on.An ex gratia payment is a one-off, no obligation grant.The father, Keith, was unable to get paid parental leave because his partner had not worked for 12 months before delivering the baby.Keith spoke to Richard Green, saying "It's massive for me and baby... Today's a small victory that's going to change my life".

Christchurch City mayor Lianne Dalziel has her weekly catch up with  Newstalk ZB's Chris Lynch.

After months of being terrorised by burglaries, assaults and other anti social behaviour stemming from a Housing New Zealand complex in England St, Phillipstown, Neighbouring resident Andy Bean is relieved that the issue has apparently been sorted.Andy Bean spoke to Chris Lynch about the issues they were having to deal with and the steps that were taken to sort the situation out. However Any says he is not confident that this will be last of the issues with the new high density social housing.

Chris Lynch was joined by Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration Megan Woods and National MP Micky Wagner for a discussion on the political issues of the week.Both sides of the political spectrum are calling for more action from Regenerate ChristchurchThe council and crowned owned arm - hasn't met its deadlines for the development of Cathedral SquareNicky Wagner says it's not performing. Megan Woods says she's made it clear she wants to see momentum - and she has faith that action will happen.

Well making downtime a deliberate part of your day we all know can be hard, but a new initiative from the All Right? Campaign is aiming to help people do just that. Called Downtime Dice, the aim is to give it a roll, and it will give you an idea to take a 10-minute break from whatever you’re doing, with each activity having proven feel-good benefits. Simple, but it apparently works. To learn more about it, Chris Lynch spoke to Ciaran Fox from the All Right Campaign.

A shark diving company says a National MP's call to regulate the industry has come out of the blue.Invercargill MP Sarah Dowie has put forward the private members bill - saying the operations close to a Stewart Island beach has locals feeling unsafe.Mike Haines from Shark Experience Limited told Chris Lynch they have no problem with regulations but the bill has taken them by surprise.

21 years ago Split ENZ keyboardist and New Zealand music royalty Eddie Rayner started an orchestral project combining the talents of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra with contemporary pop singers to perform Split Enz songs.ENZO returns to Christchurch for a very special show this Saturday May 5th at the Isaac Theatre Royal.Eddie Rayner spoke to Chris Lynch about the music and what it's like revisiting the great hits of Split Enz.  

In early February it was reported that neighbouring residents of a Housing New Zealand complex in Phillipstown were being terrorised by burglaries, assaults, public defecation and other anti-social behaviour stemming from the social housing block.An elderly resident who had lived in the neighbourhood for 38 years put her house on the market to get away from the situation.Chris Lynch was joined in studio by MP for Christchurch Central Duncan Webb and Housing New Zealand Christchurch area manager Fraser Benson for an update on how the situation was resolved.