95bFM: The Wednesday Wire with Paul Deady 14/05/08

95bFM: The Wednesday Wire with Paul Deady 14/05/08

The bFM WIRE Today: 12 - 2pm weekdays

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1220 – Red Cross, International Operations Manager Andrew McKie

As if one natural disaster on a biblical scale wasn't enough, yesterday, news from the Chinese province of Sichuan of a 7.8 Richter-scale earthquake adds unprecedented misery to an already awful week. At 1220 I'll be speaking with (above) about how they're co-ordinating relief efforts in such cruel and trying circumstances. They're one of the bigger aid agencies, and one that's managed to actually get aid in to Burma. And as news of the cyclone trickles away as news invariably does, it's a good reminder that the disaster in Burma didn't end when the wind did.

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1240 – Israel – Prof Bill Harris Otago University Happy Birthday Israel

Something completely different at 1240, when I'll be speaking with (above) who's an expert on Middle East history and politics. Today marks the 60th anniversary of the creation of Israel. But, on the other hand, it also commemorates 60 years of what Palestinians call Nakba or catastrophe.

Bill's going to give us a brief rundown on how the so-called Jewish state came to be, but also look at whether Israel can survive another 60 years. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is at the heart of middle eastern problems, and is a difficult one to look at objectively. But the idea of a 2 state solution, so long the answer under the Oslo peace process, may need a rethink. Indeed a single democratic, secular and multi-cultural state has been described by Israeli PM Ehud Olmert as "a much cleaner and much more popular struggle".

1300 – Counterclockwise

Kevin List will be joining us from Wellington for today's counterclockwise at one, with many a political insight up his long, wizard-like sleeve.

1315 - Thomas Kohnstamm

And in the second half of the show we'll be having a bit of an Auckland Writers and Readers Festival bonanza. The festival starts today and should be a cracker! Over the last week our Book reviewer Sally and I have interviewed 2 of the big names in attendance.

At quarter past one I'll play an interview I did with Thomas Kohnstamm who's book "Do Travel Writers Go To Hell" caused a huge amount of media controversy on release. The book details the trade-offs between a middle class 9-5 life, and the heady, and impossibly busy world of writing an update for a Lonely Planet guidebook. The media storm picked up on comments Thomas made about being unable to visit all the places he covered in the Lonely Planet. Accusations of plagiarism, and fraud quickly followed, as did hate mail and death threats for the author. But as Thomas told me, and as I'm inclined to agree, the whole thing was WAY out of context, and obscured the book's personal, humorous take on the memoir.

1330 – Book She Read

1340 – Junot Diaz

And at one 1340 I'll play the second interview which Sally did with Junot Diaz. He's an impossibly cool writer, who at the age of 40 and with only one novel to his name, already has the Pulitzer under his belt. "The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" really was one of the best books of 2007, and tells the tale of a Dominican Tolkein fanatic interspersed with the brutal history of the Trujillo regime in the Dom Rep. Junot is an absolute pleasure to listen to so do stay tuned.

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