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The 2026 Winter Olympic Games are just one week away.   New Zealand’s presence at the Games is growing, with 17 athletes set to compete this year.  And though he won’t be competing this year, two-time Winter Olympic medallist Nico Porteous knows how they’ll be feeling.  At age 16, he won the Bronze at the 2018 Games in PyeongChang, and four years later, took the Gold in Beijing.   But last year he decided to shift focus, stepping away from the Olympic-level competition.  Porteous had been in high performance and competitive environments since he was ten years old, and felt it was time for something new.  “We’re lucky that in our sport, competition isn’t everything,” he told Jack Tame.  “With the support of sponsors, we can move into different areas such as, y’know, making films and doing one off projects, so that areas has always really excited me and inspired me.”  And with two Olympic medals under his belt, a raft of other titles, and even a New Zealand Order of Merit to his name, he felt he had achieved what he wanted to on the competition side of things.   “I felt like it was the right time to step aside.”   But for those heading to the Olympics this year, Porteous does have some advice.  “Just worry about yourself and worry about your own performance,” he said.  “There’s a lot of external stuff that can sort of come into play, so I think the biggest skill that I took out of it and learned in the whole process was to just worry about what you’re doing and your process.”  “Be driven by your own process, rather than someone else’s ambitions or goals for you.”  LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Privacy has been a big topic of discussion this week, and it got Kevin Milne and his wife Linda thinking about the old Yellow and White Pages.  There was a time where every household had their own copy, and while they haven’t been discontinued entirely, they are a lot less common nowadays.  But one notable year, some workers at Yellow Pages pulled a Banksy, and the doodle wasn’t noticed until much too late.  LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The fifth studio album from NZ indie-rock quartet Yumi Zouma, ‘No Love Lost To Kindness’ is a turning point for the band.  In this album they made a deliberate effort to shed the soft-focus production of their previous works in favour of a heavy and more emotionally exposed feeling  ‘No Love Lost To Kindness’ was recorded in Mexico City, and tackles themes of confrontation, diagnosis, disillusionment, risk, and honesty.   Chris Schulz joined Jack Tame to share his thoughts on the album.  LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"For Kiwis heading to Asia or onwards to Europe, Singapore can feel like the gateway to the world. But rather than just transiting at Changi Airport, breaking up long-haul flights with a restorative layover in the Lion City is one of my tried and trusted ways to minimise the insidious scourge of travel fatigue. For Kiwi families travelling with children, I strongly recommend threading a stopover on Sentosa Island into your long-haul plans to combat jetlag. It’s like a holiday within a holiday, a destination within a destination. Some of the youngest members of my wider family recently enjoyed a wondrous time on Sentosa – and it far exceeded their expectations." Read Mike's full article. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dear Debbie by Frieda McFadden   Sometimes, enough is enough…  Debbie Mullen is losing it. For years, she has compiled all of her best advice into her column, Dear Debbie, where the wives of New England come for sympathy and neighborly advice. Through her work, Debbie has heard from countless women who are ignored, belittled, or even abused by their husbands. And Debbie does her best to guide them in the right direction.  Or at least, she did.  These days, Debbie’s life seems to be spiraling out of control. She just lost her job. Something strange is happening with her teenage daughters. And her husband is keeping secrets, according to the tracking app she installed on his phone. Now, Debbie’s done being the bigger person. She’s done being reasonable and practical. It’s time to take her own advice.  And now it’s time for payback against all the people in her life who deserve it the most.     Meet the Newmans by Jennifer Niven   For two decades, Del and Dinah Newman and their sons, Guy and Shep, have ruled television as America’s Favorite Family. Millions of viewers tune in every week to watch them play flawless, black-and-white versions of themselves. But now it’s 1964, and the Newmans’ idealized apple-pie perfection suddenly feels woefully out of touch. Ratings are in free fall, as are the Newmans themselves. Del is keeping an explosive secret from his wife, and Dinah is slowly going numb—literally. Steady, stable Guy is hiding the truth about his love life, and the charmed luck of rock ‘n roll idol Shep may have finally run out.  Then Del—the creative motor behind the show—is in a mysterious car accident, Dinah decides to take matters into her own hands. She hires Juliet Dunne, an outspoken, impassioned young reporter, to help her write the final episode. But Dinah and Juliet have wildly different perspectives about what it means to be a woman, and a family, in 1964. Can the Newmans hold it together to change television history? Or will they be canceled before they ever have the chance?  Funny, big-hearted, and deeply moving, Meet the Newmans is a rich family story about the dual lives we lead. Because even when our lives aren’t televised weekly, we all have a behind-the-scenes.    LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re all guilty of buying things we don’t need sometimes, but there are ways to curb that behaviour and make things a little bit more sustainable.  Kate Hall has a list of things she’s not buying in 2026, paper towels, seasonal decor, and fast fashion just a few, but instead of giving them up entirely, she’s figured out a few alternative options.  She joined Jack Tame to discuss her full list of swaps.  LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For one reason or another, many people don’t think about what will happen when they die. What will happen to their belongings, their money, their assets.   But in a world where blended families and complicated dynamics are becoming increasingly common, it’s becoming more and more important to ensure you have a will organised.   Ed McKnight joined Jack Tame to discuss the importance of having a will – telling a story of how the lack of one tore one family apart.  LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast for Saturday 31 January 2026, two-time Winter Olympic medallist Nico Porteous joins Jack to discuss his decision to step away from high-level competition, how Kiwi athletes will be feeling in the lead-up to the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, and who he has his eyes on as ones to watch.  Jack considers the parental juggle.  Jack's success at growing a singular pomegranate is being celebrated! Chef Nici Wickes uses it to transform kūmara from side dish to star performer.  And Ruud Kleinpaste shares tips on growing pomegranates of your own.  Get the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame Full Show Podcast every Saturday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.  LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Growing Pomegranates is not a very popular gardening subject in New Zealand, yet, once you get into it you might be surprised what the shrub looks like and how the fruits taste when fully grown and mature.  Punica granatum is the one with red flowers that hails from the Mediterrané and Tropical and Sub-Tropical regions.  The Socotran Pomegranate hails from the Socotra Island (Yemen) and has pink flowers but less sweet fruit when it ripens.  My research tells me they grow well in warm regions, but I saw them growing well in Canterbury too, as long as the frosts aren’t too extreme.  Plant in winter…  Generally speaking, plant in a sunny spot (regular sun-light for most of the day) with a large area of well drained fertile soil of good depth (50 cm deep is a good start). Regular watering (not over-watering!) is appreciated and will allow the plant to move upwards.  Citrus fertiliser (with a decent amount of Potash in the N-P-K ration) is a great boost from springtime till autumn. Every two weeks or so will help the plant nicely.  From spring till autumn the flowers, followed by developing fruit, will absorb the food.  There are dwarf varieties (“Nana”) that are suitable to plant in large pots – they can grow to a meter long.  Often it takes three years for a plant to become habitual growers of bright-red flowers, followed by the red fruit. In some warm conditions (Northland, Auckland, coastal Hawke’s Bay, etc) the Pomegranates might take two (sometimes three) years to start delivering the fruit.  In summer, the flowers fade a bit towards an orangey look – pollinating insects will by then have done their job.  Fruit will develop in autumn or slightly later. A regular but light pruning after harvest will keep the plant in great condition for development in springtime.  Sometimes the plants show growth of “suckers” popping up beside the main trunk – when the plant is grafted, these suckers can also develop below the graft. Suckers are exactly what their name suggests, “useless suckers” that won’t develop any flowers and subsequent fruit for the future – get rid of them!  When the plant gets into the ripening phase, some sap-sucking invertebrates can do some damage: MealyBugs, Aphids, whitefly, and scale insects. Grab a Neem Oil or Conqueror Oil and smack them every fortnight.  Enjoy this fruit! Yes, it can be a bit messy, but hey! Try it out!  LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apple makes a surprise acquisition   Apple isn't known for being an M&A machine, but has made a $2 billion deal (according to the FT) to purchase an AI company – surprise, surprise. Q.ai is a four-year-old startup in the speech detection space, which can understand whispered speech and improve speech detection in noisy environments. They also have a patent to read your lips and understand micro-expressions on your face. I'd expect to see this new tech deployed on the Vision Pro and the AirPods. Q.ai has 100 employees – that's $20m of value per employee.     Apple beat Wall Street’s expectations   They announced $143.8 billion in revenue for Q4, which was about 4% higher than expected. CEO Tim Cook said the iPhone 17 was seeing “unprecedented demand”. The stock didn't pop, with fears around memory prices surging, supply chain issues, and Apple's seeming lack of AI strategy.     Amazon let 16,000 people go  A staggering number, and it was done by email. Some woke at 3am to a text telling them to check their email. They say it's to remove layers of bureaucracy and “increase ownership”. Amazon has 1.57 million staff across its businesses, and this was in their corporate division of 350,000 personnel, meaning a cut of about 4.6%.    LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wonder Man  Hollywood actor Simon Williams is thrust into the world of superheroes as he gets powers of his own, and becomes the new superhero Wonder Man (Disney+).     Memory of a Killer   Losing one's memory is a devastating hammer blow for anyone, but for Angelo, the stakes couldn't be higher. His hit man job would be perilous enough, but there's an added pressure: Angelo lives two totally separate lives -- fearsome NYC hitman, and sleepy upstate Cooperstown photocopier salesman and father.   Having built and maintained a brick wall between his two worlds, Angelo has seamlessly juggled and compartmentalized for years. But now that's all about to change, because Alzheimer's is a foe he can't outrun, and he knows too well how this ends, as his older brother is already lost to the condition (Neon).    LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Secret Agent   In 1977, Marcelo, a technology teacher, moves from São Paulo to Recife during Carnival to escape his violent past and start over. He finds the city full of chaos, and his neighbours begin to spy on him.    Nouvelle Vague   The story of New Wave icon Jean-Luc Godard making Breathless, told with the same rule-breaking, freewheeling style he used to make it.    LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This dish magically transforms kūmara from side dish to star performer, and I can’t get enough of it.    Serves 2-4      Ingredients   2 orange kūmara, halved, skin on   2 tablespoons olive oil    1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses    1 teaspoon smoked paprika   ½ teaspoon sea salt   4 tablespoons pumpkin seeds   Small handful of mint & coriander   ½ cup fresh pomegranate arils/seeds   Yoghurt Dressing   ½ cup Greek yoghurt    1 tablespoon tahini   1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses   ½ teaspoon sea salt      Method  Heat oven to 180C. Line a tray with baking paper.    Mix oil with pomegranate molasses and paprika and rub/brush all over the kūmara. Lay out on the prepared tray, sprinkle with salt and roast for 45 minutes or until soft and cooked through.   Toss in the pumpkin seeds in the final 5-10 minutes and they will toast and puff up.   To make the yoghurt dressing, whisk yoghurt with tahini, pomegranate molasses, and salts until combined.    Serve the warm kūmara drizzled with yoghurt dressing and scattered with mint, toasted pumpkin seeds, and pomegranate seeds.      Nici’s note: Use pumpkin or cauliflower in place of kūmara if you like.    LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In our house this week, the juggle gets real.  After a year’s maternity leave, my wife is heading back to work. With a nearly-one-year-old and a nearly-nine-year-old, we’re balancing the two kids with two working parents. Every day is logistical jiu jitsu.   My wife has been making this point for ages, but as we’ve counted down the days to the new normal, I’ve come to appreciate its salience more than ever. Even though young people are the key to our future, economic and otherwise, somehow we’ve created a society that makes things incredible tricky for many young families.  First of all, to have a reasonable middle-class, home-owning life, most households need two working parents. There are exceptions of course, but I reckon most need two working parents. It’s my sense that this didn’t use to be the case. In the post-war years it was quite normal to have households with one working parent. It wasn’t that families were flush with cash! It’s just that relative to incomes, housing and the cost of living was more affordable.  So, two working parents for most middle-class households. Many jobs, if not most, will require staff to work an eight-hour day – 9am-5pm. But school, oh no, that’s a six-hour day – 9am-3pm, which means if you’re on pickup duties, you probably need to be checking out of work at about 2.30.  Consider the holidays. Standard leave provisions for a fulltime worker in New Zealand are four weeks annual leave plus the public holidays. That means that in a two-parent house, if the parents never have more than a long weekend off together, they can cover eight weeks a year.  But kids? They get at least twelve weeks of school holidays. Hmm.  I’m convinced school holidays programmes and after school care were not nearly as common or necessary when I was a kid, let alone in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.    For younger children, it’s just as challenging. Sure, the Government has increased its maternity provisions (my Mum got nothing, back in the day!), but while they provide 20 hours free childcare for children over the age of three, maternity payments are only for the first six months of a baby’s life. Even though supposedly a child’s first 1000 days are the most important, there’s a two-and-a-half-year gap in support.    So what is a family to do if their grandparents aren’t around or available every day to help? One parent can choose to stay home with the child, or a parent can go back to work and effectively redirect all of their income into childcare. Neither option is amazing.   New Zealand’s birth rate has massively dropped off in the last few decades. Same with our fertility rate. We don’t yet face the same kind of population crisis that afflicts the likes of Italy and South Korea, but as the eldest of four, something tells me the sale of Mitsubishi Chariots has dropped off in recent years. You don’t see anywhere near as many bigger families as you were the norm a few decades ago.  And I want to be clear: we are very, very fortunate. I’m lucky to be pretty well-paid. We have support. We make it work. But it’s still a real hustle. And what for the working families who don’t have the same income, support close by, or flexible employers, or more help with childcare?  For so many families it must be more than a juggle. It’s a real struggle.    And I’m not sure that’s in anyone’s interest.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is a globally acclaimed celebration of military tradition, music, ceremony, and cultural performance.   It has been running for 75 years and in that time has only ever been performed overseas on five occasions.   And for the first time in a decade, the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo will return to New Zealand – performing for the very first time at Auckland’s Eden Park in February with the theme ‘The Heroes Who Made Us’.    Staff Sergeant David Fiu is a standout member of the NZDF Army band and will be taking part in what is set to be a phenomenal event.  He told Jack Tame he’s been fortunate to attend the Tattoo in Edinburgh seven times during his career with the NZ Army.  “I certainly do not take that for granted,” Fiu said.  “I really check myself when I’m there because it’s probably easy, midway through the season, to sort of get a little bit complacent.”   It’s a bucket list moment for many, Fiu explained to Jack Tame, and many people come at that time to experience Edinburgh itself.  “So you only can give, give off your best, otherwise you’re sort of selling them short.”  LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.