Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

The BBC has reported that Beatrice and Eugenie, the daughters of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson, won't be at the royal family's traditional Easter service this year. The gathering at St George's Chapel takes place every year, but the pair have reportedly made 'alternative plans' as their parents face scrutiny over their connections to Jefferey Epstein. UK correspondent Enda Brady says it's unlikely the four will be invited to future royal events going forward.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Middle East conflict continues on for another week, and it's led to economic forecasters revising their predictions for recovery. Significant cuts to growth, higher inflation, lower investment, household consumption, and higher unemployment appear to be on the cards, according to new reports.  HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham says it's unclear how the central banks on both sides of the Tasman will proceed.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Power bills are set to go up from tomorrow, from as high as 5 to 10 percent. Electricity lines charges are set to go up, following an earlier Commerce Commission decision to allow for the charges to go up. Consumer NZ's Paul Fuge explained that these increases will vary across households, with some seeing higher increases and some seeing lower ones.  "Because it is so convoluted and so complex and the maths is so hard, we have to run the service we've been running for 25 years now to try and help people make heads or tails of this." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Federated Farmers High Country Field Day recently took place at Glenaray station in the Waikaia Valley. Over 280 visitors visited various sites across the farm to discuss the issues impacting New Zealand's rural sector. The Country's Jamie Mackay recapped the action, and speculated about the lack of Labour MPs at the event.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Tuesday, 31 March, 2026, New Zealand Herald senior reporter David Fisher says he's amazed it took so long to quash David Tamihere's double-murder convictions. We talk to Iran's ambassador to New Zealand about Donald Trump's threat to "obliterate" his country's energy sites. A public health physician has issues with a study linking vaping to lung and oral cancer. And on The Huddle, Trish Sherson and Phil Goff debate the Greens refusing to run a sex worker as a candidate. Get the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast every weekday evening on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight on The Huddle, Trish Sherson from Sherson Willis PR and former Auckland mayor Phil Goff joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! David Tamihere's murder conviction got quashed by the Supreme Court today. What do we think this says about New Zealand's justice system? Should we be concerned? The Greens have recently declined a former sex worker’s candidacy, prompting speculation and debate. What do we make of this?  Trump has been ramping up his threats against Iran if a ceasefire deal isn't reached shortly. This has prompted some backlash - what do we think?  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So David Tamihere has finally got what he’s been fighting for for decades. The Supreme Court has quashed his convictions for murdering the two Swedish backpackers all those years ago. Now this doesn’t mean a retrial will necessarily happen. That’s up to the Crown, which must decide whether it wants to pursue the charges again. In a nutshell, this all comes down to the jailhouse snitch - Conchie Harris - who claimed Tamihere confessed the murders to him. Two years ago, the Court of Appeal ruled Harris’ evidence could not be relied upon and that it was therefore a miscarriage of justice to find Tamihere guilty. However, the Court of Appeal still found Tamihere was guilty, based on what it described as new evidence. The Supreme Court has now ruled that this was not the Court of Appeal’s role. Determining guilt is a matter for a jury, which is why today’s decision has been made. So we will see what happens next. But there is more at stake here than just Tamihere’s guilt or innocence. Serious questions now have to be asked about why so many convictions from the 1980s and 1990s are being overturned or quashed in this country. David Bain. Alan Hall, who spent 19 years in jail for a murder he didn’t commit. Gail Maney. Stephen Stone, whose conviction was overturned a couple of years ago. Teina Pora, who spent 21 years in the slammer for a murder he didn’t commit. Peter Ellis, whose convictions were quashed four years ago. And the list goes on. In total - and get a load of this - 893 convictions have been overturned in just the past 10 years. Now, obviously not all of those relate to the 1980s and 1990s but given the timing, many of them will. It’s starting to look like a period in our justice system that demands some tough questions because a clear pattern is emerging. Back then, we relied on false confessions, questionable witnesses like jailhouse snitches, shoddy police work and some deeply troubling conduct from lawyers - some of whom were clearly prepared to bend the rules to get people behind bars. That may have seemed acceptable at the time, and the public may not have cared, but it’s certainly not acceptable now. The consequences are catching up with us - not least because the country is now facing a growing compensation bill for these miscarriages of justice. And watch this case closely, because compensation may well be the next chapter. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Supreme Court today confirmed it would quash David Tamihere's double murder convictions after his trial was ruled 'unfair'. He was found guilty in 1990 of killing Swedish tourists Urban Hoglin and Heidi Paakkonen, but the verdict was since overturned. Private investigator Tim McKinnel says there's a 'clump of cases' from the mid-1980s to 2010 that are being evaluated through the system - and it points to a bigger problem. "I think there are some structural issues we have in the justice system, like many similar countries where they have an adversarial system where two sides go to war and hope that the truth wins - and that's not always what happens."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's concerns an on-the-fence smoker may not switch to vaping, after an Australian study suggested it causes cancer.  The new research from New South Wales University finds nicotine-based vapes are likely to cause it in the lung and mouth.  Former World Health Organisation director, Robert Beaglehole, labels that misleading - saying it's proven to be less harmful.  He says the likes of apple and orange juice are linked to cancer, because of the other factors, not the juice itself.  He says it grabs headlines.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Supreme Court says it is up to the Crown if it wants a retrial of David Tamihere, whose murder convictions were quashed today. Tamihere was found guilty in 1990 of killing Swedish tourists Urban Hoglin and Heidi Paakkonen. The Supreme Court's now ruled his trial unfair. Herald Reporter David Fisher says the case has taken serious knocks over the years.  "It sounds like, from Tamihere's point of view, that he has been gathering information, which would make his defence even stronger."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.