Kiwi pop icon Suzanne Lynch's had a long-running music career, and she's looking back on her legacy in a new memoir.

Lynch got her start at 14 after a chance encounter with guitarist Peter Posa, which led to the creation of The Chicks, often considered New Zealand’s first successful girl group.

Since then, she's worked with many well-known artists - and even toured the world with Cat Stevens twice.

"I was just doing something I loved, and I'm still doing something I loved. Until I started writing that book, I didn't realise just how much I'd done and I kept thinking - oh, I must mention this and I must mention that."

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TV personality and author Richard Osman recently took a brief writing hiatus, but he's returned with the latest instalment in the Thursday Murder Club book series.

The series focuses on a group of retirement village residents who investigate unsolved murders, and it's gotten so popular, it's received a Netflix adaptation starring Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren.

Osman says he's enjoyed returning to the series and he's promised this next instalment will be a 'treat' for readers.

"It's always difficult, but I hope at the end it looks and feels effortless."

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Gravity Let Me Go by Trent Dalton. Noah Cork should be on top of the world. His new true crime book is a bestseller, but strange things happening around him are deeply unsettling. As a major storm threatens Brisbane he’s caught up in one of his own, failing to see what’s right under his nose in this brilliant story about murder and marriage and one man desperate to do the best by his family, with no idea how to go about it.

Boleyn Traitor by Philippa Gregory. Jane Boleyn was the sister of Anne Boleyn and a senior lady in waiting to five of Henry V111’s wives. The book is written from her perspective, about their lives in his court. The story of these women as they lived through a volatile and dangerous period in service of a petulant and unreliable king is compassionate, insightful and utterly riveting, and bears some comparisons with modern days. I adored it.

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The Holiday Inn Express recently unveiled a new morning alarm system that's designed to be more pleasant than a blaring clock.

The Holiday Inn Express Breakfast Alarm Clock is designed to wake guests up with the smell of bacon, coffee or muffins.

BloggerAtLarge's Megan Singleton got the chance to try it out to find out if this technology's worth the hype.

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I had an interesting experience this week, one that reminded me that sometimes even the obvious needs to be pointed out.

For a very brief moment I got a small taste of what it’s like to have low vision. Blind Low Vision New Zealand hosted a breakfast - during which I was given glasses to wear which mimicked glaucoma, and then I was guided into a café where I tried to read a menu. This all required a level of concentration and effort I don’t often call on. Thankfully, I was able to remove the glasses before I drank my tea and ate my breakfast as, I can tell you, it would have been a very messy affair.

I’ve had my head firmly in the disability camp for the last few years - getting to grips with the challenges neurodivergent people have fitting into a world that isn’t designed for them.

So, I was embarrassed at how little I have thought about how difficult life is if you’re not able-bodied in an able-bodied designed world. Obviously being blind or having low vision is exhausting. Obviously it makes everything you do in your day much more challenging. Obviously it limits your job prospects and what you can do. But it only took about another 10 minutes at home wearing my newly acquired glaucoma glasses for this to really sink in.

I did a few basic things around the house. I put the washing on - which went well until I tried to read the buttons on the washing machine. I then stood on the cat. I ate a kiwifruit. I was a bit nervous about the knife - but then couldn’t find my mouth. I filled the kettle and made a cuppa, which took longer than usual. I stood on our clingy cat again, and then went outside and tripped over my partner’s gumboots. At this point my daughter suggested it would be safer if I ended the experiment.

It was very clear how much I take for granted as I rush through life. I treasure my independence. I don’t think twice about how I’m going to get from A to B and enjoy the interactions I have with work colleagues and others throughout the day.

But those who are blind or have low vision deal with huge inequities every day - which take a functional, financial and emotional toll. 58 percent of disabled New Zealanders earn $30,000 or less a year, compared with 33 percent of the non-disabled people. 51 percent of working age Blind Low Vision NZ members are without a job, and 74 percent of youth clients have never had a part time or summer job. We’re all impacted by the rising cost of living, but this community is really struggling.

I’d passively assumed that by 2025 we’d have removed more of the barriers that make the simplest of things - like getting groceries - difficult. But from the conversations and stories I heard this week, that’s clearly that’s not the case.

As we go about our day today, maybe we should pause for a second each time we do something and imagine doing it like one of the 183,000 Kiwis who are blind, deaf blind or low vision. This month is Blind Low Vision Month - if you have a moment head to blindlowvision.org.nz and see the work they do. And at the very least, next time you pass an e-scooter lying across the footpath, pick it up and move it to the side.

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This week on the Sunday Panel, Chelsea Daniels from the Front Page podcast and TV producer, journalist and commentator, Irene Gardiner, joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more!

From Monday, the starting age for bowel cancer screenings will be lowered from 60 to 58 in Northland, Auckland, and the South Island. The rest of the North Island will follow in March 2026. Do we think the Government could have done more with this?

Do we need to loosen up royal traditions?

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Cook time: 15 minutes

Prep time: 30 minutes

Serves: 6-8

300gm beef mince

2 whites onions, peeled and diced

1 can cooked black beans, drained

1 can whole peeled tomatoes, crushed

4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

2 tbsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp nutmeg powder

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp sunflower oil

1 egg, beaten

Optional

1 cup frozen peas

Grated cheese

8 x 150mm circles of short crust pastry

Pre-heat oven to 180*c

In a heavy based or cast iron fry pan, dry fry of your cumin seeds until they become fragrant. Remove and pound into a dust in a mortar and pestle. Set aside. Reheat the pan and add the oil. Over a medium heat fry you mince, turning for a couple of minutes before adding in the garlic, onions, spices and salt. Continue to cook until all the liquid has cooked out. Add the crushed whole peeled tomatoes and beans, simmer for a further 15 minutes.

Remove and place mix into a tray and then into a fridge to chill. Once the mixture has fully chilled add your peas (if you want).

Place 2-3 tbsp of mixture into the centre of the short crust, top with a touch of cheese, brush the outside edge of pastry with egg wash and fold over the pastry. Crimp the edges to seal and place onto a baking. Brush with egg wash before pacing into the oven for 15 minutes.

Serve hot with tomato chili jam.

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