Guest Dujon Cullingford joins Sofia to chat about Aotearoa music from the 70s and 80s found throughout their crate digging life. Dujon shares his finds and knowledge — an invaluable mix of Kiwi tracks from soul, funk, disco, and anything simply, good.
Last election, one of the National Party’s main campaign promises was to be ‘tough on crime’, promising to increase police coverage and penalties for crimes. A target was set to increase the number of police officers by 500 by November 2025, however some police leaders today say this goal is unrealistic.
The government also announced this week some shakeups to insulation standards, which they say should make houses more affordable.
In our weekly catchup with the National Party’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor spoke to him about police staffing targets and new insulation standards.
Submissions on the controversial Treaty Principles Bill were set to close last week, when on the final few days of submissions the portal to submit suffered technical difficulties.
Due to this, many people were unable to send in their submissions on time. Parliament made the decision to extend the submission period to make up for the issue. With thousands also handing their submissions in person.
The bill is estimated to have had more than 300,000 submissions prior to the original deadline, making it the most highly submitted on bill in history.
For the weekly catchup with the Green Party Evie spoke to Ricardo Menendez March about the submission process.
They also talked about the contested Regulatory Standards Bill which has also recently come into the spotlight.
Ever wondered what it would be like to bike in an Art Gallery? Well now you can, for the city is your gallery. In collaboration with EcoFest 2025 and various New Zealand artists, Bike Hubs have set up a Street Art Bike Challenge. Now, anyone can ride around the city, discover amazing works of art and win great prizes.
This week, Green Desk Producer Liam speaks to Brent Bielby, manager of EcoMatters’ Bike Hubs, a community project aimed at encouraging more people to take up cycling. He explains the goal behind the challenge, as well as how cycling can contribute to a healthy lifestyle and provide a source of freedom and fun.
You can take part in this challenge yourself. All you need to do is take out your bike, pedal over to the artworks, and upload a photo of you and your bike. The challenge will run until the 22nd of April, and you can find a map of all the locations and trails on the EcoMatters website.
MĀ and The Fly Hunnies stop by the bFM lounge midway through their tour of Aotearoa to support MĀ's new album Blame It On The Weather for an early live set on a rainy Tāmaki morning. Whakarongo mai nei!
Nitin Sawhney has had an illustrious career as a composer, musician, producer, cultural advocate, collaborator and patron of the arts. He joins Nick fresh off his gorgeous afternoon set at WOMAD 2025.
Frances Chan lounges on the exotica sofa to start the show, then highlights her favourite acts from Womad Aotearoa 2025, plays a Jarrett twofer and marches out on the funk.
Set list:
Sun Ra – Interplanetary Music
Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
Esquivel – Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Les Baxter – Mozambique
Dorothy Ashby – Fool on the Hill
Bala Desejo – Baile de Mascaras (Recarnaval)
Nitin Sawhney – Homelands
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – Mustt Mustt
Jean Phi Dary, Jeff Mills – The X Factor
O. – 176
The Comet Is Coming – Frequency of Feeling Expansion
Domi & JD Beck ft Thundercat – Not Tight
Ana Carla Maza – Las Primaveras (Live)
Branford Marsalis Quartet – The Windup
Keith Jarrett – Spiral Dance
Kamasi Washington – Vortex
After ‘Ours ft Louis Baker – That Love
Polyrhythmics – Chophouse
The Meters – It Ain’t No Use
Sun Ra – At Sundown
This past week the government announced plans to reinstate the prisoner voting ban. The ban was altered in June 2020 by the Labour led coalition government in a change which allowed prisoners serving a sentence of less than three years to vote in elections. This change followed a recommendation from New Zealand’s High Court, which found a prisoner voting ban was inconsistent with New Zealand’s Bill of Rights.
In 2025, the government is now looking at repealing the bill and reinstating the ban. The National Party has argued that there are certain responsibilities that members of society must uphold, and that those who do not fulfil these responsibilities will have their rights taken away. Asked about human rights concerns and the High Court ruling on the bill, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said “I do not care what anyone else says about it.” The bill is set to join others as part of this government’s “tough on crime” approach.
In our weekly catchup with National’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked about the prisoner voting ban and how the change would benefit the general public.
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