Chris Riddell is a world-renowned illustrator and author of children’s books and the political cartoonist for the Observernewspaper. He has collaborated with artists and writers such as Neil Gaiman, Phoebe Bridgers and Frances Hardinge. In 2018 he travelled to Aotearoa to speak at the Auckland Writers Festival. Most recently, Chris has releasedI Can’t Remember What We Talked About, a slim volume of 24 poems.
Beth and Chris chat about the creative process of art-making and poetry writing, love of nature, designing pop-up books for the backdrop of Phoebe Bridgers’ tour and magical pear tree staffs. Chris reads some poems and they also speak about what it’s like being a political cartoonist in the current political climate.
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.
Welcome to the first episode of bLine, 95bFM’s new news podcast. bLine aims to bridge the gap between young people and decision makers, through youth-centred interviews focused on youth issues. The upcoming episodes will feature a range of topics affecting young people in our everyday lives, starting off with public transport.
As one of the largest public transport user groups, it’s important that young people are represented in decision making around the future of public transport developments in the city. One source of feedback that’s popped up recently is the explosion of activity around public transport on social media. In the first episode of bLine we spoke to @lethimdrive, @ifuckinghatethe394, the University of Auckland's Mohsen Mohammadzadeh, and Auckland Transport's Stacey van der Putten.
This episode of bLine is about NCEA and the recently announced overhaul. In discussions around a change that will directly affect students, there’s been very little time given to student voices and perspectives. This seems to be a change directed primarily at parents, despite the experiences of young people with NCEA and the needs of students who will be most affected.
In this week’s episode we wanted to highlight the perspectives that have been mostly ignored in discussions about the change. We spoke to students Jed and Kenahemana, President of the Post Primary Teachers Association Te Wehengarua, Chris Abercrombie, and lecturer in Teacher Education at the University of Canterbury, David Pomeroy.
On 11 November 2019, Gambia filed a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing Myanmar of breaching its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention. The complaint included an urgent request for the Court to order “provisional measures” to prevent all acts that may amount to or contribute to the crime of genocide against the Rohingya and protect the community from further harm while the case is being adjudicated. De facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, rejected accusations of genocide, and urged the court to reject the case and refuse the request for provisional measures. At the end of last month, the Myanmar government- established Independent Commission of Enquiry concluded that while the Myanmar security forces may have been responsible for war crimes and “disproportionate use of force”, it found no evidence of genocidal intent. The full report has yet to be made public. However, the International Court of Justice has now officially ordered Myanmar to take “provisional measures” to prevent genocidal acts against the Rohingya community. Lillian Hanly spoke with Francisco Bencosme, the Asia Advocacy Manager for Amnesty USA, about what this means.
While Justin writes his Dissertation, James takes over the Thursday wire this week to bring you a range of pieces with his producer, Ayana.
The show starts off with an interview with COVID-19 response minister, Chris Hipkins , where he talks to James about a new order t increase border testing.
Ayana brings us an extensive piece on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership trade deal, where she talks to Minister for Trade and Export Growth Damien O'Connor and It's Our Future Spokesperson Edward Miller.
The show finishes off with James talking to Dr. Cara Swit about parental burnout during the first lockdown and during life in general.
Wise, an online multi-currency banking company, has conducted research on the financial sacrifices young people in Aotearoa are willing to make in order to travel overseas during the cost of living crisis. The research found that young people in Aotearoa are overwhelmingly likely to put off personal plans in order to travel, compared to other generations.
Rosetta spoke to Anhar Khanbhai, who is a apart of the team from Wise, about the research.
The National Party has promised to halve child poverty by 2028, and has committed to stick to the targets outlined in the Child Poverty Reduction Act, however many are worrying that not enough policy has been outlined in order to achieve this. The party’s policy of the Independent Earner Tax Credit will start in April next year and targets the “squeezed middle”, but will provide little relief for families who rely on welfare to survive.
Susan St John is an associate professor at the University of Auckland Business School, and has recently published an opinion piece in The Conversation, titled “If NZ’s new government wants a simple fix to improve child poverty, here’s what it should do” urging the party to do more to reduce child poverty. Rosetta spoke to her about how she believes the tax credit system needs to be altered in order to support low income families more.
Also in attendance at Tūrangawaewae marae for the Kiingitanga held hui-a-motu on Saturday was author and professor of Māori studies at the University of Auckland Margaret Mutu. Margaret and Rosetta had a kōrero about the hui and what movements we can expect to see from Māori in order to protect Te Tiriti, particularly around Waitangi day next month. They spoke about the notable absence of Christopher Luxon, Winston Peters, and David Seymour from the event on Saturday and what she believes both Māori and non-Māori need to be doing in order to protect Te Reo Māori, Tangata Whenua and Te Tiriti o Waitangi under the current government.
The coalition government recently announced it’s action plan for Q3 of 2024, Introducing 40 new laws under the categories of Infrastructure, Public Services, law and order.
For their weekly Catchup, Oto spoke to Green Party MP Ricardo Menendez-March to discuss the party’s opinion on the action plan and it’s effectiveness. We started the interview by discussing the areas of the plan focusing on law and order.