The Wire with Castor

This July, the United States of America will celebrate 250 years since the declaration of independence, when the original thirteen colonies broke away from the British Empire under King George III. Recently, however, millions of Americans have taken to the streets to voice their disapproval of a man they see as a new monarchical figure: President Donald J. Trump.

The original ‘No Kings’ protests were held on the fourteenth of June last year, to coincide with Donald Trump’s birthday military parade. The most recent round of demonstrations occurred last weekend, and drew an estimated 8 million people, united by the belief that the President must respect the boundaries of his office.

Producer Toby spoke to Jennifer Frost, professor of history at the University of Auckland and chairperson of the New Zealand chapter of ‘Democrats Abroad’ about the significance of these demonstrations in the context of American history.

Last week, courts in the United States found that Meta and YouTube were responsible for the childhood addiction and mental health issues of a woman known as ‘KGM’, awarding $6 million USD (or $10.4 million NZD) in damages. 

Meanwhile, in New Mexico, Meta was fined $375 million USD (or, $650 million NZD) for endangering children.

Internationally, countries are increasingly coming to reckon with the effects of social media. Australia, which last year banned under-16s from accessing social media, is pursuing further potential legal action against the social media giants, while debates around a similar ban in Aotearoa New Zealand continue to polarise. 

However, in the light of the harms posed by social media, a ban is not the only solution that has been proposed. To speak to us on some of these alternative approaches, Producer Theo was joined by Professor Terryann Clark, of the University of Auckland’s School of Nursing.

This week on the Tuesday Wire...

For Dear Science this week, our expert, Professor Allan Blackman speaks with us about going to the moon, graphene, and alchemy. 

For our weekly catchup with the National Party, Wire Host Alex spoke with Ryan Hamilton about the Government’s Surcharge ban, the new police amendment, and the continued fuel crisis.

For Green World, Wire Producer Liam spoke to James Russell, Professor of conservation biology at the University of Auckland, about updates to the Predator Free 2050 Strategy, including further funding to make Wellington a predator free city within the next ten years.

And Wire Producer Flo spoke to Chris Bullen, Professor of Public Health at the School of Population Health of the University of Auckland about his criticism’ of the recent RNZ investigation into illicit tobacco and his research-based rejection of the investigation’s findings in Aotearoa New Zealand.

A report published by the World Meteorological Organisation found that 2025 was the second or third hottest year on record. As temperatures increase due to climate change and emissions, the world’s governments are seeing a similar increase in pressure to act. 

In New Zealand, often the narratives around climate change are that our impact through generating emissions or reducing emissions would be minimal, due to our low population. Despite that, the impact of climate change on our country and on our pacific allies is significant.

To discuss what New Zealand can do in the face of rising temperatures and what our role is in responding to climate change, News director Castor spoke to Professor of Climate Science and Physical Geography at Victoria University of Wellington, James Renwick.