The Wire with Joel

This weekend at MOTAT is the STEM fair, celebrating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. There’s plenty of exhibitions and activities to get engaged in, and to discuss the fair Wire host Castor spoke to MOTAT’s Te Puawānanga coordinator, Phoebe Drayton.

You can find more information about the STEM fair and book tickets here. 

This week on the Tuesday Wire...

For Dear Science this week, our expert, Doctor Cushla McGoverin chatted with us about a series of science related april fools pranks, including a local “Sheep Albedo Hypothesis”.

In our weekly catchup with the National Party’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked about Tamatha Paul’s recent comments on public attitudes towards police officers.  

They also spoke to MOTAT’s Te Puawānanga coordinator, Phoebe Drayton about the STEM fair this weekend and what everyone can get up to. 

And they spoke to National Secretary of the Public Service Association about job cuts at archives NZ and what this means for the preservation of our nation’s records. 

Producer Amani spoke to Director of Communications for UNICEF Aotearoa Tania Sawick Mead about the recent and planned cuts to global aid funding, which leave 14 million children at an increased risk of severe malnutrition and death.

This week on the Monday Wire:

For our weekly catch up with Te Pāti Māori’s Takutai Kemp, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, speaks to her about Finance Minister, Nicola Willis’ plans to combat Aotearoa’s supermarket duopoly, Green MP, Tamatha Paul’s comments about police, and Te Pāti Māori’s recent calls for mandatory police body cameras.

For our weekly catch up with The ACT Party’s Simon Court, Joel speaks to him about the Resource Management Act, or RMA reforms and concerns about the country’s health and police system, following an 11-year old being misidentified as a 20-year old by police, and administered antipsychotic drugs.

On Friday, they spoke to the spokesperson for People Against Prisons Aotearoa and Criminology Lecturer at the University of Auckland, Dr Emmy Rākete, about Tamatha Paul’s comments about police practices in the country, the reaction they have received, and whether the reaction has been justified.

They speak to the Chief Executive Officer of Consumer NZ, Jon Duffy, about Nicola Willis’ plans to combat the supermarket duopoly and how the organisation are feeling about these developments.

On Friday, they also spoke to a Senior Politics and International Relations Lecturer at the University of Auckland, Tim Fadgen, about US President Donald Trump’s ‘overreach’ in American universities, and if we should expect similar occurrences at New Zealand universities.

And Global Innovator, Matt Hart, joins Joel in studio to continue our discussion around the Netflix series ‘Adolescence,’  fandoms, and exploring the role of soft power.

Whakarongo mai

US President, Donald Trump, has cancelled over $400 million US dollars, or roughly $697 million New Zealand dollars, worth of research grants and contracts at Columbia University, as leaders at the university move to alter campus and academic policies to align with what the Trump Administration are demanding.

Many believe this is the Trump Administration ‘overreaching,’ their power into universities in the country and how they choose to operate.

On Friday, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to a Senior Politics and International Relations Lecturer at the University of Auckland, Tim Fadgen, about Trump’s moves, and if we could see something similar here in Aotearoa.

They started off by asking what the Trump Administration is wanting to change about how Columbia University operates.