The Wire with Joel

With the new Plain Language Bill being brought to parliament, it aims to make comprehensible information from government organisations a basic democratic right. 

Joe had the opportunity to speak to Andreea S. Calude, a Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at University of Waikato, about this bill and why so it’s important.

Early this morning, Queen Elizabeth the Second passed away at age 96. 

The queen was the head of state for the United Kingdom, Aotearoa New Zealand, and multitudes of other nations throughout the commonwealth. 

She originally ascended to the throne on the Sixth of February 1952, making her the longest reigning monarch at seventy years. 

The United Kingdom is undergoing a day of mourning ahead of her funeral in ten days time, however the full extent of it’s impact on New Zealand is currently unknown.

Considering her appearance on coins and 20 dollar notes, an economic reworking could soon be in place.

However, the end of the mourning period could possibly see conversations rise on New Zealands need for a head of state.

The possibility of becoming a republic is not unique to our country, with other nations also attempting to understand where this could take them in the future.

For some commentary, Liam had a chat with Stephen Hoadley, an international relations professor from the University of Auckland.

On the Friday Wire today:

Liam spoke to Stephen Hoadley from the University of Auckland about the passing of Queen Elizabeth the Second. We had a chat about what this means and what could change. 

They also had a chat with Pippa Coom on our regular city counselling segment to learn about the extension of the White Lady Food Truck’s License and the efforts to get people back into Auckland's City Centre

And finally Liam spoke to Steve Greenwood from Drive EV about the current state of electric vehicles for World Electric Vehicle Day. 

Stella speaks to Chris Wilson, Senior Lecturer of  Politics and International Relations at the University of Auckland about his recently published work in which his colleague James Halpin infiltrated Action Zelandia, a far-right extremist group in Aotearoa. Tuva’a has his weekly catch-up with Labour’s Andrew Little and Frances brings us Greendesk, speaking to PhD candidate from the university of Otago Nick Foster about his work in pest eradication. Finally Stella speaks to Shrutika  Gunanayagam from Able, a media access trust, about Global Literacy Day (today!), and how kids who watch captioned content are more literate.