The Wire with Sara

The Early Care and Education sector is suffering from a lack of funds and teachers. 

Such governmental neglect has already resulted in long childcare waiting lists, high staff turnover, and low morale across the sector. 

Olivia talked to the Executive Officer at ECE Reform and public health specialist of the early care and education sector, Dr Mike Bedford, about this issue and potential solutions. 

Data released this month by StatsNZ has shown that annual inflation is down to six per cent from six-point-seven per cent in the previous twelve-month period until March 2023. 

Although despite this period of disinflation, Consumer Price Index data has shown that the price of consumer goods has continued to rise, with stubbornly high food prices fuelling the cost of living crisis. Food prices have risen above general inflation with food inflation on the Consumer Price Index sitting at twelve-point-three percent in the June quarter of this year. 

To talk more about the decrease in inflation and what that signals within the New Zealand economy, producer Andre Fa’aoso spoke to James Mitchell, manager of Consumer Price Delivery at StatsNZ.

Emilia speaks to Green Party Co-leader James Shaw about the emissions trading scheme and National’s recently announced transport plan.

Nicholas speaks to Massey University Professor of Management and Māori Business Jarrod Haar about changes in the number of people considering resigning from their jobs.

Arno speaks to University of Auckland Professor in Criminology Dr Ronals Kramer about the term youth justice in this year's election.

And Professor Auckland University Professor in Psychology Quentin Atkinson about new research into the origins of the English language.

A new study using biological evolution models to trace the origins of the English language has made some remarkable discoveries. 

The study used a list of known words in different languages to find a common ancestor for these languages, and incorporated divergence dating so that researchers could estimate when each language diverged from the root language. 

The ancient language in which English has its origins is called Proto-Indo-European and dates back 8,000 years ago. It has been geographically isolated, and found to be the root of many modern day languages as well as English. 

Arno spoke with Professor Quentin Atkinson, a Professor in Psychology at the University of Auckland, to find out more about the study. Arno started our interview by asking about the methodology of the study.