95bFM: The Wire

This week on the Tuesday Wire... 

For Dear Science this week, our expert Doctor Allan Blackman chatted to us about the largest known prime number, Carl Djerassi, and recycling e-waste.

In our weekly catchup with the National Party, News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to MP Katie Nimon about Christchurch becoming the first city in the country to sanction Israel, and the rest worker’s rally, which was attended by thousands.

They spoke to the Assistant Secretary for the Public Service Association, Fleur Fitzsimons, about the recent workers' strikes.

They also spoke to the National Chair for the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa, John Minto, about Christchurch sanctioning Israel.

And finally, they spoke to Senior Lecturer in Criminology in the School of Social and Cultural Studies at the Victoria University of Wellington, Lynzi Armstrong, about a study into sex work in New Zealand compared to Scotland and Ireland.

Last week, the Christchurch City Council voted to sanction Israel.

This follows calls from the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa to stop purchasing merchandise from companies that have links to funding Israel’s war on Gaza, according to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The staff report on Wednesday shows that council did not have any business with companies identified on this list, with recommendations passed by council members that amended the policy to prevent future business with these companies.

Despite passing, councillors Aaron Keown, and Kelly Baber voted against, with councillors James Gough, Victoria Henstock, and Mark Peters abstaining.

News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to the National Chair of the Palestinian Solidarity Network, John Minto, about the sanctions, and why these sanctions are so important.

On the 29th of October, worker’s unions across the country held rallies over concerns of what they have dubbed this government’s “anti-worker” agenda.

These concerns stem from elements such as the government’s cuts on public services, scrapping fair pay agreements, and re-introducing 90-day trials.

Attendees of the rallies included Labour leader, Chris Hipkins, and several members of Te Pāti Māori, including co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, with the Public Service Association sayingroughly 10,000 individuals showed up to the rallies overall.

News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to the Assistant Secretary for the Public Service Association, Fleur Fitzsimons, about the rallies, and what the atmosphere was like for those attending the hui.

Recently, research into the legal rights of sex workers in New Zealand, Ireland, and Scotland, was undertaken, following 20 years since Aotearoa decriminalised sex work.

News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to Senior Lecturer in Criminology in the School of Social and Cultural Studies at the Victoria University of Wellington, Lynzi Armstrong, about how sex workers are treated here in New Zealand compared to Scotland and Ireland, and if there are still any concerns participants in the survey have about their profession.

Wire Host Caeden spoke to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about polling numbers two weeks out from the election and former Radioactive host Tom Unger about the threat of political extremism this election.

Concerns have been raised about the ethics of cross-breeding animals, due to the negative implications that can arise through these breeding practices, following the popularity of a Sphinx and Munchkin cat hybrid overseas, called the XL Bully Cat.

News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Auckland, Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere, about the ethics of cross-breeding, and how lax New Zealand's regulations are about the practice.

For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden speaks to Willie Jackson about an independent commissioner being appointed to Wellington City Council, the government’s review of Ihumātao, and cuts at Whakaata Māori. 

For States of the States this week they speak to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about polling numbers less than two weeks out from the election and they speak to Tom Unger, political activist and former political show host at Radioactive, about political violence in the US ahead of the election.

And they speak to Amanda Turnbull, Lecturer in Cyber Law at the University of Waikato, about the negative environmental and social impacts of AI. 

News and Editorial Director, Joel, speaks to Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Auckland, Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere, about the concerns surrounding New Zealand's lax regulations regarding cross-breeding companion animals.

And for City Counselling, Tuesday Wire host Castor speaks to Councillor Julie Fairey about progress on Maungawhau train station and power outages on the Western line. 

For their regular catch-up, Oto spoke to the Green Party’s Ricardo Menéndez March about former MP Darleen Tana’s removal from Parliament, updates to the Three Strikes Law and the government’s changes to freshwater protections.

He spoke to Sinead O’Flynn from Greenpeace Aotearoa for a follow-up conversation about the changes to freshwater policy.

And he spoke to Dr Steffen Albrecht, Research Fellow at the School of Computer Science at the University of Auckland, to discuss about a study of his analysing the use of A.I in predicting respiratory disease outbreaks during flu seasons.

Sasha spoke to Honorary Senior Lecturer in Nutrition Rashjiri Roy from the University of Sydney about her recent research linking poor body image with social media use

And he spoke to Kelly Garton, Policy Researcher from the University of Auckland and spokesperson for Health Coalition Aotearoa about cuts to funding for school lunches.

Social media is blamed for many ill effects that plague modern life, and unsurprisingly a recent research conducted on New Zealand women aged eighteen to twenty-four has found that social media use correlates with poor body image.

At this period of life, it is common for debilitating eating disorders to develop. The research has found there to be a weak link between social media and poor body image, however this still raises questions about future legislations and the complexity of the relationship between young people and social media.

Sasha spoke to Honorary Senior Lecturer in Nutrition Rajshri Roy, from the University of Sydney Australia, about her recent study and other implications.

Oto reached out to Sinead O’Flynn, the agriculture campaigner at Greenpeace Aotearoa, for the organisation’s take on the government’s recent changes to Freshwater management policy.

This was after a number of ministers announced a new amendment to the Resource Management Amendment Bill covering Freshwater and Other Matters that would prevent local councils from notifying their freshwater plans until the Government replaces the National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management.