Waning trust in media alongside a failure to uphold standards and whitewashed investigations has NZ outlets in a bad spot. We discuss the examples of negative framing for Tamatha Paul’s comments about police, and the direct engagement between media leadership and far-right astro-turf groups. When will NZ political and media leadership pull in line with the electorate and reject the accelerating fascism in the US under Trump?
Read MoreWe start with a school lunch update. The NZ Govt is trying to take back control of the economic narrative with an Infrastructure Summit, amid global trade uncertainty. The UK Labour Party is abolishing 'NHS England' and making life harder for disabled people.
Read MoreAs Callaghan Innovation prepares to shut up shop it’s making one last pitch - a hackathon to design a “NZ DOGE”. What the fuck does that even mean? And what is happening with the transplant of US tech culture and propaganda into the NZ discourse?
Read MoreWe get the chance to swing at Labour for their latest fumbled PR and what looks like a signal of further centrism. School lunches remain on the agenda as one student gets second degree burns. And multiple high profile political roles are on the way out.
Read MoreWe discuss the concept of genocide, tracking the history of the concept and definition into the present day.
Read MoreThe media/pol class are finally admitting that Luxon is not fit for purpose, while his coalition partners go from disaster to disaster, and his own Ministers propose wildly destructive policy. Meanwhile, NZ still isn’t anywhere near close to the speed of decline faced by the US.
Read MoreLast weekend Destiny Church was directed by their leader, Brian Tamaki, to undertake terrorism. They duly complied, storming a library to attack a children’s story event, injuring at least one person and forcing children and caregivers to barricade themselves in a room. We discuss the conditions that led to this and the need for a strong, ongoing response in the face of a political and media climate that, at best, isn’t interested.
Read MoreWe discuss the destruction of public services in Education and Health and the purely extractive nature of neoliberal privatisation. We then peer through time (at the current situation in the US) to understand where these decisions by the National Party coalition government are going to end up.
Read MoreWe weigh in on the accelerating fascist destruction of the administrative state in the US and consider how this impacts NZ, possible steps to take, and the way that media and politics here is being set up in a way to clear the path for rabid extraction and decline, particularly via the ACT Party.
Read MoreWe talk education and ECE reforms, the issues with Labour alongside the role of unions, and the news about ex ACT Party President Tim Jago having name suppression lifted after 2.5 years, following his convictions for sexually abusing two teenage boys in the 1990s.
Read MoreWe discuss the current state of western politics, modern day fascism and its roots.
Read MoreWith Trump’s inauguration so close what did the Biden presidency offer the world and what impacts might we see under a president roundly labelled as an outright fascist? Why are all the political parties in “western democracies” so avidly breaking institutional norms for reactionary reasons?
Read MoreWe speak with Katrina Mitchell-Kouttab about the history of Palestine and the work of Palestinians and Palestine advocates in NZ over the last 18 months.
Read MoreWhat are the early signs of discourse for 2025, and what might they signal in politics and culture for the year ahead?
Read MoreWill the rightwing implode in 2025 or is it all theatre? What’s on the cards for Western and NZ politics as we enter a new year.
Read MoreIn the final(??) current events episode for the year we discuss the ways in which western politics, especially on the rightwing, is intentionally creating a policy framework to support fascism. We talk education, criminality, the alignment of capital with the far right, and try to think of some high points.
Read MoreOliver Neas spent months this year investigating and conducting interviews to reveal what happened behind the scenes before & after the Wellington council debated selling shares in their own airport. We discussed what processes & principles were at play, how the issue connects to local economy governance, and how best to treat these debates in your community.
Read MoreThe Commerce Commission gets slightly more aggressive as the supermarket duopoly and government lean into failed, repressive carceral policy. The alleged UHC shooter has been caught -what does this mean for populos? TPM’s vote share looks to be on the rise, Māori continue to be the most likely electoral party for driving change. And the spectre of climate change is becoming a very violent poltergeist.
Read MoreWe host freelance reporter Glen Johnson and genocide researcher Kieran Kelly to discuss the recent events in Syria and what it might mean for the region.
Read MoreJoin us for the week that was! We talk about the death of the United Health Care CEO, the concept of Social Murder, political issues in South Korea and France and the (willing) appropriation of legacy media as a propaganda network alongside Western government authoritarianism.
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