The Front Page

Earlier this month, Justin Trudeau resigned as Canada’s Prime Minister, marking the end of his nine years in office. Trudeau was also one of the last leaders standing from an era of younger, left-leaning or liberal politicians, alongside the likes of Finland’s Sanna Marin and our own Jacinda Ardern, who garnered global attention for bringing a fresher approach to politics. That era seems well and truly over. Last year, more than 60 countries went to the polls, and many countries saw voters swing to the right, or voting against incumbent governments rather than necessarily voting in favour of their opposition. Peter Frankopan is an author and professor of global history at Oxford University, and joined us on The Front Page last year to preview ‘the year of elections’. He joins us today on The Front Page to discuss the shifting sands of global politics. Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network. Host: Chelsea DanielsSound Engineer/Producer: Richard MartinProducer: Ethan SillsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Growing concern about public safety has reignited the idea of arming our frontline police officers. The police union says 68% of officers support routine arming – and, our new police commissioner, Richard Chambers, is apparently ‘open’ to discussions around it – although he’s also said we’re ‘proud of having unarmed police’ and he’d like to keep it that way. This is all while, in the first hours of 2025, a car rammed into a police vehicle at a Nelson gathering – Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming later died in hospital, another officer was critically injured. This was followed by another attempted ramming a week later. So do we need to look at better protect those whose jobs are to protect us – or are there risks to giving more power to the police? Today on The Front Page, Auckland University criminology lecturer Dr. Emmy Rākete joins us to discuss. Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network. Host: Chelsea DanielsSound Engineer/Producer: Richard MartinProducer: Ethan SillsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Destructive. Devastating. Apocalyptic. That’s how the wildfires burning across Los Angeles over the last week have been described. The blazes have largely brought the US’ second largest city to a standstill, destroying thousands of buildings have been destroyed, and forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate. It comes as officials declare 2024 the hottest year on record, with temperatures breaching the target of 1 point 5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels for the first time. Today on The Front Page, we’ll be discussing the ongoing climate risks that New Zealand faces with Victoria University of Wellington Professor Jonathan Boston. But first, we’re in Los Angeles with 9 News USA correspondent, Lauren Tomasi. Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network. Host: Chelsea DanielsSound Engineer/Producer: Richard MartinProducer: Ethan SillsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Billionaire Elon Musk is not content with just having the ear of US President elect Donald Trump. Over the past few weeks, the world’s richest man has weighed in on European politics, first writing an op-ed backing Germany’s far-right AFD party. But the UK has become a particular obsession, with Musk frequently commenting on his social media platform, X, about child grooming and rape gangs, laying the blame squarely at the feet of the six-month old Labour Government. So why is the tech mogul so interested in politics overseas, and how are the US’ European allies meant to respond when Musk is firmly in Trump’s inner circle? Today on The Front Page, senior reporter for CNN Politics Stephen Collinson joins us from Washington DC to discuss the thinking behind Musk’s political commentary. Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network. Host: Chelsea DanielsSound Engineer/Producer: Richard MartinProducer: Ethan SillsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.