Speaker 1: Giuda.
Speaker 2: I'm Chelsea Daniels and This is the Front Page, a
Speaker 2: daily podcast presented by The New Zealand Herald. From geopolitical
Speaker 2: friction and climate chaos to a cost of living crisis
Speaker 2: and consequences for a hukker heard around the world.
Speaker 3: Twenty twenty five has been a huge year for news.
Speaker 2: Trump's return to the White House, sparks, trade wars, artificial
Speaker 2: intelligence is getting well more intelligent, and we're rounding out
Speaker 2: the year with no end in sight for wars in
Speaker 2: Ukraine and Gaza. There's a lot to un pack for
Speaker 2: our final episode of the year, and who better to
Speaker 2: join me for a breakdown than two people behind the
Speaker 2: scenes of every episode you listen to or watch every day.
Speaker 2: Today on the Front Page, our producers, Richard Martin and Jane.
Speaker 4: Yee are here to wrap up the year that what.
Speaker 1: So.
Speaker 3: Tom Phillips died after a shootout with.
Speaker 2: Police in September after one thousand, three hundred and fifty
Speaker 2: eight days in the bush with his children. It was devastating.
Speaker 2: It was a devastating end to a massive, near four
Speaker 2: year long saga, but thankfully all three children were found.
Speaker 2: There's an inquiry underway at the moment Jane. A whole
Speaker 2: lot of questions remain about how he was even able
Speaker 2: to evade police at the time with his three children
Speaker 2: for so long. What do you make of these whole events.
Speaker 5: It was a really interesting experience for me, being relatively
Speaker 5: new to the newsroom and that breaking in the morning
Speaker 5: and us sort of going, hey, lets it down to
Speaker 5: pure and see what's going on.
Speaker 4: It was a longer drive than we imagine. We got
Speaker 4: down there and it was kind of it was just
Speaker 4: quite a weird vibe. I found. It was a lot
Speaker 4: quieter than I expected.
Speaker 5: I expected a lot of locals, a lot of police present,
Speaker 5: none of that. It was just like PGG writes, and
Speaker 5: was shut and there was some tape across the front door,
Speaker 5: and that was that.
Speaker 4: It was very very quiet, and it.
Speaker 5: Seemed really in contrast to all the fervor of the
Speaker 5: coverage that was going on and had been going on,
Speaker 5: you know, throughout this time. But it's also, you know,
Speaker 5: a strange story, because they'd be a sighting and then
Speaker 5: there'd be a story, and then it would go quiet
Speaker 5: for such a long time, and I guess in the
Speaker 5: public you just sort of you forget about it until
Speaker 5: it's in your in your face again and when you
Speaker 5: read out how many days they were in the bush,
Speaker 5: it's quite astounding.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's incredible. It was four years nearly.
Speaker 6: Being there in the small town, you get the sense
Speaker 6: that there was just this relief that it was over,
Speaker 6: and like because we went into stores to talk to
Speaker 6: people about it, and like no one really wanted to
Speaker 6: say anything, because it's like the nature of it is that, like,
Speaker 6: you know, there's not much else going on down there
Speaker 6: for the last four years, and like I'm sure there
Speaker 6: were seck of journalists and reporters and everything showing our
Speaker 6: basketing quis about this thing. Also for so long, it's like, well,
Speaker 6: I've got nothing else to say about it because we
Speaker 6: don't know anything. And now that the story like finally
Speaker 6: came to a close, I just yet got the sense
Speaker 6: that there was just relief that they weren't going to
Speaker 6: be bothered anymore about us.
Speaker 5: But also, I mean, the questions remain around if he
Speaker 5: was helped. We can only we can only speculate until
Speaker 5: you know, more information comes to light.
Speaker 4: Which could be along you know, a really a few time.
Speaker 5: If ever, certainly we know there are details that will
Speaker 5: be likely to be suppressed and we may never know,
Speaker 5: you know, so it's hard to you know, we're going
Speaker 5: down there and applying our lens of what we read
Speaker 5: the situation to be, but really unless those details come
Speaker 5: to light, we don't actually know.
Speaker 6: How was it for you because that was your first time, Chelsea,
Speaker 6: going down there, and you know, this is a story
Speaker 6: that you've covered a lot closely than the two of us,
Speaker 6: and the four years that he's been missing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think after four years, I kind of, you know,
Speaker 2: I would always when there would be a sighting or something,
Speaker 2: I would do crosses with ABC Australia and other Australian
Speaker 2: outfits and UK outfits about this story because the rest
Speaker 2: of the world really could not understand how he was
Speaker 2: gone with his three kids for so long. And I
Speaker 2: remember the day actually that it came out that he
Speaker 2: was allegedly involved in an aggravated robbery and I nearly
Speaker 2: fell off my chair because it's like, A it was
Speaker 2: a new sighting of him, and B what do you
Speaker 2: mean an aggravated robbery and that CCTV footage coming out
Speaker 2: as well. I also remember distinctly the moment that they
Speaker 2: were all seen by Peak Hunters together and that was
Speaker 2: the first time that the mother had seen all of
Speaker 2: her three children together, and the relief versus how scared
Speaker 2: she was for their safety but also relieved that they
Speaker 2: were still a lyve. That was a huge moment I
Speaker 2: think as well of that story. So thankfully they all
Speaker 2: were found by police as well in the end. Another
Speaker 2: massive story this year, a huge blow for the New
Speaker 2: Zealand Police after a damning report into Jevin mcskimming, a
Speaker 2: former deputy police commissioner. Allegations from a woman were seen
Speaker 2: to be ignored are The report said ambitions of a
Speaker 2: senior police.
Speaker 3: Officer were put above the interests of a vulnerable woman.
Speaker 2: During the course of this investigation, of course, detectives found
Speaker 2: child exploitation material and beastiality on his work devices.
Speaker 3: How do you think police.
Speaker 2: Handled this, Jane, and how do you think they handled
Speaker 2: it in the aftermath as well.
Speaker 5: I can only come at it purely from a public
Speaker 5: perception point of view because I'm not an expert in
Speaker 5: this area. But distrust that something like this puts in
Speaker 5: the police I think can't be overstated.
Speaker 4: Like it it is a huge As you say, it's.
Speaker 5: Difficult to know how you pr something I did notice
Speaker 5: a lot of the rhetoric was around you know, let
Speaker 5: this not detract from the fifteen thousand men and women
Speaker 5: who are hard at work every day. And yes, while
Speaker 5: that is true, I think you also have to very
Speaker 5: much face hit on the fact that you know, this
Speaker 5: was a shocking event, it was a scandal, It wonn't
Speaker 5: handlebell And I'm kind of curious to see if there's
Speaker 5: going to be some more threads that come out of this.
Speaker 5: It feels inevitable there there will be.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, because this hasn't happened.
Speaker 2: You know, this isn't the first time something like this
Speaker 2: has happened with the police, Hey Richard.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean totally.
Speaker 6: And it's like, it is interesting to see how they
Speaker 6: spend it each time, because I think that, like if
Speaker 6: you watch the press conferences and everything that they've been
Speaker 6: doing about it, they you know, you could say that
Speaker 6: they've actually done a pretty good job of being like, yeah,
Speaker 6: this was messed up, and you know that we've we've
Speaker 6: dealt with it, we got rid of them, They've done
Speaker 6: all this stuff. But then more and more that comes
Speaker 6: out about the reports about how you know, the complainant
Speaker 6: was prosecuted for harassment and all these things, and that
Speaker 6: it's like, yeah, it's seeing the inner workings that it's like, oh,
Speaker 6: this wasn't handled very well. And it's just there's always
Speaker 6: a thing about like the fact that this guy felt
Speaker 6: comfortable enough to access this sort of material on his work.
Speaker 4: Computer must have felt like quite invincible.
Speaker 1: Heye, totally.
Speaker 6: And it just shows and like this happens every time,
Speaker 6: like so often when like you're a powerful man like
Speaker 6: this is found to be doing something that like it
Speaker 6: speaks to a culture of like how did you think
Speaker 6: this was okay?
Speaker 1: How did you get away with this?
Speaker 6: What does it say about the wider culture that you
Speaker 6: weren't worried about this?
Speaker 5: What's just truly out the gate for me is the
Speaker 5: idea that you know, very very shocking, the you know,
Speaker 5: the kind of stuff that he had on his on
Speaker 5: his computer was on the cloud wear river that he
Speaker 5: had been EXI saying through work wild to think that
Speaker 5: their investigation that really really nearly didn't happen, the internal investigation,
Speaker 5: if they hadn't happened, none of this, none of that
Speaker 5: would have come out either. So you know, there's various
Speaker 5: layers and levels here, and it's kind of not good
Speaker 5: for anyone.
Speaker 3: It's just not well. Another massive scandal this year.
Speaker 2: Green Party MP and New Zealand's first non binary MP,
Speaker 2: Benjamin Doyle, came into controversy this year when their private
Speaker 2: Instagram account at Bible Belt Bossy Bussy Bussy was exposed
Speaker 2: featuring the phrase bussy galore, captioning a slideshow that included
Speaker 2: a photo of their child. Now this blew up online.
Speaker 2: Winston Peters called them out online a triggered hate, including
Speaker 2: death threats towards their family, their child, and they resigned
Speaker 2: in September.
Speaker 3: First off, I mean, what do you make of this?
Speaker 2: And did you know the term bussy before any of
Speaker 2: this came out?
Speaker 3: Because I did not.
Speaker 6: I had heard the term, But yeah, it is. There's
Speaker 6: one side of this that it's just there's a very
Speaker 6: strange world that we live in that you're hearing, like
Speaker 6: Winston Peter's demanding explanations for what bussy is and things
Speaker 6: like that, and so Benjamin Doyle having to come out
Speaker 6: and do these press conferences explaining that bussy Galore is
Speaker 6: a play on the pussy glore, the bond girl, and
Speaker 6: that that's sort of an alter ego that they had
Speaker 6: and all these things that it's like, it does sound ridiculous,
Speaker 6: and I don't.
Speaker 3: Sounds ridiculous in retrospect, and.
Speaker 1: It felt ridiculous at the time.
Speaker 6: I don't think that Benjamin Doyle as any kind of
Speaker 6: pervert or anything like that.
Speaker 5: There's certainly no evidence to that effect. Truthfully, it shows
Speaker 5: to me just a generation to divide. Peter's trying to
Speaker 5: figure out the Internet and like getting it wrong. But
Speaker 5: they're being quite full on cons aequaenceance for an individual totally.
Speaker 6: But then at the same time, there is the thing
Speaker 6: of like when you're a politician, when you're entering the
Speaker 6: public eye, you do have to like go through your
Speaker 6: social media. Like it's just a fact of the day
Speaker 6: and age we live in that you have to go
Speaker 6: through a social media the prefind to promit.
Speaker 5: There's also you know, I think about like my kids
Speaker 5: in the way that they talk, perhaps some of the
Speaker 5: young people in the office here, I think none of us,
Speaker 5: none of us could be politicians if this is the
Speaker 5: standard pint which we have to live because of the
Speaker 5: amount of just stuff you say that is just in
Speaker 5: the modern day vernacular, they're you know, out of context.
Speaker 5: I'm I'm not defending anything that is legitimately offensive. But
Speaker 5: you know, there's also this argument around Benjamin Doyle being
Speaker 5: part of a certain community where the language is used
Speaker 5: in a different way, and it's an internal kind of
Speaker 5: understanding between people that like those outside of that community.
Speaker 5: Particularly someone like Winston Peter's is just not going.
Speaker 2: To get a big one in New Zealand politics this year.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the Treaty principle spill. Obviously the huk
Speaker 2: I heard around the world late last year, and then
Speaker 2: this year several MPs that Awdiytt, Debbie Nadowapaka and were
Speaker 2: suspended for twenty one days each MP Clark seven days. Previously,
Speaker 2: the longest suspension for an MP had been three days,
Speaker 2: and that was given to former Prime Minister Robert Muldoon
Speaker 2: for criticizing the speaker. That was back in the eighties.
Speaker 3: Do you think that twenty one days was far too harsh?
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, I think we're all in a creementer.
Speaker 5: I just don't see how you can objectively say something
Speaker 5: seven times.
Speaker 4: You know, there's a lot of history.
Speaker 3: Seven times the previous record, it seems.
Speaker 5: A lot, and that the previous record was so long
Speaker 5: ago as well, like it's really no one done anything
Speaker 5: bad in parliament that is kind of you know, deserving
Speaker 5: of a suspension for sitting.
Speaker 3: You know, do you reckon the do you reckon?
Speaker 2: The worldwide press of the Harker heard around the world
Speaker 2: prompted such a severe warning or severe suspension.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it did.
Speaker 6: But like it's interesting though, because like so much of
Speaker 6: the response to I mean, I guess, you know, my
Speaker 6: social media algorithms are different from other people's, but like
Speaker 6: the things I was saying were all like, oh my god,
Speaker 6: this is so cool. You know, Native New Zealanders are
Speaker 6: like willing to stand up for this. But you know,
Speaker 6: I'm sure there were people ar go on the other side,
Speaker 6: but I think yet that there were a lot of
Speaker 6: eyes on that. And what was the response to it
Speaker 6: going to be? I think twenty one days? And so
Speaker 6: the fact that it's seven times the previous record is insane.
Speaker 6: But there's a lot of that sort of parliamentary stuff,
Speaker 6: like because occasionally, you know, in the newsroom, we will
Speaker 6: just have Parliament TV on in the background sometimesing and
Speaker 6: you watch it and you actually sit down and watch it,
Speaker 6: and there's a lot of like very sort of old
Speaker 6: fashion and like the way that the amount of power
Speaker 6: that the speaker holds, and like things like just insulting
Speaker 6: the speaker can get you kicked out for three days
Speaker 6: in the eighties. Is like, there's a lot of these
Speaker 6: stuff that. Again, you know, you've said that we couldn't
Speaker 6: be politicians, but I don't think i'd want to be,
Speaker 6: to be.
Speaker 4: Honest, No, it sounds pretty it sounds pretty full on
Speaker 4: the I think, you know, when we went to.
Speaker 5: The Privileges Committee and came you know, there's an argument
Speaker 5: should the Privileges Committee be independent rather than parliamentary driven.
Speaker 5: It feels to me back to your question about you know,
Speaker 5: the global attention that was on this, again hard to
Speaker 5: say is a fact, but the sense to me is
Speaker 5: that like it was highly embarrassing, you know, it was
Speaker 5: highly embarrassing for the speaker, you know, making a mockery
Speaker 5: of the parliamentary process and so on, and therefore this
Speaker 5: was the appropriate punishment. I tend to disagree. But the
Speaker 5: other interesting thing was there was also a lot of
Speaker 5: chat around. You know, they could have had a shorter
Speaker 5: suspension had they apologized, and apparently it was just near
Speaker 5: They were never asked to apologize. It was never suggested
Speaker 5: in the Privileges Committee.
Speaker 4: Report that they should apologize.
Speaker 5: So again you've got to kind of weed away at
Speaker 5: all the details and just see exactly what it is
Speaker 5: that's going on.
Speaker 2: And this year, obviously, we saw US President Donald Trump
Speaker 2: push aggressive tariffs, sparking trade wars and an America first mindset.
Speaker 2: All the while he ordered slashes to federal spending through DOGE,
Speaker 2: which is something that I just wanted to say, it's
Speaker 2: so weird to think. He also exited the Paris Agreement,
Speaker 2: wanted to take over Greenland, and backed his health secretary
Speaker 2: when he linked paracetamol use pregnancy to autism.
Speaker 3: That's all they want the ball on the ballroom of
Speaker 3: course as well.
Speaker 2: So first off, these tariffs obviously sent the world into
Speaker 2: a tail spin. You know, leaders of every nation in
Speaker 2: the world wanting to speak to Donald Trump about this.
Speaker 2: What do you think that says about how the US's
Speaker 2: influence is still quite big?
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's it is this annoying thing, Like you hear
Speaker 6: the way that other countries talk about Donald Trump, and
Speaker 6: it is like there's fear in it, you know, like
Speaker 6: there's the thing just just sweet gone that the FIFA
Speaker 6: at the drawer. They like made up a new prize
Speaker 6: to be like and you get this that it's like
Speaker 6: everyone just wants to keep them happy because the US
Speaker 6: at the moment just feels so volatile and they're the
Speaker 6: thing of the tariffs that like it was affected by
Speaker 6: like personal grudges between Donald Trump and the world leader
Speaker 6: of sending country that they would say, oh, well we're
Speaker 6: going to do reciprocal tariffs or something like that, and
Speaker 6: he's like, well, then I'm going to increase yours kids.
Speaker 5: Playing a board game, you know what I mean, And
Speaker 5: they're making up the rules as they go along.
Speaker 1: It is.
Speaker 5: It's a wild world that we live in at the moment.
Speaker 5: But I think you're being on. People don't necessarily necessarily
Speaker 5: respect him, but they fear him because he does. He
Speaker 5: does have power. And I think Donald Trump is far
Speaker 5: more clever than people give him credit for. I think
Speaker 5: he knows what he's doing in a lot of ways.
Speaker 5: He comes across as you know.
Speaker 7: That he doesn't always know what he's doing, and you know,
Speaker 7: and I think there is an argument there are people
Speaker 7: talking about perhaps he's in cognitive decline.
Speaker 4: I think both things could be true. I think he can.
Speaker 5: Be very powerful and kind of know how to work people,
Speaker 5: know how to divert the conversation and all of those
Speaker 5: things for a specific purpose, not just because he's ant,
Speaker 5: but because he knows what he's doing.
Speaker 4: But I think he can also can be a bit of.
Speaker 6: An idea well, Like the thing about him is and
Speaker 6: that he knows how to work a crowd. If you've
Speaker 6: ever actually sat down and watched one of his rallies,
Speaker 6: like because the thing is that you you see all
Speaker 6: these clips out of context and it's like, oh, he
Speaker 6: said the craziest thing, and you know, a lot of
Speaker 6: it is insane, but he has this ability to tap
Speaker 6: into like exactly what a crowd wants to hear that like,
Speaker 6: and you know, for editing purposes and things like that.
Speaker 6: I've sat down and watched like a forty minute hour
Speaker 6: long rally of his and the way that he plays
Speaker 6: off a grad more, I would say, more so in
Speaker 6: twenty sixteen twenty twenty, I think he has lost a
Speaker 6: bit of his speed, which you know, whether or not
Speaker 6: it's cognitive declined, it comes with aging and also the
Speaker 6: stress of being president, I'm sure.
Speaker 3: And also not having to go on an election trail again.
Speaker 5: Really yeah, yeah, right, like you do as much as
Speaker 5: you can be out there.
Speaker 4: As you like, because this is your last year.
Speaker 2: This is yeah, because we started off with the inauguration
Speaker 2: this year, which seems so like so long ago. But
Speaker 2: all of the tech bros in the front row, those
Speaker 2: images of all of them, I mean.
Speaker 3: Do you reckon that they've all stuck around?
Speaker 1: Like obviously the famous one is.
Speaker 6: It's crazy to think that in twenty twenty five, there
Speaker 6: was a period of about six months where I heard
Speaker 6: the name Elon Musk every day and.
Speaker 1: It was like, oh, yeah, he's doing some other thing.
Speaker 6: You have to email Elon Musk five things you've done
Speaker 6: that week? That like, it's crazy that all the stuff
Speaker 6: was this year.
Speaker 4: But then email and five things you've done this.
Speaker 6: Because he was in charge of the shopping that you
Speaker 6: had to you had to send through what what were
Speaker 6: five things you you did in last week to prove
Speaker 6: your productive because nothing, you know, promotes productivity by like
Speaker 6: adding a useless bit of admin wik.
Speaker 1: Yeah. But yeah, there was like all these things.
Speaker 6: And then like the Doge contract because of things about
Speaker 6: let because he was an elected official, there was like
Speaker 6: all these different things about that. The contract was only
Speaker 6: going to be for a certain amount of time, and
Speaker 6: then when it finished, it seemed like they didn't end
Speaker 6: on the best of terms, because you know, it ended
Speaker 6: with Elon Musk just tweeting Trump is and the Epstein
Speaker 6: files that's why they won't be released.
Speaker 1: Have fun with that, that's right. And then I think
Speaker 1: that was later deleted, but was done. The damage was done.
Speaker 1: And you know, obviously that's been another lot of the
Speaker 1: big stories of the year.
Speaker 2: Now, a standout TV show this year was a four
Speaker 2: part series.
Speaker 3: It was on Netflix. It was a drama. It was
Speaker 3: called Adolescents.
Speaker 2: Not only for its performances and how each episode was
Speaker 2: actually filmed in a single take, which is extraordinary if
Speaker 2: you've watched it, I just couldn't believe that that was
Speaker 2: a thing, but also for the conversations around you know,
Speaker 2: its release social media role in youth radicalization, for example,
Speaker 2: the manner sphere, parental blind spots. Also when it comes
Speaker 2: to kids online, what do you guys make of those conversations?
Speaker 3: And Jane, this one's for you.
Speaker 2: Because you do have children of an age who are online.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, and it's though they honestly could be anywhere
Speaker 5: from two these days in Australia, they.
Speaker 4: Can still be online.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I've got a fifteen and a half year old boy,
Speaker 5: so right in that space, and I haven't watched it,
Speaker 5: and I've deliberately not watched it because I know it
Speaker 5: will really disturb and upset me, and that, I guess
Speaker 5: maybe makes me one of those people who has blinkers on.
Speaker 5: But I don't feel like like I've seen the conversation,
Speaker 5: and I don't feel like I need to watch the
Speaker 5: kind of very harrowing thing to know what it's about
Speaker 5: and to engage in the conversations around it.
Speaker 4: It's a little bit.
Speaker 5: Self protection really, you know, as a parent, you know,
Speaker 5: I personally try to be very engaged in what my
Speaker 5: kids are doing online.
Speaker 4: I'm not naive.
Speaker 5: And if I think there's a naivety in thinking that
Speaker 5: you know everything, you don't and and you know, not
Speaker 5: that we're a parenting podcast, but it is just that
Speaker 5: classic like having the conversations with their children, making a
Speaker 5: safe space to talk about just keeping an eye on
Speaker 5: them and connecting with them is the best thing that
Speaker 5: you can do. I think it was a very excellent
Speaker 5: I understand it was technically excellent. Again, I am saying that,
Speaker 5: but a very you know, a very timely release of
Speaker 5: something that was that would have made a lot of parents.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, sit up and take notice. It made me
Speaker 3: very uncomfortable. And I'm not a parent at all.
Speaker 1: What about you, Richard, I'm also not a parent's.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it is interesting, like the whole manisphere thing, because
Speaker 6: I do get exposed to some of that content.
Speaker 4: My children don't like, they definitely do and me.
Speaker 6: You know, like Charlie Kirk was, you know, obviously one
Speaker 6: of the big news stories this year, and he was
Speaker 6: a figure that I was very familiar with as someone.
Speaker 2: And you see, I didn't know who Charlie Kirk were
Speaker 2: was before that day. And I was having a similar
Speaker 2: conversation with my brother as well, and he knew because
Speaker 2: his videos had come up on me.
Speaker 4: Yeah, isn't that scary in that.
Speaker 6: Like, depending on what social media I'm on, I would
Speaker 6: get feared like Charlie Kirk owns liberals or liberals own
Speaker 6: Charlie Kirk. That Like, if I'm on my TikTok algorithm
Speaker 6: tends to be I guess more left wing, and so
Speaker 6: it will be stuff where you know, you're Ben Shapiro,
Speaker 6: Jordan Peterson Charlie Kirk are caught out in something, whereas
Speaker 6: if I go on Twitter, it's like entirely look at
Speaker 6: you know, facts don't care about your feelings, and all
Speaker 6: the times that they're won an argument.
Speaker 4: And sometimes the same clip exactly just.
Speaker 6: Depending on who's posting it. Yeah, like yes, I know,
Speaker 6: as you see. I've seen clips out of context from
Speaker 6: you know, one of these Jubilee debate debate videos or
Speaker 6: something like that, and then I'm like, who do they
Speaker 6: think looks stupid?
Speaker 3: Yeah, to be like, oh okay, yeah.
Speaker 2: If there's one thing that is likely to end up
Speaker 2: on a lot of twenty twenty five lists this year,
Speaker 2: I think it's going to be this cute ugly monster
Speaker 2: plushy la boo boo.
Speaker 3: You've heard of them.
Speaker 2: They were everywhere, and I think it brings up a
Speaker 2: few good insights into like society, celebrity endorsements, consumerism, and
Speaker 2: that kind of psychology like I need this because I
Speaker 2: can't get it kind of thing.
Speaker 4: What do you think of them?
Speaker 5: I think I think they're quite cute ugly cute ugly,
Speaker 5: but I feel like you ugly has been a thing
Speaker 5: for ever, you know, in pop culture. But I personally
Speaker 5: don't have a libo. The dairy near my house sounds
Speaker 5: like La Booboo esque type candy type, you know, I
Speaker 5: don't actually know what it is, but they're right by
Speaker 5: the counter. You know, these these dolls, what do you
Speaker 5: call them? They don't they they were around slashy. They're plushy,
Speaker 5: so like they would have been sitting in pop stop
Speaker 5: or whatever, selling just for a regular price until who
Speaker 5: was it?
Speaker 4: Was it Rihanna someone?
Speaker 2: It was Rihanna, but it was also Jenny from Black
Speaker 2: Pink I think as well, and a couple of other
Speaker 2: celebrities also had them on their backs or something.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, yeah, and then it just yeah, it just
Speaker 5: started a whole thing, didn't it.
Speaker 4: I mean, there's no.
Speaker 5: It feels like if you're a manufacturer of something, it's
Speaker 5: just as like gambling.
Speaker 4: Yeah, like he's hoping.
Speaker 2: Well, and also everyone's struggling with the cost of living
Speaker 2: and having a really rough twenty twenty five, and you know,
Speaker 2: if you can get some enjoyment out of.
Speaker 3: This little furry monster that cost you.
Speaker 2: I can't remember what they they cost about forty bucks
Speaker 2: or something, and you get a lot of enjoyment out
Speaker 2: of it.
Speaker 3: Then why not.
Speaker 2: But there was a lot of people criticizing people for
Speaker 2: liking Laboo Boos as well, Yeah it.
Speaker 1: Comes out, it's funny.
Speaker 6: Like basically, everything I know about Laboober's I've learned from
Speaker 6: Huge House.
Speaker 3: Will.
Speaker 1: But yeah, like, I mean, anytime.
Speaker 6: Some dumb little thing like this comes a fair essentially
Speaker 6: fair comes along, there's going to be people that are
Speaker 6: like against her. But it's like, yeah, that makes you
Speaker 6: were happy for Like, it's.
Speaker 5: Pretty harnest, right, I think that I think the problem
Speaker 5: really lies and when the value is so inflated that
Speaker 5: like the poor little kid who has actually been collecting
Speaker 5: them when they were just like nineteen ninety five at
Speaker 5: pop stop and really wanted a particular one, but now
Speaker 5: that one is worth you know, sixty thousand dollars, it
Speaker 5: becomes a bit of a problem. It doesn't help with
Speaker 5: the cost of living crisis.
Speaker 2: My next one just two words cold play kiss cam,
Speaker 2: which is.
Speaker 3: Technically I think it's kiss cam one.
Speaker 5: Word or that's the big debate that everyone was talking about.
Speaker 1: Everyone was one.
Speaker 2: Ding where the kiss you know discuss.
Speaker 4: I mean, I you know what a great viral moment.
Speaker 2: Incredible, incredible moment, and then all of the videos of
Speaker 2: people re enacting it as well.
Speaker 4: But I do like I'm maybe I'm just a bleeding her.
Speaker 4: I feel it sorry for them.
Speaker 2: Do you have Do you have the right to anonymity
Speaker 2: when you're at a concert with your lover?
Speaker 5: Well, I mean, you know that kiss allegedly, you know,
Speaker 5: kiss cams exists, you know, phone social media exists, So
Speaker 5: I mean, do you have the right to Sure, we
Speaker 5: all have the right to it, but you've also got
Speaker 5: to realize, like.
Speaker 1: We exercise that right, you know.
Speaker 4: But the I just think that in a these things
Speaker 4: are never.
Speaker 5: As black and white as they seem, right, you know,
Speaker 5: you don't know actually what's going on in someone's personal
Speaker 5: life and the repercussions on family members, other parties. You know,
Speaker 5: it's it's quite out of step with just someone having
Speaker 5: you know, and a fear that can be yahretty pretty
Speaker 5: detrimental to a family, to a relationship on the best
Speaker 5: of days, litt alone having it become the biggest viral
Speaker 5: moment in the world. Possibly ever, like, that's a lot
Speaker 5: for people to deal with and possibly you know, yeah,
Speaker 5: I mean I wouldn't want.
Speaker 1: My family finding out like Coldplow.
Speaker 4: Yeah exactly, That's what we're talking about Yeah, that was.
Speaker 3: It, but also the dosing online as well.
Speaker 2: I mean, immediately after that video came out, people knew
Speaker 2: where the man worked. I think his wife was actually
Speaker 2: asleep and woke up to messages because people.
Speaker 3: Had found them overnight. So it's like where do you
Speaker 3: where does it end?
Speaker 6: Well, it's also like, I mean, the really interesting thing
Speaker 6: about it as well is that like if they had
Speaker 6: done nothing, no one would know about it, right, And
Speaker 6: then it's like the straisone effect of like trying to
Speaker 6: hide something only draws attention to it. And it was like,
Speaker 6: just in the last couple of months, he's like announced
Speaker 6: he's sewing coldplay or something along those lines, because.
Speaker 3: Chris Martin pointed.
Speaker 6: It out, and because there was also the thing about like,
Speaker 6: oh is it defamation what Chris Martin said that, He's like, oh,
Speaker 6: they're either you know, having an affair.
Speaker 2: Well, it's not defamation because it's true true.
Speaker 4: We did a whole episode on it.
Speaker 6: Remember, yeah, but yeah, and because there was all these
Speaker 6: things about like what legal repercussions are there, but then
Speaker 6: also there was like these things about like oh, there
Speaker 6: and he had separated from his wife or like but
Speaker 6: then obviously you know, anyone can just go online and
Speaker 6: make this up. So I've seen a bunch of different
Speaker 6: things that's actually they weren't together, or actually they had
Speaker 6: been together.
Speaker 4: There's points, you know, like it gives way to the
Speaker 4: point that we.
Speaker 5: Really don't know what's going on in people's personal lives,
Speaker 5: and why do we feel like we have the right to,
Speaker 5: you know, to cast moral judgment when so many of
Speaker 5: the details are missing.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean that's a great viron my man, you.
Speaker 1: Know, hilarious.
Speaker 2: And last one, what is your major standout of the year?
Speaker 6: Yeah, top moments for me. I was trying to think of,
Speaker 6: like if there are actually are only like like fun
Speaker 6: news stories this year. I mean the Copley has came
Speaker 6: was one that was.
Speaker 5: Like, Yeah, I mean we went in pretty hard on
Speaker 5: Ike and that it was very recent, like literally last weekish.
Speaker 4: But I think I found it chronically hilarious.
Speaker 5: That there was no traffic, and I think it might
Speaker 5: have been part of the media hype.
Speaker 1: Thing that we contributed to.
Speaker 5: We scared people away, We did too good of a
Speaker 5: job for us, But you know, I think it's you know,
Speaker 5: I'm I'm kind of a fan of AKA.
Speaker 4: I'm glad it's here.
Speaker 5: It was exciting to go and check out the story
Speaker 5: ahead of time, to try and meet all you know,
Speaker 5: that sort of thing. And to me, that's kind of
Speaker 5: a little bit of a feel good story to.
Speaker 7: End what is otherwise been a pretty rubbish Yeah, all
Speaker 7: things considered, I think, you know, I here is my
Speaker 7: my big blue.
Speaker 6: Savior because because for me, like I'm a big sort
Speaker 6: of like pop culture guy that like my like my
Speaker 6: highlights of each year are like things like you know,
Speaker 6: Oscar season and like I mean, I was a big
Speaker 6: fan of Kendrick Lamher at the super Bowl that was
Speaker 6: back in February, and yeah, you know there's been there's
Speaker 6: been some good movies this year as well, one Bay
Speaker 6: of Lafter another Listeners, and so it's like, those are
Speaker 6: my highlights of the year personally, Well.
Speaker 3: Thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 4: No, no, you don't get to do that.
Speaker 2: It was your highlight of the Chelsea obviously working with
Speaker 2: you guys, and I know that you just wanted that
Speaker 2: on tape. No. I think coming to work every day
Speaker 2: and working on this podcast, I think I love what
Speaker 2: I do and I love creating this for the audience.
Speaker 2: And a big shout out to the audience and whoever's listening,
Speaker 2: watching reading the article.
Speaker 3: We really really do appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Here, we do.
Speaker 4: We ended for all your heart Maneyah, thanks so much
Speaker 4: for joining us.
Speaker 1: Chelsea, thanks so.
Speaker 3: Much for joining us.
Speaker 2: That's it for the Front Page for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2: We'll be back with new episodes in mid January. You
Speaker 2: can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage
Speaker 2: at ends at Herald dot co dot nz. The Front
Speaker 2: Page is produced by Jane Ye and Richard Martin, who's
Speaker 2: also our editor.
Speaker 3: I'm Chelsea Daniels.
Speaker 2: Subscribe to the Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you
Speaker 2: get your podcasts, and tune in over the summer, where
Speaker 2: we'll be revisiting episodes from the past year.