The Elephant

Where’s the line between free speech and hate speech, and who gets to draw it? After years of cultural shouting matches, The Elephant asks the question at the core of it all.

Free-speech defenders say cancel culture is killing debate, while others argue some of this so-called “speech” is really just bullying with bigger words.

Joining Miriama Kamo and Mark Crysell to break it down are filmmaker and ...

The question “What is a woman?” ignites one of today’s fiercest cultural clashes.

Join Miriama Kamo and Mark Crysell as they tackle this charged topic with former squash player and Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy, psychologist and Women’s Rights Party member Linde Rose, teacher and...

After a winter of discontent, The Elephant asks the question everyone’s thinking... is New Zealand broken? Prices have soared, unemployment’s at a five-year high, and even with falling house prices, home ownership feels further away than ever. So what’s really driving the national mood, and what would it take to turn things around? 

Joining Miriama Kamo and Mark Crysell to unpack the issues are scientist Mich...

Drug busts are breaking records. Meth, coke, MDMA, you name it. But no matter how tough the crackdowns get, the flow just doesn’t stop.

Now, the Drug Foundation says it’s time to ditch punishment and focus on health. This week a new survey from the Helen Clark Foundation and Otago University shows half of Kiwis agree: we should shift the money from po...

ADHD’s having a moment, on TikTok, in doctors’ offices, and in nearly every conversation. Once written off as a kid’s disorder, it’s now being diagnosed in record numbers of adults, especially women. But is this a long-overdue reckoning, or the latest mental health fad gone too far?

Miriama Kamo and Mark Crysell dive into the hype and the backlash with Dr Sami Timimi, Dr...

A growing international movement is calling for New Zealand to ban children under 14 from playing contact sports, amid mounting evidence of long-term brain damage caused by repeated head knocks.  Join Miriama Kamo and Mark Crysell as they thrash out the risks, rewards and realities of kids in contact sport with world champion boxer Mea Motu, former WWE pro wrestler Dr Chris Nowinski,  David Graham of the Champions Initiative, ...

It’s one of the most charged, taboo, and divisive words in the English language, four letters that can stop a room cold. Join Miriama Kamo and Mark Crysell, along with guests - broadcaster Bree Tomasel, women's advocate Jackie Clark, and sociolinguist Dr Julia de Bres - to they dive headfirst into the C work. Where did it came from? Why does it shocks us? And can it ever truly be reclaimed?

The Elephant is made with su...

Are men in crisis, or are the rules changing? Join Miriama Kamo and Mark Crysell as they dive into the manosphere, red-pill ideas and how online influencers are shaping boys and young men in Aotearoa. Experts working in consent, violence prevention and men’s wellbeing weigh in for a frank and conflicted conversation about what healthy masculinity looks like.

The Elephant is made with support from NZ On Air

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Shame can feel like a stain you can’t scrub out, especially when everyone’s watching. In this first episode of The Elephant, hosts Mark Crysell and Miriama Kamo sit down with Golriz Ghahraman and Tory Whanau to talk about public fallout, private pain and what real accountability looks like.

Psychiatrist Dr Tanveer Ahmed, clinical psychologist Dr Dougal Sutherland and crisis PR manager Glenda Hughes also join the convers...