The Week in Detail: Bilingual signs, starving universities, and vulnerable men

Every weekday, The Detail makes sense of the big news stories.

This week, we looked at the magic numbers used to justify luring big, expensive events to a city, the places where bi-lingual signs are the norm, the great gaping holes in university funding, and men living on the fringes - how do some of our most vulnerable end up in places such as Loafers Lodge? 

Whakarongo mai to any episodes you might have missed.

Counting the benefits of big events

There are promises of a huge global television audience, a boost for the profile of women's football, and big spending by fans descending on New Zealand - but do forecasts about the economic benefits of big events such as the FIFA Women's World Cup actually add up?

How do we get to those figures in the first place, and how accurate are they? 

Alexia Russell talks to one man whose job it is to lure events to Auckland; and another who pokes holes in the formulas and reports being used to justify spending money to make money. 

It's the bean-counter versus the 'dream big' guy. We look at the intangibles of staging the festivals and sporting extravaganzas, and what's foregone when government money is spent on them.

The places where bilingual is the norm

A proposal to put te reo Māori on New Zealand's road signs has sparked outcries at the cost and the confusion bilingual signage could bring. 

But as Tom Kitichin finds out, bilingual signage has been around for decades - and it works.

He takes a look at Wales and Ireland which have also experienced language revivals. 

Diarmaid Coffey, the chair of the Gaelic League Aotearoa, tells him it's a really good thing for the country. "It will be something that tourists and travellers to the country will love to see. It gives a great point of difference, it's a good thing to do for the language."

The University funding shortfall with no easy fix

Universities across the country are grappling with how they'll balance their books. 

Most of them are in the same sinking boat, with downward trajectories. Part of it stems from the toughness of the last three years, but Sharon Brettkelly finds out that's not the only reason. At Victoria in Wellington, where jobs are abundant and people aren't looking to upskill, student numbers are slumping. And Victoria is the arts campus - focusing on humanities - which are no longer flavour of the year when it comes to government funding.

Faced with a $33 million deficit, the university is looking at cutting 260 staff. the Tertiary Education Union says such slashing puts the standard of the public education sector at risk. 

Find out in the podcast what role philanthropy plays in making up the difference. 

Men without a safe place to call home

How do some of society's most vulnerable people - especially men - fall into insecure housing? 

The list of fatalities from the Loafers Lodge fire paints a grim picture - all men aged between 50 and 67, all vulnerable in some way, and all living in unsafe and transient housing. 

The Detail's senior producer Sarah Robson was a social issues reporter for RNZ for more than five years. She says most of her reporting on poverty and homelessness centred around women - and despite the fact that most people seeking help from services such as city missions are men, their fates often go unnoticed. 

Auckland's City Missioner Helen Robinson tells Sarah that the tragedy at Loafers Lodge is symptomatic of a broader problem.

"It's important to acknowledge the failure of New Zealand for 40 years to actually create enough good housing that's appropriate, that's affordable, for us all," she says.

Long Read: How Mike Wahrlich became 'the juggler'

This is The Detail's Long Read - one in-depth story read by us every weekend. 

This week RNZ journalist David Cohen reads his own story on one of the victims of the Loafers Lodge fire, Mike the Juggler, and sketches out some of his background. He talks to Alexia Russell about the history they share - both were residents at Epuni boys' home, albeit in different decades. 

Mike the Juggler loved throwing his green tennis balls in the air - tens of thousands of passersby saw him do it over the decades. Did they ever wonder where he learned those skills? 

You can read David Cohen's article here.

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