/on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/rss ¾ÅÒ»ÐÇ¿ÕÎÞÏÞ Mon, 15 Sept 2025 19:47:10 Z en /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-nz-needs-a-grow-spurt/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-nz-needs-a-grow-spurt/ I’ve had it with people whinging about state of this county and people fleeing to Australia who then refuse to stop and ask why we got here and how we get out of it. Chucking up a post up on TikTok or waving a banner at a protest won't cut it.  Productivity, (that’s how much we get out for what we put in) is crap.  It's been getting worse or flat-lining for decades. Australia’s is better. Wages are 30% higher. We’re smaller, we have to be smarter.  And that means doing what the banner wavers of the world hate most - getting roadblocks innovation-killers like government out of the way. Doing business needs to be as cheap and easy as possible. Let smart people be smart people and do what they do best…  Invent, optimise, invest, grow, thrive. We did this post Muldoon with agriculture. Subsidies and deregulation.  We’re now most productive in world. It's proof. There of course those who reckon the solution is to have a politician sign a piece of paper and artificially increase the minimum wage, or write a blank cheque to teachers... The question is: who's going to pay for it when our best and brightest are leaving NZ and businesses are closing? Who can afford that? Show me a democracy that got rich by increasing the size and influence of the government and I’ll give you a million bucks.  And not one of those Scandinavian ones which did it off the back of massive mineral deposits (which we're not allowed to touch, remember?) We’ve fallen so far behind we can’t be 'managing' a 2% GDP economy. This country needs 7% for at least three years. New Zealand needs a growth spurt We’ve fallen too far behind.  Please don’t be fooled by the false prophets, waving their banners and posting their nonsense.  They have no idea what they’re talking about.  Mon, 15 Sept 2025 18:17:35 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-is-funding-major-events-a-priority/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-is-funding-major-events-a-priority/ There's no doubt punters will like this new major events fund.  $70-million of new and old money.  Some for infrastructure like the cycleway network which needs an upgrade. $10-million for regional tourism.  And the showstopper is this $40 for "significant, high-impact events for New Zealand from 2026".  The PM and Minister Upston came out yesterday and said these big major events are money-makers.  Hospotality does well. Tourism operators do well. Retail does well.  They called it a bonanza.  But if you're a fan of ailing. If you like the America's, you might scratching your head.  It was only five months ago the PM say nah to backing the America's Cup.  Why? We're in a fiscal mess, we need to invest in "proper infrastructure" like hospitals and roads.  He said we need to be more responsible with taxpayers money.  And now we have new money for a pearl jam concert.  To be fair, the sums involved here are important. The Cup would have cost somewhere between 40 and 70 million on its own.  This entire fund, the bit for major events, is $40 million total.  But if you follow the reasoning and ask yourself the basic question, is there less demand for hospital or roading infrastructure now than there was then, you'd be right to feel a bit confused by all this. Either the cup was a crap investment, or these investments, more generally are simply not a priority.  Sun, 14 Sept 2025 18:09:35 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-what-a-week-of-news/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-what-a-week-of-news/ This week NASA found the clearest sign yet of ancient life on Mars. We learned that for the first time in human history, there more obese children on earth than underweight children. In the Middle East, missiles bomb peace talks. Over the skies of Europe we’ve got drones and fighter jets. In the US, supposedly the first among free nations, another political assassination. It’s times like this you think, what a strange species.  If those Martian aliens turned up here, what would they think of us? How would we explain ourselves? Religion is about loving thy neighbour, but we fight in the name of it. Food is scarce but some have too much and others too little. Democracy means freedom until you’re shot in the head for speaking your mind. Of course none of this is unusual. We’ve done this since the beginning of time. Fight, kill, war, rinse and repeat. Animals fight for territory, food and survival. We do that to, but we also fight just because we can't agree with each other.  I think what it all boils down to is the fact we’re social beings. It can work for us but it can work against us - arguably, social media is making this all worse. So what are we to conclude? How are we to explain ourselves to an alien?  What if they landed tomorrow in some big spacecraft, who would you take them to meet? Donald Trump? Xi Jinping? The Pope? The King? Honestly I don’t know. Maybe we’d be better off asking a question: have you got any room for me up there?  Thu, 11 Sept 2025 18:15:58 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-diplomacy-s-gone-to-the-dogs/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-diplomacy-s-gone-to-the-dogs/ Remember it was only a month ago Trump was parading around an Alaskan Air Force base, talking up peace for Ukraine. Within weeks, Putin sends 800 drones across the border - the biggest attack of the war so far. He’s targeted EU and British government buildings in Kyiv. He’s now entered NATO airspace. The fighter jets were scrambled. The alarm bells rang in Brussels.  Does any of this sound like progress? Does any of this sound like diplomacy is doing a god damn thing to stop regular folk being slaughtered in the crossfire? No, of course not. Meanwhile Netanyahu’s firing missiles into Doha.  And who was he aiming for? The Hamas lead negotiator. The same guy who, as recently as last week, was being given ceasefire details from the Americans via the Egyptians and Qataris.   If you really want peace, you don’t fire missiles at the guy you’re negotiating with. Now if you’re Hamas, what are you going to do now the place you thought was safe to have talks no longer feels safe? Some in Hamas believe the whole thing was a set-up, according to the BBC.  The American ceasefire proposal was all a trick to get them in one place at time, then bang. Bomb them. Blow them up.  Can’t blame them for thinking that.  It doesn’t matter where you look, which continent, which war, diplomacy is not working.  The Americans look weak. Trump looks weak. Netanyahu’s taking him for a ride. Putin couldn’t care less. And one guy in the world sitting back watching, smiling, biding his time, and growing a military empire is Xi Jinping of China. Wed, 10 Sept 2025 18:21:22 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-the-signs-you-know-you-re-getting-older/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-the-signs-you-know-you-re-getting-older/ I watched a movie Sunday with a group of friends. Here are 12 things I learnt: 1. You probably aren’t hungover on the couch at home uber-eatsing Maccas from the sofa. 2. You have taken the extraordinary measure of walking, using your perfectly capable legs even though you're still a bit stiff and sore from the gym. 3. This means you have visited the gym four times this week to ensure your ass will squeeze into the ever-shrinking vice of a seat provided these days. 4. You chat amongst yourselves loudly while the shorts are playing because you just do not give a flying shite about that level of decorum any longer. Nobody paid for the shorts, they paid for the film - the rest is marketing. 5. The short you do watch has Leonardo DiCaprio (heartthrob of youth) playing the cantankerous father figure to group of young actors you wouldn’t know from a bar of soap. 6. You feel nostalgia that the movie is set in the early 2000s. 7. You find the young actors replicating that style —the clothes, the hair, the style— immediately lame for copying what we clearly wore better. 8. One of your friend has a moon boot on after a ‘fall’ he took while out walking with this same group of friends the weekend prior. 9. You love the movie 'Caught Stealing' with Austin Butler. Not just because it’s a good simple hearty action thriller but because it’s only an hour and half long. 10. That means only one toilet break because it’s impossible to sit on 660mls of fizzy water without the feeling you bladder may explode into a thousand pieces.  11. The timeframe is just enough before you need to rearrange to alleviate back pain. 12. You laugh, you’re enthralled, you feel content sitting there in the dark with your buddies. Happy in the knowledge any worries you had going in are a world away from the grungy lower east side of Manhattan where the film is set.  It’s the little things you notice that paint a picture of where your life is at, how old you are and how you fit into a world of ever changing demographics. It’s a reminder to enjoy the good moments in life with the people that make you happy. Because one day we’ll either have dementia or be dead.   Here's to middle age. Halfway dead and fine with it.  Tue, 09 Sept 2025 18:13:29 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-tom-phillips-is-no-hero/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-tom-phillips-is-no-hero/ It’s brutal, but Tom Phillips brought this whole thing on himself. Yes, he was killed and that is a very hard and sad fact his kids are going to have to live with for their rest of their lives.   Their father is dead. But, he shot a cop - an innocent local Constable who was trying to do his job. Tom Phillips also deprived his children of their mum, of any professional medical attention, of any formal education, for four years. Ember was five when they were taken to the bush and hasn’t been to school since - she is now 9. The kids were essentially used as helpers as their dad carried out bank robberies, burglaries, and break-ins.  These are not the actions of a father who wants the best for his kids. Any parent who loves their children knows you don’t put them in harm's way. Much will be made of the custody situation in the coming days, but the fact is we don’t know much detail about this. and likely never will. The full story won’t come out. When he went bush the second time, Tom was in breach of a custody order. But that’s about all we know because Family Court cases are wrapped up in suppression like Fort Knox in this country to protect the kids.   Fair enough too. But whatever happened in court, before court, no matter how unfair or unjust a case may be, if you take the law into your own hands, run away with your own kids, deprive them of an education and contact with society for four years, then the outcomes are yours to own. And yours alone.  The outcomes here are bittersweet.  A father is dead. A police Constable is in hospital lucky to be alive.  And three children have survived, at least physically, a dangerous situation they should never have been out in in the first place. Mon, 08 Sept 2025 18:08:56 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-this-election-is-national-s-to-lose/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-this-election-is-national-s-to-lose/ As you know I’ve been saying for some time this election is National’s to lose.  The economy will pick up, this government’s only two years in and kiwis like to give incumbents the benefit of the doubt. I still think this holds true. But, as we’ve been reporting since April, Trump’s tariffs - which took everybody (including the markets) by surprise, making a bear of a bull - hammered business and consumer confidence just as we were showing signs of those green shoots the pundits love talking about. This has shortened Luxon’s window for a real economic recovery, which is the platform he’s relying on for re-election. Talk of a leadership coup by Christmas is in my view daft.  Any National MP who thinks they can outpoll Luxon in the current climate’s got to be dreaming. A short-term bump, maybe. But there are political costs - namely - instability. Remember Muller? Then this newly elected Leader must go to Winston and David and no doubt relitigate all and sundry just as the later begin firing up for a showdown. Winston and Shane were in full flight at the weekend. And it’s only September 2025. Timing is everything and that’s Luxon’s card to play - in 12 months from now the country will (likely) feel a much different place to live. That means a late election. If National are smart they’ll stick with the devil they know and wait for brighter days ahead. The risks outweigh the benefits at this point in the cycle.  If needs be, a transition can happen in pretty short order… Jacinda Ardern is proof of that.  Sun, 07 Sept 2025 18:07:20 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-its-been-a-remarkable-week-for-m%C4%81ori/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-its-been-a-remarkable-week-for-m%C4%81ori/ Now seeing as I am a 60 year old white guy, some will consider my comments inherently racist, but I am allowed my opinion just as you are allowed yours.  Opinions are like bums - we all have one, so why fight it? Firstly, the coming out of the Māori Queen.  One thing is for sure, Māori do this customary and ceremonial stuff well. The attendees are seeing history, a young Queen about to take leadership.  But I’m always amazed at the one year silence thing. Sure you’re getting the lay of the land and forming your ideas for your reign and paying respect to your predecessor, but come on.  It seems to me that the year's silence gives the courtiers more power over affairs of state. When the cats away the mice will play.  Now to the Tamaki Makaurau by-election.  I couldn’t believe how many voters got the City Council Elections and the by-election to be a Member of Parliament confused.   One person on telly wondered if Oriini Kaipara was running for Mayor. And you wonder why we get strange governments and councils.  The candidates also ran chaotic campaigns.    Oriini Kaipara had a shocker. Claiming her party, who have not been in government since 2017, had repealed laws. No they did not - back then they were support partners and so not able to repeal laws.  Then she had to grab her phone to check policy while Jack Tame looked on quizzically.  Then she said her Labour opponent should be Prime Minister of New Zealand, which must have raised the eyebrows of Rawiri and Debbie. I understand Oriini's appeal. She’s young and smart. She was a respected journalist, and she has the Māori Party sartorial style. Fine alternative statement clothes - they always looked like they’ve been styled by Zambesi. But it’s not what you look like or seem, it’s what you say. She seems underdone and would get better with more time.  Then there’s Peeni Henare. A product of Māori's hierarchical society where a lot of weight is given to your family, your whakapapa, and your journey.  He’s always been mentioned as a future Prime Minister. It seems like it’s owed and not to be earned. If he loses this one it’s over, because you can’t be a Prime Minister if you couldn’t win a Māori electorate. Twice. He also had a shocker going against the gang patch law having to be corrected by Chippy. Also I didn’t need to see him working out with David Letele, I want to know what he thinks, not how he sweats  You know I don’t think I could vote for either if I could.  But I can’t. I’m not allowed to. And that seems to be how the electorate feel with indications of a terrible turnout this weekend.  And that’s a bad thing. If you respect the treaty, if you’ve chosen to be on a Māori roll, then you owe your people to use that privilege, or right if you prefer.  Thu, 04 Sept 2025 18:08:50 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-the-great-battle-between-the-all-blacks-and-south-africa/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-the-great-battle-between-the-all-blacks-and-south-africa/ The game of rugby this weekend is starting to take on a life of it’s own.  Some have called it the biggest game of rugby since the last World Cup Final featuring the same two teams - and this is even though the Lions have just toured Australia in a record-breaking financial success.  But it is going to be a cracker. It’s been fortified by Eden Park’s record as a fortress - 30 years and 50 games where the All Blacks have not been defeated.  We’re vulnerable as the last test against Argentina showed, meanwhile the South Africans seem genuinely inspired by playing at Eden Park.  It’s been 8 years since they have done that. The revenue is generated by them, and I wonder if it's been purposeful to keep them away from it for so long.  And the French have been in the media as they were the last to beat New Zealand at the Garden of Eden way back in 1994. Interestingly the first time I went to an All Blacks game, only to see them lose.  They too have been rhapsodising about the mythical qualities of what is a pretty patchy stadium.  There’s a very real chance we’re going to lose this one. Graham Henry has been quoted as saying there’s something not quite right with the team’s mentality.  Yet it’s a reminder that if the biggest game of rugby in the world is to be played, it had to played at Eden Park.  The good people of Christchurch who are about to take possession of a spiffing new stadium will argue that Eden Park’s self declaration that the park is our national stadium is misplaced.  But that’s not true. Eden Park is sacred ground and Auckland still needs to figure out how to make it better, because it’s the best place for what is about to happen this weekend.  Wed, 03 Sept 2025 18:12:36 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-should-we-pull-out-of-the-paris-climate-accord/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-should-we-pull-out-of-the-paris-climate-accord/ Pulling out of the Paris Climate agreement has got the backing of ACT and New Zealand First, who say we're overdoing it. And my first reaction is yes. The thing isn't working. It's never worked.  It has always felt like something the world does to make itself feel like it's doing something, even though it's doing nothing When you combine it with the Emissions Trading Scheme —which is a giant Ponzi scheme made to make Coldplay feel better about touring the world in jet planes, meanwhile filling our pastures with trees— then the whole thing seems useless, so why be involved? And we're so little. New Zealand's biggest contribution to CO2 numbers is our farming, which is fairly benign polluter, because the world needs food.   The world doesn't need more cheap jeans and plastic crap, but the people who make that stuff are merrily pumping rubbish into our atmosphere. So why should we be punishing the cornerstone of our economy when in the scheme of things, it contributes so little while the real polluters keep on polluting? So yeah, let's stand up. Tell the world they're in a fool's paradise of virtue signalling and get on with feeding the people we can. But. The rest of world, with the exception of the United States, still believe in this mirage.  And they're the ones buying our food, and they're also the ones who will find any way to blacklist our awesome agricultural products. So pulling out of the charade may see us cutting our nose off to spite our face.  It may reduce the compliance costs on our farmers in the first instance, but what's the point of that if it makes the rest of the world turn their back on our milk and butter and meat? ACT and New Zealand First may think that this posturing is helping our farmers, but in fact it could be penalising them even more heavily And maybe ACT and New Zealand first are playacting this for votes just as much as the Paris Climate Accords are playacting for the environment So let's call this thing for what it is, and rather than just pulling our in a flounce, advocate for real change to the Accords and the policies and actually get on with helping the environment. Tue, 02 Sept 2025 18:06:09 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-our-water-infrastructure-simply-isnt-getting-better/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-our-water-infrastructure-simply-isnt-getting-better/ The Government’s new plan for water services is called Local Water Done Well. It’s all about keeping control in the hands of local councils and communities, rather than shifting everything to big centralised bodies.  Which was what Three Waters did. Eventually Labour caved and the policy got renamed 10 Waters because there would be 10 regionalised bodies, but even that was not popular. And of course there was the troublesome identity politics around Māori co-governance that freaked a lot of people out. So now, Councils have to submit Water Services Delivery Plans showing how they’ll manage drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater safely, sustainably, and affordably.  There’s still strong oversight from regulators, but the focus is on local decision-making, community accountability, and better outcomes for everyone.  So Councils must submit their Water Services Delivery Plans (WSDPs) to the Secretary for Local Government and the deadline is the third of September. These plans outline how each council will deliver and fund water services - that’s tomorrow and it’s looking like it’s going to be a bust  And the big sticking point is funding, which was at the core of Three Waters. Three Waters was going to force water services to be amalgamated, the assets used to borrow against, and the loans paid off by water rates, not rates. Local Water Done Well allows for that to happen too, but the difference is that it has to be done voluntarily by the councils, and they don’t want to do that.  Here’s a concrete example: Thames Coromandel is a nightmare water services situation. The area is mountainous and the weather events extreme. There’s hardly any ratepayers and the population expands immensely in the summer. The Thames Coromandel Council wanted to join forces with Tauranga and Western Bays to form a bigger regional body to fund water off their existing assets.  Tauranga doesn’t want the hassle of Thames Coromandel and so the deal hasn’t happened. The estimation is that this will put 500 to 600 dollars onto the Thames Coromandel rates. We all want better water, but we all want lower rates. We’ll find out tomorrow what’s going to happen with water but at the moment it looks like the policy should be renamed Local Water, done not very well and not funded. After all the talk about water reform we’re right back at where we started from and you, the ratepayer, will have to pay for it.  Mon, 01 Sept 2025 18:15:47 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-quigleys-resignation-is-bad-for-the-economy/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-quigleys-resignation-is-bad-for-the-economy/ Neil Quigley marched off into the sunset at 5.49pm on Friday. Late enough for the news to miss the TV 6pm bulletin.  It’s an old PR trick. Leaving the shock value to dissipate over the weekend before the start of play on Monday.  It was evidence to me that successive governments and the Reserve Bank have failed to respect each other or realise that even though they are independent their actions combine and affect all of New Zealand  In the Covid years the Reserve bank reacted and made money essentially free.  But the Labour government wanted to be seen to be doing something, so they started overspending and throwing borrowed money away.  The result was a superheated economy that crashed spectacularly and spectacularly quickly  So, then the Reserve Bank made money expensive again to attack the overheating.  But the new Government, this time National, again wanted to be seen to be doing something so they cancelled government expenditure throwing us into a deeper economic funk than anyone had expected.  In both scenarios the governments didn’t seem to realise what was happening at the Reserve Bank. And the Reserve Bank was too proud to take into account the stupidity of governments.  Government’s need to heed the advice that they give Council’s.  Stick to the knitting. Their job is to do the basics.  Fund Health, Education and the Police.  And build us stuff to help us do business like roads and rail and ferries. Not to worry about the price of butter or the number of supermarkets.  And keep the borrowing as low as is reasonable Meanwhile let the Reserve Bank worry about inflation and the big financial stuff.  That’s how successful governments respected the independence of the Reserve Bank and how the last two amateur governments did not.  The saga also shows how political Treasury is.  Their advice wavers in the wind of whoever is in power and is not to be trusted.  Sun, 31 Aug 2025 18:00:30 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-air-new-zealand-isnt-making-me-proud/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-air-new-zealand-isnt-making-me-proud/ Reading the Air New Zealand results was a bit disappointing - even more so was the commentary after.  Profit's down, demand is down, costs are on the march, capacity still buggered by engine problems.  Here's the real punch in the guts for our national carrier: they won't be back to full capacity for the best of two more years. Foran confirmed it last night.  There's something about a national carrier that should make you feel a bit proud.  When you've been overseas and travelled the world, not seen a Kiwi in ages, jumping onboard that last leg home, hearing the accent - the comfort of Kiwi service.  Foran's had a rough time in the job. Border closures and lockdowns, is there anything worse for the new boss of a global airline?  The Rolls Royce and other engine issues - again, not really his fault.  You can plan around that stuff but even those plans have had to change. The engine makers' timelines for a fit-it job have been pushed out. And then there's the prices - we all love to whine about the prices, including me.  A return weekend flight from Auckland to Wellington, for the middle of next month, will cost me close to 800 bucks! And guess what? They're going to keep going up - an extra five percent in the near future. As Foran hits the departure lounge to make way for a new Captain of our national treasure —if we'd still call it that— the question is what would or should he have done differently?   For all the faults and complaints and price hikes, is there anything anyone has suggested that could have fixed these problems while not simultaneously sinking the business, or worse, forcing it to go, once again, cap in hand to the government for another handout?  Thu, 28 Aug 2025 18:13:11 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-the-govt-should-have-fast-tracked-supermarkets-years-ago/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-the-govt-should-have-fast-tracked-supermarkets-years-ago/ All good so far from Nicola Willis on supermarkets.  She's got to the nub of the problem, which is basically red tape. Governments of all stripes, including her, have been quick to point the finger at private enterprise for high prices. And there's truth in that, but most haven't looked in the mirror like Willis did yesterday and admit it's them that also has a problem. We all do, really.  Everybody moans about prices but then moans about construction of anything new - not in my backyard.  Consultation up the wazoo, committees, petitions, Duncan Webb on a soapbox - that's democracy. Like Churchill said, the lesser of two evils.  It's taken them two years to get here, but they could have just listened to our interview with the former Managing Director of Costco back in March - he told us all this then. The other big problems were real estate prices and shipping - getting goods here on their timeframes.  I predicted this (humble brag) all last week. They'll tinker round with fast-track and consumer laws and plaster their pressers with the threat of breaking up the duopoly. Divestment. Forcing Pak'nSave to sell some stores to a new entrant, forcing Foodstuffs to sell some distribution centres.  What I said last week is still true now, ACT won't go for it.  Plus, the even the Commerce Commission said it's risky as. Cost could outweigh benefits.  So, Willis should stop with the threats. If you own a supermarket right now and your livelihood is being threatened, are you going to invest? Hire staff? Plan expansions? The threat is purely political and could end up doing the opposite of what Willis wants it to.  Put it in the bin. Wed, 27 Aug 2025 18:10:23 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-the-government-should-go-all-in-on-auckland/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-the-government-should-go-all-in-on-auckland/ There’s a very good reason National’s talking about a revamping the major events fund - or as the PM said on Monday, stuffing the pipeline with more events.  It’s the same reason you’re seeing them announce just half an hour ago they’re creating a new business investor visa - foreigners will get a fast-track to residency for chucking $2m into a Kiwi business.  It’s the same reason they’ll announce in a few weeks that some wealthy investors will be able to buy expensive houses here. From November, they're trialling visa-free holidays for the Chinese coming here via Australia. Expect to see more where this came from. The reason is to boost growth, but specifically, they hope, in our largest city. It’s all about Auckland. It’s the giant missing piece of the puzzle. Their runway for sorting the economy by election time hinges on them throwing the kitchen sink at the Jaffas. It’s 40% of our GDP but a sort of economic malaise has set in. Not everywhere and not in every industry, but the two speed recovery is real, the vibe’s off, and the numbers back it up. I asked the PM about this on Monday, he says they’re basically looking at everything and anything for Auckland. I reckon they'll campaign on a bed tax and announce they intend to that late this year or early next.  To win the next election, you don’t need to win all of Auckland, but if you lose Auckland, you're stuffed. Ask Chippy - Labour scored 29% of the party vote in Auckland.  This is increasingly a city of migrants, and these policies are aimed at them, their families, and their businesses.  42% of Aucklanders were born overseas. Along with Otago, it's where most of the expensive houses are that wealthy investors will be able to buy. To boost this economy in a short to medium term window the government’s clearly targeting migration, foreign investment (which often comes through existing connections to this city), foreign students, Chinese tourists, and big events. The question is how quickly they can give this city the tickle up in needs and whether they’ve left enough runway to turn things around.  Tue, 26 Aug 2025 18:11:49 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-peeni-henare-strikes-again/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-peeni-henare-strikes-again/ At the rate it’s going, this by-election could cost Labour the real election. Peeni Henare’s popping out policies toxic to the general electorate but popular with the 10,000 odd voters he’ll need to win Tamaki Makarau.  First it was bringing back the gang patches, which left middle New Zealand scratching their heads. We’ve been there, done that with the gangs. We’re over it. We want them sorted out.  When people started getting bullet holes through the front window on a Saturday night, kids cowering in the hallway, we all decided enough was enough. Labour lost the war on crime and with it, the mandate to govern. You might think it’s an issue they’d steer clear of, but not Peeni - Labour’s electoral kryptonite.  Last night he was back at it. I was watching the Tamaki Makarau by-election debate with Oriini and Peeni, which was a good watch. Good debate.  Peeni was asked about cost of living. He said when Labour was last in power, they were in talks with iwi to build a third supermarket chain across the country to compete with the current duopoly. Last night he said they'd support it again if elected.  So, the question is, what does support mean? Does that mean taxpayer funding?  In 2023, they were talking about dolling out loans, maybe even grants, or taxpayer support to secure land for a third entrant.  Now, there's nothing wrong with an iwi-led supermarket chain. There's nothing wrong with a third chain - hell, we'd all like to see that.  But do we want it to be taxpayer supported? If private capital can't make it work at these prices, what chance would the state have?  The problem with this stuff is it feeds the perception the only response Labour has to anything is more money. Kiwi build, anyone?  There's a philosophical question in all of this which Hipkins is yet to answer because of his no policy rule.  In the meantime, Peeni's certainly keeping us guessing and getting tongues wagging.  Mon, 25 Aug 2025 18:11:25 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-ive-had-it-with-vicious-dogs/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-ive-had-it-with-vicious-dogs/ How many more children and pets will we tolerate being maimed and punctured to death on suburban streets before this actually gets taken seriously I’ve personally had three people in my life who who’ve been out for a walk with their wee pups, on a leash, registered for $200, poop bags in hand to do the right thing.  Only to be attacked by some absolutely viscous mongrel. And I mean absolutely ripped to pieces. Puncture wounds. Owners taken down to the ground. Blood everywhere. Shock. Hospital visits the humans, expensive vets for their animals. If they are lucky to survive, the road to recovery is long and poor old pup never shakes the anxiety. Nor does the owner. Kids faces look like they’ve been through the butchers. It’s gruesome. In Auckland alone. Last year. 3000 attacks. 15,000 roaming dogs reported.  This is a crisis and council say they’re cracking down but it’s not working and too slow.  The frustrating part is paying $200 to register your dog every year and then councils running scared when it comes time to destroying the aggressor.  They string it out. It goes through the courts. All the while mongrel often remains living near the aggressor. Same neighbourhood.  I know people who’ve moved suburbs to avoid dogs because they’ve got kids or a small pet themselves. This is completely ridiculous.  The solution is simple. Dog should be destroyed. Immediately. Owner banned from owning.  But they’re not. They’re treated like they’re the victims, too. And here’s one piece of advice in the meantime, if a dog is attacking you, or you witness a dog attacking another person or another dog, kill it.  It’s legal. If your actions will stop that attack from continuing, you have the right to seize or destroy it.  It’s the safest and most just action to take, if you can do so safely. Sun, 24 Aug 2025 18:01:06 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-ive-had-it-with-small-carparks/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-ive-had-it-with-small-carparks/ We should all be happy, the weekend’s finally here. But there’s an issue of major national significance I need to get off my chest: I have had it with car parks so small, you couldn’t fit a shopping trolly in them. What exactly do they think we’re driving? Go-karts? No. People are buying big cars. Utes that cross the white lines.  Station wagons that hang out the backend, blocking the road. Enormous SUVs that do both. The Spinoff wrote about this the problem last week - the Civic in Auckland is one of the worst offenders.  Yesterday I saw a pregnant woman trying to squeeze herself, a handbag, and an unborn baby out of sedan in a carpark building. She was literally using the handbag to protect her belly from the car door. Are we trying to send them into early labour?  Apparently new cars are getting 1cm wider every two years. People like bigger cars because they feel safer. We’re also getting way more obese so literally can’t fit in Honda Civic anymore. Safety features take up lots of room. Side impact protection technically takes up a lot of space. Are councils and Wilson’s doing anything about this?  Or are we expected to bend, fold, and stretch our way into our cars if we want to leave Westfield mall? Are they going to pay for our Physio appointments? Should we take yoga classes? Colchester Council in the UK this year spent a million pounds repainting the white lines to make their bigger. Good on them.  I have a theory: panel beaters, the global insurance industry, and parking building designers are actually criminal cartels, conspiring to make us all scrape and dent each other. Forget the Comancheros - they’ve got nothing on these guys.  One things for sure, we cannot let them win.  We must fight. We must band together and put a stop to this madness before there’s no parking spaces left at all. Just think, our children couldn’t enjoy simple pleasures like visiting the mall. Our grandchildren will grow up in a world where people just drive around all day, looking for parks, fighting over parks, then giving up and going home. Is that the future you want for your family? To spend the rest of their lives in a car? I sure don’t. So join me in this crusade for common sense. Together we can help that pregnant woman. We can save our bad backs, our dickey knees, the elderly!  We can stop these crooked cartels. We can start a movement to save the lives of elderly, injured, fat, and pregnant people, not just here, but around the world. Thu, 21 Aug 2025 18:01:46 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-what-the-ocr-says-about-the-state-of-our-economy/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-what-the-ocr-says-about-the-state-of-our-economy/ Remember just a few weeks ago how Sir John Key wanted 100 point cut from Reserve Bank? We'll, they've almost given him what he wants.  It's easy to be an armchair critic of the boffins down at Number 2 The Terrace - "They should have gone for 50." "Club 25 was too cautious."  But markets listen as much to the guff after the big cut announcement as much as they do the actual announcement. Need proof? Already retail banks have started slashing mortgage rates, both variable and fixed.  That's on top of the cuts they already made last week, pricing in yesterday's 25.  Some of the big ones will, in the coming weeks - I reckon we'll get down to 4.5% on short-term fixed. Look how the currency markets reacted - these guys were surprised.  Coming out with what is essentially a triple shot to 2.5% by Christmas sends is sending a strong signal. It's easy to get caught up in the hysteria of calls for double shot all at once, but the bank can have its cake and eat it too. Get businesses and households spending without risking inflation, which is touching cloth on 3%. Yes, they do look through near-term stuff. But there's also heat in the provinces - it's not all about Auckland. And remember the days of Orr where the Reserve Bank hiked the rate quick as a sherpa up Everest before nosediving it back down again? You can achieve the same outcome without risk overcooking things again.  It's only six or so weeks till the next call. If they need to do more, they can do more then.  There's no doubt we've had a Q2 recovery blip, but we've had promising July manufacturing and improving services data out last week. The message is clear: we're walking back to Everest base camp, not running.  And given the over and under cooking that went on under Orr, that's probably the right speed So, I'm with the four in Club 25 with a caveat - for now.  Wed, 20 Aug 2025 18:14:39 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-what-can-nicola-do-about-inflation-contributors/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-what-can-nicola-do-about-inflation-contributors/ Electricity and groceries are your two big ticket inflation targets. Punters want to pay less for both. There are nuclear options available: Cut the gentailers in half by force. Those pro-wrecking ball argue if you force them to separate out the generation side of the business from the retail, you’d create more competition and lower prices. You could do a similar thing with the supermarkets. One idea is to force Foodstuffs and Woolworths to sell 120 supermarkets and a third of their six distribution centres to a third player. Hey presto. The duopoly’s dead. Long live Queen Nicola. Now we’re still waiting to see what cat Willis will pull out of her shopping bag on this. She has advice and considering the options. Here’s what I think she’ll do: We can get clues from the way they’re handling electricity, which is basically minor changes to bits and pieces around the edges on stuff like the super peak hedging contracts, and if things don't change, look out - we'll regulate. We'll be meaner and tougher. There's still the Frontier report of course, which Cabinet will decide on by next month. In the mean time, you tinker and threaten. Sound tough enough that voters know you’re serious, but not actually go DEFCON 1 and risk spooking markets in which you’re actually trying to attract investment, particularly offshore.  Plus, Chris Quinn told my show the other day they’d lawyer up to high heaven and fight anything like that. Messy.  So on supermarkets I reckon they’ll tinker. Options on the cards? Put supermarkets on the fast-track list, ban pocket pricing, and empower existing franchises to be more independent - buying their stock from wherever they like, setting their own prices, etc.  Slap a threat to legislate for the nuclear option across the headline of your press release if the tinkering doesn’t happen or isn’t working.  Throw the ball back in the duopoly’s court.  This would simultaneously satisfy ACT (who hate the nuclear options) and the politics of perception.  It goes further than Labour went, but doesn’t risk the court battles and potential for major changes not actually working to bring prices down. Which is the whole point.  One thing’s certain, whether it’s electricity bills or checkout prices, the chances of a return to the good ol’ days of pre-Covid prices when we could butter the toast and fire up the heated towel rail with gay abandon are slim to none.  Tue, 19 Aug 2025 18:03:40 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-the-coalition-needs-to-tighten-its-agenda/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-the-coalition-needs-to-tighten-its-agenda/ In the last week we’ve had a smorgasbord of small, seemingly minor stories hitting the headlines. Helmets or no helmets for cyclists. Which name comes first on the cover of our passports. A ban then reversal on marshmallows in hot chocolates from the coffee machine at hospitals.  Not a single one of these stories is significant on their own.  But they’re the kind of stories people remember because they either simply make no sense or appear to be a colossal waste of time. Most working families can’t afford to even use their passports right now. A Hawaiian holiday - nope. The only ones dusting off travel IDs are moving across the ditch! Is this the stuff your average punter wanting to feed their kids actually cares about?  No.  The Clark Government got bogged down by a bunch of these silly little things. Think the size of shower heads and light bulbs. Instead of asking officials whether little Johnny should be allowed to ride a bike without a helmet (something no decent parent would allow anyway), why not keep your eyes on the big stuff? No shortage of that around. Just yesterday Fitch warned our AA+ credit rating could be out at risk if we Get slack on fiscal discipline See a further correction in the housing market (which isn’t completely off the cards)  See another spike in unemployment (also not out of the woods yet) It’s not that the Coalition is not focussed on these things - certainly more focussed than the last. Just there’s a bit too much noise around on little things that don’t actually matter to the swinging middle that National needs if they want to finish the big jobs they’ve set out to achieve.  Distraction is the enemy of progress. Passports and helmets are distractions and lately, there’ve been too many of them.  Mon, 18 Aug 2025 18:18:54 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-the-gen-z-stare/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-the-gen-z-stare/ I went out for lunch to a cafe the other day and our table was served by a couple of waiters who all seemed to have a similar vibe about them. They just. Did. Not. Seem. To. Care. No smiling. No banter. No small talk or polite conversation.  Just this blank look on their faces. You sit there and think “did they hear me”? You ever so politely repeat yourself in case they didn’t.  But they did. They got it. There’s just no engagement. Face colder than a which's tit. No refills of your water. No "would you like another coffee? Like, hello!? Is anybody in there? Is anyone home? Why are you all moving so slowly? Shouldn’t you be rushing the joint taking orders and filling coffees?  When I was young it was drilled into us: when you’re waiting tables and taking orders. You work your way up from "dish pig" to front of House. You basically run round busy as a bee, trying to impress your boss, trying to win your guests over. Taking wagers of who might get a tip.  Can I help you, sir?  What more can I get you?  You’d help the elderly into their seats.  You’d bend over backwards to make everyone happy.  And these guys are on atleast $23 an hour.  And I know what you’re thinking. Maybe I’m the a-hole. Maybe I’ve forgotten mum’s many sermons on good manners and etiquette?  So I asked the people who I was out to lunch with. They all thought the same thing. I asked friends who are teachers. I asked parents with kids around that age. Guess what? They’ve all noticed the same thing happening. Hell, there’s even a tiktok trend called ‘the gen Z stare’…. Which describes what I saw at the cafe…  the vacant look a Gen Zer gives in response to a question or statement. If it’s in tiktok then it must be a thing, right? So the question is why? Was it covid? Was it everyone wearing masks? So much of how we communicate is through facial expressions. Maybe they’ve missed out in years of social queues and norms? Is the smartphones? Is it both? Or, maybe, just maybe, they just don’t give a shit? Maybe we have on our hands a generation of young people who don’t really think they NEED to be bothering with mundane things like work.  Disclaimer: this is is obviously not an entire generation of young people. And some people are just shy. I get that. We've all had excellent experiences. But... ya know.... is this a thing you too have noticed?  Sun, 17 Aug 2025 18:01:36 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-the-real-reason-kiwis-are-crossing-the-tasman/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-the-real-reason-kiwis-are-crossing-the-tasman/ What's the point in us having more affordable property prices for first home buyers if young workers are jetting off to Australia in search of a better tomorrow?  There's a perverse logic to this, but across the Tasman right now, where our flying Kiwis are headed, they're experiencing something of a property boom.  It's the opposite of the stagnant or falling prices we're seeing here, where homes in most regions are now considered, technically at least, affordable.  In Sydney the median prices of a new pad is predicted to increase 7% this year to $2.1m NZD by June 2026.  If you want to be a Melbourne hipster, prices will be 6% higher in a year to $1.2m. They've not got a problem which we know all too well - prices are squeezing out first home buyers.  You can't get on the ladder for love nor money, look at the new loans from banks.  Landlords: 200k new loans over the year - that's the most since 2022. First home mortgages, they're down to $116k. Because they're cutting interest rates, houses are more affordable for those with equity - i.e. existing homeowners and landlords.  Typically, this is seen as a problem - you want people to have a stake in their country and the best way to do that is owning a piece of it.  But property is inextricably linked to the success of our economy, falling and flat house prices here are not actually a great news story.  The wealth effect of the biggest asset most of us own informs our spending habits. When we feel richer, we go swipe the credit card. When we don't, we don't.  So the question is: is it better to have affordable homes in a country in which young people can't find a job, or are you better off in a country where homes are less affordable but wages are higher and the economy's stronger?  The answer lies in the number of Kiwis who're voting with their feet and buggering off across the Tasman.  Thu, 14 Aug 2025 18:15:20 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-what-has-chris-hipkins-got-to-hide-over-covid/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-what-has-chris-hipkins-got-to-hide-over-covid/ Yesterday they wheeled out three excuses for not fronting up and answering questions about why they went so hard on lockdowns and mandates, which they then papered over with $66 billion in spending —second in the world only to the US— thereby helping fuel the inflation we're all now paying the price for taming.  First we heard they wouldn't attend the public hearing and give public evidence because they were worried about how the public might react - that some might use their videos to spread misinformation.  The Inquiry itself basically said this was nonsense because the public interest in them appearing outweighed the risk of some nutter altering their testimony video and sharing it on Facebook.  Then Hipkins fronted for a stand-up with another reason - I already answer these questions on a daily basis.  Which, again, makes no sense. If you were worried about videos being doctored of misinformation being spread, would it not apply as much to those comments in the media —which are of course videoed and published— as it would to video livestreamed from a public inquiry?  Then there's the excuses provided to Inquiry itself. They were worried about blowback from the public online, that it might turn into some sort of which hunt.  This is, perhaps, the most egregious and insulting one.  During the Covid years, they were more than happy to troll members of the public from the podium of truth.  They were more than happy to engage in a little witch-hunting of their own, be it Charlotte Bellis, the border crossers, the river of filth.  They used the media to hammer their opponents as conspiracy theorists, anointed many public enemy number ones while they were in control of the narrative.  And that's really what this is about.  Controlling the narrative. The wall-to-wall coverage and 1pm podium sermons cynically helped secure them an historic majority in 2020.  As the old saying goes, you can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. These guys know they've been found out - most recently by that embarrassing Treasury report. And now that they can't control the narrative, it looks like they're running for the hills.  Wed, 13 Aug 2025 18:12:44 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-labours-getting-protest-votes/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-labours-getting-protest-votes/ People aren't telling pollsters they'd vote for Labour because they'd actually vote for Labour. Labour hasn't got any policies - they're an empty vessel.  It's captain is still, according to most recent polling, less popular than the current Prime Minister.  It's a protest vote. They're telling the PM to hurry up and do something else to rescue the economy the last lot, and a trade war, have suppressed.  You don't throw the baby out with the bath water and back a team that has no plan.  That clown that's running in the Wellington Mayoral race has more policies than Hipkins. He wants to turn the Basin Reserve into a swamp.  Sure, it's mad, but at least it's something.  Late last year and early this year, the recovery was on-track.  We then got hit by Trump's Liberation Day. Confidence and investment took a massive hit, the markets were in freefall, remember? That's thrown everything off course.  Now, you can argue that National went too hard and fast on cutting spending and stopping infrastructure.  But at the same time, they were voted in to stop wasteful spending on dumb projects. That's what we asked them to do - many think that hasn't gone far enough.  Just yesterday we learned of 100 jobs to go at the Reserve Bank, which under Adrian Orr, wanted a budget of a more than billion bucks and twice the staff they started the pandemic with.  Does that sound reasonable?  This comes down to a question of who is best placed to invest in this country. The private sector or the state? The answer is, of course, a bit of both. But's chicken or the egg stuff right now. One thing's for sure, if the only thing capable of keeping this country afloat is government borrowing, then we'll only ever end up back in this same position. Over and over again.  The medicine needed to dig us out of this whole is nasty. Completely unpalatable. But the disease its treating is worse.  Tue, 12 Aug 2025 18:11:55 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-the-issue-of-recognising-palestine-as-a-state/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-the-issue-of-recognising-palestine-as-a-state/ So the big question of today is whether New Zealand should join other nations in recognising a Palestinian state.  Now this is a much bigger question than it seems. For some it's easy - call Palestine a state and then they have a legal foothold to fight for some land I guess. And in a way, we already have done that by calling publicly for a two state solution to the conflict in the Middle East. But it's easy to confuse nations and states.  States have a multi-layered definition. A state is a political and legal entity with sovereignty over a defined territory and population. It's focus is governance, law, and authority. So many of those provisos are missing. Obviously there is no defined territory. Or maybe there was, but it's been pretty much destroyed now.   There is no authority that is recognised by most, with Hamas having lost the mandate in the eyes of many countries and the Palestinian Authority long since discredited.  A state can easily be confused with a nation, which is a group of people who share common cultural elements such as language, ethnicity, history, or traditions. Māori are a nation of people within New Zealand. Palestine can be a nation, but that doesn't mean land.  And that's where the rubber really hits the road. It's hard to recognise a Palestinian State when there is no land for it to belong in. Declaring a Palestinian State is therefore a piece of global virtue signalling. A stance with little of no practical application other than political pressure on Israel. New Zealand and its Government has been accused of kicking the can down the road because it's going to consider it's position over the next month. To be fair, we are. But this is a delicate move which on the outside seems so easy to many, but is full of pitfalls.  And seems to be putting the horse before the cart when we don't know where this state would be in the world.  Mon, 11 Aug 2025 18:04:31 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-putin-and-trump-decide-their-fate/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-putin-and-trump-decide-their-fate/ You've got to feel for Zelensky on weeks like this.  Friday's the big day. Putin will fly to Alaska and meet Trump for cup of tea and biscuit.  They'll negotiate the terms of ceasefire for what the Russians are calling a 'Ukraine crisis', rather than a bloody war they started.  The body count is as astonishing as the fact there's a war raging in Europe in 2025.  One million Russian soldiers killed or injured. 400k Ukrainian casualties, including between 60 and 100k dead.  Moscow now occupies 20% of the country.  And the guy responsible for this hellfire is not being dragged by soldiers into an international criminal court to face charges, he's about to be welcome, wined and dined by the most powerful man in the world to discuss terms for a ceasefire, which includes keeping land he's not entitled to.  If we put ourselves in Ukrainian shoes for a second, if war returns to the Pacific theatre.  It would be like Washington and Beijing meeting to decide that China can keep and occupy all the land north of Auckland simply because they took it.  And you're meant to sit back grateful that at least the fighting will stop?  Ukrainians certainly aren't ready to roll over on territory.  The Europeans are huddling round Zelensky now to give him some moral support.  But, they need more than huddles and handshakes to bandage over what must feel like an insult to their country and sovereignty - two global superpowers meeting far, far away in Alaska to decide their fate. Sun, 10 Aug 2025 18:23:17 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-the-treasurys-told-us-what-we-knew-all-along/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-the-treasurys-told-us-what-we-knew-all-along/ The $66 billion question hanging over Labour's head has been answered. This new Treasury report tells us what we all already knew about Labour's Covid response: they went too far. Spent like a drunken sailor. Made it rain dollar bills.  When Treasury advised them to pull back, they didn't, they kept going.  Covid was the most expensive economic to this country. The government spent $66 billion - which is 20% of our GDP. Of that, just 18% was spent on specific pandemic healthcare costs.   Then they just kept spending.  This is the biggest scam to hit Kiwi shores.  They also spent the Covid fund on things like school lunches and art therapy programmes.  The report tip toes around it, but the clear inference of this report is Labour went too far pulling the fiscal leaver. The Reserve Bank should be using monetary policy to bulk of the heaving lifting in future events.  At the same time this report landed on Labour's lap like a tonne of bricks, Chris Hipkins was in Queenstown chatting about the policies they don't have but will probably have going into the election.  Guess what's on the menu? A capital gains tax. More government spending. And talk that the Treasury-imposed safe debt cap could be increased.  So debt, tax, and spend.  People may not like Luxon's delivery of this message, it grates, but you can't hide from the fact those guys screwed the pooch. And the pooch, if they were to get back into power, best be preparing for more screwing.  Thu, 07 Aug 2025 18:00:59 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-theres-a-new-space-race-kicking-off-im-here-for-it/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-theres-a-new-space-race-kicking-off-im-here-for-it/ Is there anything more thrilling than watching two countries battle hammer and tong to achieve something we all dreamed impossible, until it happens? Like going to he moon in the 60s (provided, of course, you think they actually went there).  It's like the science Olympics crossed with geopolitical Hunger Games. This time it's a bit like last time, but with the US on one team and China/Russia working together on the other.  They want to install nuclear reactors on the surface of the moon, 400km away. The US wants it done by 2030. China and Russia are aiming for early 2030s.  The scientists are hoping everybody'll come together and co-operate up there like we do with the ISS.  But, the politicians have other plans. This is about nationalism, defence and territory.  Everyone wants to be the first because there are currently no laws or treaties for colonising the moon. It's basically first come, first served.  And they reckon whoever builds the first reactor for electricity can basically bags an area, and build its base close by. He who gets there first, wins. Basically.  The moon is quite important to earth, as you know. The seasons, our crops, our ocean, our entire lives a tied to that thing.  But if you look at it closely, it's already coved in giant craters - so big you can see them from earth. So even if these guys do blow something up, one's one more crater?  I'm frothing to see this new age space race get underway. The most interesting question is: what happens if it's not a country that gets there first, but one of those weirdo billionaires and their space toys? Wed, 06 Aug 2025 18:01:11 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-are-we-taking-it-too-far-with-ai/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-are-we-taking-it-too-far-with-ai/ The future's here. AI is taking over.  A team of robots kept alive in some giant warehouse with tonnes of electricity are right now whirring away, beavering away on the world's problems.  AI will soon be marking our students' exams. The Swedish Prime Minister overnight admitted he uses AI for a second opinion on running the country.  AI architects are in high demand - they're being snapped up like hotcakes.  Meta recently offered AI researcher Matt Deitke $250 million over four years - AI engineers are apparently paid upwards of $2.5 million a year.  The big tech companies are investing billions. The efficiencies are real. AI is changing the world, one data centre at a time.  So the question is: what do we do about it?  Some of the teachers are upset because they don't trust AI to mark exams. But really, we shouldn't trust the teachers. According to the Minister of Education, AI is at least as good as if not better than teachers at getting it right.  There's some stuff so nuanced you need human eyes across it, but that would be the exception, not the rule.  As for the Swedish Prime Minister, he's copping flak for not being able to do his job without the help of a robot. But you still need to use judgement, don't you? You can't just punch in "should I go to war tomorrow" and the blindly follow the answer.  Is AI not the mental equivalent of a forklift? A tool, a machine, doing the heavy lifting for our brains? The reality is, it doesn't actually matter how we feel about AI and the moral dilemmas it raises.  Like mobile phones, the internet, smart phones and social media, it's one of those phenomenon that's taking over our lives, whether we like it or not.  The best we can probably do is just get used to it. Tue, 05 Aug 2025 18:01:13 Z