/on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/rss 九一星空无限 Fri, 31 Jan 2025 08:49:33 Z en /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/watch-the-mike-hosking-breakfast-laugh-off/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/watch-the-mike-hosking-breakfast-laugh-off/ The Mike Hosking Breakfast is renowned for its brevity and Friday was no exception. During Wrapping the Week - a panel discussion around the news-making topics of the last five days that often descends into chaos - the Breakfast producing crew decided it would be apt to finish the show with a game of 'Who Has the Best Laugh?' Hilarity ensued for host, producers, guests and audience alike as David Seymour, Jamie Strange, Ginny Andersen and Mike Hosking had their laughs played for Tim Wilson and Kate Hawkesby to judge. After a moment of scrutinous analysis, Wilson and Hawkesby came to the same conclusion and without prejudice decided Hosking aka 'Scooby Doo' was the winner. Police Minister Ginny Andersen came in second, Jamie Strange third and David Seymour missed the podium in a four-horse race to come in fourth. WATCH ABOVE Fri, 18 Aug 2023 01:16:45 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/steven-joyce-former-finance-minister-talks-his-new-book-off-the-record/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/steven-joyce-former-finance-minister-talks-his-new-book-off-the-record/ Steven Joyce had one of the most colourful careers in politics and has now given an insight into that time with a new book. On the Record reveals what it takes to win and keep office, and the secrets behind the strategy and campaigning that led to National being in power for almost a decade. The former Finance Minister joined Mike Hosking live in studio to talk the book, his political career and his successful stint in radio. WATCH ABOVE Mon, 14 Aug 2023 20:03:00 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/jeffrey-archer-bestselling-author-and-house-of-lords-member-joins-mike-hosking-in-london/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/jeffrey-archer-bestselling-author-and-house-of-lords-member-joins-mike-hosking-in-london/ One of the world's biggest selling authors is back for a chat on the Mike Hosking Breakfast. We last spoke with Jeffrey Archer on this show in 2017, but we got to chance to see him at his apartment while the team were in London. Former Conservative MP, member of the House of Lords, a stint in jail and more than 320 million books sold since writing his first in 1976. Jeffrey Archer joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE Wed, 10 May 2023 20:45:01 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/todd-nicolson-nz-beer-collective-director-on-hoping-to-supply-celebrations-after-the-coronation/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/todd-nicolson-nz-beer-collective-director-on-hoping-to-supply-celebrations-after-the-coronation/ After the coronation there are sure to be plenty of celebrations in the UK- and one Kiwi brewer is hoping their selection will be the drinks of choice. The NZ Beer Collective was born in Wellington and they now brew both here and in the UK, where they are very popular in Canary Wharf. Beer, cider and mead is currently on offer - but they are also about to expand into an area that has so far been left mostly untouched in the UK. Director of Beer at New Zealand Beer Collective Todd Nicolson joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE   Thu, 04 May 2023 19:47:16 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mike-hosking-sobs-on-air-as-news-of-queens-death-breaks/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mike-hosking-sobs-on-air-as-news-of-queens-death-breaks/ Radio host Mike Hosking had to gather himself for a few moments on live radio when news broke that Queen Elizabeth II had died. As wife and fellow 九一星空无限talk ZB broadcaster Kate Hawkesby crossed to Hosking - shortly before his programme was due to start - she said: "Very sad day indeed ... the Queen dying at age 96. Mike Hosking - nobody loves the Queen more than you and I." "Oh don't," Hosking can be heard saying with an audible sniff. Hawkesby replies: "It's very upsetting isn't it? We're royalists, aren't we? I mean, it's an end of an era." Hosking can then be heard sobbing softly. "I don't know that I can - just give me a couple of minutes." He goes on to apologise to listeners, before saying it is expected that King Charles will speak to the masses soon - the new King's title being something that they would need to get their heads around, Hawkesby said. 九一星空无限talk ZB journalist Mike Hosking. Photo / 九一星空无限 Earlier this year, Hosking shared his love for the monarch; describing her as a brilliant symbol of dedication and loyalty. "I love the Queen," he said in June. "She might be the greatest representative of most of our lifetimes in terms of dedication, consistency and loyalty." He spoke of her dedication to service from a very young age and the fact her 70-year reign would not be seen again in our lifetime. "Seventy years is a trick of fate," he said. "You need to get to the throne awfully young and live awfully long to mark 70 years. Charles won't, William won't and Lord knows what happens to the monarchy after that. "She remains one of the few global figures in an otherwise disparate, angry and dysfunctional world that is almost universally, if not loved, liked. If not adored, she's certainly respected." 九一星空无限 of the Queen's death broke in the early hours of this morning, NZT, as the flag at Buckingham Palace was put to half-mast and a sign posted outside announcing the news - as traditional. It was also formally announced on Twitter, as is also now traditional. Thu, 08 Sep 2022 19:51:25 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/ross-taylor-black-caps-legend-on-his-new-book-black-and-white/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/ross-taylor-black-caps-legend-on-his-new-book-black-and-white/ It's fair to say Ross Taylor is one of New Zealand’s all time cricketing greats. He ended his career earlier this year as the all-time best run scorer across all formats - including Test, ODIs and T20s. That included the most centuries in international cricket, with 40, and the most appearances for the Black Caps. Now he's telling his story in his biography Black and White which is out today. It includes his side of the captaincy saga of 2012. Ross Taylor joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE Wed, 10 Aug 2022 22:07:59 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/harper-finn-kiwi-musician-on-his-new-ep-newcomer/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/harper-finn-kiwi-musician-on-his-new-ep-newcomer/ Time to catch up with one of our favourite emerging Kiwi artists. We first met Harper Finn during the height of Covid after his single Dance Away These Days became quite the hit. His early success saw him take out the breakthrough artist of the year at last year's music awards. Since then he's spent plenty of time in the states and has just released his debut EP Newcomer. And the first single from the EP - Different Skies topped the Kiwi charts. Harper Finn joined Mike Hosking in studio. LISTEN ABOVE Mon, 01 Aug 2022 21:53:16 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/liam-lawson-kiwi-motorsport-star-talks-to-mike-hosking/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/liam-lawson-kiwi-motorsport-star-talks-to-mike-hosking/ Liam Lawson has returned to New Zealand and is driving on home soil. WATCH ABOVE Wed, 09 Feb 2022 22:20:35 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/labour-mp-stuart-nash-quits-mike-hoskings-radio-show-live-on-air/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/labour-mp-stuart-nash-quits-mike-hoskings-radio-show-live-on-air/ Labour Cabinet Minister Stuart Nash dropped a bombshell live on-air this morning, resigning unexpectedly from Mike Hosking's top-rating breakfast show on 九一星空无限talk ZB.  Nash surprised Hosking by quitting his regular slot alongside National MP Mark Mitchell, calling time on five years of banter with the breakfast host.  "I've been doing the show now for five years. I think people know and I get this feedback that Mitch and I are great mates and believe it or not I actually consider you a good mate too," the MP told Hosking.  "We've had some stoushes over the years but your listeners would be interested to know that when we catch up it's always really courteous and we get on well.  "But I wonder mate, after five years, I think it might be time for a new Labour voice to come on the show and defend the fantastic record of this Government," Nash said.  An incredulous Mike Hosking responded: "Are you resigning on-air?"  "You're calling the protesters soft and you're running for the hills. You're Jacinda-ing it," he added.  Nash denied the claim, saying he would be happy to appear on the show on behalf of his Cabinet portfolios.  Mark Mitchell then turned on Nash, saying that his pal was quitting because of recent Labour polling.  Hosking then told Nash that he was on the "biggest radio programme in this country by so far it isn't funny" and revealed that Nash was chosen for the slot because he was the "best of very small, moderate bunch".  He then praised the departing MP and delivered a broadside to his Cabinet colleagues, saying they would struggle to find a replacement who could be entertaining and authoritative and lacked "an ideological bent that would drive us nuts".  Nash argued it was a busy time for the Government before Hosking stated: "Why don't I quit? I've had enough".  "Would you Mike?" Nash replied.  "Imagine if I left the media landscape, you'd be partying for days," Hosking claimed.  "If you leave then I will stay," Nash countered.  Hosking then jokingly asked if the Minister wanted to be paid more for his appearance.  "Is the money not good enough?" he asked.  "Well it's nothing compared to what you earn," Nash replied, before Hosking hit back with a speedy rejoinder.  "Yeah but I'm good, that's the difference mate, I'm worth every cent".  Tue, 08 Feb 2022 21:38:57 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/marcus-armstrong-kiwi-f2-driver-on-his-new-team/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/marcus-armstrong-kiwi-f2-driver-on-his-new-team/ A change of scenery for Kiwi F2 driver Marcus Armstrong this year.  The 21-year-old is leaving French team Mads, as well as the Ferrari driver academy, to join British outfit Hitech Grand Prix.   It will be Marcus' third season of F2, having gained his first ever win in December last year.  Marcus joined Mike Hosking.  LISTEN ABOVE  Thu, 03 Feb 2022 19:37:53 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/brian-cox-succession-actor-on-his-rags-to-riches-autobiography-putting-the-rabbit-in-the-hat/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/brian-cox-succession-actor-on-his-rags-to-riches-autobiography-putting-the-rabbit-in-the-hat/ Scottish actor Brian Cox is well known for his roles in Braveheart, The Rise of the Planet of the Apes and the Bourne franchise.   And he's the star of the American satirical black comedy-drama television series Succession, which has just been signed off for its fourth season.   Cox joined Mike Hosking to discuss his new autobiography Putting the Rabbit in the Hat, which he is currently on a book tour for.   He says he’s the busiest he’s been in his life.   The 75-year-old, who has also worked with Alec Baldwin in the past, commented on what a terrible state Baldwin has got himself into following the on-set film shooting.   "I hear all kinds of rumours, all kinds of things about this gun that had possibly been previously used. I haven't got the facts, I just know it's horrifying."  Baldwin accidentally fired a loaded gun on the set of his new film Rust, wounding the film's director and shooting and killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins - whom Cox called a "bright and up and coming young woman".  "Alec's turned his life around in so many different ways as he got older," he told the radio host.  "He's got a wonderful family. Since his late 50s he's had five kids, his life has changed in so many ways. He's got an incredible wife ... it's so tragic."  Cox hoped the tragedy would come as a sobering reminder for all those working with firearms on movie sets.  "There is a certain carelessness on cinema sets ... this will certainly be a big wakeup call.  "I've fired guns on sets and they're usually incredibly strict. You check the weapon, you never hand anybody a gun like that. I find it astonishing."  He acknowledged how tragic it was for Hutchins' family.  Cox said he had been trying to get in touch with Baldwin "just to send commiserations to him".  The actor also spoke briefly about his starring role in Succession, the third season of which has just been released.  "I was originally told I was only going to be in one series, but then I realised I was going to be doing it for some time.  "Logan Roy's a man with a lot of secrets, which we still don't know about."  Talking about Succession’s latest season, Cox said he thinks the writers need a break.  He said he needs a break too.  Cox credits his success and the variety of his work in the theatre, on TV shows and in the cinema to the key rule of improvisation – which is “never say no”.  “The thing in my career has always been ‘yes and’.”  He says that he’s always eager to get back on the horse and will often jump from one production to another.   LISTEN ABOVE Wed, 27 Oct 2021 19:52:37 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-vaccine-rollout-well-and-truly-busted/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-vaccine-rollout-well-and-truly-busted/ The revelation, or perhaps confession is the better word. But the confession came yesterday at the one o'clock sermon from the Pulpit of Truth. The reason the Police weren't jabbed properly was because they didn’t have the supply. At last, Ardern admits it. We asked that very question six hours earlier yesterday when talking to Ashley Bloomfield, but he wouldn't admit it. The Police, of course, who have this week talked of taking legal action, have every right to be angry. The supermarket workers have every right to be angry. By weeks end, we all have every right to be angry because we have been shockingly let down. You will also note from yesterday's pulpit lecture the urgency now to get a vaccine. What a surprise. In three days, we have gone from not needing to hurry because we have no Covid to get out, get in, and get jabbed. Their plan, such as it ever was, is now officially a scandal, it’s a bust. As Scott Morrison and his smug lot across the Tasman had to admit and apologise for. So too will this lot, who suffered the same smugness, who refused to listen, who refused to accept that it was a race, the borders don’t keep out the virus, and zero Covid is a joke. It's a hopelessly idealistic joke believed in by people who are not remotely connected to the real world. Either because they're from the cloistered environs of academia, who understand the science but not the real-world implications of the damage we do, or they are from the Labour Party and straight out of the university library or union halls and have relied on the aforementioned wonks, who have led us down a very dangerous path. So, to the supply, we have been conned. We didn’t pay the premium for early delivery, we didn’t have any urgency, we were blinded by the dumb belief that a locked border was all we needed, and we could take all year no worries. What a farce. We could have jabbed everyone if we started in February by June. And yet here we are in August 118th in the world locked down, everything shut, and yet again going nowhere. That's where this Government's plan, or lack of plan has landed us. Front-liners not protected because of lack of supply, 118th in the world, locked down like nowhere else apart from the other inept idiots across the Tasman. The scam is up. The con is exposed. The Ardern Show was as shallow as ‘be kind’ and stick a teddy in the window. You think they're going to put this on the cover of Vogue or Time? Thu, 19 Aug 2021 22:14:56 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-vaccine-numbers-dont-lie/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-vaccine-numbers-dont-lie/ Numbers are interesting things and can lead to good insight. We are now doing 55,000 doses of the vaccine a day. If we had started when we should have and taken the Government's overused mantra of "going hard and going early" we would have needed about 150 days to get the whole vaccine programme fully completed.  55,000 a day for five months would have seen over eight million doses handed out. That would give us about the coverage most western nations have been able to deal with before you hit a fairly serious wall of resistance.  By my count, we’d need about four and a bit million vaccinated to make up about 80 percent coverage, so you start in February with the vaccines we got because we were at the "front of the queue" and by the end of June we would have been done.  If you look at Australia in general and New South Wales specifically, they are off and running. That's for a couple of good reasons and if our government were smart, they'd look and learn.  Until very recently New Zealand and Australia were in rough lockstep in terms of rollout.   Both of us were abysmal. But what Australia has done is buy more and in locking down these past few weeks, they've incentivised by default.  The daily number of jabs are through the roof and as a result will now exponentially take off faster than our rollout. The key difference is they have an incentive, we don't.  Although our Prime Minister yesterday at the one o'clock pulpit of truth lecture implored us to get a jab. What she didn’t do is offer the incentive the Australians have. Both Scott Morrison and Gladys Berejiklian have given targets for freedoms.  What we have got is no targets, and as of the Sir David Skegg report and yesterday's reminders from Stuart Nash and Grant Robertson, vaccination does not prevent lockdowns. So, if you figure you won't get Covid, or you figure you're young and don’t really worry about Covid, and you're getting locked down anyway, why are you in a hurry?  The September 1 opening of bookings for everyone will be a big reveal. Just what sort of resistance is there? If 80 percent of us aren't jabbed or booked in, then what?  Virtually every country in the world has an incentive to get jabbed. Money, pizza, a mandate on entry, a numerical target, but we, apparently, are unique so we need none of it.  If naivety was a policy, we'd be winning prizes. But the number to remind us how hopeless this all is 118. That’s our rank in the world's vaccine rollout.  118th. Numbers don’t lie.    Wed, 18 Aug 2021 21:54:27 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-could-this-lockdown-have-been-avoided/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-could-this-lockdown-have-been-avoided/ So, let's be honest, as we said last week, this was always a race.  Did we get jabbed before the next case arrived or did Covid win? Well, Covid won.   We are not only where we don’t want to be, most importantly, we are where we don't need to be. Australia, and we have watched them increasingly nervously were, in the same boat.   Not enough vaccine and too much smugness.  The critical error was Scott Morrison saying it's not a race, when it was. Our lot made the same mistake based on the same level of arrogance and complacency. We don’t have Covid, so we can take all year to roll out a vaccine programme.  No, we can't.  Once Australia fell apart you knew the Government here was starting to panic. They had seen the Morrison sheen fall away, the blame game had started, the polls were sinking, and with it has come a massive economic bombshell as yet again billions get wiped off the bottom line.  We are where we are this morning because we have no other choice. But the critical part is we have no other choice because we dropped the ball, we failed to act in a way we needed to. Leadership was lacking. Urgency was lacking.  The answer was the answer so much of the world has got on with. Vaccines.  Vaccines are the passport to freedom. No, they are not a magic bullet, but they are the best we have. They are effective, they avoid the sort of lockdown and economic damage this country has favoured too many times now. They are better than where we are this morning.  And we could have been where others are.  Vaccination rates at a high and successful level allow cases in the community because vaccines mean you don’t die or end up on a ventilator. Vaccines aren't quite complete freedom, but they are more freedom than we have.  They provide more choice than we have. We shouldn’t be where we are.  But yet here we are again, 18 months on, same clumsy result. All of this in an era where we have better options.  Why don't we have better options? Because yet again the Government has failed to move, failed to fix, and failed to deliver.  You could almost forgive them the failure to deliver in so many other areas, if only they had been awake enough to deliver the vaccines when they should have.  This, yet again, is on them. Tue, 17 Aug 2021 21:54:56 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-were-missing-massive-economic-opportunities/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-were-missing-massive-economic-opportunities/ Locking the borders worked, when locking the borders was all there was to do. But the fatal mistake that is now costing us millions was after we locked the borders; we rested on our laurels, developed a sense of smugness, and fell asleep. There was no plan. By the time we woke up to that fact, we had to scramble, and the scrambling is now costing us reputation and economic damage. The Sail GP, as of yesterday, is gone. We miss out. It's not coming here because they can't get MIQ spots. The fact we still have MIQ spots is because we failed abysmally at vaccination. The Super Cars are cancelled for the second year in a row. The ASB Classic is cancelled for a second year in a row. Lord of the Rings is going because you can arrive in Britain and start work instead of spending two weeks doing nothing, if in fact you can get the spots at all. The All Blacks might get home, they might not. If they don't play here, more millions gone. The Warriors are stuck, and so it goes. Scott Morrison yesterday was spot on. Once you're vaccinated, zero Covid hurts your economy. We are zero Covid and we aren't vaccinated. We are hamstringing ourselves with the Government's ineptitude. The UMR poll out yesterday confirms the Reid Research poll a couple of weeks back. Labour support is plummeting, National and ACT are up, and Winston Peters is up. All of it is anti-Government movement. People see this mess for what it is. Locking down gave respite. But that’s where it stopped. There are enough of us that see the world moving on. We see the alternatives and we see the contrast in attitude. For a country that requires the world to make a living, it's an astonishing thing that we have let that part of the equation slide so badly. Zero Covid means international tourism isn't coming back for years and attracting events is now clearly off the table. Yes, we have no Covid. But we also have no income outside of exporting food. The stuff we've stopped hasn’t been made up for, so we are filling it with debt. And as the world moves on, we are watching business cancel and go elsewhere. We are digging our own economic grave. Mon, 16 Aug 2021 21:35:39 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-my-covid-19-vaccine-experience-was-1010/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-my-covid-19-vaccine-experience-was-1010/ So, my vaccine journey is underway. First thing yesterday morning we turned up. I had booked the date the first chance I got, and I took the earliest appointment offered, which was 8.30am. It was exactly as described on the ticket. It could not have been a smoother non-event. The booking process is seamless, the contact with you is seamless, the arrival and the checks are all seamless. You get a sense of the infrastructure required. This singular centre in one part of one town reminds you of the size of the effort to roll this out. There are a lot of people,  a lot of chairs, and a lot of rooms needed. And even first thing Sunday, there were plenty of people already underway. Obviously given there are now over 800,000 fully jabbed I am far from unique. But, if there is to be an issue, it will be demand. Early on, obviously the government let us down appallingly by not taking this seriously enough, not doing their job properly, and getting vaccine here with the urgency it should have. Now with supply allegedly sorted, demand is the next problem. By opening up on September 1 to everyone, what percentage of the population will roll up? And will not putting targets and incentives in to get jabbed bite them? My guess is yes. Anyway, into the room, the vaccinator could not have been nicer.  A few more questions, and jab done. If you're needle-phobic, in all honesty it is painless. It's in and it's out. The prick you feel on a blood test is worse, and that’s hardly worth mentioning. You go through, you sit, you wait, they call you up, you're fine, and you're out. It's as non-eventful as it sounds. Every single person you deal with is diligent, pleasant, and you could not fault them, even if you were looking to find fault. It's like so many things that involve government. The stuff at the top might be headline grabbing or open to debate, but on the ground, the workers turn up every day and do their duty, there is an army out there all over the country right now doing a fantastic job. Side effects? Zero. Experience? 10/10.     Sun, 15 Aug 2021 22:12:51 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mike-hosking-kate-hawkesby-get-the-covid-jab/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mike-hosking-kate-hawkesby-get-the-covid-jab/ 九一星空无限talk ZB's Mike Hosking decided to take the chance - and get his first Covid-19 vaccine over the weekend. He booked his jab at the Epsom Vaccination Centre early on Sunday morning. "The booking was super simple. And why not do it first thing on a Sunday morning, when there's literally no one around?" Hosking said. He went through the process of getting registered, answering health and personal questions, to getting the information on the Pfizer vaccine. Hosking described the process as "super easy." As for the jab itself, he got it from nurse Anthea, and Hosking said "it was the biggest non-event." He claimed it was less painful than getting a blood test. The ZB host then did the obligatory 20 minute wait, just to check for any side effects. He then got the all clear, and was off home to enjoy his Sunday. The whole appointment took just over half an hour. So all in all, what did the 九一星空无限talk ZB host think of the overall experience? "It's very well organised, it's very professional. The staff are very professional, very friendly and very nice," he said. "There are no side effects. It is the easiest thing you can possibly do. And there's literally no pain if you're needle-phobic. WATCH THE MIKE HOSKING'S FULL COVID-19 VACCINE JOURNEY ABOVE Sun, 15 Aug 2021 19:29:21 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-the-govts-border-plan-was-totally-underwhelming/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-the-govts-border-plan-was-totally-underwhelming/ There were two themes in yesterday's so-called pathway forward on Covid. Both start with a "v", vagueness and vaccines. Both are trouble. The vagueness apart from anything will lead to the vaccine problem, but more shortly. But the vagueness, as pointed out by former Air New Zealand boss Rob Fyfe, what business wanted was a plan and clarity. He tried, given he's in Government to soften it by saying, we got intent. Small point, if businesses could just grow a pair and be a bit honest it might help. Given what I am seeing these days is businesses behind the scenes pulling their hair out, but in public watering it down to an almost insipid apologist whine. But intent, what's the point of intent? This Government intended to build 100,000 houses over 10 years. They intended to have light rail to the airport in Auckland by now. Intent isn't doing and doing is what we need. So, a whole lot of "might dos," ”trials,” and “let's sees.” Everything for this Government seems hard. It seems arduous starting almost always with a stunning amount of vagueness. Which brings us to the vaccine. Without a plan and without a target the rollout will run into the trouble it has run into everywhere, except worse. It's simple, it's demand. Until now the issue has been supply. More people wanted it than could get it; hence the age group farce they’ve pretended is a plan. Once the supply gets to a certain point, and that presumably is soon given they have opened bookings to everyone as of September, that's where the next test is. But we know from offshore what drives demand are mandates, passports, and incentives. But what we have is no dates for borders, no mandates from business, and no passports from the Government. In other words, given there is no specific plan, a lot of people are going to ask why they're getting vaccinated. Yes, to prevent dying and ending up on a ventilator. But we still have elimination, our borders are still closed, and we still have lockdowns. So, the urgency is where? Whether you agree with that is irrelevant, for many it's real. And if too many think that way, the vaccination rate will become a real problem. That’s the outworking of being vague. If you're aiming for nothing but thin air, there is no urgency. And asking, as they all did yesterday, will not ultimately lead to where we need to be. This Government doesn’t lead. It ponders, it muses, it blue skies, it lacks focus, it lacks speed, and it trips itself up on non-delivery. What we needed was a rallying call, a call to arms, but what we got was a thought bubble. Thu, 12 Aug 2021 21:44:34 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-would-we-accept-more-level-4-lockdowns/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-would-we-accept-more-level-4-lockdowns/ Well, what a revelation. We will not be going back to Level 4. Remember that? The Prime Minister said that post our first big lockdown. And yet as of Delta we are, or will be when Delta gets here, heading back there. There is no doubt Delta has changed the game. It may well be that Lambda or whatever comes after that will change it again. But what is happening globally is increasingly fascinating. This country has decided that lockdowns are still a thing. The reason Chris Hipkins said what he did is because, as I alluded to earlier this week, the Government are currently panicking about a border breach and Tauranga has brought that home. Australia, especially Sydney, is in a quagmire and Scott Morrison is taking a massive popularity hit. Don't for a second believe that Jacinda Ardern and co aren't watching that like hawks, their political survival depends on this vaccine and your belief that they know what they are doing. The numbers have already shown that 10 percent drop, so they are freaking out. The race is on; do we get jabbed before Delta breaches? Level 4, remember, ruins economies, requires massive debt, and leads to businesses going under and mental health issues to spike. So given the Sir David Skegg report talking of ongoing lockdowns for years, Ardern's so called speech today about borders and going forward, and Hipkins' level 4 revelation, we are at an interesting part of the journey. How long are you prepared to live with the threat of level 4? How many level 4s suck confidence out of everyone? Especially given huge swathes of the world have been vaccinated, have vaccine passports, are travelling, are growing economically, and don’t have lockdowns. How big a risk are we taking doing something very different? And how long do we do it for? The reality would appear the moment we open the border at all, Delta will be in. It's happened everywhere, so why are we different? The answer is we aren't. The lesson we've learned from all over the planet is people have so much tolerance. We seem to have a little more given we've put up with less. But you watch that change, when our dream of defying gravity comes crashing back to Earth. Wed, 11 Aug 2021 21:35:24 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-why-is-the-govt-ignoring-the-major-issues/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-why-is-the-govt-ignoring-the-major-issues/ As I listened to Megan Woods and Jacinda Ardern yesterday wittering on about why we didn’t have power when it got cold, I was reminded of Kris Faafoi. The problem with this Government, among many other things, is they don’t do the basics properly. Sometimes they don't do the basics at all. Power is critical. It affects us all, and ultimately, the safety and operation of the system, although deregulated, is down to the Government. So, when the power doesn’t work, the Government has failed us, despite Woods trying to argue it’s a commercial decision. There is no excuse for the power not to work. And Ardern saying in that classic Ardern kind of way that’s it's not good enough means nothing. The same way "be kind" means nothing. But it is yet more evidence that there is too much dabbling. Which brings us back to Faafoi, he is responsible for the disgrace that passes for immigration, or lack of it. He is responsible for the migrants here on visas stuck and separated from their families. He is, in part, responsible for all the skills that have not arrived here to alleviate the crisis in the thousands of workplaces who are screaming out for talent. He's responsible for the applications that aren't looked and the queue that grows ever longer. And yet, what he's made headlines for of late is gay conversion therapy. Even on that he's cocked it up. He couldn't confirm whether a parent can be made a criminal. But here's the fundamental question; in a pandemic, why are we talking about gay conversion therapy? Why are we apologising for decades old dawn raids? Why is the Finance Minister opening gender neutral toilets? Why are we banning voting on Māori Wards? Why are we doing a whole lot of stuff that at another time and another place might well need a debate or some attention but right now, in the middle of the biggest health crisis the world has seen in generations, are we dabbling with irrelevant stuff that takes time, energy, and money away from what's really important? If power system doesn’t work, why has it been allowed to get to this state? If the vaccine rollout is 120th in the world, Delta is in Australia, and could've been in Tauranga, why has it been allowed to get to this state? These are the things that matter. They're the basics, the need-to-haves, the bits that make life and a country work. We are failing at the basics yet have time to dabble in the comparatively frivolous. Of course, I know why they're doing it; it's to distract attention away from their ineptitude. But why aren't we demanding better? Until this country is jabbed, the borders are open, the skills can arrive, the power is on, and we look just a bit like a progressive ambitious country, can we just park the other stuff? Can we park the headline nabbing, irrelevant, ideologically driven dabbling, that prevents us sorting what really matters? Tue, 10 Aug 2021 21:43:50 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-does-judith-collins-have-a-point-about-ashley-bloomfield/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-does-judith-collins-have-a-point-about-ashley-bloomfield/ Judith Collins deserves at least a partial bouquet for articulating what surely a growing number of us now understand to be the case. Ashley Bloomfield is a nice guy, but a bust. Collins calls him a one trick pony. He's good at standing up and talking about Covid. It's an astonishing thing to observe what's happened with Bloomfield. I suspect we are at the stage now when more and more people are in that awkward position of realising they might have jumped to the fandom side of the equation before they had done their homework on the bloke. And having realised that they're just working through the embarrassment of reassessing just why it is they ever thought he was ever up to much. Don't get me wrong, there still are plenty of people who seem to idolise him. At a medical event last week Bloomfield turned up with Andrew Little who got laughed at. When it came to question time for Bloomfield, one audience member, and remember these are trained medical professionals, stood up and asked, "Ashley, can I have a selfie?" Queue laughter. The day we idolised a bureaucrat was the day we lost the plot. The ensuing merchandise and slavish coverage from a sycophantic media hasn’t helped. But the Select Committee dishonesty surely seals the deal; he's not the real thing. It's widely accepted in the capital, if not further afield, the Ministry of Health is in shocking shape. We all saw last year's flu vaccine rollout, or lack of it. We all saw the shambles around PPE and testing kits. We all saw measles exported to the islands. All of that is on Ashley Bloomfield. It's hard to know how much the slowness of the rollout on the Covid vaccine is on him, as opposed to the Government, or how much the one company approach to the jab is. But what is clear is that the Prime Minister, with her lack of experience, hooked onto Bloomfield from day one, and as a result his beatification followed soon after. Judging people, if you do it properly, takes time, we rushed in. We fell for the window dressing. He's a nice guy, well spoken, and pretty much calm under all circumstances. But as time, results, or lack of them, have shown, he has been found wanting. In some cases, badly so. And then we got to the Select Committee last week, which was an inexplicable, if not deliberate, avoidance of the facts. He, like so many in the Cabinet, has been pushed beyond their capabilities. I am assuming, in fact hoping, given Collin's comments, that if a change of government comes in 2023, then a change in Director General of Health will be one of the early decisions executed. Tue, 10 Aug 2021 00:24:42 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/israel-adesanya-what-i-m-going-to-do-is-dedicate-my-life-to-my-kids/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/israel-adesanya-what-i-m-going-to-do-is-dedicate-my-life-to-my-kids/ Israel Adesanya is still pushing for harsher penalties for coward punches.  The UFC Middleweight Champion took off the gloves to chat to 九一星空无限talk ZB’s Mike Hosking this morning.   Earlier this year he urged Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to toughen the laws following the death of his City Kickboxing teammate Fau Vake.   “I don't hang out with anyone who is willing to do or would engage in that kind of behaviour” he told Mike Hosking.   The fighter returned to New Zealand in June and says he’s now “upgrading the software.”   When asked if changing weight division was a mistake, due to it ending a significant winning streak, an emphatic “f**k no” was his response.   Instead, he was philosophical about the loss and said he’d both fight in that class again and at some point, win.   He has a few months to kill before his next fight and in the meantime is focusing on upgrading his martial arts skill levels.  But until his next fight Adesanya is also “diving into other things [he] likes in life.”   He cheekily plugged his YouTube channel Freestylebender and when Hosking asked if he experienced any censorship issues with YouTube said he gets to say what he wants.  Adesanya also opened up about what wanting to have kids once he’s finished fighting and what kind of father he’d be.   “After I’m done with fighting, all I’m going to do is dedicate my life to my kids. I’m going to home-school them and everyday have a tutor come in from 9-1."   Being an athlete, he’s also got a fitness programme in mind. “They’re going to do gymnastics so they can have awareness of their body and jujitsu so they can socialize […] so, I’ve kind of planned this already” He sheepishly admitted.  Adesanya is a big believer in honour too, claiming to be one of the few in the game who still honours the code of martial arts.   But he’s also the first to admit it’s not a game for the squeamish. “At the end of the day I f**k people up for money. Bag loads of money. That’s what I like to do and it’s what I’m really good at.”  Mon, 09 Aug 2021 20:08:44 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-is-the-government-starting-to-panic/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-is-the-government-starting-to-panic/ The whiff of panic went all the way from the Beehive to the front page of your Saturday morning paper or website. Did you see it? They hope you did. Stuff, complete with pensive photo, "Jacinda Ardern talks to Stuff about why 2021 is harder than 2020." I actually have the answer, but we'll come back to that. The Herald, this photo has her hands clasped in an almost praying format, she is staring to the heavens. "Ardern, the hardest year." You see the theme here? She is back on the sympathy train. After the crappiest of weeks where 九一星空无限hub gave them a public spanking with poll numbers that they already would have known about. But it got laid bare for us all to see. It showed what most of us who are awake have known for ages or for those asleep, a rude wake up call. The government are useless, out of touch, if not dangerous. Let's not re-litigate the myriad of cock ups. What Saturday in the papers was about was a deliberate roll out of a Prime Minister in real trouble and the admission they know it. Because post the numbers, the back flips were of Olympic proportions. The announcement of an announcement this Thursday, the pathway out of Covid. Spoiler alert, it will be nothing of the sort. Then the RSE expansion, then the cycle bridge which is on its way out. I am told there is mental health dollars to be tossed out shortly as well. To cement it all, a blitz of the papers by the great leader. Rolling out her best sympathy routine about it all being hard and scary. Now back to "why 2021 is harder than 2020." That's simple, it's because Labour got a majority. And emboldened by the vote and with no small sense of self-entitlement, they went nuts. They went nuts with a series of policies they didn’t talk about during the election. They went nuts with a series of policies no good government should be event thinking about during a pandemic. And as regards the pandemic, they got trapped in a corner. 2021 is the year elimination of Covid became the failure in planning it always was, and because there was no hurry for a vaccine because we had no Covid. That fatal mistake, along with their ineptitude when it comes to delivering anything, has them appallingly exposed. They know, as do we all, that we are one cock up away from a Delta breach. And when/if it happens, you watch the panic set in. The answer is the vaccine, and they don’t have it. We know, they know it. So, they sit there every day praying the phone doesn’t ring telling them the bad news. It's a panic race. Do we get jabbed before the end of the year or does Delta arrive sooner? When left to their own devices, they weren't up for it. Hence the poll result, hence the panic, and hence your Saturday morning sympathy blitz. Sun, 08 Aug 2021 21:29:39 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-the-olympics-have-been-spectacular/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-the-olympics-have-been-spectacular/ With the Olympics wrapping this Sunday, the big winner is the Games themselves. It's a testament in a worried Covid world you can run events without disaster, even in a country with a shocking vaccine rollout. And it's another example of how the world has worked out that we will be living with Covid, and the elimination strategy so dearly clutched to by the likes of us and Australia was never going to be able to last. The irony, of course, as pointed out yesterday, our team is one of the few in the world coming home to MIQ. We've seen pictures of the British arriving to friends and family, kids holding medals, them off home for a celebration. For our lot, 14 days by themselves. That's what you get when you were run by fear and the needles never quite got ordered early enough. The ratings aren't what they have been. Hard to say whether that’s just the modern world and people do their own thing these days as opposed to the collective thing, or whether it was time zones, or lack of crowds. The crowds in parts were a shame. Not all sports need crowds because of distance and place. But where there were stands built and they were mainly deserted, you are reminded of the magic of the moment a crowd can create and the interaction between the athletes and fans. Simone Biles was a low light; it was way too self-indulgent. Laurel Hubbard was a low light given the build-up versus delivery component. Although she was very eloquent in defeat, I thought.   Some sports I tried but am still not convinced they belong there. Football, tennis, surfing, wall climbing, baseball, basketball, and golf are all bigger outside the Games, not inside them. And some of them are barely sports. They're good fun on a Sunday, not sport. Skateboarding looks out of place. All in all, though, given the circumstances, this has been a spectacular success. I didn’t think it would go ahead. I thought given the political pressure domestically, the outside Covid mess that Japan has, the fact they have an election shortly and the polls show the locals didn’t want it, this carried huge risk. But whether it was for the money, or the contract with the IOC they couldn’t break, they held their nerve and breath, and it worked. Gold medal Japan. Thu, 05 Aug 2021 21:29:25 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-are-we-at-peak-employment/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-are-we-at-peak-employment/ Good news, bad news day for us if the numbers projected turn out to be real. Statistics New Zealand releases our employment numbers today. The good news is, most agree, it should fall. They think to 4.4 percent from 4.7 percent. Wage inflation is also out. That should be up. If we aren't earning more in an environment where finding skills is a nightmare, then something is structurally wrong with the way we do business. 4.4 percent is good, by the way, but not as good as it has been. In that, lies the problem. It's generally accepted that about 3-ish percent jobless is what they call full employment. In other words, if you want a job, there is one to be had. I would argue we have that now, even at around 4.5 percent. Mainly because it's become abundantly clear that the number of job ads are through the roof, hiring is a major, and everyone going tells the same story, they can't find people to do the work required. That is part of the bad news side of the equation. If you're looking to hire but can't, the work doesn’t get done, the growth doesn’t happen, and we reach peak growth. In other words, this is as good as it gets. To be frank, when you look at our growth numbers and those elsewhere around the world right now, we are not flash. The bad news part of this is previously, if we couldn’t get local labour, we brought it in. And in that has been one of the more bizarre ideological debates of our times, the Government's plan to pay locals more, versus businesses plan to watch that not happen, because it's fairy land stuff, and to continue to plead for border help. The RSE worker call this week is a final submission, I think, from the Government that they got it wrong. But that doesn’t solve the issue for every other industry. The fact we can have a number of unemployed over 4 percent and still have labour issues gives you an insight into a major disconnect here. Welfare is too easy, attitudes are too lax, and we have reached bedrock when it comes to enthusiasm for getting out of bed and contributing to the wider world. It's a classic Covid problem in a country locked away from the rest of the planet. You can only go so far on borrowed money and local help. Once you reach the limit, the answer you once had for growth is now beyond a border you can't access. And that is an economic crime.     Tue, 03 Aug 2021 22:03:14 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/jon-toogood-shihad-frontman-on-comeback-new-album-and-travel-bubble/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/jon-toogood-shihad-frontman-on-comeback-new-album-and-travel-bubble/ Shihad frontman Jon Toogood joined Mike Hosking in studio to talk the band's comeback and new album, plus his experiences with the trans-Tasman bubble. WATCH ABOVE Mon, 02 Aug 2021 21:50:07 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-nothing-like-a-bad-poll-to-spur-some-action/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-nothing-like-a-bad-poll-to-spur-some-action/ Isn't it extraordinary what a bad poll can do for you? We should be grateful to 九一星空无限hub and Reid Research for Sunday night's numbers, because look what happens. First up Monday, we get an announcement of an announcement. Next week we will finally, finally, finally get a plan out of this mess. It's the Government's idea as to what we need to do, when we need to do it, and what the rewards for that activity will be. Obviously, the devil is in the detail, but even a hint of how they see this ending is better than this myopic hermit kingdom farce we are currently living in. And then, if that wasn’t enough, wouldn’t you know it? All of a sudden, the RSE workers, denied access ever since this mess began, can arrive, no problems at all. To be fair to the Government, they never completely abandoned the RSE programme. But it is running at a fraction of what it once was, and a fraction of what it needs to be. But as of next month, in they come, quarantine free, set to pick fruit till their hearts content. Once again, the devil is in the detail. How many? Ah yes, how many? Well, we don’t know. That's another Labour Party polling trick. Make an announcement of sorts. If you're making more than an announcement of an announcement leave the critical bit, in this case the numbers, for another day. But you will note a couple of things here. The RSE decision is based on what? What's changed? Nothing. Are the Islands safer than they were? No. Are we safer? No. Have we adjusted anything as regards the border? No. So, why now? Answer, a bad poll. In that, sadly, is the cold, hard truth of this Government. They are about power; they are about fear, until the numbers shift as they were always going to. The magic of Jacinda Ardern is wearing thin. The policies and promises aren't working. Hell, the RSE call is admission their whole "employ a local for more money" hasn’t worked. It was never going to, of course, but you needed to be in the real world to understand that. Given they never have been, it's taken a while to work through the mystery of another theory versus reality exercise. Upside, we can be stoked for agriculture and horticulture. At last, thank God, they get, at least, part of what they want. All it took was a wakeup call from a poll that the status quo is no longer remotely acceptable. Mon, 02 Aug 2021 21:40:56 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-i-have-never-seen-a-less-aspirational-government/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-i-have-never-seen-a-less-aspirational-government/ You can see the immediate issue in the title, the Kea "Future Aspirations" survey. It’s a survey of offshore and recently returned New Zealanders and they looked into the prospect of rounding a few up to use their skills here post-Covid to fire up the economy. They found many had the aspiration to come home and skills starved New Zealand needs to do more to encourage home the large number of Kiwis overseas. No kidding. The trouble is in the title of the survey and the word "aspiration." Kea members may have it and thank God they do, but the people with the key to the country don't. I have never seen in my time, and I go back to Muldoon, a more lacklustre, aspiration-less, myopic, and isolationist government. Not only is their border policy absurd in terms of being risk averse, it simply doesn't function. What the survey highlights is the concern that the skills sitting offshore that might want to return can't and even if they try, they might well give up. There is a global race on for talent. The labour shortage that we are suffering so badly from is all over the planet, except the planet is vaccinated and out and about getting on with life. You can land in Britain this morning with no isolation and go apply for your job. You might wear a mask. But you don’t have to. You make your own choices, and they’ll welcome you.   You can do the same in America. These places compete for our people. To get here, you have to isolate, jabbed or not. And even if you want to, you can't get a spot. Don't get me started if you're not born here but you have skills we need. The government's view of immigration is now little short of frightening given their ideologically warped idea you simply pay locals more has been appallingly exposed. And so, we have a standoff of sorts as represented by this survey from Kea. On one side those of us that long for the days of aspiration, drive, dedication, efficiency, graft, and success. On the other, a government that looks happier in the third world where your day begins at 10, if in fact you haven't phoned in ill. Like all great historic events the bad comes with the opportunities. Covid has tossed up a massive chance for offshore talent to reset. The race is on. The survey picks the mood, but the government seem determined that sinking into a quagmire of averageness is just fine. Sun, 01 Aug 2021 21:45:01 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-the-climate-commissions-ideology-has-been-exposed/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-the-climate-commissions-ideology-has-been-exposed/ Upon the recommendation of Andrew Kelleher, I did indeed read the Z Energy report entitled "The Future of Fuel Demand." At about 20 pages it won't sap your day, and it does give a good insight into why we should be wary, if not worried, about the ideological view pedalled by many. What they want to spend on that view. How much disruption they want to cause on implementing that view, and whether their view and its forecasts were ever connected in any great way to the real world. In summary, they don’t agree with a lot of what the Climate Change Commission says about the future of fuel, driven by its predictions around us in cars and buses and trains I share the same concerns. I’m not a fuel company, but I am in the real world which, I strongly suspect, gives me an advantage over the Climate Commission. Wanting something is one thing, whether it’s real is another. And in that lies the danger. Z is at odds over the demise of fuels, and the pace of that demise. They think cost parity between EVs and regular cars will in fact happen sooner than the commission, but they still won’t be taken up in numbers predicted. The so-called heavy fleet will need petrol way longer than the commission think, the tech isn’t moving as fast. The potential for biofuel is good, but they need help, research and government direction. That’s the other theme running through their report, government clarity is critical, they need a plan, so given this lot, at least until the year after next, good luck with that. But here is why they are right, take trains. Well that’s the problem, people don’t. Trains are inconsistent, they’re expensive and we know numbers have not bounced back post-Covid. Buses are slightly better, but not much. Drivers strike, buses don’t turn up, people don’t trust them and the Climate Commission doesn’t take that sort of thing into account. People still have issues with EVs, you can’t fill them up like you can a petrol car, and they still have range anxiety because of that. Choice will be resolved eventually, and even if price is as well, people like what they know and they know petrol, the Commission can’t get their head around the fact everyone isn’t as ideologically driven as they are. And because they’re not in the heads of regular people, the stuff they come out with isn’t rooted in the real world. People tow boats and caravans and love utes, fuels aren’t running out so there’s no need to change what you know. The danger the Commission runs, and Z have picked it up, is how do you do business when the real world is telling you one thing and a bunch of wonks with potentially legislative power is telling you another? As a business, you have to back your gut and your experience. This report, to my eye, looks a lot more realistic than the report I read from the Commerce Commission. One would be filed in the library under fact, one under fiction.   Thu, 29 Jul 2021 21:44:51 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/glennzb-tries-air-new-zealands-new-in-flight-snack-range/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/glennzb-tries-air-new-zealands-new-in-flight-snack-range/ After more than 100 trial flights, a new snack menu is coming to an Air New Zealand flight near you. The new in-flight snacks follow a series of trials from the national airline, with the tests being carried out via trolley signage on Koru Hour flights and Grab & Go snack boxes in its lounges. The trial sought the views of more than 700 customers. So passengers will soon be chowing down on a new variety of snacks while flying - including popcorn, crisps, muesli bars and chocolate. The classic cookie and lollies are here to stay as well. But that's not all - with Air New Zealand now providing more time appropriate snacks. Think Danishes in the morning and antipasto in the evening. Air New Zealand's Leanne Langridge popped in to 九一星空无限talk ZB to give Glennzb a selection of things to taste. So, what's the verdict? WATCH GLENNZB'S AIR NZ SNACK REVIEW VIDEO ABOVE Thu, 29 Jul 2021 00:52:13 Z