Pete flew in the Kiwi vibes with Pilsner Hops from Brothers Brewery (Auckland) and we used that crisp, floral session pour to open a big conversation about print, power and passing your test. Our main game: a friendly — and very subjective — Top 10 of the best-selling books in history. We aren’t claiming an academic list; these are the works that landed in people’s hands the most, inspired riffing in pubs and classrooms, and show how stories travel: sacred texts (the Bible, the Quran, the Torah), ancient strategy (Sun Tzu — The Art of War), revolutionary manifestos (Marx & Engels — Communist Manifesto, Mao’s Little Red Book), and modern global blockbusters (J.R.R. Tolkien, J.K. Rowling, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Agatha Christie, Charles Dickens).

From there we veered into the uniquely modern: how society tests competence (the UK driving test, learner-driver culture, and the ugly bits — cheating, dangerous behaviour and the real human cost when people don’t actually learn to drive safely), and toward the horizon: driverless cars, tramsleeper fantasies and whether automation will ever make the driving-test debate irrelevant.

We also digest Mark Carney’s Davos speech — his economic and climate framing — and argue about what central bankers can (and can’t) fix. Does money steer climate action? Should it? Expect punchy takes, a little economic scepticism, and a few Brexit-era flashbacks.

And because no episode is complete without frivolity, we drop into pop-culture corners — Lord of the Rings references, Warhammer hobby shops, Harry Potter mania and the way big books spawn big communities — before finishing on something everyone can agree on: terrible dad jokes. Pete and Cliff duel for dad-joke supremacy, and you decide who (if anyone) wins.

If your idea of heaven is a quiet pub, a good book, and a beer from a brewery you can’t quite pronounce, Episode 17 has something for you. Pour a Pilsner Hops, buckle your seatbelt (metaphorically), and enjoy. Tell us your favourite book, worst driving-test memory, or the dad joke that made you groan loudest — we’ll read the best on the next show.

Check out the Brothers Brewery here: https://brothersbeer.co.nz/https://brothersbeer.co.nz/

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Playout music by Aisara. Check out her album "Girlon Fire" on Spotify: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/album/6uvZP6fKnRaUMEtC5BkfSr⁠

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