Andrew Dickens Afternoons

President Donald Trump's eldest son says his father is a "regifter" who "may or may not" have once given him the same gift he presented to his dad the year before.
Donald Trump Jr. says in an interview with the entertainment program "Extra" that because he is his father's namesake, he "got regifted all the things that were monogrammed for him at times". 
And he says that one Christmas he called his dad out on the regifting, explaining that he was the one who'd had the item monogrammed.
Trump Jr. also says he'll be spending the holidays with his family and girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle at his dad's Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
He also jokes that "it would be a wonderful thing" if he could tweet his father's holiday dinner commentary.
LISTEN TO RAYLENE TALK WITH ANDREW DICKENS ABOVE

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So I woke up this morning and turned on my computer to check the news and my news agglomerator had this headline: Is Britain about to get a new PM?
My instant response was who cares who the Prime Minister of Britain is. Because whoever it is is a lame duck.
It’s something that’s been bugging me for months as I hear correspondent after correspondent opining whether Theresa May will keep her job ignoring the underlying issue which is what will happen to Britain come March.
The two and a half year Brexit schemozzle and it’s coverage by the media has shown just how dumbed down the world is when it comes to debating complex issues. It all started right from the initial referendum which boiled it all down to two words. Remain or Leave. Even these two words had opponents. One school of thought was that the words should have been Leave or Stay. After all how many people tell their dog to remain. Some argue that the wimpyness of the word Remain was just one of many factors that nobbled the pro-Europeans.
What followed was a debate of slogans peppered by alternative facts and loaded with reckons rather than facts. And then by a narrow margin the vote came down to leave.
What then failed to come to pass was the political entities representing the leavers standing up and following through with vote.
What actually came to pass was a remainer inheriting the mantle of power. Theresa May then negotiated with the EU in a way that was representative of the nation. The remainers have to concede that Britain is leaving. But the leavers also have to recognise that half the country doesn’t want to go. A middle way forward had to be found. Both parties refused to do so and here we are.
The sticking point is the Ireland issue. What amazes me is how few people mentioned the issue at the time. A bit of research will find only a few opinion writers who recognised it. One at the time said that a hard border in Ireland will result in the destruction of the Good Friday Agreement , the agreement that ended the troubles.  This week John Major railed against the stupidity of no backstop reminding everyone that the troubles in Ireland started after the murder of a customs official on the border.
But ask most Brits if they understand the backstop and they wouldn’t have a clue. All they’ve heard is that Theresa Mays deal is too soft.
But the repercussions of a hard border could see a rise in the move towards devolution. Scotland has an out clause and at this rate may choose to leave the Union to join Europe. It seems logical that the move towards wresting sovereignty from a European Union could cause a move towards claiming sovereignty within the Home Unions. The United Kingdom faces becoming 4 countries rather than one
The thing about negotiations is the swallowing of rats. Nobody in the United Kingdom seem prepared to swallow any rats and they seem more concerned about their personal power than their nation. Good luck to them because at this rate they’re heading towards a very hard landing indeed.

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This is real life, it's not just fantasy.
Queen's iconic rock ballad Bohemian Rhapsody has become the most streamed song written in the 20th century.
Buoyed by the success of the recent Freddie Mercury biopic, the song has been streamed 1.6 billion times across YouTube and Spotify.
It beats the previous record holder, Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit.

Reacting to the news, guitarist Brian May said in a statement: “So the river of rock music has metamorphosed into streams! Very happy that our music is still flowing to the max!” 
The song has seen a resurgence since the biopic of the same name was released earlier this year, with the song becoming the 11th most streamed in the world at the end of November. 
The song is currently 20th on the New Zealand singles charts.  
Meanwhile, it has been announced that Ed Sheeran's Shape of You has become the first song to be streamed two billion times on Spotify.

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Chris called the Andrew Dickens Show today with an extremely powerful and emotional message in the wake of the Maori Santa Claus in Nelson a few weeks ago.
"The joy and emotion which is attached to Santa Claus is magical. Kids are growing up too fast, and there is too much happening to them. Kids just bright up when they see Santa dressed up, you can see it in their eyes."
LISTEN ABOVE AS CHRIS SPEAKS TO ANDREW DICKENS

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If you've listened to Newstalk ZB for the past 25 years you'll be very well aware of the Auckland problem.
The growing pains of our largest city have been endlessly discussed and debated, opposed and supported. Throughout the rest of the country people rolled their eyes and snickered at the JAFAs and the bed of thorns they had constructed for themselves.
But all along people with an eye to the future were warning that the Auckland problem would spread soon enough and we hope you're watching and learning.
So payback time. Let's talk about Hamilton.
The city is growing fast. Of course it is. Smack bang in the middle of the North Island. Smack bang in the middle of an immensely beautiful and fertile countryside brimming with jobs. Easy access to ports in Tauranga and Auckland. A couple of hours from splashing around in Lake Taupo. I've always wondered why it hasn't got bigger sooner.
The Mayor is worried about where to stick all the people wanting to live there. So Andrew King wants the city to sprawl and he says it needs to because it's too cramped.
He's quoted figures out of Massey University that show that Hamilton is NZ's fourth largest city by population, the third smallest territorial authority by area and has the highest population density.
By 2043, its projected population will be more than 244,000 - up from the current population of 168,000.
Andrew King says "We've got about 1500 people per square kilometre in Hamilton. There is no other city than Hamilton that has a population base of more than 1000 per square kilometre." And he’s right. Tauranga has about 900 people per square kilometre. Wellington 658 and Auckland a positively roomy 223 per square kilometre. Strangely enough the sprawlier you are the lower the density numbers. But the sprawlier you are the bigger the problems.
"In places like Christchurch, you can get in your car and drive for 30 minutes in any direction and your are still inside Christchurch. We're very constrained," King said. So he wants the city to spread but that’s against the wishes of the neighbouring Waipa and Waikato District Councils.
I’m sorry Mayor King, I haven’t noticed a crush in Hamilton at all. What I have noticed is exactly the problem that Auckland had in the past.  I notice no transport infrastructure. No expressway through the city. The drive through the Southern Suburbs to get out of town is one of the worst in the country. Public transport infrastructure is bad. Now if you spread even further the congestion in the inner city will be worse than anything Auckland has ever seen. 
What Mayor King is suggesting is what Auckland did wrong 50 years ago. The rampant development of the Eastern Suburbs, Pakuranga and Botany without major arterial road or motorway access. With no public transport. 50 years after the establishment of Pakuranga the remedial work is still going on with a busway finally being constructed.
Take a look at Tauranga Mr King where the Papamoa sprawl has created a congestion monster. Only now have they woken up and started to redevelop the city centre. 
The Mayors of Waipa and Waikato are right. Sort out what’s inside your borders before you start trying to expand them.

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A plea from nearly 18,000 Kiwis to ban the retail fireworks sales.
A petition's been handed to Government calling for legislation that bans the sale of fireworks and instead institute licensing for individuals and organisations to have public displays.
Green Party MP Gareth Hughes received the petition on the steps of Parliament.
He says in just the past month they've seen idiots shooting fireworks out of cars and a house nearly burn down.
"This is the same story that happens every year. We see hundreds of fire call outs, hundreds of accidents, hundreds of ACC claims costing hundreds of thousands of dollars."
The petition has been rubbished by talkback callers and texters, saying that it is just a few nanny-state complainers. 
Though one caller, Sarah, says that one of the problems is that fireworks are not restricted to that one night. 
LISTEN TO THE TALKBACK FEEDBACK ABOVE

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You don’t often hear Meghan Markle, Vladimir Putin and Jamal Khashoggi mentioned in the same sentence. 
However, the three are on the shortlist to become Time’s Person of the Year.
Other contenders for the prestigious include Donald Trump and the man investigating him for collusion, Robert Mueller.
Families separated at the US border and the teenagers behind the March For Our Lives gun protests have also made the cut.
The American magazine will unveil the winner overnight our time.  
Previous years have seen the prize go to Adolf Hitler, Barack Obama and Mahatma Ghandi.
The other full list for TIME’s 2018 Person of the Year is:
Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex
US President Donald Trump (who was previously chosen as Person of the Year in 2016)
Separated Families at the US border
Russian President Vladimir Putin (who was previously chosen as Person of the Year in 2007)
Special Counsel Robert Mueller
Black Panther director Ryan Coogler
Brett Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford
Slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi
March For Our Lives anti-gun activists
South Korean President Moon Jai-in
LISTEN TO RAYLENE TALK WITH ANDREW DICKENS ABOVE

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Yesterday, my talkback session was dominated by the nation’s reaction to the death of Grace Millane. The 22-year-old student from Essex in New Zealand on a backpackers trip fresh from graduating from university.
The grief and anger has been striking.  Perhaps driven on not just by the horror of the crime, but also the feeling she was a good person, from a good family and this trip which should have been the stuff of dreams became that of nightmares and to cap it off it came so close to Christmas.  A time of peace and family.
So for 3 hours we talked about our reaction as individuals, as men, as women and as a nation.
There was an interesting debate about responsibility.  Of course ,the sole responsibility was that of the perpetrator.
A friend of mine posted this on social media:
"THIS IS SO SO SO SO SAD BUT LET'S RE WORD THIS GUYS AND GIRLS .. IT WAS NOT HER FAULT, IT WAS NOT TINDERS FAULT, IT WAS NOT BECAUSE OF ANYTHING SHE DID. NOT HER FAULT. A MAN KILLED HER. VIOLENCE TOWARDS WOMEN MUST BE SPOKEN ABOUT DIFFERENTLY. A MAN KILLED HER FULL STOP.
But in that conversation about violence towards women, who has the responsibility to talk differently? I dared to suggest that men need to talk to other men to take the casual violence towards women out of their vocabulary.
But, surprisingly, men phoned to complain that this was man bashing. To which I always counter that there’s little sympathy at this time for men who complain about verbal man bashing when women are getting literally killed and bashed.
The conversation veered onto whether we are a violent society relatively and there were a few who did not want the nation to take responsibility for Grace’s death and yet later in the day the Prime Minister did exactly that at a press conference while on the verge of tears.
I would suggest that while our homicide figures have been falling, the undertow of violence runs deep in our veins. My text machine was running hot with suggestions about the sort of justice that should be meted out to the killer. I couldn’t read many of them out.  Honestly, they’d turn your hair blue.
We have an abhorrence of violence but we are violent punishers nonetheless.  And yesterday we were searching the closet for our pitchforks and burning torches and ready to form vigilante gangs.
Due to the stupidity of overseas news services the name of the accused became easily discoverable online and then it was spread like wildfire. When I got home last night my sons showed me their Facebook feeds which were full of the mentions of the name, photographs of the man and suggestions of unspeakable acts of retribution.
Has there ever been such a wide scale flaunting of name suppression in New Zealand’s legal history and it led to a warning from police to the public to stop breaking the law.
Justice Minister Andrew Little said if we want justice to be done we need to leave the police to do their job, which is continue to gather the evidence. We want the police to present the strongest possible case.
So I say this.  We all understand the depth of feeling but we all need to comply with a higher standard. Breaking the suppression law and suggesting violence on the perpetrator makes us no better than he is.
My biggest fear is that due to a misplaced sense of justice the people of New Zealand could jeopardise the process of justice and that would be a huge crime and offence against the Millane family there could  be. A family who have already suffered in New Zealand more than we can bear.

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Well today I bought a reusable takeaway coffee cup from my regular café.
So I’ve had a routine this year. Around 8.30 I wander to the local café.  I buy a takeaway cappuccino.  I sit down outside and check my emails.  That’s because there’s a Spark phone box right next door which means I get free Wi-Fi.
The café is also just 50 metres from a bus stop.  So I can then hop onto a bus. Checking my mobile app I know exactly when the bus arrives. Then just after 9 I walk into the office.
I know.  I’ve chosen to live a council traffic planner’s wet dream in 2018.  But to be perfectly honest, it works.  My transport costs $3.50 a day.  No parking charges and my car is safe at home, keeping its mileage low.
So today the guy in the café offered me a keep cup for 12 bucks with a free first coffee.  The cup looks just like their regular takeaway cups but you can put it in the dishwasher.
Now I’ve resisted the keep cups.  I don’t know why but I have.  But the guy in the café said to me that he reckons I’ve probably used 200 cups this year and he asked me to visualise the pile of cups and where are they now?
So I got a keep cup.  Which now joins the jute bags I used for supermarket shopping. As I said to Pat, I’m not going to save the world.  And he said to me you have made it just a little bit better.
I say all this as the climate change conference in Poland falls apart.  The conference is designed to create processes for reporting as the world strives to reach the goals set in the Paris climate accords. It’s not happening.
After celebrating the news that emissions had decreased for two years in a row, it has been revealed that emissions this year are up 2.7 per cent to a record high.  There’s a nearly five percent growth of emissions in China and more than six percent in India, along with growth in many other nations. Emissions by the United States grew 2.5 percent.  The EU bucks the trend with a one per cent decrease.
Another report names and shames Australia as the worst country in terms of action on emissions and pollution.
In Poland, rich and poor countries are complaining about the sacrifices they’re being forced to make. Meanwhile liberal media is full of ferocious op-eds that the world is going to hell in a handcart.
Let's face facts. For all the brave words over the past five years, the world is in fact getting worse.
Now if you’ve listened to me this year you’ll know that I believe all the people who rail against pollution because of the possibility of climate change have dumbed the argument down to a level which means we have two implacably opposed sides.  Those who believe and those who don’t.
You’ll also know I have lived in countries where the air quality is so bad I have struggled to breathe which can’t be good. So I want a cleaner world.
But I’ve given up hope that there will be a broad worldwide consensus to make the human world cleaner.  There are 7 and a half billion people on this planet who are still more concerned about their own comfort and not the long term consequences of our consumption.
It’s like the fable of the grasshopper and the ant and this world is full of grasshoppers.
But today I bought a keep cup.  It won’t change the world but it will help.

Well today I bought a reusable takeaway coffee cup from my regular café.
So I’ve had a routine this year. Around 8.30 I wander to the local café.  I buy a takeaway cappuccino.  I sit down outside and check my emails.  That’s because there’s a Spark phone box right next door which means I get free Wi-Fi.
The café is also just 50 metres from a bus stop.  So I can then hop onto a bus. Checking my mobile app I know exactly when the bus arrives. Then just after 9 I walk into the office.
I know.  I’ve chosen to live a council traffic planner’s wet dream in 2018.  But to be perfectly honest, it works.  My transport costs $3.50 a day.  No parking charges and my car is safe at home, keeping its mileage low.
So today the guy in the café offered me a keep cup for 12 bucks with a free first coffee.  The cup looks just like their regular takeaway cups but you can put it in the dishwasher.
Now I’ve resisted the keep cups.  I don’t know why but I have.  But the guy in the café said to me that he reckons I’ve probably used 200 cups this year and he asked me to visualise the pile of cups and where are they now?
So I got a keep cup.  Which now joins the jute bags I used for supermarket shopping. As I said to Pat, I’m not going to save the world.  And he said to me you have made it just a little bit better.
I say all this as the climate change conference in Poland falls apart.  The conference is designed to create processes for reporting as the world strives to reach the goals set in the Paris climate accords. It’s not happening.
After celebrating the news that emissions had decreased for two years in a row, it has been revealed that emissions this year are up 2.7 per cent to a record high.  There’s a nearly five percent growth of emissions in China and more than six percent in India, along with growth in many other nations. Emissions by the United States grew 2.5 percent.  The EU bucks the trend with a one per cent decrease.
Another report names and shames Australia as the worst country in terms of action on emissions and pollution.
In Poland, rich and poor countries are complaining about the sacrifices they’re being forced to make. Meanwhile liberal media is full of ferocious op-eds that the world is going to hell in a handcart.
Let's face facts. For all the brave words over the past five years, the world is in fact getting worse.
Now if you’ve listened to me this year you’ll know that I believe all the people who rail against pollution because of the possibility of climate change have dumbed the argument down to a level which means we have two implacably opposed sides.  Those who believe and those who don’t.
You’ll also know I have lived in countries where the air quality is so bad I have struggled to breathe which can’t be good. So I want a cleaner world.
But I’ve given up hope that there will be a broad worldwide consensus to make the human world cleaner.  There are 7 and a half billion people on this planet who are still more concerned about their own comfort and not the long term consequences of our consumption.
It’s like the fable of the grasshopper and the ant and this world is full of grasshoppers.
But today I bought a keep cup.  It won’t change the world but it will help.