Andrew Dickens Afternoons

A taskforce is proposing the biggest shake-up in the education system for 30 years, removing most of the powers currently held by school boards of trustees.
The taskforce led by former principal Bali Haque proposes about 20 new regional education boards, or "hubs", to "assume all the legal responsibilities and liabilities currently held by school boards of trustees".
Newstalk ZB political reporter Yvette McCullough told Andrew Dickens the proposal will hopefully address the inequalities in our schools which need to be addressed.
"Right now there is a huge disparity between kids from advantaged areas compared to kids from disadvantage areas.
If we don't work out those social issues, we will never fix the problem. There needs to be a change because the current system isn't working"
LISTEN ABOVE AS YVETTE MCCULLOUGH SPEAKS WITH ANDREW DICKENS

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Schoolboy rugby has been further muddied with Auckland powerhouse St Kentigern College being excluded from next year's Auckland 1A First XV competition.
The fee-paying independent school admitted to recruiting five senior elite players from rival 1st XVs to bolster their squad for 2019.
Talkback caller George told Andrew Dickens he can see comparisons all over the world in professional sport, and thinks this situation is especially unique to our country.
"I think this is a good example of the sporting mentality in New Zealand that we only want the best and we win must win at all costs. We pull people from all over the world to represent us on the national stage, but there has to be a balance."
George went on to explain that although having the ultimate goal of winning games at whatever cost is important for many teams, there must be some type of compromise.
"We pull people from all over the world to represent us on the national stage, but there has to be a balance."
LISTEN ABOVE AS GEORGE SPEAKS TO ANDREW DICKENS

Schoolboy rugby has been further muddied with Auckland powerhouse St Kentigern College being excluded from next year's Auckland 1A First XV competition.
The fee-paying independent school admitted to recruiting five senior elite players from rival 1st XVs to bolster their squad for 2019.
Talkback caller George told Andrew Dickens he can see comparisons all over the world in professional sport, and thinks this situation is especially unique to our country.
"I think this is a good example of the sporting mentality in New Zealand that we only want the best and we win must win at all costs. We pull people from all over the world to represent us on the national stage, but there has to be a balance."
George went on to explain that although having the ultimate goal of winning games at whatever cost is important for many teams, there must be some type of compromise.
"We pull people from all over the world to represent us on the national stage, but there has to be a balance."
LISTEN ABOVE AS GEORGE SPEAKS TO ANDREW DICKENS

LISTEN TO RAYLENE TALK WITH ANDREW DICKENS ABOVE
Have you ever tried to feed a fed horse?
Come home with a big pay cheque and thought, "Man, I really brought home the bagels today!"?
Or just . . . taken the flower by the thorns?
Those, according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, are the types of idioms humans should be using instead of "anti-animal language" - phrases like "beat a dead horse" or "take the bull by the horns".
The high-profile animal rights nonprofit tweeted a simple chart in an effort to help people "remove speciesism from your daily conversations".
Don't say "kill two birds with one stone," the group advised. Instead, try "feed two birds with one scone".
Don't "be the guinea pig." Be . . . the test tube.
"Words matter, and as our understanding of social justice evolves, our language evolves along with it," tweeted PETA, which has a history of provocative campaigns,
The chart of alternative idioms was accepted by humans online about as well as you might imagine.
Which is to say, not at all.
Immediately, Twitter users declared that PETA had truly "jumped the shark" this time.
Didn't the group have bigger fish to fry? many asked.
"Well, this just looks like they are trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear," Twitter user Allyson Paynter replied.
A small subset of readers took issue with the fact that "scone," as pronounced in Yorkshire, does not technically rhyme with "stone." And anyway, wouldn't scones be unhealthy for birds to eat? Scone the crows.
Several others simply tweeted back with pictures of various meats on barbecue grills, or a GIF of Chris Pratt slowly raising his middle finger.
Replied one woman: "Kiss my," with a picture of a donkey.
"That's it. I'm killing an armadillo for no reason," comedian Chris D'Elia wrote.
Still others couldn't resist the opportunity to tweak common animal-centric idioms of their own.
"Don't put all your kale in one strainer," offered Daily Caller editorial director Vince Coglianese.
"Curiosity thrilled the cat!" wrote Jesse Hawken. (PETA retweeted that one.)
A few admitted they weren't mad about "bring home the bagels."
Some of the strongest backlash, though, came from people more upset about a follow-up tweet PETA posted after the chart, in which it compared "phrases that trivialise cruelty to animals" to racist or homophobic phrases that were no longer acceptable.
"PETA is always conflating their work with the struggles of black people, queer people, and other people of colour," writer and podcast host Ira Madison tweeted. "I'm so glad I just had steak for lunch."
But PETA doesn't feel the exercise was a wild juice chase.
"This is not going to be our primary focus by any means," PETA spokeswoman Ashley Byrne told the Washington Post. "But, you know, if having this conversation makes people start to think about why PETA might not love a phrase like 'bring home the bacon' - and that would be because the pigs are leading miserable lives before they become bacon - then great."
When asked about those who were upset PETA had seemed to conflate anti-animal language with racist and homophobic language, Byrne said "encouraging people to be kind" was not "a competition".
"Our compassion does not need to be limited," she said. "Teaching people to be kind to animals only helps in terms of encouraging them to be practice kindness in general. As we become more educated about animals, as people are learning more about how intelligent and sensitive that animals are . . . I think most people are accepting that the way we treat animals absolutely is a social justice issue."
In the lion's den that is Twitter, the group doubled down with a message for the "haters".
"With so much negativity in the world, why not lighten up and use language in a way that encourages being kind to animals?" PETA tweeted - before encouraging...

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Two International issues today.
This is going to sound a bit hypocritical considering I’m a talkback host, but I’m always intrigued at the number of people who know what’s wrong with the world but they have no idea how to fix it.
We’ve been seeing that play out with Britain, who seem to know what they don’t want but have no idea what they do want.
The country is in the middle of the most remarkable five-day debate on the Brexit deal, negotiated by Theresa May and her team. The Withdrawal Agreement is a 585-page document that outlines how the U.K. will leave the EU in March.
Obviously, within those 585-pages there is something that will not go down well with everyone. Whether it’s the state of the customs union and the ability to pose tariffs or the form of the Northern Ireland border or the amount of compensation paid to the EU.
Today, Britain is torn between the hardline Brexiteers, who just want to run away, and the remainers who still hope that the last two-years will disappear and it all turns into a bad dream. Stuck in the middle is May who’s just trying to make something happen.
Sniping away are people like Mr Coffin Face, Dominic Grieve and Mr Showboater, Boris Johnson. Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn and Labour will say anything that causes the Tory Government to fall.
These people seem more concerned with their own prospects rather than that of their nation.
And do these people have any idea what the country should do if, in a few days time, they shoot down two-years of work. Of course, they don’t. It’s almost unbelievable.
The in France, the Yellow Vests are revolting against Macron. It started on fuel taxes designed to wean France off their diesel addiction. There are a lot of people loving the People Power that France seems to be exerting. There’s many supporting the protests because they see Emmanuel Macron as a virtue signalling socialist.
Donald Trump retweeted this tweet from an enemy of Socialism who said, “there are riots in socialist France because of radical leftist fuel taxes. The media is barely mentioning this. America is booming, Europe is burning. They want to cover up the middle-class rebellion against cultural Marxism”. Actually no.
Macron is an ex-investment banker. The people are revolting because he’s actually starting to pull apart the Socialism that has been ingrained in their economy for 40 years. He’s loosening labour laws. He’s cutting social welfare. He’s cutting subsidies and he’s pruning 120,000 jobs from the Civil Service.
Yes, he’s a liberal globalist, but he’s no cultural Marxist. He’s actually reminding me of Roger Douglas to be fair. And the riots in France would be the same as the riots in New Zealand if a government decided to dismantle Working For Families. Which I remind you John Key called communism by stealth and then did nothing about.

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It’s back. The issue from the deep. The issue that has been round and round in circles so much that it’s dizzy. And it’s back with a one-two punch.
First the Inquiry into mental health suggested it, and then a Coroner came out swinging after a teen death through drink driving.
And now people are asking, "is it time to raise the alcohol purchasing age to 20-years-old?"
The argument for the raise is pretty solid. The Law Commission has repeatedly suggested it. Medical evidence on accident probability and the effect on the brain and body of tends to supports it. There’s evidence that after the drinking age was lowered to 18-years-old in 1999, the number of alcohol related driving accidents amongst the 15-19-year-old age group had a corresponding rise.
Allegedly, most of us support it. A nationwide poll by Curia Market Research, commissioned by Family First NZ in 2013, asked respondents, “do you think Parliament should have raised the drinking age to 20-years-old or kept it at 18-years-old?”
The majority of people agreed with, 62 per cent of respondents saying Parliament should have voted to raise the drinking age to 20-years-old. Only 32 per cent agreed with the politicians that it should remain at 18-years-old.
Other countries have higher ages, like the USA and Samoa at 21-years-old and Iceland, Sri Lanka and Paraquay at 20-years-old. Their young people haven’t rebelled.
And frankly we’re appalling drinkers. Bingers and many unable to control their emotions under the influence. Then there’s the suburban explosion of outlets selling truckloads of RTDs to the neighbourhood teens.
So it’s a no brainer.
But then again, at 18-years-old you can vote, fight for your country and marry. So don’t you deserve a beer? You’ve left school, you’ve got a job, you’ve got a flat, you’re operating big machinery, but you can’t handle a glass of wine? Perhaps our childish attitude to booze stems from being treated like children.
How can we possibly learn to integrate alcohol into our lives if the State prohibits it? While the majority of countries have an age limit of 18-years-old, there are many European States with age limits lower than that, like 15, 16 and 17-years-old and even some states with no age limit at all. In fact, most European States have no minimum limit for the consumption of alcohol in public and private. And do those countries have alcohol problems greater than ours?
Like many of you, I flip and flop on this issue all the time. After another tale of teenage alcohol disaster your gut screams raise the age. But then on Christmas Day, when you serve your 17-year-old a Prosecco with Christmas lunch, it feels like 18-years-old is just about right.
Is it time for a debate? Could it be time for a referendum? Probably. But after much toing and froing with myself, I believe we’ve come too far to wind back the clock. And the answer was in the coroners own words.
He said the teens death, and untold others like it, could have been prevented by "individuals applying common sense". In the absence of drivers applying common sense the coroner said it was "incumbent on the State" to further restrict access to alcohol. No, it’s incumbent on the State to enforce the learning of common sense.

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Six hot chips in one sitting is barely a meal, but according to one researcher, it’s the healthiest result.
Harvard University’s Professor Eric Rim has told people that a half dozen fries is the most you should eat in one sitting.
He says that they are ‘starch bombs’ and are a key contributor to hearth disease.
Part of the problem is that many chips get rid of the nutrient-rich skins.
However, there is some good news: people who don’t indulge in hot chips will only live on average six months longer than those that do indulge.  
LISTEN TO RAYLENE TALK WITH ANDREW DICKENS ABOVE

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Fortnite has been the biggest game of 2018, though not always for the right reasons. 
The RPG game has made headlines both for its immense success but also for being shockingly addictive.
A new article from The Washington Post has highlighted how American teenagers are having to enter video game rehab to curb their addiction to the game, which has over 200 million people registered.
The problem is not confined to America. Callers to Andrew Dickens Afternoons revealed their Fortnite experiences, both personally and with their children.
One caller, Harley, says he used to be obsessed with the game before he realised how much time he was wasting playing it.
Another, James, says he had to cut up his brother's X-Box cord in order to stop him playing, but that only lasted a few days before he simply purchased another one.
LISTEN TO THE TALKBACK FEEDBACK ABOVE

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After an epic and storied 45-year career that launched an era of rock n roll legends, KISS announced that they will launch their final tour ever in 2019, appropriately named END OF THE ROAD.
KISS will play their only New Zealand show in Auckland at Spark Arena on 3 December 2019.
Lead guitarist for the legendary rock band KISS, Tommy Thayer told Andrew Dickens he has been with the band since 2002.
"I get to live every kids dream, I would play the air guitar in my parents living room each day and dream about having a job like this. I get to tour the world while performing music, its honestly the best job in the world"
LISTEN ABOVE AS TOMMY THAYE SPEAKS TO ANDREW DICKENS

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A recently released app lets you find out how much time you are spending (or wasting) on Facebook!
To find out for yourself, go to "Settings" on either app. On the Facebook Android app, tap the three lines at the top of the page next to notifications and then scroll down to "Settings and Privacy." 
Could this be the warning sign you need to cut back on screen time and aimlessly scrolling through the addictive platform.
Listen above as Newstalk ZB Producer Antz Milicich joins Bruce Russell to discuss the app.

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