Andrew Dickens Afternoons

The Prime Minister says today's repatriation ceremony in Auckland is a reminder of the huge responsibility which comes with every overseas deployment.
Jacinda Ardern was at the airport for the ceremony to honour 27 New Zealand soldiers and one child, whose remains have been returned from Malaysia and Singapore.
Talkback caller Angela, who was at the Airport this morning, told Andrew Dickens it was one of the most moving things she has ever experienced.
" I drove up to the airport and the first thing I saw was about 30 motorcycles parked on the road, and it turned out to be from the veterans motorcycle club. It was very emotional."
LISTEN ABOVE AS ANGELA SPEAKS TO ANDREW DICKENS

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The Eagles' greatest hits album has moonwalked past Michael Jackson's "Thriller" to become history's best-selling album of all-time in the U.S.
The Recording Industry Association of America told The Associated Press on Monday that the Eagles' album — "Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975" — is now certified 38x platinum, which means sales and streams of the album have reached 38 million copies.
The album was released in 1976 and pushes Jackson's "Thriller," which is 33x platinum, to second place.
RIAA also said that the Eagles' "Hotel California," released in 1977, is now 26x platinum and makes it the third best-selling album of all-time.
The last time RIAA tallied sales for the Eagles' greatest hits album was in 2006, when it said it was 29x platinum. Sales and streams for "Thriller" were last updated last year.
"We are grateful for our families, our management, our crew, the people at radio and, most of all, the loyal fans who have stuck with us through the ups and downs of 46 years. It's been quite a ride," Don Henley said in a statement.
RIAA's platinum status was once equivalent to selling one million albums or songs, but in 2013 the company began incorporating streaming from YouTube, Spotify and other digital music services to determine certification for albums and songs.
Now 1,500 streams of an album is equivalent to an album sale. Also, 10 song downloads = 1 album sale.
The Eagles, who formed in Los Angeles in the early 1970s, mastered the mix of rock 'n' roll and country music, and the band's hits — including "Hotel California" and "Take It Easy — became part of the soundtrack of that decade. They broke up in 1980, coming back together 14 years later with Henley and Glenn Frey being the only remaining original members. Frey died in 2016, but the Grammy-winning band remains on tour.
The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 and received the Kennedy Center Honor in 2016.
LISTEN TO KARL PUSCHMANN TALK WITH ANDREW DICKENS ABOVE

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Tourism is on fire; therefore, you’d think it was a good job prospect.
Well, apparently that's not the case which is why moves are afoot to attract more young people into tourism jobs.
Tourism is the country's biggest export earner, bringing in over $14 billion a year, but that could be under threat. Because with all the investment and hotels on the go, there's not enough young people into it.
36,000 extra tourism workers are needed by 2025. But the Tourism Industry has done some research and found that young people perceived tourism as "low-wage" and a subject for "drop outs".
This is another example of young people being stupid and parents being guilty of not exploring opportunities.
In the 90s, I lived in the South of France working on an English language radio station. Yes, it was as good as it sounds. One day in a bar in Cannes I met an apprentice hotel manager. He had been studying in London for three years and was now working as an intern. He was front of house at the Carlton, which was like the place on the Croisette. He was loving it. The day before he'd checked in Lenny Kravitz. His food and accommodation was paid for and his wage was going straight into the bank. Four months later he was off for a six month stint in St Moritz.
As he told me, he was learning to run very complex operations with very big budgets and a lot of moving human parts. It was excellent training for a number of businesses and when he was tired of the fun he felt that the skills would be very easy to transfer.
25 years later, I took my oldest boy to a careers evening. There was a hotel management course guy there and out of all the stands his was the least visited. So knowing that this is a great career I asked him why no-one was talking to him. He said the parents told the kids that hotel management was a job for losers. I tried to get my boy interested but Chemistry had a hold of him.
Well, the only losers in all this are the parents. Hotel management is a tough gig but with benefits. It was fascinating last year to spend a night at the Hermitage at Mount Cook. Nearly all the staff were immigrants. People from other countries who realise the opportunity in ours. But we met one Kiwi who was having the time of his life. Earning good money, living in paradise. On his days off he skied. He proudly told me he'd skied every field in the South Island.
The hotel building boom in this country is astounding and they need people, so go for it. Hotel management is probably the world's most transferable qualification. Choose any town and you'll find a job. Yes, tourism has a lot of low level jobs but even they have incredible opportunities for anyone with an eye for the chance.
I have no idea why tourism has been painted with the loser brush. Making money for making people happy on holiday seems to me to be a real winner. All I hope is a new generation gets it and doesn't listen to the older generation with no imagination.

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LISTEN ABOVE AS TALKBACK CALLER IAN TALKS ABOUT THE SERIOUSNESS OF CONCUSSION WITH ANDREW DICKENS
The sister of Ryan Crotty has voiced her concerns over the All Black's concussion problems after the midfield back was forced out of the latest Bledisloe Cup clash in Sydney.
Shea Crotty, a top basketballer who has played for the Tall Ferns, tweeted: "I want to see my brother grow old and able, not battling the brain forever."


Shea Crotty...concerned for brother Ryan. Photo / Photosport

















Crotty has suffered six concussions in the past 15 months, including during Super Rugby games in March and May this year.

Couldn’t agree more my girl. Know how frustrated he will be but for selfish reasons I want to see my brother grow old and able, not battling the brain forever. https://t.co/2fYfGcClau
— Shea Crotty (@Shea_Crotty) August 18, 2018

In June, Crotty admitted repeated concussions might force him to retire.


"If I wasn't to bounce back from one as quickly as I tend to, then maybe you would think like that (retiring)," he says.
"Potentially if they start to get worse. They are really diligent with it in the environment so you meet with some experienced doctors and I do a lot of diligence around it myself.
"At the start of each season I get tested to make sure that I am round the same point each season.
"If that was starting to trend badly then that would be something I would look at a little more deeply, but until then I am happy to keep going out there and keep putting my body on the line."

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A report by the Department of Conservation shows three out of five native whitebait species are under threat, and Forest & Bird are calling for a ban on commercial whitebait sales until stocks recover.
Talkback caller John told Andrew Dickens that he is concerned about the marine environment caused by overfishing.
"How far do we go to feed our faces? We are seeing a destruction of a species, and something has to be done before it is to late"
LISTEN ABOVE AS JOHN SPEAKS TO ANDREW DICKENS

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Students rebel against digital NCEA exam that requires new laptops Funny old weekend where I flirted with getting sick. I was hot and cold and sneezy and not quite with it. I thought it had passed when I heard something and I thought I was still a bit under the weather.
I’m pretty sure I heard someone saying that they’re going to clean up the country by making it more expensive to take rubbish to the dump. So I stopped for a moment. Cleared my ears and listened again, and to my surprise, realise I had heard what I had heard.
Green MP and Associate Minister for the Environment, Eugenie Sage was announcing a new policy on waste, at the Party's annual conference, which has been signed off by Cabinet.
The goal is to reduce the amount of rubbish going to landfills in New Zealand, as the amount of waste at landfills increases worldwide. So the public will be asked whether they think the current levy of $10 per tonne on waste taken to landfills, should be higher. And as only 11 per cent of landfills are presently covered by the $10 levy and the Greens are looking at expanding that to all of the country's landfills.
Eugenie Sage said such levies provided an economic incentive to divert materials away from landfill. Well, that much is true but is it an economic incentive to make less rubbish? I can’t see it and so there is the fear that less rubbish will go to the expensive tip and where on earth will it end out?
Big commercial operators and councils will figure it out and suck up the cost. But the average punter with their trailer loads will be tempted to find a gully somewhere. The last time I went to the tip I paid 38 bucks for the load and that made my eyebrow arch. 50 bucks would be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for many.
Now local councils have been wanting an increase to the levies for ages and our levies are cheaper than many around the world, almost half that of the UK for instance, but an increase in tax is not the answer to change our rubbish behaviour.
I’ve been becoming a little suspicious of the Green’s environmental methods for a while now. You’d think that a party that calls itself Green would be the hands down experts on the complex issues surrounding our waste, and our processing of it. But they just seem simplistic on it all. Waste is bad. Tax it.
In announcing the plastic bag ban, Eugenie Sage had to admit that biodegradable bags were also part of the ban because the country does not have the kit to process them. And as part of this job and looking at other countries I’ve also been impressed with modern incineration practices. But the Greens won’t be going anywhere near that because in their simple world view burning is bad. Full stop.
Rubbish is a filthy business and sorting it out means you have to get your hands dirty. So rather than taxing us for being human, how about you invest in some gear that will get rid of the mess.

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LISTEN TO GEORGE FENWICK TALK WITH ANDREW DICKENS ABOVE
Ticket prices for the remaining seats at Katy Perry's Auckland shows have been slashed to below $70.
In an email issued by Ticketmaster yesterday it was announced that all remaining seats for Perry's Witness tour had been reduced to $69.90.
Deal site GrabOne also released a limited number of tickets for the same price yesterday.
Tickets had previously been between $79 and $249.
\The popstar's hugely successful 2014 tour saw her sell out her Auckland shows, but four years later the hype seems to have waned.
With the likes of Pink and Taylor Swift also heading to our shores this year, is it just a case of fans having too many concerts to choose from? Or has Katy Perry mania simply come crashing down?
Across the ditch ticket prices for Perry's shows were also slashed. Sydney prices were reduced to just $65, down from $130 - $150, in a desperate last-minute attempt to fill seats at Qudos Bank Arena.
According to news.com.au even the basement price tickets weren't worth the money.
With Pink having performed at the same arena only two days earlier, news.com said her "high-energy, complex and relentless shows set a standard that only exposed the sudden weakness of Perry's pop star power".
Perry has spoken openly about her latest album Witness flopping. She told Vogue Australia last month she suffered "situational depression" and spent time in a mental health retreat after the album failed.

LISTEN TO GEORGE FENWICK TALK WITH ANDREW DICKENS ABOVE
Ticket prices for the remaining seats at Katy Perry's Auckland shows have been slashed to below $70.
In an email issued by Ticketmaster yesterday it was announced that all remaining seats for Perry's Witness tour had been reduced to $69.90.
Deal site GrabOne also released a limited number of tickets for the same price yesterday.
Tickets had previously been between $79 and $249.
\The popstar's hugely successful 2014 tour saw her sell out her Auckland shows, but four years later the hype seems to have waned.
With the likes of Pink and Taylor Swift also heading to our shores this year, is it just a case of fans having too many concerts to choose from? Or has Katy Perry mania simply come crashing down?
Across the ditch ticket prices for Perry's shows were also slashed. Sydney prices were reduced to just $65, down from $130 - $150, in a desperate last-minute attempt to fill seats at Qudos Bank Arena.
According to news.com.au even the basement price tickets weren't worth the money.
With Pink having performed at the same arena only two days earlier, news.com said her "high-energy, complex and relentless shows set a standard that only exposed the sudden weakness of Perry's pop star power".
Perry has spoken openly about her latest album Witness flopping. She told Vogue Australia last month she suffered "situational depression" and spent time in a mental health retreat after the album failed.

So the primary school teachers are striking for the first time in 24 years and the fourth time ever.
READ MORE: Striking teachers take to the streets for pay rise
I remember the last strikes in 94. It was all about pay parity with secondary teachers. But this action is very rare and you have to ask yourself, why teachers haven’t been standing up for themselves more through the years? Some will say the public service is taking advantage of the kinder gentler Labour-led Government which may be the case but it’s also right to say that teachers have been complicit in their own fate by being too quiet for too long.
They say their main motivation is to cure the teachers' shortage, and it’s not about the money. But it is about the money because they’re asking for 16 per cent over 2 years which is frankly pretty whopping. So you can see the government’s hesitation and add to that the secondary school teachers who will be watching and plotting their move in the future.
But we will see if teachers are prepared to move.
But one part of their demands is a no-brainer. They want a $100 housing allowance for people in high rent or cost towns and cities.
There are many reasons why teachers' collective agreements upset some. For many, it’s because great teachers are paid exactly the same as average teachers.
But to me, the fact that you get paid the same no matter if you work in Waiuku, Wanganui, Winton or Wellington is bizarre. For instance, there’s a lovely 3 bedroom house in Winton for sale right now on 1000 square meters for $315,000. Try finding that in Wellington. Try finding a rental in Wellington. But the Wellington teacher gets the same money as the Winton teacher.
I knew a teacher in Auckland who moved to Napier 10 years ago. She’s rapturously happy. Nice town, great house, same pay. She said moving to Napier was like doubling her salary. Best thing she ever did.
So newsflash to union negotiators who believe in collective agreements. Not all teachers are created equal and not all towns and cities are the same. It’s called reality.
The sooner you get some wriggle room to cater for ability and living circumstance the better and that alone would go a long way towards keeping and attracting teachers.

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The number of teenagers participating in organised sport is decreasing, a move which reflects an overall drop-off in participation once teenagers left high school.
Gyms have replaced traditional sports like Rugby and Cricket to be the most popular form of exercise amongst teenagers.
Rhys, who called in to the Andrew Dickens show, says the statistics miss out an important activity which is not included in the research.
"Sport New Zealand needs to broaden its view of participation, if it included people who went to gyms the number would be a lot higher."
LISTEN ABOVE AS RHYS SPEAKS TO ANDREW DICKENS

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