Andrew Dickens Afternoons

Pre-competition favourite Netta Barzilai won the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest for Israel on Saturday with her song Toy.
Barzilai beat out competition from 42 other countries' performers to claim the music extravaganza's annual crown at the Grand Final in Lisbon, Portugal.
There was a strong field of contestants at this year's event, and the Israeli entry topped close competition from Cyprus, Austria, Sweden and Germany.
Barzilai racked up 529 points, compared with 436 for runner-up Cyprus and 342 for third-place Austria.
The contest largely shed its traditional hallmarks of glitz and glitter in favour of a more restrained and tasteful tone in Lisbon, which was hosting the event because it won last year with Salvador Sobral's sober and subdued ballad Amar pelos Dois.
Sobral last week criticized Toy as "horrible music." But Barzilai was unrepentant with her popular techno dance beat about women's empowerment.
Her win — Israel's fourth and first since 1998 — means her country hosts next year's Eurovision Song Contest, which is watched by some 200 million people.
"Next time in Jerusalem!" Barzilai shouted to the audience as she picked up her award. "I'm happy people chose something different. It's refreshing," she said.
The international contest began as a competition between European countries, but its huge popularity has led to the inclusion of Israel and Australia among the performers.
Barzilai, known more usually as Netta, is a sassy woman with a witty on-stage personality. Before the Grand Final, her song had already racked up more than 20 million views on Eurovision's YouTube channel.
In Toy, Netta makes funny noises, including a clucking sound like a chicken and barely decipherable words, and uses a looping machine and synthesizer.
The lyrics say, "I'm not your toy, You stupid boy, I'll take you down."
Despite hosting the event, Portugal came last, with 39 points.
The event was not without its controversy.
Shockwaves were felt around the world when a protester ran onto the stage and snatched away the microphone of the United Kingdom's contestant SuRie.
The man got hold of the microphone but was quickly tackled by security and taken away while SuRie stood by.
The British singer kept her composure and picked up her song where she left off, earning her praise from many viewers, including Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.
The biggest shock came from the public votes, when Australia received the lowest score with just nine points. The announcement of the scores caused the stadium to erupt with boos. 
The event is organized by the European Broadcasting Union, an alliance of public service broadcasters.

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I think it’s a good time to talk about business confidence as we approach the budget this Thursday. Because everyone is talking about it.
The government is trying to convince everyone that they’re prudent guardians of the public purse, while the opposition is desperately trying to convince us that we’re going to hell in a handcart.
This is a difficult line for Simon Bridges to pursue.  On one hand he’s trying to tell the country that Labour has loads of cash because of his party’s fiscal management.  That the rock star economy is still singing a sweet tune. Yet on the  other hand he’s saying we’re on the verge of an apocalypse.
Meanwhile Grant Robertson, the invisible man of politics who seems to have been beavering away on his first budget, is telling everyone to brace themselves to be disappointed.  That there won’t be a budget blowout and that he’s going to be as miserly with the purse strings as Bill English.  That said, he’ll be putting some band aids over areas of the economy that National neglected.
Who’s right and who’s wrong.  We don’t really know right now.  It’s all just an opinion depending on where you stand.
What I know is that the figures coming out of the economy are still very positive.  But business is starting to hit the wall again.  As the economy grows so the capacity to meet demand needs to grow. But because of a business confidence feeling of dread, businesses are starting to close their wallets.  The Reserve bank is concerned.
The other day Adrian Orr asked the question. “"Given the capacity constraints that are coming through, why wouldn't business be investing? Given the level of interest rates, the state of balance sheets across the business sector, it is an opportune time, as it is for the Government."
The very reason Adrian Orr kept interest rates at their record lows is because our population is still growing, demand is still increasing and we need companies to keep investing in kit to keep the wheels on the bus
But they’re dithering because too many businesses have already decided we’re screwed.
There’s an old legend that business confidence always slumps under the first days of a Labour government and rises under a National government.  That has more to do with political loyalties than logic.
So the business sector needs to realise they are far more important and have far more influence than any government. That falling business confidence because of a feeling in your gut is a self-fulfilling prophecy
Let’s just wait a bit until this Thursday and the real intentions of the government become clear and until then don’t worry, make money.

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On Tuesday I wrote an editorial about the housing crisis and this government’s approach to it through Kiwi Build. In it I essentially advised the government to get out of the building business and get stuck into all the things that stop builders building and developers developing. It might be worth me repeating my conclusions. I said that if they go into the building business they’re going to hit all the same problems private developers have had for generations.
If they want to speed up supply they should be spending time and money on the impediments. Rather than building houses they should be laying water and power onto greenfield sites and improving the infrastructure for intensification projects. They should be streamlining consent processes and helping councils gear up to cope with more work. They should be strengthening credit lines to the developers who know what they’re doing
They should be building transport and roading to these new developments rather than leaving new home owners stuck in traffic jams in the middle of nowhere. Well I don’t know if they were listening but it seems like they’re finally coming to the same conclusion. Yesterday Newshub reported a change in the language from Housing Minister Phil Twyford. The KiwiBuild promise was to build 100,000 affordable homes, but the word 'build' has now gone by the wayside.
Now in official documentation, it's been replaced with this: "KiwiBuild aims to facilitate the delivery of 100,000 affordable dwellings." Political observors are noting this is a broken promise and thrashing the government for it and that’s fair enough. But out of the beltway and in the real world I’d like to say this: I want to congratulate the government and Mr Twyford.
It takes a big man to admit that they were wrong. Even though it’s taken a year pointing out that the government building 100,000 houses was improbable and that the real impediments are in red tape and infrastructure and capacity it appears that someone with brains has been listening and thinking. So let’s get on with it Minister. You’ve wasted six months of this government's time because of a poorly formulated election promise and a memo to all, stop speaking in slogans.

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As we approach the budget I think it’s fair to ask the government, “How’s that housing crisis going?”
It’s been the issue of the age, which has seen property owners grow richer and new home buyers grow desperate or even give up and it’s been the issue that many attacked the previous government on and the issue Labour promised to fix.
So where are we at. 
First, we had the LVRs which had a short-term effect on slowing the price boom but now we hear that rent prices are getting so high because of supply problems that buyers are re-entering the market. And to be frank, the biggest effect was on first home buyers which was the problem we were trying to fix.
Meanwhile, the Housing Minister hasn’t been sitting on his laurels. He’s announced a major development in Auckland's Mt Albert with 3000 to 4000 homes,18 of those homes on defence force land in Papakura. But to be fair, the Mt Albert development has been an idea sitting around for a while and would have happened without the government stepping in and the Papakura development was just the government taking over a stalled private development. Good politics but hardly a housing supply revolution.
A couple of stories around this week highlight the real drag on housing. One was problems surrounding New Zealand’s biggest apartment development. The 800 unit project has been hit by delays that are upsetting agents and owners alike. There has been a holdup getting titles out of council. To be fair to the council, 800 titles is a swag of work particularly combined with all the other development underway. You wonder whether councils are gearing up for all the extra work all these extra houses need.
But on the good news front, Westpac has announced it will trial lending on prefab housing. Until now you could only borrow on prefabs once they were constructed, unlike traditional developments where you can get progress payments as the building goes up. The new regime brings us into line with the rest of the world and will greatly speed up construction. This was a no-brainer and I wonder why no government was leaning on the banks in the first place.
This highlights to me the problem with the government’s thinking. If they go into the building business they’re going to hit all the same problems private developers have had for generations.
It seems to me that if they want to speed up supply, they should be spending time and money on the impediments. Rather than building houses they should be laying water and power onto greenfield sites and improving the infrastructure for intensification projects.
They should be streamlining consent processes and helping councils gear up. They should be strengthening credit lines to the developers who know what they’re doing 
They should be building transport and roading to these new developments rather than leaving new homeowners stuck in a traffic jam in the middle of nowhere.
I worry this well-intentioned government is actually creating more problems for the future rather than solving the problem we have right in front of our faces and spending a truckload of cash doing it.

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A 4-year-old girl who had all of her rotting baby teeth removed is one tens of thousands of Kiwi kids with poor dental health, a new report has found.
Dental caries, or tooth decay, was found to be most common chronic disease in children, and one of the leading causes of hospital admissions.
In the 2015/2016 year, 29,000 children under the age of 12 had to have one or more teeth removed as a result of severe cavities and infection, and 6600 of those ended up in hospital. Each operation to remove teeth cost about $4000.
"The cost of this in public healthcare and to taxpayers is huge," oral health researcher and co-author Prathibha Sural said.
The report, Too soon for the tooth fairy: the implications of child poverty for oral health, summarises knowledge about the prevalence of poor oral health among children in New Zealand.
Most of the cases were argued to be preventable and strongly associated with poverty.
Co-author and public health specialist Dr Rob Beaglehole said tooth decay was a "disease of poverty".
"Poorer members of society have significantly worse oral health than the wealthy."
Poor oral health had a knock-on effect to other areas of life.
"Persistent orthodontic problems, as well as social issues for children can occur as a result. They may require expensive orthodontic work on adult teeth, and their confidence suffers.
"Education so that families are more aware of proper nutrition and care for their children's teeth from before they erupt is imperative, but families must be resourced with the kind of incomes they need to sustain healthy lifestyles if any long-term change is to be seen."
CPAG health spokesman Professor Toni Ashton said despite oral health being a stated priority of governments over the past two decades, dental problems among New Zealand children, especially in low-income families, remained stubbornly high.
"Mere lip service has been paid to this problem for far too long. It is time for action."
The report suggests significantly boosting family incomes, a comprehensive, parent-targeted education programme, broader provision of fluoride in water, reducing the sugar content in food, and the implementation of a health levy on sugary drinks.
The University of Otago's Dr Jonathan Broadbent said child poverty and its detrimental impact on dental health care cast "a long shadow and affects oral health into adulthood".
A University of Otago's Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, which tracked the lives of more than 1000 babies born in Dunedin between April 1972 and March 1973, showed up to 18 years of age, more dental decay occurred among children from socio-economically disadvantaged families.
While those who needed dental care mostly got it due to New Zealand's universal dental health care for children and adolescents, this changed once access to state-funded dental care ended at age 18.
By the time they were 26, the average number of teeth with untreated decay among young people from socio-economically disadvantaged families was five times greater than it had been at age 18.
"Publicly funded dental care minimises inequality up to age 18, but then the bottom drops out," Dr Broadbent said.
By age 38, the average number of teeth lost was six times greater among those who had been born into disadvantaged families than for those born into well-off families.
Socio-economic differences in tooth decay rates didn't explain socio-economic inequality in dental health alone, because well-off people who ate too much sugar and had poor oral hygiene had a high rate of tooth decay too, Dr Broadbent said.
"But, if you have a high rate of decay as a child and are born into a family with low-income parents, this will affect your risk of having poor dental health right through your life, not just during childhood."
Another study found socio-economically disadvantaged parents were less likely...

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If you're a man there have been two series of remarkable writing over the past year that I recommend you read.
One is Peter Wells' series called Hello Darkness on the website The Spinoff. The acclaimed New Zealand author Peter Wells kept a diary talking about what he saw, was going through, and thought since his prostate cancer diagnosis. A cancer which has spread and metastasised.
It's an emotional read. Because of his skill with words and his ability to write about emotion and feeling. It has a dark beauty. It's easily understandable. His ability to write about the tug at the heart and gut of battling the beast is very affecting.
The other is Simon Wilson's series in the Herald. It's a prostate cancer diary as well but it's more pragmatic and practical. A less lyrical take on the science and more on the grunt of the battle to control a beast that wants to take your life.
This past weekend Simon looked at the screening for the third biggest killer of men and in that he wrote some astounding things.
There are 4 ways to figure out if you're on the battlefield. The digital exam and a PSA test are early indicators and then there is a biopsy and an MRI to confirm if the bugger is in there.
The gold standard is the biopsy or MRI: they're the proof. That's an expensive option. So men are relying on a gentle probing by your friendly neighbourhood GP and the PSA test before they go for the big ones.
Doctors are not happy about either the digital exam or the PSA test because they're inconclusive or misleading.  For instance, did you know that your PSA levels can be raised if you've done vigorous exercise or sex. I didn't.  Good information to know
The Prostate Cancer Foundation told Simon that American doctors are against the PSA test in particular because they want to cover their backside.  They don't want to concern people who may record worrying signs but don't have the thing. But is that enough reason to tell people not to test for PSA at all?
Get a grip. That's like seeing a crack in a building and not sending the engineers in.
So here's my story. When I turned 40 I started yearly exams. I thought it was time to send my doctors fingers into the dark places. She agreed. I also asked for a PSA test. She disagreed. She said it could alarm me because it was unreliable. So she gave me my blood test script. I noticed she hadn't ticked the PSA test box so I ticked it with the same coloured pen.
When the results came back my PSA was fine but my doctor was irritated that I took my health tests into my own hands. I said suck it up. We now have a baseline. How could it hurt? We've tested ever since. Apparently, my prostate is nice and soft and my PSA is unchanged. Too much information.
Now in my 50s, I know a number of men whose life has been saved by PSA tests. I know it's not a gold standard test but it's a bloody good indication of whether you want to spend more finding out if you have it. I also know a lot of friends who haven't had a single check. Get a grip you boys
I have no idea why the PSA test holds such fear for doctors particularly in this non-fault environment that we have in New Zealand. Women wouldn't let this lie. From breast screening to pap smears women have been truly vigilant about their health and their screening.
So here's the other thing Simon Wilson wrote that blew my mind. According to the Health Research Council, for every dollar spent researching women's health, the amount we spend researching men's health is six cents.
The Prostate Cancer Foundation's annual conference took place over the weekend with a focus on ways to improve diagnosis and treatment strategies. Much of the talk was be on the likelihood of a new test for prostate cancer that's cheap and reliable.
Do it. Spend on it. Currently, men are in a cone of silence that actually resembles stupidity. The squeaky wheel gets the oil and it's time for men to squeak.

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It’s very hard not to sympathise with midwives and their current quest for better pay and conditions.
In fact, I’d say it was impossible.
After they’re the selfless heroes who bring life into the world at all times of the day and night. They provide help, advice, support and expertise to mother and child. Their job deals with the core emotions and physical processes that create families and hence society.
So when they rally for better pay and conditions the feelings are palpable and the response is easy. They deserve more.
At yesterday’s rally's we were told that midwives were paid between 7.23 and 12 an hour which shocked many. After all isn’t that illegal. It’s below the minimum pay.
But it’s because their pay model is at odds with an hourly rate. To talk about hourly rates is to compare apples to oranges. So the real conversation should be about the model itself
Midwives get 2300 per client. That doesn’t vary despite differing complexities or even the midwives experience. It means most midwives are getting between 40 to 80 thousand dollars a year. But we’ve also heard of some receiving 140 thousand dollars. They do that by having up to 12 clients a week.
But the workload of those clients and the nature of birth means that midwives are often called upon to do enormous hours to achieve that money. And the hours per child are exaggerated by the tradition of the midwife coming to mum.
This is particularly so in rural areas where midwives spend more time in their cars than tending to their clients. Add to that the expense of running the vehicle and that might answer the question of why a midwife paid 80 thousand dollars a year feels so underpaid.
With our growing population, it seems to me that we’re at a point where we have to discuss the viability of home visits by midwives, particularly before the labour. It’s a conversation we had when GPs started to move away from home visits.
In urban areas should Mums be coming to midwives so we don’t have midwives stuck in traffic rather than talking to mum? If an urban mum needs to be visited at home who should bear the travel cost. The state or the Mum?
There is more need for home visits in rural areas when the mums are part of the labouring force of a farm. So should more resource be placed there rather than in urban areas?
None of us begrudge more funding for midwives. The Prime Minister has already said help is on the way in the Budget. But let’s make sure that the money makes it’s way to the mums and not to have more midwives stuck in cars.

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Caller to the show Simon talks about how the intimidation of 'youth' has taken over the Countdown in Papakura 
This comes on the back of a 17 year old male being charged with manslaughter after allegedly punching a security guard in the face.
The security guard later died as a result of his injuries.
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So congratulations New Zealand. Our jobless rate is at a 10 year low.
The Household Labour Force survey is out and our unemployment rate for the last 3 months is at 4.4%.  It’s now fallen for the fifth quarter in a row.
Our economy continues to add 1000 jobs a week. That means there were 15,000 people newly employed in the first three months of this year.  Now 2.6 million of us have jobs.
This is all great news. 4.4 per cent is something to be proud of. I certainly remember much higher figures.
It's also coming at a time when business confidence was falling during the first six months of the new government.
But with every silver lining there has to be a cloud and then there are a couple in the figures.
The rise in employment means that if you’re an employer looking for a new worker the job is getting harder and harder as the available pool gets smaller and smaller.  Officially the labour market is described as tight. You’ll know that if you’re trying to find a tradie to fix the deck.
If businesses are already complaining it’s hard to find people, then the bad news is that’s it’s only getting harder.
Here's the other thing. If the workers are getting rarer you’d expect they’re getting more valuable.  But they’re not.
In fact, one economist says wage growth is missing in action. The share of workers getting no pay increase at all this year is at it’s highest since 2010, which you’ll remember is when we were still reeling from a global financial meltdown.
Wage growth is like a bottle of fizzy that has been shaken and is getting ready to pop.  And we’re seeing the stress fractures develop whether it’s midwives rallying today, or teachers and nurses gearing up to get militant or the number of strikes which are rising year on year. People are underpaid and they’re not prepared to take it anymore.
It’s something we need to do something about, and we have a government who’s sticking its nose in with policies around minimum wages and 90 day trial periods.
But the problem with that is the stress it puts on smaller businesses.  Today on Page 9 of the paper the restaurant association is warning that food and coffee prices are about to go up because of these changes. But the thing is if food prices go up then there will be even more pressure on wages throughout the entire economy so we can afford the higher prices.
The thing about this is we can’t legislate out of this hole.  It’s not the government’s fault and it’s not within their ability to fix it.
It’s a hole we’re all in and we all need to consider the way to get out of it.  It’s a conversation that employers need to have with shareholders.  That employees need to have with employers.  We need to get out of the hole, and time's running out.

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Massey High School's board chairman, John Garelja, says the school is in no way condoning the use of drugs.
"Massey High School has a strict anti-drug policy. These two pages out of the program have been taken out of context, if you look at all the brochures it's actually about not using P."
Garelja says P is not a problem at the school - but this is something the kids happen to be studying.
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