Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

There's thing happening with parents, responsibility and the state.

Kids are wither misbehaving or not learning, parents are putting their hands up, and the state is having to regulate, what kids can and can't do.

I was watching the news last night and a researcher was telling the story of an early childhood teacher.

Teacher said parents had turned up with their toddler to class, handed over an Ipad with the kid, and said that the child would not eat any meals without being plugged into an Ipad.

You can't tell me parents haven't heard screen time is bad news.

Remember ECE is for kids who are three months to 5 years old.

So, perhaps to offset what the kid is being allowed to do at home, National wants to ban screens in class for toddlers.

In the UK, the state is now going after parents whose kids are behaving badly and turning into crooks.

If your kid commits crimes, you could lose your benefit or be sent to prison or fined.

So, we have the state basically saying that parents are not controlling their kids - either on screens or on the streets - and so steps in to parent for them.

Or use doll out punishment to force them to parent properly.

Which begs the question, what's happened to parenting?

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On the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast Monday 21st of September 2026, Labour Commerce and Consumer Affairs Spokesperson Arena Williams tells Ryan about Labour's policy to split the retail and wholesale arms of Woolworths and Foodstuffs.

National's promising to ban screens at early childhood centres and tighten limits for years 1 to 3 at Primary school, Advocates for Early Learning Excellence Chair Kelly Seaburg tells Ryan if this would help the learning needs of young children. 

Business Correspondent Vicky Pryce has the latest on the UK Bank of England not changing interest rates while US Fed and ECB and Japan did raise and Canada becoming a possible associate membership of the EU, and EU banks urged to become possibly stronger to compete with the US.

Plus, UK/Europe Correspondent Gavin Grey has the latest on the US and Denmark announcing a deal on Greenland's security, resolving a diplomatic dispute sparked by President Donald Trump's threats to seize it by force and UK parents could lose their benefits or face prison sentences for their children's crimes under reforms to the youth justice system. 

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The GDP has grown as expected – rising 0.2% in the June quarter. 

Construction was the biggest boost, up 2.7%, driven by more residential building projects. 

It's the largest increase in construction activity since the June 2023 quarter.  

Master Builders CEO Ankit Sharma told Ryan Bridge they've been seeing steady signs of improvements in both business and consumer confidence, so it's good to see that confidence turning into real growth. 

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A Canterbury principal likes the idea of taking politics out of curriculum decisions, but says it’ll be interesting to see whether that happens in practice.  

If elected, Labour's promising a pause the Government's school curriculum overhaul, including delaying the replacement of NCEA by a year. 

It also wants to establish an Independent Council for Curriculum and Assessment. 

Darfield High School Principal Andy England told Ryan Bridge the proof will be in the pudding. 

He says Labour is promising to make decisions guided by evidence rather than playing politics, but whether that does happen is up in the air. 

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The Firefighters' Union says it's been warning the Government for years about problems at Fire and Emergency. 

Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden has lost confidence in the agency's CEO Kerry Gregory, accusing him of withholding information about a serious incident for a year. 

The agency has also been referred to the Serious Fraud Office. 

Professional Firefighters' Union National Secretary Wattie Watson told Ryan Bridge Gregory and the board need to go. 

She says the union has been trying to get the Government's attention over the “dire” state of Fire and Emergency for years. 

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On the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast Friday the 18th of September 2026, construction was the biggest boost to GDP, Master Builders CEO Ankit Sharma explains where the boom has come from. 

Labour’s hitting the brakes on the NCEA curriculum overhaul, Darfield High School Principal tells Ryan about what teachers and parents are looking for. 

Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden has expressed no confidence in FENZ chief executive Kerry Gregory, NZPFU National Secretary Wattie Watson shares her thoughts. 

Plus, UK Correspondent Vincent McAviney has the latest on King Charles is hosting an AI summit, warning of ‘existential danger’ in the wrong hands and the Palace have hit back strongly on comments Princess Diana’s brother claims he made shortly after her death. 

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What a week.  

AI's going to kill us all – unless Putin gets there first. More drones and flare-ups from him, allegedly, in the skies above Europe.  

Trump's pushing Carney into the arms of another lover in Ursula von der Leyen. It was all hugs and kisses in Strasbourg.  

The Aussies are making big moves to cut immigration. Central bankers are hiking off the back of war and oil.  

And here in New Zealand, we're dropping the C-bomb in Parliament again.  

This time it was Debbie from the Māori Party.  

Things got a bit out of hand.  

While the world was busy dealing with important matters, like preserving humanity, Willie Jackson was defending Debbie's C-bomb.  

Parliament's bouncer, The Sergeant-at-Arms, was called on to help kick him out of the House!  

Wild times in the debating chamber. 

The Sergent is rarely called on to bounce politicians because politicians normally take their punishment and leave. But Willie was having none of that.  

The Sergeant, whose frankly baller job title is up there with the Usher of the Black Rod, was thankfully saved from getting his hands dirty.  

He didn't need to bust out the Mace and start prodding the pollies with it. Jackson eventually left the Chamber. Parliament carried on.  

As did the rest of the world, which was a bit busy on more important issues of the day. 

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Blowback from a business advocate on National's plan to break up Foodstuffs.  

If elected, and if the Commerce Commission agrees, the party would separate Pak'nSave from New World and Four Square to create more competition. 

But Foodstuffs warns there'd be significant implications and would affect more than 500 locally owned and operated stores. 

Business NZ Director of Advocacy Catherine Beard told Ryan Bridge threatening to split up private property is hugely alarming.  

She says it sends a terrible signal to overseas investors – that the government could essentially take away business. 

Beard also says there's a lack of evidence to suggest our food is more expensive than other countries. 

She told Bridge that while food prices have gone up, they're no higher than Australia and the UK. 

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The economy is expected to keep improving as the year goes on.  

Stats NZ is releasing GDP data for April-to-June later this morning. 

Economists are expecting economic growth will come in between 0.1% and 0.3% for the quarter and between 2.2% and 2.4% for the year. 

Independent Economist Cameron Bagrie told Ryan Bridge we could soon get back to the growth we were seeing last year. 

We says we took a detour in the June quarter because fuel prices got so expensive, but quarter three is suggesting a number up around 0.8% to 0.9%. 

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Two classic American food brands are landing in New Zealand, with Auntie Anne’s pretzels and Carvel soft serve opening in Auckland this month. 

Auntie Anne’s sells pretzels, lemonades, dips, and “pretzel dogs”, with more than 1,200 stores across 600 international locations. 

Carvel claims to have invented soft-serve ice cream. 

NZ Cinnabon franchise owner Kathan Parikh told Ryan Bridge they'll use mostly New Zealand ingredients while sticking to the classic American recipes. 

He says Kiwis travel a lot and this is a great opportunity for them to enjoy America on home soil.   

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