Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

The lawyers of US death row inmate Christa Pike have asked for evidence to be preserved from her botched execution. 

The 50-year-old survived two lethal injections in Tennessee last week – a death sentence imposed for murder in 1996. 

A statement from her lawyers yesterday stated she's now conscious and speaking, still handcuffed in hospital, and receiving critical care. 

US Correspondent Nick Harper told Andrew Dickens Pike's lawyers argue there were problems with the IV lines involved. 

They claim at least seven needles were used to try to get the doses into her system, one even bent at a 90-degree angle. 

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A warning there are drawbacks to instant payments as Labour vows to make it possible 24/7 by 2030. 

The party wants to bring more competition to the sector helping fintech companies take on the big four banks. 

Part of Labour's plan to achieve this is by introducing e-money licences for businesses offering services like digital wallets and payments.  

Massey University Financial Professor Claire Matthews told Andrew Dickens that currently, if you're subject to scams there's a small window to get the money back. 

However, she says, when you have real-time payments, that's gone. 

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The country's teacher pipeline is showing signs of recovery. 

Education Minister Erica Stanford is crediting the School Onsite Training Programme for a 40% jump in the number of Kiwis training to be teachers between 2023 and now. 

But the current figure of 4,500 is still well below the 6,800 training in 2010. 

PPTA President Chris Abercrombie told Andrew Dickens there are jobs waiting for those entering the profession. 

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A tick of approval for National's small business plan.  

The party's released a 47 point plan to cut red tape around things like employment disputes and health and safety.  

Small Business New Zealand founder Phil Wicks says it creates a fairly cohesive plan.  

He told Andrew Dickens while any help is appreciated, what businesses really want is a growing economy.  

Wicks says that gives businesses the confidence to hire more staff or invest in more equipment. 

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I'm Andrew Dickens and I'm the fill in guy and I'm filling in for Ryan Bridge and I'm filling in all week and I'm doing three days next week and three days the week after and the reason for that is that Ryan is preparing to do telly stuff with Herald now.

And last night he was doing the first of the big ones and it was a 90-minute thing called The Future of New Zealand. 

Now it had politicians, it had seven politicians, yeah we had some politicians, but the big thing about this, the difference was all the other people, all the business leaders, all the entrepreneurs, all the tech bros were all having their say about the future of New Zealand. 

There was even a dancing robot! 

And to see Ryan Bridge dancing with a dancing robot on telly was actually quite some sight. 

So here are some highlights if you haven't seen it. 

Of course after Jack Tame sucked us into the are billionaires' immoral debate, Tamatha Paul, the Green, had some ideas. She reckons obviously that billionaires are immoral.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Meanwhile Sir John Key was there as well, and he thought it was nuts.

Okay, so I talked about the dancing robot, right? Well, there was a futurist there by the name of Frances Valentine who said that Kiwis are going to have to get used to robots living amongst us, we're going to have to get used to Ryan Bridge dancing with the robot.

Somebody's got to stop those humanoids from breeding, hello. Meanwhile we had some more of that crazy, that crazy word heavy crazy nutsness from Matua Shane.

The Shakespeare of New Zealand.

And the pollies laid out their vision for New Zealand.

Okay. Well, the reaction online was super positive. 

There was an old socialist down in the South Island who used to be a talkback star with the first name Alan and he wrote: "What a future! Wow! At a time when New Zealand is spiritually bankrupt, along comes a program like this, the Future of New Zealand, a bland title for the most uplifting thing I have ever experienced, featuring a bunch of people I had mostly never heard of before." 

Vicky wrote: "This is the stuff we need to hear, inspiring stuff, not personality that we normally have with our leaders' debate." 

So congratulations, Ryan.

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On the Early Edition with Andrew Dickens Full Show Podcast Thursday 8th of October 2026, Labour is promising to shake up the banking sector if re-elected, Professor Claire Matthews head of the school of accountancy, economics and finance at Massey University shares her thoughts. 

National’s got a 47-point plan to cut red tape for small businesses, Small Business NZ Founder & Director of BSP Advisory, tells Andrew if this will make much of a difference. 

Erica Stanford is celebrating a 40% uplift in new teacher enrolments since she got a hold of the portfolio, PPTA President shares his thoughts.

Plus, US Correspondent Nick Harper has the latest on Christa Pike who is conscious and speaking after a botched execution in Tennessee and the White House explains away Trump comments on Iran “take out” of LA and San Diego, saying he was not calling for attack on US cities.

Get the Early Edition Full Show Podcast every weekday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.          

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A political commentator believes a lot of weight still sits with the undecided voter. 

Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins went head-to-head in the first main leaders debate last night. 

The TVNZ clash saw the pair tussle over tax, education, health, the cost of living, and crime in front of a studio audience of undecided voters. 

The audience gave Hipkins the win with 49% support to Luxon's 24%. 

But commentator Brigitte Morten told Andrew Dickens 27% percent were still undecided. 

She says we're only a couple of weeks out from voting opening, and for a lot of people there's a lot of soft vote. 

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Pressure's on the next government to keep the momentum going on business confidence. 

The NZIER's latest Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion shows 40% of firms expect the economy to improve in the coming months. 

That's up from just 14% last quarter. 

Business Canterbury Chief Executive Leeann Watson told Andrew Dickens businesses want policies that lift productivity, and more certainty about what's ahead. 

She says they want to make sure they have access to the right people and compliance is reduced. 

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On the Early Edition with Andrew Dickens Full Show Podcast 2026, political commentator Brigitte Morten tells Andrew who won the TVNZ leaders debate. 

Business confidence is rebounding as we head towards the election, Business Canterbury CEO Leeann Watson explains why. 

National’s promising to cut foreign aid to pay for new medicines, if it leads the next government, Chief Executive of Medicines New Zealand Graeme Jarvis shares his thoughts. 

Plus, UK/Europe Correspondent Gavin Grey has the latest on the UK’s main Opposition party has pledged to invest £10bn in a new missile and drone defence system to defend the UK if they win the next general election and Trump has said the US moved its bombers out of RAF Fairford in the UK because of "some threats" to the base. 

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There's potential for a positive ripple effect as National pledges to boost medicine funding. 

The party's announced it'll cut 10% of the foreign aid budget, using the savings to increase Pharmac's budget by $604 million.  

It would also introduce new cancer cell therapy and lower the bowel screening age to 50 by 2029.  

Medicines NZ CEO Graeme Jarvis told Andrew Dickens medicine's an important part of any health system. 

He says they help with productivity within hospitals, and help with patient outcomes. 

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