TLDR: This week, Aotearoa-NZ’s annual inflation rate rose more than expected to 7.3%, which restarted the debate about who was to blame and what should be done about it, as I wrote in Tuesday’s Chorus. Meanwhile, Europe finally tightened its monetary policy, but faces the potential for another debt crisis, as I wrote in Friday’s Chorus.

In the climate crisis, I wrote in Monday’s Chorus about performative declarations of climate emergencies by politicians and why they can’t now be trusted. In Wednesday’s Chorus, I wrote about growing fear of another house-building bust and why that’s both a long term problem and a symptom of our political economy’s structural failings.

In Friday evening’s live hoon webinar for paid subscribers, which is in recorded form above for all subscribers, I took a lap around these issues and more in geopolitics and the global economy with co-host Peter Bale.

We talked about:

* who Liz Truss is and why she might become Britain’s next Prime Minister;

* how the ground war in Ukraine is now playing out;

* whether inflation is really peaking;

* whether the Reserve Bank here can be blamed for high inflation;

* how the Auckland Mayoralty campaign is playing out.

Here’s Peter’s Weekly World Bulletin email newsletter for more background.

This is my weekly summary and sampler of the big news of the week we’ve covered on The Kākā for both free and paid subscribers. The public interest journalism I do daily on housing unaffordability, climate change inaction and poverty reduction is possible with the support of paid subscribers. Join our community by subscribing in full.

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