This week a speculative post on Substack by Citrini about ever-faster AI tools creating a self-reinforcing doom loop of fewer jobs & lower wages for humans -- while AI owners win big -- shook global stocks. A link to the post is below.

So I decided to have a Substack Live with Ben Reid, who writes about tech and AI for Memia. The resulting chat is above.

Thank you James Wilkes, Nicola Francis, Summerhaze, David, Elaine, and many others for tuning into my live video with Ben Reid! Join me for my next live video in the app.

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer and Elaine Monaghan about geopolitics, the economy, climate change and politics here, along with special guest Associate Professor Polly Atatoa Carr from Waikato University’s Te Ngira Institute for Population Research.

This week:

* Bernard and Peter debated the Clerk of Parliament deciding to stop using X.

* Bernard and Cathrine talked about a paper showing climate policy inconsistency depresses economic growth and employment, along with another paper showing the social cost of carbon at over US$1,000/tonne, and a survey for The Post-$ showing voters here want flood protection projects, rather than motorways.

* Peter and Elaine talked about covering autocracies in Eastern Europe and Donald Trump’s State of the Union address.

* Bernard, Peter and Polly talked about how the Government’s ‘move-on’ orders are likely to affect young homeless people, and why ramping up Housing First by even more would be a better solution.

The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on Thursday night during a live webinar for over 200 paying subscribers and was produced and edited by Simon Josey.

The Hoon won the silver award for best current affairs podcast in last year’s New Zealand Podcast awards.

(This is a sampler for all free subscribers and anyone else who stumbles on it. Thanks to the support of paying subscribers here, we’re able to spread my public interest journalism here about housing affordability, climate change and poverty reduction other public venues. Join the community supporting and contributing to this work with your ideas, feedback and comments, and by subscribing in full. Remember, all students and teachers who sign up for the free version with their .ac.nz and .school.nz email accounts are automatically upgraded to the paid version for free. Also, here’s a couple of special offers: $3/month or $30/year for under 30s & $6.50/month or $65/year for over 65s who rent.)

Ngā mihi nui.

Bernard

Independent economist David Skilling gave a stark public presentation to Treasury officials and others yesterday that painted a brutal picture of New Zealand’s labour productivity and real wage catastrophe since 2010, pointing out our economy remained stuck in a low-investment rut with weakening trade connections.

Skilling’s presentation in video form below is a must-watch and should be seen as a landmark moment ‘calling b******t’ on at least three decades of economic reforms focused on squeezing down the size of Government and keeping capital gains tax free at all costs.

I spoke with David in a Substack Live this morning, referencing his presentation below.

Thank you Ant O'Brien, Michael Sharpe, Steve Glicken, MD, James Wilkes, John Smart, and many others for tuning into my live video with David Skilling! Join me for my next live video in the app.

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking with regular guests Robert Patman and Cathrine Dyer about geopolitics, the economy, climate change and politics here, along with special guests Simplicity Chief Economist Shamubeel Eaqub and Coalition for More Homes Spokesman Scott Caldwell.

This week:

* Bernard, Peter and Cathrine talked about the week’s news in climate change, including criticism of the Government’s climate non-action by outgoing Tower Insurance Chair Michael Stiassny, Marc Daalder’s piece for Newsroom on climate preparedness, the US move to wipe out a climate change finding and remove all regulation of emissions, and the impending shutdown of the Ministry of the Environment here.

* Bernard, Peter and Robert talked about Donald Trump’s ‘coercive’ approach to diplomacy with Iran, and the risk of imminent US strikes on Iran, which would trigger damaging Iranian counter-attacks on Israel.

* Bernard, Peter, Shamubeel and Scott talked about Chris Bishop’s watering down yesterday of housing intensification plans in Auckland and the Infrastructure Commission’s final 30-year plan presented earlier this week.

The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on Thursday night during a live webinar for over 200 paying subscribers and was produced and edited by Simon Josey.

The Hoon won the silver award for best current affairs podcast in last year’s New Zealand Podcast awards.

(This is a sampler for all free subscribers and anyone else who stumbles on it. Thanks to the support of paying subscribers here, we’re able to spread my public interest journalism here about housing affordability, climate change and poverty reduction other public venues. Join the community supporting and contributing to this work with your ideas, feedback and comments, and by subscribing in full. Remember, all students and teachers who sign up for the free version with their .ac.nz and .school.nz email accounts are automatically upgraded to the paid version for free. Also, here’s a couple of special offers: $3/month or $30/year for under 30s & $6.50/month or $65/year for over 65s who rent.)

Ngā mihi nui.

Bernard

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking with New Zealand journalist Andrew Gunn in Kiev and Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey in central Otago.

We talked about:

* Bernard’s time at the NZ Association of Economists’ forum at the University of Waikato on Thursday and Friday;

* Nicola Willis’ announcement of a new inquiry into the RBNZ’s actions over Covid;

* The Government’s announcement of a levy on all electricity consumers to pay for LNG import infrastructure;

* Whether solar panels and batteries would do a better job than LNG.

The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on Thursday night during a live webinar for over 200 paying subscribers and was produced and edited by Simon Josey.

The Hoon won the silver award for best current affairs podcast in last year’s New Zealand Podcast awards.

(This is a sampler for all free subscribers and anyone else who stumbles on it. Thanks to the support of paying subscribers here, we’re able to spread my public interest journalism here about housing affordability, climate change and poverty reduction other public venues. Join the community supporting and contributing to this work with your ideas, feedback and comments, and by subscribing in full. Remember, all students and teachers who sign up for the free version with their .ac.nz and .school.nz email accounts are automatically upgraded to the paid version for free. Also, here’s a couple of special offers: $3/month or $30/year for under 30s & $6.50/month or $65/year for over 65s who rent.)

Ngā mihi nui.

Bernard

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer and Robert Patman, along with special guest David Farrar, talking about his Op-Ed in the The Post-$ arguing it’s time New Zealand became the seventh state of Australia.

We talked about:

* The water treatment plant problems in Christchurch and Wellington;

* The gutting of the Washington Post’s newsroom;

* The effects of climate change on biodiversity, including the deaths of dugongs in Thailand, the deaths of bats in Western Australia, the freezing of iguanas in Florida;

* Insurance retreat in New Zealand; and,

* Rare earth minerals and a possible deal between New Zealand and the US;

The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on Thursday night during a live webinar for over 200 paying subscribers and was produced and edited by Simon Josey.

The Hoon won the silver award for best current affairs podcast in last year’s New Zealand Podcast awards.

(This is a sampler for all free subscribers and anyone else who stumbles on it. Thanks to the support of paying subscribers here, we’re able to spread my public interest journalism here about housing affordability, climate change and poverty reduction other public venues. Join the community supporting and contributing to this work with your ideas, feedback and comments, and by subscribing in full. Remember, all students and teachers who sign up for the free version with their .ac.nz and .school.nz email accounts are automatically upgraded to the paid version for free. Also, here’s a couple of special offers: $3/month or $30/year for under 30s & $6.50/month or $65/year for over 65s who rent.)

Ngā mihi nui.

Bernard

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer and Robert Patman, along with special guest historian and author Jonathan Lyons.

We talked about:

* Likely issues in Election 2026 due on November 7, including anti-migration comments from Winston Peters and his comments backing Donald Trump on withdrawing from the World Health Organisation;

* The dramas this week in Global Financial Markets around the reserve currency status of the US dollar and another stalling in the New Zealand economy;

* The fallout from this month’s extraordinary weather events made worse by unaddressed climate change, and some solutions, including this EECA report on shifting power demand off-peak and this Manu Caddie post;

* Donald Trump’s latest threats to attack Iran, along with the history of revolutions in Iran and the situation there now, including Jonathan and Robert. Jonathan has written these books on Iran: The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization, and, Islam Through Western Eyes: From the Crusades to the War on Terrorism.

The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on Thursday night during a live webinar for over 200 paying subscribers and was produced and edited by Simon Josey.

The Hoon won the silver award for best current affairs podcast in last year’s New Zealand Podcast awards.

(This is a sampler for all free subscribers and anyone else who stumbles on it. Thanks to the support of paying subscribers here, we’re able to spread my public interest journalism here about housing affordability, climate change and poverty reduction other public venues. Join the community supporting and contributing to this work with your ideas, feedback and comments, and by subscribing in full. Remember, all students and teachers who sign up for the free version with their .ac.nz and .school.nz email accounts are automatically upgraded to the paid version for free. Also, here’s a couple of special offers: $3/month or $30/year for under 30s & $6.50/month or $65/year for over 65s who rent.)

Ngā mihi nui.

Bernard

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer and Robert Patman, along with special guests Auckland University Emeritus Professor Jane Kelsey and intensive care specialist Dr David Galler.

We talked about:

* Likely issues in Election 2026 due on November 7, including anti-migration comments from Shane Jones in the wake of protests against rockpool harvesting (RNZ) and the economy’s struggle to generate growth most can feel;

* This week’s extraordinary weather events made worse by unaddressed climate change, including this new UK paper on the environment and national security and the measures that should be taken to make Aotearoa more resilient;

* Trump’s latest rupturing of the global world order, including Mark Carney’s speech at Davos and Donald Trump’s latest threats to invade Greenland;

* How New Zealand adapts to the law of the jungle; and,

* What’s happening in our health system, and how to improve it, including discussions about this Andrea Black paper, this Deloitte paper and the launch this week of Kaitiaki Hauora, which is a national coalition of workers, iwi, union, and advocacy groups wanting to strengthen public health that includes David Galler.

Jane Kelsey has written these pieces for The Conversation on geopolitics so far this year:

* Trump is threatening more tariffs over access to critical minerals – will NZ be targeted?

* The World Trade Organization is on life support. Will Trump’s new rules finish it off?

Robert Patman has written this piece for The Conversation this year:

* As Trump rewrites the rules in Venezuela, NZ faces a foreign policy reckoning

The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on Thursday night during a live webinar for over 200 paying subscribers and was produced and edited by Simon Josey.

The Hoon won the silver award for best current affairs podcast in last year’s New Zealand Podcast awards.

(This is a sampler for all free subscribers and anyone else who stumbles on it. Thanks to the support of paying subscribers here, we’re able to spread my public interest journalism here about housing affordability, climate change and poverty reduction other public venues. Join the community supporting and contributing to this work with your ideas, feedback and comments, and by subscribing in full. Remember, all students and teachers who sign up for the free version with their .ac.nz and .school.nz email accounts are automatically upgraded to the paid version for free. Also, here’s a couple of special offers: $3/month or $30/year for under 30s & $6.50/month or $65/year for over 65s who rent.)

Ngā mihi nui.

Bernard

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer and Robert Patman.

We talked about:

* US President Donald Trump’s attack on the US Federal Reserve’s independence and why it matters to us;

* RBNZ Governor Anna Breman’s defence of the Fed’s independence;

* NZ First Leader and Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ criticism of Breman, despite his votes in favour of central bank independence over the years;

* How Trump’s strike on Venezuela is upending ever more global norms;

* record-high sea temperatures and how climate change is already a major part of the affordability story; and,

* a rocky election year ahead of misinformation in the absence of 3News, Sunday, Fair Go and a larger number of climate journalists.

The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on Thursday night during a live webinar for over 200 paying subscribers and was produced and edited by Simon Josey.

The Hoon won the silver award for best current affairs podcast in last year’s New Zealand Podcast awards.

(This is a sampler for all free subscribers and anyone else who stumbles on it. Thanks to the support of paying subscribers here, we’re able to spread my public interest journalism here about housing affordability, climate change and poverty reduction other public venues. Join the community supporting and contributing to this work with your ideas, feedback and comments, and by subscribing in full. Remember, all students and teachers who sign up for the free version with their .ac.nz and .school.nz email accounts are automatically upgraded to the paid version for free. Also, here’s a couple of special offers: $3/month or $30/year for under 30s & $6.50/month or $65/year for over 65s who rent.)

Ngā mihi nui.

Bernard

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer and Robert Patman.

Our special guests this week were Philippa Yasbek, who heads Gun Control NZ and Doyen: NZ Jews Against Occupation, and Lee Feinstein, former US ambassador to Warsaw and senior diplomat under Democratic administrations, Dean of the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies at Indiana University Bloomington, long-serving board member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on Thursday night during a live webinar for over 200 paying subscribers and was produced and edited by Simon Josey.

The Hoon won the silver award for best current affairs podcast in last year’s New Zealand Podcast awards.

(This is a sampler for all free subscribers and anyone else who stumbles on it. Thanks to the support of paying subscribers here, we’re able to spread my public interest journalism here about housing affordability, climate change and poverty reduction other public venues. Join the community supporting and contributing to this work with your ideas, feedback and comments, and by subscribing in full. Remember, all students and teachers who sign up for the free version with their .ac.nz and .school.nz email accounts are automatically upgraded to the paid version for free. Also, here’s a couple of special offers: $3/month or $30/year for under 30s & $6.50/month or $65/year for over 65s who rent.)

Ngā mihi nui.

Bernard