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

This edition also included discussions with special guest:

* Simplicity Chief Economist Shamubeel Eaqub on his third annual construction industry report for the New Zealand Chinese Building Industry Association (NZCBIA).

This week:

* Bernard and Peter talked about Peter moderating a panel for the Helen Clark Foundation’s launch of a this book edited by Peter Davis: Facing Up To Our Future: Challenges and Choices for New Zealand: New Zealand’s traditional “she’ll be right” optimism is no longer adequate to the challenges facing the country. This major collection brings together 21 of New Zealand’s leading thinkers to examine the decades-long problems no single government can solve alone.

* Bernard mentioned this substack post by Dr Andrew Dickson on NZ’s Number 8 wire mentality: The Productivity Gap is a National Fantasy. The number 8 wire legend and the productivity lament are two sides of the same coin. Why New Zealand’s economic architecture is built on lack.

* Bernard, Peter and Cathrine then talked the Climate Commission’s warning in its annual emissions report this week that the Government needed to double its emissions reductions to comply with the law.

* Bernard recommended listeners sample the videos now uploaded on the website for the Reality of Everything conference that Cathrine helped organize.

* Then Bernard and Peter talked with Robert about China, the international rules based order, the Houthis and Saudi Arabia.

* At the end, Bernard and Peter talked with Shamubeel about the NZCBIA report, Shamubeel’s LinkedIn post on inflation, and his T-shirt advertising the NZ Kiwi Hatchery near Rotorua.

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.

Ngā mihi nui.

Bernard

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

This edition also included discussions with special guest:

* Green List MP Francisco Hernandez, talking about the Government’s tabling of its Climate Adaptation Bill this week, which again delayed a decision on cost sharing between Government and Councils.

This week:

* Bernard and Peter talked about PM Christopher Luxon’s popularity. They referred to this interview with Christopher Luxon by Nic Fildes for FT-$ (gift): New Zealand PM warns against Ardern-era ‘sugar rush economics’

* Bernard, Peter and Cathrine then talked about the global and local backlash against data centres and AI.

* Then Bernard and Peter talked with Robert about America’s pushback against talk of a ‘Middle Powers’ strategy.

* Bernard and Peter then talked with Francisco Hernandez about the Government’s non-decision this week on climate funding.

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.

Ngā mihi nui.

Bernard

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

This edition also included discussions with special guest:

* Green MP for Wellington Bays and Green Transport Spokesperson Julie Anne Genter, talking about the Government’s RONS U-turn yesterday.

This week:

* Bernard and Peter talked about America’s 250th anniversary. They referred to this FT-$ (gift) article by Simon Schama about the US Declaration of Independence.

* Bernard, Peter and Cathrine then talked about Climate Minister Simon Watts’ letter to mayors saying they shouldn’t use ‘high impact emissions scenarios’ in their investment planning.

* Then Bernard and Peter talked with Robert about China’s missile test in the Pacific.

* Bernard and Peter then talked with Julie Anne Genter about the Government’s RONS U-turn yesterday.

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. Peter Bale will be back next week.

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.

Ngā mihi nui.

Bernard

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

This edition also included discussions with special guest:

* Author and journalist Rebecca Macfie about the gutting of safety reforms put in place after the Pike River disaster. Rebecca wrote Tragedy at Pike River: How and why 29 men died

This week:

* Bernard and Peter talked about the climate in Europe, social housing policy in New Zealand and the political news of the week locally.

* Bernard, Peter and Cathrine then talked about the Reality of Everything symposium Cathrine helped organise last week and the excess deaths caused by Europe’s heat domes last month, which were worsened by climate change.

* Then Bernard and Peter talked with Robert about the 60th Otago Foreign Policy school in Dunedin last weekend, which Robert helped organize and Peter attended and spoke at. Peter’s reports from the conference are linked to below.

* Bernard and Peter then talked with Rebecca about the health and safety law rewrite.

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. Peter Bale will be back next week.

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.

Ngā mihi nui.

Bernard

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking with regular guest Robert Patman from Dunedin about geopolitics, the economy, climate change and politics.

This edition also included discussions with special guests:

* Author Jonathan Lyons, PhD, who publishes the Signal to Noise: History. Philosophy. Commentary. substack, about the history of Iran; and,

* Alliance Party Leader Victor Billot on the party’s history, re-registration and policies.

This week:

* Bernard and Peter talked about the climate in Europe, social housing policy in New Zealand.

* Then Bernard and Peter talked with Robert and Jonathan about the Iran conflict.

* Bernard and Peter then talked with Victor about the Alliance Party.

* Victor read a poem written especially for The Hoon at the end. The skateboarding dog story was about Larry the Cat from 10 Downing Street, who has outlived six British Prime Ministers.

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. Peter Bale will be back next week.

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.

Ngā mihi nui.

Bernard

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer from Wellington and Robert Patman from Dunedin about geopolitics, the economy, climate change and politics.

This edition also included discussions with special guests:

* Transport analyst Connor Sharp talking about Greater Auckland’s call for the Te Hana to Warkworth section of the Northland RONS to be rescoped; and,

* Public Theologian and Civic Technologist Brittany C Farbo on the role of religion in the Ukraine War and Russia’s attacks on churches in Ukraine.

This week:

* Bernard, Peter and Cathrine talked about Wellington’s Golden Mile decision and South Dunedin’s attempts to deal with climate retreat.

* Then Bernard and Peter talked with Robert about the Iran conflict MOU.

* Bernard and Peter then talked with Britt about Ukraine.

* They finished with a chat with Connor about the RONS and transport policy.

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. Peter Bale will be back next week.

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.

Ngā mihi nui.

Bernard

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey talking with regular guest Cathrine Dyer from Wellington about geopolitics, the economy, climate change and politics.

This edition also included discussions with special guests:

* BusinessDesk-$ podcaster and Listener tech columnist Peter Griffin on SpaceX’s float and what it means for RocketLab; and,

* Former NZ Herald-$ columnist and former Metro, Cuisine & Consumer magazine Editor Simon Wilson on Auckland Council’s housing de-intensification vote and Labour’s $20 fare cap policy this week. Simon has just launched his substack; Hopetown by Simon Wilson. I highly recommend subscribing.

This week:

* Bernard and Peter began the show with their three news items of the week, including Peter pointing to the Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Swann scoop in the New York Times-$ (gift link) about Donald Trump’s Epstein files mess and Bernard pointing to the self-firing of CBS’ 60 Minutes host Scott Palley.

* Bernard, Peter and Cathrine talked about Treasury’s advice to the Government that it might have to buy up to $6.5 billion worth of climate emissions credits on onshore markets or from other Governments because New Zealand is on track to miss its Paris Accord commitments, which are now hard-coded into our trade agreements with the EU and UK.

* Then Bernard and Peter talked with Simon and Peter about SpaceX, RocketLab, Auckland housing and Labour’s new transport policy.

* Peter finished with Donald Trump’s ‘I Love Inflation’ quote as the ‘skateboarding dog’ item.

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. Peter Bale will be back next week.

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.

Ngā mihi nui.

Bernard

This evening I spoke with I spoke with Victoria Coleman about the Disability Support Services Bill, which will gazump a court ruling that parents working as carers are full-time employees of the Government.

Victoria works full time as a carer for her son, who has autism, Down Syndrome and two rare bowell disorders. She is campaigning against the Bill and has launched a petition against the bill.

“It will wipe out 40 families’ court cases. They are extinguishing live court cases They have used that as a smokescreen for an almighty power grab. So they’ve gone, we’ve got this massive fiscal risk, let’s wipe that out, but let’s also grab all the power we can get over these vulnerable people.” Victoria Coleman

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.

I spoke with Victoria Crockford from the Coalition to End Women’s Homelessness this evening. She detailed the findings of the Coalition’s latest report, ‘Children and Young People Experiencing Homelessness,’ published today, including:

* there are 33,000 children and young people experiencing homelessness and they face significantly higher rates of harm across multiple areas of their lives;

* Children and young people experiencing homelessness are nearly three times more likely to have experienced abuse;

* Young people experiencing homelessness are more likely to disengage from education and interact with the justice system;

* Children under five experiencing homelessness are two times more likely to never have been enrolled with a Primary Health Organisation;

* Children under five experiencing homelessness are 1.6 times more likely to never have been enrolled in early childhood education;

* Children under five experiencing homelessness are significantly more likely to experience preventable hospitalisations, including respiratory illness and vaccine preventable disease; and,

* Māori and Pacific children continue to be disproportionately impacted by homelessness and most of the tamariki are located in Auckland, Northland, or Gisborne.

“What this research tells us about is who we are as a society, and I don’t think you can even read the headline and believe that enough is being done.” Victoria Crockford, co-lead of Coalition to End Women’s Homelessness.

Thank you Kaimataara, Andrew Riddell, Max Du Frene, Alex Clarkson, and many others for tuning into my live video with VictoriaC! 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 talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer from Wellington and Robert Patman in Dunedin about geopolitics, the economy, climate change and politics.

This edition also included discussions with Louisa Wall, a former Labour MP and member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China.

This week:

* Bernard and Cathrine talked about Guyon Espiner’s interview on RNZ with Johan Rockstrom on economic growth’s ‘saturation point’ and this week’s UN report on the footprint of data centres.

* Then Bernard talked with Robert and Louisa Wall about Donald Trump’s latest moves to add tariffs to countries not complying with US standards for imports made with forced labour, and China’s sanctions on four MPs who visited Taiwan.

* Bernard referred to this FT-$ article on China’s repression of people in its western provinces.

* Bernard finished by mentioning this Reuters article about the discovery of the New World screw worm in Texas.

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. Peter Bale will be back next week.

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.

Ngā mihi nui.

Bernard