The Mike Hosking Breakfast

It's back to the classroom for a raft of MPs today, where they'll be schooled about the work of support staff.

20 MPs and another 20 candidates, from across the political spectrum, will start the term by stepping into the shoes of teacher aides and support staff.

The job-swap initiative is being arranged by the NZEI to show the value of school support staff, as it fights for better funding so schools can afford to retain them.

Labour leader Andrew Little is taking on the challenge.

He told Mike Hosking funding for teacher aid roles comes out of a school's operational budget, and at the moment it's frozen.

"What that means is that for the teachers who are often pretty reliant on people in these roles, is that the teachers don't know from one year to the next what support they're going to have."

LISTEN ABOVE AS ANDREW LITTLE SPEAKS WITH MIKE HOSKING

Meanwhile, Mr Little is promising fresh faces in his lineup of political candidates.

One casualty is Hamilton-based list MP Sue Moroney. She has announced her retirement from politics ahead of the party's list ranking announcement today.

Mr Little told Mike Hosking to watch the space.

"Anybody who's of signifcant interest has already been sort of foreshadowed. I think what you will see though is some pretty amazing new talent, fresh faces coming through."

A warning - the Government's plan to spend big on infrastructure won't solve all our woes.

Finance Minister Steven Joyce yesterday announced $11 billion to be spent on building roads, schools and hospitals over the next four years.

Property Institute CEO Ashley Church said it's an impressive plan.

"But I suspect you'd find that if you were to look back into the history of the country, you'd probably have to go back to the 30s to find a similar period of time where that sort of money was spent."

Church said the Government has been trying to make improvements to infrastructure for some time now.

"I don't think anybody, including the Nats, are going to suggest that this is going to be the overall solution to it, but it has to start happening."

LISTEN ABOVE AS ASHLEY CHURCH SPEAKS WITH LARRY WILLIAMS

There is concern about an increase in the cases of a super bug that's resistant to all but one antibiotic.

Dr Joshua Freeman is among a group of microbiologists whose article on CPE appears in the latest New Zealand Medical Journal.

He told Larry Williams there were a couple of cases of it in 2009 in New Zealand, but that shot up to 46 cases last year.

"Now fortunately, a lot of these were just carriers and weren't causing infection, but that can all change quite rapidly."

He said hospital patients need to be ring-fenced and protected.

"And identify carriers, not only to prevent spread, but so we can put in place special measures to prevent infections in those patients and protect them."

Dr Freeman said CPE is only treatable with a drug that went out of use in the 1970s, because of concerns about its toxicity.

However, he said resistance to even that drug is already quickly developing.

LISTEN ABOVE AS DR JOSHUA FREEMAN SPEAKS WITH LARRY WILLIAMS

A marketing professor has joined the chorus of experts asking for an overhaul of the Health Star Rating system.

A two year review of the rollout of the system is due out this afternoon.

Bodo Lang from Auckland University told Larry Williams manufacturers can have a high sugar content in their product, then add fibre or protein to pull up its ranking.

He says that's not a very sane approach.

"It's a bit like saying I'll give you a box of cigarettes to smoke, and I'll also give you three green apples to eat. Overall you're still worse off - the apples don't compensate for the nicotine."

Bodo Lang said if there's too much of the bad stuff in a product, it shouldn't get a good rating.

It's thought terrorists will make plenty more attempts to attack London.

A 27-year-old-man, with knives in his bag, was arrested near the Houses of Parliament.

Authorities had been lying in wait for the suspect, whose movements were being tracked by a joint Police and MI5 operation.

Terror expert Brian Painter told Larry Williams there is thought to be between 3000 and 5000 terrorists in the UK right now.

"We've only got the ability to monitor constantly about 500, so it probably gives you a scale of the issue that the security services face," he said.

"This is something that we may see going forward. People will continue to do these kind of low-tech, very easy to prepare for attacks."

LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW ABOVE

Islamic State is in crisis.

Not only is it losing territory, it's losing troops. Dozens of the terrorist group's foreign fighters are surrendering at the Turkish border.

Hundreds more inside of Syria have reached out to embassies in Turkey and family members, saying they want out.

The Guardian's Middle East correspondent Martin Chulov told Larry Williams the military pressure is getting too intense for them.

Chulov said of the approximately 30,000 of foreign fighters who have crossed borders to fight for ISIS, up to 20,000 have been killed since 2012.

LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW ABOVE

New Zealand is being told to stop segregating and restraining prisoners with mental health issues.

A new UN-funded report has found inmates are four times more likely to be put in solitary confinement than their UK counterparts.

SEE ALSO: NZ found to overuse solitary confinement

SEE ALSO: Report scathing over NZ use of solitary confinement on kids

Report author, international human rights expert Dr Sharon Shalev, told Larry Williams there's a large number of mentally ill people in New Zealand's prison system.

"These people do not belong in segregation. Segregation, or solitary confinement, is known to make them worse. So much so that the United Nations now calls for mentally ill people not to be held in seclusion at all."

LISTEN ABOVE AS DR SHARON SHALEV SPEAKS WITH LARRY WILLIAMS

Horrific scenes are confronting aid workers in Northern Iraq, as they help people who've been held captive by Islamic State.

The battle for control of the city of Mosul has seen thousands flee to camps in the Kurdistan region.

Tearfund's communications manager in Iraq is New Zealander Helen Manson.

She told Larry Williams she often has to speak with a counsellor about the type of things she sees.

"I met a woman today who had a four year old girl in captivity, she had no idea where she is. I mean, that just broke my heart."

She said it's difficult for her to describe what she deals with on a daily basis.

"The Yazidi women, still fleeing from ISIS in Sinjar are just in a complete state. It is just horrendous to see what they've come out of and the trauma."

LISTEN ABOVE: Helen Manson speaks to Larry Williams

A renewed call to restrict alcohol advertising and sponsorship, as young women under the age of 24 are drinking huge amounts of RTDs.

A Massey University study has found women who get RTDs from liquor stores drink around 24 litres a year - that's more than the heaviest group of male drinkers.

Alcohol Healthwatch executive director Dr Nicki Jackson told Larry Williams young people are exposed to high amounts of targeted alcohol brand advertising.

"Some of the restrictions that we need to be looking at is around advertising and marketing. These are young girls drinking heavy quantities of RTDs, they're very much marketed towards young people."

Dr Jackson said this is not what she wants for young girls.

"They're putting their brains at risk, they're putting themselves at risk of alcohol-related harm, there's aspects around getting pregnant and foetal alcohol spectrum disorder."

LISTEN ABOVE AS DR NIKKI JACKSON SPEAKS WITH LARRY WILLIAMS

Police say impartiality is crucial following a double shooting in Invercargill, allegedly by one of their own.

Constable Benjamin Peter McLean has been charged with the murder of Verity McLean, who he had three children with.

He has also charged with the attempted murder of Garry Duggan, who is in a stable condition in Dunedin Hospital.

SEE ALSO: Invercargill devastated after double shooting - Mayor

Former Police investigator Lance Burdett told Larry Williams Invercargill Police have hired an independent investigator.

"That's somebody at a senior level, probably around Detective Inspector, overseen by the Detective Superintendent, just to make sure everything's done correctly."

Burdett said it will be no different to any other internal investigation, and will help eliminate any emotional connections. 

He also suspects Mr McLean might be treated harsher than the average offender, as often Police aren't softer on their own.

"You're dealing with perhaps another investigator or another cop who knows all the tricks and traps."

LISTEN ABOVE AS LANCE BURDETT SPEAKS WITH LARRY WILLIAMS