The Mike Hosking Breakfast

We all know the problems boy racers cause - well a local councillor in the Manawatu thinks he's stumbled onto a solution for the problem.

Tararua district councillor Ernie Christison has built a venue for kids to come and be a bit silly with their cars and do burnouts. So far it's been a remarkable success.

LISTEN ABOVE AS ERNIE CHRISTISON SPEAKS WITH MIKE HOSKING ABOUT THE IDEA

A meeting with the Pope is on the cards for Donald Trump.

Italy correspondent Jo McKenna told Mike Hosking it's speculation at this stage.

But she said the US president will be meeting European leaders in Sicily in May for the G7 summit.

"And it's quite likely he'll make a stop either before or after that and have that historic meeting with Pope Francis."

LISTEN ABOVE AS ITALY CORRESPONDENT JO MCKENNA SPEAKS WITH MIKE HOSKING

A former Labour Party president thinks those railing against Willie Jackson are just a few people who are bitter and twisted.

Labour Party members, including three former MPs, have written an open letter to their leader Andrew Little, urging him to rethink his promise to give Willie Jackson a winnable list slot.

Former party President Mike Williams said the letter represents a few people who are afraid they might by replaced by Willie Jackson.

He said there's huge competition for winnable list slots.

"And it's by no means certain Willie will get a winnable list slot. They're winging at the moment, but I don't think it amounts to any great schism in the party."

LISTEN ABOVE AS MIKE WILLIAMS SPEAKS WITH MIKE HOSKING

WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE HEARD (highlights from Thursday's Mike Hosking Breakfast) Suffering for Your Art/Interest Getting Interesting/Morgan VS Reality/Less Work Works/Ice Baths Are Useless

Finance Minister Steven Joyce and Labour's deputy leader Annette King joined Mike Hosking for their weekly Wednesday politics chat.

Among the topics of discussion - ructions in Labour after it was announced Willie Jackson would be joining the party, the legacy of Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler, who announced he's stepping down after the September election, and the government changing the rules around medical cannabis use.

There's a warning about how doctors should be prescribing medicinal cannabis should it become legal.

The Government implied yesterday it may loosen the rules around access to medicinal cannabis, and today it was confirmed patients seeking medical cannabis for pain relief will no longer need to get approval from a minister.

Earlier, AUT researcher Dr Huhana Hickey said Auckland has plenty of medical specialists who would gladly provide it. But she told Mike Hosking outside Auckland it's just about impossible to get help.

"There are areas in New Zealand where some GPs are opposed and other don't want to touch it or are afraid to speak out and support it, so there's still a bit of education needed," she said.

Dr Hickey said the Government needs to make sure the decision-makers and those who prescribe are well-informed.

"Politicians don't have that skill base, and I do think that we can have something similar to the morphine process that we have - you get the script from a specialist and then the GP prescribes. That's an ideal situation."

Dr Hickey added a large government subsidy would be needed if medicinal products were made legal.

LISTEN ABOVE AS DR HUHANA HICKEY SPEAKS WITH MIKE HOSKING

WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE HEARD (highlights from Wednesday's Mike Hosking Breakfast) Newsie Rockstar/Aim at Foot, Fire!/Pay Equity Hard to Find/Criminal Candidates/Samsung's Simple Sensations

UPDATED 11.44AM The arrest of a security consultant employed by the All Blacks in the infamous "Spygate" case has been described by private investigator and director of Thompson and Toresen Daniel Toresen as "cringeworthy" and "shockingly bad".

New South Wales police said yesterday that 51-year-old Adrian Gard had been arrested on a "public mischief" charge, following the discovery of a listening device in the team's InterContinental Hotel in Sydney's Double Bay, before the All Blacks' 42-8 Bledisloe Cup victory against the Wallabies last August.

Speaking to Mike Hosking, Toresen said the charges give a clue about the man's motivations.

He said the fact the man has been charged with public mischief indicates there wasn't an intent to try to get some secrets, or use the information that was recorded.

Toresen said that throughout his extensive career in the private investigating industry, this is the first time he had seen anything like this materialise.

"It's cringeworthy, it's not good," Toresen said.

"I've been in this industry for 30 years, and you hear rumours and stories about people planting bugs themselves to make themselves look great.

"But it's a bit of an old wives' tale, and I've never really heard of it come to fruition, but this is maybe one of those cases. It's just shockingly bad."

Toresen believed that the incident would be "ruinous" for the company that Gard works for, BGI Security.

"It's got to be ruinous, doesn't it. This is all about trust.

"Integrity means everything to me and my firm, and it's unbelievably bad for the industry. It's just crazy."

 

LISTEN ABOVE AS PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR DANIEL TORESEN SPEAKS WITH MIKE HOSKING

There are doubts Kiwi parents would see an unsolicited note in their children's lunch.

It follows one being put in an Australian child's lunch after they went to kindergarten with a home-baked chocolate slice.

The note said the parent needed to choose healthier food options.

Peter Reynolds from the Early Childhood Council said there would be a more hands-off approach in kindergartens here.

"We tend to err on the side of parent education, not a punitive 'beating the parents over the head with a celery stick' type approach."

LISTEN ABOVE AS PETER REYNOLDS SPEAKS WITH MIKE HOSKING

WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE HEARD (highlights from Tuesday's Mike Hosking Breakfast) A Genuinely Great Day/Rise of the Right/Trumped-Up Phone Call/What's In the Box?