The Mike Hosking Breakfast

University of Hull's new marking criteria is being labelled as ridiculous.
The English university has instructed its lecturers to overlook spelling, punctuation and grammar errors,  so it doesn't appear elitist.
They say they wish to decolonise their curriculum and believe not insisting on good written English in all circumstances will help achieve this.
Universities New Zealand chief executive Chris Whelan told Mike Hosking he's astonished.
“These are students who will be looking for jobs and if employers think they can't write or spell, they won't want them.”
Lecturers have been instructed to overlook spelling, punctuation and grammar errors so that it doesn't appear elitist.
Whelan says students need to be able to express themselves clearly and if employers expect you to write,  then you need to write well.
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People across Britain flocked to shed shaggy locks and browse for clothes, books and other “non-essential” items as shops, gyms, hairdressers, restaurant patios and beer gardens reopened Monday after months of lockdown.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged people to “behave responsibly” as the country that has had Europe's deadliest coronavirus outbreak took a big step on its roadmap toward a resumption of normal life.
Monday brought the easing of restrictions that have been in place in England since early January to suppress a surge in infections linked to a more transmissible new virus variant first identified in the southeast of the country.
Long lines formed outside some stores, including a branch of Nike Town on London’s busy Oxford Street, and pubs and restaurants with outdoor space reported a flood of bookings.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said businesses that have endured months of enforced closure were “excited and desperate” to welcome customers back.
At a hairdresser in Birmingham, customer Amy Smith said she was thrilled to be getting a trim at last.
“It’s great to be here, I’ve been going with this weird little topknot for a few months now,” she said. “I’m going to a go to a beer garden experience later, so it’s going to be good.”
Many people were planning outdoor meals and drinks, despite unseasonably cold weather that brought springtime snow flurries to many areas — including, briefly, London.
Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association, said Monday’s opening for outdoor service was “a first small step in a very long journey to recovery” for the “Great British pub.”
Across the country, hardy pub-goers ordered pints on patios and in beer gardens despite the chilly weather.
“Absolutely delicious,” said Pippa Ingram, as she tasted her first drink alongside a hot breakfast at the Royal Victoria Pavilion pub in the seaside town of Ramsgate, southeast England. "That is banging,” she said appreciatively.
England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are following distinct but broadly similar plans to ease lockdown.
Britain has had Europe’s worst coronavirus outbreak, with more than 127,000 confirmed deaths.
Infections, hospitalizations and deaths have all fallen thanks to the lockdown, and a mass vaccination program that has given at least one dose to more than 60% of the adult population.
The situation in Britain stands in contrast to many of its neighbors, including France, where new lockdowns have been introduced to combat surging infections and deaths.
Johnson and epidemiologists have urged caution, saying that many people remain unvaccinated and relaxing social distancing rules or allowing foreign holidays this summer could bring a new spike in infections.
Indoor drinking and dining won’t be allowed in England until May 17 at the earliest, and theaters, cinemas, nightclubs and most other venues remain closed, while indoor socializing is tightly restricted and foreign holidays remain banned.
The prime minister had promised to visit a pub for a pint to mark the occasion, but postponed the celebratory drink after the death of Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, on Friday at age 99.

THE BEST BITS IN A SILLIER PACKAGE (from Tuesday's Mike Hosking Breakfast) How Batteries Are Made/Who's the Boss?/Network TV is Dead/There's Always a New Gadget/Why Juries Are Dumb

The government is lucky, as it turns out, that Covid is still front-and-centre because if it wasn’t - and it won't always be - a great deal more time would be currently spent on the economy.
Kiwibank tell us the sugar-rush of spending is over. That mad dash we made post-lockdown last year to buy anything and everything is now finished. The household spending tracker was down nine percent in the March quarter - that is a massive fall.
The March quarter, by the way, is January, February and March. When the GDP numbers come out for that quarter next month, it will almost certainly show we went backwards, which then means we were officially in recession. A double-dip recession. They’ve done it not once, but twice.
The economy has tanked. The government keep saying the economy is doing better than thought - but that’s only because they thought it would be torched. It wasn’t torched - just burnt to a crisp.
So don’t fall for that. It is yet more of their spin and BS.
The thing to worry about here is we are in recession. And at a time when money is virtually free money, is being printed like no tomorrow, and the government are handing it out with alacrity and yet with all that stimulus we are still going backwards.
Now the upside, the agricultural and horticultural sectors are saving us and the bubble - if it's worth a billion - won't hurt either. But we can't escape the fact that the borders are closed for the year and it's only April.
And then we get that horrific housing figure. Four billion a year on the housing gap  - Grant's emergency housing - four billion.
And in that, is the key to our troubles. Firstly, it's money we don’t have. Secondly, and more importantly, it's money being handed out to the non-productive sector.
And that is where this government is blowing it. You put the money where there is a return, where it turns into something more than it started out as - and motels ain't it.
And this is the quintessential problem with socialist governments - they're about redistribution, not growth. They tax the landlord, the high earner and instead of doing something productive - they give it to people who need help. Nice gesture, nice in theory, just no good for the economy.
Welfare should be paid for out of growth - not debt, or robbing people's pockets. The real fear we have, and this will unfold for the rest of the year and into next, is we owe over $100 billion now.
What happens when interest rates rise? We are not growing as an economy, other economies are outperforming us, and we remain locked-off from the world. We are not growing our way out of trouble, we are printing our way out, and even that isn't working.
You don’t need to know much about economics to know none of this ends well.        
 
 

I'd love to be able to start the week on the Warriors, but to do that they have to win and when you lose to a useless side there isn't a lot you can say. So maybe next Monday, eh.
Anyway - red flag time. The socialist agenda of this government was on display Friday with the news that they had lent Air New Zealand another $600 million. This is on top of the $900 million already offered up and being burnt through as we speak.
Now, for many this would have meant nothing. The financials of an airline - even if it's our own airline - are not the hot chat for many. But there is an insidious game at play nevertheless.
Air New Zealand are in trouble as are most airlines. They burn cash and until the borders open, they're sinking in debt. It won’t last - borders will open, there is pent-up demand and places like the States are seeing bookings rise and pilots being hired.
The bubble here will help, but Air New Zealand was most profitable when it was ferrying New Zealanders to London, Los Angeles and Beijing - and bringing foreign holiday-makers back.
So in the meantime, what to do. Well, what they were going to do was a capital-raise. In other words, go to the market, offer up a chunk of the company in return for money.
A lot of people have done it. In fact it's been a feature of Covid. The number of people who have asked for cash and not just that - got it - and then some. The world is awash with people with money looking for a place to park it.
Air New Zealand was going to do this by June. Now they're not. They may do it by September. Meantime, our government hands them another $600 million.
Ask yourself why? The $900m was at 8 to 9 % interest - daylight robbery. The $600m is at 5+ % - also daylight robbery.
Why? The government wants to own the airline, the government wants to control how the airline is run.
Why is that dangerous? Because the government can't build a house, it can't deliver light rail and it's run the economy into recession. This government can't run a bath, far less an airline. And when the New Zealand government last ran the national carrier, it went bust.
But that’s not stopping them having another crack. Air New Zealand is now hopelessly beholden to Grant Robertson. They’ll never say it - because they can't - and that’s part of the danger.
The lesson of the modern age of business is that companies operate best, on average, when they're run by experts with no government interference.
That model which has seen Air New Zealand spectacularly profitable these past years is now getting tipped on its head by a government driven by socialist ideology, and a staggeringly-arrogant belief that it actually knows what it's doing.
It won't automatically end in tears but it’s a hell of a lot more likely to, now that Grant used our money to buy a level of influence I would be deeply wary of.

A bold move from the US government is being called a 'war on tax havens'.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is calling for minimum global corporate tax of 21 percent across the OECD.
The change would provide big businesses with a single tax system, and major players like the world's richest man, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, is on board.
Business advocate Phil O'Reilly told Mike Hosking it would even the playing field for mega multinational businesses.
He says there's always been tax competition between economies, but it's seen some companies paying almost no tax in countries like New Zealand.
"There's always been tax competition between economies.What you have seen is these massive companies around the world paying basically no tax, and certainly very little tax in countries like New Zealand."
He says it's a question of getting everyone on board.
"A particular set of corporates, only the big guys - this would probably only apply to Fonterra. Then you've got to get everyone to agree. And then you've got to get those tax havens to agree." 
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People around the world are remembering the man who was Prince Philip.
The Royal family is rallying around the Queen as she deals with the loss of her husband of 73 years.
Former New Zealand High Commissioner to the UK Lockwood Smith told Mike Hosking he will always think of the Duke of Edinburgh as a wise man.
"What I loved about Prince Philip, when you were talking to him was you knew he was telling you what he really thought.
"It was a wonderful thing to chat to him and hear his thoughts on a range of issues."
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his government has no plans to set a new timeline for its COVID-19 vaccine roll out after a senior minister suggested all Australians could receive their first dose by the end of the year.
It comes after the government was forced to walk back the comments made by Trade Minister Dan Tehan on Sunday morning in a live cross with Sky News, who claimed the government aimed to immunise all Australians before 2021 was out.
Hours later, a government spokesman clarified that no official timeline had been set.
“There has been no change in the government’s position from last week. We await further advice from the medical experts about potential time frames, but our goal is to ensure every Australian is vaccinated as early as possible,” he said.
Mr Morrison took to social media later on Sunday afternoon to announce 1.16m vaccine doses had been administered across the country, with 465,000 jabs carried out by GPs.
The PM said another 1000 GPs were set to join the program in the next week, boosting reach to patients.
Mr Morrison, however, reiterated the government was not in a position to make promises about when all Australians would receive their jabs due to many uncertainties including global supply
“The Government has also not set, nor has any plans to set any new targets for completing first doses,” he said.
“While we would like to see these doses completed before the end of the year, it is not possible to set such targets given the many uncertainties involved. We will just get on with the job of working together to produce, distribute and administer the vaccines as safely and efficiently as possible.”
Mr Morrison said the current state of vaccinations compared favourably to those seen in other countries such as Germany, and was ahead of programs in France, Sweden and Japan, at the same stage of their rollouts.
Australia’s rollout was dealt another serious blow on Thursday, when health authorities advised against administering the AstraZeneca jab to people under 50 whenever possible.
The development blew out the federal government’s aim to vaccinate the entire population by October, given AstraZeneca had been set to make up the bulk of its rollout.
Mr Tehan claimed the government now aimed to offer first doses to all Australians by the end of the year, but conceded more ruptures were possible.
“That is definitely the aim, that is the goal we have set: trying to have all Australians have a dose by the end of the year,” he told Sky News.
“But I think Australians understand … when you’re dealing with the pandemic, there are a lot of unknowns and you have got to make sure you set your goals and are prepared to adjust those as things occur.”
Labor health spokesman Mark Butler said “it remained to be seen” what a reasonable time frame for completing the rollout would be.
“We really can’t have a situation where vaccines are rolling out into next year, which seems to be the Prime Minister’s thinking,” he told the ABC’s Insiders.
The government has consistently argued the production of 50 million AstraZeneca doses by CSL in Melbourne would boost Australia’s vaccine sovereignty, but Thursday’s development has increased its reliance on exports from overseas.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed on Friday Australia had struck a deal for an additional 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, to arrive later this year.
Mr Tehan will travel on Wednesday to Europe, his first overseas trip as trade minister, saying “vaccine diplomacy” would be high on his agenda.
He will meet counterparts from the UK and the European Union, which has frustrated Canberra by restricting vaccine exports.
Australia’s initial vaccine supply was heavily reliant on exports from the bloc, but Mr Morrison on Wednesday claimed 3.1 million contracted doses had not arrived.
Mr Tehan said his “first port of call” would be a meeting...

First, the good news: The United States reported a record-high 4.6 million doses of vaccines administered in one day, according to data published Saturday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Amazing Saturday! +4.63M doses administered over total yesterday, a new record," tweeted Dr. Cyrus Shahpar, the White House Covid-19 data director. "More than 500K higher than old record last Saturday. Incredible number of doses administered."
The problem is that more than 75% of the US population isn't fully vaccinated, according to CDC data Saturday.
Now the bad news: For the third straight week, new Covid-19 cases and hospitalisations are increasing, according to CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walenky.
"Cases and emergency room visits are up," Walensky said Friday. "We are seeing these increases in younger adults, most of whom have not yet been vaccinated."
The B.1.1.7 variant isn't just more contagious than the original strain of coronavirus -- it's now the dominant strain the US.
Experts say the B.1.1.7 variant might cause more severe disease and may also be more deadlier.
In the past week, the US averaged more than 68,000 new Covid-19 cases every day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
That's up more than 20% since the March 10 seven-day average.
Nationwide, more Americans age 18 to 64 have gone to emergency departments for Covid-19 complications, Walensky said.
She said the trends are "magnified" in one part of the country: the Upper Midwest.
"CDC is working closely with public health officials in this region to understand what is driving these cases and how we can intervene," Walensky said.
'A life and death race'
Florida has the highest number of reported B.1.1.7 cases, according to the CDC, followed by Michigan, which is reporting thousands of new Covid-19 cases daily.
Michigan health officials say they're in the middle of another Covid-19 surge.
"This B.1.1.7 variant...is more contagious, and I think there's just fatigue from this pandemic out there so a lot of people don't wear masks, don't social distance, so we've basically taken a step back in Michigan," said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
"It's really frustrating, because we're almost there," he said. "We have to hang in there for the next two months and we're not doing that."
Some Michigan hospitals are delaying and rescheduling non-emergency procedures on a "case-by-case basis," a spokesperson for the Michigan Health & Hospital Association said.
"Hospitals want everyone to get the care they need and only reschedule procedures as a last resort," John Karasinski said. "We want to stress that hospitals are safe for all who need care and any individual with an emergency medical need should seek care immediately."
In both Michigan and Minnesota, "there is concern about transmission in youth sports -- both club sports, as well as sports affiliated in schools," Walensky said Friday.
Minnesota health officials warned the state was seeing a "sharp increase" in Covid-19 cases, saying it's "more important than ever" to keep wearing a mask and physical distancing.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said the number of Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and ICU admissions in his state are all rising.
"We're moving now in the wrong direction," DeWine said Thursday. "More than half of our counties, 53, have seen increases."
"We can still turn this around if more people continue to get vaccinated," he said. "This is a race. We are in a race. And it's a life-and-death race."
More proof that vaccines are safe and effective
While more young, unvaccinated adults get hospitalised with Covid-19, the number of elderly Americans getting hospitalised or dying from Covid-19 keeps decreasing.
Health experts say that's because elderly people are more likely to be vaccinated than younger...

A dispute over the validity of large numbers of OIA requests is brewing in Hamilton. 
Hamilton city councillor Dave Macpherson says 58 Official Information Act requests from the Taxpayers' Union have cost his council over $61,000.
Taxpayers Union director Jordan Williams told Mike Hosking a majority of the requests are for a vital ratepayers report.
"When councillors are complaining about it and trying to get back at us when we're exposing waste in the council, that's a sign we're doing a good job."
But councillor Macpherson told Mike Hosking council's are becoming increasingly transparent - with OIA's becoming less necessary.
"We have far less items in public excluding then we ever did in the past. Other councils are heading the same way." 
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