The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Former Vice President Mike Pence has a book deal. His autobiography, currently untitled, is scheduled to come out in 2023.
“I am grateful to have the opportunity to tell the story of my life in public service to the American people, from serving in Congress, to the Indiana Governor’s office and as Vice President of the United States,” Pence said in a statement. “I look forward to working with the outstanding team at Simon & Schuster to invite readers on a journey from a small town in Indiana to Washington, DC.”
According to Pence’s agent, David Vigliano, “all major publishers” competed for the book, and the deal was worth “well into seven figures.” A top editor from a rival publishing house confirmed that amount. The editor was not authorized to discuss negotiations and asked not to be identified.
Simon & Schuster announced Wednesday that it also signed Pence to a second book but did not immediately provide details. Pence is the first major Trump administration official to have an announced deal since the president left office in January, although former White House advisor Kellyanne Conway and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are among those reportedly working on books.
At this time in 2017, former President Barack Obama; former first lady Michelle Obama; former Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden; and former Secretary of State John Kerry were among the recently departed Obama administration officials who had agreed to book deals. Several top publishing executives have told The Associated Press that they were not interested in a Trump memoir, citing the siege of the US Capitol on Jan. 6 by Trump’s supporters. Publishers also have expressed wariness about other members of the Trump administration, worrying about a backlash from readers, authors and employees.
A Pence memoir will likely be subject to similar tensions the former Vice President has faced since he refused then-President Donald Trump’s demands that he help overturn the election results. Among Democrats and others who opposed Trump, Pence is widely seen as Trump’s loyal and complicit ally. Meanwhile, Trump supporters, and Trump himself, denounced him for not intervening Jan. 6 in Congress’ formal certification of Biden’s presidential victory.
The certification — which Pence had no power to change — was delayed for hours after hundreds of Trump supporters, some chanting “Hang Mike Pence,” stormed the U.S. Capitol.
Simon & Schuster Vice President and Publisher Dana Canedy said that Pence’s book would be “revelatory,” without specifically saying whether he would address the events of Jan. 6.
“Vice President Pence’s life and work, his journey as a Christian, the challenges and triumphs he has faced, and the lessons he has learned, tells an American story of extraordinary public service during a time of unrivaled public interest in our government and politics,” Canedy said. “His revelatory autobiography will be the definitive book on one of the most consequential presidencies in American history.”
A Simon & Schuster spokesperson declined comment on what Pence planned to say about Jan. 6, and referred back to Canedy’s statement.
The signing of Pence comes three months after Simon & Schuster dropped a book by Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who had supported the rally in Washington which preceded the overrunning of the Capitol. Simon & Schuster has published several anti-Trump books over the past two years, including former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s “The Room Where It Happened” and niece Mary Trump’s “Too Much and Never Enough.” Its other authors have included Trump supporter Sean Hannity; the candidate Trump defeated in 2016, Hillary Clinton, and Trump himself.
Pence's book deal continues the former vice president's re-emergence since January. On Wednesday, he launched an advocacy group, Advancing American Freedom, which will promote the Trump administration's record and could serve...

Here is how we end up in a mess. This is a case study.
We end the week understanding that the vaccine roll out is not going to plan, but then part of the lesson is that it was never going to.
The leaked paper showed us we are hundreds of thousands of jabs short of where we should have been. We also now know there are 300,000 doses waiting to be used, and under half the vaccinators are actually vaccinating. This too should not be a surprise, doesn’t make it right, but it shouldn’t be a surprise.
This is merely an extension of what has already played out over the last year.
To put it into a simple sentence, if it’s the Ministry of Health in charge of it, it'll be cocked up. From the very beginning of Covid, they have been found wanting.
From the PPE, to the flu jab last season, to the testing kits that weren't there, to the Measles export to the Islands and the ensuing fury, to the MIQ leaks, the appalling track and tracing that had us in lockdown, and not tracking and tracing as we should.
Sir Brian Roche and Heather Simpson spelt it out in their report released on the eve of Christmas so we wouldn’t notice. The review done just a week or so back into one of the last major lockdowns spelt it out. All the processes that weren't followed, the advice that wasn’t sought, it’s the same story every time.
And now the vaccine.
Here's the real problem, Ashley Bloomfield.
Because the Prime Minister didn’t have a clue what she was doing at the start of all this, she hooked into Bloomfield. It's what Labour governments do. Because they don’t come from business, the real world, or have any experience outside university or unions they rely heavily on wonks.
Bloomfield was Ardern's wonk.
Trouble was once we fell in love with Bloomfield, she couldn’t ditch him, she couldn't do what she really needed to do. Also, because she has no backbone and has never sacked a person.
So, the bumbling and stumbling began and hasn’t let up for over a year.
Bloomfield got beatified. He became the media influencer, the star of dance videos, friend of Jimmy Neesham, and charity rugby player. He made himself indispensable, at least politically.
So, the fact we sit here in April of 2021 unable to jab people, actually started as a problem in March of 2020.
By making the critical error to anoint a bloke who isn't up to much, nice and personable, but not up to much, we sunk ourselves.
Ardern having made the error is now trapped, so she's spent the year defending the indefensible.
It would have helped if Bloomfield was a David Clark type figure. Bit removed, bit arrogant, and not really liked. But he wasn’t, he turned out to be a good bloke.
But he's still hopeless. That is why we are where we are, it's why it won't change, and it’s the quintessential example of this simple truism.
If you cock it up on day one, and refuse to acknowledge the mistake, you never really recover.

Taxpayer spending on housing support is a big ticket that's only going to get even bigger in the years ahead.
The Government is now spending a billion dollars on housing every three months.
The figure includes rent subsidies, grants and emergency housing.
Bagrie Economics founder Cameron Bagrie told Mike Hosking  at the current rate, the figure is likely to jump to around five billion a year by 2025.
He says this will no doubt hurt future generations - but the issue is certainly not new, and highlights the severity of the housing crisis.
Bagrie says the cost has jumped from about $2 billion in 2016.
LISTEN ABOVE

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is not ruling out extending the unprecedented Indian travel suspension to other high-risk countries in order to keep New Zealand Covid-free.
She, and her director general of health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, were yesterday at pains to point out that outside New Zealand's borders, Covid-19 is ravaging countries such as Brazil and the US.
Keeping New Zealand's Covid-free status was a key reason Ardern announced there will be a two-week suspension of all travel from India to New Zealand.
New Zealanders currently in India will not be able to return home between April 11 and April 28.
Covid Response Minister Chris Hopkins said this morning it was a "last resort".
There were a large number of infected cases coming in from the sub-continent and it was "justified for a short time", he told Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB.
He said officials would look at what more could be done on either side of the border to protect New Zealanders from infected cases, including examining pre-departure testing in India.
"So we can look at should the requirement be closer to the point of departure, are there other forms of testing we could do in India," said Hipkins.
A security guard at the Grand Millennium MIQ yesterday tested positive for Covid-19.
Hipkins told Hosking that health staff would be going "line by line" through lists of contracted employees to see if everyone had been vaccinated.
The security guard was a contracted worker, not a government employee.
"This is a very clear case of a person that should have been vaccinated," Hipkins said.
"They had several opportunities to be vaccinated, they didn't take up those opportunities so we need to understand why that was. Ultimately we're getting into that phase where those people won't be working at the border any more."
He said expectations of contracted workers in MIQ were clear when it came to vaccinations.
However, rates of vaccinations appeared to be lower in the "fluid" contracted border workforce, with Hipkins saying this was due to rosters and the casual nature of jobs.
The Government would now be working with the contractors to make sure the health requirements were clear, including plans for what happens to staff who were not or did not plan to be vaccinated.

THE BEST BITS IN A SILLIER PACKAGE (from Friday's Mike Hosking Breakfast) Just Jab/Power's Too Pricey/So Is Everything Else/Mark the Week/Warriors Comeback

One of New Zealand's early reality TV hits is making a comeback - with some globally recognised talent fronting it. 
Kimbra burst onto the scene back in 2011 when she released her debut album Vows, before going on to duet with Gotye on Somebody That I Used to Know - which won her two Grammys.
Since then, she's released two further albums - and now she's back in the country as a judge for the re-launch of TVNZ's original show, Popstar.
She joined Mike Hosking in studio to discuss her amazing career and what drew her towards being a reality TV judge.
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A chance for small businesses to save some cash, and help the environment at the same time.
The Government has announced a climate action toolbox to help small businesses become more climate friendly.
It includes advice for things like switching to electric vehicles, and converting to clean energy.
The development was lead by Sustainable Business Network's Phil Jones, who told Mike Hosking there are about 40 other actions businesses can take.
"Over ten years, [a printing business in Auckland] calculated that they've had a net benefit of $500,000 from a whole range of energy efficiency and improvement actions."
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Education NZ Chief Executive Grant McPherson told Mike Hosking that it's expected to take ten years to fix our international education sector, which has been severely damaged from Covid.
“For us to rebuild the sector, you’re looking at multiple years to fill the pipeline again,” said McPherson.
A contributing factor to this is the options that international students have, where they could study in other countries over New Zealand.
Students are desperate to study here compared to the other options.
"We do believe that there’s still students who want to come, it’s just the speed at which  they can get here. It’s their own decision making really.”
McPherson expects that we won't be left behind in rebuilding our sector if other countries open up earlier.
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Turns out we need to offer an apology to Barry Soper.
Barry ruined my day yesterday. There I was, sitting down to a small plate of my favourite artichoke dip, some French stick, and an espresso when his voice penetrates the kitchen conversation with the mention of my name.
He was addressing the interview with the Prime Minister, but also comments I had made earlier on the programme about the media and MIQ and the shrinking of the spaces available.
I argue that part of the story was a bigger deal than the bubble itself, given the bubble was about as sign posted and telegraphed as you could ever possibly have wanted. The bubble wasn't new, we just got a date.
What we didn’t know, was that the 40 percent of rooms the Australian connection took up, would probably not be freed up to bring in all those that had been locked out.
Everyone from ex-pats stuck, RSE workers we so desperately need, the relatives of those already here working to help our economy and yet prevented from bringing in their wives, husbands and kids. That was the big deal about the bubble, all this MIQ space that would solve so many problems.
But low and behold nothing of the sort was going to come to pass.
I asked why the media was asleep. Why, when the story was fed to them, did they miss it? Why are so many in the media asleep at the wheel? People like Barry don't take kindly to stuff like that.
But he did say, and this is why he deserves the apology, you can't be someone like me, banging on about the media not doing their job, then interview the Prime Minister but not want her back on your programme because she doesn’t answer the questions. You can't have it both ways.
Barry, of course, is right. I can't ban Ardern, leave her to others, and then complain others aren't doing their job. If I have the opportunity, the least I can do is my part, and have that part open to scrutiny.
You can't criticise from the sidelines, you've got to be in the scrum with everyone else.
The life lesson here is the best argument of all is the argument of logic and Barry wins this one on logic.
So Barry, I am sorry. You are right it behoves me to participate as much as anyone else.
Ironically what he was doing in calling me out was exactly what I was doing to others. What is good for the goose, as they say.

Italian restaurant owners and others angry at having their businesses shut for weeks due to a virus lockdown clashed with police Tuesday local time during a protest outside Parliament in Rome, while in the south, hundreds of demonstrators blocked a major highway.
One officer was injured in the scuffling, the Italian news agency LaPresse said. RAI state TV said seven protesters were detained by police.
Many in the crowd of a few hundred protesters outside the Chamber of Deputies lowered their masks to shout "Work!" and "Freedom!" Some hurled smoke flares or other objects.
Dining and drinking at restaurants, bars and cafes is currently banned through at least April. Only takeout or delivery services are permitted.
Officers charged some protesters after they tried to breach a police cordon. Members of a far-right political group joined the business owners at the protest, according to the Italian news agency ANSA.
Among the demonstrators was Hermes Ferrari, owner of a restaurant in Modena, a city in northern Italy. He boasted that he has defied authorities for months in opening his establishment to diners in breach of government decrees.
Even as the fines piled up "I was able to pay my workers," Ferrari said, by keeping the business open.
Ferrari shouted to fellow restaurant owners at the protest to follow his lead.
"You have to open because nobody can tell you to close," he yelled.
Italy's current and previous governments have allocated millions of euros in aid to categories particularly hard-hit by pandemic restrictions.
The business owners insist they need to re-open permanently. Restaurants and cafes in regions with lower incidence of cases and less critically impacted hospital ICUs — so-called yellow zones — have been allowed at times to have sit-down dining and drinking before evening.
But a current surge in infections, driven mainly by virus variants, has seen daily new caseloads in the tens of thousands and hundreds of COVID-19 deaths a day now for months. That prompted the Italian government to temporarily eliminate the yellow zone designation from before the Easter holidays through the rest of April.
Expressing solidarity with the injured police officer, Interior Ministry Undersecretary Carlo Sibilia said "violence won't be tolerated."
Still, Sibilia, from the populist 5-Star Movement, called on the government, besides concentrating on the vaccine rollout, to provide "immediately, new compensatory funds for economic activities closed or penalized by the recent restrictions."
Sibilia pressed for government guarantees of loans, a moratorium on mortgage payments, a stop to evictions, and compensation for income lost due to COVID-19 measures.
Hours earlier, near the southern city of Caserta, another protest blocked traffic on the A1 Highway. Among the hundreds of demonstrators were those who work in outdoor markets and owners of gyms and restaurants, the Italian news agency LaPresse said. Gyms have been closed for months.
Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese decried as unacceptable protests that turn violent or that inconvenience citizens.