The Mike Hosking Breakfast

New Zealand's economy shrank sharply in the last quarter of 2020 according to new data from StatsNZ.
The 1 per cent drop in gross domestic product (GDP) in the December 2020 quarter was worse than expected.
Mike Hosking is joined by Tim Wilson and Kate Hawkesby to discuss the latest economic data, along with wrapping the rest of the week in news.
LISTEN ABOVE.

It's unknown whether microplastic fragments in fish tissue are dangerous to humans.
Experiments by NIWA and Auckland University have revealed microplastics fragments fish eat - move through the gut lining and into muscle tissue.
Nanogirl Michelle Dickinson told Mike Hosking it's still too early to know whether this affects people who eat the fish.
"All we know is the more microplastics a fish eats, the more ends up in muscle, which we eat."
NIWA fisheries scientist Dr Darren Parsons, who oversaw the study, says it's likely we already eat small amounts.
He says this study just proves it is possible for the microplastics to be in the muscle.
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The Government is proposing giving the Director General of Health control over all water fluoridation decisions, rather than leaving it up to councils or DHBs.
Sir Peter Gluckman says the Government's latest moves on water fluoridation are a win for science.
John Key's former chief science advisor is welcoming a new proposal, to hand fluoridation decisions over to Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield.
The decision is currently made by local city and district councillors.
Sir Peter told Mike Hosking it would be good to see decisions being made based on science.
He says we already wear seatbelts and put iodine in salt - and adding fluoride to water is no different to that.
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A baby has been born with Covid-19 antibodies in the United States, weeks after her mother was vaccinated against the disease.
The new born baby's mother received her first dose of the vaccine in late December.
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia paediatrics expert Dustin Flannery told Mike Hosking it's still unknown how much protection the baby has against the virus.
He says with other protections, the maternal antibodies only last in new born babies for a couple of months.
"Vaccine antibodies are often transferred from mother to baby during pregnancy. It's still unclear how long the antibodies stay in the system.
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At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all.
The America's Cup.
9/10.
"Yet again a spectacle, yet again a victory, yet again New Zealand on the map to the world.
Not just for sport, but for the tech, design, imagination, and determination."
The Trans-Tasman Bubble.
6/10.
"Only because it's finally coming.
Not for the palaver we've seen leading up to it."
Nicola Willis.
7/10.
"Spoke for many when she talked of Wellington and safety. It's more than women being unsafe and it's more than Wellington.
The pressure needs to be put on to do something about it."
GDP Number.
2/10.
"Not only was it bad, it was worse than anyone saw coming.
The government are being shockingly exposed for their economic management, or lack of it."
Treasury Advice over Ihumatao Deal.
1/10.
"It was a scam, it was a work around, it was money from houses for a political cock up of the Prime Minister's making.
And with significant Treaty implications despite what they will try and spin."
Queenstown.
8/10.
"I'd like to think most of us support them, like them, want them to do well, and the stories this week of hate came from the same usual handful of losers."
Bottomless Brunches.
3/10.
"Call me old fashioned but wanting to get pissed before lunch is low rent."
The Warriors.
8/10.
"One from one, you cannot get a better start. Every try had a conversion and we beat a side that was backed as being good.
This is our year.
Zoi Sadowski Synnott.
8/10.
"A stunning week at the Snowboard World Championships and a reminder that not all great sport has grass or water."
LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW

Asian Americans were already worn down by a year of pandemic-fueled racist attacks when a white gunman was charged with killing eight people, most of them Asian women, at three Atlanta-area massage parlors.
Hundreds of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders turned to social media to air their anger, sadness, fear and hopelessness. The hashtag #StopAsianHate was a top trending topic on Twitter hours after the shootings that happened Tuesday evening.
“I think the reason why people are feeling so hopeless is because Asian Americans have been ringing the bell on this issue for so long. ... We’ve been raising the red flag,” said Aisha Yaqoob Mahmood, executive director of the Atlanta-based Asian American Advocacy Fund, which does political and advocacy work across Georgia.
Many were also outraged that the suspect, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long, was not immediately charged with hate crimes. Authorities said Long told police the attack was not racially motivated, and he claimed that he targeted the spas because of a “sex addiction." Six of the seven slain women were identified as Asian.
Law enforcement needs “some training understanding what a hate crime is," said Margaret Huang, president and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups. "This man identified targets owned by Asians.”
The gunman “was very clearly going after a targeted group of people,” Huang said.
Being Asian American herself, Huang said the shootings felt personal. She is worried that not classifying the attack as a hate crime will “absolutely discourage others from coming forward and seeking help.”
She also cringed at the comments of a sheriff's captain who said of the gunman, “It was a really bad day for him.”
The remark “appeared to be trying to explain and justify” the suspect's actions. "Hopefully it was a misstatement,” Huang said.
Since then, it has come out that a Facebook account tied to Cherokee County sheriff’s Capt. Jay Baker promoted a T-shirt with racist language about China and the coronavirus last year. The account was deleted Wednesday night. Asian American activists say it undermines public trust in the investigation. Baker did not respond to voicemails and an email requesting comment on the Facebook post. The sheriff’s office also did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Mahmood said Asian American business owners in the Atlanta area were already fearful because of incidents like graffiti and break-ins. The shootings will raise that worry to new heights.
“A lot of Asian American business owners in the beauty parlor industry and food service — these are often the most visible front-line faces in the community,” Mahmood said.
Her organization is partnering with other groups such as the Atlanta chapter of Asian Americans Advancing Justice to offer resources in multiple languages, including mental health assistance, self-defense training and bystander training.
Meanwhile, from Phoenix to Philadelphia, Asian American organizations nationwide organized events aimed at showing unity.
Asian Americans United, the Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance and several other partner groups held a vigil Wednesday afternoon in Philadelphia's Chinatown neighborhood.
“After the month and year we had, we knew our folks needed the time to come together safely just to grieve and heal and mourn and speak to what’s happening,” said Mohan Seshadri, Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance co-executive director.
As much despair as Asian Americans feel, Seshadri said, the shootings also mark a flashpoint.
“Our folks are pissed off and ready to fight,” Seshadri said. “The way we get through this is together by organizing our people and feeling solidarity.”
Arizona Asian Chamber of Commerce CEO Vicente Reid is planning a vigil next week in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa, which has a high concentration of Asian American-owned shops and restaurants. He thinks...

Talk of key Team New Zealand personnel getting raided for the 37th America's Cup could prove unfounded.
The government has pledged $5 million to retain key sailors and designers in the interim, as long as the holders commit to racing the next event on home waters.
Luna Rossa co-helmsman Jimmy Spithill told Mike Hosking it'll take more than money to shift Peter Burling and Blair Tuke.
"You really see they have an attachment to New Zealand.
"Their purpose of trying to use this platform to identify their nature and the oceans, in a lot of ways it reminds me of Peter Blake.”
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Well, if you thought there might be a bit of doubt around the bubble, that got put to bed with the GDP figure.
This government responds to pressure. And the pressure now has become embarrassing. It's come from Scott Morrison, to the airports, to business, to National and their petition,  all of whom are either perplexed or over waiting for this thing to be real.
This government also hates bad press. A GDP at minus 1 percent for the December quarter is not only worse than all the forecasters predicted, it's an economic disaster. A bubble is a solid way to get some positive headlines and tackle a seriously damaged economy.
The beauty of the GDP is you can't argue with it. This is government's economic report card. The health side of Covid is, at least, partly emotive. What might have happened, the ICUs that could have been flooded, the deaths that may have unfolded. This is what they have played on, and now sadly for all of us it's coming home to roost in the bottom line.
Australia, dare we compare, for we must, because they are our closest friends, competitors, and allies, got a GDP figure for the same period of plus 3.1 percent. It's a startling and embarrassing gap, actually gulf would be more accurate.
But closing your economy down less, by not letting fear overwhelm you, they struck a better balance. By taking the singular approach ideological approach we did, obsessing about handfuls of cases, we panicked, and this is the price you pay.
Here's what's worse, a lot of us have been saying this for a year. This was entirely predictable, and it never had to be this way or this bad.
The spin you hear from this government about us being the best, wasn’t, and now is proven simply not to be true.
The end of last year, which included Christmas, was bad. And take the first quarter of this year, which we are just concluding, the quarter with the lockdowns in the biggest city. So, as sure as night follows day, this quarter will be as bad, if not worse than the one we've just got.
And that is a recession.
Westpac were forecasting a recession out of quarters one and two this year. We haven't even got to two yet. The hope, the upside, is one can but pray that reality smacks the government in the face, they finally realise the damage they're doing and address it.
The bubble would be a decent first step, cynical political move, or not.

THE BEST BITS IN A SILLIER PACKAGE (from Friday's Mike Hosking Breakfast) Bad News Friday/Jab Away/Mark the Week/You Bought What?/Now That Sounds Like a Good Doco

New Zealand's economy will continue to be volatile for some time but it is travelling in the right direction, Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson says.
Speaking to Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB this morning Robertson said he had been heartened by the market reaction to yesterday's GDP figures which showed the economy went backwards by 1 per cent in the December quarter.
"Most people have recognised it for what it is, that the overall momentum in the New Zealand economy is still there but we are going to see a bit of turbulence.
"We have still had a good recovery but we obviously have to recognise that Covid is still around causing disruptions in things like supply chain and elsewhere that will take some toll. I still think the direction of travel is the right one."
Robertson wouldn't be drawn on predictions by some economists that New Zealand is already in a second recession.
"I'm not going to make a prediction on that because there is so much volatility but obviously if we look back at coming out of the global financial crisis we actually did see a double-dip."
Robertson said normally the first quarter of the year which ends on March 31 saw a lot of international tourists visiting New Zealand.
"We haven't had them this time around. On the flipside of that, we have got strong construction activity still going on there are other sectors that are doing ok. We will wait and see but we are coming off the back of a significant hit on the global economy."
He said relative to the rest of the world New Zealand was still standing up well.
"But we aren't and I have never pretended this would be a linear piece of travel for the country. It is going to bounce around a bit, that is what we are experiencing now."
Westpac economists have predicted the second quarter of this year will also see New Zealand's economy go backwards.
Robertson said there were a variety of predictions for the economy from the bank economists.
"If you look at the predictions made for this quarter they were both wide-ranging and not necessarily accurate. That is the nature of the situation we are in now.
"I still think and I think the commentators are all agreeing we have done well, there is a turbulent period that we are going through we have got investments rolling out through things like infrastructure and construction. We are seeing strong levels of confidence among retailers and so on but it is bumpy. It is just the reality of the Covid world we are living in."
While New Zealand's economy went backwards in the fourth quarter Australia's GDP rose 3.1 per cent.
Robertson said it was not a competition and both countries had been ahead or behind of each other at various stages over the last year.
"You can look at it different ways both countries are doing well and that is actually good for our economy."
Robertson said a transtasman travel bubble between the countries would help but would not be a silver bullet.
"It would help boost confidence in sectors that have been struggling and are struggling. It would also allow a lot of people to reunite with their families which I think is something that would be welcomed."
But he wouldn't be drawn on a date. "We are getting there, we are close. I think the prime minister's word was soon and I would back that."
Robertson said the Government was operating in a different situation than pre-Christmas when there was talk of the travel bubble opening by the end of the first quarter.
"We have been working very hard to come up with an arrangement that was a set of shared protocols and frameworks and understandings so there was one framework in place. The Aussies took a different approach on that.
"We have recalibrated, we are going to be able to deal with this. But it isn't as easy as it might appear on the surface. Australia deals with one country. New Zealand has to deal with a number of different states who have...