The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Southland's Charity Hospital has made an early start before it's even opened by providing colonoscopies in Invercargill.
Founder Melissa Vining has led the fundraising with husband Blair, who died in 2019 after battling cancer.
Vining told Mike Hosking volunteer clinicians have started work with patients because of a shortfall of cancer care.
"We will keep speaking up to create political change so the health system is funded appropriately." 
In the meantime, Vining says doing something is better than doing nothing.
Fundraising for the hospital is ongoing, as operational costs will need to be covered once the hospital officially opens. 
The hospital is expected to open by the end of the year.
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A snap five-day lockdown in Victoria, Australia is set to end on time at midnight thanks to a successive run of low new cases of coronavirus, barring a jump in infections today.
The Herald Sun reports Premier Daniel Andrews and his ministers met last night to thrash out preparations for an exit from stage 4 state-wide restrictions from tomorrow.
Cabinet will meet again this morning when health authorities finalise data on infection rates.
It comes after Andrews yesterday said Victoria was "well-placed to make changes" to restrictions.
Victoria has not recorded any mystery coronavirus cases since the lockdown began on Friday night and experts believe the state is likely to loosen restrictions unless any concerning new cases emerge today.
Melbourne University epidemiologist Professor Tony Blakely told news.com.au it was likely lockdown would end as long as there are no cases identified in anyone outside of the group considered to be close contacts and who had already been quarantining.
"If there is a case in the community and they have not already been identified as a close contact, I think that is a pretty different scenario," he said.
Deakin University Chair in Epidemiology, Professor Catherine Bennett, said coming out of a "circuit breaker" lockdown would be different to when Victoria came out of lockdown following the second wave.
"It's a different scenario, we are not waiting to see how long we need to have zero cases before relaxing restrictions."
This is because a circuit breaker lockdown is mainly designed to give authorities time to make sure that they had got ahead of the virus and could track the spread through contacts.
"They are chasing the virus through a [particular] source."
Bennett said the latest focus would have been on a private dining event in the Melbourne suburb of Coburg, and so far none of the attendees' close contacts had passed the virus on.
"If the virus didn't get through those contacts then it's very unlikely the virus would have been transmitted to even more casual contacts.
"If the infection is not strong enough to infect primary contacts then it's less likely to jump that group. That risk drops away from an outbreak control perspective."
Bennett agrees that unless more cases emerge overnight to change this picture, it's likely Victoria will come out of lockdown.
She said by Wednesday, two average incubation periods would have passed since the Coburg dinner on February 6.
Most people generally become infected and begin to show symptoms within five to six days, she said.

Bennett said it was possible restrictions would return to the level prior to the lockdown because the state had been locked down for five full days, not just three days.
"We have not seen any cases beyond those exposed 11 days ago.
"I hope the restrictions are measured because I think the risk is very small.
"Masks were still in place indoors anyway [prior to lockdown]."
However, Bennett said there could still be limits on people gathering for big events like the Australian Open.
"They might not go back the full step – which might be unfortunate for the tennis, but let's hope it's not too complicated as it is low-risk, the rules might confuse people and so going back to a level people are familiar with [could be appropriate]."
Blakely agrees there could be a significant easing of restrictions. He has also flagged the possibility that restrictions in regional areas may be eased more substantially than in Melbourne.
"I expect a decent amount of opening up — it could possibly go back to what it was before."

Cabinet is preparing for a very difficult decision today over whether to extend Auckland's lockdown.
Ministers will meet at 3pm and Jacinda Ardern is expected to make an announcement on Alert Levels at 4.30 this afternoon.
There are no new community cases beyond the original three family members in south Auckland but officials are still awaiting further test results and trying to determine the source of the cases.
Small Business Minister Stuart Nash told Mike Hosking while he'll be advocating for businesses, cabinet will take a health-based approach.
"We make an assessment based on risks, the health and wellbeing of every Kiwi comes first.
"But if there are no community cases for three days in a row then that's got to look pretty positive." 
National's Mark Mitchell represents the Auckland electorate of Whangaparāoa and hopes the city will move to Alert Level 2. 
But he told Mike Hosking he also supports a health-based approach.
"If you don't know the source and you're not confident that all close contacts have been tested and come back negative, then in my view you'd be forced to stay in Level 3."

Article by CNN: 
Millions of Americans reeling from a deadly storm and massive power outages are about to get walloped by more winter weather.
Already, about 2,000 records for low temperatures have been shattered this past week, CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen said.
On Tuesday alone, at least 20 cities suffered their coldest weather in history. Many more new records are expected this week.
"The next major winter storm develops over the southern Plains Tuesday, spreads across the Mid-South and lower MS Valley through Wednesday before shifting northeast on a similar track to the current storm," the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center tweeted.
"There will be significant travel disruption in both the snow and ice areas with concern for further/extended power outages for areas already (experiencing) power outages."
It's devastating news for millions of Americans still shivering without power after this week's deadly storm paralyzed states not accustomed to frigid weather.
At least 15 people have died in weather-related vehicle crashes since the cold temperatures set in. In Oklahoma alone, 123 people were hospitalized Monday with weather-related injuries.
In North Carolina, at least three people were killed when an overnight tornado shredded parts of Brunswick County. 
Record-breaking snow coverage
More than 73% of the mainland US was covered by snow Tuesday morning, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Water Prediction. 
That's the largest area covered by snow since such records started in 2003. The measurements are based on ground reports as well as airborne and satellite measurements.
As of 6 a.m. Tuesday, snow cover was found in 45 of the 48 states in the continental US.
Florida, Georgia and South Carolina were the only snow-free states.
 
The Northeast is under the gun
The storm that left a trail of destruction in the South this week will move through the Northeast late Tuesday, leaving heavy snow and ice along the way, CNN Meteorologist Tyler Mauldin said.
Millions will endure wind chills below zero through late this week.
"This cold snap is forecast to result in record low temperatures that are comparable to the historical cold snaps of Feb 1899 & 1905," the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.
While temperatures are expected to rise as the system moves, record cold mornings and afternoons will linger through Saturday, Mauldin said.
Heavy snow could reach areas downwind of Lake Erie and Ontario as the system leaves New England on Tuesday evening.
"I'm almost certain that we are slowly watching one of the first billion-dollar weather disaster of 2021 unfold," Mauldin said.
 
What's next for the states already hammered
A weather system that's been dumping cold precipitation on the West Coast is heading to the South, Maudlin said.
Seattle reported more than 11 inches of snow over the weekend, the most since January 1972.
And parts of Wyoming got hit with more than 4 feet of snow in just a few days.
Dangerous wind chills have been recorded in Colarado and Kansas, according to the National Weather Service in Pueblo, Colorado.
Wind chills ranging from 42 degrees below zero near Yuma, Colorado, to 25 below near Norton, Kansas, were reported this week.
More than 6 inches of snow has fallen from East Texas to Ohio, with some areas picking up more than a foot.
Oklahoma City has gone a record five days without climbing over 20 degrees. That record will likely stretch until Thursday, or nine days.
 
No power, no running water
Plunging temperatures have frozen or overworked power sources, leaving nearly 5 million people in the dark as of early Tuesday morning.
In Abilene, Texas, about 123,000 residents are also without water due to power outages. All three water treatment plants in the city had to...

The Transport Minister says he deliberately chose not to mince his words in a scathing letter over the state of Wellington's $6.4 billion transport plan.
Michael Wood sent a letter to those in charge of Let's Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) after an internal review revealed the project that's meant to tackle the city's growing congestion is at risk of failing.
He told them the situation is "unacceptable".
But Michael Wood is less interested in finger-pointing than he is in getting LGWM actually moving.
After demanding officials come up with a plan to resolve weaknesses within a fortnight, Wood has also asked for regular progress reports to come straight to his desk.
LGWM is a three-way partnership between Wellington City Council, Greater Wellington Regional Council, and Waka Kotahi NZTA.
The plan includes doubling the Mt Victoria Tunnel, mass rapid transit from the city to the airport, bus priority, and better walking and cycling.
An internal review, publicly released last week, found LGWM has leadership problems, a detrimental culture, is inadequately resourced, and ultimately at risk of failing to deliver.
Wood sent a very frank letter to the LGWM Partnership Board saying the issues are "unacceptable".
"Wellingtonians have been waiting too long on progress to unlock our capital city's potential", Wood wrote.
Asked today what message Wood wanted to send in the letter he said: "I chose not to mince my words quite deliberately".
"I think the views of people in Wellington are really clear on this, that after quite a long time in digestion, after a lot of consultation, it is time to move on to delivering projects that are needed to give people in Wellington real transport choices."
He thought the message was received well and confirmed he has spoken to both Greater Wellington Regional Council chairman Daran Ponter and Mayor Andy Foster.
Wood has given the Board two weeks to come up with a plan to sort things out, including recruiting staff, a strategic communications plan, and improving the culture and cohesion of the team.
He said he would need to see a meaningful and specific response to weaknesses identified in the review to give him confidence the project was under control.
The main thing that concerned him in the review was the lack of cohesion, Wood said."People are still seeing themselves as working for one of the three entities, I think if we get that fixed, that's going to go a long way to resolving some of the other issues.
"We need to make sure this is a project which has strong cohesion in which people are working together and aren't siloed in their separate agencies."
Wood also wanted to see a clear plan from officials around implementing "low hanging fruit"- projects around walking, cycling, and public transport.
Following the impending meeting Wood said he would put in place "very regular" reporting straight to his desk so he knows exactly what's happening.
Asked whether the LGWM programme director should resign over the situation, the Minister said any matters of employment were for the governance entity to make and not for him.
"Everyone has to take accountability for the fact that we haven't had the delivery that we want. I'm mainly focused on how we get things moving now rather than finger pointing."
In September last year LGWM programme director Andrew Body confirmed the project was undertaking an internal review.
Conducted by three independent reviewers, focused on governance, a gap assessment, people and culture, the baseline programme, and systems and processes.
The review was considered a standard process for a project of LGWM's size.

Chinese New Zealanders fear for their safety and many had to change the way they live to avoid discrimination because of their ethnicity amid the Covid-19 pandemic, a new report finds.
The report by the Human Rights Commission, Racism and Xenophobia Experiences in Aoteaora during Covid-19: A Focus on Chinese and Asian Communities, found four in 10 respondents experienced discrimination since the beginning of the pandemic.
But the rates were higher for tangata whenua (55 per cent), Chinese (54 per cent), Pacific (50 per cent), and Asian (49 per cent) respondents.
Chinese respondents reported much greater concerns about their personal safety compared with others.
About half the Chinese, Asian, and Māori respondents said the discrimination they experienced had a negative impact on their mental wellbeing and their sense of belonging in New Zealand.
"The pandemic feeds fear, which in turn is manifesting itself in racism and discrimination. We must not forget that the virus is the problem and not people, especially as we find ourselves in Covid lockdown again," race relations commissioner Meng Foon said.
Most common forms of discrimination reported by respondents were online abuse and being stared at in public.
They also experienced being excessively avoided beyond the usual social distancing and receiving negative comments or abuse in person.
Many said they had to change their behaviour to avoid discrimination, like choosing to stay home and keeping away from groups of people.
"No one should have to change their behaviour to avoid risking discrimination, made to feel they don't belong, worry about their public safety, or experience negative mental wellbeing because of discrimination or racism," Foon said.
"Everyone deserves to be treated well, to live in a safe community, free from discrimination, and to live a life of dignity."
The commissioner said it was an "unfortunate byproduct" of Covid-19 that certain groups are blamed and vilified for their perceived role in the outbreak.
"Whether it was Pacific people in the resurgence last year or New Zealanders returning home from overseas, there is a racialising of this disease that is discriminatory," he said.
Foon said we all have a responsibility to ensure workplaces, public spaces and communities are safe and free from discrimination.
Respondents were recruited online by Nielsen's external panel partners, Dynata and Toluna and 1904 people aged 18 years and over were quizzed for the survey.
Nearly one in five said they experienced more discrimination since the start of the outbreak despite going out less and Chinese respondents were more than twice as likely as others to say they have experienced this.
Nearly half or 47 per cent of Chinese respondents reported knowing of a friend or family member who received verbal abuse in a public space, compared with just 17 per cent among the whole sample.
Also nearly half, or 46 per cent, said that this had a negative impact on their mental wellbeing, and 40 per cent said that it had a negative impact on their sense of belonging in New Zealand.
Chinese, Asian and Māori respondents reported much greater concerns about their personal safety compared with New Zealand Europeans.
More than four in 10 Chinese respondents had personal concerns about their own safety and about how their loved ones will be treated.
Half of the respondents were unsure of how to support themselves or others going through these experiences.Foon said the findings highlighted the importance of data collection and reporting by the police of hate incidents that are potentially motivated by racism to help design prevention strategies.
The commission, alongside the Government, was developing a national action plan against racism.
"Now more than ever, we need an urgent government plan to address institutional and interpersonal racism against Māori, ethnic and some...

THE BEST BITS IN A SILLIER PACKAGE (from Wednesday's Mike Hosking Breakfast) The Price to Play/Nothing Worse Than Losing to the Aussies/That Wraps it Up for Democracy

There have been no new positive Covid cases overnight, Covid-19 Minister Chris Hipkins said today, hours ahead of Cabinet's decision on the fate of New Zealand's alert-levels.
"I haven't been notified of any positive cases overnight," Hipkins told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking.
"We'll get the overnight bench testing results about nine o'clock this morning as they normally come in and the fact that we haven't been notified of any new cases is very encouraging. Our goal here was a short, sharp response. It looks like at this point like that's been effective. We'll have more information as the day unfolds but I'm optimistic at this point."
The latest news comes as experts debate the Government's next moves, with one prominent epidemiologist urging caution - a move to level 2.5 for Auckland - while one economist/modeller believes concerns over a community outbreak have been a possible "false alarm".
Hipkins told Hosking said he was "optimistic" the three Auckland family cases had been contained, but he was not going to pre-empt any Cabinet decision to downgrade Auckland's level-3 lockdown or the rest of NZ's level-2 alert level.
Asked by Hosking if another day of zero cases meant the country was done and could get out of the alert levels, Hipkins said: "I wouldn't go that far - there's still a few pieces of the puzzle that Cabinet will want to weigh up including the fact that we haven't got a confirmed source for this group of cases."
Hipkins told MediaWorks officials were still looking at a set of "highly unlikely" sources of the infection.
The mother in the Auckland family - one of the three positive cases - works at an airline food and laundry supplier on the airport precinct but is not airside, while the daughter, who attends Papatoetoe High School, actually showed first symptoms.
"We may never be able to nail it down," Hipkins said.
If any close contacts proved positive and the chain of transmission was clear and there was not much risk it had been passed to others, then this would make a difference to any potential changes in the alert levels.

"It came out of nowhere and there was no clearly identified source," Hipkins said in justifying the lockdown.
He told MediaWorks New Zealand's first batch of vaccinations would go ahead on Saturday. It would be ramped up over the week.
Hipkins said fewer than 100 people would be vaccinated at the weekend. These would be border workers most at risk of contracting Covid.
The latest Covid update will be officially released by the Ministry of Health at 1pm before Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her Cabinet meet at 3pm. Ardern is scheduled to advise the Government's decision at 4.30pm.
Cabinet will be examining a number of key issues, such as the all-important Papatoetoe High School test results and any further clues as to the source of the outbreak.
The later meeting time means ministers will have examined the most up-to-date information on the latest community outbreak and experts' advice.

As Cabinet mulls its decision, one expert is calling for the Government to place Auckland into alert level 2.5, rather than pulling the alert level back down to 1 or 2.
Epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker was optimistic about the numbers yesterday but warned that Auckland was not ready to go straight down to level 1 or 2 just yet.
Rather, reinstating "alert level 2.5" would allow Auckland to largely reopen for business, while continuing restrictions aimed at disrupting the potential Covid chain of transmission.
Economist Rodney Jones believes the lockdown has been a possible "false alarm".
"If it's zero cases again tomorrow this has been a false alarm – no worse than Northland," Jones told Stuff, referring to another recent case in which a woman tested positive for Covid after her 14 days at the Pullman Hotel managed isolation facility. That case did not lead to a community outbreak.

Let’s Get Wellington Moving might be the biggest oxymoron of the recent age.
A six and a half billion dollar dream that is in tatters, confirmed by the obligatory review that tells us such, as a result of the report out Friday everyone is now freaking out.
How is it this country, through local government ineptitude, has become so broken?
I note the Auckland Council has voted unanimously to remain a climate change group. And that’s councils, isn’t it, in a nutshell? If it involves symbolistic nonsense that actually goes nowhere and achieves nothing, they’re in like robbers dogs.
When it comes to hard graft, real world decisions, inevitably when they’re made, they’re a mess.
The irony of the climate change vote in Auckland is I would have thought emissions are way down given so many have given up on the city.
People are moving out. Those that live here don’t go downtown. Employment drags the rest of the country down, growth is troubled compared to the rest of the nation, navigating the place is a nightmare and the stuff they’re trying to do - the CRL, the Watercare projects - don’t have the staff, so they’re poaching each other, are over budget and behind schedule.
Meantime in Dunedin, the water freaks the bejesus out of people, Tauranga has the commissioners, and poor old Wellington has water sludge and muck running through the streets a massive rate rise coming.
And now a report that shows that a gargantuan utopian dream based largely on theory not reality is a complete and utter bust
A series of ideas that the real world doesn’t want, won’t use and therefore the inevitable outcome emerges when the reports are conducted
Have a look at the Herald a week or so back they did a piece of downtown Auckland and what’s gone wrong, the things that might have been, that never were and most likely never will be - Wellington is the same.
That’s the countries two biggest cities. The economic engine room and the capital, both broken, both off track, both behind, both broke.
Now many reports like the LGWM one do we need before someone introduces a bit of reality to our future? Surely even the biggest apologist for this nonsense must now realise the price has been too high to achieve so little.
 
 

Britain's newly established quarantine hotels received their first guests on Monday as the government tries to prevent new coronavirus variants from derailing a fast-moving vaccination drive that has delivered more than 15 million shots in ten weeks.
Passengers arriving at London's Heathrow Airport were escorted by security guards to buses that took them to nearby hotels.
Britain has given a first dose of coronavirus vaccine to almost a quarter of its population, but health officials are concerned that vaccines may not work as well on some new strains of the virus, including one first identified in South Africa.
UK journalist Rob Liddle joined Mike Hosking to discuss UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's hesitancy to move the nation out of lockdown and the UK's vaccine roll-out. 
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