The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Hundreds more hospitals around the country began dispensing COVID-19 shots to their workers in a rapid expansion of the U.S. vaccination drive Tuesday, while a second vaccine moved to the cusp of government authorisation.
A day after the rollout of Pfizer-BioNTech's coronavirus shots, the Food and Drug Administration said its preliminary analysis confirmed the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine developed by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health. A panel of outside experts is expected to recommend the formula on Thursday, with the FDA's green light coming soon thereafter.
The Moderna vaccine uses the same technology as Pfizer-BioNTech's and showed similarly strong protection against COVID-19 but is easier to handle because it does not need to be kept in the deep freeze at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 70 Celsius).
Another weapon against the outbreak can't come soon enough: The number of dead in the U.S. passed a staggering 300,000 on Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University, with about 2,400 people now dying per day on average.
The devastating toll is only expected to grow in the coming weeks, fueled by travel over Christmas and New Year's, family gatherings and lax adherence to mask-wearing and other precautions.
Packed in dry ice, shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine began arriving Tuesday at more than 400 additional hospitals and other distribution sites.
The first 3 million shots are being strictly rationed to front-line health workers and nursing home patients, with hundreds of millions more shots needed over the coming months to protect most Americans.
The rollout provided a measure of encouragement to exhausted doctors, nurses and other hospital staffers around the country.
Maritza Beniquez has had a front-row seat to the devastation the COVID-19 pandemic has wrought on communities of color in New Jersey, so she jumped at the chance to take the vaccine that is being hailed as a turning point in the long and grueling battle against the virus.
The 56-year-old emergency room nurse at Newark’s University Hospital became the first person in New Jersey to receive the vaccine on Tuesday. All recipients will get a second shot a few weeks later.
“I’m happy that in another month and a half I won’t have to be afraid to go into a room anymore. I won’t have to be afraid to perform chest compressions or be present when they’re intubating a patient,” Beniquez said. “I don’t want to be afraid anymore, and I don’t want to have that risk of taking it home to my own family and my own friends.”
Widespread acceptance of the vaccine is critical to eventually protecting enough of the U.S. population to defeat the outbreak. But just half of Americans say they want to get vaccinated, while about a quarter don’t and the rest are unsure, according to a recent poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Health Research.
In Manchester, New Hampshire, intensive care unit nurse Heidi Kukla said she volunteered to get the shot first to help dispel fears about the vaccine's long-term effects and the speed with which it was developed.
“I know a lot of people have reservations about getting the vaccine,” she said after getting vaccinated at Elliot Hospital. “But I can assure you that there is absolutely nothing worse than being a patient on a ventilator in an ICU anywhere in this country right now with COVID.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a childhood polio survivor, urged elected officials to “step up” and get vaccinated.
“We really need to get the country vaccinated,” he said. “It’s the right thing to do for yourself, for your family and for the country.”
The federal government is planning hundreds more shipments through the weekend.
Shots for nursing home residents won’t start in most states until next week, when some 1,100 facilities are set to begin vaccinations. Government officials project that 20 million Americans...

American Magic can take confidence into this week's America's Cup World Series regatta in Auckland after dominating the final day of practice.
The US syndicate defeated both Team New Zealand and INEOS Team UK in practice races.
After several planned practice races were abandoned due to a lack of wind, Dean Barker managed to get a victory over his old team - their first loss of warm-up racing.
Beforehand Team NZ edged Luna Rossa in what was a mixed day for the defender, but Barker outfoxed the Kiwis in the windshifts in the last race of the day to claim a morale-boosting win for the American squad.
Also having a mixed outing was INEOS Team UK, with the struggles of the British syndicate having been an underlying theme of the warm-up period, with the team not completing a trial race until Tuesday, when they finally faced off against Barker's American Magic.
Ben Ainslie's team took no part last week and pulled out halfway through the pre-start on Monday against Team New Zealand, due to unspecified hardware problems.
They finally managed to complete a trial race and also won the start against American Magic, with Ainslie timing his run to the line perfectly.

The National Party's making a last attempt to haul Trevor Mallard over the coals before Christmas.
The Speaker will appear before a select committee today, to be questioned over his defamation case.
More than $330,000 of taxpayer money was spent in a legal dispute after the Speaker wrongly accused a Parliamentary worker of rape.
Today Opposition MPs will try and find out more about the costly settlement.
Former politician Peter Dunne told Mike Yardley he doesn’t believe the Speaker of NZ’s parliament should ever behave in the way Trevor Mallard has,
“"He’s forgotten the speaker’s role is to be the referee, not the player. He’s tried to do both.
"He’s been very bias in favour of the government, he has protected Jacinda Ardern excessively.
Dunne says Trevor Mallard is the wrong person for the job, and he should never have been appointed in the first place.
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The Covid-19 Response Minister says the key to limiting the impact of a summer outbreak is good planning and preparation.
The Government's rolled out its Covid resurgence plan, and is telling people to take extra supplies while travelling.
Officials are also preparing for at a case at a major event, with attendees having to stay put until the severity of the outbreak is known.
Chris Hipkins told Mike Yardley we have good defences in place but nothing is one hundred percent guaranteed.
“The better prepared we are, the faster we can deal with any potential outbreak, and the less likely summer will be ruined for everyone.”
Hipkins says we have good defences in place but nothing is one hundred percent guaranteed.
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THE BEST BITS IN A SILLIER PACKAGE (from Wednesday's Mike Hosking Breakfast) Pretty Beltway/Some Bank Rules Are Welcome/Too Many Ceremonies/I Could Audition

I don’t know if you’ve come across this, but MBIE claims the average residential power bill in New Zealand has now reached a 10 year low.
 Apparently the average annual bill is a smidge over $2,100. And the Electricity Retailers association claims the downward pressure on bills can be sheeted homes to competition and massive improvements in insulation.
But when it comes to competition, are the best of times now being blunted by a sticky-beaked government?
I’m a switch-flicking recidivist when it comes to shopping around for the sharpest deals. In the past 10 years, I have switched suppliers eight times, including some boomerang returns to the existing supplier on the swift seduction of a win-back deal.
When I adjust my power bill for inflation, I am paying less for power now than I was 10 years ago. I wish I could say the same about my council rates bill, which has shot up 86 six per cent since 2010.
But if you’re a proactive power consumer like me, you will have noticed that the spirit of retail competition has been molested by the government this year. Many of the sweeteners previously deployed to win you over are being steadily wiped out.
Earlier this year, I was miffed to discover my “valued customer bonus”, which sliced a further 10% off my monthly bill in addition to the 10 per cent prompt payment discount, had been suddenly wiped from my account. The power retailer was acceding to the wishes of Wellington. Those discounts and bonuses are now toast.
This is all the result of the Electricity Price Review. The Energy Minister, Megan Woods, has eagerly actioned the changes. They include banning prompt payment discounts, win-back deals and a multitude of other competitive tactics.
 And she has warned that if power suppliers don’t voluntarily wipe them out, she will regulate them out of existence.
A few months ago, Minister Woods claimed that the state of the retail market “isn’t fair on power users who don’t shop around or don’t have internet access.” How’s that for a chilling effect on competition – clobber the proactive and molly-coddle the idle. Reward the lazy with state controls, and to hell with the impact on the pro-active consumer.

Weta Workshop has arrived in Auckland with an experience bursting with creativity, colour and fantasy.
In true Weta-style, the company's latest project has taken over a floor at SkyCity, starting with a massive 65-metre mural on what was once a blank foyer wall.
Weta Workshop Unleashed - which will open to the public on Tuesday - is a big move for the Wellington company and the first venture of its own outside of the capital.
Thousands of hours of work and hundreds of pairs of creative hands have gone into building the experience.
It's a part creative workshop and part film set, with the company making three film concepts especially for the experience - a horror, fantasy and a science fiction film.
The 90-minute immersive guided tour throws guests into the fantastical world of Weta film-making, moving from small rooms that are not at all what they seem, into a Weta creative "vault", an old-school 80s reception area and beyond.
At the reception, guests are greeted by the first "character" of the experience, head of health and safety, Jeff.
Jeff's a life-like computer-controlled, animatronics creature that took 11 months to develop and was handcrafted by a team of almost 60.
Weta Workshop co-founder and creative director Sir Richard Taylor said most of the work the company does is about realising other people's visions, while this latest project is the company setting free its own creativity.
"We have been creating fun, educational and engaging experiences like this for our clients all around the world – and we really wanted to do something for ourselves – here in New Zealand.
"We wanted the opportunity to unleash our own creativity and share the things we love doing for ourselves, what we do in our hobby time.
"This is really the creative prowess of the artists and technicians within the workshop unleashing their own creative inspiration and sharing it with others.
Taylor said behind the project is a "desperate desire" to ensure creativity and craftsmanship are at the forefront of people's minds.
Weta Workshop's head of tourism Jake Downing said he hopes people leave the experience want to create things at home.
"[I want them to leave] wanting to unleash their creativity, going home building something, making something, drawing something, doing something."
With the borders shut, Taylor understands how crazy opening a tourism business in the middle of a tourism downturn sounds.
"It sounds a bit crazy doesn't it, but we all felt committed to seeing this through in the hopes it brings something a little different and special for locals in Auckland and visitors to Auckland.
Visitors are introduced to Weta Workshop Unleashed by Jeff. Photo / Slyvie Whinray
"When Covid hit, we did give serious thought to delaying this project – but then we made the call that we are in this for the long haul.
"And it's delightful to us that the first people to experience Weta Workshop Unleashed will be fellow Kiwis.
"We also thought that we all need something that's fun and a little bit bonkers right now. And that's exactly what Weta Workshop Unleashed is."
Weta Workshop Unleashed opens on December 15 at SkyCity in Auckland CBD.

Mark Watson is a staple on the British comedy circuit.
He started his career back in 2001 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival - and has gone on to sell-out crowds around the world, as well as becoming a regular on UK comedy shows
But you may not know that Watson is a prolific novelist. His seventh book, Contacts, sees the protagonist board a train and text all the contacts in his phone that he plans to end his life in the morning – before turning his phone to flight mode.
Watson joined Mike Yardley to discuss his new book, relationships, and how lockdown has treated him and the comedy scene. 
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Gay and bisexual men no longer have to abstain from sex for a year to be allowed to donate blood.
The Blood Service will now accept blood from cis-gender men who sleep with men, if they've been celibate three months.
They also mustn't have taken drugs that reduce the risk of HIV transmission, such as PrEP, for the same period.
The UK made the change in 2017, and Canada did it last year.
Transfusion medicine specialist Dr Peter Flanagan says more data was needed here before making the same move.
"It then takes them time to be able to pull all the information together to make a submission to the New Zealand medicine regulator, and then to undertake the necessary training and updating of our systems to make sure that we can do it safely."
He says New Zealand has a track record of safe donations.
Dr Flanagan says there's no evidence of non-compliance after previous changes to the abstention period.
"Perhaps suggesting that if people are confident that the the deferral is science based, they will abide."
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A report into New Zealand's only maximum security prison reveals myriad problems and shows it is failing on promises to boost rehabilitation.
Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier inspected Auckland Prison at Paremoremo unannounced and found "a number of matters that were deeply concerning" - including that prisoners were being locked in cells for 22 to 23 hours a day, despite new units opening to aid rehabilitation.
In a report released today on his visit, Boshier said he found a number of significantly concerning issues, including two breaches of the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
"We are not achieving what we are meant to in terms of our obligations. That's why I'm being fairly clear in my criticism.
"There appears to be a serious and unacceptable lack of ventilation, compounded by impending summer heat, in the low and high security units.
"Pepper spraying a prisoner, after he followed officers' orders, was unwarranted and amounted to cruel treatment.
"Furthermore, staff had failed to accurately report the incident which was captured on CCTV. This is concerning as staff receive Control and Restraint training."
In a detailed recounting of what happened in the pepper-spraying incident, Boshier told Checkpoint footage showed that a prisoner had tampered with a sprinkler, retreated to the rear of his cell and complied when officers asked him get down.
"He was then pepper-sprayed. The prison officers wrote up a report on this and understated and minimalised what had happened."
Boshier said that was unacceptable.
Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier.
"I would like to see it routine that when a prison officer is beginning an interaction with a prisoner, the [body] camera is turned on, so that the important beginning part of it is captured. Let's hope that the use of body cameras in this setting becomes routine and unexceptional."
Spending long periods in segregation meant prisoners had few chances to display good behaviour, he said.
"I consider such long stays in directed segregation inappropriate and well in excess of the 15 days set out in the Nelson Mandela Rules.
"I can't see how one is going to try and normalise a prisoner in that setting when you are in that artificial and pretty oppressive situation for all of that time."
A survey of prisoners revealed that 35 per cent said they had been assaulted, and 13 per cent sexually assaulted in the prison.
"A high number of prisoners sought voluntary segregation mostly because of gang issues, bullying, stand-overs, and a fear for personal safety."
Boshier told Checkpoint the report was "disappointing" and the prison was "not really achieving goals it was set out for".
"So big challenges ahead, strong leadership needed.
He said the maximum security units on the Paremoremo site, opened in July 2018, were meant to help rehabilitate prisoners but they were unable to access rehabilitation and education programmes.
He said there were privacy issues, with CCTV in all areas of the Intervention Support Unit, including the toilets.
Staffing problems were leading to missed opportunities for prisoners, he said, including appointments with the Parole Board, Work and Income and their case managers.
"Staff vacancies and unplanned leave, particularly in the high and maximum security units, also meant that both prisoner and staff safety could be compromised."
More than a third of staff had less than two years' experience as well, meaning relationships with prisoners were "largely transactional".
"It's only after a period of time I would suggest as a prison officer that you learn how to manage and how to do it in a holistic way.
"I think you can look to Covid-19 and the lockdown as the start of prison guards' availability being reduced and a bigger lockdown regime being introduced, because that was practical and...