The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Some rural schools are struggling to find enough teachers for next year.
Principals told RNZ it was hard enough attracting New Zealand teachers to jobs in the country, but this year they had the added complication of border restrictions that prevented them hiring staff from overseas.
Areas Schools Association president Stephen Beck said some rural schools could not attract a good selection of candidates for their vacancies, especially in specialist subjects like maths and science, and for senior primary school roles.
He said some north Canterbury area schools were planning to use online teaching for certain specialist subjects next year because they could not find teachers.
"It's mainly in areas like design and visual communication, ICT, computer technology, those type of courses where a course can be successful online. They're finding that is the only option for a number of their students, especially in that senior secondary area."
He said inability to recruit from overseas was creating a headache for some schools.
The principal of Greymouth High School, Andy England, said it usually relied heavily on foreign teachers because it was difficult to attract New Zealand-trained teachers to the West Coast, but that was not possible with the borders closed.
However, the school had managed to attract foreign teachers who had moved to the country several years ago and now wanted to live in the South Island.
"Typically we do a lot of recruitment from overseas, particularly in harder-to-staff subjects like maths and technology. This year we haven't been able to do that but we've seen more interest from Auckland, not so much the returning Kiwis. We were promised that we'd have interest from returning Kiwis, we haven't seen as much of that, mostly migrants from overseas who have been living around Auckland and are looking to move south," he said.
He said he felt lucky because the school had six vacancies for next year, including three for maths teachers, and had managed to fill five of them.
England said from conversations with other principals it appeared that fewer teachers were leaving West Coast schools, which was helpful, but they still wanted the Government to allow foreign teachers through the border.
"I just can't rely on continuing to get lucky and I still have concern that closing off that international teacher market for us is quite short-sighted," he said.
"If you think about the New Zealand context, we're not training many technology teachers at all so if we have technology teachers retiring or leaving the profession we really need new technology teachers in," he said.
England said it was galling to see that teachers were not included in the professions that could cross the border, but low-skilled fruit-pickers were.
Traci Liddall from Otorohanga College said she had been trying to find a head of maths all year.
"We have advertised five times in the year that I've been here for a head of department, maths, and we have not been able to appoint anybody," she said.
Liddall said the school had an acting head of maths, but it really needed a permanent appointee in the position.
"It's critical. Maths is a keystone subject area and it's critical that we have somebody who can lead the change that's needing to happen in the school but also knows their subject inside and out," she said.
Liddall said the school had received some applications, but most were from overseas teachers who knew nothing about the NCEA system, and the few local applicants did not have enough experience or could not teach beyond their subject area.
She said the school nearly ran into the same problem with a science vacancy, which it was lucky to fill late last year with a teacher returning from overseas.
"It was pretty touch and go, she was the only one we interviewed," she said.
Liddall said teachers often did not realise that a rural school could be good...

Sports organisers in New Zealand are being told they're not doing enough to stamp out homophobia.
An international study out of Monash University says nearly half of young gay men who play sports in New Zealand have been the target of bullying, assaults and slurs.
The study's lead author is calling the results "alarming", saying it shows not much has changed in team sports in more than five years.
Most of them aren't out either - an area New Zealand fared worst compared to Ireland, Canada, Australia, the US, and UK.
Louisa Wall, who is also a Labour MP and openly gay, told Mike Yardley it's disappointing things haven't improved since a study in 2016.
"At the time, we had a number of organisations come out and sign a document committing to greater diversity and inclusion in sport."
Rugby, netball, cricket and the Olympic Committee were amongst those organisations that signed up. 
She says it's known being closeted can be unhealthy.
"What's the matter with being a lesbian or a gay or bisexual? Heterosexuals never have to go through this dilemma of 'oh, do I need come out as heterosexual?'" 

President Donald Trump is pressing his grievances over losing the presidential election, using a weekend rally to spread baseless allegations of misconduct in last month's voting in Georgia and beyond even as he pushed supporters to turn out for a pair of Republican Senate candidates in a runoff election in January.
"Let them steal Georgia again, you'll never be able to look yourself in the mirror," Trump told rallygoers.
Trump's 100-minute rally before thousands of largely maskless supporters came not long after he was rebuffed by Georgia's Republican governor in his astounding call for a special legislative session to give him the state's electoral votes, even though President-elect Joe Biden won more votes than any other candidate.
The Jan. 5 Senate runoffs in Georgia will determine the balance of power in Washington after Biden takes office. Republicans in the state are worried that Trump is stoking so much suspicion about Georgia elections that voters will think the system is rigged and decide to sit out the two races.
The latest futile attempt to subvert the presidential election results continued Trump's unprecedented campaign to undermine confidence in the democratic process, but overshadowed his stated purpose in traveling to Georgia — boosting Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.
Republicans need one victory to maintain their Senate majority. Democrats need a Georgia sweep to force a 50-50 Senate and position Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as the tiebreaking vote. Party officials had hoped the president would dedicate his energy to imploring supporters to vote in the runoff, when Perdue and Loeffler try to hold off Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, respectively.
Trump did echo Republican rhetoric that the races amounted to "the most important congressional runoff, probably in American history." That is only true because he lost.
But after Air Force One landed, it quickly became apparent that Trump was intent on airing his own complaints and stoking baseless doubts about the conduct of last month's vote, rather than boosting his party.
"I want to stay on presidential," Trumps said minutes into his speech. "But I got to get to these two." He praised the GOP lawmakers, Perdue for his support for military spending and Loeffler for pushing for early coronavirus relief spending. But he quickly pivoted back to his own defeat.
Trump pulled out a piece of paper and read a list of his electoral achievements, including falsely asserting he won Georgia and the White House. Biden carried the state by 12,670 votes and won a record 81 million votes nationally. Trump continued to reiterate his unsubstantiated claims of fraud, despite his own administration assessing the election to have been conducted without any major issues.
Chants of "Fight for Trump" drowned out the two senators as they briefly spoke to the crowd.
Hours before the event, Trump asked Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp in a phone call to order the legislative session; the governor refused, according to a senior government official in Georgia with knowledge of the call who was not authorized to discuss the private conversation and spoke on the condition of anonymity. A person close to the White House who was briefed on the matter verified that account of the call.
Kemp, in a tweet, said Trump also asked him to order an audit of signatures on absentee ballot envelopes in his state, a step Kemp is not empowered to take because he has no authority to interfere in the electoral process on Trump's behalf.
Trump, though, vented his frustrations with Kemp on Twitter and at the rally.
"Your people are refusing to do what you ask," he complained in a tweet, as if speaking with Kemp. "What are they hiding? At least immediately ask for a Special Session of the Legislature. That you can easily, and immediately, do."
At the rally, he took aim once again at Kemp, saying he could assure him victory...

NSW Police has revealed the officer who mistakenly allowed to German travellers to fly to Melbourne without completing the mandatory hotel quarantine in Sydney will not face disciplinary action.
A 53-year-old woman and her 15-year-old son landed at Sydney International Airport from Japan about 9.45am on Saturday and were able to board a flight to Melbourne without issue on Saturday.
But NSW Police deputy commissioner Jeff Loy said the officer who made the mistake was “very remorseful” and that NSW Police had “doubled down on standards” as a result of the error.
He blamed the error on a communication breakdown and a language barrier that caused the confusion. He said he the officer admitted the mistake that he didn’t check the appropriate exemption forms and the paperwork appropriately.
“It’s a police mistake, we own the mistake and we’ll move forward for it,” he said.
“Is it fail safe? Obviously not. But we’ve admitted the error. When you consider there’s two people out of 100,000 passengers since March this year in this operation, it really is outstanding.”
“We don’t propose any action against the officer. We actually recommend that police do come forward when they make honest mistakes to tell the truth.”
The quarantine breach was discovered by an alert employee at Melbourne airport and sent dozens of their fellow passengers into home quarantine.
“After being cleared, all travellers were directed to board a bus to hotel quarantine, before the pair advised that they were booked on a flight to Melbourne,” the statement said.
“Police made inquiries as to travel and exemptions, which subsequently allowed the pair to travel to Melbourne on a domestic flight under standard protocols for exempt travellers.”
On arrival in Melbourne, Victorian authorities advised NSW Health the pair was not granted an approved exemption.
They were escorted to hotel quarantine, where they remain. They have since tested negative for coronavirus.
It was a security worker at the airport who first picked up on the breach, before raising the alarm.
Following an investigation, NSW Police acknowledged it was police error that led to the incident.
“The NSW Police Force has since conducted a review into the circumstances of the incident and identified police had incorrectly allowed the two travellers to proceed to Melbourne,” the statement said.
“Police practices and systems at the airport have also been reviewed and strengthened as a result of this incident.”
The incident was made public on Saturday night, when anyone who travelled on flight VA 838 from Sydney to Melbourne that afternoon was ordered to quarantine at home and contact Victorian health authorities.
There were 170 passengers and six crew on the flight.
Earlier on Sunday, the Australian Border Force released a statement saying its officers were not to blame.
The ABF said it is responsible only for clearing people who arrive in Australia from overseas, and the two travellers met all customs and immigration requirements.
“From that point, the responsibility for the passengers passes to state and territory authorities for hotel quarantine and onwards domestic travel, if relevant,” the statement said.
“The ABF will continue to assist state and territory authorities as required.”
Victoria will begin to again accept international travellers on Monday into its revamped hotel quarantine system.
text by Kathryn Bermingham, NCA NewsWire

Shipments of the coronavirus vaccine developed by American drugmaker Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech were delivered Sunday in the U.K. in super-cold containers, two days before it goes public in an immunization program that is being closely watched around the world.
Around 800,000 doses of the vaccine were expected to be in place for the start of the immunization program on Tuesday, a day that Health Secretary Matt Hancock has reportedly dubbed as "V-Day," a nod to triumphs in World War II.
"To know that they are here, and we are amongst the first in the country to actually receive the vaccine and therefore the first in the world, is just amazing," said Louise Coughlan, joint chief pharmacist at Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, just south of London.
"I'm so proud," she said after the trust, which runs Croydon University Hospital, took delivery of the vaccine.
Last week, the U.K. became the first country to authorize the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine for emergency use. In trials, the vaccine was shown to have around 95% efficacy. Vaccinations will be administered starting Tuesday at around 50 hospital hubs in England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will also begin their vaccination rollouts the same day.
Governments and health agencies around the world will be monitoring the British vaccination program, which will take months, to note its successes and failures and adjust their own plans accordingly. The U.S. hopes to start vaccinations later this month. British regulatory authorities are also examining data on the vaccines from American biotechnology company Moderna and AstraZeneca-Oxford University.
Russia on Saturday began vaccinating thousands of doctors, teachers and others at dozens of centers in Moscow with its Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine, which was approved over the summer after being tested in only a few dozen people.
The excitement in Britain, which has Europe's highest virus-related death toll at more than 61,000, was palpable.
"Despite the huge complexities, hospitals will kickstart the first phase of the largest scale vaccination campaign in our country's history from Tuesday," said Professor Stephen Powis, NHS England's national medical director.
Patients aged 80 and above who are already attending hospitals as outpatients and those being discharged after a stay in the hospital will be among the first to receive the jab. Hospitals will also start inviting over 80s in for a vaccine shot and will work with nursing homes to book staff into vaccination clinics. Any appointments not taken up will be offered to those health workers deemed to be at the highest risk of COVID-19. Everyone who is vaccinated will need a booster jab 21 days later.
Buckingham Palace refused to comment on speculation that Queen Elizabeth II, 94, and her 99-year-old husband, Prince Philip, will soon be vaccinated and then make it public, a move that could reassure anyone nervous about getting a vaccination.
"Our goal is totally to protect every member of the population, Her Majesty, of course, as well," Dr. June Raine, chief executive of Britain's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, which authorized the vaccine, told the BBC.
The U.K. has secured 40 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which can cover 20 million people. Since the British government will only immunize people over 16, around 55 million people in the U.K. will be eligible. In total, Britain has procured 357 million doses of seven vaccine candidates, including 100 million of the much cheaper Oxford vaccine, which has a lower efficacy rate than the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.
Now that the first tranche of the vaccine has arrived from Pfizer's manufacturing plant in Belgium, checks are being conducted by a specialist medical logistics company to ensure there was no damage in transit. This could take up to a day.
Each box containing the vaccines, which includes five packs of 975 doses, will...

The maker of one of the COVID-19 vaccines that Australia is relying on to reopen the nation to international travel now expects to ship only half the vaccines it originally promised to deliver, as a result of supply chain problems.
Pfizer Inc now expects to ship 50 million vaccines, not the touted 100 million it promised, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Australia had ordered around 10 per cent of those touted vaccines – 10 million doses – to rollout in Australia.
That’s enough to vaccinate 5 million Australians with the two-shot vaccine. But there’s serious question marks now over whether that can be delivered.
“Scaling up the raw material supply chain took longer than expected,” a company spokeswoman told the WSJ.
“And it’s important to highlight that the outcome of the clinical trial was somewhat later than the initial projection.”
It’s not the main vaccine Australia is relying on however, according to Health Minister Greg Hunt who noted we have contracts in place for four different vaccines.
Mr Hunt told news.com.au that Pfizer had reaffirmed the planned order as recently as this week and Australia had planned ahead with a multi vaccine strategy to cover all contingencies.
“We’re very fortunate that we’ve been able to select and then acquire, which is the second stage – four vaccines … the AstraZeneca vaccine for 33.8 million units, the Pfizer vaccine for 10 million units, the Novavax vaccine, 40 million units, and Australia’s own CSL – University of Queensland vaccine for 51 million units, as well as 25.5 million units of access through what’s known as the COVAX International Facility,’’ he said on Thursday.
“We’re moving quickly but safely, and we’re making sure there are no compromises because the safety of Australians is the number one priority.”
Mr Hunt has outlined a timetable to commence the rollout of the vaccine in Australia by March.
“We are on track for decisions on the early vaccines by the end of January. We are on track for first vaccinations, beginning with our health workers and our aged care residents subject to approvals, in March,’’ he said.
Pfizer’s woes are a far bigger problem for the UK that ordered 40 million Pfizer doses, enough to vaccinate 20 million people.
The expectation now is that only four to five million vaccines will be shipped.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed on Thursday that arrangements have been put in place to secure access to four vaccines, “all of which, all of which are proving to be very promising but still have stages to pass in the months ahead”.
But with the COVID-19 outbreak “stable” in Australia, he suggested that time was on the government’s side rather than rushing the rollout of the vaccine before safety checks were complete.
“You’ll be aware of the decisions that have been taken in the United Kingdom no doubt, the UK will need to deal with their situation and their circumstances in their way. Of course they should,’’ he said.
“In Australia we are in a very strong position and that enables us to get this right, to get the balance right, to ensure first and foremost the safety, which enables us to then roll out the vaccine successfully across the country.”
The Health Department’s vaccine expert Professor John Skerritt said Australia had provided three vaccines with what’s known as provisional designation.
“Two of them are amongst the four vaccines that the government has procured, the AstraZeneca vaccine, the Pfizer vaccine,’’ he said.
“It’s not a full regulatory approval. We will – when the final data is in – for safety and efficacy, and I’m hoping that will be in the coming weeks, but we are at the mercy of the companies, work(ing) through the summer period. Unfortunately, my staff have been told to put away their swimsuits and towels and to work as quickly as we can …
“We are still hopeful, but if we receive a full submission in the next week or two,...

The education sector is hoping to get the ball rolling with international students, even while international borders remain closed.
A new scheme will allow people to start studying through our eight universities while they're still overseas.
Education New Zealand says the scheme will allow universities to keep recruiting international students, despite students not being allowed to travel here until 2022.
Spokesman John Goulter told Mike Hosking our country has earned a great reputation around the world.    
"It's not possible for students to come here right now, but the goal is keeping New Zealand front of mind for people, for when they can travel again."
LISTEN ABOVE

Every Friday morning, Mike Hosking is joined by Tim Wilson and Kate Hawkesby to wrap the week in news.
LISTEN ABOVE

Lego has officially rolled out Colosseum -- the largest Lego brick set in history and a detailed reproduction of Rome's famous oval amphitheatre.
Bad news: it's already out of stock.
The model, which Lego released on Black Friday, consists of 9,036 pieces and when completed, it is 10.5 inches high, 20.5 inches wide and 23.5 inches deep. The largest Lego set before now was the Millennium Falcon, a Lego spokeswoman confirmed to CNN.
The Colosseum retails for $549.99 -- notably about $250 less than the Falcon.
The model depicts the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian columns on the Colosseum's outer facade, as well as the structure's iconic arches and the attic's Corinthian pilasters. The interior includes the "vast mysterious structure that runs underneath the entire arena," Lego says.
The set is recommended for ages 18 and over, according to Lego's website.
The actual Colosseum is an amphitheater in the center of Rome that opened in A.D. 80. It could hold tens of thousands of spectators for gladiatorial fights and performances of all kinds.
The Colosseum remains one of the most popular tourist attractions in Rome, with several million people visiting each year.

Covid 19 has changed a lot of things in our lives, even the way we drink wine.
We're spending less time browsing and sticking with the safer bets, and spending less per bottle too.
New Zealand wine writer Michael Cooper hast just released his 2021 buyers' guide, he joined Mike Hosking this morning.
LISTEN ABOVE