The Mike Hosking Breakfast

The Cook Islands tourism sector is still hoping for a Christmas miracle, despite Chris Hipkins saying the travel bubble won't be open in time.
The announcement's come as a surprise to Cook Island business operators, who've spent weeks working with New Zealand officials to set up social distancing and contact tracing.
Cook Islands Chamber of Commerce president Fletcher Melvin told Mike Hosking they weren't expecting a decision until after Monday's cabinet meeting, and they can't understand it.
“We are keen to start preparing for the holiday season and will fix any gaps identified by the government. “
Melvin says being closed for Christmas will be devastating for many businesses.
He says the shareholders can't continue to put money into their companies after being closed for nearly a year.
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This year is a massive one for the one and only Coronation Street.
It's celebrating its 60 year anniversary.
While Britain is in Covid restrictions, it's still unclear what celebrations will take place.
But Abigail Kemp, who worked on the show's stage tour and in her press office, has released a book chronicling the show's 60 year journey.
It's simply titled 60 years of Coronation Street.
Abigail Kemp joined Mike Hosking to talk about the new book.
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So, a year of learnings then, to use the business vernacular. Or a year like no other, if you want to use a cliché.
I say this because this is it for the year for us, it is time for a break.
I end the year with mixed feelings. I'm grateful that we are getting out the other side of this. There's a long to go and many, and I think quite rightly, think 2021, in some respects, is going to be tougher year than 2020. But with the vaccine, the end is closer than it was.
I'm also grateful also that we have done a lot better than most. Our size and isolation afforded us an outcome to this point, that has been a lot simpler than many have faced. or continue to face. We should be grateful to be “out” and not “in." So free, and not restricted.
Things aren't as bad as they thought, but then that’s part of my mixed sense of things.
No, they're not as bad. But that’s only because we had no idea of what was going to unfold. We made it up and catastrophised the lot, so when the calamity didn’t eventuate, we breathed a sigh of relief.
This has been, and still is, a massive mess. There are 150,000 New Zealanders who have lost their livelihoods this year. That, sadly, appears to have been too often forgotten. As we've bought houses, cars, art, and god knows what else, a lot of people have had their year wrecked, their lives tipped upside down, and their futures made most uncertain.
But I'm grateful that unlike so much change that’s talked about, I think we might have found a few permanent things, like moving to the regions and working from home. These are things that will stick. If you've reset your life, priorities, and that change is for the better, then there is good out of bad.
I have mixed feelings around our compliance. Too many of us turned out to be sheep, happy to be locked up, told what to do, what to think, and how to act. And we are still a little hypnotised. Not enough pressure and questioning of the government's lack of action around borders, vaccines, workers, and the various and pressing issues we face.
As a nation our ambition and aspiration seems to have been sapped.
From a personal point of view one of the ironies of this year is our audience has gone through the roof. People wanted to know what was going on, and if you delivered news you were in clover.
I guess ultimately that’s the story for many, isn't it? For some it actually turned out way better than you might have imagined, literally and figuratively. If that’s you, I'm thrilled for you.
But didn’t this year put a lot of stuff in perspective? Didn't we work out what was really important? And what was just noise?
There will be more of it next year, but with less of the uncertainty. So, a year then to look forward. After all, mostly, life is what you make it.

The US recorded over 3,100 Covid-19 deaths in a single day, obliterating the record set last spring, while the number of Americans hospitalised with the virus has eclipsed 100,000 for the first time and new cases have begun topping 200,000 a day, according to new figures.
The three benchmarks altogether showed a country slipping deeper into crisis, with perhaps the worst yet to come, in part because of the delayed effects from Thanksgiving, when millions of Americans disregarded warnings to stay home and celebrate only with members of their household.
Across the US, the surge has swamped hospitals and left nurses and other health care workers shorthanded and burned out.
"The reality is December and January and February are going to be rough times. I actually believe they are going to be the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation," Dr. Robert Redfield, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday.
Health authorities had warned that the numbers could fluctuate strongly before and after Thanksgiving, as they often do around holidays and weekends, when because of reporting delays, figures often drop, then rise sharply a few days later as state and local agencies catch up with the backlog.
Still, deaths, hospitalisations and cases in the US have been on a fairly steady rise for weeks, sometimes breaking records for days on end.
Nationwide the coronavirus is blamed for over 270,000 deaths and about 14 million confirmed infections.
Travellers ignored warnings to stay at home for the holiday season and about 1 million Americans travelled for Thanksgiving in November. Photo / AP
The US recorded 3,157 deaths on Wednesday, according to the tally kept by Johns Hopkins University. That's more than the number of people killed on 9/11, and it shattered the old mark of 2,603, set on April 15, when the New York metropolitan area was the epicentre of the US outbreak.
The number of people in the hospital likewise set an all-time high Wednesday, according to the Covid Tracking Project. It has more than doubled over the past month.
Also, the number of newly confirmed infections climbed just over 200,000 Wednesday for the second time in less than a week, by Johns Hopkins' count.

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 Economy.
7/10.
"From the ASB forecast, to the government's books, and the price of a house.
The year is ending a lot better than many might have thought."
Britain Approving the Pfizer Vaccine.
8/10.
"To be the first in the west to tick the vaccine box is a massive triumph.
What must it feel like to be in London the middle of winter with a five-day Christmas window, but then some real jab in the arm hope."
Extending Sick Leave.
4/10.
"The issue that wasn’t an issue unless you're ideologically blind, and beholden to the unions."
Climate Emergency.
2/10.
"A waste of time at the best of times, but these aren't the best of times.
They're bloody hard times and this government is not representing the aspirations of a country that needs a lot more done than is being done in areas that don't involve a climate emergency.
In other words, focus on the stuff that matters."
China.
3/10.
"Nothing wrong with political, business, or trade differences. But China went in a dangerous direction this week.
Australia doesn’t dump wine, and they didn’t deserve that crap on social media.
If China wants to immerse themselves with the wider world, this week they had a mare."
Winston Peters.
6/10.
"They gave him a farewell. It sort of ended a bit tragically, really.
He lost, he vanished, he turned up for a drink, and vanished again."
Wine.
8/10.
"This week we cracked $2 billion in exports.
Here's the freaky irony they predicted they would do this in 2020, 10 years ago."
Air New Zealand.
6/10.
"I note the whinging started this week over fares and prices.
A quick lesson here, demand sets price.
You want a ticket tomorrow at the time of your choice? It'll cost more than when you book three weeks in advance, and they set the time.
And might we remember the company is on its knees, and the less we moan, the better?"
The All Blacks.
8/10.
"That sort of fixes that.
Yes, it didn’t have to be this hard, but class is permanent.
Form is clearly a bit ropey, but it's how you end, not how you start, that counts."
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An assurance that New Zealand is doing the right thing, by not cutting corners in approving a coronavirus vaccine.
The Government doesn't plan to use emergency provisions to fast-track vaccines, like the Pfizer Biontech vaccine that British regulators have approved for emergency use.
Medsafe will instead allow pharmaceutical companies to make rolling applications, updated as data comes in, to speed up the process.
College of GPs medical director Bryan Betty told Mike Hosking it's good that New Zealand officials will be doing their own checks on top of those done by foreign regulators.
"Occasionally things do get picked up during the process, and it should be able done quickly."
Betty says  while Medsafe isn't likely to pick up any issues that other regulators haven't, it's better to be safe than sorry.
He says it's a second barrier of safety, that should be able to be completed as soon as possible.
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THE BEST BITS IN A SILLIER PACKAGE (from Friday's Mike Hosking Breakfast) For Some of Us/Mark the Week/The Coolest Stuff of the Year/Pressies

Are we starting to see the real China, or are we still working out who the real China is?
There is not one shadow of a doubt in pretty much anyone’s mind that Australia is not dumping wine. Why would they, for what purpose?
And there is not one shadow of a doubt in pretty much anyone’s mind that what the Chinese stuck on social media with the soldier the knife and the child is not diplomacy of any acceptable kind.
What we have seen from China these past few weeks is in direct contrast to the China I think they want the world to see, which is a nation that has worked out that dealing with the world is better than not dealing with it.
The nations that don’t deal with the world don’t do well. Russia might be a good example.
So yes they’re communist, which doesn’t dive tail with a lot of the world, but they’re big, they want to be bigger, they want to engage.
And by in large the world has bought into this and most of us have had a good time as a result.
Our free trade deal is worth a fortune. Many billions of dollars more than even the most optimistic of forecasts predicted all those years ago.
But with the success has come the problem: we’re stuck. Certainly Australia is stuck.
The cold hard truth is the world is beholden to China, individually country by country they’ve stitched us up.
Belt and Road and providing funding and infrastructure in places, especially places like Africa that could never have afforded it.
Zambia is in the middle of defaulting. The first Covid default; who do they owe a fortune to? China. What do you reckon China wants for the default? You watch.
The pacific has been the recipient of many billions, which is ironic. I thought the PM this week thanked Winston at that farewell for the pacific reset.
The reset was a half decent idea, but to think we can buy influence from small island nations over China is delusional.
America can stand up to China and has, but to no real avail it’s a tit for tat shambles.
A country the size of Australia needs the world on its side over their current predicament, but I think what they’ll find out, is there will be plenty of supportive words, but not a lot of follow through. Why? Self-interest.
China are so big, we are so reliant, I suspect no matter what you say, what you’d like to happen, the horse has bolted.
They got us by the gonads and they know it. The question is was that the plan all along and we got suckered by it.

Even after several decades in the game, Dawn French remains one of our absolute favourite comedians.
She made her name back in 1987 as part of the iconic duo French and Saunders¸ and has since gone on to star in The Vicar of Dibley and many Hollywood movies.
And while many people have had a slow 2020, French has been busier than ever, filming new Zoom-episodes of Dibley while also starring as Beatrix Potter in a new drama.
And now she’s back with her newest novel, Because of You.
She joined Mike Hosking from London to discuss her latest book, why she took time before writing a new book, returning to Dibley, and why comedians should avoid getting caught up in cancel culture.
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The goal of a carbon neutral public sector by 2025 is being seen as challenging - but possible.
It's part of the Government's declaration of a climate change emergency.
Victoria University Professor James Renwick, who sits on the Climate Change Commission, told Mike Hosking there's a lot of low hanging fruit that could be done quickly.
As an example, he says switching government vehicles to electric, making buildings more energy-efficient, and getting rid of coal burners.
"Over the course of the next five years, it's going to take a bit of analysis as to what else can be done and where else the emissions are coming from and what we need to next."
He says that it will likely cost hundreds of millions of dollars, but no one is saying it's going to a be freebie.
"On the other hand, if we do take the lead internationally in doing this kind of thing, I think that's going to be good for business. It's going to attract investment from overseas."
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