The Mike Hosking Breakfast

THE BEST BITS IN A SILLIER PACKAGE (from Friday's Mike Hosking Breakfast) Hello?/Mark the Week/Digging Deep Into the Polls/Duelling Speeches

I have been disappointed but not surprised at the line-up of former Greens who are advising the current greens stay out of government
Simple question, if you are in politics what’s the point unless you’re in charge?
Their point, which is potentially partially valid, is don’t get stiffed. Don’t end up in a deal where you get to do little but carry any fall out which I suspect there will be plenty.
But the Greens have been in the game along time now and only recently really got their hands on the levers of power.
And the Keith Locke/Catherine Delahunty view of the world is a good insight or revelation into the fact that there are many in politics that sadly aren’t there for any real gains. They are there to cause trouble.
It was often said New Zealand First operated best in opposition or the cross benches. You could make noise but carry no responsibility.
And MMP fleshes out sadly the cold hard reality that government for small parties is most often a death sentence.
But the concept of spending three years literally doing nothing is the most fantastic waste of time to me.
Short of Chloe Swarbrick, who now has a constituency to tend to, just what is it you’re doing as an opposition list MP?
Further, having spent the last three years in government and at least in part getting the gains of power and influence, why on earth would you want to relinquish that, simply because you don’t have quite the pulling power as you did last time?
This is not to say Labour should cut them a deal. I wouldn’t. They’re not numerically needed, they will distract from the job at hand the way Labour sees it.
Labour back themselves as a greenish party any way, why have a bunch of hangers on ear bashing you about radical nutty ideas that are going nowhere?
But from the Greens point of view, relevance is key, a record is key, progress is key, your ideas enacted are key.
Hopefully what Shaw and Davidson understand that Locke and Delahunty don’t is that just turning up isn’t really a job. Protesting for the sake of it isn’t really doing anything.  Getting your own way all the time isn’t really how the game works.
They call it being independent. What it really is is being on the wrong side of the house.       

Italy reached a new daily record of nearly 25,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and added 205 deaths on Wednesday local time. 
Nearly 1,000 people were admitted to hospitals nationwide and 125 more in intensive care.
Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese briefed the Senate on protests following Italy’s latest anti-virus restrictions, which shuttered restaurants and bars at nightfall, closed movie theaters and in some regions imposed overnight curfews.
While daytime protests by restaurant owners and taxi drivers have been largely peaceful, Lamorgese accused a variety of fringe anti-government and virus-negating groups of using the crisis as an excuse for violence, vandalism and looting.
Italy has nearly 590,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and nearly 38,000 deaths, the second highest in Europe after Britain.
Italy correspondent Jo McKenna talks with Mike Hosking about the latest figures above.
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A new way to help students get summer jobs in orchards.
The Pick Tiki online job site has won applause from Apples and Pears New Zealand.
Development manager Erin Simpson told Mike Hosking they're trying to get students to help with a worker shortage in orchards.
He says they want to bring back the summer experience of seasonal work for students.
"There's a lot of demand, we are pushing hard to make some money and spending time outside. "
Simpson says the good thing about the student site is they're taking into account their accommodation and transport needs.
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Young women have more control over their finances than some older women, but it's never too late to learn.
A financial literacy survey has found only half as many women as men were able to answer finance questions correctly, and the gap widens with age.
Finance expert and author Mary Holm told Mike Hosking that understanding money gives a woman independence.
“Being on top of money means a woman doesn't have to be beholden to a man to run the important part of their lives.”
Holm says it's good to see younger women taking responsibility for their financial future.
She says the results for 18 to 30-year-old women were equal to men, then the gap got bigger and bigger.
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Three weeks have passed since Auckland joined the rest of the country in alert level 1, but some businesses in the CBD say they are still on struggle street as customers haven't returned with the increased freedom.
The region jumped back into level 1 on 7 October after a second outbreak of Covid-19 prompted another lockdown.
Sunny Kaushal manages the Shakespeare Hotel and Brewery in the central city and is also the spokesman for a group of business owners along Albert St.
He was hoping for a boom on Tuesday after Labour weekend, but the seats were left painfully empty with only one customer during the lunch period.
Kaushal said businesses on Albert St have been hit by a double whammy of Covid-19 and the City Rail Link construction - his business has lost nearly $2 million over the past few years due to the disruption of the construction.
"It's been very, very hard."
Kaushal believes more events and festivals need to be put on in the city to attract people to the inner city as he was not expecting much from the America's Cup.
"Unless and until the international borders open Auckland city is not going to come back to normal."
Some more affected than others.
Auckland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Michael Barnett said some businesses on Queen St were being affected more than others - those towards the west side of the central city were hurting the most.
"Some are saying that [foot] traffic is down 40 per cent, but if you look at the overall city the trend is in the right direction."
He said the construction in the CBD is a major hindrance for businesses, and has seen the area packed with "cordons and cones".
Barnett said there needs to be a plan to revitalise the city and it would make a big difference if workers returned to CBD offices.
Sunny, a retail worker at Kiwi Souvenirs on Queen St, said the business has been dead since the first lockdown.
She said this week had been quiet, following a small number of outside visitors over Labour weekend.
Since the borders remain shut, she is not holding her breath for a summer rush either - unless international visitors choose to buy souvenirs to send back home.
Sunny said other souvenir shops are in the same boat, but if they were located on a side street they would be suffering even more.
She hoped business will pick up a little when the America's Cup starts in March.
Meanwhile, Jo McColl, owner of Unity Books on High St, said the business was rushed off its feet by a "tsunami" of customers when the region went to alert level 2.5.
She said business was good and had returned to normal, with people beginning to buy their Christmas gifts ahead of time.

If Joe Biden wins next week's election, he says he'll immediately call Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious-disease expert. He'll work with governors and local officials to institute a nationwide mask-wearing mandate and ask Congress to pass a sweeping spending bill by the end of January to address the coronavirus and its fallout.
That alone would mark a significant shift from President Donald Trump, who has feuded with scientists, struggled to broker a new stimulus deal and reacted to the recent surge in U.S. virus cases by insisting the country is “rounding the turn.”
But Biden would still face significant political challenges in combating the worst public health crisis in a century. He will encounter the limits of federal powers when it comes to mask requirements and is sure to face resistance from Republicans who may buck additional spending.
“There are no magic wands,” said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, vice dean for public health practice at Johns Hopkins University and former Maryland state health department chief who recently briefed Biden on reopening schools during the pandemic. "It’s not like there’s an election, and then the virus beats a hasty retreat.”
Biden's handling of the coronavirus is taking on new urgency as cases spike around the country. Average deaths per day nationwide are up 10% over the past two weeks, from 721 to nearly 794 as of Sunday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Confirmed infections per day are rising in 47 states, and deaths are up in 34.
Meanwhile, a fresh outbreak of cases at the White House among Vice President Mike Pence's staff has revived concerns about the impact of the virus on the government.
The early days of a Biden administration would be consumed by a pandemic response.
“I’m here to tell you we can and will get control of this virus,” Biden said Tuesday during a campaign stop in Georgia. “As president, I will never wave the white flag of surrender.”
A $3 trillion spending package that cleared the Democratic-controlled House has stalled in the Senate, where Republicans currently hold the majority. Biden has called the Senate GOP “so damn stupid” for not passing that measure, but has failed to propose a single comprehensive package of his own.
Instead, he has said Congress should approve $30 billion to help schools reopen and has proposed a $700 billion economic plan. But that plan isn't solely focused on the coronavirus and includes provisions to boost industries like manufacturing to create jobs and help revive the economy when the pandemic begins to subside.
Biden also wants to declare reopening schools a “national emergency” and access potentially billions more dollars in Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster response aid. He’d seek a national system for tracing the exposure path for those diagnosed with the virus — part of a larger public health corps that Biden suggests might function like the civilian-led conservation corps that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created during the New Deal.
And he's vowed to increase testing capacity in every state until the U.S. is screening daily the 7.5 million people it currently tests per week, according to the Covid Tracking Project.
On other fronts, Biden's plans seem to be contingent on winning over allies and rivals alike, which may be challenging in the aftermath of a bitter election. He has called for a rule requiring masks in public for everyone, something the federal government doesn’t actually have the power to implement. Instead, Biden says he’ll impose such a mandate for all federal buildings and on federally funded, interstate transit.
Some Republican governors, including in states like North Dakota where virus cases are on the rise, refuse to implement mask requirements. Biden says he'll lobby them nonetheless, and, if they refuse, he said Friday that he'll go around them by contacting “mayors and county executives to get...

Pop-rock royalty Crowded House will play a 10-date national tour in March.
Storming out of their protracted hiatus they bring a flurry of fan-pleasing news, including new band members and their first new music in a decade.
Renovations to the Crowded House line-up sees Liam and Elroy Finn moving in on guitar and drums respectively, while keyboardist and producer Mitchell Froom completes the new look to join original members, frontman Neil Finn and bassist Nick Seymour.
The two Finn's both have their own substantial musical history and are Neil Finn's sons, while Froom also has a deep connection with the band as he produced Crowded House's first three records.


The band have been giving fans a taster of the new line-up through a series of live performances streamed online from their respective homes during lockdown.
The tour marks the first time the band have played in New Zealand since a one-off gig at Auckland's Town Hall back in 2010. They did play a small series of anniversary shows on the steps of the Sydney Opera House in 2016 but disappointingly didn't make it across the ditch to celebrate with fans here.
But with this tour, dubbed 'To the Island', the group is certainly making up for lost time, with an extensive amount of stops planned all around the country, including New Plymouth, Palmerston North and Nelson.
"We are thrilled and highly energised to be touring NZ in March," frontman Neil Finn said in a statement.
"The shows will be a joyous occasion for us, with all the songs from our history that still resonate, some new music to unveil and our home crowds to share all that with…feeling truly blessed."
It promises to be a crowd-pleasing set as they dive into their catalogue of sing-a-long classics, including Weather with You, Four Seasons in One Day, Don't Dream it's Over, Better Be Home Soon and the rocking Chocolate Cake, to name but a few.
Along with the hits they'll also be spicing up the set with some tasty new material, including the energetic new single Whatever You Want, which has just been released today.
The tour begins at Hamilton's Claudelands Arena on Thursday, 4 March, before heading South to Napier, Nelson, Christchurch and Dunedin.
From there they turn around and start heading back up to play Queenstown, Wellington, Palmerston North and Auckland's Spark Arena on Friday 19 March.
There's one last stop for the band who conclude the tour at New Plymouth's Bowl of Brooklands the next day.
Tickets for all shows go on-sale next Thursday, 5 November, at midday from livenation.co.nz and crowdedhouse.com, with limited pre-sales available on Wednesday, 4 November.
Full tour dates
Hamilton, Claudelands Arena - 4 MarchNapier, Church Road Winery - 6 MarchNelson, Trafalgar Centre - 8 MarchChristchurch, Christchurch Arena - 10 MarchDunedin, Town Hall - 11 MarchQueenstown, Gibbston Valley - 13 MarchWellington, Tsb Bank Arena - 15 MarchPalmerston North, Regent Theatre - 17 MarchAuckland Spark Arena - 19 MarchNew Plymouth Bowl Of Brooklands - 20 March

The British government is under pressure to develop a national strategy to combat a surge of COVID-19 cases and “rescue Christmas’’ as scientists warn that the number of people hospitalized with the disease in the U.K. could almost triple by the end of next month unless something more is done now.
Mark Walport, a former chief scientific officer, said Britain only needs to look across the English Channel to see what’s coming. Britain’s current measures are similar to those in France and Spain, where authorities are struggling to control the virus and daily cases have already far outstripped those in the U.K.
“With our current measures … there’s little evidence that there is as much social distancing as there was when we clamped down on the first wave and so we know that the risk is significant that cases will continue to grow,” Walport told the BBC.
It is “not unrealistic’’ that 25,000 people in the U.K. could be hospitalized by the end of November — up from about 9,000 now, he said.
The World Health Organization said for the second consecutive week, the European region accounted for the biggest proportion of new infections, with more than 1.3 million cases or about 46% of the worldwide total. The U.N. health agency also said deaths were also on the rise in Europe, with about a 35% spike since the previous week, and hospitalizations and ICU occupancy due to COVID-19 increased in 21 countries across Europe.
Walport’s assessment came as two opposition parties called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to convene a summit of the U.K.’s four nations to develop a coordinated plan for combatting COVID-19.
Under the U.K.’s system of devolved government, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have all developed their own rules to fight the pandemic. Meanwhile, Johnson has implement a three-tiered regional strategy to applies only in England. That has a led to a patchwork of regulations that change from one nation to the next, and sometimes from city to city.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said the four nations must develop a unified strategy to avoid confusion and deliver a clear message. The Liberal Democrats and Northern Ireland’s Alliance Party have written to Johnson asking for a summit.
“I think they need to have some action now … because otherwise, if we don’t get the virus back under control, I’m afraid there’s little chance of being able to rescue Christmas,” Davey told the BBC.
Britain already has Europe’s highest virus death toll, with over 45,400 confirmed deaths.

It's hard to say no to free money - but should the government be giving it out?
The head of Kiwibank has suggested the government look into grants rather than loans, in order to help businesses.
He says businesses are reluctant to take out loans because of risk, tricky application processes, and complicated conditions.
Auckland Business Chamber boss Michael Barnett told Mike Hosking it's a bad idea to hand out money without a rigorous process behind it.
“A grant option could have been made available, but those should have been applied for instead of given out, like they were in Australia.”
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