Doctors say the Government is trying to put a gloss on a dire situation.

A damning review into Middlemore Hospital has found its ED is dysfunctional and overcrowded, with senior doctors calling for a trainee teaching programme to be scrapped due to unsafe conditions.

Health Minister Andrew Little says it's been a difficult winter and immigration settings will help solve it.

But Resident Doctors' Association National President Deborah Powell told Mike Hosking immigration won't fix things.

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Gaurav Sharma believes there is plenty of support for his new political party.

The former Labour MP has announced he is quitting Parliament, sparking a by-election in his Hamilton West seat, in which he'll be standing.

Sharma told Mike Hosking he'll be announcing the formation of a new centrist party and its name and policies in due course.

He's talking to people who want a party that isn't too right or too left.

Sharma will need 500 members to register that party.

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Time to catch up with a household favourite.

Mike first met Graham Norton when he cycled into the BBC when we were in London for the Royal Wedding in 2018.

Of course, his talk show has simply gone from strength to strength.

And now he has new addition to his bibliography with his latest novel, Forever Home.

Graham Norton explains the magic of his talk show

Graham Norton talks how his writing process works

Listen to the full interview with Mike Hosking above

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Liz Truss' tax cut U-turn might just end up ending her time as Prime Minister prematurely.

New Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has reversed almost all of her plans to stabilise the economy slightly, but the political damage is starting to take hold.

Latest polling shows the Conservatives are trailing Labour by 36 points - the biggest margin in history.

UK correspondent Rod Liddle told Mike Hosking she only has herself to blame for the disastrous plan rather than Hunt's predecessor.

He says you wouldn't become party leader, and hand control of the economy to a Chancellor - without knowing what the plan was.

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New Zealand's largest insurance company has revealed the rising cost of climate change.

IAG, the parent company of AMI, State and NZI, ran a Wild Weather Tracker, showing there were more than 13,000 weather-related claims in the past six months - rising 34 percent from last year.

It shows 71 percent of New Zealanders agree climate change is a key contributor to wild weather  - but only 40 percent have taken action to prepare in the past six months.

CEO of AMI, State and NZI, Amanda Whiting told Mike Hosking they have outlined a three step plan to the Government to help mitigate climate risks.

She says the focus should be working with high risk communities to reduce the effects of climate change.

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The race for Gore's next Mayor may not be over just yet.

Tracy Hicks has filed for a re-count, after losing to 23-year-old Ben Bell, who became the youngest mayor in New Zealand's history, with an eight vote margin.

Hicks says he's not desperate for mayoralty, and life could be a bit quieter.

But he says he's passionate about his community and wants the transition to whatever happens to happen in an orderly way.  

Further north, Christchurch's Ali Jones is also seeking a recount, after missing out on a council seat at Innes by 16 votes.

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Hopes our new knowledge of vaccines will help to cure cancer - within the next decade.

The founders of BioNTech, who collaborated with Pfizer to create New Zealand's most effective Covid vaccine, are working on an injection to target different types of cancer.

It should be available before 2030.

The jab uses the same mRNA technology as found in the Covid jab, to assist the immune system to fight off cancer cells.

New Zealand cancer researcher Dr Chris Jackson told Mike Hosking the development has potential.

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The Health Minister says the health system can't be completely blamed for a patient death at Auckland's Middlemore Hospital.

An independent inquiry was launched after the death of a patient who had left Middlemore's ED after being told it would take hours to be seen.

The five-page document released to the Local Democracy Reporting Service describes the hospital as dysfunctional, overcrowded and unsafe.

But Andrew Little told Mike Hosking the report found the woman probably would have died, no matter how the hospital responded.

“That particular case was unpredictable and unavoidable.”

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New inflation figures due out this morning won't show the full picture of rising consumer prices.

Stats NZ will release its latest quarterly CPI data shortly before 11am.

It's expected to show inflation has eased off slightly, from its once-in-a-generation high of 7.3-percent in the year to June.

ANZ Chief Economist Sharon Zollner told Mike Hosking that's mostly due to a fall in petrol prices, rather than a fall in the price of anything else.

She says falling petrol prices are helpful, but the Reserve Bank needs to see a much more broad-based fall in inflation.

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National says the Government does not need powers to deal with Covid anymore.

Documents leaked to Newshub show it's now proposing retaining existing powers - due to expire in May - to 2025.

Latest official figures show case numbers are continuing to rise week-on-week.

But, National Leader Christopher Luxon told Mike Hosking it's time to move on.

“Why do we actually need it? Is the big question.”

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