The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer and Robert Patman about the global economy, local and international politics, climate change and the future of trade.

This week’s Hoon featured:

* A discussion between Peter and Bernard about how ACT continues to dominate the agenda of the Government, and that ACT voters are the happiest with the Government’s performance on the economy and cost of living.

* A discussion with Cathrine about whether Road User Charges and an Auckland Congestion Charging scheme will actually reduce climate emissions (spoiler: they won’t).

* A discussion with Robert about the upcoming meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, and a look at New Zealand’s position on the recognition of Palestine.

* A discussion with trade expert and former MFAT diplomat Steph Honey about the future of trade agreements in the wake of Donald Trump’s tariff policies.

The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on Thursday night during a live webinar for over 200 paying subscribers and was produced and edited by Simon Josey.

The Hoon won the silver award for best current affairs podcast in this year’s New Zealand Podcast awards.

(This is a sampler for all free subscribers and anyone else who stumbles on it. Thanks to the support of paying subscribers here, we’re able to spread my public interest journalism here about housing affordability, climate change and poverty reduction other public venues. Join the community supporting and contributing to this work with your ideas, feedback and comments, and by subscribing in full. Remember, all students and teachers who sign up for the free version with their .ac.nz and .school.nz email accounts are automatically upgraded to the paid version for free. Also, here’s a couple of special offers: $3/month or $30/year for under 30s & $6.50/month or $65/year for over 65s who rent.)

Ngā mihi nui.

Bernard

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thekaka.substack.com/subscribe