The Hoon

This week I hosted a ‘Hoon’ on Substack Live previewing The Reality of Everything symposium to be held at Victoria University of Wellington on June 26, which will examine the interconnected crises of climate change, energy, water & food constraints, economic instability & public health. I was joined by regular Hoon guest Cathrine Dyer , substacker and symposium facilitator Catherine Knight , confe...

This week a speculative post on Substack by Citrini about ever-faster AI tools creating a self-reinforcing doom loop of fewer jobs & lower wages for humans -- while AI owners win big -- shook global stocks. A link to the post is below. So I decided to have a Substack Live with Ben Reid , who writes about tech and AI for Memia . The resulting chat is above. Thank you James Wilkes , Nicola Francis ,...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer and Elaine Monaghan about geopolitics, the economy, climate change and politics here, along with special guest Associate Professor Polly Atatoa Carr from Waikato University’s Te Ngira Institute for Population Research. This...

Independent economist David Skilling gave a stark public presentation to Treasury officials and others yesterday that painted a brutal picture of New Zealand’s labour productivity and real wage catastrophe since 2010, pointing out our economy remained stuck in a low-investment rut with weakening trade connections. Skilling’s presentation in video form below is a must-watch and should be seen as a...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking with regular guests Robert Patman and Cathrine Dyer about geopolitics, the economy, climate change and politics here, along with special guests Simplicity Chief Economist Shamubeel Eaqub and Coalition for More Homes Spokesman Scott Caldwell . This week: * Be...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking with New Zealand journalist Andrew Gunn in Kiev and Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey in central Otago. We talked about: * Bernard’s time at the NZ Association of Economists’ forum at the University of Waikato on Thursday and Friday; * Nicola Willis’ announce...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer and Robert Patman , along with special guest David Farrar , talking about his Op-Ed in the The Post-$ arguing it’s time New Zealand became the seventh state of Australia. We talked about: * The water treatment plant problems...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer and Robert Patman , along with special guest historian and author Jonathan Lyons . We talked about: * Likely issues in Election 2026 due on November 7, including anti-migration comments from Winston Peters and his comments b...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer and Robert Patman , along with special guests Auckland University Emeritus Professor Jane Kelsey and intensive care specialist Dr David Galler . We talked about: * Likely issues in Election 2026 due on November 7, including...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer and Robert Patman . We talked about: * US President Donald Trump ’s attack on the US Federal Reserve’s independence and why it matters to us; * RBNZ Governor Anna Breman ’s defence of the Fed’s independence; * NZ First Leade...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer and Robert Patman . Our special guests this week were Philippa Yasbek, who heads Gun Control NZ and Doyen: NZ Jews Against Occupation, and Lee Feinstein, former US ambassador to Warsaw and senior diplomat under Democratic ad...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer and Robert Patman and special guest Sanjana Hottotuwa about the importance and meaning of Donald Trump’s new US National Security Strategy document for Aotearoa and the world. The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured Bernard Hickey talking with regular guest Cathrine Dyer and special guest Lawyers for Climate Change Executive Director Jessica Palairet about this weeks news on climate change. Bernard also talked with tax policy expert and accountant Terry Baucher about the IRD ’s announcement yesterday it wants to t...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer and Robert Patman and a special guest about the economy, politics, geopolitics and climate change. This week’s special guest was new leader of The Opportunity Party, Quilae Wong. This week: * Bernard and Peter talked with...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer and Robert Patman and a special guest about the economy, politics, geopolitics and climate change. This week’s special guest was Drive Electric Chair Kirsten Corson. This week: * Bernard and Peter talked about Peter’s work...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking with regular guest Cathrine Dyer , and a special guest about the economy, politics, geopolitics and climate change. This week’s special guest was The IDEA Charitable Trust ’s Max Rashbrooke Our topics this week were: * Bernard and Peter talked about the BB...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking with regular guests Robert Patman and Cathrine Dyer , and a special guest about the economy, politics, geopolitics, climate change, New York’s new mayor Zohran Mamdani , the gutting of Aotearoa’s Zero Carbon Act this week and revelations the Government is...

I spoke with Simplicity Co-Founder Sam Stubbs about plans announced this morning to launch InfraKiwi , an NZX -listed vehicle funded from KiwiSaver and borrowing to buy new and existing infrastructure such as water companies, lines companies, airports, ports, hospitals, roads, public transport operators and schools from the Government and councils. Stubbs sees an oppotunity to use upwards of $295...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night featured co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking with regular guests Robert Patman and Cathrine Dyer , and a special guest about the economy, politics, geopolitics, climate change, The Kākā’s future and how to fund the building of social housing by Community Housing Providers (CHPs) and others. This week...

Just briefly, I spoke last night with Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings Director of Government Ratings Anthony Walker last night about a research note S&P Global published yesterday titled: ‘ New Zealand Water Reforms Don’t Guarantee Rating Relief For Local Councils.’ He told me there was no guarantee the current Government’s ‘ Local Water Done Well ’ reforms would alleviate the negative outlooks S...

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 guest Robert Patman and special guests about the economy, politics, geopolitics, climate change, Jim Bolger’s funeral, Treaty of Waitangi issues and yesterday’s ‘mega-strike’ by doctors, teachers and nurses. This week’s special guests were Law...

I spoke with Labour Finance Spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds last night about Labour’s first big policy idea for the 2026 election: a new sovereign wealth fund to invest in New Zealand infrastructure and growth businesses. It would be seeded with an initial grant of $200 million and topped up regularly with dividends from state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and potentially partially-owned SOEs such as the g...

I spoke with Mangawhai Pharmacy owner Lanny Wong today to about plans barely-announced or covered this week by Associate Health Minister Casey Costello to deregulate the nation’s pharmacies. Lanny said she was shocked at the details revealed in full in Cabinet papers released proactively on Monday, particularly because there had been no consultation with the pharmacy sector, which would be upended...

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 and climate change. This week’s special guests were independent climate change policy expert Christina Hood and former NZPA foreign correspondent...

I spoke with economist and Motu researcher Arthur Grimes yesterday about a paper he has just published today with Amelia Blamey and Norman Gemmell about the effects of monetary policy on wellbeing and inequality. The paper attached below and linked above and below is titled: Impacts of macroeconomic policies on objective and subjective wellbeing: The role of housing tenure and concludes: “Using su...