The Hoon

I spoke to Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) Economist Andrea Black this week about a report she’s produced on the economic, social & financial costs of the worsening health of our workforce. The 52-page report, titled Managed decline: The Health of New Zealand 2011 to 2024, details a worsening in the health of the working-age population, in particular around mental health and obe...

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 guest was Israel Cooper from The Home Foundation . We talked about: * The economy, the Reserve Bank’s rat...

Last night I spoke with Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr last night after the RBNZ’s 50 basis point cut in the OCR. He says the cash rate may need to go under 2% to get the economy going again. Here’s his full note on the decision. We talked about: * How interest rates need to be below neutral to encourage growth. * The housing market’s stagnation was concerning for overall economic health. *...

Last night I spoke with The Urban Advisory’s Managing Director Dr Natalie Allen , who has released the first results of a new longitudinal survey on the experiences and aspirations around housing of renters and owners. The New Zealand Housing Survey is a nationwide study designed by The Urban Advisory and analysed by the University of Auckland . It was conducted with 2,587 adults aged 16 and over...

Last night I spoke with economist Ganesh R Ahirao , who has written another letter with 19 other economists to PM Christopher Luxon and Minister of Finance Nicola Willis, calling on them to abandon their fiscally stringent approach to the economy. Here’s the letter: We discussed: * the Government’s sole focus on cutting interest rates as the way to boost the economy; * the need for investment in i...

In the final week of council elections, I spoke with The Integrity Institute Director Bryce Edwards about the need for more transparency & vigilance around lobbyists & candidates in local democracies. It followed this detailed comment piece from Bryce. We talked about: * the lack of scrutiny in local government; * the influence of lobbying; * the need for greater transparency and integrity in poli...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features Bernard Hickey talking with regular guests Cathrine Dyer and Robert Patman about the global economy, local and international politics and climate change. Peter Bale was off for a week travelling. This week’s special guests were . Electric Kiwi CEO Huia Burt, Listener Columnist Danyl McLauchlan and Rewi...

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 primary school teacher Lucas Campbell and BusinessDesk Founding Editor Pattrick Smellie . Thi...

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 CTU Economist Craig Renney and Monopoly Watch’s Tex Edwards . This week’s Hoon featured: * Th...

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 guest Simplicity Chief Economist Shamubeel Eaqub . This week’s Hoon featured: * An initial discussion bet...

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 tech activist Julian Oliver and The NZ Herald’s Wellington Business Editor Jenee Tibshraeny....

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 special guest is Ganesh R Ahirao . This week’s Hoon featured: * A discussion between Peter a...

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 podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale talking with special guests Felicity Roxburgh , the executive director of the New Zealand International Business Forum , and Patrick Reynolds , the transport activist and Auckland Council candidate. This week’s Hoon featured: * A discussion between Peter and Berna...

I spoke with Victoria University of Wellington political scientist Natalia Albert this week about her excellent substack post titled: The Politics of Trust: What the Wellbeing Era Got Right (and Wrong). I highly recommend it, along with Natalia’s many previous posts on the quirks and features of Aotearoa’s deeply frustrating political economy. She wrote this week about trust in Government, in part...

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 , plus special guest Auckland City Councillor Angela Dalton . This week’s Hoon featured: * a discussion about the events in Gaza and New Zealand’s position on recognising the Palestinian Authority as a st...

There are thousands of hectares worth of hot steel roofs on warehouses and factories in our biggest cities, but few have solar panels on them that could act as virtual power plants for those factories and the homes, schools, hospitals, offices and shops that are often nearby. Anyone flying into Auckland and Christchurch airports can look down and see the biggest missed opportunity for renewable en...

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 , plus special guests Jessica Palairat from Lawyers for Climate Action and Alan Pollard from Civil Contractors New Zealand about the news of the week. This week’s Hoon featured: * a discussion about the I...

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 and special guest Helen Clark about the news of the week. This week’s Hoon featured: * a discussion about research showing East Asia’s cleanup of its atmosphere has accelerated climate warming. * a discus...

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 Cathrine Dyer about the week’s news in geopolitics and climate, along with special guests Professor Jonathan Boston from Victoria University of Wellington and Professor Wolfgang Rack from University of Canterbury. This week’s Hoon featur...

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 Robert Patman and Cathrine Dyer about the week’s news in geopolitics and climate. This week’s Hoon featured: * a discussion over research showing the sensitivity to climate change of extreme weather events in Aotearoa-NZ. * a chat about...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-host Peter Bale talking with regular guests Robert Patman and Cathrine Dyer about the week’s news in geopolitics and climate. This week’s Hoon featured special guests: author, historian and a former colleague from Reuters, former Tehran bureau chief Jonathan Lyons; professor of international law Tre...

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 Robert Patman and Cathrine Dyer about the week’s news in geopolitics and climate. This week’s Hoon featured special guests: * author, historian and a former colleague from Reuters, former Tehran bureau chief Jonathan Lyons ; * Noted aut...

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 Robert Patman and Cathrine Dyer about the week’s news in geopolitics and climate. This week’s Hoon featured special guest New Zealand freelance journalist Andrew Gunn speaking from Kyiv. The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on...

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-host Peter Bale talking with regular guests Robert Patman and Cathrine Dyer about the week’s news in geopolitics and climate. Bernard couldn’t get on because of technical issues. This week’s Hoon featured special guests Jamie Shea from Chatham House and Auckland Uni’s Treasa Dunworth. Peter mentione...