The Mike Hosking Breakfast

TikTok is launching its own music streaming and distribution platform.   The app helps to propel new - and old - songs back into the spotlight, it even helped OMC's How Bizzare get back into the global charts after it went viral due to a TikTok trend.   The platform, SoundOn, will give artists 100 percent of royalties in the first year and 90 percent after that, which sounds like good news for NZ...

Further climate change action from the Government isn't needed and won't help.   That's the finding from a new report from the NZ Initiative.   The Government's set to spend big bucks on climate change in the next budget, more than $200,000 per household.   But the report says existing policies are enough to reach net zero emissions by 2050, and new ones will have almost no effect.   Matt Burgess...

The Government is being told it could give more help to Ukraine if it wanted to.  New Zealand is contributing another $5 million towards fuel supplies, rations and medical kits.   The Defence Force is offering just over a thousand body armour plates, and around 500 each of helmets and camouflage vests.  Democracy Project international analyst, Geoffrey Miller, told Mike Hosking we spent hundreds o...

Jacinda Ardern says it's most appropriate that the Police watchdog looks into the response to the Parliament protest.  Last week, Labour MPs used their majority to block a briefing from the police commissioner to the justice select committee.   The Government wants to see the IPCA's term of reference, before it makes a judgement.   But, former police negotiator Lance Burdett told Mike Hosking it h...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy  is warning of World War III, if peace talks with Russia fail.  A new curfew has been introduced in Kyiv , where eight people have been killed in the shelling of a residential area and a shopping centre.  Russia is continuing its attacks on Mariupol after the city refused to surrender - and naval forces are also shelling residential buildings on the outskirt...

Scott Morrison and senior government MPs have sought to downplay the federal implications of Labor’s decisive victory at the South Australian state election, saying there’s a “big difference” between the premiers and Anthony Albanese. Liberal Party Premier Steven Marshall conceded defeat on Saturday night, with big swings towards Labor making Peter Malinauskas the first leader to defeat an incumbe...

Good start to the Formula 2 season for Liam Lawson. He’s taken 3rd in the sprint race and followed it up with 2rd in the feature race at the Bahrain Grand Prix this morning. This means he sits 2nd in the championship and only a point adrift. Liam Lawson joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Andrew Saville and Guy Heveldt joined Mike Hosking to talk Six Nations Rugby, the return of Formula 1 in Bahrain, IndyCar, the White Ferns' heartbreaking defeat to England and the Warriors. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that he's "ready for negotiations" with Russian President Vladimir Putin but warned that if they fail "that would mean that this is a third World War." "I'm ready for negotiations with him. I was ready for the last two years. And I think that without negotiations we cannot end this war," he told CNN's Fareed Zakaria. "I think that we have to use...

Disagreements over claims that property auctions have had their day. It follows only two of the 14 properties at Barfoot and Thompson's Auckland auction selling on Friday. Director Peter Thompson told Mike Hosking any claims auctions are becoming a thing of the past are false and there is still a place for them. “An auction brings buyers that do have the money to make a decision quicker, and in to...

There’s concern a Government commission set up to look into miscarriages of justice is yet to finish a single investigation. Open Justice reports the Criminal Cases Review Commission hasn't finished processing even one of the 282 applications it's received since it was set up 20 months ago. Auckland District Law Society President Marie Dyhrberg told Mike Hosking a lot of people will be disappointe...

Calls for the Government to drop all of New Zealand to the orange traffic light setting. Cabinet will be discussing the Covid-19 protection framework today, along with vaccine passes and mandates. But a decision isn't expected until Wednesday. Canterbury Employers Chamber of Commerce CEO Leeann Watson told Mike Hosking the restrictions are becoming redundant. “Red’s certainly having a massive impa...

The Government's review of our Covid restrictions is being described as a balancing act. Cabinet will discuss the protection framework today along with vaccine passes and mandates. But an announcement on any changes isn't expected until Wednesday. Political commentator Peter Dunne told Mike Hosking the Government has difficult decisions to make, as public opinion on our Covid restrictions is divid...

Waka Kotahi’s $2.4 million road safety campaign is under scrutiny. Road to Zero was launched in February, setting a target of zero road deaths and serious injuries by 2050, and a 40 per cent reduction by 2030. Road safety advocate Greg Murphy is asking why $2.4 million was spent on producing and delivering the first ad. He told Mike Hosking the money would’ve been better used finding solutions to...

At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all.     The Border Re-Opening Plan: 8/10  "Not a moment too soon and light at the end of a destructive, nasty, and devastating tunnel for too many New Zealanders who have seen their dreams shattered.  May the bars be full, the planes land, and the holidays begin."     The Red Light S...

This will be the third of these. Three Fridays in a row I've written about Ukraine, meaning the war has been going on each and every day for that long.  And a reminder while we head off for the weekend there are still millions who have fled their homes and won't have any sort of weekend to speak of. In fact, they probably don’t know or care what day it is. All they know is Vladimir Putin is still...

So having filled their boots with the latest season of Drive to Survive on Netflix, the punters are ready for the start of the new Formula 1 season  Cars have changed dramatically, Hamilton never left Mercedes, George Russell got the big promotion and team Haas and their Russian connections are a shambles.  David Coulthard raced for Williams McLaren and Red Bull and joined Mike Hosking from Bahrai...

The strain supermarkets are under due to Covid could be starting to ease.   Foodstuffs North Island CEO Chris Quin says they're feeling like they're through the worst of it.   He told Mike Hosking since January 23 at peak they've had 1100 of their team unable to work due to Covid.   Quin says they're now down to under 500 in that position, and only 40 of those are from supply chain teams.  LISTEN...

Wellington Water staff may have deliberately misled their board members.  An independent inquiry was launched last night after the company lied about when fluoridation was stopped at its treatment plants.  It told the board fluoride hadn't been put in for six weeks at one plant, but it turns out it was stopped at their Te Marua plant in May last year.  Wellington Water Board Chair Lynda Carroll to...

The Finance Minister is describing the latest GDP figure as solid.  New Zealand's Gross Domestic Product rose three percent in the December 2021 quarter, following a 3.6 percent drop in the September quarter.  The increase was below bank economists' predictions.  Grant Robertson told Mike Hosking it's still a good result.  He says the past few times we've rebounded from difficult periods with rest...

Do you feel it's like a jigsaw puzzle? Every time you think you are getting somewhere, the next piece is missing.  The borders will be open. Not a moment too soon and a lot later than they could have been or should have been. But, oh the irony, Minister of Tourism Stuart Nash was via zoom given he is a household contact.  And yet his announcement told anyone from offshore they can land with their...

Zach Braff is comfortably one of America's most successful comedic acts.   He, of course, became a household name around the world for his lead role in Scrubs.   Since he's gone on to star in plenty of movies - and has also made his mark as a film director.   Now - he's starring in the latest remake of Cheaper by the Dozen - which is coming to Disney+ this week.    Zach Braff joined Mike Hosking f...

CD's are following the vinyls on the way back up the popularity charts.   In the US, CD sales rose last year for the first time in 17 years.   They are seeing a shift in the UK as well - not to the same level - but the decline in sales is dropping considerably.   Roger Marbeck of Marbecks Records joined Mike Hosking to discuss what this might mean.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for pri...

The Nurses Society says Auckland hospital staff are under an extreme burden - as Covid ravages staffing numbers.  Nurses, midwives and other support staff at the three DHBs are being offered a $500 bonus for every night shift they work - to try to combat the shortages.  Director David Wills told Mike Hosking the added money shows how desperate the DHBs are for staff.  He says while it's not busine...

Hospitals are under increasing pressure from the Omicron outbreak.  Another 24 Covid deaths were confirmed yesterday, including 16 previously unreported deaths from the past three weeks.  The high number of deaths is due to reporting changes at the Ministry of Health.   There are now 971 people in hospital with the virus, mostly in the Auckland region.  Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield...