The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Fears some of our roads are just not safe enough, after reports a section of State Highway 1 north of Auckland has been peeling off and sticking to cars. Police say there were more than 40 complaints from motorists with tar stuck to their vehicles from the highway in Dome Valley on Saturday. It will be closed overnight for repair work. Transporting New Zealand Chief Executive Nick Leggett told Tim...

An alarming increase in grocery prices won't be going away any time soon. It comes as the latest Infometrics-Foodstuffs New Zealand Grocery Supplier Cost Index data, showing a rise in cost increases from suppliers by more than 10 percent in November. Around 7,800 items increased in cost, nearly three times as many items as in November 2019. Infometrics chief economist Brad Olsen says inflation is...

Delight for National's latest MP as he paints Hamilton West blue. Tama Potaka came out on top in the by-election triggered by Guarav Sharma's resignation. Potaka won 46 percent of the vote, beating Labour's Georgie Dansey by 16 percent. Sharma came a distant fourth with less than ten percent of the vote. He told Tim Dower that his win represents the frustration the electorate has around crime. Pot...

Kerry Godliman is a mainstay of British television and comedy. She's been on the stand up scene since the late 90s - and starting becoming a household name as she appeared on shows such as M ock the Week and Taskmaster. And she's linked up with Ricky Gervais plenty over the years - including having starring roles in Derek and A fter Llife. Now she's starring in the new drama - Whitstable Pearl , w...

Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the week that was. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.   Entrenchment : 1/10 Probably the scandal and cock up of the year. Machiavellian, dishonest, underhand and, not just that, but bungled with an astonishing level of incompetence.   The Ford Ranger: 8/10 Most popular new car in the country, despite the Government's best attempts t...

Prediction time for tomorrow in Hamilton-West. The biggest loser will be Gaurav Sharma who will barely register, thus telling him a couple of things. The first is that the noise he made about Labour amounts and counts for nothing. He was a nobody, he is a nobody, he will go back to being a nobody and a Government that wins with the numbers Labour did in 2020 brings in a lot of nobodies, who essent...

The Government has reached a Housing Accord with Rotorua Lakes Council and Rotorua iwi, to address the emergency housing crisis in Rotorua. It aims to reduce some of the anti-social activity linked to the city's 13 highly controversial emergency housing motels. Details of the accord will be revealed at 10am. Mayor Tania Tapsell told Mike Hosking most people will be happy with the accord that's bee...

Described as a game-changer for breast cancer sufferers, research shows a widely-available heartburn drug can prevent some serious side-effects associated with chemotherapy. Two specialist cancer doctors from Palmerston North have found taking the heartburn medicine pantoprazole successfully targeted serious nausea and vomiting, which often happens two to five days after chemo. Palmerston North Ho...

A royal correspondent has labelled Harry and Meghan's new series as underwhelming, and a little innocuous. The first three episodes were released on Netflix last night. Royal Correspondent Victoria Arbiter says there were parts of it that were wonderful - such as hearing their love story from them. She told Mike Hosking they're clearly very giddy about each other. Arbiter says there was a huge num...

The debate over the Three Waters changes and other Government reforms have dominated the political agenda this year. Political Editor Barry Soper told Mike Hosking the Government will be keen to shift attention next year to pre-election sweeteners in the May budget. "Don't be surprised if at the eleventh hour, this Government comes out with something significant before the election campaign." LIST...

New data shows that regional accommodation is already at full capacity for New Year’s. Baches filling up fast may not be new for this time of year, but it has been a few years since we have seen it happen. Is this a flash in the pan, or will we see it continue throughout the summer period? Head of Revenue for Bachcare Nick Pierce joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for...

Councils aren't planning on backing down against the Three Waters reforms. The first of three bills passed its final reading in Parliament yesterday, allowing for the amalgamation of council water assets into four water entities. Councils will own these entities through a shareholding and will co-govern them with mana whenua. Waimakariri mayor Dan Gordon told Mike Hosking it's frustrating the Gove...

Russia freed WNBA star Brittney Griner early today in a dramatic prisoner exchange, as the US released notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout but failed to win freedom for another American, Paul Whelan, who has been jailed for nearly four years. The swap, at a time of heightened tensions over Ukraine, achieved a top goal for President Joe Biden but carried a heavy price. “She’s safe, she’s on a...

I am told the concern over aviation fuel isn't going to ruin your holiday. In other words, the planes won’t run out of gas. But the inevitable issue of getting a bit of dodgy fuel was always going to unfold, wasn’t it? Those of us that questioned the closure of Marsden Point are being proven right already, not that that is any great victory. I know nothing about fuel, apart from the fact that if y...

Eric Bogosian is a name synonymous with the American stage and screen. He first made his name in the 1980s with his stage show, Talk Radio which was adapted into a film by Oliver Stone in 1988. Since then he's been in many of the biggest shows - including B illions, Succession and Law and Order. Add to that - he starred in Adam Sandler’s comeback Uncut Gems back in 2019. Now he's starring in a TV...

Fletcher Living are looking at a new retirement village model. Retirees who buy into Fletcher Building’s new Vivid Living on Auckland’s North Shore will enjoy 50 percent of any capital gains made on the property, lower management fees, and the 'weekly fees' will be removed when the resident vacates. Head of Retirement Vivid Living Gemma Gloyne joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/l...

The number of drivers detected breaking the law has continued to climb. A trial using more invasive road safety cameras snapped 200,000 drivers using their phones, along with 42,000 seatbelt offences. But no one is being ticketed because to do that would require a law change, which would likely be next year. AA Road Safety spokesperson Dylan Thomsen joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE     See omnyst...

The Tourism Minister has hopes of a long-term future for Ruapehu Alpine Lifts. The Government has expanded its loan to the company by another $6 million, to give it more time to explore options, and open the ski fields next winter. The company went into voluntary administration in October, with Covid exacerbating long-standing issues including bad snow years. Stuart Nash told Mike Hosking people a...

Thousands of police carried out a series of raids across much of Germany today against suspected far-right extremists who allegedly sought to overthrow the state by force. Federal prosecutors said some 3,000 officers conducted searches at 130 sites in 11 of Germany’s 16 states against adherents of the so-called Reich Citizens movement. Some members of the grouping reject Germany’s postwar constitu...

A law professor says a High Court ruling over the guardianship of a six month old was unlikely to have gone any other way. The judge has given doctors at Starship Hospital medical responsibility of the six-month-old, until he's recovered from an urgent heart operation. His parents won't let doctors use donations from the Blood Service for the surgery - over claims it's all tainted by the Covid vac...

The Government is looking to break the cycle for New Zealand’s youngest recidivist offenders through a new fast-track intervention approach aimed at 10 to 13-year-olds as part of a new youth crime package, the  Herald  can reveal. It will include $2 million spread across four regions - Auckland, Waikato, Northland and Bay of Plenty - to fund locally-led solutions to reduce youth crime. It will als...

International airlines are now in doubt about their ability to fill up their planes with fuel in New Zealand. Airlines are having to limit fuel consumption, after a bad batch of refined fuel was imported into Northland's Marsden Point. No flights have so far been cancelled, and a new shipment is due in the country on Monday. But Board of Air Line Representatives Executive Director Cath O'Brien tol...

In yet another sign that the people that are supposed to know what they are doing, don’t, the Funding for Lending programme came to an end yesterday. It was cheap money from the Reserve Bank to the retail banks to get cash out into the economy. And in another of those "whoops, with the benefit of hindsight we would have done it differently" comments, they now say that they should have put more fle...

Sport New Zealand have changed the rules for transgender athletes. Trans athletes will now be able to participate in sport in the gender they identify with. The changes will apply only to community level sport. Former professional rower, endurance athlete and co-spokesperson for Save Women's Sport Candice Riley joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.