The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Foodstuffs says all the election promises aimed at knocking the supermarket giants down a peg - won't change food prices.  National and New Zealand First want to break up the co-op - something almost 500 owner-operators have criticised in an open letter.  Labour's eyeing up a wholesale-retail split, while the Greens want to start a state-owned grocery chain.  Foodstuffs North Island chief executive Chris Quin told Mike Hosking these measures all seem to be trying to target profits and the retail dollar.  He says they feel like complicated things to do inside the smallest thing of what makes up food prices.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Parents are being told by National's education spokesperson, they should understand screen time isn't best practice for young kids. If re-elected, the party would end screen and individual-device use in early childhood centres and tightly limit it for kids in Years 1 to 3. It would also introduce a School Start Check before children begin primary school.  Erica Stanford told Mike Hosking there's a need for clear and consistent restrictions on device use across the country. She says handwriting, using paper, and having interactions are so much more important than using screens.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the final episode of the 100 Years of ZB Podcast, Mike Hosking sits down for an extended interview with Newstalk ZB's Drive host, Heather du Plessis-Allan. The pair talk about their first impressions of the station and what makes it so strong in the current radio market. They also discuss what the future may hold and what will keep Newstalk ZB at the front of the pack.  100 Years of ZB - Celebrating a century of New Zealand's conversation. Archival audio from the collections at Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision.   New episodes every Sunday on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts - powered by Newstalk ZB.  LISTEN ABOVE OR BELOW IF YOU'RE OUTSIDE NEW ZEALAND  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It turns out fanciful and quite possibly nutty and dangerous thinking isn't limited to the Greens and Government-run supermarkets.  Dame Angela Eagle, who is Environment Secretary in the UK, has announced the need for people to take the burgeoning El Niño so seriously that we need to start stocking up on food.  This is a conflation of several things that affect a lot of us all over the world these days; new and developing weather.  Patterns we haven't quite got a read on, given we have never really dealt with them, a growing amount of generalised alarmism and, of course, very poor leadership through a chronic and growing lack of genuine talent.  El Niño this summer, or their winter, may or may not be a thing. We simply don’t know.  Last report I read suggested that New Zealand may well do quite well, given prices for what we grow will most likely rise.  In other words, it may flood in South America, be dry out in Australia, but we could be fine.  But sadly the modern age has seen the astonishing rise of fear and alarmism. How many years has the phrase "before it's too late" been used when it comes to climate change?  Just last week they rolled it out again as regards the 1.5 degrees they got fixated with a couple of decades back.  "The point of no return" is an Antonio Guterres go to line.  What we know for sure are volcanoes are worse for climate than we are and wars cause more crop damage than weather.  But asking people to stock up seems a new low. Stock up with what? Canned beetroot?  And to what extent are you stocking up, and for how long? Have you seen the size of the average British kitchen?  By panicking before anything has happened, if and when nothing does happen, how is that going to go for your messaging and credibility if and when anything actually does happen and you actually need people to take you seriously?  Vaccines and our attitude towards them were materially changed because of Covid. It's why America has measles and international targets are now routinely missed with kids.  Leadership and proportionality go hand-in-hand.  Scaring the horses, overreacting, panicking, getting captured by ideology - they all lead to trouble.  My approach to summer is going to be very similar to last year. If I lived my life reacting to the environment secretary, alarmists or the NZ Herald's Harbour Bridge closure alerts, I'd be a nervous wreck with no cupboard space left.  And who needs that? 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.    Trump: 1/10  I reckon it's been his worst week yet. The polls have tanked, the House flip is on, SCOTUS rejected him on mail-ins, the Fed rejected him on interest rates, more Republicans than ever swapped sides to vote against the war, and his name is not on the Kennedy Centre.    Youth wages: 7/10  Policy of the week. It's easy to bag if you're a union, but it actually makes sense and actually solves a problem.    AI: 6/10  Because the debate got real intense, and earnest, and fast. But, small clue, we aren't getting wiped out. So if you panicked you should have focused more on Sydney Sweeney.    Supermarkets: 1/10  The biggest amount of combined idiocy I have seen in a campaign in years. Shallow as a puddle.    The Warriors: 9/10  Glass half-full – if we had won last week we wouldn’t have this weekend, and who doesn’t want this weekend?    LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.