Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier is currently visiting the UK, marking the first UK state visit by a German head of state in decades. "The overriding two themes from this state visit is the brilliant relationship between Berlin and London now, and strength and solidarity for Ukraine from these two countries," UK Correspondent Edna Brady told Heather du Plessis-Allan.  Brady also touches on the large sum of seized Russian money, which Europe hopes to use to rebuild Ukraine.  LISTEN HERESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight on The Huddle broadcaster Mark Sainsbury and Thomas Scrimgeour from the Maxim Institute joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! We could be looking at the next Netball scandal... at NZ Cricket. A bunch of ex Black Caps have signed an open letter highly critical of a new independent T20 competition. What do you make of their concerns? Ikea is open, and people either hate the hysteria or are totally buying into it, while The Warehouse is trying to remind people to buy local. What have you made of the whole drama?  And, are our summer breaks too long? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listen to the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Thursday 4 December. Get the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast every weekday evening on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Next week a social media ban for anyone under-16 will take effect in Australia. Some Meta accounts have already been deleted as the deadline looms.  Former Facebook Australia New Zealand CEO Stephen Scheeler told Heather du Plessis-Allan he believes an under-16 ban will become the 'new normal'.  "Now there are benefits to social media for many teens as well, but the negative effects, I think, are just too pronounced," he said. LISTEN HERESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Post Primary Teachers' Association (PPTA) members voted to accept the Governments recent pay offer, officially bringing an end to the striking... for now. The settlement includes a 4.6 percent pay increase over two years, and increased allowances for teachers who have management roles or other special responsibilities. PPTA president Chris Abercrombie told Heather du Plessis-Allan, "we're pleased that we're going to be able to start the new year in a settled environment." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper talked to Heather du Plessis-Allan about today's political hot topics. Expelled MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi was heard by Justice Radich in the Wellington High Court in regard to her interim injunction against Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon attended the IKEA opening in Auckland today. And, head of the Justice Ministry, Andrew Kibblewhite, defended Sunny Kaushal’s work as chairman of the Ministerial Advisory Group (MAG) for victims of retail crime, including more than $227K in pay and a $3200 morning tea. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Swedish flat-pack furniture giant IKEA opened in Auckland today with a more mild turnout than expected. But, as customers are expected to flock to the new store in the weeks leading up to Christmas, questions over it's potential market domination arise.  Forsyth Barr retail analyst Paul Koraua believes IKEA may put positive pressure on other companies to perform better for their customers. "I think it's a good thing for the end consumer because a lot of these retailers are going to be working on their products, working on their pricing, working on the ranging," he told Heather du Plessis-Allan.   LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australia has announced plans to force gas companies to keep more fuel onshore.  The Labor Government is set to announce an east coast gas reservation scheme in the coming weeks with the hopes it will lower gas and energy prices in the country.  Meanwhile, raising tobacco prices has come back to bite the Government as the black market grows exponentially. Australian correspondent Murray Olds told Heather du Plessis-Allan, "here's the thing ... a packet of durries can be bought for $10 or $12 so the government tax take is down dramatically to $7 billion this year." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government announced some changes to retirement villages today following thousands of submissions.  The changes aim to support residents by giving the villages a specific timeframe of 12 months to repay residents after they vacate a unit.  Until now there was no repayment deadline.  Retirement Village Residents Council spokesperson Carol Shepherd told Heather du Plessis-Allan, "to be realistic and pragmatic we wanted some definition, some definite time frame about when we could get our money back, and 12 months seems to be a logical time frame." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Former Prince Andrew will get to stay in the Royal Lodge for another year, but likely won't receive compensation for the early termination of his lease.  A shipment of German ammunition, thought to be 20,000 rounds, has been stolen from a delivery lorry after the driver for a civilian transport company left his truck in an unguarded parking lot. The Bank of England has warned of a potential "sharp correction" in the value of major tech companies amidst fears of an AI bubble. UK Correspondent Gavin Grey told Heather du Plessis-Allan, "the bank is outlining that the growth of the AI sector in the next 5 years will be fuelled by trillions of dollars of debt, raising financial stability risks if then companies go bust." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.