The Mike Hosking Breakfast

The US President's been treated to a day of processions, gifts and flypasts in his second state visit to the UK.  Donald Trump's attending a state banquet at Windsor Castle, hosted by King Charles, with about 150 other guests.  The King is cherishing the close ties between American and British people, saying the ocean may divide the two countries, but they're the 'closest of kin.'  UK Correspondent Rod Liddle told Mike Hosking they’re flinging every bit of royal regalia that they can at Trump in order to curry favour, and it seems to be working.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Another case of a Kiwi punching above his weight.  Hailing from Christchurch, 20 year old motorsport driver Jacob Douglas is currently competing in the USF Pro 2000 Circuit over in the States.  He’s on the road to IndyCar, and has just wrapped up the season, finishing 5th overall and securing a win and eight podiums.  At age 16 Douglas made the move to America in order to chase his dreams, and told Mike Hosking at the time he didn’t realise how big of a deal it was.  “I was kind of just, y’know, another Kiwi going off overseas to chase my goals in sports,” he said.  “But it was a great experience, and yeah, I loved every minute of it.”  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hamilton's first domestic jet service in 25 years will connect thousands of people to Christchurch every year.  Air New Zealand's Airbus A320 service will operate alongside two smaller planes, to be deployed to other parts of the regional network.  From today the 171-seat domestic jet will leave Christchurch at 3pm five days a week and return from Hamilton just after 5pm.  Waikato Chamber of Commerce CEO Don Good told Mike Hosking Air NZ wouldn’t have put a plane on that route if there wasn’t demand.  He says they’ve seen the opportunity and believe that it will grow.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Thursday 18th of September, we look at the predictions of how bad Q2 was economically, and whether this is the worst of it.   Some extraordinary new numbers when it comes to youth crime that shows the Government is starting to get the issue under control.  Young motorsport driver Jacob Douglas details his path to IndyCar and why he moved to the US by himself at only 16 years old.   Get the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast every weekday morning on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Top musicians are taking their music off Spotify and leaving the platform behind – but why?  Kiwi musicians like Tiki Taane and The Bats have joined overseas acts like Deerhoof and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard in boycotting the platform, accusing it of exploitation, poor royalties, and subsidising big international acts.  As it stands, each stream earns an artist around one-twentieth of a New Zealand cent.  Tech commentator Paul Spain told Mike Hosking artists are making a fair point, as Spotify has been increasing their prices, but not artist payouts.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The vast majority of New Zealand's foreign tourist levy is being held on to by the Government.  Budget documents show up to $139 million is being banked from the International Visitor Levy for Crown spending.  This year's budget allocated $55 million a year to spending in conservation and $35 million to new spending in tourism from a pot of almost $230 million.  Minister of Conservation Tama Potaka told Mike Hosking it helps cover the costs of all things used by tourists, not just things like conservation.  He says tourists also use the health system and roads, not just conservation estates and tourism areas.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Children's Minister is attributing a reduction in youth reoffending to boot camps, even though they haven't started yet.   The Government says serious and persistent young offending has dropped by more than 14% since June 2023.   Northland experienced the greatest decrease at 40%.   Minister Karen Chhour told Mike Hosking there have been significant developments.   She says they've learnt a lot from the military-style academy pilot, which has informed other programmes.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Frustration from farmers over Environment Canterbury's decision to declare a nitrate emergency.  It voted —nine to seven— for the declaration after groundwater testing found levels of the chemical increasing in the majority of monitored sites.  Federated Farmers Vice President Colin Hurst told Mike Hosking solving this problem can take a number of years, but farmers have been working on it.  He says ECan's put a wedge between farmers and council after yesterday's decision.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Many are predicting a fall in GDP for quarter two.   Stats NZ will release the figures later this morning, just before 11am.  The Reserve Bank expects a 0.3% drop while bank economists are more pessimistic.   Westpac Senior Economist Michael Gordon told Mike Hosking there are worrying trends.   He says the construction sector is still in a downturn, while manufacturing has seen a fall after a decent first quarter.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If it's any help to those chained to Nicola Willis' office, there is a decent piece I read yesterday asking whether Israel was heading towards a South Africa moment.  In an interview this week, Netanyahu seemed to accept some sort of isolation was a price his country was, and is, paying for as a result of the war.  But none of that has been brought about by people chaining themselves to door handles.  Nor would the cause have been advanced in any way, shape, or form by Nicola taking communion with them. Nor indeed by the march that wandered through parts of Auckland over the weekend.  What has led the war to the point it is, is severalfold.  Firstly, Hamas started it. That is an indisputable fact. The raid of two years ago was entirely on them.  What happened next has happened numerous times in one form or another.  Hamas starts it, Israel responds. They have responded the way they have this time, once again, for a couple of reasons.  1) It was a particularly brazen attack.  2) America has a president that doesn’t mind the sort of retaliation that has taken place.  Never before have we seen drawings of a new Middle East, with millions of Gazans living in a Trump-like Floridian Eutopia.  Now, it's fair to suggest events of the last few days i.e. the attack in Qatar, has pushed the Americans to the limit, if not beyond.  But you will note that Rubio is currently in the Middle East and still shaking hands with Netanyahu and still happy to be in the photo.  In the meantime, back here, nuns are chained to door handles, people wave flags and the angst in the media over whether we will recognise Palestine next month in New York is palpable.  But to reiterate, at no point do any of our actions make a jot of difference. Once this particular chapter is over, in whatever form that takes, we will go back to a relatively stable period of co-existence.  Until someone does something stupid all over again, which of course they will.  This story has been told many, many times over. When hate drives the narrative nothing ever really changes. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.