Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

Bit of a worry that in these already stressful times for young people, they have an additional worry gnawing away at them; the destruction of the planet and their fear of humanity being doomed. Eco-anxiety is huge. The BBC recently reported a “new global survey which illustrates the depth of anxiety many young people feel about climate change. Nearly 60 percent of young people felt very worried or extremely worried. More than 45 percent said feelings about the climate affected their daily lives, three quarters said they thought the future was frightening. Over half, 56 percent, thought humanity was doomed.” That’s disturbing, isn’t it? Imagine growing in a world where you think humanity is doomed? Having said that, we grew up with a fear of nuclear war wiping us all out, and we were told robots would take over the world, so I guess there’s always been a niggling fear that humanity is doomed. The climate change worry is serious because it’s having a knock-on effect on young people’s plans for the future. Apart

A lifetime gang member has concerns, about Covid-19 spreading within gang communities. Some members of an Auckland Mongrel Mob chapter are isolating, after a woman visited the Mongrel Mob Pasifika pad in Takanini while positive with the virus. Ashley Bloomfield says he's not concerned about the situation. But lifetime Black Power member Denis O'Reilly told Kate Hawkesby he should be. "We are many in number, highly mobile and disobedient. Just like certain Aucklanders going to Wānaka." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Auckland's Level Four lockdown could be making the grass even greener on the other side.  Real estate agents in regions such as Tauranga are reporting record levels of interest from Auckland home buyers. Some are even making lockdown sales where the buyers haven't been able to see the property.  Valocity valuation director James Wilson told Kate Hawkesby it was already happening pre-lockdown, but now it's coming to a head. "We've now seeing and hearing those stories around interest levels spiking, you look at agencies reporting massive interest for listings that do come up." LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As tough as this lockdown is for many people, it’s really tough for the kids having to do school work from home, and for their parents who may be trying to juggle work, while also keeping their kids focused on learning.  It’s a juggling act we’ve been keeping up for 4 weeks now, and as Aucklanders enter a fifth week of it, it’s understandable the wheels are starting to fall off a bit. Reality is biting, this is a really long time to have kids away from class. There’s something irreplaceable about that level of engagement from a teacher face to face, as opposed to online lessons or worksheet instructions. There is huge pressure on students to stay motivated for their at home learning, yet they’re being deprived of their usual tools in a classroom environment, their mates, their sense of purpose, their teacher front and centre. The younger they are, the tougher it is for them to grasp and stay with this. And tough for working parents too. The juggle adds enormous amounts of pressure to households. In fact, it’s

A suggestion changes being agreed to by one of our major supermarket chains don't go far enough.  It comes after a report by the Commerce Commission found competition was lacking in the grocery sector. Foodstuffs North Island, which owns New World, Four Square and Pak'nSave, says it's now willing to support a consumer-focused code of conduct that aims to treat suppliers better. It adds it'll look at simplifying promotions and loyalty schemes. Consumer NZ Chief Executive Jon Duffy says told Kate Hawkesby the company is doing the bare minimum. "This was inevitable, that the code of conduct for suppliers is very much the low-hanging fruit in the analysis that's being done, it was going to happen." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The idea of a student loan-type scheme is expected to be a win-win for businesses and the Government. Treasury's being asked to introduce it to help companies get through the economic impact of Covid-19. The idea's come from Cognitus Economic Insight principal economist, Richard Meade. He told Kate Hawkesby the Government would have about 14 percent less debt, if the scheme was put in place. "But the level of support offered is about two and a half times higher than wage subsidies, because you're ensuring businesses revenue lines, not just one of the cost lines."LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Wellington Chamber of Commerce says New Zealand is too reliant on Auckland. The capital has been in Alert Level Two for a week now...but with Auckland still in Alert Level Four...paused supply chains are leaving businesses vulnerable.  Chamber CEO Simon Arcus told Kate Hawkesby the reliance needs to end.  "We need to think differently about the way we're building New Zealand cities. Things like warehousing, logistics, modern e-commerce should be driving our thinking when we're planning our cities." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So, although we were delivered the worst kept secret that Auckland’s staying in Level 4 another week, I'm not convinced that'll be it. The PM said cabinet had made an ‘in principle’ decision that Auckland would move to Level 3 next Tuesday midnight, but an in-principle decision is not a final decision.  As always, they’ll make the actual decision based on the latest available data, and who knows what this week brings, and what that data might be. We are of course in a bit of a game here of PR spin: 'pretend and extend' is their current mantra. Pretend lockdown's working, and extend it. The idea being, that way you'll get more buy in. How much are we buying in though? If it was working, we wouldn't still be getting cases and we'd be out of this by now. As of last weekend, there'd already been more than 7 thousand lockdown breaches reported: 141 people formally warned, 71 people charged with a total of 75 offences. We've also had the MIQ escapee, the drunk driver turning up at the border trying to get through,

Another week of level 4 for Auckland and level 2 for the rest of the country. The longer this goes on; the more questions are being raised about at what point elimination strategy becomes socially and economically unviable.  Professor Robert MacCulloch, from Auckland University's faculty of Business and Economics discussed with Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A drive to get more disabled people vaccinated.  The Taikura Trust is launching Tiaki, a Covid-19 campaign aiming to break down barriers to access for Auckland's disabled community.  Barriers include transportation to vaccine centres and communication not being catered to them.  Minister for Disability issues Carmel Sepuloni told Kate Hawkesby there is vaccine hesitancy too.  "People may have had negative experiences with the health system with previous situations, so that may extend to vaccinations. We need to do whatever we can to promote vaccination amongst disabled people." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As you'll be aware we're in Te Wiki o te reo Māori at the moment - Māori Language Week.  And today is the day the Māori Language Commission want us to get together at midday today and set a record.  They're calling it the Māori Language Moment, and are hoping to set the world record for most people speaking an endangered, indigenous language at the same time.  Māori Language Commissioner, Rawinia Higgins, joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“We need to stay the course. We don’t want to yo yo in and out of lockdowns. We don’t want to waste our hard fought gains thus far. We have to stay vigilant. We don’t want to be Australia. We need to stay focused on the end goal here. Auckland is doing the heavy lifting but we know Aucklanders can do a little bit more.”That’s just some of the rhetoric well get dished out today.  Expect any or all of these things to be rolled out.My guess - and I’m no expert or epidemiologist - I’m just another Aucklander staring at the 4 walls of my house sick and tired of cooking all day - but my guess from here is we are not coming out of level 4 this week.And that’s not so much to do with case numbers or testing numbers - as we’ve been led to believe. It’s about the mystery cases. Something the government purposely didn’t talk about early on but you’ll notice is now talking about. Because they have to.Because they’re the crux of this thing. It’s not the numbers of infected people inside bubbles and families - it’s the myst

Some good news over the weekend with Denmark sending half a million Pfizer vaccines to New Zealand.But this comes as Denmark is completely getting rid of its own Covid restrictions.What makes their situation interesting is how they have a similar population to us.So what have they done right and could we learn a thing or two from Denmark?Professor of Viral Diseases at Copenhagen University Hospital Jens Lundgren joined Kate Hawkesby.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Among all the air fryer chat, there is confirmation that buying one is a real trend this lockdown.New Zealand PriceSpy data shows interest in an air fryer has gone up by 285 percent year on year.Are they a lockdown fad or on track to replace ovens?Celebrity chef Allyson Gofton from Food In A Minute joins Kate Hawkesby.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Authorities in Britain have decided not to require vaccine passports for entry into nightclubs and other crowded events in England, Britain's health secretary said Sunday, reversing course amid opposition from some of the Conservative government’s supporters in Parliament.Health Minister Sajid Javid said the government has shelved the idea of vaccine passports for now but could reconsider the decision if COVID-19 cases rise exponentially once again.“We’ve looked at it properly and whilst we should keep it in reserve as a potential option, I’m pleased to say that we will not be going ahead with plans for vaccine passports,’’ Javid told the BBC.The U-turn came just days after both the government’s vaccines minister and the culture secretary suggested that vaccine passports would still be necessary, despite growing opposition from lawmakers.In particular, members of the governing Conservative Party have objected to such passports as an unacceptable burden on businesses and an infringement on residents' human rig

Another week, another commanding bonus-point victory for the All Blacks. Each more impressive than the last, too.After three comfortable wins against the Wallabies, the last two ensconcing the All Blacks atop the Rugby Championship table, Ian Foster's men held the Pumas to the open flame grill and then uncorked Mendoza's best Malbec with one stunning second-half try.The All Blacks enjoyed total control on the Gold Coast – so much so it was no surprise the Pumas were held scoreless. The imagination and attacking potential between the two teams was poles apart as the All Blacks' freedom of expression and variety blew the Argentines away.A change in style was supposed to restrict the All Blacks more than in recent weeks. After a Wallabies team that, like the All Blacks, embraces pace and width, the Pumas' confrontational approach, their suffocating defence, would present a different challenge. That theory was true for brief periods, but not nearly long enough.With five more in this match the All Blacks have now

For a government obsessed with optics, it beggars' belief that more thought wasn’t given to James Shaw’s decision to travel all the way to Scotland for a climate change conference in 8 weeks' time. I mean, let’s get past the glaring carbon footprint of all that travel and look at the other hypocritical aspects of this. This is a party who objected so strongly to Parliament being resumed in person that they refused to attend; such was their horror that travel should take place during Delta. That same sentiment seems to have conveniently been overlooked in this case. Add to this, the fact that he will take up an MIQ spot which has magically appeared for him at the end of it all. So that’s a spot he’s taking that could have gone to someone else. There are people in virtual queues for months on end with a variety of excellent reasons as to why they should get an MIQ spot, yet James Shaw just magically jumps the queue and gets one. Optics? Not good. But then, for a bright guy, James Shaw seems to make a lot of biz

One man is on a mission to feed the homeless in lockdown.  Hangi Master's Rewi Spraggon says he and his son have given out about three thousand hangi to Tamaki Makaurau's homeless and food banks.   The caterer told Kate Hawkesby lockdown has affected the homeless.  "A lot of them usually eat in the back of restaurants, in the rubbish cans behind the restaurants. But with no restaurants open, there's no food, so there's a huge struggle." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This weekend will mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Most of us remember where we were that fateful day, watching those horrific images coming out of New York and Washington DC. It changed the world forever, and the challenge is how to make sure future generations don't forget the lessons learned from 9/11. Director of tourism at 9/11 memorial and museum in New York Isaac Pacheco joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An Auckland tourism operator says international tourists will be needed to help keep local businesses afloat. Bush and Beach Tour Company's Ben Thornton says most Kiwis see the region as the epicentre of Covid outbreaks.  He argues the 17 MIQ facilities scattered throughout the city, will put other New Zealanders off wanting to visit. Thornton told Kate Hawkesby international tourists will be the key to survival. "The only glimmer of hope I have is, because the Government have left it so long it's now too late. Potentially, once they've got the vaccination numbers up they'll be able to help in the new year, that's what we're hoping for and praying for." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.