/on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/rss 九一星空无限 Tue, 06 May 2025 06:55:16 Z en /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-the-ultimate-scandal/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-the-ultimate-scandal/ Disclaimer: Satire  On the news last night, it was nothing but scandal. Scandal. Scandal. I don’t think I’ve seen political misconduct of this magnitude since Watergate. The Woodward and Bernsteins of our time were busy digging through documents, uncovering truth. Protecting democracy. From corruption. From evil. Erica Stanford, Minister of Education and obvious crook, first in the firing line.  Her crime? Printing off work emails at home.  Disgraceful. A two-part report from 1九一星空无限 leading the bulletin over consecutive nights details how this menace, flagrant in her disregard for best practice, printed papers from her home computer after emailing them to her own private email address. Why? I hear you ask. Why such an egregious act? Well it turns out, and this where the story really gets interesting, Parliamentary IT hadn’t hooked up a printer in her office or home. So instead of ignoring her immense workload, switching off her computer and going to the pub like any decent politician, she emailed them to herself, printed them off. And worked late into the night.  Outrageous.  Other documents, other emails exclusively uncovered - the existence of which made possible because the Minister flagged them with officials for inclusion in future OIA requests. Like the one we're now looking at. So, brazen in flouting the rules she thought she’d never get caught.  Shameless.  One reporter noted Stanford was quote “safe for now”. It’s at least on par with the Hegseth and his signal chat. Kiri Allen drunk driving then crashing a ministerial car before resisting arrest pales into comparison.  But how much worse can this scandal get for Stanford?  We must wait for part two this evening.  Then the next minister in the firing line? Matt Doocey. Mental Health. And this story is crazy - he should be locked up like crooked Hilary.  His crime?  Worse than lying… the newsreader told us the accusation was, wait for it... massaging the message. It's a new charge but thought to be very, very, very serious. Some pages detailing workforce shortages were removed from a glossy Ministerial booklet that went out to the public.  There was one small problem with this future Pulitzer Prize winner. The problem, as cameras bared down, as his crimes were read aloud, was Doocey had no idea what the reporter was talking about - it was old mate Lester Levy. It was Levy's fingerprints over this one, not Doocey's. But he’s already on the way out, so what’s the fun in getting him on camera? Shackling him to the pillory for a flogging? So, it was Doocey in the dock.  The best part about this expose? It came with its very own deep throat. Yes, an insider whose secret cache of draft documents blew the sorry wide open… That person was Ingrid Leary from the Labour Party.  Case closed. It’s a knockout. It’s a slam dunk. Both ministers must be sacked immediately.  Mon, 05 May 2025 18:19:28 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-world-voters-are-picking-certainty-at-best/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-world-voters-are-picking-certainty-at-best/ No doubt Donald Trump's brand is dicey at home at best but globally, the world has watched on with a mix of amusement and feigned concern.  These results out of Canada and Australia at the weekend show that brand has turned toxic... like a beef Wellington at a family dinner party.  We've all seen the host - the chef - tuck in... but now we're thinking hmm... do we want to do the same.  We can't get much closer in style and substance to Canada and Australia when it comes to democracy - both chained to the Westminster system we inherited Mother England... and both of our cousins have turned on their political oppositions as Trump upends the global order.  To rub salt in the wound both Poilievre and Dutton lost not just their elections but their seats.  We spoke about this on Friday but... but what is the message here? Trump is toxic.  Poilievre's problem was one of style - he sounded and campaigned too much like Trump - the airports hanger with the branded plane behind shots on the nightly news.  Dutton's problem was more complicated... first. He ran a crap campaign. Realising a defence plan so expensive it gets funding to 35 of GDP and means you can't Albo's tax cuts in a cost-of-living crisis - and then only releasing that plan two weeks out from campaign day was dumb.  But it was also about that word economists are spitting out like a bad steak - uncertainty. Don't ask Luxon though - he gave a bizzare response when asked about this yesterday... Basically... the Aussies and the Canadians simply picked the most economically credible parties in the face of uncertain times.  What? Those parties he's endorsing are both from the left. That's the equivalent of kicking his sister parties (The Aussie Libs and Canadian Conservatives) in the shins. Made no sense. I think he wanted to avoid mentioning the trump bump.  What's actually happening here is not really about parties.  In times of uncertainty, you don't change your horse mid-steam. Voters stick with what they know. When the worlds in a spin, you don't know up from down, Albo from a-hole.... human nature, for the most part, is to do nothing and hope it goes away. Why risk a new government of unknown quantity? Singapore's arguably just done the same. The counter factual to this obviously is America, but remember the American economy was actually growing for past two years, consumer spending was strong, and inflation had come down earlier than ours. So that's a different set of circumstances.  The best comparison for what's happened in Australia and Canada in the past week is 2020, New Zealand.  A bunch of people really worried a perceived global threat rallying around flagpole and rejecting a campaign that wasn't neither well-run or nailing the public mood.  Which Judith Collins' disastrous 2020 attempt didn't.  Whether it was Trump, or a reaction to him. For Luxon to attribute the fiscal credentials of left-wing parties abroad with their success was an unnecessary own goal.  Sun, 04 May 2025 18:05:46 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-dont-underestimate-the-trump-bump/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-dont-underestimate-the-trump-bump/ Alright it's time for Friday confessional.  With the Pope passing away, all this focus on Catholicism's got me feeling repentant.  There are two things I predicted would happen last December as I was signing for Christmas here at 九一星空无限talk ZB. One of those things hasn't happened and the other one is about to not happen.  Poilievre winning the Canadian election and Albo losing Australia's.  We all know who's to blame. You know who – the wildcard, the kamikaze, the outlaw, it was the Trump Bump that did it for both of these guys.   Carney, while he's won, will have a very tough term in office given the whole rally round the flag effect in support of Canadian sovereignty will fizzle out as quickly as Jacinda's Covid election high – the underlying problems Canadians felt before this month-long love-in will remain. This will surely be his high tide mark.  But that's no excuse. I got it wrong. Fair cop.  And as for Dutton, who's been looking behind every couch and under every rock for something relevant to say, he’s now beating up on the return to country. Which during a cost of living crisis people want sorted, is akin to Judith Collins' attack on fat people at the ill-fated 2020 election.  Remember that? If you want to lose weight, then eat less. Actually, not an unreasonable thing to say for most but it's the timing, isn't it? It's the focus on that when it should be on bigger things.  And that brings us to the elephant in the White House: Donald Trump.  While I predicted he'd win last November, I think most of us underestimated just what “America first” meant for the rest of the world. When somebody comes first, somebody loses.  And both Albo and Carney have been beneficiaries of that.  His power of course has swung global political pendulums before. Remember the rise and international star power of Jacinda Ardern was born out of an anti-Trump backlash. The liberal young female prime minister banning assault rifles in a country post mass-shooting became the darling of global left – just the tonic for those who not just dislike, but despise Trump and his band of merry MAGA supporters.  So the political lesson is don't underestimate the Trump Bump and Dump on any foreign election.  The question is, what does it mean for our election next year?  We're less affected by his tariffs, unless China implodes. We’re not yet being threatened with invasion. Unlike the Aussies and Canadians, our incumbents are bent to the right.   So the risk of a Trump Bump getting Chippy over the line here if he starts singing from Phil Goff’s songbook is perhaps more limited – but not non-existent.  When Washington coughs, somebody gets a cold.  How Luxon and Winston et al. navigate the next 18 months will determine whether it's them that catches it.  Thu, 01 May 2025 19:57:28 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-the-ticking-time-bomb-in-mark-mitchells-lap/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-the-ticking-time-bomb-in-mark-mitchells-lap/ Mark Mitchell, he's got a bit on his plate at the moment.   He'll be happy with the score he got from Audrey Young in her ranking of ministers for midterm, but I reckon he is holding on to a ticking time bomb.   This is the case of the beautiful young Colombian woman in Christchurch living next door to a monster. She didn't know he'd been let out of prison 10 weeks before he raped her and stabbed her to death. He was on parole, by the way.   And here's the problem: Corrections knew he was, quote, “a high, high, high risk”. Any young attractive woman near him would be a target. Poor Juliana Bonilla-Herrera. She lived next door. She didn't know about his past and Corrections somehow didn't know she'd moved in next door to this animal.   Now, since we spoke about this the other day, a couple of things have happened. A couple of updates for you, and this is where Mitchell comes in. This guy was on parole right, which means he's been let out of prison early. Could still be in prison, but you're not because we've let you out. Now you wonder how many other high-risk offenders like this guy are released from prison early. And is this, you know, a good idea?   Well, a senior Correction staffer this week says they're regularly being let out early and let into the community. Not just people like this guy, but people with quote, “even higher risk”.  Here's what I reckon: this case, and a long list of parole botch ups before it, are all the evidence you need that we can't trust the system once these guys make it outside. The government should immediately pause the release of high-risk violent thugs into our communities. Everyone loves to talk about safety first, well here's a bloody good place to start. This ticking time bomb is in Mark Mitchell's lap.  Wed, 30 Apr 2025 19:37:58 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-budget-2025-will-be-frugal-but-will-budget-2026/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-budget-2025-will-be-frugal-but-will-budget-2026/ You can’t say we weren’t warned Nicola Willis would be taking to government spending like a butcher to a fresh carcass. She’s been saying it for months.  Yesterday she halved the operating allowance to $1.3 billion. All this because she wants to do what she said she’s do, and that’s balance the books by 2029. The recession’s cut her tax take so you either push your surplus out or you trim your spending. Labour, of course, says this is austerity, it’s bad, and we should spending more not less. Well, we know where that got us, waist deep in our own shite. Shite that Willis is now wading her way through trying to clean up. Budgets are just bigger versions of what we all do in our own lives everyday. We make decisions and choices about how much to spend, to borrow, what we spend on and more importantly, what we don’t. And if you asked most Kiwis what they’re doing right now, are you doing a Hipkins.Are you borrowing and splashing the cash? Stacking the pantry? Making nice brand spanking new purchases?  Or are you doing a Willis? Spending on the stuff you need, cutting the stuff you don’t, and trying to balance your budget so you can start paying down your debt?  I reckon most kiwis are doing the latter. So on that score, she’s on the money.  But here’s the thing to worry about, the political calculation for Budget 2025 will be very different to Budget 2026. You can get away with running a tight ship in the off-season but next year we’re going to the polls. Just look across the Tasman for a look at how mad that makes us and by extension our politicians. Albanese's borrowing so much for his election promises that Standard and Poor’s threatening to downgrade their AAA credit rating. There's debt-funded election spending so out the gate it’s pushing government outlays to its highest level since World War Two.  They’re now promising to cut $7 billion plus out of the public service least they push the boat out too far. The coalition’s been dining out in the credit card too. Not just the lefties. And this is the lesson and the warning. Being frugal and thrifty is easy when you’re not trying to buy an election. So yes, Willis is making the right noises for now, but next year, might just be a different story. Tue, 29 Apr 2025 18:16:26 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-flying-will-always-be-expensive-in-regional-nz/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-flying-will-always-be-expensive-in-regional-nz/ Here we go again with the whinge fest about Air New Zealand's prices.  I get it.  I try book the same flights as everybody else and when you're trying to fly some obscure route from this province to province its gets expensive. Quickly.  But here we are again with politicians telling us fibs - telling us they can wave a magic wand and fix all of our problems.  This time is James Meager - going in to bat for the South Island. He says flying shouldn't just be for the rich, the government is going to take action and is talking about underwriting airlines. Do we want the government underwriting the purchase of turbo prop planes? Really? We've heard this all before of course. They've gone after the banks, the supermarkets, and the price of petrol.  I can't tell you how many painstaking and frustrating interviews I've done with ministers of all colours and stripes who swear black and blue they'll sort it out and then don't. What's worse? The person that punches you in the nose? Or the doctor that says they'll fix it when they know you can't?  Here's the thing, if you wanna book the main trunk line, it's relatively inexpensive, providing you're not booking last minute. There's Jetstar keeping Air New Zealand honest. That's competition. But if you're flying Kerikeri to Dunedin tomorrow, guess what? It will cost plenty. Why? Because they've got you over a barrel. You need to fly. It's short notice.  8000 people live in Kerikeri and 130,000 in Dunedin, these routes are often empty.  The fact is running a profitable airline in a sparsely populated country is bloody difficult.  And we want them to be profitable, otherwise we have no airline and we're a backwater banana republic.  And the regional players - they're no better off. Air Chathams the other week was threatening to pull out of Whakatane unless the council paid for a new Cessna.  Everyone compares us to the Australians - but have a look at outback Queensland. You pay thousands just to get to Brisbane.  Show me a headline about flights being cheaper from Dunedin to Bali than Dunedin to Auckland and I'll show you one about Mount Isa to Brisbane and Brisbane to Canada. Population matters and guess what? We're a blip on the radar. And as for the promise that some politician will swoop in and save the day - it's about as reliable as planes. Mon, 28 Apr 2025 18:22:06 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-churches-risk-coming-across-hypocritical/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-churches-risk-coming-across-hypocritical/ There was a  priest on the news last night talking about homeless people the cost of buying a house in New Zealand.  This priest, who was all dressed up in his garb, then mentioned the fact there were marina berths down at the waterfront bursting at the seams with super yachts.  I thought that was such an odd thing to say.  I know the church's role is to help the poor. And they do that and I've seen them do that. And that's fantastic.  But to then also blame the wealthy for not helping the poor - is that helping? Or is that politics?  The church and state have been clashing of late.  We saw all those quote 'faith leaders' come out during the Treaty Principles Bill bill debate and give David Seymour a bollocking.  What exactly is the end game here? Are they, like the good bishop Brian Tamaki, keen on getting into parliament themselves?  The Salvation Army does a report every year looking at the wealth of billionaires. There's a lot of finger pointing and tisk-tisking about those who've accumulated a lot.  What about those who've got a lot, but also give a lot?  For a good example, we need look no further than the Catholic Church itself. It is one of the largest and wealthiest organisations in the world. The Vatican, because of its small population and huge tithings from working and poor people the world over, is the 18th wealthiest nation in the world per capita. They boast a huge real estate portfolio.  The men who run the roost, the cardinals and bishops and what not, are all fed and watered by the women who really run the place, the nuns.  It's not a hard life they lead. Is it? It's hardly struggle street.  It's hard to work out exactly what it's worth all up. But media reports anywhere between 73 and 250 billion bucks. So more than the combined wealth of all the the billionaires this country's ever known. To be honest - none of this bothers me. I believe everybody should believe in what ever god and afterlife they want to. That's religious freedom.  I respect your right to think and pray as you want. But if you're going to preach for the poor and against the wealthy, perhaps getting your own house in order might be a good place to start. Least you come across a tad hypocritical.  Sun, 27 Apr 2025 18:21:11 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/francesca-rudkin-let-china-and-the-us-sort-it-out/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/francesca-rudkin-let-china-and-the-us-sort-it-out/ Sometimes being the grown up in the room is deeply unfulfilling, pragmatic, sensible. Considering consequences, taking a long-term view, they're all good, admirable words, and we should take some solace in them. But sometimes I think we'd rather just throw a plate at the wall. And so, it is. Was the government's response yesterday to the Trump tariffs essentially to roll over and take it understandable? Sure. Sensible. Yep, frustrating. Very. The government confirmed we're not in the queue to negotiate a trade deal with President Trump's administration, nor are we interested in taking legal action over it, and the tariff hit will come after exporters had an excellent March. It's a shame the party music has hit a bum-note, we want the growth. We want good export news, but without the dark tariff cloud lingering in the distance. As Trade Minister Todd McClay said yesterday, we probably couldn't negotiate between below the current 10% rate and the legal process would be long winded and would probably go nowhere. I'm presuming, like the majority of us who aren't diplomats and haven't been in a room negotiating a trade deal, this is a well-considered plan. One based on experience and insider information, but perhaps also because making a fuss could have unintended consequences and result in even higher tariffs. It also makes sense to keep our head down until our two biggest trading partners, China and US, have sorted out their own tiff. We need to ensure both are feeling valued by us and not be seen to take sides as we focus on growing our trademark. Will the plate throwers get sensible? Trump stated during a White House news conference that the final tariff rate with China would come down substantially from the current 145%. He said the US would be very nice to China and not play hardball. Trump's remarks towards China come on the same day the IMF released a new report showing the United States faces the biggest downgrade among advanced countries due to the increase in tariffs and the uncertainty they've caused. The IMF predicts the US economy will grow 1.8% this year, down from the estimated 2.7%.And there's a 40% chance of recession. So, is this a case of Trump blinking in a first sign of some steps towards stabilizing global trade? Is it a move by Trump to calm the nerves? The markets responded well to both Trump's tariff call on China and his remarks. He has no intention of firing the Federal Reserve chair. I don't think anyone knows what's to come next or how Trump will respond to Chinese social media hashtags such as Trump admitted defeat, but I much prefer the adult Trump rather than the one throwing plates. In the meantime, New Zealand shall remain patient and diplomatic, settle in and see what change may occur again. Before the 90-day pause is up. LISTEN ABOVE Wed, 23 Apr 2025 18:18:27 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/francesca-rudkin-we-have-control-of-our-notifications/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/francesca-rudkin-we-have-control-of-our-notifications/ There has been a clever marketing campaign from 2degrees this week.   The telco has released the results of a study it commissioned into the impact mobile phones are having on our mental health.   It’s not good.   While most telco’s like to concentrate on keeping us connected, 2 Degrees has taken a slightly different approach with this one, acknowledging the elephant in the room by talking honestly and openly about the damage phones can do.   It’s almost like they care.   Which is quite refreshing.   I probably sound a bit sceptical, but I’m less fussed about a smart approach to promote a brand than the more important point that it’s absolutely crazy we’re letting our phones negatively impact our lives.   It simply doesn’t need to be this way.    One of the things the survey looked at was the role notifications play in adults' daily lives.   What they discovered was 50% of Kiwis receive too many notifications.  37% feel overwhelmed, panicked, or anxious.  30% struggle to concentrate due to the notifications.  46% of Gen Z respondents and 40% find it difficult to concentrate.   The biggest culprits are social media (65%) and email (60%).   I told you it wasn’t great news.   But as concerning as these figures are the crazy thing about it is that this is on us - we can control our notifications. We can turn them off or silence them.   We can take control of apps by doing things like deleting and restoring them throughout the week so they’re not constantly available.   And if you don’t know how to do it, you do what I do and find a younger person to do it for you.   We can come to terms with never having an empty inbox, and not feel the pressure to try.   We can make rules about scrolling through emails after work. We can just put the phone down.   It’s interesting to understand how the brain works in response to notifications.   According to Kathryn Berkett, a neuroscience and digital wellbeing expert working alongside 2degrees on this project, notifications from phones trigger dopamine, making them highly addictive.   She says our obsession with our phones are physically altering our brains, damaging our relationships, draining our energy, and reducing our overall wellbeing.   I get it, it’s hard to make a change, but I'm absolutely certain that in 10 to 20 years we will look back and wonder what the hell we were thinking with the endless content, apps, notifications, likes and swipes.   We can’t keep blaming the tech companies, we know what they’re in it for.   We can’t keep blaming the tech, a lot of the tech is really cool and helpful.   At some point we have to step up and take responsibility for how we use it.   Thanks 2degrees for the reminder.  Tue, 22 Apr 2025 18:05:53 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/francesca-rudkin-lets-respect-our-teachers/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/francesca-rudkin-lets-respect-our-teachers/ According to an article in the NZ Herald this morning, fewer people want to be teachers.    Teacher education is still a popular field of study, but both Canterbury and Otago Universities have seen a decline in teaching student enrolments over the past four years.  Provisional data shows Canterbury has 964 students enrolled in a course in 2025, down from 1281 four years ago.  Otago has followed a similar trend, with student numbers dropping from 620 to 495 in the same period.  National Polytech, Te Pukenga, has seen the lowest number of first year teaching students since it formed in 2020.  It’s not the best news when we are facing a teacher shortage is it? PPTA President Chris Abercrombie said the downward trend is extremely worrying.  I’m not surprised by this trajectory.   All we seem to hear about are issues around pay, conditions, and the challenge of changes to the curriculum.   And then there are the parents who don’t have the time to support their children in their education but complain about teachers when their children don’t reach their expectations.   I can understand pay and conditions being a red flag for someone heading into teaching, but teachers have worked hard advocating for themselves when it comes to pay, and the government has accepted conditions need to improve.   But it’s in all our best interests that we attract good people, passionate about education, to the profession, and while we may not be able to do much about the pay and conditions outside a general election, we can do something to push back on the shift in attitude towards teachers which has crept in over recent years, preventing some from considering the idea of being a teacher.   Chris Abercrombie said, “One of the things we often hear is the lack of respect from the community, from politicians, and people are like, well, why do I want to go into a profession that has that.”  As in any industry, there are great teachers, good teachers, and some who may be a bit useless.   But we need to be championing our teachers.   Teachers play a massive, formulative role in our children’s lives.   Some even change a young person’s life, or what our kids believe is possible.   Just over 3 years ago, a young lady rather close to me started high school, had a bit of a hiccup, and was at school for about half of years 9 and 10.   In year 11 she started a new school, and this year she aims to wrap up school and complete year 13 a year early, before heading to university to do a science degree.  There isn’t a person who knows what she’s been through who isn’t stunned by this turn around.  A lot of it is down to this remarkable young lady – she has worked hard to get back on track and loves to study - but it’s also thanks to a series of extraordinary teachers that she is where she is today.  So, if we want the best outcome for our children and their future, we can start by showing some respect, and champion all the good teachers out there.  Mon, 21 Apr 2025 18:12:04 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-the-doctors-strike-doesnt-add-up/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-the-doctors-strike-doesnt-add-up/ Have you been keeping up with this senior doctor's strike? There's a couple of things that don't add up.   Yesterday we spoke about the average salary for these unionised senior doctors.  Simeon Brown says it's a total package worth $343,500.  The union hit back - they said the number was made up.   Which it's not. It's the total package including superannuation and overtime penalties, etc.  Now, for most Kiwis, when you apply for a job, that's the number you'd work off. When somebody asks how much do you get paid in a year, do you just say your base salary?   No, you'd say your total package amount. Second bit is around the actual staffing, cause this does not make sense.   We hear from doctors that they're so short-staffed - not enough specialists, not enough doctors, etc. So short staffed that they're on their knees and the system's broken.   But Ministry of Health says there are more senior doctors now than when National came into office.  And what's more, their churn or turnover has come down too.   So are the doctors saying the situation is now worse than when National came in and if so, how when there are apparently more doctors? So either the Ministry's lying or the system is bad and maybe broken but still better than it was 15 months ago. which is it?   Then there's the pay.   Put your hands up if you've scored a 12% pay rise lately?   No,  I didn't think so. Not that I can see your hands. Dairy farmers you'll all have your hands up in the milking shed this morning I hope with your record payout.   But what about your average worker? No. So doctors want 12%. The Ministry says 1-2%.   Again, this doesn't make sense. If you're worried about safe staffing levels  —and this is not really about pay— the chances of Health NZ hiring more doctors when the wage bill's 12% higher seems less likely.   Is this counterproductive?   Like I said yesterday, you want the men and women who cut you open for surgery to be well paid and rested,  because well, they're cutting you open for surgery.   But they need to articulate just how sick the patient is before we dial up the medicine.  Wed, 16 Apr 2025 18:24:27 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-whats-the-problem-with-the-label-pregnant-women/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-whats-the-problem-with-the-label-pregnant-women/ So we have senior doctors going on strike. We're in the midst of a global trade war - not that we're allowed to call it that anymore, Winston. We have inflation potentially picking up again. We have a lot going on in this country, not to mention around the world. And yet there I was, sitting down to watch the news last night, and the second lead story was about whether women or people could get pregnant. The fact is nobody in the story said it was solely women who get pregnant. Casey Costello herself says nonbinary and trans people can get pregnant, too. Which is true - they may have been born female, but they identify as something else. The question is whether mass communications issued by Health NZ should speak of pregnant women to make things clear. Here's the thing about it - the story I watched included exactly zero of these people who are so offended by the term pregnant women. The midwives union preferred women. The Government preferred women.  Even Chris Hipkins said women was fine for mass communications.   So, where's the problem? If somebody identifies as a different gender, send them a personalised message tailored to their needs.   The reason these things rile people up so much if because it reinforces this idea that you have a bunch of social scientists with agendas running around Wellington wasting time and taxpayer money coming up with this stuff.   People, including I'm sure nonbinary people, would prefer a hospital system that has enough beds and surgeries slots available to cater for them.   Surely, that's got to be priority number one in health?   Tue, 15 Apr 2025 18:16:47 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-luxon-needs-a-game-plan-to-deal-with-winston/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-luxon-needs-a-game-plan-to-deal-with-winston/ Luxon’s stuck. Poor old Luxon, he's stuck between a rock and a hard place really, isn’t he? And it's only going to get worse as we head into next year.   Just when he's done dealing with David Seymour on the Treaty Principles Bill - he never wanted to go with but agreed to get into government. That was shut down on Thursday and now the fire kicks off - he's having to hose that down too.   He's been hosing it down since last Friday now.    That's Winston and his big noting about how to deal with Trump, right.   The phone calls that Luxon hastily arranged to avoid being in the House for the death of the Treaty Principles Bill are the same phone calls that have now started this tussle with Winston?   He just can't win.   Either way, there's coalition land mines to step on.   Here's the thing, Winston first made these comments last Thursday.   He said Luxon should have called them or whatever the words were.   So, he should have just picked up the phone, called them straight away, squared it off, have it out, whatever, move on. Instead, you're trying to announce a tourism boost at Sky City on Monday and it's still dragging out.  Some journalist in the press conference yesterday even asked Luxon whether he'd apologised to Winston Peters. For goodness sakes, what an outrageous question.   For the record, Luxon gave a speech basically saying he supports free trade. Big deal we all do.   Then he calls a couple of world leaders he's met and tells them he likes free trade. Big deal, guess what? That's fine because he's the Prime Minister.   That's actually his job. He is the boss.   Winston's just feeling a bit left out over in Tonga obviously, so he's running his mouth off.   What does Luxon do?   Does he just have a private call and hope that Winston calms down? Or does he take a harder line in public with Winston? Call him out?   Tell us he's only the Foreign Minister, not the Prime Minister, and he should stay in his lane.  Whatever the strategy, he needs to figure it out quick smart.  As I wrote about at the weekend, Winston's only just getting started.   There's an election to fight next year and he'll be unshackled from the Deputy PM reins next month.   Then it's all on for young and old.  And Luxon this week has been warned.  Mon, 14 Apr 2025 18:39:22 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-why-we-got-the-auckland-harbour-bridge-wrong/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-why-we-got-the-auckland-harbour-bridge-wrong/ There was a letter to the editor over the weekend about the Auckland Harbour Bridge which made a very good point. The writer remarked that the Harbour Bridge is the coat hanger shape it is because it needed to let freighters in to get to the Chelsea sugar works. The works are under Birkenhead, and they’ve been there long enough that they’ve become historically significant. But that is the only reason the bridge goes up so much and down so much. What a pity we didn’t move the industry in the 50s when we built the bridge.   What a pity we compromised the bridge for just one industry. We’re going to pay for that dearly. It’s one of those things we all forget about when talking about a second Harbour crossing. At the moment you’ll see barges doing Geotech in the middle of the Harbour. It's for two new, three-lane road tunnels. A single light rail tunnel is also part of the plan.  Meanwhile the existing bridge gets lanes for buses and cycling. What we get wrong is that we should really be talking about replacing the first crossing because it’s at the end of its life.  Move the sugar works and we could replace the bridge with a flatter wider version that will be wider and stronger than what we’ve got, giving it a longer life. I keep reminding people that the real problem with the Auckland motorway system is the limits on spaghetti junction and the pinch points at Northcote and Greenlane Penrose.  Not the bridge. Which still has more capacity. But no structural strength. And for all of you not in Auckland wondering why I’m talking about this, it’s simple. This will be the biggest and most complex and most disruptive infrastructure project this country will see and we’re all going to have to pay for it no matter which city we live in. Sun, 13 Apr 2025 18:06:31 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-why-forestry-should-be-removed-from-the-ets/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-why-forestry-should-be-removed-from-the-ets/ Last night on 1九一星空无限 I heard the single most logical and sane thing said in the entire bulletin in a long time. It was said by Simon Upton, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. A very smart man. A Rhodes Scholar. A Former Minister for the Environment for National.  Simon Upton said we should in, an ordinary way, take forestry out of the Emissions Trading Scheme.  And I thought, why has it taken so long for someone to say it? We should, in an orderly way, take forestry out of the Emissions Trading Scheme.  Forestry for climate change has been a Ponzi scheme. The 1九一星空无限 reporter called it a golden ticket.  It’s swamped productive land for easy gain. It’s caused rampant wilding growth through our wild lands.  In essence, it’s a very big weed unless you’re farming it for wood and paper and even then, that market is turning sour - ask Tokoroa and Kawerau.   But has it done anything to reduce emissions? We’ve had long enough for proof. It has not.   It’s provided excuses for well-meaning pop bands to travel the world in private jets, planting useless forests in their wake and claiming moral superiority.   But the 1九一星空无限 bit then went and missed the point.  The headline was that we should plant natives instead of pine.  Which he did say, but only if we keep with the nutso forest planting scheme.   What Simon proposed was completely removing the ability of carbon polluters to rely on planting trees to meet their climate obligations.  He said what New Zealand currently had been mostly a "tree planting scheme" that did little to cut planet-heating gases. And then the zinger quote: "The world actually needs real reductions in gross emissions, not an accounting triumph".   If you want to cut your emissions, then cut your emissions. But don't plant a tree. Thu, 10 Apr 2025 18:03:20 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-the-curious-case-of-benjamin-doyle/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-the-curious-case-of-benjamin-doyle/ Benjamin Doyle spoke on the controversy surrounding them yesterday and basically called themself stupid.   We’ve found out that the Greens actively asked them to delete their accounts which introduced us all to the "bussy".  But they refused, wanting to stand up for what they are and who they stand for.  Given that, if I was the Greens I would have gone to the next person on the list. If Doyle wasn’t going to drop it, I would have dropped him.   I said last week they should go, and I stand by that. I don’t see the need for anyone so stupid and bloody-minded in a taxpayer funded Parliament.   Doyle says the bussy stuff was a knowing joke and I can understand that - Queens are always ironically calling each other Queens.  That’s not the sort of joke I want to see in an MP.  But to claim Benjamin must be a child offender is also a step too far and a heinous accusation unless you have proof, and that goes for Hamish Campbell too.  If they want to put those haters aside perhaps, they need to stand up for themself with a defamation suit, or even let the wife speak out.  But again, the easiest way to deal with it is to just slope out the door. Carrying on is probably not worth the angst.   The whole thing is an ugly and entirely avoidable situation.   Wed, 09 Apr 2025 18:14:15 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-children-deserve-better/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-children-deserve-better/ Oranga Tamariki is getting rid of its target to place 58% of the kids in its care with wider Whanau.   And it's also ditching a target for investment with Māori organisations - 23% of funding was targeted for those organisations.  The Minister for Children Karen Chhour says this is part of OT's 'Safety First' approach. She says the targets were outdated and went against the ‘need not race’ directive.   And she was concerned whether the priority of Māori organisations were getting in the way of the quality and efficacy of the services being provided.   And it all makes sense.  The ingrained belief in our child social workers that kids are always better off rehomed with whanau always seemed counter factual. In many cases the abuse directed at the kids was at the hands of whanau themselves - people that had been raised by other people in their family but failed at their own parenting. So why would we give the kids to them? It often seemed that children were being thrown right back into the very cauldron we were trying to help them escape from.   There have been examples for generations - let us not forget Baby Ru. He was murdered in October 2023, and nobody has been charged for killing him.  There was anger then and anger now when the people who were there when he suffered did not co-operate with Police.   Those people were, and are, Rosie Morunga, her partner Dylan Ross, and Ru’s mother Storm Wall. Ru's whanau. What happened people?  The uplifting of kids is a very serious thing and they need to be housed in safe places with good people.  But the history of Oranga Tamariki suggests that too many of the supposed saviours are in fact predators hiding in plain sight.  There's no easy answer to this other than strong vigilance by our agencies and the need to find good people who can help.  Tue, 08 Apr 2025 18:16:46 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-defence-spending-is-necessary-but-expensive/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-defence-spending-is-necessary-but-expensive/ The news that New Zealand is going to spend 12 billion dollars on defence is not news to welcome, and yet it is welcome news.  In an unsettled world, defence is essential. And the equation for a credible defence is spending 2 percent of GDP.  So now within 8 years we’ll get to that target - it’s a doubling.   The question is why we are only just doing this now. If we’d spent that for the past 30 years we would not be facing so dramatic a spend today.  But we didn’t. Fat and complacent in a mistaken belief that we were safe and sound, and if something went wrong our friends would come and save us.  For as long as I’ve been in the news business, Australia and the States have warned that coat tailing did not cut it and that we had to do our bit. So fair play to Judith Collins, she’s finally accepting the responsibility that we’ve always needed.  But it comes at a difficult time.  Firstly, the world has become more dangerous so time is of the essence. And secondly, we’re broke.  It comes at a time when barely reported mass redundancies are happening in defence to meet government spending targets.   And yet they’ve also announced this new plan. They fire with one hand and employ with another.  But you can argue that both are necessary because we’ve sat on our hands for so long. And we’ve spent irresponsibly.  Mon, 07 Apr 2025 18:11:38 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-treaty-principles-bill-part-two/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-treaty-principles-bill-part-two/ So it looks like the Treaty Principles Act is toast as Christopher Luxon assured us it would be.   Much was made over the weekend that 90 per cent of the submissions were against it.   But that means nothing if all the opposing submissions were just photocopies of one.  Māori are organised. Anyone who’s seen their multiple Hikoi's and the awesome organisation of the Kings Tangi should know that.   You underestimate Māori at your peril.    But it must also be noted that Act’s act was a simplistic dog. Much of it is already covered by the bill of rights.   At its heart it was three sentences designed to overthrow 50 years of legal development.  But is the movement against the treaty dead.   No, it is not. New Zealand first wants to have a crack.  And Winston Peters, being the experienced legislator, wants to amend the existing Treaty Principles legislation we already have.   He ran his election campaign on it. It's the smart way to achieve real change.  And as we approach the changeover between Peters and Seymour of the Deputy PM role, Winston will have the time and the energy to have his try.  So welcome to round two of the Treaty Principles debate. A round that has much more chance to succeed.  Sun, 06 Apr 2025 18:13:12 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-the-tariffs-are-here/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-the-tariffs-are-here/ The age of globalisation is dead. Trump has withdrawn America. Now we’re in an age of blocs - nations that agree to trade with each other, nations that have commonality.   So, who are our friends and who are our friends that we get on with?   China is our biggest trade friend, but is China our friend? No, they’re not.   So we are into a period of delicate negotiations and that’s going to cause fewer than perfect trade deals.   Now what do we do about America? Some have said that the situation is not too bad - 10% as we speak.   But our trade with America is $9 billion a year, so 10 per cent is near enough a billion dollars, which is not inconsiderable. So what should we do? The Trade Minister and Prime Minister say it would be foolish to retaliate. We’re not in the same weight class.  Maybe we should go the Trump playbook. We all know that Trump likes to go big and then pull back to his bottom line.  So should we go back and say let’s call it 5%, and then wait to see where the cards lie.   Who knows. What I do know is that the world is in chaos. Russia, China, Israel, Ukraine.   And inflation is lurking, and uncertainty has not gone away.   It’s time for circumspection and recognising that the elephants are dancing, and we are but mice.  Thu, 03 Apr 2025 17:03:41 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-comedians-bring-logic-to-a-fight/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-comedians-bring-logic-to-a-fight/ The comedian Jimmy Carr is coming back to New Zealand for a nationwide tour the culminates at Auckland's Spark Arena. These are big halls, and he can fill them because he’s that good.   It’s called 'Jimmy Carr Laughs Funny' and he does. It’s so true, it’s funny.   And that’s Jimmy’s thing.   It’s easy to lump comedians like Jimmy, and Ricky Gervais and America’s Bill Maher into a conservative label simply because so much of what they say is politically incorrect.   But what makes them funny is that it’s just true. They point out the hilarity of our tribal positions - both left and right.  I’m reading Bill Maher’s book 'What This Comedian Said Will Shock You'. It’s a collection of his best monologues over the year.   I used to think he was quite right wing when I watched his show, but that was because he was merciless against the Biden administration. Now that Trump is in power he’s equally merciless. I like that.   I like his pithy observation that conservatives govern without shame and liberals shame without governing. That’s true in America and it’s true here.   And he says that’s why the world is full of people who want to break shit up.   I like all these comedians because they bring logic to the fight. Unlike politicians who bring whatever might score them votes, and the media who will say anything that will get them clicks, which will pay the bills. Wed, 02 Apr 2025 17:25:33 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-our-kids-should-know-shakespeare/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-our-kids-should-know-shakespeare/ The draft year 7-13 English curriculum proposes compulsory Shakespeare for senior secondary school students.  That’s provoked a furious debate about the relevance of Shakespeare in this day and age - Shakespeare is important, but is it essential? Even when I was at secondary school 45 years ago, Shakespeare was not popular.  One year we were studying Hamlet. So, the school organised an afternoon matinee of the play at the Mercury Theatre. The boys were so rowdy that a young Michael Hurst commented it was the worst audience he had ever had.  We didn’t even calm down during the sword fights.  That didn’t happen when we studied Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman or Thomas Beckett’s Murder in the Cathedral.   Those plays used language we understood and themes we could relate to.  To teach you must engage and much and all as we bemoan the fall of Shakespeare, he’s still so strong that his influence on the modern world will not fail.   So, what will engage the kids, I don’t know. This generation is less engaged than ever - so much so I had to explain who Bob Geldof was to my 26-year-old son. And speaking of which the most engagement I had in English at school was when we studied the lyrics of David Bowie’s 'Time' from the Aladdin Sane album.  And let’s remember that in 2016 Bob Dylan won the Nobel prize in literature. Would anyone mind if he was added to the curriculum? Post script:   I see that the new curriculum says that spelling and keyboard lessons for children at intermediate schools should be compulsory - you mean they’re not already? How do our kids survive in this modern world? Tue, 01 Apr 2025 17:03:35 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-is-the-new-ferry-deal-really-better-in-the-long-run/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-is-the-new-ferry-deal-really-better-in-the-long-run/ Winston’s great rail solution is now revealed: it’s just like KiwiRail’s iReX but cheaper.   The boats are still big and they’re rail enabled but the portside infrastructure is more reasonable.   And that’s always been the thing. The original boats were a good deal, but the kicker came portside.   KiwiRail was under the belief that the project had to be future proofed.   This was something that had to last 50 years - a type of thinking that New Zealand hasn’t done often.   So, the Ferrari was not the boat, it was the ports.  Now Winston says Picton needs a big revamp. But the earthquake prone Wellington port just needs a revamp.  In an ideal world this is not ideal. But it is, as Winston says, pragmatic.  I know people involved with the original iReX deal on the Government side.   And when this story first broke, they told me that KiwiRail shouldn’t come to the Government expecting an open cheque book.   And he was right. The original iReX deal was a good deal, and the one that we should aspire to.  But as the Government keeps telling us, now is not the right time for aspirational long-term planning.   But if not now, when will we ever do anything right first time? And while this deal looks like a saving short term, will we end out paying more long term? The upshot is that we have ferries coming and they’re less likely to sink than the ones we already have. That’s about it - we’re right back to where we were 30 years ago.   Mon, 31 Mar 2025 17:24:33 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-the-devastation-of-dog-attacks/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-the-devastation-of-dog-attacks/ Spent all weekend waiting for more details about the death by dog in the Bay of Plenty.   This story upset me greatly. We heard about the victim.  A cheeky cheery 4-year-old kid. His family say he had a little mischief in his smile, a little wid in his heart and a heart full of cuteness.   We heard a statement from the Marae that something had happened suggesting this was in Maori circles. For a while I thought it was an incident on the Marae but it wasn’t.   We heard another person was injured and presumably they were trying to save the boy.  On social media I saw claims that the boy may have razzed the dogs but that’s not the point. That’s victim blaming.   The thing that always gets me on these stories is that dogs should not kill people.   Even though 4 people have died at the teeth of dogs in the past 5 years.  Dogs are man’s best friend. Dogs are a useful tool. But dogs should never kill humans. The way robots are programmed to never kill humans.  Even the dogs who’s jobs are to be security for humans should not kill other humans even if the humans are bad.   The only dogs who kill humans are dogs who are owned or controlled by humans who do not know how to control their dogs.  And if they have dogs who are not controllable, they are humans who don’t realise the threat those dogs pose. Therefore, they should surrender those dogs before bad stuff happens.  And when these things happen the concerned start raising rules and regulations that the bad owners ignore and the only thing they do is irritate and criminalise good owners.   Any dogs that kill that can be traced to an owner means that owner must face a custodial sentence.   Because your weapon just killed an innocent child. I don’t know how you live with yourself and don’t you dare defend the dog.  Sun, 30 Mar 2025 17:03:48 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-is-casual-clothing-in-the-house-acceptable/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-is-casual-clothing-in-the-house-acceptable/ Winston Peters turned into a grumpy old conservative man in the house yesterday.  A role he assumes to hoover up votes from his constituents rather than the stately Foreign Minister image he shows to the rest of the world.  He complained that Ricardo Menéndez March, the Green MP, wore a leather jacket in the house. It was a glossy little number, but was it disrespectful?  It raises the question about clothes in the workforce.  If you wear a $1,500 designer leather jacket, is that less respectful than a $300 suit from Laidlaw + Leeds from Farmers? Things have obviously loosened. Our big boss wears a jacket, but I’ve never seen him in a tie.  Casual Friday has become casual weekday.   So, I’m not worried about Ricardo’s leather jacket - even though it gave off Boy George vibes and he looked like he was off to the disco.  He obviously took care of his look and turned up well-groomed, even if he looked like a clown.  And it’s not called the House of Representatives for nothing. It should be representative of all of us, including the leather jacket wearers.   I’ve sometimes wondered at the ensembles that appear on our screens worn by public servants and MPs. Many are obviously expensive purchased on wages provided by the taxpayers.   Flaunting your public purse wealth at us.   But the biggest problem with Ricardo Menéndez March's leather jacket is that it’s leather.   I thought you were a Green MP opposed to products derived from animal cruelty.   The thing about symbolism is that it’s symbolic, and Ricardo’s leather jacket screamed hypocrisy.  Thu, 27 Mar 2025 17:04:45 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-tamatha-paul-shares-complaints-of-one-not-one-hundred/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-tamatha-paul-shares-complaints-of-one-not-one-hundred/ Tamatha Paul: a woman mocked for her views on Police.   Chris Hipkins says her views on beat Police were unwise, and then he went further and said they were stupid.   The Prime Minister says she’s in lala land.  Yesterday I commented that life must be really sweet on her planet - pity it’s not ours.  But that didn’t stop her doubling down yesterday on her views, because they are not untrue.  She pointed out that brown people have quite a different perception of police than others.  Look up profiling and it’s meaning.  She pointed out the terrible failure of the police in the case of the 11-year-old confused with a twenty-year-old that we’re all shocked at.  She highlighted the hassle of homeless.  She didn’t back down because as she said they are legitimate experiences amongst her constituents.   And she has constituents. She’s not a list MP. She won Wellington Central fair and square.  However, the complaints of one are not the complaints of a hundred. The vast, overwhelming, majority of New Zealanders feel better with cops on the beat.  So, she is wrong. But I will defend her right to point out the flaws, because that is the true meaning of free speech.   Wed, 26 Mar 2025 17:15:32 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-every-city-needs-a-stadium/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-every-city-needs-a-stadium/ So, Auckland looks like it’s doing it again: dilly dallying in decision making about big stuff.   A council advisory group has informed us that neither the fancy waterfront stadium nor an upgrade of Eden Park is considered feasible.   The full council still must vote on it on Thursday, so we’ll see if anyone has some balls.    Now by "not feasible" they mean not viable without public funding. We don’t seem to have a charitable billionaire in our midst so the dough would have to come from the public purse.   This is a question every major city wrestles with, but other cities seem to be braver.   This week Brisbane has casually announced a new stadium to host the Olympics, calming putting nearly four billion dollars on the line.  We’re a growing nation. We need a venue for the events that come in 2025. Whether it’s big sport or big concerts. We’ve seen how much fun Eden Park has been this week, three different sports in one week.   It would be great to have a venue that’s modern, complete, and full of character.   I love stadiums. I’m super excited about Canterbury’s Te Kaha. Forsyth Barr is great, and Sky Stadium just needs new seats and maybe a roof.   But what do I want for Auckland? Now first I have to admit that Eden Park has given me tickets to events, but I would be happy for the waterfront stadium to go ahead. We’d never regret it   I’m also happy for an Eden Park upgrade, after all Sydney ripped down the perfectly functional Sydney football stadium and completely replaced it.   But it really is time for someone to put their neck on the block and just do it.   Every city needs a Cathedral, and every city needs an iconic stadium.  Tue, 25 Mar 2025 17:05:13 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-were-training-doctors-for-no-reason/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-were-training-doctors-for-no-reason/ It’s no secret to anyone that we do not have enough doctors in New Zealand. Recent policy moves to attract more qualified overseas doctors have been eagerly received. As have directives to increase the number of doctors we train locally - the Government's decision to fund another 50 medical school places from next year, increasing the cap to 639 first-year students. But what is the point of training more doctors if we don’t have jobs for them? Medical Council data showed 30 percent of medical graduates left the country within 10 years. They leave because Health NZ do not fund enough jobs. The jobs they do fund are low paid and future prospects are limited, except for a talented few. They get paid better overseas and they can pay off their student loan faster. And it starts from day one. Each year Health NZ fails to fund internships for 25 to 30 graduates, forcing them to look overseas.  Sure, some were overseas students but after spending 7 years here they’d quite like to stay if prospects are good. Now all tertiary education is partially subsidised by you and I, but what’s the point of spending taxpayer money training doctors if to save taxpayer money, we don’t offer them a career path after their studies? How about this for a radical idea: the Government wants to fund training for 639 doctors next year, why not also fund 639 internships?  And if any of them don’t want to stay we use any excess funding to pay the guys who want to stay in New Zealand more.  Because to fund training of doctors and then refuse to fund their jobs is wasteful spending.  And we all know how this Government feels about wasteful spending. Mon, 24 Mar 2025 17:12:16 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-my-take-on-gdp/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-my-take-on-gdp/ While I was away tramping all over the top of the Coromandel Peninsula, we had some good and bad news.  GDP came out better than we expected with a rise of 0.7% in the fourth quarter, which should signal the start of green shoots and recovery and confidence.   But at the same time, the consumer confidence figure came out and it was the worst we’ve seen since the 90s.   And then Paul Bloxham, the Australian economist who invented the rock star economy name, came out and said our recession has been the worst in the OECD.   So why aren’t we confident? And why was our recession so hard? Here’s my take: the Reserve Bank and the Government need to start working together.   During the pandemic the bank slashed interest rates while the Government turbo charged spending, leading to a hangover that needed medicine.   The previous Government was rightly blamed for the mess it was responsible for but we had been double hit by the bank and the Government. All levers pulled.   The new Government came in and promptly slashed spending to reduce borrowing and reduced revenue through tax cuts, but the Reserve Bank had already started attacking inflation a year before hand with interest rates.   So once again we were doubly hit. And the tax cuts, which Fran O’Sullivan six weeks ago described as badly timed, meant we weren’t paying back debt. We’re struggling to pay interest.  So as Paul Bloxham has now described, we had an excessive pandemic reaction followed by an excessive inflation reaction.   Now all the stuff we’ve done is technically correct, and this is easy to criticise with 20/20 hindsight.   But it’s been as if the left hand and the right hand doesn’t know what each other are doing, which means our recovery will be slow.  All parties claim they are the prudent fiscal managers and all Reserve Bank Governors claim the same. But on the evidence of the past five years, that’s not true.  We need to learn from this unless we want to keep reeling from boom the bust over and over again.  Sun, 23 Mar 2025 17:11:49 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/francesca-rudkin-what-we-can-learn-from-the-world-happiness-report/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/francesca-rudkin-what-we-can-learn-from-the-world-happiness-report/ Did the news yesterday that the economy had grown more than expected, by a whopping 0.7%, put you in a good mood for the week?    Maybe the news that Fonterra has reported an 8% lift in first-half net profit to $729 million put a spring in your step.  Or the opportunity to grab a bargain in the Afterpay Sales this weekend is putting a smile on your face.  Or maybe none of these things had an impact on your happiness.    According to the World Happiness Report, published yesterday by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, happiness isn’t just about wealth or growth – it’s about trust, connection and knowing people have your back.   It's not a huge surprise; Finland is the happiest country in 2025, for the 8th year in the row.    Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden came in at 2nd, 3rd and 4th, and Costa Rica and Mexico both ranked in the top 10 for the first time. New Zealand came in at 12th, between Australia and Switzerland.    I tend to roll my eyes every time we compare New Zealand to a Scandinavian country – we make constant comparisons due to population size, but we are different countries with different resources and rarely follow their lead. But it is intriguing to look at why Finland, with its dark, chilly winters and border with Russia, is such a happy place.    According to the managing director at Gallup who partnered on the study, the reason Finnish people are happier than most is because of “a belief in others,” optimism for the future, trust in institutions, and support from friends and family.    Does any of that feel familiar to us right now? 12th for New Zealand feels about right, I think. Between 2016 and 2020 we were 8th, and we’ve been slowly slipping down the list since 2021.   We all know health and wealth are not solely responsible for happiness, but they play a part. The less you have to stress about, the more you can focus on being happy. But the study has turned up some unexpectedly strong predictors of wellbeing. Sharing meals with others, having somebody to count on for social support, and household size all play a part. Basically, social connection is key to happiness in this era of social isolation and polarisation.    This applies particularly to young adults – the study found 19% of young adults across the world reported in 2023 that they have no one they could count on for social support. That is a 39% increase compared to 2006. It may of course be a hangover from the pandemic, or more likely the consequence of giving our lives over to devices and social media.   The Harvard Study of Adult Development —the famous 80+ years study into happiness— has already established a strong correlation between deep relationships and well-being. So, this revelation about social connection isn’t new news, but it’s an important reminder for us all to put our phones down, sit up at the dinner table, and have a chat.    Thu, 20 Mar 2025 20:29:00 Z