Rikki Swannell: Sky Sport Commentator ahead of the Rugby World Cup semi-final clash between the Black Ferns and Canada
The Black Ferns have made it to the semi-finals. After handily defeating South Africa in the Women’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final, they’re now set to face the World No 2 team – Canada. However, they’re missing a major player from their line up – flanker Jorja Miller appearing to be out with a hamstring injury. Sky Sport Commentator Rikki Swannell told Ryan Bridge that while Miller is a huge loss, her replacement Kennedy Tukuafu is still a handy player. She says fingers are crossed that Miller is available again if they do make it through to the finals. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Mark Mitchell: Corrections Minister on the number of people breaching electronically monitored bail
The Corrections Minister says the Government has helped reduce the number of people breaching electronically monitored bail. There were 832 cases of absconding from EM bail last year - up from 64 in 2015. The total number of people on EM bail has risen from 1300 to over six thousand since 2015. But Mark Mitchell told Ryan Bridge the percentage rate of absconding is actually coming down. He says it was at 19% in 2019, which dropped to 14% last year. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Mark Smith: ASB Senior Economist on the GDP falling 0.9%
Surprise across the board with the latest sharp drop in GDP. Our economy's contracted 0.9% in the June quarter - a worse outcome than any economists had been forecasting. Many were predicting a 0.3% drop, including the Reserve Bank and ASB. ASB Senior Economist Mark Smith shares his analysis with Ryan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Full Show Podcast: 19 September 2025
On the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast Friday 19th of September 2025 GDP fell 0.9% in the last quarter, ASB Senior Economist Mark Smith shares his thoughts. The Women's World Cup semi-final is this weekend; Sky Sport commentator Rikki Swannell tells Ryan about the atmosphere leading up to the game in the UK. Ankle monitor escapes have increase from 64 in 2015 to more than 800 in the last year, Corrections Minister, Mark Mitchell tells Ryan why. Plus, UK/Europe Correspondent Vincent McAviney has the latest on day two of Trump's state visit to the UK. Get the Early Edition Full Show Podcast every weekday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Ryan Bridge: The waiting game continues for the economy
Has Nicola Willis failed on growth in her year of growth? So far, yes. We’ve gone nowhere in six months - Q2 basically wiped out Q1. Should she resign? No. Why? Trump’s tariffs. Nobody saw them coming. Markets thought he was bluffing, a negotiation tactic. Until he wasn’t. Businesses and Mums and Dads sat on their cash to wait it out - a reasonable response to an uncertain future. Should she borrow and spend more? She can’t. It’d be political sacrilege for a party elected to do the opposite. Besides, she’s already borrowing Robertson-level cash. The interest tab’s nearing $10 billion and ratings agencies are watching closely. The RBNZ printed money like it was going out of fashion, governments here and abroad overcooked the Covid response with border controls. The world ground to a halt. We artificially concocted an inflationary wildfire so hot the ambers burn close to central limits to this day. As for those the calls from Douglas and Co. for Willis’ head on a stake, you’ve got to ask what exactly it is they want and what impact it would have had. Had she gone full Ruth Richardson in Budgets 1 and 2, getting the books in line sooner, that growth number we saw yesterday, the one that prompted the press release calling for a scalp, would have been a hell of a lot worse than 0.9%. So, the waiting game continues, which is cold comfort to many. But the medicine for such a nasty illness was always going to be hard to swallow.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A fresh and intelligent start to your day - catch the very latest international and domestic news developments, sport, entertainment and business on Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, on Newstalk ZB.
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