The Mike Hosking Breakfast

So we join the growing world chorus against social media/big tech and its pervasive algorithms and means of getting the young hooked.
It was an impressive launch of the social media regulation; an audience, good speakers, impassioned politicians, and a particularly effective video featuring Erica Stanford and a group of teenagers who outlined their personal experience and concerns about social media and, with the exception of one, who said they would not let their siblings near it if they had a choice.
A stat I hadn't heard was 40% of kids say they wish social media had never been invented. That gives pause, I would've thought.
Although the audience was clearly stacked and the speakers all said essentially the same thing, I did wonder what it must be like to work at Meta or any one of the big tech players who, by and large, globally are seen these days as pariahs.
They're constantly in court over any number of issues and almost permanently being fined for breaches.
How many times do you reckon Zuckerberg gets hauled in front of a Senate committee in Washington before he pauses long enough to wonder about what he has made?
Anyway, what we look to do is little different from anyone else, as far as I can tell.
In Australia it is not a panacea. In France a court has blocked it for now. The best I think we can hope for is it at least allows parents to say to their kids, if they want to, that it's the law. So that helps a bit.
For the purist, you can argue that it doesn’t actually work. It will never actually work.
But for the purist, you should've seen the room yesterday. I think the purist is very much the minority.
Big tech has Trump on its side, and they see it as anti-American, even though it's no such thing.
But in totality it's almost a collective moment in time. No matter what country you are in broadly speaking big tech, social media and its algorithms have massively overplayed their hands and people are sick of it and sickened by it.
It would be lovely to have free speech and to choose our course of our own free will. But the reality is the damage is too high.
The lack of guardrails is too glaring.
And so we join the growing number of what may well be a modern version of an historic line in the sand.
And time will show we were on the right side of it.
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Greg Johnson is celebrating his birthday in style.
After 45 years of performing, the Kiwi musician is celebrating 60 years with a "career-spanning" tour in late October and early November.
The tour will feature all his classics as well as some new music from his album 'Some Night, Somewhere,' releasing in October.
Johnson has released over a dozen albums over the years and has yet to run out of inspiration, telling Mike Hosking the music comes with a moment.
"I've never been a writer that sits down and says, now I must write," he explained.
"I just like, I've got a guitar in my hand now, so you know, you never know, I might just start writing something."
"I'm not really an interventionist God-type person, as Nick Cave puts it, but there's something definitely spiritual about the way music comes and what it does to people."
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On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Tuesday 25th of August, we explore whether the social media ban could actually be enforced successfully, and Erica Stanford answers whether she has the numbers.
A new report on the India FTA says we're likely being conservative when it comes to how much it could lift exports.
Kiwi musician Greg Johnson joins the show from LA to promote his 60th birthday tour, a new album, and give an exclusive performance of his new single.
Get the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast every weekday morning on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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The country's top restaurants have been crowned at this year's Cuisine Good Food Awards.
Queenstown's Essence has taken restaurant of the year and is one of just six nationwide awarded the esteemed three hat rating.
Auckland's Ahi, Cocoro, Tala, and Paris Butter, along with Hawke's Bay's Craggy Range were the other five, and Tala's founder and chef Henry Onesemo was named Chef of the Year.
Cuisine Magazine Editor Kelli Brett told Mike Hosking it's an exciting time for hospitality, with the best yet to come.
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Some think the India Free Trade Agreement will produce more benefits than even the Government expects.
The agreement is moving through Parliament, before it's ratified.
The International Business Forum and Westpac have released new research on how the deal will contribute to value.
Forum Executive Director Felicity Roxburgh says it shows Government forecasts of 0.1% GDP growth in the next decade undersell the benefits.
She told Mike Hosking they can't put a good number on it, but India is on track to be the world's third largest economy by the end of the decade.
Roxburgh says their middle class will exceed the entire population of the EU or ASEAN, so it's a big opportunity for New Zealand.
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