The Mike Hosking Breakfast

As big of a fan as I am of good news, something wasn’t right in the latest PISA report.
Like all reports, you can look at stats in any number of ways.
For example, if you want to feel good about yourself have a look at the Australian results. They're not good.
So for a bit of Trans-Tasman rivalry, their numbers will give you no end of good vibes.
The socio-economic gap the Government talked up seems real, so that’s indisputably good.
But I have two major worries:
We look good because essentially, we went nowhere, and we went nowhere against an OECD that went backwards. Standing knee-deep while others drown doesn’t seem to me to be a thing.
I mean you'll take it. But I would've thought that comparing yourself to the ordinary is not quite as fulfilling as actually moving forward.
But the really big one is the OECD going backwards, and the 'why'.
I surmise the 'why' is the death of critical thinking. Kids no longer think for themselves and it's only going to get worse.
The reports raise issues around disruptive classrooms, the old screen-time issue, and of course the fact that kids don’t read.
This is global. We have multiple generations of non-readers and reading is the key to everything.
Mix the lack of reading with AI, which will answer whatever you want, and basically, we are headed for intellectual oblivion.
Like the calculator before it, technological advance is efficient and gets you the answer. But the link to critical thinking is "do you know the answer is right"?
Of course you don’t and you don’t care either.
No one asks questions No one is inquiring. The rise of gormlessness is frightening.
It's there in the PISA reports – our kids are going backwards. Not reading, not adding and not firing up the ol' brains.
In the intellectual swamp that is global education, we aren't too bad. So instead of worrying about that, we decide to pretend it’s a good news story.
But being okay, or average, in a world of the hopeless isn't what I call achieving.
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Sir Peter Beck is one of the country's greatest ongoing success stories.
The self-taught engineer turned his love of rockets into a multibillion dollar space company, and Rocket Lab is now the third largest launcher of payloads to orbit.
He's competing directly with the likes of Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and Elon Musk's SpaceX, managing to hold his own against the billionaires, and can be credited as the reason New Zealand has a space industry in the first place.
Although the future of the industry may seem uncertain, Beck's confident in his ability to chart a path forward.
"The space industry right now is an amazing place," he told Mike Hosking.
"It's just growing rapidly. Like, it was $360 billion, they reckon it's going to be $1.7 trillion in the next five years."
"It is really, you know, a new bastion of ... industry and growth."
Going from being a small player starting his own company to a major corporation answerable to shareholders was a steep curve, Beck said, but one they were able to handle.
"We've always run the company, you know, incredibly frugally," he explained.
"We are never gonna outspend Jeff and Elon, so we have to be, you know, much more careful with how we build the company."
"We have to out-hustle them and out-innovate, and that's the only way we can survive."
And that ethos of hustling to survive has become a great advantage for the company, Beck's self-described 'workaholism' and drive flowing through into the very culture of Rocket Lab.
"If you look at the resources and what we try to chieve in the time frames – it's insane," he told Hosking
"We built two spacecraft that are currently on their way to mars right now, we did that in a couple years ... ten years ago that would be like, a half a decade NASA project, and we did it in two years."
"The Rocket Lab hustle is everybody's expected to get out their spades and just start digging under the barrier or, you know, climbing over the top of it, or whatever it takes."
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LIV Golf, the breakaway tour that spent billions of dollars luring top players away from the PGA, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States.
Launched in 2022, free-spending LIV caused shock waves and bitter divisions in the golf world, before losing the backing of its deep-pocketed Saudi investors earlier this year, prompting a scramble to stay afloat.
The organisation has filed a Chapter 11 petition, which allows a company to reorganise operations while avoiding the initiation of any lawsuits, debt collection, or other attempts to enforce closure.
Former PGA Golfer Marcus Wheelhouse told Mike Hosking it's possible a new model will emerge from the other side of this, though it will be smaller.
He says the key is whether the brand will survive from a reputation point of view, as they owe a lot of people and organisations money.
Wheelhouse says they have a lot of challenges ahead.
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On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Wednesday 10th of September, the Ministry for Regulation has released its review of the hospo sector, which should make it easier to do business and help thousands.
All Blacks winger Jordie Barrett details how they'll tie up the South Africa series in Baltimore this weekend.
Sir Peter Beck explores the extraordinary rise of Rocket Lab and going up against the likes of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos to be the number one launch company.
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After a “whirlwind” last few days, All Blacks veteran Jordie Barrett says the side are back in test mode as they prepare to bookend Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series with a victory in Baltimore on Sunday.
Both sides are coming off a 20-hour flight from Johannesburg to Washington following Sunday’s third test, which shortens the preparation window for the final clash of the series in the US.
“It’s still a test match against the Boks for the All Blacks, but it’s certainly been a whirlwind 48 hours. We poured a whole lot of mental and physical energy into the test in Soweto, come off second best and four hours later we’re sitting across an aisle on a chartered flight with the Boks straight to Baltimore,” Barrett told Mike Hosking Breakfast on Newstalk ZB.
“We’re firmly on the ground now, we had a good training session this morning and test week is well underway.”
The All Blacks have lost captain Ardie Savea, stand-in captain Luke Jacobson and Barrett’s backline partner Quinn Tupaea for the fourth test after all suffered injuries in Soweto, adding to the injury toll for the tour. The Springboks have meanwhile made just two backline changes from the side that won the third test.
Coach Dave Rennie will name his All Blacks squad tomorrow with Barrett in the running as captain, with the likes of Codie Taylor and Patrick Tuipulotu.
Asked if he had spent any time considering whether or not the Baltimore test doesn’t count to the series because it was being played outside South Africa, Barrett said he believed that a drawn series is still alive.
“Certainly not. Like this Greatest Rivalry [series] was always a four-game series. There was a lot been talk about trying to win a test series in South Africa and that’s what we wanted to do ... this rivalry series is a four-game series and we’ve got an opportunity to go two-all against a team who’s been well established back-to-back world champions. We’ve only been together for a little while and we’ve got a chance to go two-all against them and that’s the opportunity that excites us for this weekend.”
Barrett, who has started every test for the All Blacks under Rennie, said the side were heading in the right direction under the new coach.
“We’ve learned a lot about ourselves in the past month and you do learn a lot about yourself against the best team in the world and on the road. I’m confident we’re heading in the right direction, that’s where we want to go and if we want to go to that place we’re probably going to end up playing the South Africans in a quarter-final in a Rugby World Cup.
“We are not overly pleased to be down 2-1 in the series, but look, we haven’t lost all hope in this group and there’s a lot of positives to come out of our last three games against the Boks. We’re not far away.
“What was it 33-16 in that first test at Ellis Park and we felt like South Africa probably had the wood over us for about 55 minutes. Couple of moments they get a yellow card and we win by two or three tries and we walk away from that test match all happy and we probably felt like we played better in game two and lost by seven points. And that’s just the way test matches are working at the moment and unfortunately we were on the wrong side of it again in game three but there’s an opportunity for us to level the series two-all this week in the States. So it’s a completely different kettle of fish.”
Barrett added that the South Africa leg was “the most memorable and enjoyable tests you’ll play as an All Black”.
“I think just the country in general and their history and the relationship with the All Blacks and there’s certainly a great rivalry also between the two countries and enough flying at the moment in terms of their rugby. They’re back-to-back world champions. They’re a country that probably haven’t been as united in the past but it seems like rugby is bringing everyone together at the moment and they’re certainly riding a high. It’s tough playing in their conditions but it’s also the most memorable and enjoyable tests you’ll play as an All Black as well.
“As hard as the last three weeks have been for me, I’ve absolutely loved it.”
Cameron McMillan has been a sports journalist since 2003 and is NZME’s Deputy Head of Sport.
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