The Mike Hosking Breakfast

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Thursday the 12th of November, a good look at our economy, but house prices are having a tough ol' time.
A sad day for retail in this country as David Jones officially shuts up shop.
All Black legend Dan Carter joins Mike Hosking to talk fitness, business and cologne!
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A totally pointless debate is raging online at the moment as to who voted for Opportunity and whether that vote was skewed left or right.
And based on that, whether they should pick, if they get a chance, a left or right combo.
Obviously as we sit here there is no choice because even if they went left, the left still don’t have the numbers.
But that hasn’t stopped the angsty getting all riled up online.
So here is the theory; Opportunity did best in areas of the country where the left does well, namely Wellington and particularly Wellington Bays and Wellington North. Those two electorates gave Opportunity their biggest support.
Now for a start, and here is the critical flaw, just because you live in those electorates it doesn't mean you are a leftie. Until you ask every Opportunity voter what their political leaning is you are guessing. But that’s how we fill our time apparently.
The next problem - once you have assumed, as they have, that because the biggest support came in left-leaning areas, that means the party must go with Labour.
That then means you didn’t listen to a word the party actually said, which is they are centrist and want to work with whoever.
This is why their marketing is clever. Once Winston Peters aligned himself with National that left the true middle open. Opportunity are merely filling a gap in the market and to fill that gap they must be realistically seen as centrist.
The fact allegedly they are not is either a marketing fail on their part or too much second guessing by the voters.
And if it is the latter two things then happen:
1) The party is letting their supporters down,
2) The voters failed to get the message and/or ignored the message and second guessed the party as to what they were.
This is the trouble with middle parties, as Winston fond out in 2017 when he picked Jacinda. He has been trying to recover reputationally ever since.
A true centrist party has to realistically be able to go either way, which is probably why they should go right this time, because if they can do that and survive they stand a better chance in the long term.
To my eye they are quite obviously left and if they go left that merely confirms what a lot of us clearly think, and at that point their marketing advantage is blown. In 2029 they are competing with Labour and the Greens, not the wider market.
If they don’t play this well they will end up like the other minor players Alliance, United and the Maori Party, who come but then vanish.
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Auckland Council denies its move to make rubbish bins smaller is aimed at forcing people to use their food scraps bin.
Councillors have voted, by a narrow majority, to reduce the default bin size from 120-litres to 80-litres.
The Post reports a council evaluation report on the food scraps bins work has been kept private, but its use by households is well below forecast levels.
Auckland Council General Manager Waste Solutions Justine Haves told Mike Hosking the change in default bin size changes nothing for households who already have bins.
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Former All Black Dan Carter knows the pressure of an end-of-year tour better than most.
A lot of attention is on the ABs, but the insight often comes from those who have left the system.
Carter joined Mike Hosking to discuss his life after rugby, his business ventures, and the state of the current squad under Dave Rennie.
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Former labour minister and ACT leader Richard Prebble's weighed into the post-election debate.
He says both Chris Luxon and Chris Hipkins should be resigning.
National currently has the numbers to form a government with Act and New Zealand First, but this could change once special votes have been counted.
For the first time ever, neither National nor Labour has secured more than 30-percent of the party vote.
Prebble told Mike Hosking that this is a damning result for Luxon and Hipkins.
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