The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Jeremiah Azu has entered what appears to be a growing debate at the Commonwealth Games.
He is a sprinter and is talking about respecting the flag, respecting the Commonwealth Games, and just generally making an effort and turning up.
Hamish Kerr has been allowed an easy run this week with his maybe/maybe not decision-making process.
It's important to point out that he can do whatever he likes. It's just the lack of scrutiny around it, the lack of questions, and the complete absence of any media probing how this has unfolded and wondering on our behalf whether all this “in and out”, “up and down” is actually kosher.
It appears Kerr is not alone, as a good chunk of the English team has bailed as well.
Which is where Azu comes in, asking what the media should be asking – is this legit? Can you simply turn up if you want, or not if you don’t want to? Is the Commonwealth Games just a weekend event of no great consequence? Does representing your country not really count for much anymore?
Personally, I don’t really care. I'm not a Commonwealth Games fan. As a sports nut, the world is so full these days of the finest of the fine doing amazing things on a regular basis, so do we have time or interest to watch and follow the progress of a team made up of the potential heroes, as opposed to the current ones, because the current ones don’t see it as worth their while?
It already has survival issues, given Glasgow is being paid for by Victoria. The sports have been cut, and we are down to 3x3 backyard basketball.
Now if all of this is ringing a bell, how about a bit of truth and a bit of bluntness and a bit of reality.
If you don’t want to go, don’t get selected. Sponsors and national Governments who fund a lot of this deserve a set up where they know what they are getting, they understand the standard and the expectation.
If time has passed this event by, then that's life. If venues are hard to come by, that’s life. If it needs to be demoted to an up-and-comers outing, that’s fine.
But let's clear the air, work out what's what, who's interested, who isn't and where we go.
Because it's got bugger's muddle vibes, as they say in the military.
And it doesn’t need to.
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At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all.

Our Covid response: 5/10
In totality it looks like a thing you do to score some points against the other guys, with no real sense there is any accountability and no real assurance it won't be the same next time.

Parental leave: 5/10
Political misstep of the week. Took a decent idea, then turned it into an inter-coalition bitch slap.

Gregg's: 3/10
First the peaches, then the coffee. What's next? Jaffas? Oh, wait.

The new tariffs: 2/10
Between them, the courts, and the war, the Trump presidency, if not already in flames, looks increasingly combustible.

Zoe Hobbs: 7/10
My pick of the success stories from Glasgow. Seemed overwhelmed, grateful, and pleased she could prove the doubters wrong.

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We can end the week by adding another example of angst and anger to the fast-track pile.
We have talked about Delmore and their 1200 houses north of Auckland, as well as Pegasus and their 1000 homes north of Christchurch.
The fast-track application was lodged this week, and now we have Ridgeburn in Arrowtown; 1200 more houses and this week, a hall full of ropeable locals.
Now, the question for fast-track becomes increasingly political. It's that interface between doing what's right and fixing a problem.
There is no doubt that the RMA, which is what fast-track is addressing, is broken. It's slow, it's expensive, it's wasteful, and it's holding us back.
Some mining will get done because of fast-track. That is jobs and incomes in areas that need it.
Tauranga Port might (they haven't got it yet) be able to extricate themselves from the quagmire of nonsense they have had to deal with now for literally years.
But for every project that looks like it fixes something, we have a growing number of what looks like good old-fashioned housing developments, and it is those that might cause untold misery for the Government.
It may well be a compounding problem because once you green light a Delmore, you have to green light a Pegasus, and then a Ridgeburn. They are all 1000ish houses in a country that apparently wants more houses.
Yet in doing that you have thousands of angry voters who may not forgive you for wrecking their little piece of paradise.
And if you recognise that political danger you then run the risk of the political trap, which is to try and sooth some people.
Furrowed brows with some good old-fashioned compromise and once you do that it’s a Pandora's box of ebb and flow, give and take, compromise and legal action.
Before you know it, you're back where you started with 900 pages of laborious, go-nowhere RMA law.
The easy answer is to stay the course, have the courage of your convictions and believe that in the long term they will all thank you.
But it's election year.
Who is for turning and who is for taking the risk, that this doesn't turn into a voter rebellion and an election bloodbath.
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It’s Friday, which means it’s time for Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson to join Mike Hosking to Wrap the Week that Was.
On today’s agenda was the newly inked deal for the Northern Expressway, the results of the latest Ipsos political poll, and the supermarket promotions going on at the moment.
Plus, an update on Mike and Kate’s fountain.
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The Warriors are on the Gold Coast this weekend, looking to bounce back against the Titans.
They just scraped past the Dragons earlier in the month before being thoroughly defeated by the Bulldogs – losing 18-6.
They’re currently sitting third on the ladder, but another loss could see them drop out of the top four.
Sky Sport Rugby League Analyst Willie Poching told Mike Hosking the Warriors aren't sitting third without knowing how to win.
He says last week they lacked the zip they’ve had for the majority of the season, so if they can get some of that back when playing the titans, they’ll return to their winning ways.
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