The Mike Hosking Breakfast

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.

The 5% first home buyers policy: 8/10
Small house deposits for first-timers is the policy of the week. In fact, it's the policy of the campaign so far. It's easy, practical, and solves an issue important to voters.

Michelin: 7/10
Possibly the most encouraging story of the week. The Michelin effect is real, it's ongoing, and the good operators can prove it.

Chris Hipkins: 4/10
Worst week in a long time. A second bad poll and growing questions around the campaign, or lack of it, and his personal ability to look like he's actually interested.

Trump: 2/10
Is making stuff up about 9/11 a new low? When does exaggeration and bombast wander into the territory of insult and plain BS?

The Warriors: 9/10
Rounded it out with yet more victory. Home advantage, a week off and, potentially, it's all a dream coming true.

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Is this the week the tide turned for the Labour Party and their chances of Government slipped away?
It's indisputably true to say it hasn’t been their week, or even a good week.
Some of the stuff that’s been bubbling for a while came to a, sort-of, head.
The lack of policy, the waiting for this magical PREFU, which allegedly contains Lord-knows-what by way of fiscal revelation, that will somehow make billions upon billions of dollars in promises make some sort of sense.
Are people who could vote Labour tired of waiting? Uninspired by the lack of vigour? Or just realising that the economy is coming back and the recovery is real, so some of the angst that drove them away from the Government is now melting?
Are Labour not radical enough, so the Greens get a look in?
Are people scared of the Greens and even more scared of the Māori Party, so the realisation has dawned on them that Labour can't do deals with mad people, so maybe the Government aren't that bad after all?
Does the first meeting of the campaign for their leader, which involved 100 people and a cat, display the lack of enthusiasm, not just from Labour, but from their supporters who are channelling the lacklustre approach of their party?
It's important to remember that of all the polling so far this year, the vast majority have never actually had Labour winning the election. But it did have them in front of National, which has given the media enough to feed on.
But even that, in the past two polls, has slipped away and what was once the 'Luxon nightmare' is now the 'Hipkins drama'. "Is he the right guy?"
Or is the ghost of 2023 back? As more people focus on their vote and what's happening around them, do the memories of the lockdowns, the fiscal failures, the kids not at school and the crime waves remind them that Hipkins, Sepuloni, Jan Tinetti, Ayesha Verral, et al are the same people? They haven't changed and the party hasn’t changed.
Do the memories of the endless working groups come flooding back? And does the laziness of that period look a lot like the laziness of this period of minimal policy, of lack of vigour, of a lackadaisical Government bagging sound bite obsession? Does it remind us these guys work office hours and are out of original thought?
It ain't over. But man, they look flat.
And Hipkins looks flatter than most.
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Friday has arrived, which means Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson are back with Mike Hosking to Wrap the Week that Was.
Donald Trump has offered every American adult $5000 if Republicans win the midterms in November – what would it cost to swing someone's vote?
They also discussed whether there's such a thing as being too young to have a bucket list, and how despite the tough economy, there seems to be no shortage of money for things people want to do.
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There's confidence there'll be no issues when Auckland's long awaited City Rail Link opens this weekend.
The $5.5 billion project opens on Sunday, with twin three-kilometre tunnels, two new underground stations, and an entirely new timetable for Aucklanders.
It'll also see three new main services: the East West, South City, and Onehunga West lines.
KiwiRail Chief Executive Peter Reidy told Mike Hosking they've done significant testing and run the trains over the last few months, and have had international experts look at the project as well.
He says of any large infrastructure project he's been involved in, this would be one of the best in terms of a readiness plan before it goes live.
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On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Friday 11th of September, Social Development Minister Louise Upston fronts up on the MSD screw-up that affected thousands of people.
Andrew Webster details how the Warriors are going to beat the Dolphins this week as the NRL Playoffs begin.
Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson discuss what we could bribe Kiwis with to vote, whether 19 and 20-year-olds can have a bucket list, and the fact we always have money for concerts and activities as they Wrap the Week that Was.
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