Andrew Dickens Afternoons

I can still remember the first time I heard the rumours about Bill Cosby. It’s tattooed in my mind because I was a grown man wearing a Fat Albert T-shirt. It was a friend’s 30th birthday drinks and I walked from my downtown apartment in the mid-summer Auckland heat to a central-city bar. When I arrived I was a fraction high in the perspiration levels and apologised to the friend whose birthday it was who hugged me. The hug + perspiration + apology drew attention to the T-shirt and that’s when I first heard: Cosby was a serial rapist.It couldn’t be true. Or rather, I didn’t want it to be true. I left that party – a party that took place just pre the age of everyone having smartphones – and went home, swapped out my T-shirt and fired up my laptop. The rumours were all over the internet, but little had been published by official news sources. Cosby was still “America’s Dad” and one of the single most influential figures in the history of American entertainment, popular culture and – without hyperbole – its civil

I always found it incredible how many otherwise decent folks who’d never in a million years think of themselves as criminals would think nothing about online piracy. It’s a little bit like those old cardboard cut-outs of police officers in department stores saying, “Shoplifting is a crime!” Really? Were people really in the dark about this? How useful that the cardboard police officer was there to let us know that if you want some new clothes, you’ll need to pay for them.Obviously, there was a percentage of the population who were in the dark that going to Kmart and not handing over some money for your goods was on shaky legal ground, but I always assumed that percentage was through the floor. Maybe it wasn’t.I say this because today the website Newsroom published a story about the percentage of Kiwis who regularly pirate content. Turns out almost a third of Kiwis are illegally enjoying content they haven’t paid for on a “regular” basis – roughly every six months – with 10-percent doing it weekly.With Sky TV

Is it time New Zealand put tourists first?There are growing calls for a new national tourism strategy to help the industry meet with growing demand from tourists and to reverse years of neglect.When discussing the topic this afternoon, Tim Roxborogh received a suggestion from caller Tony.He pointed out that our tourism offerings do little to cater to an international audience, unlike many European countries, where the people speak multiple languages and provide many of their offerings in different languages.LISTEN TO CALLER TONY TALK WITH TIM ROXBOROGH ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Will we ever see an event akin to the deadly Spanish influenza? That's one of the questions tackled by Dr Robert Webster in his new book, The Flu Hunter. The Kiwi-born virologist has dedicated his life to explore the disease, and has documented his study in his latest work.He joined Andrew Dickens to talk about the disease, his career and the intricacies of diseases. LISTEN TO ROBERT WEBSTER TALK WITH ANDREW DICKENS ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anyone who has listened to this programme this year will know they I have been calling for an inquiry into our banking and insurance industryThere have been a number of shows where we have looked at what consumers have been presented with, what they been denied, what they felt like they have been pressured into. We have seen the banks maintain particularly healthy profits. We have heard how they have linked their instruments meaning that for most customers to get one service you need to get another offered through the same organisation. We have heard accusations of double dipping.We have also heard allegations of bank and insurance offers being under pressure to upsell, even if it’s not in the customer's interest.And on top of it all was the shock I heard from callers when I told them that the bulk of the industry is self-regulating. The Insurance Ombudsman is funded by the industry and so the insinuation is always that the poacher is also the gamekeeperThe backdrop to these stories has been the Royal Commiss

LISTEN TO GRAHAM TALK WITH ANDREW DICKENS ABOVEEurope-based Fonterra staff would have travelled at least 9000km to attend a sales and marketing meeting at a Southern California beach resort town, a venue the dairy company says was chosen because of its proximity to LAX airport.The company is refusing to give details of the meeting at tourist and surf mecca Huntington Beach, which NBR has reported was attended by up to 200 staff from the co-op's New Zealand milk product division at the time Fonterra was announcing a historic annual loss of $196 million last week.Fonterra responded to questions about the meeting with this statement:"NZMP is an international business, with the majority of staff and customers based offshore, including a significant number in Europe, the US and South America. Every two years, select members of this team come together for a sales and marketing meeting to review performance and develop strategic plans for the following 12 months."The location of the global meeting varies but is alwa

So happy Suffrage Day. 125 years since New Zealand women were the first women in the world to get the vote.  For those a bit dodgy on their maths that was back in 1893. It seems amazing to us now that women were denied the mandate for more than 50 years after the signing of the treaty and the creation of modern New Zealand.So the week and the day have been a celebration of women. Today’s paper is wall to wall women and what I’ve liked about it is that they have concentrated on the trailblazers. The women who were first and it then makes you see how many achievements you weren’t aware of.And I was really chuffed to see our own Ricki Swannell named as one of the 125 trailblazing women of note. Rikki, our workmate, our friend but of course a trailblazer as the first female lead commentator in Rugby. What’s really notable is that, at the time, for all us at ZB it wasn’t notable. It was just Rikki doing what Rikki does best. Bit by bit we’re getting to the point that things shouldn’t seem so incredible because of

LISTEN ABOVE AS NEWSTALK ZB POLITICAL EDITOR BARRY SOPER SPEAKS TO ANDREW DICKENSThe Government will lift the annual refugee quota to 1500.Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the increase will not take place immediately, but from July 2020.The increase is 500 more than the current quota of 1000, which took effect from July this year.Ardern was joined by Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway to make the announcement. The decision was made by the Cabinet committee today, she said.The refugee quota became an issue of contention recently after conflicting comments from Peters and Ardern on whether it would be raised.Winston Peters, Jacinda Ardern and Iain Lees-Galloway at today's announcement.But Peters said he supported today's decision.Ardern said the timing meant that preparations could be made to ensure refugees were well-supported when they arrived."I'm proud that the Coalition Government has today agreed to make such a significant and historic increase to the annual

Tempers are fraying in the Bay of Plenty because of the state of State Highway 2 between Tauranga and Katikati. As the bay continues to boom and the population grows the improvements to the road have failed to keep up prompting protestors to start taking action.They call the road the worst stretch of roading in New Zealand and their campaign is called Fix Our Bloody Road. In the weekend they blocked a bridge to protest and today they’ve launched a petition calling for a moratorium on all development of housing alongside the road until something is done.Now I know the road very well, I’ve been driving it for a quarter of a century. It’s not the worst road in New Zealand but it’s definitely operating beyond it’s capacity. And that capacity is about to be stretched even more.The area that the road serves is about to boom with housing construction the way Papamoa boomed 20 years. 43,000 extra houses are needed in the Bay over the next 30 years and Northward development is the most obvious. The road is hopelessly

The conflict over State Highway 2 is heating up.A protest this weekend was the latest move by fed up locals who are sick of the dangerous road going ignored.It has been the site for multiple crashes over the years, and residents are now threatening to stage a protest against a planned development. Residents called up Andrew Dickens to share their experiences on the infamous stretch of road and the horrors they have seen and experienced during their time.LISTEN TO THE TALKBACK FEEDBACK ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

LISTEN ABOVE AS CAMPAIGN SPOKESMAN MATTHEW FARRELL SPEAKS TO ANDREW DICKENSNo roads, no growth: that's the message both State Highway 2 campaigners and Western Bay councils are looking to send to the Government.Following its protest blockade of the highway on Sunday, the Fix the Bloody Road campaign has launched a petition to stop more housing being built in communities such as Ōmokoroa until the road is upgraded.The petition, addressed to SmartGrowth - a collaboration of Western Bay councils and other groups - already had more than 300 signatures.Campaign spokesman Matthew Farrell said SmartGrowth predicted another 43,000 homes were needed to house a population increase of 250,000 in Tauranga and Western Bay of Plenty in the next three decades.State Highway 2 was already well over capacity, he said."Given we are getting these major congestion problems and safety issues, it would make sense to hold off until the infrastructure has caught up," he said."We will keep doing what we need to do until we get some co

The Prime Minister has come under fire after mistakenly telling Mike Hosking she was "pretty pleased" with gross domestic product growth having received a "hint" ahead of Thursday's official release of the second-quarter economic data.Newstalk ZB political editor Barry Soper told Andrew Dickens a Prime Minister or politician should never comment in advance when it comes to GDP."In my view, the listeners this morning would have been in no doubt to what she was talking about. She should not of been confused about what she was being asked about, its difficult to accept her excuse."LISTEN ABOVE AS BARRY SOPER SPEAKS TO ANDREW DICKENSSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There is outrage from customers that Meridian Energy has cut their 'prompt payment' discounts. The company called the discounts, offered to customers who paid their bill on time, 'unjustifiable'.The move came days after the Government's electricity review panel criticised the use of the discounts.However, the move has angered customers, who told Andrew Dickens that the discount offer was an encouragement to pay on time.LISTEN TO THE FEEDBACK ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Andrew Dickens talks with Rowena Duncum from 'The Country' about learning the delicious looking strawberries he had bought in the weekend were a 'no-go'.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well, the beltway is in full flight now, dramatically interviewing their typewriters, seeing two plus two and coming up with five.Last night Tova O’Brien was breathlessly reporting a power battle between Winston Peters and Jacinda Ardern. A slug em out battle of the Titans with the future of the coalition hanging in the balance.This came after two of the country’s biggest unions, FIRST Union and the Council of Trade Unions (CTU), came out and said they fear the Government's employment law reforms could be hijacked by Winston Peters.The unionists went on to say they are a bit worried about the dominance on a number of issues that is coming from New Zealand First. Yes said the pundits, look at how Winston scuppered the reform of the three strikes rule. We now have co-leaders of the coalition and Jacinda has lost controlNow you could say that but it’s a bit over-excitable, over-egged and overhyped. We won’t really know the influence of NZ First until the legislation is tabled. That’s why Winston says it’s a work

News of a new stadium in Christchurch has people fired up - both for and against the development.The Christchurch City Council has voted to spend $220 million on replacing the AMI Stadium.There have long been calls to replace the stadium with a covered roof, earthquake safe alternative.However, many callers to Andrew Dickens Afternoons were furious at the cost and rationale behind the build.One caller suggested the entire council should be sacked as they are clearly incompetent.However, there were those supporting the stadium, saying it is necessary to generate activity throughout the city.LISTEN TO THE TALKBACK FEEDBACK ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are calls for harsher penalties for people who text and drive.Eliot Jessep, who’s mother was killed in a car crash while texting, crossing the centre line, told Stuff that he believes punishments for crimes remain too light.Acting Associate Transport Minister James Shaw told the website that transport officials are investigating how effective overseas penalties have been, includign safety cameras.Jessep is calling for the New Zealand punishment to be “at a level where it does impact someone”.Callers to Andrew Dickens Afternoons were largely in agreement, and had innovative ideas as to how the penalties could be enforced.Caller Phillip says that, in the UK, they are looking at rising the fines to £400, and that there has been very little backlash from the Brits about this.He says that in England, they now have motorcyclists who drive around with cameras, snapping drivers in the act so they can be prosecuted.Caller Johnny called for traffic cops, and says people should face having their licenses revoked f

Whoever came up with the idea of goal setting really opened a Pandora’s box of wishful thinking.For the modern interpretation of goal setting, you can blame a bloke called Edwin Locke. He was an American psychologist from the University of Maryland who has studied the power of goal setting in the 1960s. He first suggested that employees were motivated by goals and feedback in his 1968 article "Toward a Theory of Task Motivation and Incentives”. In it he says individuals who set specific, difficult goals performed better than those who set general, easy goals.Since then athletes and business leaders have banged on about it and so eventually so did politicians and it seems to have spread like topsy amongst them. And to make them easy to understand our politicians have defined our goals by setting targets. So now we have a raft of targets to achieve. Smokefree 2025. Predator Free 2050. Possum free 2030. We target zero deaths on our roads. We have 3 goals on emissions reductions ending in 2020, 2030 and 2050. The

Is Jacinda Ardern bullying her MPs?That's the question talkback callers are asking after the Prime Minister told off Greg O'Connor over an interview he did on Newstalk ZB. The Labour MP was critical of the Prime Minister's handling of the Clare Curran saga yesterday, earning him a 'stern phone call'.Andrew Dickens raised the subject with his listeners, and they were split over whether it was Ardern or O'Connor who was in the right.LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

LISTEN ABOVE AS NZ HERALD ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER SIENA YATES SPEAKS TO ANDREW DICKENS ON PINK'S VISIT TO NEW ZEALAND Pink has realised the dream of Whangārei artist Jessie Rose by signing an artwork created to raise money for a children's charity.Rose created the massive glittering painting and placed it on Trade Me, with a call for Pink to sign it while on her New Zealand tour.Artist Jessie Rose had her artwork signed by Pink and the proceeds of the auction will go to KidsCanNZ. Photo/ John StoneWhen the artwork is sold, the money raised will go to KidsCanNz, a charity that works with underprivileged children.Rose videoed the creative process which took place near the Te Matau a Pohe bridge in Whangārei in near darkness. The painting took 20 minutes to complete, with a clear glue being strategically painted on to a black board.The painting comes to life when glitter is thrown at the board, the silver glitter appears and Pink's outline magically appears."It is no secret that Pink loves children and supports s