Andrew Dickens Afternoons

The North Korea summit is off. What a surprise. And there goes that much-hyped peace prize.I heard a commentator say this morning that Donald Trump was walking into a trap and I agree with that. A trap set by Kim. Another commentator also said that Kim had the upper hand which I also agree with.Trump jumped in too soon. I said it at the time. The Koreans have offered summits for the past 70 years, but American Presidents have always turned them down unless North Korea made changes first. Trump lost his mojo with the summit offer, and he appears to have realised it.In all the talk today, one word has been missing and that word is China. They’re the real power brokers here. Kim has been to Beijing twice this year and stopped his threats when China turned off the energy tap at the beginning of the year.So, what does China want? They want stability. They want North Korea as a buffer so they don’t have America on their border. Meanwhile, what does America want? They want Kim gone and his people liberated, and free

The Phil Twyford gaffe is unfortunate. Especially after it was revealed earlier, that the public transport minister was the biggest user of the crown limo fleet.This all played out by the rulebook. He offered to resign, it was turned down, he lost Civil Aviation, which had to happen. You can’t be in charge of the rules and then be caught breaking them.The real question is why did he think his phone call was so important that he couldn’t wait an hour to reply. I know it was budget day but hello. Phil is like so many of us these days, enthralled to the phone and their own self-importance.I don’t even answer the phone on buses these days. Why should a bus full of strangers be forced to listen in to my conversation?The smartphone is amazing, and a revolution in communication but modern society has formed an unhealthy addiction. Don’t be afraid to turn it off.Remember, you’re in charge of the phone, the phone is not in charge of you.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

TVNZ's new streaming service has one key aim: to increase the amount of Kiwi content available to kids. Chris Schulz and Karl Puschmann investigate.Ask Amie Mills why Kiwi kids need to see themselves on TV, and she'll pause, apologise for pausing, then say this: "I lose words when I think about how important it is."Mills, the children's commissioner for TVNZ, explains her loss of words with a shocking piece of research: "We've had some fascinating conversations with teachers. They're astounded by how many children are turning up to school aged 5 with American accents."Kiwi kids starting school with American accents? What gives? How does this happen? By watching too many American TV shows via American streaming services, that's how.Heihei hopes to change all that. The NZ On Air-funded online streaming service launches next week with the express aim of increasing the amount of New Zealand-orientated content available to kids.It's ad-free, features shows that use New Zealand people, place names and te reo, and u

When opponents of the government phone this show, one refrain you often hear is that this is government is one of broken promises. They’re being held to promises made on the election trail which are yet to become real. There is a kernel of truth to this.Take police numbers. Labour promised 1,800 and have delivered 1,100 in the recent budget. The opposition pointed out this was a broken promise. The government argued that they’ll get to that target by the end of their term. So is this a broken promise or not. The truth is in the eye of the beholder.The latest broken promise is the abolition of the decile system in our schools. Education Minister, Chris Hipkins, says it will go but not until they have a better way of getting resources to the disadvantaged. This could take a while. The government’s problem with the decile system is that it stigmatises a school. Tell a school it’s decile 2 and you’re telling the world it’s not as good as a decile 8.Now I’m sorry but this is political correctness, it’s fear of off

As the country gets closer towards winter, the subject of how to keep your home warm is back on the agenda. Caller Shirley has her views on how to heat your home and the amount of money people are currently getting, and shared them with Andrew Dickens today.LISTEN TO SHIRLEY CHAT WITH ANDREW ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So do you trust your banks?With Australia staging a Royal Commission into the behaviour of their banks and insurance companies and a raft of dodgy practices being unearthed, attention has turned to the New Zealand market.With 4 of our major banks Australian owned and a number of our insurance companies having strong links across the Tasman the suggestion exists that the industry here may not be as squeaky clean as we imagine.It’s a suspicion I share.  I have done talkback on it and interviewed financial experts.  While most think that there is a Chinese wall between the trans Tasman operations, I’m still not convinced.For instance one CEO of a New Zealand operation has recently been transferred from Australia so why wouldn’t she bring operating practice with her.Sam Stubbs is the Managing Director of Simplicity a low cost Kiwisaver fund manager. Sam was most recently the CEO Of Tower Investments, a KiwiSaver default provider. Before that he was Managing Director of Hanover Group, and spent 10 years working fo

Long time listeners to this programme will know that I’m not a major fan of the governments funding of the tertiary system.It’s not that I’m not a fan of education it’s more that I’m not convinced it’s an efficient use of money and that it will not necessarily be the best way to get more tertiary students from disadvantaged homes.The new regime seems overly generous, especially when you realise how many advantaged families will now be getting free tertiary education.  The sons and daughters of Kelburn or Remuera or Fendalton lawyers can continue the family’s advantage at very little cost.Meanwhile, the disadvantaged of Opotiki or Kaitaia still face barriers in terms of travelling to the big smokes and finding and paying for accommodation.This year the policy costs nearly $400 million and I wonder whether we’d extend education to more socioeconomic groups if the money had been targeted to the disadvantaged, say in the form of bursaries or scholarships.But in saying that I raise the spectre of means testing.  A

One of the highlights for me this week came on the Mike Hosking Breakfast.Mike was interviewing a construction lecturer from AUT and the guy said something very profound.  He quoted the desert fox himself, Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery.He said, “Amateurs talk of strategy. Professionals talk of logistics”That phrase was ringing in my head through all the coverage of yesterday’s budget. A lot of money was thrown at issues but there’s was very little talk of how the money was to be used.For instance the funding of free gp visits for under 14s. On the face of it you can’t quibble except you have to ask yourself how we can provide that care.  All this year we’ve had headlines about a shortage of GPs particularly in rural areas.  So the money may be there to get all these kids in front of doctors but what’s the point when we don’t have any doctors for them to see.It takes 7 years of study to make a GP so it’s not like we’re going to rustle up a whole bunch of them in July.I guess we’re going to have to import s

In the last year's election, all parties signalled that the police were in line for significantly more numbers. New Zealand First had police numbers as a central plank of its election promises. Meanwhile, Labour stated that its aim was for 1800 more cops on the beat.But there are now allegations that the number will be significantly reduced. Simon Bridges told Newshub last night that he believes that the number will more like 1100 and that this represents another broken promise.That it may be, but it may also be that 1800 will be spread over the next 3 years. We’ll see.But whatever the case is, you have to say it can’t come soon enough. As we realise the impact of our growing population on houses and infrastructure we seem to be blind to the fact that more people demands more police.I think it’s fair to say that the numbers have been too low for too long and with the rise of methamphetamine and violence it spawns, the police are crying out for reinforcement because they’re getting hammeredIn the last three an

Why is it that when it comes to our so-called housing crisis, no politicians seem to get it?It’s not hard to grasp.  For half a century we have consistently failed to build enough houses for our growing population and so the basic rule of supply and demand comes in.  Desperate purchasers fight amongst themselves for too few houses and then pay above the odds or give up and sulk.It’s like two hermit crabs fighting to the death for one shell.Meanwhile, people with a bit of spare cash stick it into investment housing instead of a bank or equity in a business. And because interest rates have been so low for so long it’s a money tree of capital growth.The factors are simple to see.  Natural population growth.  High immigration.  Low levels of construction.  Poor forward planning.At the heart of it all is one simple fact.  This country doesn’t have enough houses.You know this. I know this. So why don’t they know it.I say this because the latest grand idea to get first home buyers into an affordable house ignores th

One caller who rang Andrew Dickens afternoon today, says dealing with his mother's dementia has split the family because those who live in Auckland wanted to put her into a home, while the family members who lived with her in Christchurch said no to that. He says his mother really loves conversation and talking to people, and he fears if she is in a care facility then she will be forgotten about and she will deteriorate quickly. LISTEN ABOVE AS CALLER JOHN SPEAKS WITH ANDREW DICKENSSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So I was listening to Mike Hosking this morning, thinking to myself how nice it would be to be in London on a sunny spring day. And then he said something that set me thinkingHe was talking about the budget and what not to expect in terms of radical change.  He then warned that the coalition’s caution may continue at the next budget because it’s only a year away from the election.I thought to myself, hold on, this mob is only half a year into their term and we’re already talking about an election.It brought back into relief the length of the parliamentary term in New Zealand.At just three years it’s one of the shortest in the world shared with El Salvador, Jordan and Australia’s house of representatives. But in Australia, the Senate's term is six years.  In Brazil, their upper house has an eight-year term.Most countries go for five years. A handful go for four years and a few go for a mind-blowing six years.I’ve long had concerns about New Zealand’s short term.  While of course opponents of any given governme

Caller Brian talks about his concerns surrounding facial recognition and the data gathering of peoples private information.LISTEN TO THE FULL CALL WITH ANDREW DICKENS ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pre-competition favourite Netta Barzilai won the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest for Israel on Saturday with her song Toy.Barzilai beat out competition from 42 other countries' performers to claim the music extravaganza's annual crown at the Grand Final in Lisbon, Portugal.There was a strong field of contestants at this year's event, and the Israeli entry topped close competition from Cyprus, Austria, Sweden and Germany.Barzilai racked up 529 points, compared with 436 for runner-up Cyprus and 342 for third-place Austria.The contest largely shed its traditional hallmarks of glitz and glitter in favour of a more restrained and tasteful tone in Lisbon, which was hosting the event because it won last year with Salvador Sobral's sober and subdued ballad Amar pelos Dois.Sobral last week criticized Toy as "horrible music." But Barzilai was unrepentant with her popular techno dance beat about women's empowerment.Her win — Israel's fourth and first since 1998 — means her country hosts next year's Eurovision Song Contest,

I think it’s a good time to talk about business confidence as we approach the budget this Thursday. Because everyone is talking about it.The government is trying to convince everyone that they’re prudent guardians of the public purse, while the opposition is desperately trying to convince us that we’re going to hell in a handcart.This is a difficult line for Simon Bridges to pursue.  On one hand he’s trying to tell the country that Labour has loads of cash because of his party’s fiscal management.  That the rock star economy is still singing a sweet tune. Yet on the  other hand he’s saying we’re on the verge of an apocalypse.Meanwhile Grant Robertson, the invisible man of politics who seems to have been beavering away on his first budget, is telling everyone to brace themselves to be disappointed.  That there won’t be a budget blowout and that he’s going to be as miserly with the purse strings as Bill English.  That said, he’ll be putting some band aids over areas of the economy that National neglected.Who’s

On Tuesday I wrote an editorial about the housing crisis and this government’s approach to it through Kiwi Build. In it I essentially advised the government to get out of the building business and get stuck into all the things that stop builders building and developers developing. It might be worth me repeating my conclusions. I said that if they go into the building business they’re going to hit all the same problems private developers have had for generations.If they want to speed up supply they should be spending time and money on the impediments. Rather than building houses they should be laying water and power onto greenfield sites and improving the infrastructure for intensification projects. They should be streamlining consent processes and helping councils gear up to cope with more work. They should be strengthening credit lines to the developers who know what they’re doingThey should be building transport and roading to these new developments rather than leaving new home owners stuck in traffic jams

As we approach the budget I think it’s fair to ask the government, “How’s that housing crisis going?”It’s been the issue of the age, which has seen property owners grow richer and new home buyers grow desperate or even give up and it’s been the issue that many attacked the previous government on and the issue Labour promised to fix.So where are we at. First, we had the LVRs which had a short-term effect on slowing the price boom but now we hear that rent prices are getting so high because of supply problems that buyers are re-entering the market. And to be frank, the biggest effect was on first home buyers which was the problem we were trying to fix.Meanwhile, the Housing Minister hasn’t been sitting on his laurels. He’s announced a major development in Auckland's Mt Albert with 3000 to 4000 homes,18 of those homes on defence force land in Papakura. But to be fair, the Mt Albert development has been an idea sitting around for a while and would have happened without the government stepping in and the Papakura

A 4-year-old girl who had all of her rotting baby teeth removed is one tens of thousands of Kiwi kids with poor dental health, a new report has found.Dental caries, or tooth decay, was found to be most common chronic disease in children, and one of the leading causes of hospital admissions.In the 2015/2016 year, 29,000 children under the age of 12 had to have one or more teeth removed as a result of severe cavities and infection, and 6600 of those ended up in hospital. Each operation to remove teeth cost about $4000."The cost of this in public healthcare and to taxpayers is huge," oral health researcher and co-author Prathibha Sural said.The report, Too soon for the tooth fairy: the implications of child poverty for oral health, summarises knowledge about the prevalence of poor oral health among children in New Zealand.Most of the cases were argued to be preventable and strongly associated with poverty.Co-author and public health specialist Dr Rob Beaglehole said tooth decay was a "disease of poverty"."Poorer

If you're a man there have been two series of remarkable writing over the past year that I recommend you read.One is Peter Wells' series called Hello Darkness on the website The Spinoff. The acclaimed New Zealand author Peter Wells kept a diary talking about what he saw, was going through, and thought since his prostate cancer diagnosis. A cancer which has spread and metastasised.It's an emotional read. Because of his skill with words and his ability to write about emotion and feeling. It has a dark beauty. It's easily understandable. His ability to write about the tug at the heart and gut of battling the beast is very affecting.The other is Simon Wilson's series in the Herald. It's a prostate cancer diary as well but it's more pragmatic and practical. A less lyrical take on the science and more on the grunt of the battle to control a beast that wants to take your life.This past weekend Simon looked at the screening for the third biggest killer of men and in that he wrote some astounding things.There are 4 wa

It’s very hard not to sympathise with midwives and their current quest for better pay and conditions.In fact, I’d say it was impossible.After they’re the selfless heroes who bring life into the world at all times of the day and night. They provide help, advice, support and expertise to mother and child. Their job deals with the core emotions and physical processes that create families and hence society.So when they rally for better pay and conditions the feelings are palpable and the response is easy. They deserve more.At yesterday’s rally's we were told that midwives were paid between 7.23 and 12 an hour which shocked many. After all isn’t that illegal. It’s below the minimum pay.But it’s because their pay model is at odds with an hourly rate. To talk about hourly rates is to compare apples to oranges. So the real conversation should be about the model itselfMidwives get 2300 per client. That doesn’t vary despite differing complexities or even the midwives experience. It means most midwives are getting betwe