Andrew Dickens Afternoons

A mother in the US has felt the wrath of parents worldwide after revealing on TikTok that she charges her 7 year old daughter rent to teach her the value of money.Felicia Farley told TikTokkers, "every week my daughter has a list of chores. If those chores are completed daily, she will get $7 at the end of the week."She then went on to say "In total she pays $5 for bills, leaving $2 left over which she can then keep and save or spend."Andrew Dickens asked callers what they thought was appropriate for kids to do to learn the value of money.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So since I last spoke with you the Government have announced their plan to transition towards more open borders and Amazon have decided to pull the Lord of the Rings out of New Zealand.  The 2 stories are linked. There are parts of Amazon’s reasoning that haven’t been widely reported.  They’re moving to Shepperton Studios in England which is currently in major expansion mode.  It’s merged with Pinewood Studios and now provides the second biggest studio in the world behind 1 in China. 18 new sound stages have been built this year.  Netflix has announced it’s putting a production hub in Shepperton taking productions out of Europe and North America.  There’s talk that Amazon is about to take a stake in the studio. It also has to be remembered that Amazon’s Lord of the Rings is heavily dependent on studios.  It’s being done with sets and CGI.  So it’s no sweat to move the sets to England and keep going.Then there’s an instant saving on cast cost. My point is that even if we were open and easy to get to the probab

Firstly, my condolences to the people of Timaru and particularly the parents of the boys who lost their lives in the horrific incident. I’m not going to draw any conclusions from the particular event because I feel it’s too soon and the whole district is feeling it, as are we all. No one needs a radio host or talkback callers pontificating on the should have beens. But in the course of the conversation today we have heard talk on perception of risk and how poor it is in young brains. And that’s not the first time perception of risk has been mentioned over the past few days. We heard it from Sir John Key in the weekend.  He suggested that many New Zealanders had little perception of risk from Covid 19 because we have been spared the worst ravages of it and that may be why so much vaccination hesitancy exists. Why get vaccinated when there’s no Covid about.   Sir John suggests that if New Zealanders were told the next stage of the plan which would include fewer lockdowns and more ease of travel then people migh

This morning I was driving to work listening to Steve Price talking to Mike Hosking at 8.40am. It wasn’t a pleasant listen.  What’s happening across the Tasman is a recurring nightmare.A nightmare that somehow we have avoided so far. Lockdowns popping up like mushrooms.  Case numbers growing and worrying hospitalisations. Two thirds of the new cases are under 40s.   Of the 53 people in intensive care, six are in their 20s, four are in their 30s, one is in their 40s, 18 are in their 50s, 14 are in their 60s, nine are in their 70s and only one is in their 80s.  So, so much for Covid being the disease of the old, frail and feeble. There are 203 people in hospital with Covid-19 in NSW.Twenty-seven are ventilated.Imagine that here where our ICUs are already at limit. Meanwhile lockdowns into October are being mentioned and the Australian treasure is warning this may create a second recession for the so called lucky country.  Not a pretty picture. The question is how did Covid get into Australia?  The common wisdom

Sometimes I wonder how we have become the architects of so many bad administrative decisions. This is the story of British GP Ann Solomon which featured in the Sunday Star Times this weekend At the beginning of the pandemic New Zealand made some border exemptions to fill critical worker shortages Ann Solomon responded and has been living and working in New Zealand with her family since last August. But the temporary visa is running out and Ann Solomon’s family’s future hangs in the air. One of her children is just about to leave school and without the permanent residency will not be able to legally work here. Ann Solomon is not just a doctor, she’s also a woman and she’s living in Foxton. As a female rural GP she is in very high demand and is a very rare breed. She is not someone we can afford to lose. She’s not alone; there are 1129 other similar cases, many dating back to the Key Government. People who have made the effort, brought skills to the country, settled themselves and now facing an immigration rese

In the aftermath of the farmer protests on Friday, some tempers have been running high as farmers allege city residents don’t understand them.  But in fact, there are many issues that should unite farming and city folk. As I drove in this morning, I heard a farmer on ZB claiming that city folk have no idea of the environmental regulation and the cost of compliance that the farming community have to bear. I thought that was a bit unfair. Currently Auckland Council is spending $1 billion dollars on the interceptor project which is to prevent wastewater from entering the watercourses that crisis across the city. That’s part of the costs of keeping rates high. Then there’s the story of the service station that’s being developed in my suburb.  This is a saga that has rumbled on for years.  The service station operator has now spent more than $500,000 on getting resource consents and will spend just about as much on environmental safeguards. City businesses will complain about compliance costs as much as any farmer

So look at that: the Pfizer vaccines that we were freaking out about arrived. Not only that, they arrived two days early.So what was all that panic about? We only knew about the potential delay because the Minister told us about it. So why do that?It's because the government is becoming increasingly gun shy. Afraid of negative headlines, they are choosing to pre-empt the bad news to try and mitigate any possible damage. But in this case, they shot themselves in the foot unnecessarily.The public perception is that this vaccine rollout is less than perfect and so the government is defensive.When I said that on social media last week, many supporters of the roll out and the government took issue with me. Our roll out has a 107 per cent success rate, they said.This is true. We are seven per cent ahead of schedule. But that means nothing if the schedule was too slow in the first place. The government is doing exactly what they said they would do but with hindsight we see that was not enough.Today we learn that Oak

Here we are with lockdown's popping up across Australasia. The Delta variant is causing some havoc amongst two nations universally praised for their handling of Covid over the past 16 months. Two nations who on the whole went hard and early and reaped the harvest of return. Much to the globe's jealousy, we opened one of the first and most successful travel bubbles. We've been smug about our full stadiums and enjoying concerts and the ability to keep a large part of our domestic economies functioning. But all that sways in the balance today. And one of the reasons our two nations are here is because we lag much of our comparable countries of the world in vaccinations. Much has been made that we are last of 122 OECD nations in the vaccination table, and that’s true, but the Prime Minister is also right when saying that table is based on the number of first shots given. On fully vaccinated figures, we do a little better.  As of this morning just 7.8 per cent of New Zealand has had two shots. The global average i

So Winston’s back for another crack. I never doubted it. The man’s constitution and energy are only matched by his ego. And he’s a worker. I’ve always liked Winston and New Zealand First and always been surprised at how misunderstood his party is by so many New Zealanders. He’s a conservative with a small c from an earlier age in New Zealand where egalitarianism was strong. It’s one for all and all for one and no-one is your master and no-one you’re inferior.  He may be a lawyer but he’s really just working class.  There’s One New Zealand and everyone keeps New Zealand First.  It’s in the name. New Zealand First was socialism-lite without the virtue signalling that the new breed of middle class Labour supporters embrace. He’s always had more in common with a Helen Clark or a Michael Cullen than he ever had with John Key or Bill English. Somehow I think many National supporters thought that New Zealand First was a National lite because that’s where Winston first made his name.  But there was always a reason Wi

It’s been two weeks since my last show on Newstalk ZB which means a fortnight listening to howls of outrage over cycle bridges and rail links. And I’ve come to the conclusion that New Zealanders do not and have not understood infrastructure and it’s planning. The news that a dedicated three quarter of a billion dollar pedestrian and bike bridge will be constructed next to the Auckland Harbour Bridge horrified me. And that’s saying something since I am a dedicated bike commuter and have been all my life. It’s just too expensive and the cost benefit does not stack up.  In parliament, the Prime Minister estimated the Bridge would have 3000 crossings a day meaning a cost of $12.50 a crossing.  That was a big underestimation and many calculate it is more like $50 a crossing. Well, cyclists are already crossing the harbour on ferries and it’s costing them $5 a crossing on their HOP card so its more expensive than the current regime.And here’s a point.  Why don’t we charge the cyclists $12.50 a crossing the same way

A couple of weeks ago I was hosting ZB Drive. When it came to the Huddle, one of the panellist welcomed me by saying, “Hello Anaru, how are you”Unfortunately, I was in a bit of a snippy mood and so I snapped back by saying, “Is Anaru my real name?”Chill out Andrew, I was just being friendly, said the panellist.I didn't take it any further but Anaru is not my name. It's Andrew. Not Andy or Drew either, but Andrew. Anaru is a Maori equivalent, but it's not the name given to me by my parents and that I have answered to my whole life.A lot of people have since praised me for standing up to what they called "wokeness". The liberal obsession with introducing the Māori language into our day to day conversations more and more.But that's not what I was doing. I was making a point.It was about mutual respect for the two national languages of our country. If Māori want me to respect their language then they have to respect my language too.If Māori think they can call me Anaru any time they please, then they can't compla

I'm not one to blow my own trumpet, but sometimes someone has to step up to plate and so I am.Exactly one week ago, the last time I was on Newstalk ZB, I predicted a boring budget with the only big item, an increase in benefits.Other than that I said that it would be business as usual.And that's exactly what transpired. A boring Labour lite budget for beneficiaries sprinkled with a little honey for rail.As an aside, considering its desire to be perceived as the wellness Government there was a pathetic increase to the Pharmac budget.After four years on the Treasury benches, the transformative Government has transformed nothing at all. With the exception of a new tax rate for the wealthy that will raise half a billion and a regional road tax that raises a couple of hundred million there has been little or no change to the macro settings that have been in place for over a decade now.The most galling for me was the 1.9 billion promised to mental health in the first Wellbeing budget which 2 years later remains uns

Well, I have little to say about Judith Collins and the Nats low polling in the Newshub poll, other than to say Judith Collins is once again wearing too much of the blame.The National Party is "Absent Without Leave" with a few exceptions like Nicola Willis and Shane Reti.For example today we had a piece in the paper from National's Finance spokesperson. Can you name him? Andrew Bayly. SurpriseNational's schtick is to have a finance monster. Read Richardson, Birch, English, Joyce. True number 2s. Andrew Bayly is very good but he's no English.So welcome to Budget week and the question on everyone's lips is what will happen on Thursday.After the Australian budget last week, the Labour Party were quick to jump on the Aussies slogan.Treasurer Frydenberg called it the Recovery Budget and now our Government has said that's what they want to do as well.But can we afford to do what the Aussies have done?In a word No. The Australian economy is a strange and unique beast. It's built on iron ore and mineral prices to an

The news of a boost to cervical cancer testing budget and a move to less invasive techniques is a brilliant piece of news. The disease as we know is a killer but also very preventable using techniques such as immunisation against the HPV virus and regular monitoring and testing. The testing has always been invasive and that has been a barrier to greater numbers of women being safe, so the news of a less invasive swab is fantastic. The only downside is that the introduction of the new testing regime is still years away.  I know there are a lot of t’s to be crossed and I’s to be dotted but these things in the Ministry of Health seem to take an inordinate amount of time.  Just like the Covid vaccination campaign. By the way, my company’s flu vaccination campaign is underway.  I got an email, booked a time and filled out a form all in five minutes. I’m being jabbed at 8.39am on May 26th.  Simple really when you put your mind to it. Now the cervical cancer testing regime will definitely help Māori.  At the moment

Listening to the blamestorm over MIQ last week I thought the universe had tipped on its axis. There was our poverty defeating socialist Prime Minister, punching down on a minimum wage frontline worker and bemoaning his lack of accountability and accusing him of lying..Meanwhile, a cohort of neo-liberal, conservative right wingers were busy defending the honour of the man because he was among our most vulnerable who was being attacked by our most powerful. Are the lefty’s now the advocates for personal responsibility now? Because that was the PM's angle.  And are the right wingers the advocates for ultimate governmental supremacy in all?  They seemed to be exonerating the worker and First Security for not keeping to the rules.In my opinion both sides were kind of right. The man misled his employer, who then misled the Government. He told fibs presumably because he doesn’t like a bottle brush up the nose. Some would call that lying.Meanwhile, the Government should have known that something like this could happe

A huge statue of Jesus Christ is under construction in southern Brazil, and it will be even taller than its famous counterpart in Rio de Janeiro.The "Christ the Protector" statue is being built in Encantado, a small town in Brazil's southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul, by a local organization named Friends of Christ Association (AACristo).Made of steel and concrete, it will stand 43 metres tall -- 16 feet taller than Rio's Christ the Redeemer, according to AACristo.The organisation said the statue will be the third-tallest statue of Jesus in the world, after a 249-foot statue currently under construction in Mexico and a 172-foot monument in Poland.The statue is the work of sculptor Genésio Gomes Moura and his son, Markus Moura. Its head and arms were installed on April 6 and the construction, which began in July 2019, should be finished by the end of this year, according to AACristo.It will cost around $353,000 in total, and AACristo is asking for donations to finish the project.An elevator installed inside

This weekend saw the one year anniversary of the quarantine system that has now entered all our lives - MIQ. You’ll remember it started in February 2020 with a fleet of campervans on a Whangaparaoa Peninsula Naval base housing a couple of hundred Kiwi refuges from Wuhan. Then New Zealanders were asked to self-isolate, which we proved to be spectacularly unreliable at, so a government mandates and monitored quarantine system was initiated in mid-April 2020 It has been a huge undertaking.  MIQ involves 4500 rooms around the country in 32 hotels. 130,000 New Zealanders have passed through.  There have been 850 cases of Covid 19 in the facilities including 95 active cases right now. There are 4000 staff.  They have delivered 9.1 million meals and snacks, and conducted more than 900 swabs each day. Brigadier Jim Bliss says MIQ had grown into a "massive logistical exercise which runs incredibly smoothly and has served our country very well". He also says what MIQ has achieved is beyond belief And that on the whole

The plight of the unfortunate container ship that has blocked the Suez Canal has provided amusement for millions online, as the global chaos sparked by the incident continues to have massive financial impact around the globe.While progress has been made on moving the ship, with the Ever Given being shifted 30m overnight, it remains fixed in place.The bizarre blockage has been celebrated across the internet.Several websites have popped up offering their own stance on the issue - with one giving users the chance to try and move the ship with Suez Canal Bulldozer (spoiler alert - you won't have much luck). You can also find out if the ship is still stuck at the helpful website istheshipstillstuck.comAnd if you want to see how the massive ship would look if it was stuck at other places around the world.   Helen's not going to be very happy about this... pic.twitter.com/0q75DIVQ78— Josh Couch (@JoshCouchNZ) March 28, 2021 Hard to know how the ship even got into Lake Taupo in the first place... pic.twitt

It's nice to be on air again after another depressing week hearing New Zealand media, politicians and talkback callers give us their wisdom over how to solve the housing crisis.In simple terms houses cost too much in this country. Currently seven times median income. 10 years ago they were five times the median income. The international benchmark is three times median income.A house in New Zealand is twice as expensive as anywhere else in the world. That's not a good look.But let's also remember that people have been prepared to pay twice the price - because we have no choice.Most markets correct themselves when the price becomes too high and the market realises they don't need to pay that. But when it comes to houses you do. Because everyone needs a roof over their head. And the roof needs to be where a job is.This has been a multi-generational planning failure of epic proportions based on some 1930s utopian view that every New Zealander can live in their five bedroom, quarter acre, pavlova paradise.So now w

It’s D-day for bubbles.  Is it really?  Or will it be a day where there is an announcement about a future announcement as is the Governments favoured method of operation? If they offer not one concrete proposal or date or destination there will be considerable anger amongst the tourism industry and opponents of the government at large.  This bubble debate has been annoying as it seems to have been going on forever - which it has.  Weeks after we first emerged from lockdown, there were people advocating for an opening of our borders.  With 20/20 hindsight we realise now how misguided those calls were. In June and July last year we had no idea about just how widespread and rampant the pandemic was going to be.But the calls were understandable because the impacts on the tourism, hospitality and educational sectors have been so dramatic and specific.  Since then the issue has raised it’s head each month, only to be submerged under another break out of infection, governmental pussy footing or a political power pla