Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

Kiwi e-bike supplier Electrify New Zealand is launching its own e-bike brand in the UK after finding success locally. And more good news for them, a recent survey shows 55 percent of Brits are thinking about buying one. Electrify NZ CEO Michael Tritt joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wellington's mayor isn't entirely sure why the capital's MIQ facilities are being halved. MBIE has decided to stop using one of Wellington's quarantine hotels, leaving just one in operation. MIQ officials say Wellington Airport is not set up to easily cater for red zone flights Andy Foster told Kate Hawkesby he's not sure why returnees aren't being shared around the regions.  "Question marks about why a whole lot of people are being accommodated in the centre of our biggest city, but do you want to take the risk of moving people around the country? The Government's made a judgement that's not what they want to do." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Despite hundreds of thousands of Covid cases every day, and an average of 2000 deaths a day, the US is opening up again. They're opening their borders to vaccinated UK and EU citizens in November.  The ban has been in place since March last year, and our tourism industry here will be watching with keen interest. But with the international tourism market opening up, will New Zealand get left behind? Grant Webster, Tourism Holdings Limited CEO joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So they did it, they dropped us to level 3, which they were always going to, despite case numbers and mystery cases looking pretty much the same, if not worse, than they have the past two weeks.  Which begs the question, what the hell have we been doing in level 4 all this time if that was the case? Have they suddenly woken up to the fact elimination is out of reach and we are changing tack? If so, why aren’t they just honest about it?  I think I know why.  This Government is about popularity. It’s about polling and focus groups and positive trending on Twitter. This decision yesterday was a political one. How can you explain it any other way? Never has ‘lockdown fatigue’ been such a big consideration. Why is it now?  Because Aucklanders were over it. They knew they’d lost the buy in, and keeping it going any longer would've been – God forbid – unpopular. So they’ve given us a breather. For how long? That’s the horrible question we don’t want to really ask.. how long ‘til the breather’s over and we’re back in

Out in the big space that is the internet there is a lot of misinformation when it comes to Covid-19. But an investigation has revealed dozens of the world's biggest brands including Amazon, Nike, Ted Barker and ASOS have been advertising on websites that spread Covid-19 misinformation and conspiracy theories. The ads are helping fund these websites that include claims powerful people engineered the pandemic, and that vaccines have caused thousands of deaths. Investigative journalist Jasper Jackson joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Auckland University public health expert Colin Tukuitonga told Kate Hawkesby case numbers are too high to be easing restrictions. "I would have preferred the number of new cases to be in single digits and for our vaccination coverage to be ramped up even further.' New restrictions have been put in place around northern Hauraki, after three cases were found in Whakatīwai. The rest of the country remains at Level Two, but the gathering limit has been increased to a hundred people. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's disbelief James Shaw wants to go to a climate change conference in Scotland with an entourage of 14 people. The United Nations summit, dubbed Cop26, is due to start at the end of the month. The Climate Change Minister intends to take nine people from New Zealand and five people from overseas. National Party climate change spokesperson Stuart Smith told Kate Hawkesby Shaw thought it was too dangerous to go to Parliament under level four but is going to Scotland, which has a lot of Covid-19. "So if New Zealand's too dangerous with about 30 cases a day, why is Scotland not dangerous at all with 3833?" LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I know the rest of the country is sick of hearing about this, but for the 1.6 million people who live in Auckland, we're into day 34 of level 4. Since the start of the pandemic that means Aucklanders have spent “6 extra weeks at levels 3 and 4” than the rest of the country, and there’s more to come.Stuff reported that, “over the 2020 and 2021 school years, Auckland students have now missed 69 days of in person schooling, and counting, compared with 39 days for their peers elsewhere, a whole additional month of learning gone.” That’s before we even get to the mental, psychological and financial toll on Aucklanders. So for all those outside of Auckland saying, stop whining, get over it, just think about that from your perceived Level 2 luxury for a moment. It sucks.The fact we're seeing more arrests for people bailing, trying to leave Auckland during this, says all you need to know — Aucklanders are over it.The appetite for lockdown has gone, the buy in is over. We don’t remotely feel like any part of any team

France would have known Australia had “deep and grave concerns” that a submarine fleet the French were building would not meet Australian needs, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Sunday after the contract's cancellation set off a diplomatic crisis.France accused Australia of concealing its intentions to back out of the 90 billion Australian dollar ($66 billion) contract for French majority state-owned Naval Group to build 12 conventional diesel-electric submarines.President Joe Biden revealed last week a new alliance including Australia and Britain that would deliver an Australian fleet of at least eight nuclear-powered submarines.Morrison blamed the switch on a deteriorating strategic environment in the Indo-Pacific. He has not specifically referred to China’s massive military buildup, which has gained pace in recent years.“The capability that the Attack class submarines were going to provide was not what Australia needed to protect our sovereign interests,” Morrison said.“They would have had every reason t

Coromandel MP Scott Simpson says the cases are worrying for the small tight-knit community.He told Kate Hawkesby people should take advantage of the pop-up testing centre being set up at Wharekawa Marae in Whakatīwai this morning.“Anyone that is feeling unwell, anyone with symptoms, anyone that feels that they want to get tested — my advice is absolutely do get tested.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cricket legend Chris Cairns says he is ready to tackle the greatest challenge he has ever faced as he begins rehabilitation following a serious health scare.The former Black Cap, 51, collapsed in Canberra last month after suffering a massive heart attack, resulting in an aortic dissection, or a tear in the inner layer of the body's main artery.During life-saving emergency heart surgery in Sydney, Cairns then suffered a stroke in his spine, resulting in paralysis in his legs.Cairns' family said last month that he would be undertaking a significant rehabilitation process at a specialist spinal hospital, and tonight the former all-rounder posted a video on social media to update fans on his condition."Just over six weeks ago I suffered a type A aortic dissection, which essentially means there's a tear in one of the major arteries of the heart," Cairns said. "I had several surgeries and grafts and, very thankfully, the specialists were able to save the heart itself."One of the complications that arose was a spina

A new managed isolation system hopes to beat some of the bots.At 8am a virtual lobby will open, placing people in a queue for 3000 managed isolation vouchers released at 9am.Alexandra Birt of Grounded Kiwis told Kate Hawkesby there are some positives to the new system.“It definitely will affect the bots in the sense that, the ones that would notify you the times that the release would occur obviously won’t need those anymore, because we know that the release will occur at 9am New Zealand time, so from that perspective, there's definitely greater transparency.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

These days there seems to be a reality tv show about anything, but this really takes the cake. CBS have made "The Activist" which involves so-called activists competing against each other to go to the G20. They compete in challenges where they're judged back on how much online engagement they get. Judges include activist icons like Usher and Priyanka Chopra- Jonas. With us now is Forbes senior contributor and diversity and inclusion consultant, Dr Janice Gassama Asare. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Day 31 in Level 4 for Aucklanders, and boy, are we over it. There’s actually a word for how we’re all feeling and it’s been called the dominant emotion of 2021. It’s called languishing. Psychologist Dougal Sutherland, who we had on the show recently, says "the psychological toll of Delta may start to show, even for those out of lockdown now." He said recently that apparently even people with no existing or underlying mental health concerns can feel this languishing. Languishing is basically just feeling like life is dull and meaningless, you can feel stagnant and empty. Everything seems foggy, Groundhog Day. I mean hello? Does that not sum up everyone in Auckland right now or what? This lockdown has felt harder, it's certainly been longer. But from the get go, we've been less enthusiastic about baking banana bread and doing home workouts, and we just seem more.. blah. Like we're over it. Sutherland says that "in the UK, increased levels of languishing were reported as lockdowns continued", and he says that Au

A foreign policy expert says New Zealand being left out in the cold in a new security pact could be a benefit.  The three-way deal between the UK, the US and Australia aims to limit China's might in the Asia Pacific by sharing military technology.  Democracy Project International Analyst Geoffrey Miller says New Zealand is highly dependent on China for exports and should keep up current relations.  He told Kate Hawkesby the pact is already provoking anger from the Chinese government.  "In the Global Times, which is Chinese state media, and uses more colourful language... they said Australia could be a potential target for a nuclear strike." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

National is calling on the Government to explain why there aren't more Auckland GPs administering the Covid vaccine.  Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's indicated that about 113 GP practices are administering the vaccine across the region. Health spokesperson Shane Reti told Kate Hawkesby it isn't good enough, considering there around 400 practices in the city overall. "Why are we making it so hard, these are the people we trust who do 100 percent of vaccines in New Zealand anyway." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand schools are missing their international students, and not just because of the money they bring in. Primary, intermediate and secondary schools lost 40 million dollars in revenue between 2019 and last year, because of foreign students returning home Figures will be worse this year, with enrolments tipped to be lowest next year. Secondary Principals' Association president, Vaughan Couillault told Kate Hawkesby there's a cultural aspect to the students' stay as well. "We get to experience and be part of the learning from different cultures. At my school, the Vietnamese community really adds value to our school culture." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bit of a worry that in these already stressful times for young people, they have an additional worry gnawing away at them; the destruction of the planet and their fear of humanity being doomed. Eco-anxiety is huge. The BBC recently reported a “new global survey which illustrates the depth of anxiety many young people feel about climate change. Nearly 60 percent of young people felt very worried or extremely worried. More than 45 percent said feelings about the climate affected their daily lives, three quarters said they thought the future was frightening. Over half, 56 percent, thought humanity was doomed.” That’s disturbing, isn’t it? Imagine growing in a world where you think humanity is doomed? Having said that, we grew up with a fear of nuclear war wiping us all out, and we were told robots would take over the world, so I guess there’s always been a niggling fear that humanity is doomed. The climate change worry is serious because it’s having a knock-on effect on young people’s plans for the future. Apart

A lifetime gang member has concerns, about Covid-19 spreading within gang communities. Some members of an Auckland Mongrel Mob chapter are isolating, after a woman visited the Mongrel Mob Pasifika pad in Takanini while positive with the virus. Ashley Bloomfield says he's not concerned about the situation. But lifetime Black Power member Denis O'Reilly told Kate Hawkesby he should be. "We are many in number, highly mobile and disobedient. Just like certain Aucklanders going to Wānaka." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Auckland's Level Four lockdown could be making the grass even greener on the other side.  Real estate agents in regions such as Tauranga are reporting record levels of interest from Auckland home buyers. Some are even making lockdown sales where the buyers haven't been able to see the property.  Valocity valuation director James Wilson told Kate Hawkesby it was already happening pre-lockdown, but now it's coming to a head. "We've now seeing and hearing those stories around interest levels spiking, you look at agencies reporting massive interest for listings that do come up." LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.