Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

An Auckland principal isn't hopeful a new maths action plan will address the root problem. The Government is bringing forward a new curriculum to Term 1 next year, assessing twice yearly and establishing a $20 million boost for teachers' professional development. Laingholm Primary School principal Martyn Weatherill believes this isn't going to fix decades of under-funding. "Political interference in the teaching practice has caused the problem. Now politicians are saying political interference in the teaching practice will solve the problem. I don't see how that's possible." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's calls for the army to be deployed in the UK, where violent demonstrations are escalating for a seventh day. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has labelled the outbreaks as 'far-right thuggery'. They've continued to escalate since last week's stabbing rampage at a dance class left three children dead and several injured. This morning, 10 police officers have been injured trying to stop a group storming a Rotherham hotel housing asylum seekers. UK correspondent Kay Oliver says politicians from all sides agree this is violence, rather than protests. "We've got Hamza Yousaf, he's a former First Minister of Scotland, saying this situation is so out of control now that the army should be brought in." More than 140 people have been arrested across Britain so far. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Novak Djokovic has won an elusive Olympic tennis singles gold medal. A 7-6, 7-6 win over Carlos Alcaraz in nearly three hours has seen him become the fifth player after Steffi Graf, Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams to win the four majors and a Games individual title. ZB sports reporter Andrew Alderson explains further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Demand for help from KidsCan has sky-rocketed in the last year. The charity is urgently appealing for donations as more than 10,000 children in 260 schools await help with food, shoes and clothing. Many don't qualify for the Government's free lunch scheme. KidsCan Chief Executive Julie Chapman says the wait-list has grown by more than 150 schools in the last 12 months. She says securing funding's a challenge. "We want to make sure that we're not taking them off for a short time, that we're able to support them for as long as they need it." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What are councils, local councils, regional councils? It should be a simple question. What is their purpose? I've always believed it's to take away my rubbish, put the street lights on. When I go to the toilet, you can take that away too. That's part of your job. Roads, rubbish, sewerage, swimming pools, maybe a library. Although we've got the internet now, so why do we need libraries? But that's a debate for another day. A big scrap in Rotorua, I was reading this over the weekend, over Gaza. Notices of motion, petitions, meetings, interrupted, staff involved. And I asked myself, what has Rotorua Lakes Council got to do with Gaza? They're calling for a ceasefire, and they're one of dozens of councils across the country who are doing this. A clip from mayor Tanya Tapsell's interaction with Councillor Maxwell, who was trying to get this over the line, has gone viral. "Councillor Maxwell, I rule that that is not an urgent item." Probably the first time anything from a council has gone viral. Don't get me wrong.

New Zealand's medal haul at the Paris Olympics has increased by a rowing trifecta of gold, silver and bronze.  Lucy Spoors and Brooke Francis took the gold in the double sculls, the men’s four of Logan Ullrich, Tom Murray, Matt Macdonald, and Ollie Maclean dipped their oars in the spoils with silver.  And their female counterparts Jackie Gowler, Kerri Williams, Davina Waddy, and Phoebe Spoors completed the podium with bronze.  Kerri Williams told Ryan Bridge it hasn’t really sunk in yet.  She said it was a bit of a sprint at the end as the leading team set a pretty hot pace, but they came out on the right side.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Northland businesses say Transpower needs to take responsibility for a fallen pylon and show face in Northland.  Transpower's found contractor Omexom's team leader was distracted sandblasting, as unsupervised inexperienced workers removed the bolts from three legs at once.   It says residents can contact their retailer for compensation, but they can't do anything for businesses.   North Chamber Chief Executive Darryn Fisher told Ryan Bridge Transpower needs to stop avoiding this conversation.  He's calling for them to put their big pants on, get up to Northland and explain why their negligence is putting their livelihoods at risk.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 17-year-old accused of the fatal Southport stabbings at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class has been named.  Axel Rudakubana has made his first court appearance in the UK.  British newspapers successfully argued the minor should be named, given public interest.  Three children died and five more were critically injured in the attack earlier this week.  UK Correspondent, Vincent McAviney told Ryan Bridge that Rudakubana has been remanded in youth custody.  He says it's a complex operation, with the trial likely to take place early next year.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A children's rights advocate says calls for changes to New Zealand's child safety systems go well beyond the 2021 death of Tauranga five-year-old Malachi Subecz.   The Independent Children's Monitor has found recommendations made following Malachi's death haven't happened, and tamariki are no safer today than when he died.  But, Save the Children's Child Rights Advocacy Director Jacqui Southey told Ryan Bridge, the problems —and calls for changes— are decades old.   She says a recommendation for agencies to cross-share information and concerns is more than 20 years old, and yet we still fail to do it.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Did you see the reaction to Donald Trump's comments yesterday?  This is what he said about Kamala Harris' race: "She was Indian all the way and then all of a sudden she made a turn and she became a black person."  What?  The media rightly ran the story, and it was a big deal.  Isn't questioning someone's race exactly what Rawiri Waititi did to Karen Chhour?  Isn't that exactly what he did the other day in parliament when he asked what blood quantum are you? Couldn't the same be said of Kelvin Davis saying that Karen Chhour lives in a Pakeha world?  She's Māori by the way. And what about Te Pāti Māori? They said Karen Shaw should have been raised by Māori caregivers instead of Pakeha ones. And claimed that she had disdain for Māori, for her people. This week they said she's just a puppet of her party and she was basically left in tears in the hallway to ThreeNews.  "I'm still a person. I'm still a person and I feel like I'm getting that stripped away from me day by day in this place, I've had enough.”  No apol

On the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast for Friday 2nd of August, Gold, Silver, and Bronze for our rowers in Paris! Ryan speaks to medallist Keri Williams.  Transpower says compensation is off the table for those impacted the major outage, which was caused by workers removing too many nuts of an Auckland power pylon. How are Northland businesses feeling about the news?  Our child protection system hasn't changed enough since the death of Malachi Subecz in 2021, what does Save The Children think about the report?  Get the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast every weekday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kamala Harris is set to reveal her running mate in the coming days.  The current Vice President will be holding her first rally with her new vice presidential nominee on Tuesday, August 6th US time.  The rally will be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the campaign saying it will launch a four day “battleground tour”.  US Correspondent Mitch McCann told Ryan Bridge that the top contenders in this race are the Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.  He said that while the rally is taking place in Pennsylvania, the campaign is telling people not to buy into that when it comes to the pick.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There’s confidence the new regional roles at Health New Zealand will offer something new.  The Government's appointed four Deputy Chief Executives to run different regions from next month.   It comes after its board was sacked and replaced by a sole commissioner.   Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Executive Director Sarah Dalton told Ryan Bridge that these appointments will replace existing regional directors.   She says they've got a different set of responsibilities, including bringing parts of the funded health sector back under their oversight.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's a belief New Zealand's building sector is still many months away from a rebound, as consents plummet.  Stats NZ data shows fewer than 34,000 new homes were consented in the year to June.  That's a 24% annual drop, and five-year low.  Construction Industry Council Executive Director Tommy Honey told Ryan Bridge it's a continuation of a trend that began mid-2022  He says they've been waiting for that to reverse —or at least plateau— but numbers are still seemingly sinking.  Annual building consents of apartments have also plummeted, with a 51% drop in the year to June.   Honey told Bridge apartments are seen as a risk for builders, developers, and investors.  He says it's also related to inflation running high, and while that's turning a corner, there's a lag at the Reserve Bank.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Middle East politics expert says the assassination of a Hamas political leader will have reverberating effects.   Iran's vowing to avenge the killing of Ismail Haniyeh after his reported death in an air strike in Tehran.  It's declared three days of mourning and is promising what it calls "harsh punishment" against Israel.  It follows an Israeli strike on a Hezbollah commander in Lebanon.   Otago University's Leon Goldsmith told Ryan Bridge it takes a ceasefire deal off the table for now.   He says Israel's probably sending a strong message that no one is safe with the two leaders killed inside one day.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is not the most important story that you will hear today, but it grinds my gears.  It's a small, seemingly insignificant event, but I think it speaks to two things that I absolutely hate about the world that we live in right now.  It took place at cinema three in Pukekohe. You might have seen the video on the Herald website.  So, two women and a child go to the movies, they sneak food in, which I know is not the biggest thing happening in the world right now.  We've all done it too, haven't we?  These guys, these entitled prats, let's just call them what they are, they had food, they had drinks, they had snacks, they had hot food, they snuck hot food into the cinema. That's brazen.  The guy working at the cinema goes over them and says, you're not allowed to bring your own food in.  And these guys just are having none of it. First of all, the worker that comes over has an Asian accent, they mock him for, for his race. They sit there and they start berating him: “Oh, you've made my daughter cry. You've ma

On the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast for Thursday 1st of August, it's a throwback to the days of regional DHBs - Health NZ has announced four new regional directors.  Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has been killed in Iran, so where could the conflict go to from here? Ryan speaks to a Middle East expert.  Building consents are down - is it a sign of the struggling economy? The Construction Industry Council breaks down the reasons for the drop.  Get the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast every weekday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A nine-year-old girl has become the third child to die after a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the UK.  Two other girls, aged six and seven, died in the attack in northwest England on Monday.  A 17-year-old boy remains in custody accused of murder and attempted murder following the incident in Southport.  Eight other children suffered stab wounds and five are in critical condition, alongside two adults who were critically injured.  UK Correspondent Gavin Grey told Ryan Bridge that there is a vigil going on at the sites, with hundreds if not thousands of people attending.  Taylor Swift herself has also commented on the situation, saying she is in total shock over the loss of life and innocence.  Grey said that her fans have raised more than $400 thousand for the families of the victims.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The changing whims of different governments are putting financial pressure on councils.   A report from NZIER has found central government underestimates what its reforms cost councils to implement.   Local Government New Zealand is calling for more assistance from Government to help them carry the cost.   Vice President and Lower Hutt Mayor Campbell Barry says the speed limit increases under the previous Government cost $570 thousand for his council to implement.   He says the Government's new directive to reverse speed limit increases will cost another $570 thousand.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Moves to improve online gambling regulation will allow overseas online casinos to advertise in New Zealand from early 2026.   The Minister of Internal Affairs says it will only apply to licensed operators and come with strict limits.  The Problem Gambling Foundation says the advertising is a concern.  Director of Advocacy and Public Health for the Problem Gambling Foundation, Andree Froude told Ryan Bridge that they’d love to see the advertising of gambling banned completely, but if that’s not going to happen they want to see strict measures in place.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.