Bernard’s Picks ‘n’ Mixes for Saturday, December 21

Top 6 @ 7; Scoops & breaking news; News yesterday & previews; Overseas news this morning; Deep-dives, interviews, explainers, features & analysis; Op-eds, columns & editorials; Stats, surveys & papers

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

Every morning I get up at 3am to go around the traps of news sites in Aotearoa and globally. I pick out the top ones from my point of view and have been putting them into my Dawn Chorus email, which goes out with a podcast. But I’m concerned these lists are triggering spam filters and I’ve had feedback from subscribers that they can be overwhelming and cluttering.

So I’ve decided to try putting them together into a post on The Kākā which is accessible to all paying subscribers, but is not sent out as an email. I welcome additions from subscribers in the comments and feedback on this format. One option is to create a new separate email list that paying subscribers can opt into. Thoughts?

I’ll be linking to it in the chat and on notes and BlueSky to give everyone a heads up that it’s there on substack, rather than in email inboxes.

Top Six at 7:00 am on Saturday, December 21

1. Health & Te Ao Māori Govt ends bowel cancer screening programme for Māori and Pacific RNZ’s Mary Afemata

2. Health & austerity Obstetrics cuts ‘devastating’, mayors say RNZ’s Diane McCarthy

3. Health & austerity 'There will be deaths because of this' - warning over Health NZ IT cuts Lee Scanlon for Westport’s The News via RNZ

4. Education & privatisation: Polytechs could go up for sale when Te Pūkenga is disestablishedRNZ’s John Gerritsen

5. Feature by Charlie Mitchell in The Weekend Press-$: The agricultural lobbying that preceded Government freshwater intervention. Hundreds of pages of emails show the extent of farming groups lobbying for freshwater changes - in some cases followed by Government action.

6. Column by Janet Wilson in The Weekend Post-$ Year 1 of the coalition: struggling economy and a stumbling PM. He enters his second year as Prime Minister as the weakest leader in the coalition, a nowhere man who stands for nothing and falls for everything.

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The Best of the Rest

Scoops & news breaking this morning in Aotearoa

1. More than 1700 old NZ landfills could be impacted by climate change. A new report commissioned by the Ministry of the Environment has found 56% of the country's historic landfills could be impacted by climate change. 1News’ Jessica Roden

2. Regulator to deregister Waipareira over political donations NZ Herald-$’s Matt Nippert

3. Hospital computer system fails — again ODT

4. Hundreds of bowel cancer check-ups delayed. MidCentral pauses colonoscopies for symptom-free patients at high risk of developing bowel cancer. The Manawatu Standard’s Janine Rankin

5. Wayne Brown proposes new housing plan change BusinessDesk-$’s Oliver Lewis

6. Coalition scraps plan to leave open government pact Newsroom’s Sam Sachdeva

News yesterday & news previews

1. Government confirms plan to dismantle Te Pūkenga, re-establish polytechs

2. Luxon should have accepted Waitangi challenge - trust chair RNZ

3. Contact's proposed $2 billion takeover of Manawa Energy delayed RNZ

4. Global private equity firm snaps up 50% of Craigs BusinessDesk-$

5. Hipkins’ letter to BlackRock boss over SolarZero liquidation goes unanswered Newsroom

6. Luxon’s reason for skipping Waitangi challenges the sniff test Newsroom’s Marc Daalder

News overseas this morning

1. US Congress scrambles to try to avert looming shutdown after Trump demand rejected Reuters

2. Trump urges EU to boost US energy imports or face tariffs Reuters

3. International students urged to return to US campuses before Trump inauguration AP

4. Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge shows price pressures eased last month AP

5. Elon Musk considers funding Nigel Farage’s populist party, a move that could shake up UK politics AP

6. Elon Musk gives nod to German far-right party as election looms Reuters

Signs o’ the times news

1. Surprise delay to Nelson housing plan after hazard maps challenged againNelson City Council has an unexpected new deadline to respond to a scathing rebuke of its proposed hazard maps: Christmas Eve. Max Frethey for LDR via 1News

2. No budget for psychiatric beds despite being over capacity RNZ

3. Swim schools report sinking enrolments as downturn deepens RNZ

4. Wellington community hub Te Wāhi Āwhina closes RNZ

5. Sales for Electric Vehicles have slumped RNZ

6. Mt Victoria residents upset over changes to planning rules RNZ

Solutions & good news

1. Joy to the world: Dementia patients serve up Christmas spirit RNZ

2. Meridian Energy, Nova Energy combine to build solar farm RNZ

3. Northland's first possum dog on the job RNZ

4. More houses and a lid on rents: new paper backs densification RNZ

5. KiwiRail to bring back Southerner rail journey for limited run 1News

6. Why New Zealand has such a low uptake in solar on houses Wairarapa Times Age’s Chris Peterson

Deep-dives, analyses, interviews, explainers & features

1. The Annual Report: Now for the money and diggers for the Government’s infrastructure plans. Pushing ahead with pro-density housing policy, attacking a thicket of building regulation, fast-tracking mines and roads: but when will the shovels be in the ground? Analysis by Thomas Manch in The Weekend Post-$

2. 'Unfair system': Who will pay to fix Waimate's water problem? RNZ’s Kate Green

3. What methane seeping from Antarctic might mean RNZ’s Clare Concannon

4. Ten-fold increase in number of young people kept in police RNZ

5. Roundabout exit to nowhere: Why this Hastings land remains in limboThere’s a roundabout in Hastings at the intersection of two busy arterial roads which has an odd dead-end exit. Linda Hall for LDR via 1News

6. What democratic ‘crisis’ worries Chris Hipkins as he recalls 2024 in politics? Interview with Adam Pearse in NZ Herald

Columns, op-eds, editorials, letters to editors & open letters

1. Op-ed by Simon Kingham and Matt Morris via The Conversation/RNZ Getting people out of cars is possible

2. Op-Ed by Wayne Brown in NZ Herald: AT just didn't listen - now Aucklanders are back in control

3. Column with letters by Mary Holm in NZ Herald-$ What a boomer thinks about untaxed capital gains

4. Column by Fran O’Sullivan in NZ Herald-$: How to put NZ’s balance sheet back in order

5. Column by Simon Wilson in NZ Herald-$ Yes that’s the mayor swimming in Auckland’s brand new pool

6. Op-Ed by Nick Wilson and Matt Boyd in ODT: Nuclear winters know no borders, so research has wider implications

Raw announcements, official reports, statistics, surveys, studies, academic papers, think-tank papers & data sets

1. Sweet season for kiwifruit exports: Overseas merchandise trade: November 2024 - Stats NZ

2. ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence, December 2024: Retail to catch a break? ANZ

3. Commission to issue Statement of Issues on Contact’s proposed acquisition of Manawa, rather than approval now Commerce Commission

4. Global coal demand is set to plateau through 2027 IEA Annual Coal Market Report

5. Ending contracted emergency housing in Rotorua Beehive

6. Reducing the environmental impact of synthetic refrigerants Beehive

I welcome contributions in the comments below.

Ngā mihi nui

Bernard