News Zealand over the horizon with Peter Bale

TLDL: In this podcast Peter Bale and I take a 'hoon' about the big events in geo-politics this week, including the US humiliation in Kabul and how it has shaken the confidence of its allies and , plus the latest on the pandemic lockdowns here and in Australia, Aotearoa-NZ’s wage subsidy scheme and a the reappearance of blue whales off the coast of Spain.

Peter is a colleague and friend from my Reuters and FTMarketWatch days in London back in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He has managed news rooms and news websites all over the world over the last 30 years, including for Reuters, FTMarketWatch, The Times Online, CNN Europe and MSN Europe.

Usually resident in London and Spain, he got caught in Auckland in the first lockdown and now produces a great weekly email briefing on geo-politics via the Spinoff (sign up here).

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This podcast is the recorded version of a live webinar Peter and I typically do for subscribers to The Kākā on a Friday afternoon to discuss the events of the week. This was recorded shortly after Friday’s 4pm news conference in the Beehive Theatrette.

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From September 21, access to participate in these live webinars and the pieces below that were published Monday to Friday will only be for paying subscribers, while these weekend ‘wrap-ups’ with the podcasts will be for free subscribers.

I’ll be providing a special inaugural offer for all those on the currently free list. The regular cost will be $19/month or $190/year per subscriber. There will be group and corporate offers too. Watch this space and keep opening the The Kākā emails until September 21 to find the coupon to get that offer.

To get a sense of what I do Monday to Friday, I wrote these pieces this week here ‘Time to eliminate elimination?’ and here ‘Why elimination will have to end before most voters want it to’ on the elimination strategy for all subscribers to The Kākā.

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Time to eliminate elimination?

Why elimination will have to end before most voters want it to

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I also had a closer look at this week’s quite hawkish views of the Reserve Bank’s Assistant Governor Christian Hawkesby on Tuesday, along with a deep dive into the super-profits alleged in the electricity generation and retailing industry on Wednesday.

Dawn Chorus: RBNZ set on rate hikes

NZ Inc calls out gentailer's $3.5b 'super-profit'

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On Monday I reported on MBIE’s decision to stop offering new MIQ slots beyond its emergency quota for a ‘few days’. That suspension remains in place.

Dawn Chorus: MIQ stops taking bookings

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Elsewhere, I produced this podcast for The Spinoff on Friday on last year’s wage subsidy scandal.

Bernard Hickey @bernardchickey

Here's my podcast via @TheSpinoffTV on the brazen restart of the wage subsidy without the social license it had last year.

thespinoff.co.nzThe rich got richer in last year’s lockdown – and now it’s set to happen againDuring last year’s lockdowns the government gave businesses billions of dollars they didn’t eventually need and deliberately boosted asset owners’ wealth by even more – all while the poor were left behind. Ready for version 2.0? Follow When the Facts Change on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or y

Have a great weekend. I’m going to have a rest now.

Ka kite ano.

Bernard