Andrew Dickens Afternoons

I was going to start my programme today with some thoughts about the energy crisis, but something else has popped up.

But I will share with you some fun facts:

Did you know that New Zealand uses the same amount of electricity in 2024 as we did in 2004?

Even though our economic activity and population have grown immensely in the past 20 years. What happened is that we, as consumers, became more efficient with our electricity use. We...

Do I need to remind you that politics is show business?

It's all about seeming to be the best instead of necessarily being the best.

This is why politicians often say the most ridiculous things and make the most outlandish promises. It’s also why they boil complex issues down to simple catchy slogans which are repeated ad nauseum until they gain their own reality.

But eventually, reality catches up.

Yesterday’s backdown over the Fa...

The corner has been turned. The 5-year pandemic pandemonium has been tamed.

Inflation is down and we've had the first interest rate cut since the Reserve Bank realised they’d overstimulated everything 5 years ago.

Proof that tax cuts were not inflationary, says the Finance Minister. And that is the case, but it’s not a sign that the cost of living crisis is over. Inflation and cost of living increases are two heads of the same mons...

The winter solstice was on June 20 and 21. The longest night and the shortest day, but wisdom tells us that the depths of winter does not fall until 6 weeks after the solstice.

It takes a while for actions to provoke a reaction.

So right now is the depths of winter and much is at the worst it has ever been and ever will be.

The All Blacks lost. In front of a disappointing crow...

I have always avoided getting into the Treaty principles debate.   

It’s just too much of a swamp to get trapped in.   

Either you’re for David Seymour's debate on a reset, in which case some will call you a racist.   

Or you’re against a select committee debate...

There is only one story in town.

I realised this when I entered the newsroom and everyone was still itching to talk about it.

Firstly, I am so glad the assassin was unsuccessful.

The repercussions from this attempt are already dramatic enough. If Trump had been slaughtered, then the reaction could have been disastrous for the United States.

Imagine January 6 and the insurrection and then multiply tha...

I wasn't here last week because I was attending a funeral.

A dear friend. 58 years old. Gut cancer.

A reminder to us all- live life. Don't put things off.

So, last week I thought I'd talk about the ferry debate and I thought that the issue would be over by now. But it's not. It rumbles on like the stubbed toe it is.

Today, the Government receives a report that will outline some of the options going forward and what cancellation of ...

On this day 60 years ago, 4 young lads from Liverpool arrived in Wellington on a plane to commence a week long tour of New Zealand. And they changed everything.

It was the Beatles.

It wasn't like we weren't warned. The week before was chaos as they toured Australia. 250,000 youngsters welcomed the band in sleepy old Adelaide. But the older generation were not prepared for the excitement, the hysteria and disorder that followed the ...

So I went to a party at the weekend. Quite a swanky one. Negronis and burgers and all sorts of people. Judges and doctors and advertising people and even musicians. 

An old mate was there, a card-carrying lefty. 

We're chatting and he says he's part of an urbanism group. Studying and advocating for urban d...

A report from Auckland Council's boarding house inspectors shows out of 44 properties suspected to be breaking the law, 40 were “operating unauthorised transient accommodation or boarding houses.” 

Many had issues with fire safety breaches, growing numbers of gang-affiliated guests, and owners questioning council authority. 

I presume the lead story in the Herald on Sunday was welcomed by police and those behind our stronger gun laws.  

An Auckland pensioner and his daughter have been caught for legally buying 13 guns for the Comancheros motorcycle gang.  

It's the latest of dozens of discoveries by police of licensed gun owners buying for gangs who cannot legally purchase guns.  

It was validation of good o...

Welcome to Budget Week. Which I am looking forward to.

After all the warnings from economists and world agencies like the OECD, that this is the wrong part of an economic cycle to bring in tax cuts, it ill be interesting to see the way they're going to pull it off.

Personally, I can't see the budget being nearly as harsh, nearly as radical or nearly as transformational and beneficial as all the politicians say.

I've already decided...

Now, I'm not part of the tribe who automatically thinks that Auckland Transport is a bunch of ideological toss-pots who want to force us out of our cars.

I'm the sort of urbanist that gets there's a limit to the number of cars that can use our roads, and when that limit is hit then you have offer choices so we can all get somewhere.

I don't reflexively hate cycleways or bus lanes. I comprehend congestion charges and I'm excited for...

I was surprised that the news that Auckland had inked a deal with the Government over water wasn't the lead story on last night's TV news.

I would have thought that John Campbell would have had a deep dive on its repercussions for Auckland and the country.

Basically, water and housing are the biggest issues for this country because every single person, business and animal needs water - and we all need a roof over our head.

But mayb...

New Zealand seems to be waking up to an issue I thought would have caused more concern.

As part of the bonfire of the public service, the Government seems to be eyeing cuts to our public research and development sector.

Principally that means the Callaghan Institute, the Crown agency that employs about 300 people and has been the target of attack, particularly from David Seymour.

He sees the agency's work as being a form of corpora...

It is fair to say the country is not in a good place right now.

Job cuts dominate the headlines. A double-dip recession came true. Inflation is robbing us of our purchasing power.

Last week an IPSOS poll found that 60 percent of us think that New Zealand is in decline and 65 percent believe that the economy is rigged to benefit the rich and the powerful.

And when people bemoan...

Since we were last together, the collapse of television news and current affairs has continued.

And with it, we have been subjected to a lot of highfalutin thinking about the metaphysical and cultural reasons why linear TV is dying.

You know - go woke go broke. Or- this is because nobody trusts you, because you're all raving lefties.

Meanwhile, Melissa Lee has been asked what she is going to do about it, when it's obvious that ther...

I vividly remember the first time I saw Christchurch Cathedral.

I was 10 so it was 1973. I was on tour with the Auckland Boys Choir.

It was winter and it was twilight and we went into the Square, which was bustling with cars and buses and Victorian buildings and a marvellous magic shop. People wore overcoats and scarves and there was the cathedral.

It as like being transported to England.

We went in to listen to the cathedral's boy...

I was not going to talk about dolphin-gate- but from first thing this morning, everyone was talking about it.

Sir Russell Coutts has had an epic meltdown over the cancellation of Saturday racing of his SailGP series.

He had to refund the spectator's tickets, which meant at least a third of his income went up in smoke.

Now he's belittling all New Zealand for their bureaucratic torpor that stops go-getters like him getting their way.