The Mike Hosking Breakfast

World business leaders may be able to learn a thing or two from Jacinda Ardern and Rugby Australia boss Raelene Castle. Media intelligence business Isentia has studied media coverage of Mark Zuckerberg response to the Facebook privacy scandal and Boeing's response to the 737 Max problems. It's compared that to coverage of Ardern's response to the mosque attacks and Castle's response to Israel Folau. Isentia head of ... Read more

The Justice Minister says the hundreds of dangerous criminals breaching their Extended Supervision Orders aren't all out robbing banks. More than 500 dangerous criminals subject to orders enabling authorities to strictly monitor them amid fears of reoffending within the community have breached their conditions in the last six years.New figures from the Department of Corrections released under the Official Information Act to the... Read more

Schools blocked an extraordinary 2.2 billion student attempts to access gaming and other banned websites in the last three months. Network for Learning (N4L), which provides fast broadband to schools, says the number of student attempts to access blocked sites more than doubled from 1 billion in the June quarter to 2.2 billion in the three months to September. The increase was driven by a huge jump in attempts to access gaming site... Read more

The All Blacks will play Ireland in a blockbuster quarter-final showdown at the Rugby World Cup. Japan's 28-21 victory over Scotland saw the tournament hosts top Pool A, and set them up with a quarter-final clash against the Springboks - a re-match of their famous meeting in 2015. Their win dropped Ireland into second in the group, and leaves them locked in a quarter-final matchup with the All Blacks - a scenario that few rugby... Read more

Two of the country's newest mayors are preparing to begin their new jobs.  Andy Foster has come out on top after a Wellington mayoral election cliffhanger, narrowly winning against incumbent mayor Justin Lester by a 503 vote margin. A first-term mayor hasn't been rolled in the capital since 1983. Foster told Mike Hosking he was getting a clear message that people weren't satisfied with the way the city was heading. "... Read more

Syrian government troops will deploy along the border with Turkey to help Kurdish fighters fend off Turkey's invasion of northern Syria, the Kurds said Sunday, hours after President Donald Trump ordered all U.S. troops to withdraw from the area to avoid getting caught in the middle of the fast-escalating conflict. The announcement represents a major shift in alliances for Syria's Kurds after they were abandoned by the U.S.,... Read more

Sky has today confirmed its acquisition of the All Blacks and Super Rugby rights until 2025. In an announcement posted to the New Zealand Stock Exchange, the broadcaster told investors it had finalised the major deal. The company did not say how much the deal was worth, but sources suggested Sky tabled an offer of $400 million back in September. The company confirmed that the cost of the rights materially increased from its current... Read more

Voters have just 24 hours to get off their backsides and vote in this year's local body elections. In several big cities, notably Auckland and Wellington, fewer people are casting votes and the nationwide turnout could see a record low. After tracking steadily upwards, the vote at Auckland Council dipped yesterday and is heading towards the worst result since the Super City began in 2010. Just 29.8 per cent of the Auckland vote... Read more

The flagship of the New Zealand motor racing scene is upon us. It's Bathurst 1000 weekend, with qualifying today and the main race for the Supercars championship on Sunday afternoon. If Kiwi Scott Mclaughlin wasn't your favourite already, he should be now after setting a new lap record in practice. Four time Bathurst winner Greg Murphy joined Mike Hosking to preview the big race. LISTEN ABOVE

There are big questions for World Rugby over its unprecedented decision to cancel World Cup games. New Zealand's final pool match against Italy has been cancelled to an approaching typhoon. England's game against France has also been called off. Spark Sport's Scotty Stevenson told Mike Hosking rugby officials will have some big questions to answer. "They knew that there was a threat of this weather. "There are c... Read more

One of the two police fitness tests has been scrapped for applicants, and they will now face it further down the road. The Police Competency Test is a timed run on an obstacle course, testing strength, fitness, balance and coordination. Police Superintendent Mel Aitken told Mike Hosking people will now have to do it once they get into police college. She says there's already a physical appraisal test people need to take at the ... Read more

Every Friday morning, Mike Hosking takes you through the big ticket items of the week and lets you know what he makes of it all. Spark Sport and the Cricket Rights.   8/10. "If you didn’t take them seriously before, now is the time to start. And it's another bad day at the office for Sky." Iain Lees-Galloway 2/10. "A miserable failure on Sroubek. But what makes it worse is he won't own it. The report tells you a... Read more

Sir John Key says Christopher Luxon will do a great job if he becomes the National Party's candidate in Botany. The ex-Air New Zealand boss has confirmed he'll be putting his name forward to be the party's candidate in next year's general election, taking on Jami-Lee Ross. Sir John Key says Luxon would be a good pick. He told Mike Hosking Luxon is a progressive business leader, has a good relationship with unions an... Read more

Questions still remain unanswered over how Iain Lees-Galloway made a decision to grant drug smuggler Karel Sroubek residency. An independent review has found there were powerful grounds to deport Sroubek, with minister Iain Lees-Galloway's initial decision to let him stay labelled "unexpected". Queen City Law principal Marcus Beveridge told Mike Hosking he's at a loss to understand how the minister believed Sroubek&... Read more

Hawke's Bay is ditching booze advertising on buses. The Regional Council's amended its advertising guidelines and removed all alcohol advertisements from its buses. It's part of a Council initiative to promote wellbeing and help reduce the region's hazardous and binge drinking rates. Transport coordinator Megan Welsby told Mike Hosking bus advertising is very effective, so removing it is bound to have an impact. ... Read more

Many parts of the world are obsessed with cults and fundamentalism. Glorivale would be a good example for New Zealand. But in the USA, it’s the Westboro Baptist Church. One woman was part of the hate filled group, and now Megan tells her story in her new book, Unfollow. Megan Phelps Roper joined Mike Hosking to share her story inside one of the world’s most talked about cults. LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW ABOVE

The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) is looking closely at how much KiwiSaver providers charge after another big surge in fees in the year to March. The FMA, in its annual report for the industry, said Kiwisaver funds under management shot up by 17 per cent to $57 billion in the year while the average management fee per member rose by 13 per cent to $132. "We are pretty interested in the rate of which fees are increasing - or ... Read more

The Minister of Social Development is refusing to label $1 billion of overpayments to beneficiaries as bad debt. Figures from the Ministry show it's the highest amount of overpayments on record. But the government says most of the overpayments happened under National's watch. Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni told Mike Hosking overpayments are normal because of the constantly changing circumstances of beneficiarie... Read more

Britain and the European Union traded ill-tempered barbs Tuesday as the U.K. said a Brexit deal might be impossible, while insisting it was still working for one with just over three weeks until its scheduled departure from the bloc. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's office said EU intransigence had led to a breakdown in negotiations, prompting a top European leader to warn against playing a "stupid blame game" — a... Read more