The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Is rugby union having a revival? 

Player registrations were up by 6% in 2024, with the critical bracket of teenage boys experiencing a 5% in of itself.  

There were 156 thousand registered players across the country, with Heartland provinces setting new records.  

NZR Community Rugby GM Steve Lancaster told Mike Hosking that enjoyment drives registration and retention. 

He said that their focus is on ensuring their participants, whether they’re a player, coach, referee, or volunteer, are enjoying their experience. 

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It's kind of odd that it took Jeff Bezos to explain what I would have thought was the bleeding obvious.

There is a 'to do' in the US election among the elites over a couple of newspapers not endorsing a candidate.

This is an American thing – we don’t do it here and we are wise not to.

It started with the LA Times, who decided no endorsement would be made. This led to one of the editorial board quitting and a lot of whining.

Then came the Washington Post, which is the paper Bezos owns. The editor said it was their call not to endorse a candidate, this was disputed and several board members walked, and allegedly a couple of hundred thousand subscribers quit the paper.

Enter Bezos, who wrote a couple of self-explanatory things.

Firstly, he wished the no-endorsement move had come earlier, not in the heat of the battle.

He then pointed out, quite correctly, not a single undecided voter ever, anywhere, had their mind made up by a newspaper.

Then most importantly of all he suggested, once again quite correctly, that the media is not trusted by the American public and wandering around pretending to be neutral while endorsing people is not going to help their reputation.

Not surprisingly both papers were going to endorse Kamala Harris and whether from a point of view of true balance or not, a media already seen to be hopelessly left-leaning and in the Democrat's pocket was not going to tilt the balance their way by further enhancing their reputation as anti-Trump.

The endorsement business comes from a different age. An age when papers actually mattered.

Some still do, but not many, and as the media is diluted it matters less and less.

The problem with this problem is those in the middle of it still clearly suffer from another of the age-old problems of the media – too many take themselves too seriously.

I bet many of them actually believe that people don’t make up their mind until they are told to. Many of them will think an endorsement swings the race or moves the needle.

Many of them will think that Bezos, as owner, really doesn’t get to make the calls. Guess what? He does.

The upside might just be a tired, old habit of an endorsement by paper might just have died in the race of 2024.

Australia's Prime Minister is facing increasing scrutiny for allegedly asking the boss of Qantas for personal flight upgrades. 

Anthony Albanese is accused of asking for upgrades on 30 flights, dating all the way back to a flight from Christchurch to Sydney in 1999. 

Albanese claims he's doing everything by the book. 

But Australia correspondent Steve Price told Mike Hosking he's failed to answer questions about his contact with former Qantas boss Alan Joyce. 

He says the ones that are causing him trouble are private flights on holidays that are nothing to do with Government business. 

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Labour says homeowner protections will need to go hand-in-hand with Government's proposed building consents scheme. 

The reforms will allow tradespeople to consent their own work for basic housing, foregoing inspections.  

Criteria is also being considered for businesses with a track record of delivering bigger projects to access streamlined consenting.  

Labour's Housing Spokesperson Kieran McAnulty told Mike Hosking customer protections like indemnity insurance are key. 

He says homeowners need confidence and if the legislation is wishy-washy, it won't work. 

National’s Mark Mitchell agrees, saying that there is a balance to be found, but we have to look at sensible ways of making it easier and cheaper to build houses.  

He says they have world-class tradespeople who can be trusted to self-certify. 

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