The Kākā by Bernard Hickey

The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts Bernard Hickey & Peter Bale talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including:

* Cathrine Dyer on Donald Trump’s first executive orders to reverse Joe Biden’s emissions reductions policies and pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement (again). She also highlighted the UK Institute and Faculty of Actuaries landmark report published last week: ‘Planetary Solvency – finding our balance with nature.’ It estimated the global economy could face a 50% loss in GDP between 2070 and 2090, unless immediate policy action on risks posed by the climate crisis is taken;

* Washington DC-based correspondent Elaine Monaghan on Trump’s inauguration, his early actions, the rise of the broligarchs and the role of media and journalism in responding to (and creating) Trump. I referred to Judd Legum’s launch this week on Substack of Musk Watch as an example of how journalists were responding independently to the crisis in ‘big’ media; and,

* New Zealand Association of Scientists Co-President Dr Lucy Stewart commenting on the Government’s announcement yesterday of major reforms of the Government-funded science sector. Comments from scientists and others on the reforms are summarised here at the Science Media Centre and she referred to Peter Gluckman’s official Science System Advisory Group report: ‘An architecture for the future’ in our discussion. The reforms were based on this report.

The Hoon’s podcast version above was recorded on Thursday night during a live webinar for over 200 paying subscribers and was produced and edited by Simon Josey.

The video above was added after the email was sent to all subscribers.

The Hoon won the silver award for best current affairs podcast in this year’s New Zealand Podcast awards.

(This is a sampler for all free subscribers and anyone else who stumbles on it. Thanks to the support of paying subscribers here, we’re able to spread my public interest journalism here about housing affordability, climate change and poverty reduction other public venues. Join the community supporting and contributing to this work with your ideas, feedback and comments, and by subscribing in full.)

Ngā mihi nui.

Bernard