Mike Hosking: Marking the Week: A Look at All Current News and Events

OPINION:

Time to mark the week; the little news and current affairs that is as effective as Caleb Clarke with a ball in his hand and an Australian in front of him.

The choice: 7/10
We got a result and we are not sitting here this morning in debt to Winston Peters.

Winston Peters: 6/10
It endured a long time, became tremendously influential over various periods, was good and desperate … but rarely boring.

The Greens: 3/10
Not because they didn’t get a good result. But MMP is a weird old beast and, oh, the irony of having more MPs, but basically being a spare “you know what” at a wedding.

Banks: 7/10
Updating their forecasts, reminding us that the end of the world did not come. It is not over, but it is not Armageddon.

Dairy: 8
Milk price forecast on the rise. If we ever had to realize the value of the country, it is now. Agriculture and tourism: one is bankrupt, one saves us.

Pens: 3
One million dollars to order and ship 3.6 million pens from China so we can use them for voting and then throw them in a landfill. Wait, Greta will tweet a picture of a turtle with one poking its nose, and we’ll all know where it came from.

Jobs: 7
The strangest thing: on the one hand, people are training. On the other hand, people can’t get out of bed and everyone from fruit growers to hoteliers is crying out for help due to lack of skills. How is it possible that we have so many unemployed and so many jobs and the dots are not linked?

Jobs: 7
Good stats, the listings are up, not what they were a year ago, but they are better than before.

Houses: 9
You know why.

The Reserve Bank: 3
How can they lower rates, make banks lower rates so that we can lend? So when we borrow and buy houses, they panic. What do they really want? And in fact, do they even know?

The Cathedral: 2
A decade later, the bills went from 100 million to 150 million. 50 million is a lot to pay for procrastination and bickering.

Krispies: 6
Is that really a cookie to form a government?

School zones: 4
More meddling that will lead nowhere.

Seafood: 7
Reimbursement of the wage subsidy; good on them. If they feel good, everyone is a winner, but this and their moral outrage has gotten a bit out of control.

Space: 8
Exciting week: They got some dirt from an asteroid and Nokia is building a phone network on the moon.

Mysterious Breaks: 6
Air NZ sends you to … well that’s the point … that’s the mystery. But $ 3,200 for two is a lot of money to end up in Hokitika. Nothing against Hokitika.

South Australia: 8
Pleading with our prime minister to open our side of the bubble … good luck. She took the border key and swallowed it months ago.

That is the week. Make copies on the website and you will get one free of these for the long weekend if you park in a Wilson building as an advance reservation.