The Mike Hosking Breakfast

As Liam Lawson begins his new Formula One era with Racing Bulls, a new challenge has arisen if he’s to get back into Red Bull’s senior team for 2026.  The 23-year-old claimed 17th place in Formula One’s Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka over the weekend after a pit stop gamble did not reap the rewards they had hoped for.  He was bested by his teammate, Formula One rookie Isack Hadjar, who took home eighth place on his third outing for the squad, also beating out Lawson’s replacement Yuki Tsunoda.  Former Williams Team Manager Peter Windsor told Mike Hosking that we can expect to see a lot more of the old Lawson as the season continues, but whether he’ll be good enought to be Hadjar is another matter.  He says you have to be impressed with Hadjar – he was showing up a lot of very experienced racing drivers.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Thursday 10th of April, Trump put a pause on tariffs, sending the stock markets through the roof, so we look at the resulting scramble.   The Government has said we must buy wool. Can they enforce this or is it anti-free trade?  Former Williams F1 team manager Peter Windsor gives us his thoughts ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix.  Get the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast every weekday morning on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rugby is mourning the passing of former All Blacks doctor John Mayhew.  Mayhew has passed away after heart complications, at the age of 70.  He served as the All Blacks doctor between 1988 and 2004 before moving to the Warriors for 15 years.  Former All Black Captain Sean Fitzpatrick told Mike Hosking Mayhew was very much part of the team, both on and off the field.   He says he was a lovely man, a confidant, very calm, and managed to bring humour to very tense situations.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Donald Trump's turning up the heat on China but throwing a tariff lifeline to most others.  He's authorised a 90-day pause which will see tariffs dropped to 10% for many countries.   However, China's rate has been increased from 104% to 125%.  Eric Crampton —Chief Economist at New Zealand Initiative— told Mike Hosking it's a rapidly changing situation.  He says it’s really hard for any business to plan in this kind of environment – the chaos is just going to continue.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A climate professor says forestry isn't the answer to climate change.  It comes after Parliament's environment watchdog released a report proposing completely removing the ability of carbon polluters to rely on planting trees to meet their climate obligations, instead of cutting their emissions.   Victoria University Adjunct Professor of Climate Change Adrian Macey told Mike Hosking we need a more comprehensive approach to tackling climate change.  He says planting trees simply isn't good enough.  Macey says planting trees isn't a 'get out of jail free' card, but rather a suspended sentence.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Donald Trump says the changes to his tariff policy show he's flexible.   He's put a 90-day pause on additional tariffs and lowered tariffs on all countries to 10% – except China.   Instead, Trump hiked China's rate from 104% to 125%.   He's thanked Americans for bearing with him and promised better days are coming.  Finance Minister Nicola Willis told Mike Hosking things are uncertain, but their view is that we need to stay the course.  She says they can’t controll what happens elsewhere in the world, but they can control what they do here at home.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Science Minister says merging our two Government weather agencies will free up millions of dollars.  Incoming legislation will bring NIWA and MetService together before the end of the year.  Shane Reti says the merger will resolve the structural issue that's resulted in duplication and conflicting advice.  He told Mike Hosking they'll merge capabilities, assets and services, and streamline back-office functions.  Reti says they're projecting there'll be an extra $3 million a year as a result, which they'll drive back into weather forecasting.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There’s a belief the Government's new building directive for wool will be followed.  From July, new builds worth more than $9 million and refurbishments costing over $100 thousand must use New Zealand wool where possible.   The directive orders state agencies to follow the directive where practical.  Wool Impact chief executive Andy Caughey told Mike Hosking it's not a rule, but strong advice.  He says in two to three years time, people will see how obvious the solution was and regret not using wool earlier.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ken Langone started a small operation called Home Depot.  These days he is a billionaire and major donor to the Trump campaign and Republican Party.  He is, like all the rest of us looking on, incredulous, or furious, or in disbelief, or confused.  Yesterday for a very brief period, a rumour that appeared to come out of a very small 'X' account and somehow linked to CNBC, swept the market.  It said Trump was considering a 90-day pause on the tariffs. The market which had been continuing its downward trajectory, or “tanking” as some people called it, abruptly upped stick and reversed.  It surged by about 8%, which is a lot, until it turned out none of it was true. So it fell apart again.  As one article suggested, that was an off-ramp for the President. In other words, had the rumour been true and Trump decided it could all be a mistake, the markets would have forgiven him, put it all behind them and we would be on our merry way.  But back to Ken. Ken said "I don’t understand the goddamn formula". In that, he is not alone.  Many of the billionaires who backed Trump don't understand the formula. They also didn’t back the idea that Trump would trash the place and yet more of them, mainly headed by the bloke who runs BlackRock, think the US economy is already in recession.  If it is in recession Howard Lutnick will need to be rolled out to explain how that happened, given according to Lutnick, it wasn’t possible.  So once again we ask the simple question – if the brightest people in the room don’t understand the "goddamn formula", if Trump's closest allies and supporters don’t get it, who does?  Or worse, is it possible no one does? Is this thing a runaway train?  If it's not a runaway train, is it possible that yet another Trump backer is right when he suggests America is now a global laughing stock? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Should you look into building a house?  CoreLogic’s latest Construction Cost Index suggests that outside of Covid, the price to build is the lowest it’s been since 2012.  Costs are rising at one of the slowest rates on record, with only 0.9% over the last year.  Generation Homes CEO Craig Hopkins told Mike Hosking the sectors’ greatest competition is the pre-existing market, with around 33,000 houses currently up for sale.  However, he says, as far as building a house, now is the perfect time to do so.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.