The bFM WIRE Today: 12 - 2pm weekdays
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The Wednesday Wire Hosted By Paul Deady 08/10/08
1215 – Focus on the Economy: Winston Peters
The Wire continues its dollar-signs-in-the-eyes look at economic policy today when we hear from NZ First leader Winston
Peters. Yes, at 1215, I won't be talking to Mr Peters about anything besides cold, hard numbers. So anyone aching for
more Glenn donation bickering and circle-talking, apologies. But, Peter's party does have an extensive, and somewhat
inventive economic policy whose cornerstones are a flexible monetary policy, restoring ownership of our key assets, and
a bolstered export plan.
But the policy looks like it was drawn up in happier, richer government times and may not have taken into account both
the world financial meltdown, nor our cupboard-is-bare pre-election fiscal update (hereafter referred to as PREFU). So
how does this fiddle with Winston's numbers? And, with his party's post-election prospects looking slim to none, how
realistic are his chances of enacting any of it?
1240 – Auckland City Community forums shut down, C Doug Armstrong
Turning our attention to this fine city at 1240, when we'll be hearing from (above). Their council majority voted
earlier this week against a City-Vision resolution to retain a number of different forums at which diverse groups can
meet face-to-face and share their concerns. So it's goodbye to forums for youth, pacific islanders, unions, as well as
gay, lesbian and transgender types. Doug told me over the phone that the short answer as to why they dropped these
forums was that no one came and they were a waste of time and money. But critics say C are shutting out Auckland's diverse voices from having a say in the city's future.
1300 – Disaster Awareness Day – Ben Stallworthy from Auckland's Emergency Management Office
At one it's time to freak you out. Yes, today just happens to be world-wide Disaster Awareness Day, and Ben Stallworthy
(above) reckons it's a perfect time to have a good hard think about how you'd cope in a disaster – whether natural or
man-made. It's easy to be complacent about this sort of thing, which I imagine makes Ben's job quite hard, but it's
worth remembering there are more than 70 volcanic cones in this city, and an active volcanic bed bubbling away under our
feet.
1320 – Counterclockwise
Scoop's Kevin List returns for counterclockwise today at 1320. He's been scouting around the political back-blocks this
morning, and will report on the National Party's much vaunted, probably much scaled-back after today, tax cuts. With
little money to play with, and a squeeze on easy money worldwide, the cuts are looking sketchy as.
1340 – Book She Read
And Sally's back for another Book She Read at 1340. Today she'll be delving into the quite fantastic Best American
series for 2008. An annual collection of titles each of which features a different genre or theme – science and nature,
comics, short stories, and my favourite: non-required reading where a bunch of brainy, Juno-like, school kids select
their favourite writing from the previous year. Sally will also be weighing in on the literary brouhaha around the Nobel
Prize for literature. Horace Engdahl, the academy's permanent secretary, told the Associated Press that American writers
are simply not up to Nobel standards. "The U.S. is too isolated, too insular," "They don't translate enough and don't
really participate in the big dialogue of literature. That ignorance is restraining." Cue outrage.
Aucklanders can tune in at 95 on the FM dial.