One thing I love about the health and wellness industry is that it’s constantly evolving and changing, but that can also make it a challenge to keep up with. Hence, I’m a huge fan of science journalist and author of several health books, Dr Michael Mosley. He’s the guy behind the 5:2 diet and intermittent fasting, he invented them long before they became mainstream and popular. Not that I’ve ever done the 5:2 diet and I’m a terrible faster – can’t do that either – but I know people who do and they swear by it. Anyway I’ve read his stuff and loved his work for ages, hence I was very jealous Mike got to interview him yesterday on his show. If you missed that interview it’s worth looking up on the ZB website on demand, it was just after 8 yesterday morning. He’s actually coming to NZ to give some talks next year, he’s a fascinating guy. hat I love about him, is he keeps it simple. He’s a big believer in doing stuff that makes your life easier not harder. So while extremists may tell you ice baths and cold plunges are best, he says if you can just do a cold shower that’s great. He says it boosts your immune system and mood. Likewise, he’s not maniacal about hardcore workouts, he says brisk walking is just as effective, adding some pace, and going downhill (as opposed to uphill) can also give you a good workout. Who knew going downhill burns more calories than going uphill?! He’s big on habit building too. Doing stuff that you can incorporate into your daily routine without much thought. Doing it over and over again until it’s second nature to you. Like standing on one leg while you brush your teeth (great for balance and strength) shutting your eyes for 10 seconds while you do it (good for co-ordination). He also preaches starting your day with a few press ups or squats, a couple of minutes max, he says this strengthens your bones, builds resistance, and is good for your brain too apparently because vertical movement leads to a big surge of blood into the brain. It’s also great for your spine. So a small non-eventful exercise with, as it turns out, huge benefits. Intermittent fasting he says was lunatic fringe when he invented it, now it’s everywhere of course and in many different forms. But Moseley reckons time restricted eating of 14 hours no food overnight – then eating inside a 10 hour window is very do-able for most people. This is easier for people than sticking to diets apparently. His mantra regarding food is to start the day with eggs - good protein and keeps you fuller for longer he says. And he’s a big fan of the Mediterranean diet. He also says there’re many health benefits to reading every day, practicing gratitude, and my particular favourite – napping. Apparently naps do amazing things for your mind and body. Napping boosts mood and wellbeing he says, and promotes good heart health. “An occasional daytime nap was associated with 48 percent lower risk of heart attack or stroke.” Naps can also improve your thinking skills, and make you a better learner. You only need 20 minutes to reset your attention and alertness; he likens it to a ‘cardiovascular holiday’. The other thing he says to do is eat dark chocolate. Come on! So you can see why I love this guy, when he makes being healthy sound this easy and this good, I mean, what’s not to love?

The All Blacks have named their strongest side for the final test of the season against England, signalling Jordie Barrett will have the inside running at No 12 for next year’s World Cup. Looking to end an inconsistent 2022 with an unbeaten northern tour, selectors Ian Foster, Joe Schmidt and Jason Ryan have reverted largely to the team who thumped Wales a fortnight ago. The sees Barrett move back into the midfield alongside Rieko Ioane, leaving David Havili and Anton Lienert-Brown to provide cover from the bench. Barrett has excelled at second five-eighth in limited opportunities while wearing the black jersey and another strong performance at Twickenham will give him a good chance of making the position his own. Beauden Barrett will again start at fullback, with Richie Mo’unga remaining at No 10, while Scott Barrett will shift into the blindside flanker role he occupied when England knocked out the All Blacks in the semifinals of the 2019 World Cup. He started at lock against Scotland, but Brodie Retallick has returned to the team after serving the suspension he incurred for his red card in the tour opener against Japan. This will mark Retallick’s 100 All Blacks test, becoming the 12th man to reach the milestone and the second lock forward, alongside captain and locking partner Sam Whitelock. Retallick and Whitelock will also create another piece of history, setting a new world record of 64 test starts together. The previous mark was held by South Africa’s Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield. Playing in his 11th international season, Retallick will share the special occasion with family who have travelled from New Zealand to celebrate. “The All Blacks congratulate Brodie and his family on what is an extremely proud moment for them,” said Foster. “He has had a massive contribution to the legacy of this team over the last decade, during which he has inspired many.” After impressing on debut against Scotland last week, winger Mark Telea has been retained, while 79-test veteran TJ Perenara will again provide halfback cover from the bench. “We feel the squad has been building nicely throughout this tour,” Foster added. “Playing England is something we don’t get to do often so we are excited for the challenge. “This is an opportunity to continue our growth as a team at one of the great venues in world rugby – Twickenham.” All Blacks team to play England: Ethan de Groot, 2. Codie Taylor, 3. Tyrel Lomax, 4. Brodie Retallick, 5. Sam Whitelock (c), 6. Scott Barrett, 7. Dalton Papali’i, 8. Ardie Savea, 9. Aaron Smith, 10. Richie Mo’unga, 11. Caleb Clarke, 12. Jordie Barrett, 13. Rieko Ioane, 14. Mark Telea, 15. Beauden Barrett. Reserves: 16. Samisoni Taukei’aho, 17. George Bower, 18. Nepo Laulala, 19. Shannon Frizell, 20. Hoskins Sotutu, 21. TJ Perenara, 22. David Havili, 23. Anton Lienert-Brown.

A youth development worker is giving a thumbs down to National's new policy to deal with youth crime. The party is promising to set up Young Offender Military Academies for 15 to 17-year-olds, if it's elected next year. It also wants to put electric monitoring devices on children as young as 10-years-old. Aaron Hendry told Kate Hawkesby evidence shows they're ineffective, as they don't address the root cause of why young people are involved in crime in the first place. He says there are groups of young people living in extreme poverty and homelessness, and struggling to make positive change in their lives. LISTEN ABOVE

I thought it was ironic this week when Grant Robertson admitted the rollout of the ram raid support for businesses has been too slow. Slow would be an understatement. I just can’t work out what’s going on here. Because every time you ask the Government about it, they say they’re chasing it, they’re telling Police to speed up, they want it sorted. Yet when you speak to Sunny Kaushal from the Dairy and Business Owners Association, he says the Government is the hold up. He says he has to chase government Ministers for months on end and even then they don’t get back to him. Then there’s the Police – the meat in the middle of this particular sandwich, the people the Government says are charged with sorting this, and they’re allegedly not doing it fast enough. So, if true, whose fault it that? Is it the Police’s? And if it is on them, is it because they are too under resourced? If they are, is that because this soft on crime government just hasn’t backed them enough, hasn’t supported them and resourced them enough? Or is it that they’re so snowed under with the surge in youth crime and offending these days that they literally just can’t keep up? Or is it that this Police Commissioners’ approach involves so much weighty bureaucracy and admin, that Police can barely get out from under their desks? I know a lot of Police listen to this show and they often message me and say that’s the case, some have even said they’ve left or are leaving because of it, because they literally can’t just get on and do their jobs. Being a police officer these days is not what they thought it would be, or what it used to be. So I don’t actually buy that this is the Police’s fault. But, back to the fund. This was announced back in May, this $6 million to help businesses, and here we are in the middle of November, and it’s still not sorted. Seven businesses have been helped. Just seven. At least five of those were trials set up by Sunny himself. So what have they actually achieved here? They’re supposed to be doing 40 to 50 business assessments a week Robertson says, yet they’re not. So why not? In a little bit of buck passing, Robertson says it’s up to Hipkins as Police Minister to chase this. So what does Hipkins say? Well he says since he took over in June – after Poto Williams was rolled from the portfolio based on incompetence, that’s me saying that by the way, not Hipkins, but he claimed once he took over, that Police were “hurrying up.” So why, six months on from the announcement, do we still have so little action? Is it acceptable that the Government looks to blame others – ie the Police, for stuff they just can’t seem to deliver on? Robertson was at pains to point out how awful being a victim of a ram raid must be, but every day there are more of them because this Government just cannot get its act together and provide the help needed. I don’t think blaming the Police is fair. This whole thing has become a political football that no one seems brave enough to actually own and do something about. You can see why these jewellers and dairies and liquor stores are beside themselves, and you can see why the ram raiders continue. Because no one’s owning this.

Ukraine is denying responsibility for the deadly missile explosion in Poland. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says it was not a Ukrainian missile. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltetnberg says the explosion appears to have been caused by a Ukrainian air defence missile, fired at a Russian cruise missile attack. But security analyst Paul Buchanan told Kate Hawkesby ultimately, the evidence points to this being Ukraine's fault. LISTEN ABOVE  

Belief businesses aren't out of the woods yet, despite economic activity increasing in the September quarter Infometrics data shows a 2.6 percent year-on-year rise, driven by stronger tourism and household spending. Auckland and South Island areas have seen some of the strongest gains. Tourism Export Council Chief Executive Lynda Keene told Kate Hawkesby Australian visitors through the winter months have played a key role. She says the results are encouraging, but they won't be too excited until October's results are released, as that's when the season officially begins. LISTEN ABOVE  

Hopes a major international retailer moving to Lambton Quay will give a post-pandemic boost to Wellington's CBD. Clothing brand Calvin Klein has confirmed it will set up shop in part of the building that once housed Kirkcaldie and Stains, and more recently David Jones. It shut down in June. First Retail Group Managing Director Chris Wilkinson says it's great news for the capital. He says having the acknowledgement of an international brand is a great first step in enlivening the area again. Other tenants for the rest of the building's space haven't yet been announced. LISTEN ABOVE

So I note the Police commissioner was saying the other day re the surge in youth offending, that it’s up to us to do more about it, and look after our communities better. And then hospitality came out and said staffing issues in the sector may be on us as well. What they’re saying is that customers are getting ruder these days, that abuse and poor treatment of hospitality staff is getting more commonplace, and that they’re sick of it - and we need to do better. It’s apparently turning many off the industry now. An industry that used to be fun, is now not so fun. So it’s on us, the customers, to lift our game. Now this has of course been a globally contentious issue recently, thanks to late night TV host James Corden and his - now infamous – verbal altercation with staff at a New York restaurant. Furious they got his wife’s meal order wrong three times; he told staff he’d be better off going into the kitchen and cooking it himself. Cue the restaurant owner labelling Corden the rudest man he’d ever met. There is no room for rudeness to people doing their best. I witnessed a supermarket checkout operator getting a dressing down the other day. They of course are the other sector complaining that people are getting ruder, and this customer sadly embodied that. He laid all his groceries on the counter and as she was scanning them through, he announced he didn’t have his wallet. He said it was in his car and he’d have to go back to the carpark and get it. The supermarket was chocka, heaving with people, and the queues at each checkout were long and full. The checkout operator politely nodded and as he walked off to head back to the carpark, she finished putting his groceries through, packed them for him, then put his trolley of groceries to one side. She paused the sale and said to us, as we were next in line, that she would put our groceries through as she didn’t know how long he would be and she didn’t want to hold everyone up. Fair enough. As she was finishing scanning our groceries he returned, visibly agitated that she hadn’t waited for him, and pushed past me to the EFTPOS machine where I was waiting to pay and said to the checkout operator, “I hope I’m not paying for these as well, where are my groceries I’m ready to pay.” She politely explained they were all packed for him and the sale had been suspended until he returned and he could pay right after this transaction. I tried to get back to the EFTPOS machine at this point to pay, but he wouldn’t budge. Without making any eye contact with me, he leaned in further towards her, she was about 15 years old, and started giving her an ear bashing about not waiting for him. I interjected at this point and told him given the supermarket was chocka what on earth was he expecting, and I apologized to the young checkout girl for his rudeness.  I went ahead and paid, he stood there still fuming. The checkout girl just smiled and said to me, “Thanks, don’t worry, I’m resigning anyway, this happens all the time.” So another checkout operator sick of being treated badly, leaves the job. Add that to all the others, and the hospo staff who’re sick of it, and you can see that the industry leaders saying a lot of this is our fault, may not all be wrong.

Some are suggesting our great brain drain may slowing down. The net number of Kiwis that left the country for the year to September was more than 8,000. But for the month, people arriving outstripped the number leaving. Kiwibank senior economist Jeremy Couchman joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVE

Former US President Donald Trump is preparing to launch his third campaign for the White House, this afternoon NZ time, looking to move on from disappointing midterm defeats and defy history amid signs that his grip on the Republican Party is waning. Trump had hoped to use the GOP’s expected gains in last week’s elections as a springboard to vault himself to his party’s nomination by locking in early support to keep potential challengers at bay. Instead, he now finds himself being blamed for backing a series of losing candidates after disappointing results in which Democrats retained control of the Senate and House control remains too early to call. “Hopefully, tomorrow will turn out to be one of the most important days in the history of our Country!” Trump wrote on his social media network yesterday. An announcement is expected at 3pm today NZ time from his club in Palm Beach. Another campaign is a remarkable turn for any former president, much less one who made history as the first to be impeached twice and whose term ended with his supporters violently storming the US Capitol in a deadly bid to halt the peaceful transition of power on January 6, 2021. Just one president in US history has been elected to two non-consecutive terms: Grover Cleveland in 1884 and 1892. Trump is also facing a series of intensifying criminal investigations, including a Justice Department probe into the hundreds of documents with classified markings that were discovered in boxes and drawers at his Mar-a-Lago club. Aides and allies had urged Trump to wait until after the midterms were over — and then until after a December 6 Senate runoff election in Georgia — to announce his plans. But Trump, eager to return to the spotlight, is also hoping to stave off a long list of potential challengers, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who cruised to reelection last week and is now being urged by many in his party to run for president a well. Trump has tried to blame Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell for the GOP’s performance — and McConnell allies have criticised Rick Scott, the Florida senator who heads the Senate Republicans’ campaign committee. However, Trump has received the brunt of criticism for elevating candidates in states like Pennsylvania and Arizona who were unappealing to general election voters because they embraced his lies about 2020 election or held hard-line views on issues like abortion that were out of step with the mainstream. While Trump has the backing of the No 3 House Republican, Representative Elise Stefanik, others were already moving on. Asked whether she would endorse Trump in 2024, Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis, of Wyoming, told reporters yesterday: “I don’t think that’s the right question. I think the question is, who is the current leader of the Republican Party?” Asked who that was, she replied: “Ron DeSantis.” Senator Mitt Romney, R-Utah, a longtime Trump critic, compared Trump to a pitcher who keeps losing after GOP disappointments in 2018, 2020 and now 2022. “He’s been on the mound and lost three straight games. If we want to start winning, we need someone else on the mound. And we’ve got a very strong bench that can come out,” Romney said. “I know, there’s some fans that love him. Just like, you know, an ageing pitcher, they’re always fans that want to keep them there forever. But if you keep losing games, try to put some new players on the field.” Others expressed concern that Trump’s announcement would be a distraction from the Georgia race and urged potential candidates to focus there. “What’s really important for anybody who wants to be a 2024 candidate is to help us right now in 2022 to finish the cycle by winning the state of Georgia,” said Senator John Thune, R-SD. “We obviously had higher expectation in the Senate, which didn’t pan out. I think there are a lot of different things that contribute to that,” Thune added. “But I do think that, you know, folks who were unduly focused on the 202...