Larry Williams Drive

President Emmanuel Macron is the clear favorite in France's presidential race, yet a big unknown factor may prove decisive: an unprecedented proportion of people say they are unsure who to vote for or don’t intend to vote at all, bringing a large dose of uncertainty to the election.The pro-European centrist is still comfortably leading 11 other candidates in the polls ahead of Sunday's first-round vote. His main challenger, far-right leader Marine Le Pen, appears on the rise in recent days. Both are in good position to reach the runoff on April 24, which would make them replay the 2017 election that Macron won handily.There’s “no certainty,” Macron warned during his first big rally on Saturday near Paris.“Don’t believe in polls or commentators who would sound definitive and tell you that ... the election is already done, that everything is going to be all right,” he told his supporters. “From Brexit to so many elections, what seems unlikely can happen!”Scenarios for the this year's second-round vote show that

Residents of Shanghai are struggling to get meat, rice and other food supplies under anti-coronavirus controls that confine most of its 25 million people in their homes, fueling frustration as the government tries to contain a spreading outbreak.People in China's business capital complain online grocers often are sold out. Some received government food packages of meat and vegetables for a few days. But with no word on when they will be allowed out, anxiety is rising.Zhang Yu, 33, said her household of eight eats three meals a day but has cut back to noodles for lunch. They received no government supplies.“It’s not easy to keep this up,” said Zhang, who starts shopping online at 7 a.m.“We read on the news there is (food), but we just can’t buy it,” she said. “As soon as you go to the grocery shopping app, it says today’s orders are filled.”The complaints are an embarrassment for the ruling Communist Party during a politically sensitive year when President Xi Jinping is expected to try to break with tradition

Dan Carter is inching ever closer to that 1598th kick after nearly 24 hours.The All Blacks legend is on track to hit that target, averaging 66 kicks an hour. Dan Carter joined Andrew Dickens to provide an update on his progress almost 24 hours after he started yesterday.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Warriors are coming home.They’ve been looking forward to coming home for a while and will have an emotional homecoming at Mt Smart Stadium.But this week, NZRL announced a test against Tonga at Mt Smart for July 3, one week before the Warriors’ first home game in two years.Warriors CEO Cameron George joined Andrew Dickens.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Arts Minister says the extended events support scheme will provide the sector with certainty.The Government will underwrite established events up until January 2023 in a bid make sure more events go ahead.Minister Carmel Sepuloni says this is an important step to help keep the arts sector trucking along.“We recognise that there’s some uncertainties for the sector. We want to encourage event organisers to continue with their plans. We recognise the importance of arts and culture events”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A word of caution for EV drivers going through Transmission Gully.There are no charging stations or service stations along the 27 kilometre route.AA Motoring Affairs General Manager Simon Douglas told Andrew Dickens because the route is also steep, EV motorists need to be careful when using the new motorway.“Be prepared. I think EV owners will notice that it takes a bit of extra charge to get over, but from what I have seen, most EV owners are pretty well aware of range and it’s just a matter of making sure you’re topped up.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

NATO has agreed to step up efforts to help Australia and New Zealand combat China's growing influence.It came after Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta attended a virtual NATO meeting last night to discuss Russia's invasion into Ukraine.Tensions are rising in the Pacific after the Solomon Islands negotiated a security deal with China.Former ambassador to the United States Tim Groser told Andrew Dickens the events of the past few weeks have transformed the entire global security situation.“Security is going to the top of the political agenda. New thinking will be required, including in New Zealand, so we should keep an open mind.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

America is sending thousands of more weapons to Ukraine.It includes roughly another $100 million worth of weapons, 12,000 anti-armour systems and hundreds of 'suicide drones'.US Correspondent Dan Mitchinson told Andrew Dickens nearly $2 billion worth of assistance has been offered so far.“They gonna continue to back this dark horse here and showing Russia that although Ukraine’s army is smaller, it will continue holding off the Russian troops as we’ve seen so far with the last almost two months now.”Meanwhile, the UK's Prime Minister is set to meet with the German Chancellor to discuss how to wean European countries off Russian gas.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Researchers in the Dunedin Study say we need to take into account the childhoods of those opposed to the vaccine.This world-famous study found that 13 per cent of their group were resistant to the Covid vaccination.When they dug down deeper, the researchers found that many became distrustful of adults at a very early age and now believe that authority is only there to take advantage of them and therefore, they’re resistant of the Covid vaccine.Dunedin Study director Richie Poulton joined Andrew Dickens.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

And so we come to the end of a week where I have barely mentioned Covid.A week where the Director-General of Health has resigned. And he told us he wanted to finish the job, Dr Bloomfield leaves his position in July.With that departure date, you can get no better indication that this phase of the pandemic is coming to an end.Which is not to say some new twist might yet emerge. But let's not go there until we have to.And as the virus falls off our front pages we're beginning to see stories that were hidden by the fog of war Covid provided. A fog that protected senior ministers from scrutiny.None more so than Police Minister Poto Williams. She's had a week from hell.Firstly she prevents the new opposition spokesperson on Police matters having a sit down with the Commissioner. Why? Who knows.Then she rejects the premise that gang activity has increased despite all the statistics and evidence at hand.Finally, she abdicates her responsibility on police response times by firstly claiming she did not have the figure

It’s no secret that stock markets have been very volatile this year and investors have had a tough time.And now investors in bonds, which are always considered to be safe and conservative, are all over the shop as well.This year, the return from investing in a global government bond is down more than 8 percent on average so far and the return from investing in a global corporate bond is down more than 9 percent on average so far.In some cases, it’s down more than equity investments.It’s the worst quarterly return on record for bonds.Fisher Funds Senior Portfolio Manager Sam Dickie joined Andrew Dickens.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Local businesses are being impacted by a proposed new cycleway in Wellington which goes through Newtown up to the Basin Reserve.They say they’ve had virtually no consultation and they aren’t happy about the cycleway as it’ll take away carparks.The businesses in the area have launched their own petition to take to Wellington Council.Four Seasons Florist owner Laura Newcombe joined Andrew Dickens.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Grammy Award-winning songwriter Ed Sheeran won a U.K. copyright battle over his 2017 hit “Shape of You" on Wednesday, then slammed what he described as a “culture" of baseless lawsuits intended to squeeze money out of artists eager to avoid the expense of a trial.The British pop star and his co-writers, Snow Patrol’s John McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon, had denied allegations that the song copied part of 2015's “Oh Why” by Sami Chokri, who performs under the name Sami Switch.“Whilst we're obviously happy with the result, I feel like claims like this are way too common now and have become a culture where a claim is made with the idea that a settlement will be cheaper than taking it to court, even if there is no basis for the claim," Sheerhan said in a video posted on Twitter. “It's really damaging to the songwriting industry."Andrew Sutcliffe, the lawyer for the co-writers of “Oh Why,'' argued that there was an “indisputable similarity between the works.” He claimed that Sheeran had “Oh Why” in his head

It’s looking at costing up to $1 million to repair the Parliament lawn after the protests.And it’s not just repairing the lawn as well, as the mess from Parliament has to be tidied up.The lawn has been completely ruined due to being infested with rats and human defecation.The Country host Jamie Mackay joined Andrew Dickens.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nicola Willis and Grant Robertson have been interviewed for the NZ Herald.Inflation was the big issue that was brought up in the interviews.With tackling inflation, their approaches aren’t actually that much different but are dressed differently.NZ Herald Business Editor at Large Liam Dann joined Andrew Dickens.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you’re in KiwiSaver, chances are part of the appeal of signing up is that you get a regular financial contribution to your retirement from your employer.So it’s come as a bit of a shock that depending on your contract, that employer contribution may be coming out of your pay packet.Current law allows this under a total remuneration clause in employment contracts, and Consumer NZ says this is a loophole and the Government should close this.Financial author Martin Hawes joined Andrew Dickens.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Greens want an immediate rent freeze and rent controls for the future.Co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, but Ardern said the plan wouldn’t work.Davidson said that she would still push for the plan to become law.Meanwhile, the Dairy and Business Owners Group have called the resignations of Police Minister Poto Williams and Justice Minister Kris Faafoi.It comes after it was revealed that the response time for police has increased.Auckland in particular has seen response times go from around half an hour to up to two hours.Listen above as Nick Leggett and Simon Wilson discuss this and the rest of the day's news with Heather du Plessis-Allan aboveSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A woman in Whakatane has been going around town with a tattoo on her ankle of Tammy Wells aka the Briscoes Lady.With the portrait of Wells is a picture of a toaster saying 40 percent of and a quote underneath saying “You’ll Never Buy Better”.The woman who has the tattoo is Radio 1XX breakfast host LJ Dobbins.LJ Dobbins joined Andrew Dickens.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Marama Davidson hasn't been deterred by the Prime Minister shooting down her rent control policy.The Greens co-leader wrote an open letter to Jacinda Ardern calling for the policy to be adopted.Ardern poured cold water on the plan saying it wouldn't work.But Davidson told Andrew Dickens she'll still push for the plan to become law.“Obviously we don’t have the full housing and economic leaders as ministers, so it’s also our job to say how else we would go further for those areas that are outside our cooperation agreement.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Greens have sent an open letter to the Prime Minister calling for rent freezes.Co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson based this on a November 2021 report by the Ministry of Social Development which found that more than 60 percent of low-income renters were spending more than 40 percent of income on rent in 2018.Meanwhile, it’s been revealed that the police are taking too long in responding to crimes.Figures released to National under the Official Information Act show Aucklanders face an average wait time of up to 2 hours, up from 26 minutes in 2017.Louisa Wall has been named the new Pacific Gender Equality Ambassador.Her role will establish new partnerships and programmes that support the full in effect participation by women and LGBTQI+ and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels and decision-making in political, economic and public life in the Pacific.Newstalk ZB Political Editor Barry Soper joined Andrew Dickens.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.