WOW's Shikhia Ngatai on the opening night excitement and backstage tours

For Friday Faceoff this week Nick Mills is joined in the studio by Porirua Mayor Anita Baker and Editor of The Local Jane O'Loughlin.  Starting with the question of the week: Has there been enough accountability for the Wellington City Council's mistakes? This comes after the latest review showcasing the blunder of the costly library website. Mayor Baker criticised WCC giving the $600k job to an Auckland company, "keep local jobs local". Then onto the controversial passing of the Harbour Quays bus lanes. Neither O'Loughlin or Baker were fans. Is it necessary? Both panellists then called National's announcement to pursue splitting food stuffs "desperation".  Then onto the decision to scrap routine cognitive tests for older drivers, was it the right one?  Plus, our panellists share their thoughts on the Tom Phillips case findings and could they ever split with Wellington later in life?  And as always, hear our panellists' hots and nots from the week. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For Friday Sports Kick-off Nick Mills is joined by ZB sports experts Jason Pine and Adam Cooper to wrap the week in sports. The pressure is on the Warriors for their home semifinal against Newcastle, will they be able to pull through at Eden Park this weekend? Is this finally the week for the Wellington Lions after a rough season? The team plays Northland at Hnry Stadium tomorrow. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

World of WearableArt model/performer and VIP host Shikhia "Shak" Ngatai joins Nick in the studio the morning after WOW's opening night.  After 18 WOW seasons, Shak is well versed in the creative world in the heart of Wellington every year. Nick finds out how it has changed over time - and what keeps her coming back. The 400+ crew have been working hard, and after weeks of rehearsals, Shak says finally walking out to the full audience is "electric". LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's Politics Thursday and Nick Mills is joined on the show by Minister Paul Goldsmith and Labour MP Ayesha Verrall to debate the biggest political topics of the week. Including the pursuit to split Foodstuffs. Is this the way to lower grocery prices for Kiwis or weakening a successful New Zealand business? The move on orders, with new alterations, will go through the House under urgency before the end of the week. Nick asks if the bill is still powerful enough, and will Labour vote it through? Then the Tom Phillips case review findings, both major parties polling under thirty percent, ACT's idea to freeze minimum wage and should you have to live in New Zealand to be a candidate in the election? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wellington City Council Chief Executive Matt Prosser joins Nick Mills in the studio to discuss accountability of different council issues from the last few months. With multiple reviews, reports and problems appearing in the council, Prosser offers an explanation to Nick and ratepayers. And in some cases, an apology. Beginning with the Moa Point report, Prosser addresses concerns over lack of accountability from individuals and the council as a whole. Prosser debated Minister Nicola Willis' claim CIO Jenny Chetwynd's comments were written by lawyers, saying while lawyers were involved, Chetwynd "contributed to the report". He did not want to discuss whether Chetwynd, head of infrastructure at the council, lives in the city. After calls from the Council and the Mayor wanting a refund or discount on the Deloitte Report, Prosser confirmed the report is "doing what I needed it to do", and they have not asked for a refund.  Then they discuss the website review, showing the council spent more than needed on the $600,000 Te Matapihi Central Library promotional site.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An admission Wellington Central Library's costly new website could have been done in-house A new report has found a lack of oversight and a rushed procurement process were to blame for the Wellington City Council spending up to half a million dollars more than it needed to on a website for the Central Library. Chief Operating Officer James Roberts says the council has up to 90 people in its IT team, and the website could have been developed internally. He told Newstalk ZB's Nick Mills officials got it wrong, and he takes the blame. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wellington's Hnry Stadium will be converted into a motorsport track in January, playing host to some world-leading drivers. The international Race of Champions showcase event will make its New Zealand debut in the capital on January 9 and 10. Formula One's Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas, Supercars' Chaz Mostert and rally driver Hayden Paddon are confirmed on the starting grid. Organisers say more competitors are set to join the cast, and Race of Champions president Fredrik Johnsson confirmed to Newstalk ZB an invitation has been sent to Formula One's Liam Lawson. They'll link up in identical cars to go head-to-head on a purpose-built tarmac race track inside the venue. Nick crossed live to sports host Adam Cooper who was at the announcement. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nick Mills is joined by music guru James Irwin for music time - and to celebrate Kiwi star Tami Neilson's Country Music Award nomination. Nick and James reminisce on throwbacks and one hit wonders and then hear the latest gig guide for the capital.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EDITORIAL:  I saw this story on TV about a week ago, last week, a Kiwi bloke called Simon McCartney. He's 65 years old, he moved to London to be closer to his grandkids, struggled to find work. 65, moved to London, struggled to find work. Oh, I wonder how, why? And eventually he thought, right, I'm going to try something completely different. Now he drives a big red double-decker bus. What a job. He drives across London Bridge, looks across to the Tower Bridge, sees St. Paul's Cathedral, and on diversions he goes past Picadilly Circus, Parliament, the London Eye and Leicester Square. How about that for an office at 65 years old? Then, yesterday I had coffee with a business acquaintance. He's from Auckland, but he's in Wellingtonian. Went to TawaCollege, not with me, a lot younger than me. Mid 50s, has a successful business doing well. He sits there telling me, I'm moving, selling up and moving. I said, selling the business? "No, I'm keeping the business, but selling my home.” “I live in Auckland on the North Shore and I'm going to the Gold Coast.” He said he'll keep his business going here. He can fly back four or five times a year, can do everything by Zoom or everything by phone. That's the modern world. But he's had enough of New Zealand. He reckons the Gold Coast will give him a better lifestyle. And that got me thinking about Wellington because I hear it consistently now. Rates, water bills, insurance, cost of doing business, cost of our council, cost of owning a home, the cost of absolutely everything. Wellington is becoming a very expensive city to live in. And then you look around and ask, is Wellington actually heading in the right direction? I love Wellington. I've invested my whole life in the city. My family's here, my business is here, my work is here. But actually, when I got into bed, because when you get into bed, and I was reading about someone the other day that was saying that thought when you hop into bed is kind of like the end of your day, it should be really your happy place and your happy thoughts. And I thought to myself last night, could I get to an age where, right, enough is enough, I'm off. Melbourne, absolutely. I'd love to live in the outskirts of Melbourne. Not in the expensive part, but in the outskirts where I could afford. Gold Coast, you know, the weather is so damn good there. It feels so exciting there. London, maybe, you know, a bit more expensive. You'd have to have a little bit more money, but a place in London? France, a little village way out in the ultimate of nowhere. Good wine, good food. Now we're getting somewhere. And I know people that have done it. And it scares me because 20 years ago, you never heard of people doing that in their 50s, 60s or 70s. That's it, I'm going, taking off. And maybe the new OE isn't at 21, but maybe it’s at 61. If money wasn't the issue, where would you go? Would you leave Wellington or would you stay right here? And despite everything that Wellington throws at us, would you, could you ever simply pack up, sell up and move out? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EDITORIAL: I want to start this morning with something that I genuinely cannot understand,  the more I think about it the more it frustrates me, and the more I look at it the more I don’t understand it.  The Harbour Quays bus corridor.   Think about that. An eleven million dollar price tag.  History will tell us that everything we’ve seen done in this part of the world, when you start with a price of eleven million dollars, you know it’s not going to end anything under that – and could be double that.  We’re talking about bus lanes down Customhouse Quay, Jervois Quay, Cable Street and Wakefield Street — taking road space away from general traffic to create a public transport corridor through the outskirts of the CBD in Wellington.  And I think it is nuts.  We do not need it.  This thing was conceived when Wellington was planning for substantial population growth, more commuters pouring into the CBD and enormous growth in public transport.  But circumstances have changed.  The Golden Mile project that it was supposed to complement has stopped.   The wider transport plan isn't settled.   The SH1 changes aren't settled.   And serious questions are now being asked - whether the population and passenger growth originally anticipated is actually going happen.  Yet we're still marching ahead with the solution.  Why?  Because we've already spent money planning it?  That’s not a good enough excuse.  That is possibly the worst reason imaginable to spend another dollar.  And anyone who actually drives along Jervois Quay, Wakefield St, Customhouse Quay and Cable Street at busy times knows exactly what happens when you start removing general traffic capacity.  Remember when we put those drainage systems down Wakefield St and what happened then.   Where do the cars go?  They don't magically disappear.  You create a thing called congestion.  And here's another thing.  We have tried for decades to convince Wellingtonians that the waterfront side of the city is somehow an extension of the Golden Mile.  Now a lot of us will remember the old Harbour City Centre.  Remember when that was conceived and built, at great fanfare?  It was going to be the massive city shopping centre.  It was supposed to be fantastic.  It even had a McDonalds in it!  Well it closed very quickly.  Getting people across several lanes of traffic, particularly on a cold, wet, windy Wellington day, was never particularly attractive.  Now we're apparently going to do it with bus passengers  and tell them somehow: Don't worry — you can walk across to the Golden Mile.  Seriously?  With horizontal Wellington rain? The wind? The cold weather?  And we're spending $11 million to do it, when we don’t need it!  Greater Wellington has endorsed it. Wellington City Council gets its turn on Thursday.  I desperately hope councillors have the courage to say:  No don’t do it, we don’t need it right now.  Forget what was predicted two years ago.  Look at Wellington today.  Do we need it?  Does it stack up?  And is removing road capacity from one of the busiest routes through our CBD really going to make Wellington better, quicker?  I think you know my answer to that.  Because from where I'm sitting, this has all the ingredients of another Wellington transport cock-up. A massive cock-up  Eleven million dollars. Remember I said it first here - they say eleven million dollars.  We don’t want to pay eleven million dollars to create another problem that’s not really there and could possibly make it a hell of a lot worse.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.