x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald

Every weekday join the new voice of local issues on Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald, 9am-12pm weekdays.It’s all about the conversation with John, as he gets right into the things that get our community talking.If it’s news you’re after, backing John is the combined power of the Newstalk ZB and New Zealand Herald news teams. Meaning when it comes to covering breaking news – you will not beat local radio.With two decades experience in communications based in Christchurch, John also has a deep

news politics

All Episodes

5:00

John MacDonald: Are we really that scared of saying...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/03/24

At the same time as Winston Peters is declaring war on wokeism, we’ve got a Christchurch community board member saying we are too scared to say things these days in case we offend people. Ali Jones is the community board member and she’s firing back at criticisms that comments she made online about mobility car parks were "shocking". I’ll get to her comments and the reaction but, let me say first, that I don’t agree with her that we are too scared to say things these days. I would say the only

en-US

5:45

John MacDonald: How to honour Chch Cathedral's past...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/03/21

Here's an idea that I’m quite excited about. It’s quite raw – it only occurred to me at about 5:30 this morning. But I reckon it could be a solution to something that has gone on for way too long, with no sign of it ending. There is a one-day exhibition being held inside the Christchurch Cathedral today, of miniature models of buildings that went in the earthquakes. It’s happening today-only at the cathedral and will move to the Arts Centre next week. But I reckon this is what we should be doing

en-US

20:41

Politics Friday with Hamish Campbell and Duncan Webb:...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/03/20

The future of Christchurch’s beleaguered cathedral is on the radar again – is there a chance it could be turned into a public use venue, or will it be lost to the city entirely? Will a free trade deal with India really be as quick and straight forward as the Prime Minister believes? And does party politics have a place in local body government? This and more are discussed by Labour’s Duncan Webb and Hamish Campbell on Politics Friday. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy

en-US

6:01

John MacDonald: An apprenticeship is anything but...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/03/19

I always have and always will be a huge fan of on-the-job training. Which is why I think it’s brilliant that we’ve got an education expert saying today that the apprenticeship system needs an overhaul. And not only that, he wants to see schools doing more, and is suggesting they could offer a trades preparation qualification to create a pipeline of new apprentices - but also to remove the stigma that an apprenticeship is second fiddle to a university degree. Michael Johnston from the NZ Initiative

en-US

4:36

John MacDonald: What's so bad about political parties...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/03/18

David Seymour says the ACT Party wants to put up candidates in this year’s local body elections because “it’s time for a clean-out”. Whatever his motivation is, I think his plan to get ACT involved in local councils is a good thing. Some people think political parties shouldn’t be involved in local councils, but what would you prefer? If someone’s wearing a party badge, at least you know what they stand for. Anyone else, and it can be a guessing game. And I agree with Seymour when he says it would

en-US

5:03

John MacDonald: We shouldn't be in the dark to the...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/03/16

Isn't it crazy that schools don't have to report how much bullying is going on? The Chief Children's Commissioner thinks so too, which is why she’s saying that it should be mandatory for schools to provide regular, publicly-available numbers. No wonder some parents feel their school isn’t doing enough about bullying. Because, if you don’t have to report it, it's much easier to sweep under the carpet, isn’t it? Thankfully, our kids never had any serious problems with bullying. And I'm pretty sure I

en-US

19:49

Politics Friday with Matt Doocey and Reuben Davidson:...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/03/14

Today on Politics Friday, John MacDonald was joined by National’s Matt Doocey and Labour’s Reuben Davidson. Christchurch City Council is considering allowing unleashed dogs to run free in two central city parks – neither were fond of the idea. With the Investment Summit underway in Auckland, is Davidson disagreeing with his own party on the future of public-private partnerships? And Doocey believes there’s no reason to change the voting system for local body elections – do we just have too many

en-US

5:28

John MacDonald: Road rage is getting worse - here's...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/03/11

Road rage is getting worse according to survey results out today, and I think it’s time we made road rage a specific criminal offence. I’ll come back to that but, first, how about this for a story? A guy’s driving around Governor’s Bay when this boy racer starts tailgating him, then stops in front of him, pulls out a baseball bat and starts smashing the guy’s windscreen. That was a week ago. Then we had someone else sent to prison last week after stabbing someone in an apparent road rage incident

en-US

5:04

John MacDonald: Taking away the Environment Court is...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/03/10

I don’t like this idea of dangling bigger carrots in front of people who own land that the government or your local council might want for big infrastructure projects. But I'm more concerned about denying people who object access to the Environment Court. Instead of the court, if someone isn’t happy about compulsory sale of their land, they’ll have to complain to the Land Information Minister or their local council – depending on who it is that wants their land. And we know who’s going to win that

en-US

5:25

John MacDonald: Winston had no option

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/03/06

Winston Peters had no option when it came to sacking Phil Goff from his job as High Commissioner in London, but that doesn’t mean I’m happy with it. I think he’s done the right thing. But he’s done the wrong thing, as well. Because it just shows how scaredy-cat the world is of Donald Trump. But we better get used to it – this is how it’s going to be for the next four years. That’s why I accept that it needed to be done, but it’s still pretty cruddy that we are running scared of him like this

en-US

5:59

John MacDonald: Orr's job was to re-build the rock...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/03/05

I'm neither happy or unhappy that Adrian Orr is no longer Reserve Bank Governor, but I do have a piece of advice for whoever ends up taking over from him. Just be the complete opposite. Because I reckon he fell into a trap that ended up with him getting too big for his boots. Which, maybe, is very hard to avoid when you’re in a job like his, but the next person needs to make sure they stay in their lane and keeps themselves in check. When you’re the Reserve Bank Governor, your job is to work on

en-US

5:17

John MacDonald: The PM just doesn't get it, does he?

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/03/04

I’m still getting over the Prime Minister saying if people don't like the food provided by the school lunch programme, they should make a marmite sandwich. And quite rightly, his comments are being described by the principal of a school in Kaiapoi as “absolutely disgraceful”. And I couldn’t agree more. Jason Miles is the principal of Kaiapoi North School and he’s bang on – that talk from the PM was disgraceful. And he says it just shows that Christopher Luxon has had a gutsful of the school

en-US

8:42

Chris Hipkins: Labour Leader on tariffs, Ukraine,...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/03/04

Labour Leader Chris Hipkins joined John MacDonald this morning to dig into the latest. They discussed the latest from Ukraine and the potential for Trump to introduce agricultural tariffs in the wake of his over 20% tariffs on key trade partners. Is talking to an overseas GP on the phone really a good solution to our lacking services? And what on earth has gone wrong with the school lunch system? Is a marmite sandwich really sufficient? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy

en-US

13:33

Leeann Watson: Business Canterbury CEO on the mood of...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/03/04

In the first of their regular catch ups, Business Canterbury’s Leeann Watson joined John MacDonald in studio to dig into what’s happening on the business front. They discussed how business owners are feeling, and what can be done to help them continue to gain confidence and grow in the region. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

en-US

5:15

John MacDonald: Weasel words aren't the way to...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/03/04

I am so glad that I’m not a member of the local rainbow community. Because if I was, I would be despairing at the weasel words the Christchurch mayor and the city council are trotting out about the Destiny Church's despicable disruption of the pride month opening event in Christchurch on Saturday. And it just tells me that people are either scared of taking on the Destiny Church or they somehow think their hatred is okay. So what happened at the weekend is the annual “walk for support” for

en-US

5:11

John MacDonald: Zelensky will be back at the White House

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/03/02

What we saw at the White House at the weekend was nothing short of vile. But we shouldn’t be surprised. Watching it, I was blown away. But I wasn’t surprised. And I reckon that, despite all the talk coming from European countries since Saturday, I reckon that Ukraine’s president will realise he has no option but to give Trump what he wants. But let’s go back to what happened in the Oval Office on Saturday. And it wasn’t just Donald Trump and JD Vance. There was that clown reporter who asked

en-US

5:11

John MacDonald: Four-year terms for councils? No thanks

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/02/27

When the Government announced yesterday that it wants to have a binding referendum on a four-year parliamentary term here in New Zealand, I was all for it. I've been all for it for a while now. But I’m totally against the idea that we do the same with local councils. In fact, I’m so against it, that it could be enough to put me off voting in favour of a four-year parliamentary term. That’s how strongly I feel about it. Four-year local government terms is something the outfit representing most

en-US

21:28

Politics Friday with Megan Woods and Matt Doocey:...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/02/27

Today on Politics Friday, John MacDonald was joined by Labour’s Megan Woods and National’s Matt Doocey to delve into some of the biggest topics of the week. Four-year parliamentary terms could be on the table – what are the benefits of an extra year? What would be the potential downfalls for councils? Would either of them make a citizen’s arrest? And is it true Labour cut the budget for the defence force? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

en-US

5:44

John MacDonald: Chch council should be red-faced over...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/02/27

Don’t you get it? I’m not saying this to you – I’m saying it to the Christchurch City Council, which thinks there is no need to have locals on this new committee its setting up to oversee the red zone on the east side of Christchurch. This is the 600-hectare Ōtākaro/Avon River Corridor which has attracted all sorts of controversy since the government took it over after the earthquakes. Tens of thousands of people used to live in the area before 2011. Not anymore. There is a plan to do something

en-US

8:36

Phil Mauger: Christchurch Mayor talks roading plan,...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/02/26

Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger joined John MacDonald live in studio for their regular catch up. Community members of Christchurch’s red zone are outraged over their exclusion from a governance group overseeing the future development of the area – why have they been left out? The age-old question of who has the right to a quiet night has reared its head once again. Inner city noise limits are being reviewed, but if the bars came first, should residents have to deal? And Mauger has come under fire for

en-US

1,142 results

Similar Podcasts

Expres Ráno

Expres FM

PBS News Hour - Full Show

PBS NewsHour

CD Voice

China Daily

Israel Today: Ongoing War Report

Noa Levi

Jeffrey Epstein: The Coverup Chronicles

Bobby Capucci