What is eating Mike Hosking?

Written By: - Date published: 9:12 am, July 18th, 2018 - 77 comments
Categories: Donald Trump, Economy, Environment, us politics - Tags:

Spare a thought for Mike Hosking. He seems to be going through a particularly dark time. If his latest Herald columns are considered.

I did something brave, I read his last five columns.

After digesting the contents I had some concern for him. Apart from a crazily optimistic description of Trump’s leadership abilities he is very pessimistic about this Government and about efforts to protect the environment. His unrelenting negativity, with the Trump accolade being the only exception, was very clear.  And if the Trump prediction is anything to go by his predictions should all be taken with a rather large amount of salt.

As you can see the effect is pretty overwhelming.  I won’t go into a detailed analysis but overall the articles show a relentless negativity about everything left and a remarkable optimism about Trump.

Mike Hosking Trump

Mike Hosking Twyford affordable housing

Mike Hosking Twyford Kiwibuild falling apart

Mike Hosking banning plastic bags

Mike Hosking rockstar economy

Maybe he just needs a hug.

77 comments on “What is eating Mike Hosking? ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. Pete 1
    18 July 2018 at 9:33 am

    Whoever gives him advice of where to get help had better be careful with the instructions.

    There could be a slight Trumpism with the ‘what I meant to say’ language and instead of ending up with a psychologist he ends up with a proctologist.

    Oh dear, how sad, never mind, far more appropriate.

    • KJT 1.1
      18 July 2018 at 9:42 am

      Maybe they have changed his programmer.

      Faulty code?

      GI-GO?

      • NZJester 1.1.1
        18 July 2018 at 7:27 pm

        Maybe it is more of a classic ID ten t Error?
        That is what tends that is what tends to make a lot of things crash.

  2. KJT 2
    18 July 2018 at 9:41 am

    “Only the truly ignorant, can speak with such surety”.

    Yet another example of a right wing sycophant, promoted way beyound their level of competence.

    Typical of too many in positions of power in New Zealand, whose only real ability is brown nosing for the rabid right wing establishment.

    • Draco T Bastard 2.1
      18 July 2018 at 11:04 am

      Yep. Almost all the people in positions of power in NZ but especially those of a right-wing bent show definite signs of the Dunning-Kruger effect and the Peter Principle.

      There’s a very good reason why we tend to berate management for being useless – it’s because most of them are.

      • cleangreen 2.1.1
        18 July 2018 at 1:06 pm

        Yes Draco; 100%

        The right wing ‘faction’ are exhibiting signs of becomming a ‘petulant’ bunch of children again.

  3. ianmac 3
    18 July 2018 at 9:46 am

    Hosking does not look well. Perhaps his constant negativity is eating away at his health.
    Of course his relentless positivity in favour of hero Key must be paid for by a counter surge of negativity. Plus. Minus.
    Maybe he will find love in Bridges?

  4. Agora 4
    18 July 2018 at 9:50 am

    Give the guy a bottle of booze behind the winery .. he looks as though he needs it.

  5. Netman 5
    18 July 2018 at 9:57 am

    Mikes depression has been evident since John Key left the beehive

  6. SaveNZ 6
    18 July 2018 at 9:59 am

    Mike Who?

  7. Gabby 7
    18 July 2018 at 10:04 am

    He’s not over missing out on the Miami Vice part, and only having the one lousy tshirt.

    • Wensleydale 7.1
      18 July 2018 at 10:17 am

      Yeah, that whole ‘slap a blazer over the tee-shirt you slept in’ aesthetic isn’t really working for him. He looks like he spent the night sleeping in a bus shelter. Poor guy. Who knew Jacinda could have such a corrosive effect on one man’s steadily deteriorating psyche?

  8. AB 8
    18 July 2018 at 10:15 am

    It’s a crisis of alienation. The world is drifting away from him and it makes no sense. He’s wearing a different jacket in every shot, but ostentatious boosterism is out of fashion.

  9. gsays 9
    18 July 2018 at 10:16 am

    I realise I am supposed to join in the pile on and say something nasty…

    I have been reading on TS lately lots of definitions, ideas and opinions on what left and right wing is.
    A relatively common theme of what’s left wing is inclusivity.

    It would seem another consequence of the neo liberal reforms is the reshaping of left wing.
    It now seems like the left is looking through a myriad of single lenses, a long way from a more communal vibe.

    Awkward to express this idea in text form, without poking too many chests, so much easier in conversation.

    • Gabby 9.1
      18 July 2018 at 11:28 am

      Inclusiveness isn’t indulgence though is it.

      • gsays 9.1.1
        18 July 2018 at 5:05 pm

        It works with children and dogs- praising good behaviour and ignoring the bad.
        Jumping all over his brainfarts gives them a credibility they don’t deserve.

    • Puckish Rogue 9.2
      18 July 2018 at 11:49 am

      “so much easier in conversation.”

      Yep, I’ve long held the view that there’d be a lot less niggle on these boards if we we’re all in a pub

      • gsays 9.2.1
        18 July 2018 at 5:06 pm

        Amen to being around a leaner.

      • Stuart Munro 9.2.2
        18 July 2018 at 5:09 pm

        If the many New Zealanders impoverished to the point they cannot regularly go to the pub could afford to again they might indeed be less condemning of the class who presently consign them to poverty.

    • cd 9.3
      18 July 2018 at 12:56 pm

      Is the left wing meant to be inclusive? I think there is a strong history of divisiveness and splintering. The “People’s Liberation Front” sketch from Monty Python’s Life of Brian comes to mind.

      • gsays 9.3.1
        18 July 2018 at 5:08 pm

        By inclusive I meant leaving no-one behind.
        Whether we care for their views or not.

        SPLITTER!

    • OnceWasTim 9.4
      18 July 2018 at 6:26 pm

      Kinda loik a prism eh possum? A single ray can be directed in all directions and in all colours. Gosh it’s become all so complicated eh?
      My entire family could create careers analysing it all.
      I’m tearing my hair out wondering what to do next whilst eating newly discovered popcorn. Should I join Twitter? Should I sign up for Facebook?
      decisions decisions

  10. Morrissey 10
    18 July 2018 at 10:31 am

    Hosking is terrible—but he is a Glenn Greenwald compared to Duncan Garner.

  11. clare 11
    18 July 2018 at 11:07 am

    very brave of you Greg, i don’t think i could do that, even once is too much for me.

    last time i actually clicked on mike’s minute (actually two and a half minutes) he was rabbiting on that the solution to vehicle pollution was DIESEL. i laughed like a drain.

  12. Sanctuary 12
    18 July 2018 at 11:20 am

    As I understand it, these columns are just a printed version of his morning radio rant. A “media synergy” designed to provide some sort of content on the cheap.

    That would mean we are reading a message tailored to the aging right wing racists who make up the bulk of the ZB audience, a message designed to rark up the talkback Taliban into calling ZB to wave their fists at the clouds.

    The most remarkable thing about Hoskings “controversial” rants is how little comment they actually generate.

    That is because his stuff isn’t controversial. It is entirely predictable, you don’t have to read his stuff to know what he will say. He is a peddler of nonsense to a narrow audience of the already converted wingnuts and pensioners.

    Hoskings is so awesomely lacking in self awareness and egotistical that he doesn’t realise that he is now a bit of a comedy parody of the predictability, arrogance and stupidity of a certain kind of aging white guy.

    • cleangreen 12.1
      18 July 2018 at 1:21 pm

      NO, no, no sanctuary; – dont knock all us pensioners laddie.

      We dont watch hoskings at all. Maybe saay ‘some pensioners’ please as that was an insult to us.

      You said; “He (Hoskings) is a peddler of nonsense to a narrow audience of the already converted wingnuts and pensioners.

  13. Cemetery Jones 13
    18 July 2018 at 11:23 am

    For a man who clearly loves clothes, he has the most carcinogenic taste in blazers.

    • Sanctuary 13.1
      18 July 2018 at 11:36 am

      That is because when he looks in the mirror he sees a handsome, relevant man of the hour as confident in his dress sense as he is of his politics!

  14. AsleepWhileWalking 14
    18 July 2018 at 11:46 am

    From the photo evidence above his stylist and should be shot. An army buzz cut would be an improvement.

    • Draco T Bastard 14.1
      18 July 2018 at 12:24 pm

      He’s probably his own stylist because has a Ferrari and thus must be stylish.

  15. Kat 15
    18 July 2018 at 12:02 pm

    Whatever Hosking’s malaise is its affecting Matthew Hooton as well, the spin has spun out and they have reached the end of the road. The phone is off the hook so to speak, although I can see Hooton frantically searching through the glove box for a new map while Hosking sweaty palms on the wheel, squints into the dying sunset.

  16. Sanctuary 16
    18 July 2018 at 12:24 pm

    yes, those jackets.

    The first one looks like the sort of thing an arriviste thinks the people who he admires might have worn at boarding school.

    the second one looks like he just clambered through a hedge to sneak into a polo tournament.

    the third one is the sort of jacket you wear when you wish you were a member of a posh British rowing club, but got blackballed. No one say those British don’t know a parvenu when they see one.

    The less said about the fourth one the better. Somewhere a teenager lost out on an op shop bargain.

    And that last one just needs a little pill box hat and I’ll wait for him to greet me and the other guests with a cheery smile at the entrance of the hotel.

  17. OnceWasTim 17
    18 July 2018 at 12:36 pm

    What’s eating Mike Hosking?
    He’s no longer on primetoim TV and he isn’t getting enough attention.
    But surely Kate and dad-in-law are capable of giving hugs?
    Maybe not. Being the highest level of ‘special’, I guess he needs a doting Public lining up to offer their hugs.

    • cleangreen 17.1
      18 July 2018 at 1:26 pm

      Onnce WasTim;

      Matbe Hoskings is worried that ‘John Campbell’ is coming to take over and push him onto the scrap heap of “media has beens'”?

      • OnceWasTim 17.1.1
        18 July 2018 at 4:19 pm

        Do they serve Hasbeens on Toast with Egg (poached or fried) on Ponsonby Road or on the waterfront these days?
        I’d have thought Mike and Kate haven’t had Hasbeens on Toast in a very long time, at least not since dadda-in-law bought the vineyard on Waiheke and became an expert on the upper class palette.
        I don’t know. I haven’t been near there since I was a public servant visiting the Ministry of Murray’s Fears (Te Puni Kokiri), but the last time I did, I noticed the creeping gentrification and wondered how long the humble Hasbeen on Toast with Egg and Bacon was going to last

        Could it be that Mike Hosking is just now left with the baked bean fart? That’d be horrific

        • the other pat 17.1.1.1
          19 July 2018 at 8:46 am

          AHH…. the baked bean fart…..that explains the look on his face then!!

  18. Tricledrown 18
    18 July 2018 at 12:51 pm

    Hoskings straight jacket mentality no middle ground for this Narcissist.
    Narcissists never admit they are wrong

  19. Mark 19
    18 July 2018 at 12:57 pm

    You’re accusing him of negativity? Seriously? What about he 90% of haters who contribute on this website, when talking about anyone who doesn’t share their sad world view.

    • Tricledrown 19.1
      18 July 2018 at 2:14 pm

      Mark Richardson irony.
      Most contributors seem to be right whingers these days bored at blubber boys blog.

  20. Richard Christie 20
    18 July 2018 at 1:16 pm

    “What is eating Mike Hosking?”

    Who cares, but here’s to hoping that it is insatiable.

  21. mary_a 21
    18 July 2018 at 1:17 pm

    Oddball Trump loving Hosking looks as though something has crawled up his rear end and died!

    Either that, or there’s trouble at the mill (or home) perhaps? Hence the reason for him to look like the bagful of arseholes he does!

  22. Tiger Mountain 22
    18 July 2018 at 1:48 pm

    yes, founding member, and Life President, of the “Key Love” club is a bit of a flat tyre at the moment–a plea for help perhaps in the only way he knows–via public attention seeking?

    gone from 7 Sharp, a 76,000 strong petition questioning his impartiality still rankling, and love of his life, Mr Key, off the stage…Unhappy Days!!

  23. patricia bremner 23
    18 July 2018 at 2:18 pm

    Why hit a man when he’s down? (even though he might?) “Stage right Hosk and take Soper with you!”

  24. Al 24
    18 July 2018 at 2:20 pm

    Given Hosking’s clear psychological instability this is not surprising. I didn’t agree much of what he said prior to the departure of his beloved JK and, well, why would that change?

  25. Gosman 25
    18 July 2018 at 2:40 pm

    You can almost guarantee that when the topics start drying out that someone here will post a Mike Hoskings post just so the usual suspects can work themselves up in a fury at how he is so terrible and they can’t believe he has a media platform to promote his nonsense. It is almost reassuring like a Sunday roast with the family.

    • Chris T 25.1
      18 July 2018 at 2:49 pm

      Was just thinking the same thing

      Lol

    • BM 25.2
      18 July 2018 at 2:51 pm

      Yep, seems to be a bit of a theme on this blog of late, plenty of posts on Trump, how shit National is or anyone who’s slightly right of centre.

      Funnily for a left-wing blog, hardly any posts on the current Labour government, what they’re doing, what they’re proposing, what they should be doing, it’s almost as if the government can’t be discussed here in case they get painted in a bad light and you couldn’t have that, because this is the greatest government of all time !!!!! and we won’t hear a bad word about them !!!!

      • Andre 25.2.1
        18 July 2018 at 2:59 pm

        Write up a guest post. If you argue your positions well I’d certainly be interested in reading it and maybe even responding.

      • McFlock 25.2.2
        18 July 2018 at 2:59 pm

        What, you mean maybe an article or two about the nurses strike, mining permits, NZ foreign policy (Gaza), or something similarly related to government actions would be nice?

        true dat /sarc

        • Lebleaux 25.2.2.1
          18 July 2018 at 3:04 pm

          Or perhaps … how many trees, how many houses or even the apparent policy of “lets not minute meetings so there is no evidence of what we talked about”

          So much ….. so, so much

          • McFlock 25.2.2.1.1
            18 July 2018 at 3:22 pm

            feel free to write some yourself. Conduct a weekly tree audit, maybe?
            Because everything I mentions was covered on the front page.

      • Lebleaux 25.2.3
        18 July 2018 at 3:01 pm

        I think people are showing remarkable restraint when it comes to commenting on the current government. The government continue to show ineptitude daily – the blog would be full in no time ……. people would simply not be able to keep up.

        • Dean Reynolds 25.2.3.1
          18 July 2018 at 5:19 pm

          You have a short memory – the appalling National Government of the last 9 years was the most incompetent, vicious & crooked government N Z has ever had – Pike River, State House tenants turfed out on the basis of fraudulent meths ‘testing’, the $11m bribe to the crooked Saudi businessman, etc. Does that jog your memory, you National Party lackey?

          • Lebleaux 25.2.3.1.1
            18 July 2018 at 7:06 pm

            Lackey ? … Lackey? … that is almost personal … who would have seen that coming. Lackey … no, just an unaffiliated collector of facts. Anyhoo … let us look at your response.

            I suggested there may be a competence problem with the current coalition government and you told how bad National was. I made no claims about National in past, present or future, yet you told me how bad National was … was … not even ‘is’.

            As you offered absolutely nothing to suggest that there is not a competence problem with the current coalition government I can only assume that you agree with me and so I thank for you for your affirmation.

    • adam 25.3
      18 July 2018 at 6:12 pm

      Woohoo a hate in!!

      • Naki man 25.3.1
        18 July 2018 at 8:48 pm

        “Woohoo a hate in!!”

        Somehow you seem to have missed that this thread is a “hate in” trying desperately to smear Hosking for highlighting Twyfords clusterfuck.

    • Pete 25.4
      19 July 2018 at 9:32 am

      The topic will never dry up while there’s a splurge virtually every day from Hosking. To some the dissing of Hosking could be just like a Sunday roast with the family.

      To others the Hosking contribution is like a daily crap all over people, the community and reason.

  26. ianmac 26
    18 July 2018 at 2:57 pm

    Hosking says he never reads anything about himself. So maybe there is nothing to make him think other than that he believe that the whole world loves him.

  27. Jackel 27
    18 July 2018 at 3:31 pm

    Clearly a bought and paid for Tory. I don’t agree with his last rant. Things aren’t so good globally, though on the surface it appears so, for any country that owes the USA. The money is going back the other way now.

    The Tories hope to blame Labour for this and get reelected. Well if they do get back in they won’t be able to turn the tide. I’d accept real money over Tory money any day.

  28. Nick 28
    18 July 2018 at 5:37 pm

    That hosking guy wears the same tshirt every day, he must really smell bad by now.

  29. R.P Mcmurphy 29
    18 July 2018 at 5:45 pm

    they have started printing his crap in the Wairarapa Times Age.
    I am sure it is actually mathew hooton writing it and hoskings is paying him off!
    he has become another profit line for Exceltium Corpse

  30. adam 30
    18 July 2018 at 6:09 pm

    I’m just glad to know your reading some right wing press Mickysavage. There are better right wing writes than Hoskin though, his command of language, is well, I’ll leave it at limp.

  31. mosa 31
    18 July 2018 at 6:33 pm

    Why are we even talking about this individual who contributes nothing positive or worthwhile to any facet of our lives.
    He is toilet film.

  32. In Vino 32
    18 July 2018 at 8:21 pm

    He is spent. He has turned into a Grumpy Old Fart. The world has not gone the way he wanted. He and his wife are hopelessly trying to stay young-looking (not a single grey! – because they dye their hair..) But age is relentless, and Hosking has now to face the fact that he is a Grumpy Old Fart.
    No credibility any more with the young.
    Sad? Not to my mind – more Karma.
    P S (edit) must agree with adam above. Hosking will not go down in history as a literary, linguistic star.

  33. Blazer 33
    18 July 2018 at 8:54 pm

    ‘What is eating Mike Hosking?

    I doubt it it is Kate Hawkesby…she wouldn’t want to mess her hair..up.

  34. John Shears 34
    18 July 2018 at 10:25 pm

    Tres Drole Kat

  35. Jimmy 35
    19 July 2018 at 8:49 am

    Larry Williams is a lot better to listen to than Mike

  36. Ffloyd 36
    19 July 2018 at 9:14 am

    Borer in his wooden head.

  37. Delia 37
    20 July 2018 at 11:11 am

    Simply he is angry that National are not the govt.

  38. Philj 38
    20 July 2018 at 9:38 pm

    “What is eating Mike Hosking?”
    Mike Hosking, and he’s not very happy about it.

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