At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all.

Donald Trump: 8/10

Yes, there's some madness and puffery and stuff you know will never happen, but he has a lot of energy and “buy in”. This will be a dramatic and, I think on balance, successful four years.

Our economy: 2/10

While we distract ourselves with frippery over Mexican barbs and asset sales that aren't happening, listen to the Reserve Bank or HSBC or any financial commentator of note. We are in deep, deep trouble, with no growth and growing debt. It never ends well.

Charter schools: 7/10

One of the good news stories of the week. Not only did more schools apply than they had money for, but more pupils applied to those schools than they had desks for.

Jobs: 6/10

Another good news story. We grew jobs at the end of last year, not by much, but we didn’t go backwards.

Speed limits: 6/10

This week is a start but really, does it have to be this hard and slow for the rest?

Sail GP: 7/10

One of the highlights of the holidays. That thing is slick, it's well run, and it makes New Zealand look great. Coutts is awesome.

Winston Peters: 4/10

The race thing I thought he had moved on from. He looks better than that these days, until he doesn’t.

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Proving life is what you make it, I walked into a local restaurant over the holidays.

It's Italian and very good, and they have a new owner.

Who was this person, I inquired?

He came from hospitality, had worked in the city, but he and a mate had decided to, as he put it, take a punt. "It's better to be an owner than work for someone," he said.

I immediately admired him.

The restaurant had been put up for sale because it wasn’t making any money.

That's a familiar story in hospitality and yet I can tell you why this place hadn't made any money.

It was because it was only open five days a week. For dinner. For limited hours.

The first thing our new owner did was open seven days a week and open for lunches.

He even opened on Christmas day and did 20 covers on short notice.

By the time we left town he was more than happy with how things were humming.

So, is hospitality in trouble, or are there too many owners who don’t want to do the work?

Over the holidays I noticed too many people who weren't open, or weren't open long enough, then the cafes that close at 4pm and when you walk in at 3.40pm they say "sorry, the kitchen is closed".

Sorry, the sign on the door says, we are having a well-earned break. "Back on the 3rd of January", or the 6th of January or whenever. This was in tourist country and, let's be honest, I thought all of New Zealand was supposed to be tourist country.

So how much pain is real and how much of life is made harder simply by not trying hard enough?

Is David Seymour right? There are two camps these days - the change makers and the ones who sort of open, but not really, then wonder why things are a bit slow.

Our mate at the restaurant, my bet is, will make a good go of it because he is invested and he is determined and he did a couple of simple things the others could have done but didn’t, so they had to bail.

Winners and losers. Most of it is about choice.

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The A-Team is back to Wrap the Week, with Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson joining Mike Hosking to discuss the week that was.

They discussed Mike’s coffee woes, how being 60 differs to being 40, and a wayward delivery of cherries.

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On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Friday 31st of January, we have years of backlogged primary industry health products in need of approval – David Seymour responds to the situation.

A leaked letter has revealed that BNZ is dropping a fuel company from their bank and closing their accounts, Todd McClay digs into the situation.

The Wrapping the Week A-team is back with Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson, who sneak in an appearance before the end of January.

Get the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast every weekday morning on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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The wool sector's prepared for price challenges as Kainga Ora backtracks on a previous ban.

The social housing agency will allow wool carpet providers the chance to tender for supply for carpet and underlay in its homes.

It's used synthetic carpet for the last decade.

Bremworth CEO Greg Smith says the industry can win on durability.

He told Mike Hosking their suppliers have seen wool business double in three years, and if they can get the price right, the sector will win more.

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Officials say there are no survivors from the Potomac River plane crash.

An American Airlines flight and US Military helicopter collided mid-air near Reagan Washington National Airport last night.

The plane was carrying 60 passengers and four crew, while the army helicopter was carrying three people.

US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking that the situation was preventable.

He says American Airlines’ CEO Robert Isom appears to be blaming the military crew for being in the wrong place, while President Trump is blaming diversity and the Biden Administration for the circumstances.

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The Associate Education Minister believes the coverage of the new school lunches are blowing things out of proportion.

David Seymour told Mike Hosking that the media are taking the worst of the reviews and comments about the lunches to make it seem “terrible”.

“I read in the Herald this morning about a restaurant critic they had saying it was not the worst meal that I have ever had, it actually had a lot of vegetables in it.”

He told the principals complaining that they had to fork out school money for pizza yesterday to “take a step back”.

“This is a government with a $7 billion deficit, we spent $130 million on this programme while actually providing more meals for kids this year.

“We are doing something new, it is only day five, day four in some places. So we gotta get a bit of a reality check.”

Seymour argued that if there were to be a survey of the lunches 75% of students are still getting from their parents there would be “mixed reviews” as well.

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A primary sector advocacy group says a review of new plant and animal products is critically important for New Zealand farmers.

A backlog of more than 100 applications are awaiting approval, and it could take up to four years to clear the queue.

Now, a dozen primary sector businesses and groups are calling for swift action to clear the backlog.

Animal and Plant Health New Zealand Chief Executive Liz Shackleton told Mike Hosking the Government has one chance to get it right.

She says it's a chance for the Prime Minister to put his growth agenda into action.

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