On this day 60 years ago, 4 young lads from Liverpool arrived in Wellington on a plane to commence a week long tour of New Zealand. And they changed everything.

It was the Beatles.

It wasn't like we weren't warned. The week before was chaos as they toured Australia. 250,000 youngsters welcomed the band in sleepy old Adelaide. But the older generation were not prepared for the excitement, the hysteria and disorder that followed the band wherever they went. They were agog.

It was the beginning of the generation gap. It was the beginning of the rise of youth culture.

The Beatles opened New Zealand's eyes. The advent of international travel and of television meant they were the world's first international superstars and they were here.

Andrew Dickens chats with listeners who remember the day and the week. The adventures are legendary. Most were extraordinarily young and yet the time is burnt into their memory. Take a trip.

LISTEN ABOVE

When We Was Fab: Inside the Beatles Australasian Tour 1964 (Woodland Press). Andy Neill has ticketed book launch events at Unity Books, Wellington, June 21; Hedley’s Books, Masterton, June 22; Big Fan, Auckland. June 25.

On this day 60 years ago, 4 young lads from Liverpool arrived in Wellington on a plane to commence a week long tour of New Zealand. And they changed everything.
It was the Beatles.
It wasn't like we weren't warned. The week before was chaos as they toured Australia. 250,000 youngsters welcomed the band in sleepy old Adelaide. But the older generation were not prepared for the excitement, the hysteria and disorder that followed the band wherever they went. They were agog.
It was the beginning of the generation gap. It was the beginning of the rise of youth culture.
The Beatles opened New Zealand's eyes. The advent of international travel and of television meant they were the world's first international superstars and they were here.
Andrew Dickens chats with listeners who remember the day and the week. The adventures are legendary. Most were extraordinarily young and yet the time is burnt into their memory. Take a trip.
LISTEN ABOVE
When We Was Fab: Inside the Beatles Australasian Tour 1964 (Woodland Press). Andy Neill has ticketed book launch events at Unity Books, Wellington, June 21; Hedley’s Books, Masterton, June 22; Big Fan, Auckland. June 25.

With decades of broadcasting experience behind him, Andrew Dickens has worked around the world across multiple radio genres. His bold, sharp and energetic show on Newstalk ZB is always informative and entertaining.

Andrew Dickens Afternoons

The Beatles in New Zealand - it's been 60 years!

So I went to a party at the weekend. Quite a swanky one. Negronis and burgers and all sorts of people. Judges and doctors and advertising people and even musicians.

An old mate was there, a card-carrying lefty.

We're chatting and he says he's part of an urbanism group. Studying and advocating for urban development, and he says, "you right-wing ZB types would hate it."

So I said, "I beg your pardon?"

What part of having a well-designed and functional city is either left-wing or right-wing? It's not about politics it's about practicality. Who doesn't want a functioning public transport system? Who doesn't want accommodation solutions for the poor and the young so they don't have to leave the cities for a house? By the way right-wingers love trains. Mussolini made them run on time.

The politicisation of city designs is why nothing ever happens anymore and our cities just get worse and worse.

So it was good to open the paper on Sunday and see the Auckland mayor talking about that city's abortive light rail plans.

He said it was good that the Government killed Labour's plan off because it was disastrously handled.

The main problem with it was the cost which had been calculated at 400 million dollars a kilometre. Mayor Brown said he was recently in a town in France, the size of Christchurch, who have built a very successful light rail, at a cost of 50 million a kilometre. Nearly 90 per cent cheaper?

Then he went into all the reasons big projects cost so much in New Zealand. The gold plating of design, the contracts granted to constructors who are also suppliers who have no reason to contain costs, and then there's the politics. What idiot wanted to put a light rail into a tunnel? Michael Wood, that's who.

But the problem with all of this is that a good idea is thrown away because of bad management.

When Labour came in in 2017, AT had a 6 billion dollar light rail plan, ready to go. But Labour and then the New Zealand Superannuation Fund thought they could do it better and suddenly it was 15 billion because of the tunnelling and it stalled and then National killed it.

Much was made of the 228 million spent with no track laid which shows us how little people know of projects. That money was spent on geo-tech reports and surveys and buying land and planning. It's still all valid now and to throw it out is a blatant waste of taxpayers' money.

Light rail is not left wing. Light rail is not a bad idea. Labour was just a bad government that cocked it up.

LISTEN ABOVE.

So I went to a party at the weekend. Quite a swanky one. Negronis and burgers and all sorts of people. Judges and doctors and advertising people and even musicians. 
An old mate was there, a card-carrying lefty. 
We're chatting and he says he's part of an urbanism group. Studying and advocating for urban development, and he says, "you right-wing ZB types would hate it." 
So I said, "I beg your pardon?" 
What part of having a well-designed and functional city is either left-wing or right-wing? It's not about politics it's about practicality. Who doesn't want a functioning public transport system? Who doesn't want accommodation solutions for the poor and the young so they don't have to leave the cities for a house? By the way right-wingers love trains. Mussolini made them run on time. 
The politicisation of city designs is why nothing ever happens anymore and our cities just get worse and worse. 
So it was good to open the paper on Sunday and see the Auckland mayor talking about that city's abortive light rail plans. 
He said it was good that the Government killed Labour's plan off because it was disastrously handled. 
The main problem with it was the cost which had been calculated at 400 million dollars a kilometre. Mayor Brown said he was recently in a town in France, the size of Christchurch, who have built a very successful light rail, at a cost of 50 million a kilometre. Nearly 90 per cent cheaper? 
Then he went into all the reasons big projects cost so much in New Zealand. The gold plating of design, the contracts granted to constructors who are also suppliers who have no reason to contain costs, and then there's the politics. What idiot wanted to put a light rail into a tunnel? Michael Wood, that's who. 
But the problem with all of this is that a good idea is thrown away because of bad management. 
When Labour came in in 2017, AT had a 6 billion dollar light rail plan, ready to go. But Labour and then the New Zealand Superannuation Fund thought they could do it better and suddenly it was 15 billion because of the tunnelling and it stalled and then National killed it. 
Much was made of the 228 million spent with no track laid which shows us how little people know of projects. That money was spent on geo-tech reports and surveys and buying land and planning. It's still all valid now and to throw it out is a blatant waste of taxpayers' money. 
Light rail is not left wing. Light rail is not a bad idea. Labour was just a bad government that cocked it up. 
LISTEN ABOVE.

Andrew Dickens: The politicisation of city designs is why nothing ever happens anymore

A report from Auckland Council's boarding house inspectors shows out of 44 properties suspected to be breaking the law, 40 were “operating unauthorised transient accommodation or boarding houses.”

Many had issues with fire safety breaches, growing numbers of gang-affiliated guests, and owners questioning council authority.

Andrew Dickens had two callers today who discussed their situations.

The first, Jamie, lives in a boarding house with his son. 

Jamie told Andrew Dickens “There’s one room here that’s $500 – the guy’s killing it,”

Jamie said “You’re living with alcoholics and drug users. I’ve had to send my kid to his mum’s because it’s no place for a kid.”

The second, John, owns two boarding houses and lives there himself.

John told Andrew Dickens “When they come here, they are lost. When I give them a room, they sleep for a week - they are that exhausted.”

John said “It’s an ideal situation to get these people off the street and give them independence.”

LISTEN ABOVE.

A report from Auckland Council's boarding house inspectors shows out of 44 properties suspected to be breaking the law, 40 were “operating unauthorised transient accommodation or boarding houses.” 
Many had issues with fire safety breaches, growing numbers of gang-affiliated guests, and owners questioning council authority. 
Andrew Dickens had two callers today who discussed their situations. 
The first, Jamie, lives in a boarding house with his son.  
Jamie told Andrew Dickens “There’s one room here that’s $500 – the guy’s killing it,” 
Jamie said “You’re living with alcoholics and drug users. I’ve had to send my kid to his mum’s because it’s no place for a kid.” 
The second, John, owns two boarding houses and lives there himself. 
John told Andrew Dickens “When they come here, they are lost. When I give them a room, they sleep for a week - they are that exhausted.” 
John said “It’s an ideal situation to get these people off the street and give them independence.” 
LISTEN ABOVE.

Andrew Dickens: Two callers discuss the boarding house situation in New Zealand

I presume the lead story in the Herald on Sunday was welcomed by police and those behind our stronger gun laws. 

An Auckland pensioner and his daughter have been caught for legally buying 13 guns for the Comancheros motorcycle gang. 

It's the latest of dozens of discoveries by police of licensed gun owners buying for gangs who cannot legally purchase guns. 

It was validation of good old-fashioned police work. Over the past 4 years the police have analysed more than 350,000 sales records looking for suspicious patterns of spending.  

They then correlate the purchases with the records of gun owners, and they discover the gang's straw buyers. 

But to me, it also validates the strengthening of the laws back in 2019 after the Christchurch mosque massacre. 

That saw the banning of military-style semi-automatics, stricter rules on the “fit and proper” test to hold a license, the establishment of a gun registry, and a set of rules designed to ensure gun clubs and ranges are safe places. 

At the time, gun owners made out that the laws criminalised legal gun owners which was a massive over-exaggeration.  It criminalised a type of gun only. A type of gun that non MSSA owners find intimidating and unnecessary. A gun that turns any idiot into a killing machine as long as they can handle the recoil. 

And the new rules also told the citizens of New Zealand that ownership of a gun is not a right but a privilege that must be earned.   

But they also say that once it's earnt there's no problem at all as long as it's not a military-style automatic. 

And slowly it's beginning to make sense to even the law's hardest detractors. 

Act campaigned on a full repeal of the legislation and the minister in charge is Act's Nicole Mckee 

She is also the former spokesperson for the council of licensed firearms owners. 

She was also interviewed in the paper yesterday where she said gun owners hoping for a rollback will be disappointed. 

Act campaigned on greater access to MSSAs and scrapping the gun registry, but these didn’t make it into coalition agreements. 

Instead, the National-Act agreement committed to repealing the regulations around gun clubs and shooting ranges - which Mckee has now backed off from doing completely - a review of the registry and a rewrite of the arms act. 

But, at the moment, the laws are being seen to work.  And here's the rub.  If you support getting tough on crime then you must also support getting tough on gun ownership.

LISTEN ABOVE.

I presume the lead story in the Herald on Sunday was welcomed by police and those behind our stronger gun laws.  
An Auckland pensioner and his daughter have been caught for legally buying 13 guns for the Comancheros motorcycle gang.  
It's the latest of dozens of discoveries by police of licensed gun owners buying for gangs who cannot legally purchase guns.  
It was validation of good old-fashioned police work. Over the past 4 years the police have analysed more than 350,000 sales records looking for suspicious patterns of spending.   
They then correlate the purchases with the records of gun owners, and they discover the gang's straw buyers.  
But to me, it also validates the strengthening of the laws back in 2019 after the Christchurch mosque massacre.  
That saw the banning of military-style semi-automatics, stricter rules on the “fit and proper” test to hold a license, the establishment of a gun registry, and a set of rules designed to ensure gun clubs and ranges are safe places.  
At the time, gun owners made out that the laws criminalised legal gun owners which was a massive over-exaggeration.  It criminalised a type of gun only. A type of gun that non MSSA owners find intimidating and unnecessary. A gun that turns any idiot into a killing machine as long as they can handle the recoil.  
And the new rules also told the citizens of New Zealand that ownership of a gun is not a right but a privilege that must be earned.    
But they also say that once it's earnt there's no problem at all as long as it's not a military-style automatic.  
And slowly it's beginning to make sense to even the law's hardest detractors.  
Act campaigned on a full repeal of the legislation and the minister in charge is Act's Nicole Mckee  
She is also the former spokesperson for the council of licensed firearms owners.  
She was also interviewed in the paper yesterday where she said gun owners hoping for a rollback will be disappointed.  
Act campaigned on greater access to MSSAs and scrapping the gun registry, but these didn’t make it into coalition agreements.  
Instead, the National-Act agreement committed to repealing the regulations around gun clubs and shooting ranges - which Mckee has now backed off from doing completely - a review of the registry and a rewrite of the arms act.  
But, at the moment, the laws are being seen to work.  And here's the rub.  If you support getting tough on crime then you must also support getting tough on gun ownership. 
LISTEN ABOVE.

The Beatles in New Zealand - it's been 60 years!

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