FROM THE NEWS DESK

It was hard to say who was the winner of the leader’s debate, between National’s Bill English and Labour’s Jacinda Ardern, broadcast on TV One. I say that because there seemed to be more pre-debate talk about how host Mike Hosking would manage the debate, rather than how the two leaders would handle the questions. Was Mr Hosking a good choice for the job? TVNZ seem to think so and backed him despite public criticism. He got stuck into the prime minister about the state of the country’s rivers while pressing Jacinda Ardern hard on policy details. But it did appear that Mr Hosking was the central attraction when it should have been the leaders. It almost had that game show feel about it. Could anyone else do a better job than Mr Hosking? I would like to put forward the following candidates: TVNZ political editor Corin Dan; longtime broadcaster Peter Williams; Radio NZ’s John Campbell, Susie Ferguson, Guyon Espiner or Mihingarangi Forbes. I’m not sure why TVNZ keeps defaulting to Mr Hosking.

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