The above was a heading in last week’s Hutt Valley weekly newspaper, The Hutt News.
It appeared over opinion pieces from respectively, new Labour MP Arena Williams and National MP Stuart Smith, these probably written a week before publication.
Stuart correctly pointed to the guts of the issue, namely a failure to build enough houses.
But feel for Arena. She opened with the following; “The Prime Minister has categorically ruled out introducing a new capital gains tax and the public did not want it so it’s off the table.”
The newspaper was delivered to every house a few hours after the Prime Minister actually did in a disguised form what Arena had correctly observed she’s undertaken not to do.
That would have been a hell of a wake-up call for her about the hard realities of ever ephemeral political integrity and its constant absence, which underpins the general contempt felt world-wide for politicians.
That said, I make a point of occasionally turning to Parliament during night sessions, to look at new MPs and pick the likely comers.
To date Arena is a stand-out and reminds me of the younger Jacinda. Like the PM in her apprenticeship days she delivers policy advocacies to a near empty late night chamber with passion and without the tiresome infantile abuse of the opposing side. That said, a cynic would advise her to heed Enoch Powell’s famous (and largely correct) adage that all political careers end in tears, and flee before it’s too late.
The problem is to what? She’s already wisely done that by escaping the horrors and tedium of a law career.
Being a mother of two inhibits stimulating living-life-to-the-full options such as running off with a circus or taking up pole dancing or prize-fighting and such-like.
Someone’s bound to show her this item. Doubtless she’ll think I’m taking the mickey career-wise. Trust me, I’m not, and when Arena’s an old lady she’ll perhaps look back and wish she’s taken this 100% correct advice.
9 Comments
One can feel sorry for Arena when she correctly wrote what was in fact the truth.
However, she did not take into account that both Ardern and Robertson are incorrigible liars.
Hopefully, Arena has now learnt from this embarrassing experience.
… Ardern actually did,in a disguised form,what Arena correctly observed she’d undertaken not to…
Surprise, surprise.
And as Sir Bob correctly notes this type of behaviour underpins the general contempt world-wide,for politicians.
Integrity, and establishing and maintaining faith with an electorate has given way to political pragmatism,
and this government will eventually go the way of all those which hold such dishonesty as a virtue.
Sorry SB, unfortunate for Arena but I don’t feel for her at all.
She wants to hang with the woke virtuous looney-left then good friggen luck… (to all).
Successful politicians disguise their dishonesty as incompetence – if possible as someone else’s. Eventually someone else does it to them – hence Powell’s dictum.
Other than immigration and justice it would be hard to find a sector so riddled with political dishonesty as housing.
Well put..Sad but very true..
Bob – if Arena was to take your advice that does lead to an interesting conundrum :- if you think she is a ‘stand-out’ (and by that I presume you mean one of the best) and yet you recommend she give up politics then who do you recommend does run the country?!! – the less competent ones?!! If you believe someone is one of the more competent and capable then surely they should be given all the encouragement possible to do what is often an extraordinarily difficult and often thankless task. Or do you propose leadership by the incompetent and/or anarchy?
Seems to be the standard M.O. Promise and tell the plebs whatever they want to hear. Fore few of them have minds capable of remembering, three years after, what was said. Then carry, on with whatever secret agenda is, or wish list policy is planned. Spin and rebrand the “capital gain tax” as “a bright line test”. Have a bought and paid off news media, be totally compliant, and not question any policy. Arena, having been hand chosen, by the Labour party, because she ticks all the left boxes. Ethnicity, diversity, career academic, law degree, female, naive, and energetic. She probably believes she will change the world?
Politics is just a side show, to distract the masses from the main event.
The real action happens in the tax havens, for those who chose to pay their less than fair share of taxes and those bought off to keep the exclusive party going.
Enjoy the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np_ylvc8Zj8 Appropriately named the spiders web
In the last couple of months I have written to Arena regarding two of her media articles. One was to confirm my math that the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere that NZ is responsible for equates to 3 parts per 100,00,000 and the other to ask how many genders there are. Still waiting for an answer.