Wendy
The headline on the latest NZ Herald opinion piece by recently minted journalist, the PM’s partner Clarke Gayford, signals that they had a secret holiday and he is going to spill the beans. Not so secret then?
Notice how he is able to do his partner’s PR for her whilst they are on holiday and no one in the media or even the Opposition is raising the issue? There are plenty of half-decent writers looking for a media platform who do not have a partner earning a cool $460,000. Gayford is an average travel/fishing/PR writer who has probably grown into the role, thanks to the opportunities our eager beaver media have given him.
Clarke Gayford’s ability to trade off his partner’s high status and influence is a prime example of a conflict of interest, the very thing the left would be outraged about if Key or English’s wife had done it. Clarke has the audacity to do it, and due to political correctness, everyone is too scared to criticise due to his partner’s position.
Fear prevents the right from criticizing the left, as the push back would be so immense it’s not worthwhile. No such qualms exist for the left who spend their lives outraged at anything the right may say or do. It is their reason for existing.
We all know what happened when Mark Richardson had the audacity to ask a perfectly valid question about Ardern taking Maternity leave. He was met with a look of fire and brimstone from her and other #MeTu female whingers and whiners joined in. It turned out that he was right on the button and Jacinda Ardern kept most of the maternity leave money that she had promised to give away, for herself. No one dared bring it up again.
Conservatives tend to be more civilized, shall we say, in their behaviour. The left have no such qualms about fighting to the death to win. They go by the mantra that the ends justify the means. You just have to look at the US political scene. Many say the Republicans have learned to fight the Democrats due to the extraordinary personality of the current President. The left, who have a bad case of TDS, are not used to being so challenged by the normally more timid right. They have had a reality check with their non-PC President who is not scared of the left and holds them to account for everything. Loudly on twitter.
Kevin McCarthy, the quietly spoken shadow leader of the house, has become much more forthright and adept at standing up to the far fetched antics of the Democrats who control Congress. (And Mitch McConnell in the Senate is a star). It is not difficult, because for example their behaviour during the sham impeachment hearing was beyond the pale. He and his colleagues have ample ammunition. Trump calls them warriors.
Our right needs to take a leaf out of their book. Ardern is a different kettle of fish. Almost totally incompetent and weak as a leader, she is immensely likeable. Like Obama and Trudeau, she is a snake oil sales(wo)man with the ability to sell ice blocks to Eskimos as well as lies and false promises to her fan base. Fortunately many have found her out and even the recent rather strange outburst of Aussie media commentator Steve Price about her sojourn in Australia, many agree with.
I would say, nothing wrong with a holiday in Aussie, but it is the length of the holidays this woman takes that is an issue for me. It is good to see National back on board. I don’t expect to see Ardern till the end of January at Davos where she will be bathing once more in the global attention. (Her oxygen).
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