Each subsequent failure by the coalition government leaves me scrambling my vocabulary for a word so pathetic, so pitiful, so derisory to adequately describe the fathomless depths being reached with each continuous flop. It feels like digging a hole so deep, you’ve reached the core of the earth and further progress becomes upward.

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Stephen Berry is a former Act candidate and Auckland Mayoral candidate. The libertarian political commentator retired as a politician in July 2020 and now hosts the Mr Berry Mr Berry Show on Youtube.