In 1920, US Presidential nominee, Warren G. Harding, promised the American people "not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration". In 2020, Jacinda...

[...] One of the reasons Labour and the Greens were moved to demand an inquiry into the New Zealand-led military operation of 21 August 2010 which took place in Tirgiran Valley, Afghanistan, was the widespread publication of a single image. In their book, Hit & Run Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson reproduced the photograph of a tiny, 3-year-old girl called “Fatima”. According to the authors, Fatima had been killed in the New Zealand-led attack on her village.

[...] Anyone who doubts the efficacy of the focus group should watch the 2019 British docudrama Brexit: The Uncivil War. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch in the role of the Leave campaign boss Dominic Cummings, one of the drama’s most powerful scenes is set in a focus group.

THE CLEVEREST POLITICAL TRICK Jacinda Ardern has pulled off, so far, is her “Team of Five Million”. New Zealanders love teams. No matter whether it’s the All Blacks or the Silver Ferns, the Black Caps or Team New Zealand, we all take a vicarious thrill from the success of our sporting heroes and heroines. In her whole political career, putting every Kiwi in the national team that defeated the COVID-19 virus is easily Jacinda Ardern’s smartest move. What has Judith Collins got to set against the Prime Minister’s formidably large backing-band?

[...] Dismissed by most of the mainstream media as yet another symptom of the Trump presidency’s political malaise, most journalists have no interest in answering the question: Who and/or what is “Q”?