It’s just not cricket! or so Jacinda Ardern thinks when questioned concerning criticism of her hero Ashley Bloomfield accepting tickets to a Black Caps v Australia T20 game in his capacity as the Director General of Health. When asked if she thought it was appropriate she replied, “I don’t think anyone in New Zealand would want to deny Dr Bloomfield the chance to watch some cricket. And so I take a very simple view on that.”
Simple being the operative word. It applies to most of her views on anything and everything. Which is why all the vital social and economic stats are heading in the wrong direction. But I digress. While at the cricket Dr Bloomfield spoke with New Zealand Cricket Chief Executive David White and was lobbied about the Black Caps getting Covid-19 doses. He has denied any promises were made.
That was the point of the question that Ardern apparently failed to grasp. The man accepted tickets and then got lobbied. At best Bloomfield made a bad error of judgment and at worst it could be perceived as corruption. That appeared to not register with the Prime Minister who was trying to look all serious and concerned one minute and posing for a Colgate toothpaste advertisement the next. It is of some concern that if the Prime Minister did understand the complexity of what must have been a TRICKY question for her, she did not answer appropriately.
Dr Bloomfield, after he’d enjoyed the game and a photo op (birds of a feather here) put out a statement that he was incorrect in originally saying he attended the game in a private capacity. After re-reading the Public Service Guidelines he said he realised he shouldn’t have accepted the tickets and won’t be doing so again. He donated the value of these tickets and those from two Hurricanes games last year to the City Mission. So he has also admitted he’s a serial offender.
Covid-19 Minister Chris Hipkins said he did not “necessarily think it’s a problem for him to go to the cricket.” Well, Hipkins certainly has a problem. This clown is the Minister for the Public Service but doesn’t appear to know the rules either. We could be kind and say he’s got too much on his plate but this is a basic longstanding rule. Listening to him being hung, drawn and quartered by Heather du Plessis Allan each week on the Covid debacle makes you realise it’s just another case of not being up to the task.
So here we have a trio of incompetents, the three so-called heavyweights when it comes to running Covid.
One commits a potential act of corruption, the other fails to recognise it and the third doesn’t appear to know he’s the Minister responsible for guarding against it.
And we wonder why Covid management is a mess? These idiots wouldn’t recognise the smell of bacon if they were given a tour of the Beehive factory in the Wairarapa. They probably wouldn’t even connect the brand name with the place where they work.
No wonder Ardern wants out with Hosking. Stumped, caught out and clean bowled every week in just ten minutes. It truly is JUST NOT CRICKET!
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