Editors note: Due to technical issues yesterday that prevented our articles from being viewed by most of our audience I have made the decision to republish them today.
The idea from Hardernurly’s (Jacinda Ardern’s) misleadia-managers to plagiarise the slogan ‘Test, test, test‘ in the Covid Catastrophe propaganda war has proven to be very bad advice indeed. She should have known better, communications degree ‘n all.
It’s had some severe blow-back, denting her credibility, and she’s now feeling the pressure. The unthinkable happened – a front page story in the DomPost yesterday criticising her:
“Test, test, test” said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Tuesday, “We have the capacity,” we’ve heard ad nauseum from her lieutenants.”
Oh, dear. ‘Ad nauseum‘ – ‘until sick of it’.
The chant was always foolish in its unoriginality and has only highlighted her leadership shortcomings. Her initial lackadaisical approach to looming disaster, once applauded by the DomPost as ‘in keeping with the national character’, now manifests as hugely flawed over-confidence and structural under-preparedness. The chant also draws attention to the source of the slogan; the WHO advising “all countries” adopt this approach a very long time ago in pandemic terms, on March 16th.
Journalists making the connection, and to their credit, there’s several of them, have asked why, more than two weeks after WHO’s announcement, it’s suddenly a good idea for New Zealand to test, test, test? The good lady is floundering for answers, gasping like a flat-fish, and lying like one too, saying in one response to the obvious question:
“New Zealand’s testing numbers were really high and believed that message wasn’t aimed at this country”
but in another,
“Ardern defended the delay before heeding that call, saying New Zealand had moved into lockdown at a very early stage and she did not believe New Zealand was the target of the call.”
Fib, the first: At the time of WHO’s call New Zealand had been conducting, on average, eleven tests per day – 11. One more than ten. That’s not a “really high” number by any stretch of the imagination.
Fib, the second: New Zealand moved into lockdown on March 26th, fully ten days after the WHO Director General’s plea. I’m sorry; Jacinda, there’s no way the 26th comes before the 16th unless your calendar’s upside down.
Fib, the third: The WHO’s call was to “all countries” without exception; there is no reason whatsoever to believe it “wasn’t aimed at this country” or that New Zealand was not “the target of the call”.
It’s going to be a long week m’dear. You need to get yourself some better answers, and some better hired-help.
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