Simon Wilson on Jacinda and her little friends

I am not sure if any of you have come across Simon Wilson, but in my opinion, the best thing about him is that most of his articles are behind a paywall. As I have no intention of paying for content which is generally free elsewhere, it means I don’t have to read his insufferable sycophancy towards our ‘Dear Leader’. I recommend that you don’t read it either.

Some of the things he has to say, however, are worth pointing out, either as a warning about how far our media has sunk, or alternatively, as a source of a good laugh. You make the choice. Let’s start with this one.

WHO’D WANT to be prime minister in a centre-left government?

Your problem is not the Opposition.


Your problem is your politically “like-minded” friends, standing shoulder to shoulder with you and complaining about every single thing you do, because it isn’t good enough.


Also to be contended with: a Cabinet with almost no prior cabinet experience. And a caucus with too many party hacks who’ve been in opposition too long and a lot of newbies doing everything for the first time.

Nevertheless, a fawning media makes up for a lot. Jacinda and her cronies get away with murder because the media are all screaming socialists.

But there are always a lot of fairy stories with this government, and Simon Wilson is the master of ‘once upon a time’…

But after 18 months in office, how many critics have noticed Jacinda Ardern and her colleagues are not failing. They’re as popular as ever, perhaps more so, and they’ve made their core task clear.

This government is not failing? Really? Not on mental health? Not on child poverty? Not on tax reform? Not on housing? What about Kiwibuild? This is this government’s biggest disaster to date: so bad that Jacinda pointedly refuses to talk about it.

The challenge to Ardern, Robertson and co is not especially about policies. It’s about them all learning how to sell. Even Ardern, as good as she is at projecting confidence and generating popularity, has not been able – or not tried very hard – to win popular support for transformational programmes.

She has tried to get support. The real problem is that she campaigned on ‘transformational’ policies but she wasn’t actually given a mandate by the voters. Her ascendancy to power was given, not won.

Just like Clark, Ardern is determined not to see her Government collapse in a blaze of pointless glory. She wants to achieve lastingly. There’s a cost to it — you will anger your progressive supporters — and Ardern seems willing to pay it.

Hang on though. Helen Clark never promised to be transformational, whereas Jacinda promised this from the very first day of her leadership. Those that did vote for her voted for a ‘transformational’ government, but by Simon Wilson’s own confession, they are not getting it.

But she has also shown us the meaning of governing with kindness, and how powerful that turned out to be. So many commentators used to say it was an empty concept, but we know better now.

Really? Government with kindness is a completely empty concept when child poverty is sky rocketing, over 11,000 people are on social housing waiting lists and mental health services are still in crisis. We are 18 months in. Some things should have changed by now.

More to the point, it’s not true the Government is failing in any of the areas listed. Even KiwiBuild.

         A newspaper.

Nobody is defending Kiwibuild, The prime minister refuses to mention the project by name, but Simon Wilson, like a knight on his charger, says it is not a failure. All is well, according to Sir Simon.

Whatever he is on, I would like some. But in the meantime, I’m just glad that most of his ridiculous articles are behind a paywall so that people with a modicum of common sense don’t have to read them. It is much better for your sanity that way.