The Phantom Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 Elected in 2017 at the age of 37 and had a baby whilst in power. She won a second term in 2020 in a complete landslide victory. Five and a half years later, she is off because ‘she has no more in the tank’. From outside NZ it seemed that she was quite good, certainly in the run up to and at the very start of Covid. Or at least the NZ Govt marketing made it appear that way. It also seemed that she didn’t have much real opposition from the Right. However there does seem to have been quite a remarkable reversal of popularity within NZ in just a year, from a 70% approval to about 35% now and I suspect this is the real reason for her departure; her doubt of winning another election due to a Conservative resurgence. Although I do also have some respect for her if she is also leaving to spend time with her family. The main reasons for this reversal seem to be the excessive lockdowns for pursuit of ‘Zero Covid’ (which were initially supported). The resulting slump in tourism (a huge part of the NZ economy) has caused significant knock on to their economy, cost of living etc. Hearing from some friends in NZ there is also significant concern that Govt was becoming too secretive, controlling of everything and has handed too much power to what can only be described as an Elite Maori cartel, which has divided the country along ethnic lines, where race is now a detrimental, defining factor in all decisions. Her Spitting Image character as some sort of sadist Mary Poppins character was hilarious though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.K. Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 Her Covid policy led to NZ having one of the lowest incidences of illness and death on the planet. Contrast that to the UK... https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/19/from-stardust-to-an-empty-tank-one-of-a-kind-leader-jacinda-ardern-knew-her-time-was-up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolley Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 1 hour ago, P.K. said: Her Covid policy led to NZ having one of the lowest incidences of illness and death on the planet. Contrast that to the UK... https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/19/from-stardust-to-an-empty-tank-one-of-a-kind-leader-jacinda-ardern-knew-her-time-was-up Completely bogus comparison UK to NZ. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A fool and his money..... Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 Around the time the millionaire Howard Quayle was filling in his £57K claim form for Covid support on top of his £70K per year salary, Jacinda and her ministers were taking a self-inflicted 20% pay cut for six months to show solidarity and leadership with frontline workers and those who had lost their livelihoods. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolley Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 25 minutes ago, A fool and his money..... said: Around the time the millionaire Howard Quayle was filling in his £57K claim form for Covid support on top of his £70K per year salary, Jacinda and her ministers were taking a self-inflicted 20% pay cut for six months to show solidarity and leadership with frontline workers and those who had lost their livelihoods. They're not grateful though. Her popularity is through the floor. The fate of all political careers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Phantom Posted January 19, 2023 Author Share Posted January 19, 2023 17 minutes ago, woolley said: They're not grateful though. Her popularity is through the floor. The fate of all political careers. Yeah that's my point. Overseas she is viewed as some sort of Saintly ruling figure. At home she is now viewed as a woke, simpering, control freak, covid Karen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A fool and his money..... Posted January 19, 2023 Share Posted January 19, 2023 As Woolley say, the fate of all political careers. She was previously extremely popular - you can't be popular in politics for ever. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.K. Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 4 hours ago, woolley said: Completely bogus comparison UK to NZ. Stop playing to the peanut gallery! Sure they're an easy win but even so... UK deaths 215641 so 0.32% of the population. NZ deaths just 2439 so 0.05% of the population. So proportionally the UK death rate was more than six times that of NZ. Sure NZ is very rural but even so... Have to say I was shocked to see that UK deaths had exceeded 200K! When did this happen? So I trawled through the current ONS data and failed to find a running total of the number of UK covid deaths. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Passing Time Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 8 hours ago, P.K. said: Stop playing to the peanut gallery! Sure they're an easy win but even so... UK deaths 215641 so 0.32% of the population. NZ deaths just 2439 so 0.05% of the population. So proportionally the UK death rate was more than six times that of NZ. Sure NZ is very rural but even so... Have to say I was shocked to see that UK deaths had exceeded 200K! When did this happen? So I trawled through the current ONS data and failed to find a running total of the number of UK covid deaths. Blame brexit... you usually do 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.K. Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 10 minutes ago, Passing Time said: Blame brexit... you usually do Great contribution, well done! To me the very obvious difference is that NZ had a charismatic leader who got the population behind her in her determination to make a difference for her electorate. Conversely the UK had totally amoral narcissistic serial philanderer and inveterate liar Bozo Johnson leading from the rear.... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Phantom Posted January 20, 2023 Author Share Posted January 20, 2023 37 minutes ago, P.K. said: Great contribution, well done! To me the very obvious difference is that NZ had a charismatic leader who got the population behind her in her determination to make a difference for her electorate. Conversely the UK had totally amoral narcissistic serial philanderer and inveterate liar Bozo Johnson leading from the rear.... Probably more to do with the facts of population density, businesses other than tourism and farming and the fact that the UK is a global travel hub. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.K. Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 55 minutes ago, The Phantom said: Probably more to do with the facts of population density, businesses other than tourism and farming and the fact that the UK is a global travel hub. Well, the UK very stupidly let in flights from China with no checks. Go figure. Ardern closed the borders. One reason she has fallen from grace is the drop in tourism. I thought the Guardian piece was balanced and fair - as per. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Phantom Posted January 20, 2023 Author Share Posted January 20, 2023 21 minutes ago, P.K. said: Well, the UK very stupidly let in flights from China with no checks. Go figure. Ardern closed the borders. One reason she has fallen from grace is the drop in tourism. I thought the Guardian piece was balanced and fair - as per. To be fair though, NZ is an extremely easy place to lockdown and isolate. Probably the only leader who has been slightly less of a control freak about Covid is Xi! She'd lockdown entire villages and towns just because of one case. Actual residents who were overseas when locked out, were trapped outside for months, some even years, then they moved onto some crazy lottery entry scheme, which of course could be bypassed by the rich and celebrities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.K. Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 Yes it was harsh. But it undoubtedly saved lives. One of those "Damned if you do. Damned if you don't" scenarios. Credit to Ardern she was facing a global pandemic and she made difficult decisions that just had to be made. in other words she got on with it. Contrast that with this performance: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Passing Time Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 1 hour ago, P.K. said: Well, the UK very stupidly let in flights from China with no checks. Go figure. Ardern closed the borders. One reason she has fallen from grace is the drop in tourism. I thought the Guardian piece was balanced and fair - as per. Didn't Britain very nearly repeat that cock-up when China lifted travel restrictions recently Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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