Author: Curwen Rolinson

What if the New Zealand First sudden out-of-the-blue announcement of support for journalism and ‘traditional media’ in general, as well as two significant media companies that’re looking to merge in particular …

In many ways, this should have been UK Labour’s election to lose. Or, at least, do a helluvalot better on with the Cons on the back, flat, bear-trapped-and-mangled foot.

Backbench Opposition MPs are occasionally curious creatures, as are social media advert-targeting algorithms. Due, no doubt, to an ongoing quirk of the latter, I found myself presented with a sponsored post from National’s List MP based on Mt Roskill, Parmjeet Parmar, calling for the enshrinement of a Gandhi statue here in Auckland to coincide with the latter figure’s 150th birthday and asking me to sign a petition in support of same. 

Simon Bridges’ statement that legalized cannabis opens the door to “effectively incentivising cannabis over other legal drugs at the moment – like tobacco and drink” dependent upon the excise tax levied … is a bit of an odd objection to make.

Now, these are only a few examples; and some of them are less direct than others. But I think that a cursory examination of Damien Grant’s column-calumny output suggests that he had abjectly no problem pushing generational stereotypes in order to propel strawman pseudo-political invective … right up until the point at which “millennials” started pushing *back*. 

It is often said that when a politician or other public figure says something disparaging about a particular group, that the weight and impact of their words is not only in what they’ve said … but also what further statements, what further actions it tacitly allows, invites, and encourages. 

When somebody says or does something a bit gauche in politics and then seemingly doubles down upon it, there are two general explanations. Either it’s a genuine error which, out of pride or lack of comprehension of the nature of the sin, they’re refusing to extricate themselves from.