42 Comments
User's avatar
John Upperton's avatar

No one from the Ardern Cabinet should be anywhere near government.

Aroha's avatar

If this is the best Hipkins can do, we'd better brace ourselves for the coming rhetoric from Chloe Swarbrick as she once again tells us what good shape the Greens are in and how they're going to lead the next government.

Barry Watkin's avatar

Right on. Add in the Mad Hatter’s Te Pati and Monty Python would be proud.

Rui Martins's avatar

Labour’s back on the “nothing happened / if it did, it wasn’t us / and if it was, it was actually good” tour - the audacity of it is unreal.

Amnesia marketing, basically.

Brace for the circus. It’s exhausting.

I just hope enough people can still see reality through the tribal mumbo-jumbo.

Barry Watkin's avatar

Roosevelt said something like “repetition of a lie does not make it a truth”. Ani has described the opening chapters well, I just hope enough voters can match rhetoric against performance as things heat up.

Maggie's avatar

There is also a quote; 'Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth.' MSM supports Labour and The Greens in doing just this.

Maggie's avatar

Unfortunately many NZ voters have short memories.

Rowen Greatbatch's avatar

Hipkins has never graduated from 7th form politics in the common room.

This guy has never managed or run anything in his life and he pretends he can run NZinc..

The old recruitment mantra of previous performance is a strong indicator of future performance should be run over all aspiring politicians.

Maggie's avatar

Funny you say that, every time I see Hipkins and hear him speak I get the impression he never graduated from the 7th Form, full stop.

Barry Watkin's avatar

And either dishonest through and through, or in denial to another level.

Ian Sage's avatar

Thanks Ani. We need competence not virtue signaling. Labour is lost atm, despite its rhetoric, Labour has not represented middle New Zealand for decades. Lest we forget, Hipkins presided over the decline of education standard as MoE and Stanford has had to kick start it back, having to work with the ideologically driven malcontents along the way.

Mike Houlding's avatar

Very good once more. Now, if you could only get this as a lead article in the Listener it would rival Dr Elizabeth Rata's 2023 letter in impact.

Rui Martins's avatar

Ani — you should be writing Luxon’s speeches. He needs to loosen up.

Give him a week in Bali and let the Aussies do the rehab :-)

All jokes aside, they had a tough job coming in. This term is the test. Fingers crossed.

Steven McLean's avatar

Nice work Ani, keep it up - your writing is informative, knowledgeable, and laced with humour!

The Travelling Pantser's avatar

His speech was designed for his supporters, equal in number according to the polls, to National supporters. HIs supporters remind me of the significant number of Russians who still think Stalin was their best ever leader. Hipkins only needs to reinforce the thoughts and beliefs of those people who insist Labour "saved me from dying of Covid" so they can repeat his propaganda with conviction. To admit he and his government were not just wrong but the reason why our economy lags behind many other countries is never going to happen. I think even he believes he and his 'kind' companions did no wrong. People like you can call them for their mistruths but his followers will never believe you.

Luxon et al need to do a much better job of making a positive future real, if not for this generation then by appealing to the parents of the next, if they are to have a hope of winning convincingly in November- which they need to do if only to show the mental state of the country is consistent with those making progress in the rest of the world. Short rushed humourless speeches are not going to do that.

Andrew M's avatar

Another excellent analysis. Luxon might be boring but Labour and hipkins are dangerous to every kiwi.

Another 3 years of National/Act (less NZ First) could see nz prosper.

Joyce Powell's avatar

Great article Ani. This is just what we need to know and only you will tell us. Mainstream media are leftist puppets.

Graham Hill's avatar

Mr Hipkins has some distance to go before he matches the disinformation of US Democrats and the liar in chief Stalin Starmer. The grown ups - the normies- in the Anglophone world find spin, pops, narrative fantasies a tedious production by people larping as competent leaders. Truth is a poison pill for Marxists.

lee's avatar

No way in hell will i ever vote labour, greens or tpm we have enough of a tough job now and we need a leader with the nuts to stand up for all of us. After hearing of the blatant way non maori are turned away from hospitals in this country these parasites need to be up on charges

Bruce Mckay's avatar

Characterised another way… Hipkins gambit is that people forget; in other words, they are stupid and won’t remember, thus he can paint himself as coming to the rescue. Luxon’s gambit is that people remember, at least the last three years, and have some recollection of the previous six….

Ray's avatar

Mr Hipkins has to suggest we forget the past because he was centrally involved in a political power- grab over our individual and family lives as had never happened in NZ before and it was the most oppressive government we have ever had. No wonder he wants us to forget all that.

Barry Watkin's avatar

I turned on TV 1 to catch the 6pm news report following the PM’s latest announcements - all I witnessed was Maiki Sherman trying for gotcha moments with Govt members; a useless waste of my time I’ll never get back.

They haven’t learned.

Julz's avatar

Reminds me of that song "what a fool believes". It's a personality contest now and nothing to do with policies or facts. If you dislike Luxon then the fools will vote for this twat ignoring the fact that along with Adern they completely stuffed up our country. Cant fix stupid