07-04-2023, 03:33 PM
"One day we will look at Ardern as one of our best leaders."
I think he's probably right. While as imperfect as any PM, she nonetheless in some respects did an excellent job of being leader. Unconventional in comparison to those who've gone before her.
And I really don't think we yet fully comprehend the impact of that hug. Most women & many men understand on an instinctual level that when someone is in huge pain & suffering massive trauma, you just hug them & AFAIK, never before has any leader of any country done such a thing.
It came from a visceral level, as did the actions of the terrorist - but where his actions were so very warped & twisted with hatred that he was able to see a small child only as 'enemy' & murder him, the hug came not from hatred but from love & empathy
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/30084878...st-leaders
"Not in the same pantheon as Richard Seddon or Peter Fraser for their impact on the country, but high up on the next tier. She brought in a universal child payment for parents; ushered in Fair Pay agreements for workers; healthy home standards for renters; winter energy payments for a million Kiwis; New Zealand History into the curriculum; free school lunches and period products for students, and a policy foundation for climate action.
I think he's probably right. While as imperfect as any PM, she nonetheless in some respects did an excellent job of being leader. Unconventional in comparison to those who've gone before her.
And I really don't think we yet fully comprehend the impact of that hug. Most women & many men understand on an instinctual level that when someone is in huge pain & suffering massive trauma, you just hug them & AFAIK, never before has any leader of any country done such a thing.
It came from a visceral level, as did the actions of the terrorist - but where his actions were so very warped & twisted with hatred that he was able to see a small child only as 'enemy' & murder him, the hug came not from hatred but from love & empathy
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/30084878...st-leaders
"Not in the same pantheon as Richard Seddon or Peter Fraser for their impact on the country, but high up on the next tier. She brought in a universal child payment for parents; ushered in Fair Pay agreements for workers; healthy home standards for renters; winter energy payments for a million Kiwis; New Zealand History into the curriculum; free school lunches and period products for students, and a policy foundation for climate action.
Labour’s website documents a list of achievements much longer than this, but the last five years have felt like running from crisis to crisis struggling to take a breath. So it’s perhaps even more remarkable that she was able to deliver as much as she did.
What other Prime Minister outside of wartime has had to deal with so much and then, did it so well? We can point to thousands of New Zealanders who are alive today because of her bold, swift actions and leadership over Covid.
In 2020, a month after Covid arrived, she recorded a staggering 83% approval rating. Her message of kindness, Wellbeing Budgets and empathetic responses to March 15 and Whakaari White Island made her a global beacon, especially then, as the antithesis of Trump."
in order to be old & wise, you must first be young & stupid. (I'm still working on that.)