Jacinda Ardern lets the side down

Rather unkind I think. What side? Women, mothers, political party?

As I remember in the recent ‘battle’ for leadership of the Tory party, Ben Wallace, the excellent Defence Secretary was asked if he would run. Apparently he would have been a popular choice. He cited family as one of the reasons he didn’t. No one saying that he had let the side down! I am sure many, including myself, admired him for his priorities. And he is still in charge of Defence with no opprobrium levelled against him. Different for men still, isn’t it!

I’ve had a lot of time for her in the past but I don’t know much about New Zealand politics. I just don’t understand why it makes any difference if she is male or female. She is/was a prime minister and a leader. Is her sex really important?

As she said she has given her all and now she’s running out of fuel . I think she’s been a good PM I wish she were ours .

It takes a strong person to recognise when you are done. I wish Boris had been as emotionally intelligent. I wish her well in her life going forward.

I would add to this that maybe we need to remember whilst our population is immense compared to NZ Arden put lives before the economy and perhaps people should remember that ! Both NZ and the UK are Islands, if only we’d taken such quick and decisive action ….. people have very short memories ! We have a large percentage of deaths AND a wrecked economy and a government full of scandal and corruption !

Whose side is she letting down? Good for her, she’s recognised she has reached her limit and is brave enough to know when to go. Surely that's a better exit than struggling, failing and being booted out in the unkind manner the politics evoke for those who fail to meet the mark.

I think she’s amazing, NZ have been so happy to have her and she’s being very honest…. I think good for her, and I’m aware many kiwis are not behind her, at the end of the day it’s just a job and she deserves a life ! Good luck to her I say and wish we’d had a Jacinda here in the UK !!

With all respect someone holding a different view to you doesnt mean they are speaking from a place of privilege.

@maddyone
With all respect, I suspect you are coming from a place of privilege. If you are a long term visitor, flitting between NZ and the UK (or any other country), the people with who you associate will also hold the views of the privileged and you definitely aren’t seeing the wider picture. Coming back to NZ during lockdown was about securing a place in MIQ and there was no way the floodgates should have been opened to the virus after all the hard work of the communities living here to contain it. I know a few people who came back to NZ really quickly once the writing was on the wall -it was those who waited who paid the price. And as for the celebrity thing, that was completely over hyped by the media - there was a steady stream of people moving through MIQ. I suspect the main reason for Jacinda’s departure is the foul misogyny she has received, largely whipped up by anti-vaxxers, the far right and conspiracy theorists. If your 5 year old child is being threatened with murder and rape on alternative media sites, it’s time to take your intelligence and integrity elsewhere.

www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300788875/do-you-want-the-heartwarming-version-of-jacinda-arderns-story-or-the-chilling-one

I think if you live in New Zealand or are long term visiting New Zealand, you’re likely to have a better understanding of the situation here. As a visitor, I’m not partisan, I have no allegiance to any political party in New Zealand, unlike most residents here. I have watched the news broadcasts and spoken to many people here, and I have concluded that whilst Jacinda still has supporters, her popularity has deminished hugely and the reason seems to be, as I said earlier, the excessively long lockdown which effectively cut off New Zealand from the rest of the world and caused many businesses to fail. Added to that, the rampant inflation. People are worried about the cost of living, which is very high and rapidly moving upwards, and they are very concerned about the poor health provision. These problems are also affecting the rest of the world too, it is not unique to New Zealand, nor to the UK but naturally people blame their politicians for the situation, fairly or unfairly.
I have seen people interviewed on the news programmes here in New Zealand who remain very, very angry because they were outside New Zealand when the lockdown occurred and they were unable to get home for two years because their names didn’t win a place to come home in the lottery (or whatever it was called) and yet meanwhile they were able to see celebrities allowed to enter New Zealand, whilst they, as citizens, were locked out! Indeed my own daughter and family were able to secure entry to New Zealand during the tightest of the lockdown because they are doctors, and New Zealand is suffering a severe shortage of doctors and teachers and other professionals. Apparently many medics are actually leaving New Zealand, which surprised me since New Zealand’s working conditions for medics is viewed positively by those working elsewhere but clearly not by those who actually live here normally.
As I said, I have no allegiance to any political party here in New Zealand at all. I think Jacinda was wise to go now, not because she wants to spend more time with her daughter, who is nearly five years old and about to start school, because if that was her wish, she would surely have done that during her daughter’s earlier years rather than now, but nonetheless she is wise to go now, with her pride intact, rather than suffer the humiliation of defeat at the next election. This way she will probably end up with a job on the world stage, maybe the WHO or similar. I’m sure Jacinda could have got married and spent more time with her child when she was a baby had she really wanted to do that. Jacinda has jumped before she was pushed, and in my view, that’s a sensible decision. She walks away with her head held high and her pride intact.

I wonder which "side" she has let down.

She is an intelligent compassionate woman who has served her country well and has the emotional intelligence to recognise when she has given of her best and it is time to move on.

Would that other politicians (by definition mostly male) were so insightful and brave.

She has not let anyone down, but is a shining example to us all of good sense and integrity.

Fleurpepper

How do we know what is behind it- and why that made her particularly emotional. Illness for her of anyone close, problem with toddler, whatever- we just don't know.

That's right, we just don't know.
It could be online threats etc. although I hope not.

I dare say Jacinda Ardern is more popular in the UK than at home.
Boris was more popular abroad too and Mrs T was highly thought of in the US.
I think that's just the way of the world.

Thank you Maddyzone for an illuminating post.

maddyone

Jacinda Ardern hasn’t let the side down, she has jumped before she was pushed. A sensible decision. She’s no longer very popular here in New Zealand because of the damage brought on to the economy during the extremely long and and often viewed as harsh, lockdown. Many, many businesses have gone to the wall without the tourist trade. It’s possible that New Zealanders don’t realise that the tourist trade would have stopped anyway because of the lockdowns elsewhere. Also the health service is struggling here just as much as in the UK. People pay to visit a GP, between from £25 up to £60/70 per visit. They then pay for their drugs, and GPs are not allowed to prescribe all drugs as they see fit, only the one or two that the state agrees to. When there are a certain number of people on a waiting list the list is closed. You can’t even get on the list. Anyone who can afford it pays for private insurance. This information came from my GP daughter who is working on New Zealand at the moment. The country is generally fed up with Jacinda and a Nationalist government is predicted at the next election. There is also rampant inflation, yesterday it was reported that fruit and vegetable inflation is running at 30%. It’s easy to see things through rose coloured specs from the other side of the world. I’m in New Zealand now and have been for the last couple of months. I’m looking forward to going home in a couple of weeks though.

Thanks, interesting observation.
Puts things in perspective.

I’d hardly say “she’s letting the side down”, more a realisation that it’s time to move on. Good for her to realise that before she completely burns out.

Kandinsky

There is absolutely nothing wrong with crying, but getting all emotional when you’re just handing your notice in is a bit ridiculous imo.
But from what I’ve read her popularity had plummeted so maybe that’s what she was emotionally about.

And no, I’m not a man

I think it happens when everything they have achieved, and the accompanying toil, rushes past them in their leaving speech. It just overwhelms them for a few seconds. It was the same for Merkel in her outgoing speech when she looked back on the reunification of Germany and broke down relating it to what she had brought about. I don't think crying is ridiculous.

How do we know what is behind it- and why that made her particularly emotional. Illness for her of anyone close, problem with toddler, whatever- we just don't know.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with crying, but getting all emotional when you’re just handing your notice in is a bit ridiculous imo.
But from what I’ve read her popularity had plummeted so maybe that’s what she was emotionally about.

And no, I’m not a man

I live in NZ. She has coped with a lot of unjustified and at times deranged criticism in the last couple of years. As has her partner “first dude” Clark Gayford. Some truly mad accusations. Also many death threats and deep misogyny And JA has consistently taken the high ground, ignoring the rubbish and keeping her calm. She has been an excellent PM, very consistent and calm. And she is very sharp and decisive. Yep, there are those who are unimpressed, mainly those who are afraid of equity, want to protect their own power at any cost and have a traditional kiwi dislike of tall poppies. Because JA is a tall poppy and was even as a very young politician. For many kiwi men, their dislike of her is based on not liking being told what to do by a woman.
I imagine she’s had enough. She has publicly said that she wants to be at home for her daughter who is about to start school and she wants to get married to Clark. She may well want another child.
In terms of re-election, losing the election in October is not inevitable. Sure, there won’t be another landslide but she definitely has a fighting chance. The leader of the opposition is a self satisfied clown and another white middle aged man. With predictably traditional views. He used to be the CEO of AirNZ and considers himself the bees knees. JA has taken him to pieces more than once in debate.
I think one of the reasons for stepping down now is to give the Labour Party a decent shot at replacing her and building credibility with a new leader before the election.

Jacinda's "baby" is nearly five years old.

Dickens

Kandinsky

Theresa May cried.

Margaret Thatcher cried.

Point proven.
Maybe women are too emotional for politics.
Did Boris cry when he was booted out?

Boris did something far more damaging to our political life - he plotted his revenge and return, unable to accept that he was at fault and not everyone else. He was also one of the conspirators determined to oust Theresa May.

If they can't accept defeat, maybe men are too unstable for politics? Donald Trump is another one whose ego is so large he can't accept that he is not the popular icon he believes himself to be.

There is nothing wrong with being genuinely sad at leaving a post that has for months / years taken over your whole life because of a cause you believe in. Thatcher may have cried - but she was not called the Iron Lady without reason.

... and George Osborne cried at her funeral and admitted he felt "very emotional". Maybe he's too emotional for politics?

I don't think your point is proven at all.

and none of the above had had a baby recently, with all the inevitable hormonal changes and sleepless nights either.

One of my relatives was at Jeremy Hunt's mum's funeral- he was very emotional too.

It seems she was more popular in the UK than at home!

🎶The other man’s grass is always greener . . .

Surely it's better to be honest with at least some of your emotions, Kandinsky, than to do the bottling-it-all-up he-man bit? The human race has suffered enough throughout history from the he-man type - no tender emotions, but let's just get out and kill an enemy, and if we haven't got an obvious enemy, we'll make one. I don't think a more equal balance between men and women in politics, including as leaders, would go amiss.

It’s easy to see things through rose coloured specs from the other side of the world

I agree, Maddyone and, from reports we heard from NZ, many people were not at all happy with the way she handled the Covid crisis.
The furlough scheme was not generous, extreme lockdowns even on businesses and travel meant some were lost or barely survived.
The one we know about personally was not connected to the tourist trade and has just about survived, thankfully.

It seems she was more popular in the UK than at home!