Avoid the posturing, pretence and empty promises... vote now
If you're like me and this election has got too much for you, there's a simple remedy that will leave you feeling great.
His thinking is simple: What’s more Kiwi than a bee? Well, a Kiwi. ‘‘The Kiwi’s just not art. The Kiwi’s just a thing,’’ he says.
The KiWi KiWi first came to life as a toy for his then 3-year-old grandson Jimi and then, a few years back, he was working with a manchester manufacturer when one of its directors noticed it in Frizzell’s central Auckland studio. The North Shore merchandise director reckoned it would be a hit, Frizzell recalls, and got to work with a factory in China that Frizzell has been told also makes the Buzzy Bee toys.
The toy will be in stores such as Whitcoulls and Farmers from Wednesday. ‘‘To me this is some sort of ultimate communication triumph, I can get this into every house in New Zealand.’’
I’M done with this election. I know it’s a still a week out but I can’t handle it any more. The posturing, the policies, the promises, that TV ad apparently showing cult members jogging around in horrible teal blue outfits... I’m getting close to reaching peak vote 2017.
The petrol light has been on a while now. It all started getting a bit much after the predictable step of parties going after gangs, drug dealers, youth offenders and beneficiaries.
If there was a drinking game based on the elections, there would be a compulsory scull every time a campaigning party pulled out the promise-to-gettough-on-gangs card. That’s if anyone was still sober after having to drink every time immigration was mentioned.
If this was a party, I’ve reached that part of the night where you wonder whether anything good will happen or whether you should just go home.
It’s not just the sight of politicians bending over backwards to prove how agreeable they are or how much they’re down with the people. It’s not just how this is the only time every three years that some politicians do things like catch the bus or go to the Otara markets.
It’s not just that I can’t handle any more TV news reports showing them in their best look-atme-I’m-earnestand-competent pose.
It’s that I know that there’s still another week of breathless polls analysis, attentiongrabbing headlines, and endless opining of experts who lurch from one topic to the next jostling to prove how relevant their opinions are.
But I’m not going to consume any more electioneering, I don’t need to – I’ve already voted.
This week I was at a mall, taking a coffee break right next to an early voting station. Even though I hadn’t yet enrolled, and wasn’t in my electorate, it was all done and dusted in 10 minutes.
I got my sticker and walked out feeling like a weight had lifted off my shoulders.
This doesn’t mean I won’t stress about the result, fixate about what’s being reflected, or worry whether enough of my fellow New Zealanders will vote. It’s just that now I’ve done my part, I can sit back and wait to discover the will of the electorate.
This next Saturday, September 23, is – as the old adage goes – the only poll that really matters. Although we’d all like to think that most voters are well-educated about the issues and base their decisions on serious and comprehensive analysis of all variables, my purely nonscientific view is that it generally comes down to a single moment of truth when there’s no one around but you and that orange felt marker.
That’s the few seconds that really matter – as you finally decide who best represents the viewpoint with which you mostly agree.
For me, I already know that decision and another week of debate, discussion and spin is unlikely to change my mind. So I’m one of more than 200,000 people who’ve taken the chance to vote early, and it feels great.
All the best with your decision New Zealand.
I got my sticker and walked out feeling like a weight had lifted off my shoulders.’