New Zealand, we don’t know how lucky we are

My 4-year-old son has discovered the strange joy that is complete loss of control. It was New Year’s Eve and we’d taken our kids out of the city and up State Highway 16 to Parakai Springs and the ramshackle, faded waterslides silhouetted against the dusk.

Again and again, I followed Gus, watching his strong little legs racing up the ramp to the top of the slide. Together, we’d ride the slide down, the fastmoving torrent throwing us up the sides of the pipe on every turn, helter skelter . . . he had never felt such a rush, the forced surrender to the power of the water.

When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide

Where I stop and I turn and I go for a ride

Writing those lyrics, Paul McCartney saw the helter skelter slide as ‘‘a ride from the top to the bottom, the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.’’

Much of our world has been tumbling down that slide for the past few years. The adrenalinefuelled rush of populism. Carried by the excitement of the crowd, of those who think alike. Brexit in the UK. Donald Trump in the US. Vladimir Putin in Russia. Victor Orba´ n in Hungary. Imran Khan in Pakistan. Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil.

Now some are emerging spluttering from the pool at the bottom. Theresa May’s inability to get a Brexit deal. The US Government shutdown in a standoff between Trump and the Democrat-controlled Congress.

New Zealand has escaped the wave of populism, thus far. The UK and US experiences show us the importance of safeguards like robust legislative chambers, independent judiciary and – yes – written constitutions to protect citizens from mob-justice and thuggish leaders.

But most important is our own ability to debate our eclectic, funny old set of Kiwi values, rather than being captured by the identity politics that so often threaten to divide. Understanding that we need not be swept along with the crowd; that our diversity is a rugged Kiwi strength of the old school.

As the New Year dawns, we don’t know how lucky we are.