Good riddance to Saint Jacinda
Jacinda Ardern is stepping down as prime minister of New Zealand. That sound you hear in the background is illiberal liberals weeping the world over. The rise of Saint Jacinda, the gushing fanbase Ardern has developed among our global elites, has been nauseating to watch, but also very revealing. They called her kind, empathetic, caring, a new kind of leader - blithely ignoring (or even cheering) the mad, authoritarian policies she backed during Covid and since.
We
almost certainly haven't seen the last of Ardern. No doubt a plum job at the
United Nations, the World Health Organisation or some other ghastly
supranational body beckons. Nor have we seen the last of the elitist politics
that she came to represent. It's high time we had a reckoning with this
'kindly' authoritarianism.