Jacinda Ardern

Still a Kiwi favourite.

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favourite things

Songwriters: Rodgers and Hammerstein

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A Boxing Day headline in the Post from Andrea Vance asks:

Jacinda Ardern remains poll favourite – but which struggling leaders are on the rise?

Then it follows with these photographs of Christopher and Chris, whose expressions seem appropriate given their relative performances in 2025.

Luxon and Hipkins. Image: The Post.

Luxon with as much emotion as a cold, dead fish, and Hipkins with a big job to do and an even bigger one after that.

Here’s the complete favourability list from The Post/Freshwater Strategy poll:

Looking at the ratings, you’d have to say the man in Santa red is in the driving seat. The question is which way Winston, the one with the glowing nose, chooses to steer the sleigh, just as it was when Jacinda came to power.

You can read about that here in an extract from Grant Robertson’s memoir.

Given that this is a time of year for nostalgia, with bugger all happening, rather than focusing on Hipkins, Peters, and Luxon, I’ll be looking back at some columns about Jacinda Ardern.

In recent months, she has remained present through television appearances, international conferences, books, and a film, and it’s clear from the reaction to those that many still feel grateful for her leadership in unprecedented circumstances.

Yes, some harbour anger, but that seems to be dimming beyond pure misogyny and feels a bit less rabid than it did in late 2022.

So looking back, beginning with that period when anti-Jacinda mania was at its strongest. This is one of my favourite newsletters from December 2022, when things were starting to boil over, and some were frothing…

The building anger was out of control, and the media seemed to inflame it further, showing every disgruntled virus supporter shaking their fists. Yet it was still a huge shock when Jacinda resigned…

I felt sad and angry that we replaced one of our greatest PMs, someone who knew "He tangata, he tangata, he tangata" (It is people, it is people, it is people) that matters, with a person who referred to some New Zealanders as “Bottom Feeders”.

Around the world, people looked at the great leader we used to have and questioned how we went from Jacinda to Luxon - I still don’t get it.

We know from her comments that Jacinda won’t be returning to our political system, and you’d have to say she’s done her time, even if that prospect appeals.

Her message of kindness was Kryptonite for some; for others, it was a moment in time when we had just the sort of leader we’d always wanted.

I’m so glad to have seen it in my lifetime. A leader who is there to represent all of us, including those at the bottom. I’m not saying it for the first time, and I’m sure it won’t be the last time - I think Chippy, Carmel, Chlöe, and Marama will follow that legacy of kindness and of people.

I hope you’re having a good break and that you enjoy revisiting some of these, or reading them for the first time.

Take care, all of you lovely people.

Ngā mihi,
Nick.

If you’d like to subscribe to Nick’s Kōrero in 2026, it costs $80 for a year, which works out at about $7 per month. Hope you can join me and the others. 🙂

To end, here’s 'My Favourite Things´ from The Sound of Music.