Scuttlebutt and Bullshit.
Do better, Amelia.
The headline below caught my attention this morning, as I was scrolling through social media.
Sigh. Another beat up on Labour? I thought Ginny Andersen was their nominated target this week?
I read the article and thought - what a nasty piece of work this Amelia Wade is. Worse still than the stuff on White was her opening on Ginny:
“The bullying allegations against Ginny Andersen outlined in our Newshub story is bad for Labour, but with Andersen losing her seat, it means it's easier for Labour to exit her if they wish.”
Has this reporter lost her fucking mind? Why on earth would Labour be wanting to “exit”, Ginny? She is, in my opinion, a rising star and I fully expect to see her as a minister in a future Labour lead, left wing government.
I felt really pissed off. To be fair I was annoyed already, and probably shouldn’t watch Jonathan Pie videos before sunrise. The one this morning was particular grim, watching made me think we’d probably be saying the same things about Nicola Willis and/or Louise Upston in a year or two. It’s worth a watch, get the blood flowing, that sort of thing.
Like some of you might have, I followed Ginny's posts during the campaign, they were the loveliest funniest messages. I'm sorry if some kid heard some mean words out of frustration, if they in fact did, but is that the standard, the threshold, Newshub are going to be applying for when Labour MPs should be let go? That is actually insane.
What made it even more awful was the timing. Some of you will have read the incredibly moving post from Kiri Allan about mental health yesterday afternoon. To see this article after that just felt so wrong.
I wrote a newsletter about Kiri when she first went on leave, prior to her return and the night of the crash. At the time it was paywalled but I’ve opened it up to everyone this morning as I think the parts on how we treat our MPs are pretty relevant today. So if you haven’t read it before, or at least the paywalled part, you’re most welcome to read it or share it now:
There are certain newsletters I’ve written that stick with me long after others are forgotten. That was one, and another will no doubt be the one from yesterday on Gaza. Thanks very much to all who responded with such kind words. My favourite though was hearing from my daughter at te Kura that she and some of the other kids there were reading and discussing it. That’s a proud dad moment I can tell you.
Before we hit the paywall one final mention of my offer of a free month of paid access to Nick’s Kōrero. Today is the last day to take advantage of that, if you’d like to 🙂
