Andrew Dickens: The times when the media and academia are their own worst enemy

This weekend Sunday Star-Times published a think piece on why Christopher Luxon is not popular. 

And he’s not. Monday's polls showed that Christopher Luxon and his National Party is not as popular as maybe they should be. 

Interviewing university professors and their typewriters, the article came up with answers like no-one likes anyone who demands to be called Christopher and one professor even speculated on New Zealand’s attitude toward baldness. Apparently we don’t like them, which will be news to Monty Betham. 

It came in response to the latest poll which showed Chris Hipkins and Labour keeping up with Christopher Luxon and National, despite Labour changing nothing.

While the Sunday Star-Times plucked at straws, I’d like to say it’s the economy, stupid. 

These are tough times and we always blame the sitting Government, no matter what they inherited.

But I would like to say that Mr Luxon has not made it easy for himself.

When he inherited our damaged economy the Reserve Bank was already acting on inflation through interest rate hikes. 

The National led coalition then kept on with their cost of living crisis solution which was tax cuts and government spending crackdowns and lay offs.

So the country had a two pronged attack with none of the solutions making life better in the short term.  In fact it’s made everything worse. 

So all the people who are collateral damage believe the government are monsters.   

All the people not affected who can see how the austerity overkill will be good for the economy and the country in the medium and long term, will be thinking Mr Luxon and his team are heroes. 

The Government will be hoping that by the time the only poll that count comes around in 2026, more voters will view them as heroes and not monsters. 

The last time we tried that was in the 90s as Don Brash raised interest rates at the Reserve Bank while Ruth Richardson gave us the Mother of all Budgets. She lasted less than 3 years after that and is not remembered fondly despite the good the austerity did. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I want to talk about the times when the media
and the academia are their worst enemy. This weekend, Sunday
Star Times published a think piece of why Christopher Luxon
is not popular and he's not as popular as possibly
he should be. Yesterday's poll showed that Chris and the
Sorry Christopher and the National Party should be better actors
mopping up the Conservatives. Unhappy with Nashville anyway, So the

(00:21):
Sunday Star Times interviewed UNI professors and their typewriters, and
the article came up with answers like no one likes
anyone who demands to be called Christopher, and one professor
even speculated that New Zealanders have a funny attitude towards
bald people. Apparently we don't like them. Could someone tell
Monty beat them that. I thought the Sunday Star Times
were plucking at straws there and the Nationals and Luxeon's

(00:45):
lack of popularity, I can tell you why it's called
the economy stupid. That's what everything is about. These are
tough times. We always blame the sitting government no matter
what they inherited. But I would add that mister Luxon
has not made it easy for him when he inherited
our damaged economy. The Reserve Bank was already acting on

(01:05):
inflation through interest rate hikes. That is the most effective lever.
Squeezing private debt in the economy is the fastest thing
way to slow things down. Private debts huge, much bigger
than government debt, so that works. But the National Coalition
then came in and kept on with their cost of

(01:25):
living crisis solution, which was tax cuts and government spending
crackdowns and layoffs. So what we had was our country
having a two pronged attack on inflation, cost of living,
and the economy. None of the solutions made life better
in the short term. It has made everything worse. So
all the people who are collateral damage believe this government

(01:46):
are monsters, and all the people not affected who can
see how this austerity, perhaps austerity overkill, will be good
for the economy and the country in the medium and
long term, they'll be thinking mister Luxon and his team
are heroes. So here's the thing. The government will be
hoping that by the time the only poll that counts

(02:08):
comes round in twenty twenty sixty election, that more voters
will view them as heroes and not as Monsters. For
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