Mike's Minute: Why I like Paul Henry in politics

Paul Henry and I go back a long way. Decades in fact. 

He used to read news on a show of mine. I can't say I saw politics in his future, but then I can't say I could have ruled it out either. 

And why not him? He's retired, he could be bored, or he could be driven to make a contribution, if hanging out in Wellington is a contribution you want to make. 

He is good fun, he is bright, and he is worldly. 

But I don’t think he will fit well into the “system”. He is a free spirit, and those sorts of people don’t tend to operate well in teams with instruction. 

He spoke passionately about his country. It could be age, but I feel exactly the same way. I don’t have to live here, I chose to because I love this place. 

He is in the same sort of position, so why not try to lend a hand? 

He spoke singularly about our debt and he is indisputably right. He could have stolen the lines and concern from me. 

Maybe all blokes of 60-ish age worry about our debt and our country. Maybe it's because we are old enough to remember better days and see no reason why we can't re-engineer the place to be like it once was. 

But politics is about more than debt. 

The other issue is if you're going to Wellington to save the country you really need to be in a position of power and National has more power than ACT. So this is clearly also a philosophical or ideological decision – he likes the cut of their libertarian gib. 

In terms of performance the place will be better for him. He's fun and quick. 

He might want to watch the line between serious and clown, entertaining and nutty, professional and self-indulgent. 

The big gamechanger for him will be accountability. Once they vote for you, once they pay for you, they own you and, boy, they let you know it. 

But I like people who don’t have to do stuff, doing stuff. They are generally there for the right reasons. 

David Seymour told me it's just the shot in the arm they need right now. 

I think he's right. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Paul Henry and I go back a long way decades.

(00:02):
In fact, he used to read news on a show
of mine many years ago. I can't say I saw
politics in his future, but then again I can't say
I couldn't have ruled it out either. So why not him.
He's retired, he could be a bit bored, I guess,
Or he could be driven to make a contribution, if
hanging out in Wellington is a contribution you want to make.
He's good fun, he's bright, he's worldly. I don't think
he'll fit well into the system. He's a free spirit,

(00:23):
and those sort of people don't tend to operate well
in teams with instruction. He spoke passionately if you saw
it yesterday about his country. Could be age. But I
feel exactly the same way. I don't have to live
here either. I choose to because I love the place.
He's in the same sort of position, so why not
try to lend a hand. He spoke singularly about our debt.
He's indisputably right. Of course, he could have stolen those
lines and concerned from me. If you listen to this

(00:44):
program regularly, maybe all blokes sixty ish years of age
worry about our debt at our country. Maybe it's because
we're old enough to remember better days and see no
reason why we can't re engineer the place to look
like it once did. But politics is about more than debt.
The other issue is if you're going to go to
Wellington to save the country, you really need to be
in a position to power. A national has more power

(01:06):
than act, so this clearly is also a philosophical or
ideological decision. He likes the cut of their libertarian jib.
In terms of performance, the place will be better for him.
He's fun, he's quick. You might want to watch the
line between serious and clown entertaining a nutty professional and
self indulgent. The big game changer for him will be accountability.

(01:26):
Once they vote for you, once they pay for you,
they own you, and boy will they let him know
about it. But I like people who don't have to
do stuff doing stuff. They're generally there for the right reasons.
David Seymour Tomy yesterday. It's just the shot in the
arm they need right now, and I think he's right
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(01:47):
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