During the election campaign I nicknamed him 'a nest of hornets in a shiny suit'.

Apparently that shit sells.

In this way affective performance bypasses critical thinking. Culture wars link different targets together as a common threat. Ask any right-wing populist - Steve has plenty of role models.

How was he top-polling candidate? He did the actual door knocking mahi, and ppl remembered him. But when he came to my door, he was angling for me to say something derogatory about Council / Māori wards. He collected angry anecdotes and then spouted them back angrily at angry audiences.

He casts quite a cultural shadow to be fair. Even now I hesitate before using an Oxford comma.

At Kirkwall Airport, Orkney, internal flight to Edinburgh, my lip balm was confiscated (potential bomb making liquid?! 🤔) while my partner’s Leatherman KNIFE (admittedly also spork/screwdriver/nailfile etc) was OK to go.

Labour's election slogan right there:

"Dream smaller ... vote Labour"

Inspirational!

I would have said you couldn't make this up, but Hipkins and his team DID.

AND SHE WON. *chef's kiss*

Still savouring my freezing dish of delicious revenge.

#wendyschollum #hastingsmayoralty #thanksmate #misogynyloses

Wonderful news! - what an inspired choice to lead and support the team into 2026 💚💚💚

(I'm not really seeing Malcolm Tucker - unless you've got a lot angrier and swearier since we last worked together) 😉

You are a ⭐

We kid ourselves we live in a participatory democracy. We don't. These guys have said often enough 'if you don't like it vote us out next election'. They want us to see it as a three-year cycle, with the period between elections as an unlimited mandate.

Baybuzz (boomer mag in Havelock North) did slightly better, but then the editor personally endorsed one of the Mayoral candidates. 🤔

What exactly does the Local Democracy Reporting fund require from its recipients? Not much obvs