https://imgflip.com/i/9lwna9

It is standard in NZ

Re NZ politics - Yes and no.

The currect situation is due to some very specific circumstances thst emerged in the chaos of the last 10 years.

• The centre left Labour Party & PM were hugely popular during covid & won an unheard of majority (normally our electoral system requires a coalition). A swing back to the centre-right was inevitable.

• The centre right National party, usually our most popular party, had their leadership retire & endured years of in-fighting that made them unelectable

• Because of this, they've bled a lot of voters to the "libertarian" & "centrist" parties (ACT & NZ First)

• Also because of this, the current National Party leader is rather inexperienced & has given up some things in the coalition agreements that are more extreme than the public likes leading to record breaking protests.

• The "centrist" party leader (Winston Peters) is a whole thing that I can't neatly summarize, but imagine a political party designed to cater exclusively to the oldest & dumbest 5% of voters run by that Monorail guy from The Simpsons

In summary, less a slide right & more a correction back to status quo + a few unpopular chaos agents

But couldn't he have seen the future and...no I'm over thinking this

First up, how much of the downturn in CBD spend is because of govt. layoffs? And how much is countered by an upturn in the wider region as people go to cafés in Kapiti & Upper Hutt instead of Wellington?

Secondly, for about 10 years govt agencies have been aiming for smaller offices and more people working from home. They can't just turn it around like that, lots of places won't have enough desks

As a country we should be ashamed

It's like how War of The Worlds is about someone doing to the British what they did to India

Ah, but you can then show that less people are on benefits and say you've done well. Just don't look at what experts say about poverty. In fact, best to fire the experts if you can!

We have learned nothing from the past 5 years it seems

I've seen so many comments like the original tweet and i don't get it. At worst Turkish delight is its perfectly fine. If I were an English child in 1943 it would probably blow my mind

Oh boy! Man-made horrors beyond my comprehension!

Ethereal?