MIKE HOSKING
Newstalk ZB
Paul Henry and I first met in a studio at TVNZ where all you could hear were people wailing and whining and wishing they were somewhere else. We were watching the 6pm news. One story after another was about people complaining they were out of work. Or complaining they weren’t paid enough. Everyone complained they couldn’t afford groceries.
‘‘What losers,’’ Paul said, and I knew in that instant here was a man after my own heart. I knew also that he was destined for great things. That nothing would ever stop him. That he would carve out his own destiny. That he would one day host The Chase.
But now he has even surpassed that achievement with the announcement he will stand for Act. And it brought me back to that day we first met. Because New Zealanders are still complaining and what they need is, one, a kick up the backside, and two, to be thoroughly ignored.
Paul ignored them then. Paul will ignore them now. I have done better than that. In all the years I have known Paul, I have ignored him. And that won’t change. Because there’s only one man with his finger on the pulse. But Paul is the next best thing.
It’s just the shot in the arm that New Zealand needs.
Newstalk ZB
How good is that Paul Henry announcement, eh? How good is that? I can’t remember the last time I felt this good. I said to Barry, ‘‘When’s the last time I felt this good?’’ And he said, ‘‘Sorry, what’s that?’’
Well, that’s Barry for you. Always questioning everything. But I have questions, too, about the Paul Henry announcement. Questions that constitute a real test of your intelligence. Questions like, how could you not regard this as a game changer of immense and profound importance? And how could you not respond to this with anything other than unbound happiness and the feeling that everything is going to be all right?
Because look around you. You’ll have noticed that even the air feels different. The prospect of Paul Henry in Parliament is like a giant joyworm with hallucinogenic properties has been released into the water bottles of the nation. It’s fixed a smile on everyone’s lips and got Kiwis moving with a sudden spring in their step and a sense of purpose where previously there was just an incoherent rage that people like Chloe Swarbrick exist.
It’s just the shot in the arm that New Zealand needs.
Newstalk ZB
So let’s all pause and weigh up the significance and meaning of the Paul Henry announcement. And let’s all remember that the best way to approach everything in life is with a cautious sense of optimism and the realisation that the middle of the road is the safest way to travel.
So one hand there is no doubt when you hear Paul Henry speak that he has a real passion for New Zealand and that he wants New Zealand to be a great place for his children and grandchildren, and for your children and grandchildren.
And you have to allow for the fact that if you met him for a drink in the pub, he’d be a riot, he’d tell jokes, he’d keep up his end of the banter, and the evening would be an unqualified success.
And it’s true that if you look back on his career in broadcasting, you think of all the pleasure he gave you on such shows as Every Second Counts when he wore white loafers.
He’s quick-witted. He’s mercurial. He’s very bright. He has his own thoughts. As for Act, it’s a party with broad-ranging policies and very strong ideas on just about everything.
So at the end of the day, the sensible, middle-of-the-road perspective on the whole matter, is that it’s just the shot in the arm that New Zealand needs.
