Friday, January 19, 2018

So, this is The End...The Doors

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So Jacinda Ardern is pregnant? Or is it more socially appropriate these days to say Jacinda Ardern and Clarke Gayford are pregnant.
And, by the way, the NZ Herald caption for the photo making the announcement says, “Clarke Gayford and Jacinda Clarke are to become parents soon!”
When did that happen? When did she become Jacinda Clarke, or is that just her homage to her mentor Helen Clark?
Anyway, Fryday sincerely congratulates them both, but hopes fervently, if curmudgeonly, that we won’t see a repeat spurt of babies in Parliament as we did post-election. Spare us that, please.
And spare us the NZ Herald…for just about everything these days.
Where is the venerability, where is the gravitas, where is the news of yesteryear?
It has gone. Gone from once sage pages. Replaced by such headlines and “news” stories (today) as: “Kiwi Stars React to Jacinda’s Pregnancy”. The story that follows is comprised mostly of tweets from so-called stars such as ColinMathura-Jeffree, Urzila Carlson (who?), and Matilda Rice—among others.
With the obvious exception of Colin Mathura-Jeffree, they may be important and talented people in their fields (Colin doesn’t have one), but are we really interested in their messages to Mr Gayford and Ms Clarke?
I admit that it takes very little to track down a tweet, but hasn’t the NZ Herald got better things to with its time and staff? And who made these people “Stars” anyway and their views any more relevant than—say—mine, or yours?
I am sorry. This is a story that, as hard as I try, I can’t find any excuse for. It is drivel. It is dross. And if the caption is anything to go by it is also wrong. 
It is, in the end (and it may possibly will be), the NZ Herald, but not as we knew it.

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