IS THERE A JACINDA ARDERN IN THE HOUSE? WE NEED YOU.

Jacinda Ardern is the prime-minster of New Zealand. I have already sung her virtues in a previous blogpost last week - press this link here. Yesterday, I came across a post that my friend Leo Walker had shared which was written by Alastair Campbell, a former spin-doctor (1997-2003) for Tony Blair. Campbell is very far from where I am politically but I think the thrust of his article is worth sharing. I am indebted to  Scott Palmer for this text below from the msm news website:
Alastair Campbell says Ardern 'standout leader' during COVID-19 crisis 

Jacinda Ardern - New Zealand's prime-minister and leader

'Jacinda Ardern's leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic is being praised by UK journalist and political aide Alastair Campbell, who calls her one of the "standout leaders of this crisis".

Writing for The Independent, Tony Blair's former spin-doctor applauded the Prime Minister for her role in overseeing the relatively small number of cases and deaths here.

"Leadership matters in a crisis, and New Zealand's leader, Prime Minister

Jacinda Ardern, can surely take considerable credit for this thus far hugely impressive outcome," he says.

"If you add the outcome of that single-figure death toll in New Zealand to the public performance of leadership, Ardern is surely one of, if not the, standout leaders of this crisis."

Campbell's praise came after a widely-read piece for the Washington Post by Kiwi journalist Anna Fifield, which highlighted Ardern's uncompromising approach to the alert level 4 lockdown, a four-week period of closures and self-isolation designed to flatten the curve of COVID-19 cases, and the swift shut down of the country's borders.

"From the earliest stages, Ardern and her team have spoken in simple language: Stay home. Don't have contact with anyone outside your household 'bubble'. Be kind. We're all in this together," Fifield wrote.

"She's usually done this from the podium of news conferences where she has discussed everything from the price of cauliflowers to wage subsidies. But she also regularly gives updates and answers questions on Facebook, including one done while sitting at home - possibly on her bed - in a sweatshirt."

Campbell also points to Ardern's press conferences, interviews and social media posts, calling them a "masterclass in crisis communications" in how she focused on the human - as well as economic - consequences of the lockdown.

"She set out, and explained in detail, but in clear, simple language, the four stages of Alert, and what each would require of government and of people. Her manner was calm, authoritative, and friendly," he writes for The Independent.

"Locked away at home for 23 hours a day, I spend many of those hours studying different world leaders as they deal with the COVID-19 challenge.

"Ardern is the only one who seems to be smiling as much in the crisis as she does in what might be termed normal times. It seems to help her, and New Zealand, get through it."'

Leadership smiles

Here is how she did it - here's how to be a great leader:

On 21 March, when Boris Johnson was still resisting a lockdown for the UK, and he and Donald Trump in the States had been sending mixed messages about handshakes, big gatherings, science, schools, and much else, Jacinda Ardern broadcast to the nation spelling out the strategy for New Zealand. In this rugby-obsessed nation, one of her central messages sounded like something from an All Blacks team talk: "We go hard, we go early". 

She emphasised the need for firm action to stop the spread of the virus during what she called "the window of opportunity" before it really took hold. She set out, and explained in detail, but in clear, simple language, the four stages of Alert, and what each would require of government and of people. Her manner was calm, authoritative, and friendly. She ended by urging everyone to "be strong, be kind, and unite against Covid-19". 

Jacinda Ardern noted that other countries had chosen not to "go early, go hard" - and she was clearly not making the same mistake. She gave the immediate clarity lacking in the UK about who the key workers were, and what essential journeys were. She spelled out how the government would do both contact tracing, and testing - and insisted that the more rigorous they were on all fronts, the likelier it was the lockdown could be lifted earlier.

IS THERE ANYONE IN THIS APOLOGY FOR A GOVERNMENT IN THE UK LISTENING TO THESE MESSAGES OF SANITY? 

PERHAPS YOUR EARS AND EYES WILL OPEN WIDER WHEN YOU ARE IN COURT FACING CHARGES OF ADMINISTRATIVE MALFEASANCE.  

 Here's a reminder of how appalling this UK government remains:

Health Secretary descends to new depths in his eagerness to deflect blame from Tory government for mounting death toll among NHS staff

(Skwawkbox: Sunday 12 April 2020)

Matt Hancock - Minister for Health so-called - but the wealth train has always taken precedence over the health of the nation in the mind-set of these neoliberal Tories - see my prescient words in The Road to Corbyn.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock was asked again at today's daily press conference how many NHS staff have died in the fight to save coronavirus sufferers.

Yesterday, he claimed there were nineteen - although the real number was 36. Today, as the death toll reached forty, he had not bothered to update himself and repeated his claim of nineteen.

Hancock would not have had a tough search, had he troubled himself to find out. Nursing magazine Nursing Notes is publishing frequent updates including details of each fallen NHS hero - and had updated well before Hancock's press conference:

Hancock had not taken time to inform himself.

But he did find time to try to weasel out of the government's responsibility for failing to provide front-line NHS staff with proper PPE - personal protective equipment - by claiming some might have become infected in other ways.

Instead of by spending time in air swarming with virus particles without the masks, goggles and gowns the World Health Organisation says are vital to defending health workers against the deadly virus.

HAVE A BLESSED EASTER AND STAY SAFE - 

AND THANK YOU FOR READING MY BLOGPOSTS.