News

Greatest hit

As a “young person,” there’s nothing more cringe-worthy than watching non-youths attempt to become well versed in the wonderful world of the Internet if they don’t really understand how the Internet works. That makes social media campaigns hit-or-miss, and means they can either be really great or really ridiculous. Fortunately, this is the Hit section, and the Greatest Hit here goes to the recent explosion of political hashtags. Or, more specifically, the fact that the parties are gaining traction by using them. The National Party has two that have been floating around - #3moreyears and #TeamKey; the Labour Party has recently got #ForABetterNZ off the ground, and the Green Party has been using #Green2014 for a little while. As it becomes apparent just how important social media presence is going to be for getting that ever-slippery youth vote, it’s cool to see some of the parties embracing it with open arms.

Greatest shit

This is not overwhelmingly recent, but it’s such a good one I can’t resist – Trevor Mallard, of the Labour Party, wants to revive the moa. In isolation, it’s a relatively cool idea; imagine if we had gigantic birds roaming the streets? In election year, it’s ridiculously hilarious. Apparently Cunliffe said of Trev’s plan, “the moa is not a goer,” but Mallard definitely isn’t joking: “I only want the small moa in Wainuiomata. I don’t want those that are 240kg and 3.5 metres tall. I’d like ones that I could pat on the head.” Beautiful.