Panto fun for all

New Zealand has never had much of a pantomime tradition, yet every three years our politicians enter into its campy tropes and absurdities as though they were born in an Aladdin troupe.

A peculiarity of our election pantos is that there are far more back ends of the horse than there are fronts. Another is that the main audience is the media, as the voting public is apt to get bored by the repetition.

This week we had:

Media: “The Government is going to make a fat payout to settle Ihumatāo.”

Winston Peters: “Oh, no, it isn’t!”

Media: “Oh, yes, it is!”