New Zealand Listener

The rise & rise of David Seymour

David Seymour, the Act leader, may or may not be an alien. Neither of us is able to provide a definitive answer to this intriguing dilemma. He had a go: “Well, you never know. And if you were an alien, would you know that you were?” If you did know, would you admit to it? “Well, that’s the thing. If I was an alien and knew I was an alien, I’d probably deny it. So, you’ll just have to wonder.”

There is much to wonder, or at least ponder, about him. But how did we arrive at aliens, of all mad things? I was trying to find out what he believed. Because, as I told him, I am always accusing people of being libertarians and I had just realised I have no idea what a libertarian actually is. Believing in libertarianism is being certain about something you can’t really know, perhaps. I had asked if he believed in God. He doesn’t, although he says he is an agnostic rather than an atheist: “Atheism sounds like a lot of effort. You’ve got to be certain about something you can’t really know.”

He also doesn’t believe in aliens, by the way, but I did have to ask. He believes, obviously, in

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