National MP Chris Bishop criticises Government over Wordle tweet

Chris Bishop saw the Wordle score and did not like it. Photo / File

National MP Chris Bishop has criticised the government's Covid response, this time over a tweet sent out by the Ministry for the Environment with their daily Wordle score.

Bishop, who is the National Party's Covid response spokesman, did not like that the Wordle tweet, which was seemingly innocent banter between different government departments, was sent out on the same day the Government announced a hold on MIQ room releases.

"One government department tweets out the closure of NZ borders. Meanwhile MFE, DOC, Stats and EECA are playing Wordle. Now, about that non-existent plan for Omicron...," Bishop tweeted.

One government department tweets out the closure of NZ borders. Meanwhile MFE, DOC, Stats and EECA are playing Wordle. Now, about that non-existent plan for omicron… pic.twitter.com/VAVETo1MAq

— Christopher GET BOOSTED Bishop (@cjsbishop) January 19, 2022

His tweet included a screenshot of the since-deleted tweet sent out by the Ministry for the Environment, with a challenge to other departments, including the Department of Conservation.

Replies to Bishop's tweet show that most people do not expect the Ministry for the Environment to have anything to do with the country's Omicron response and, as such, saw no issue with the Wordle-themed tweet.

"You're right, that's completely unacceptable. MFE, DOC, Stats and EECA should be absolutely working hard on the Covid plan," one person responded.

"I doubt the person running the social media accounts has anything to do with Covid decisions. It's light-hearted fun," someone else said.

Other people told the National MP to "chill".

pic.twitter.com/5aWhXqbz98

— Zach Simm (@zachsimm) January 19, 2022

"I consider myself to be someone skilled at seeing the miserable side of just about anything, but even for me, complaining about the social media staff taking part in the silly fun game is a bit much," someone else responded.

Wordle is a viral word game that has recently taken the world by storm. Users are given six attempts to guess a five-letter word and can only play once a day. While there are copycat apps popping up on app stores, the original is the Wordle game, created by Josh Wardle.

Wardle created the game for his partner, who enjoys word games, then decided to put it online. The game had 90 players worldwide in November but now has more than two million regular players.

The Ministry for the Environment has since deleted the tweet, saying that it did not align with its social media strategy.