Why are such banal observations of any importance, you wonder.
Because they demonstrate that, behind the power suits, the media advisers, the presidential style and the security hustle and bustle that accompanies Key's public appearances, he does possess DNA strands that would identify him as a normal Kiwi bloke.
About as normal as a Kiwi bloke who is a self-made millionaire gets, I guess. I wouldn't have been surprised to see him toting a couple of bottles of Bollinger and some caviar. But nope - cans of Tui and Pizza Hutt.
Interesting that these mundane vignettes of Key's immediate post- victory life were just that, post victory.
Clearly no one felt that he had to be sold to the voters as an ordinary bloke. What we want, it seems, in the grips of a recession is an extraordinary bloke, someone who tells us confidently it's going to be okay, even if we aren't sure whether to believe him.
Right now, this country does not want a Labour-led government, and emphatically stated so on Saturday.
Sadly, too emphatically - the low party vote meant that Northland lost a good MP in Labour's Te Tai Tokerau candidate Kelvin Davis (pictured).
That's one less voice fighting for Northland. Let's hope his skills and experience aren't lost to the region.
And he's a good, ordinary bloke too.
editor@northernadvocate.co.nz
