Barry Soper: Trolls can't watch Jacinda Ardern's 60 Minutes interview objectively

Jacinda Ardern interviewed by AUstralian journaist Charles Woolleey. Photo / 60 Minutes

So a couple of social media trolls with a handful of followers didn't like the 60 Minutes interview with Jacinda Ardern and all hell breaks loose.

If they could have looked at the interview with the ageing white male journalist Charles Wooley objectively, rather than plucking out a few cringe-causing bits, they would have seen a woman comfortable in her own skin, even if she did shift a little uncomfortably when she was asked about her impending baby's conception date. But even that she answered: it was after the election.

But then objectivity when it comes to Ardern and her love-is-blind disciples doesn't enter their vocabulary - but repugnant, says Priscilla with 138 followers, and patronising, says Emily with 221 followers, does. And what these social media trolls say feeds the media machine and works the great unwashed into a lather.

Before frothing at the bung they should sit down and watch the interview and all the other bits, like the wonderful scenery, and realise what this does for our country. It was a piece of television that won't do New Zealand any harm at all, and those of us who've watched Wooley over the years know he's a gushy sort of a bloke, not sexist and a shitful journalist as another troll, clearly in need of English tuition, described it.

Fact is if you're a white, ageing male you're off to a bad start these days, particularly if you have the audacity to observe that a 37-year-old Prime Minister's attractive.

Think of a young, white male who did speed dating interviews with the National Party leadership hopefuls on Seven Sharp over the past week. Okay, we know Jeremy Wells likes taking the proverbial, and this isn't necessarily a criticism of him, it's more about the silence of the trolls since he asked the likes of Judith Collins whether she sleeps in the buff or Amy Adams what's she like around the kitchen, with her saying "a girl's got to know how to do a pav".

And the sexual references in the date Wells had with Mark Mitchell brought the cringe factor to a whole new level, even to the point of the father-of-five National hopeful being asked which of the two female candidates would get him going sexually.

Clearly embarrassed, Mitchell said he liked them both, they were outstanding women. Not a squeak from social media ghouls, what's good for the goose is clearly not good for the gander.

Ardern herself said she was relaxed about the interview. Maybe, she mused, she's from Morrinsville and she's lost her sensitivity but she wasn't fazed by any of it.

Perhaps it's time we stopped mollycoddling her, she can obviously fend for herself. As to who's elected by National today, we've now got too much information!