This Herald column is no more - Jarrod Gilbert

Jarrod Gilbert (left) with horse (top right), his cats (bottom right) and Paula Bennett (bottom centre). Composite Photo / NZME

THREE KEY FACTS

• This is Jarrod Gilbert’s last opinion column for the Herald.
• Gilbert reflects on his career by mentioning controversies and personal stories he has shared.
• He expresses gratitude for positive feedback and the opportunity to contribute to informed debate.

This column has been sacked! Kicked to the kerb! Told not to come in on Monday! To the delight of many readers, this column is no more.

I love and respect the Herald and I’m incredibly grateful for having had the opportunity to write this column for as long as I have.

Frankly, they should have got rid of me sooner. There was, for example, the time I misspelled a person’s name. That got pointed out to me on social media, so I hurriedly wrote an email to the paper with the correct spelling. It was quickly changed online; except I’d spelled it wrong the second time as well.

There were also times when the legal team had concerns about what I’d written. Usually, I could allay their fears, but twice I had columns pulled and never published. One was when I made light of suicide (which sounds terrible now) and another when I ripped so wholeheartedly into a couple of politicians that it was deemed defamatory (which now sounds awesome).

I also burned a few bridges. I once called on Paula Bennett to resign, and shortly thereafter sat next to her over lunch. I also called Kelvin Davis clueless and wondered why his media team wouldn’t let me write a feature on him.

I was also cowardly on occasion. I drafted a column about trans people in sport. Two of my younger staff members - looking after my best interests, bless them - convinced me not to run with it. That undoubtedly saved me from getting slaughtered on social media, but I regret it. If great journalists like David Fisher, Matt Nippert and Steve Braunias have taught me anything, it’s that to be effective you need to be fearless.

Still, I like to think - at least, I hope - my commentary has been useful on occasion and aided informed debate. My favourite columns, though, were the ones when I was utterly irreverent. Writing about my cats, my racehorses, my best mate Gobbo, and wearing slippers to the supermarket gave me tremendous joy. For the record: my cats remain the greatest creatures in the world; my horses are the second greatest creatures in the world but are yet to win a race; Gobbo has just semi-retired, and wearing slippers to the supermarket is unduly stigmatised.

I’ll miss the hate mail. I genuinely enjoyed that correspondence. The more unhinged the better. I was always polite in my first reply, but if people continued to be abusive, I’d give them both barrels. There are some reply emails that I should be in prison for.

Fewer in number were the people who took the time to say nice things. Those people always made my day. They taught me to actively congratulate people. When I think someone has said or done something awesome, I reach out to them because I now know those same people will often get a lot of criticism. To those people who have dropped me a kind line over the years, please know you’ve made me a better person.

So that’s that.