A word to the woke

The danger of woke politics is that the adamant self-righteousness that accompanies it blinds people to the weaknesses of their ideology.

Following anti-woke declarations from both Winston Peters and Judith Collins, the most woke among us have lashed out on their usual stomping ground (Twitter) and in their characteristic fashion (with Mean Girls gifs – looking at you Chloe Swarbrick).

Whether the woke want to acknowledge the moniker or not, most ordinary people are finally gaining awareness and rapidly growing tired of it. The left can continue to play purity politics and lobby for sackings of anyone a millimetre to the right of them, but they underestimate the public’s ability to detect bullshit at their peril.

Our Labour Party actually isn’t particularly woke and would do well to distance itself from the increasing extremism of the Green Party. Although leftists baulk at the notion, Labour and National are not all that different. They jostle for the centre and represent alternating status quo establishments. As a Marxist friend of mine puts it, “National are capitalism’s A team and Labour are the B Team.” And with the economy and healthcare such crucial focus point of this election, neither “team” can afford to get pulled into identitarian mudwrestling.

The Green Party have spent this last term trying – and sometimes succeeding – to sneak through woke policies and laws by stealth. First the Births, Deaths, Marriages, Relationships Registration Act saw them attempt to remove all safeguarding…