The sideshows were largely ignored, and people focused on the Big Game. A friend posted a list on Facebook this morning of ten things we have learned from the 2014 election campaign; #10 read thus:
10) that, in the end, you can trust the New Zealand public to get it right.
The New Zealand public sorted out the wheat from the chaff and the sheep from the goats when they started going to the polls on September 3rd. The spectacular failure of the Moment of Truth on Monday was definitely a factor, and National has reported its internal polling surged a couple of percentage points in the last days of the campaign. But the public did indeed "get it right".
And they didn't need our help. We were silent for the last four weeks of the election campaign after being caught in the crossfire of the Hager book. Today, we want to thank Mr Hager for doing us a favour!
"How so?" you may ask. Blogging can become an obsession, and we were in grave danger of that when fate, in the form of Hager, intervened. In the last four weeks we have rediscovered some balance in our life. No longer do we head straight to the computer when we get out of bed in the morning. We can read articles now without mentally trying to find an angle to blog about. We're in a much better head-space.
We said some time ago we might take a sabbatical after the election. It is in fact going to be a permanent sabbatical, and this will be the last post on Keeping Stock; our last hurrah.
We were just going to quietly fade away, but we have had a number of e-mails and comments from long-time readers enquiring as to our welfare and our future plans. We're very grateful for those, and it has reinforced that we have provided an avenue for discourse over the last few years.
We're far from perfect, and we have made mistakes along the way. For that we apologise without reservation. But what's done is done, and if there are consequences, we will own them.
We've often said we, like Oscar Wilde, can resist anything except temptation. But our resolve is strong, and this is definitely Keeping Stock's last hurrah. Any future endeavours, unlikely as they are, will be open, transparent, and with a name attached.
We'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has visited, commented and interacted over the last seven years; your support has been very much appreciated. But now it's time for us to move on. The country is in the very best of hands, and our raison d'etre has ceased to have any meaning.
This is our last hurrah; it's been nice knowing you all.
Tony
UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to leave a comment. There are too many to respond individually, but we will be in touch with those for whom we have e-mail addresses at some point.
We commiserate with our Green friend Dave bsprout Kennedy; at 7pm on Saturday night he may have had dreams of becoming an MP, and good luck to him for trying. But those dreams were quickly dashed. And we almost feel sorry for David Cunliffe this morning; almost!
That's it; retirement awaits us...
