If you’re the CEO of a consumer products company, it would make perfect sense to have quarterly sales targets to measure the success or otherwise of the products being peddled in the market. 

It’s a bit different in the political sphere, however, as Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is finding out. 

We’ve all been bombarded with “targets” the Government has been setting all over the place to measure its performance. How comical then for the PM to say, when the target’s looking a bit shaky, to blurt out “it’s not about the frickin’ targets”. Oh, ah, okay, let me “chunk” or “trunk” that down through my “decision gates” to see if I understand that better. Sadly no. Frickin’ funny though. 

And what about “back on track”, bandied about by the Government wherever and whenever possible, still. Even after the PM let the cat out of the bag by saying “we’re never going to get there, right?” 

That falls into cynical manipulation territory. 

As does the “we’re going to provide tax relief for lower and middle income families” mantra. The Government did lower taxes for lower and middle income families, but that is not the whole story — 64% of the tax cut went to the top 40% of income earners. As is always the way with tax cuts, top income earners get the lion’s share. 

The PM can carry on sloganeering all he likes but now the mask keeps slipping, we can never be quite sure that he really does believe in what he is peddling. 

What is the word to describe that behaviour? 

Bruce Holm