The biggest thing in the political rock world returns to the international stage this spring with a one-off appearance at Harvard University on 26 May. The prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, is booked to be the venerable institution’s main speaking act at its 371st Commencement, welcoming the classes of 2022 and 2021. Harvard lauds Ardern as ‘one of the most respected leaders in the world’. But trying telling that to fed-up Kiwis.
Ardern herself has been off the international speaking circuit ever since she declared her country a no-go zone in response to the pandemic, effectively shutting the nation of five million off from all physical contact with the outside world. Out of sight, maybe, but certainly not out of mind since that snap closure of March 2020. The tsunami of laudatory notices she has received overseas continues apace.
According to Harvard’s publicity statement, the past couple of years have highlighted Ardern’s ‘decisive management’ of the pandemic.
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