Above: the moa. Much more interesting to talk about than poverty or housing.

Do you remember when elections were fought over important issues, like which party was better placed to grow the economy or reduce unemployment?

Those were crazy days.

Nowadays, we on the left would much rather talk about how mean the world is to our leaders, and how awful the media are. If we are focused on an issue, chances are it’s one that appears trivial, like resurrecting a dead bird species.

I imagine John Key is pretty happy with the way things are going for Labour. The right want us to be focusing on petty distractions during this election campaign, like Mike Hosking, media bias and moas. They’d rather we weren’t talking about things like jobs, growth, the economy, housing and inequality.

They think that if we spend all our time complaining about the media and how mean everyone is being to David Cunliffe, we will throw away what little chance we have to win this thing.

But what if they’re wrong? What if going on and on about how rotten the media are, rather than focusing on the things that matter to most people like jobs and housing, is in fact the winning strategy? What if the general public really do want the moas back? Has anyone done any polling on this issue?

Our strategy of talking about everything but the important issues may well pay off in the end, which is why we mustn’t abandon our focus on being unfocused just yet. There’s still plenty of time to turn this thing around before September 20, so if by say mid-September the polls still show us doing terribly, there will still be a few days left to mention the economy. Or housing. Or jobs. Or inequality. Or the environment.

But that stuff is so fucking boring to talk about, so let’s not go there just yet.

Now, Trevor, tell us more about these extinct bird plans.