It was never going to be easy for Labour to live up to the hopes and encouragement of the voters in 2020. When things start going badly, however, or when – God rot them! They’re the people who, when the kids of the working-class start breaking bad, defend them in court, write reports about them, give them counselling, and mange them when they’re released from prison. Labour’s problem, however, is that it has given far too many New Zealanders far too many good reasons for wanting to punish it. Not when your party has ended up giving the New Zealand electorate so little to defend, and so much to punish.