For whom the bell tolls

The heavy-handed way in which the Beehive is trying to foist these things upon us rankles many.

- BILL RALSTON

I'd like to personally thank Gaurav Sharma for sparking a by-election in Hamilton West. Until now, political analysts have been spending much of their time peering at opinion polls and ruminating over the deeper meaning of the recent local body elections to try to work out which party is likely to win the general election next year.

Because Hamilton West is known as a bellwether seat tending to reflect the overall swing of votes in the country - Sharma's act of self-immolation gives us a preview of what might happen in 2023.

The prevailing opinion of commentators seems to be that the mood of the country is swinging to the centre-right, and they have cited co-governance, Three Waters, crime, rising mortgage interest rates and the cost of living as drivers of that shift.

Those arguments are certainly contributors to discontent, but there is an even more rational reason a sizeable chunk of voters are going off Labour: they are grumpy at still being told what to do.