Barry Soper: Simon Bridges becomes the Invisible Man

COMMENTARY:

This week should have been Simon Bridges's.

But today he could be forgiven for feeling badly treated by entering the Parliament Bear Pit.

His first annual conference as leader would have seen him leaving, basking in the glory of the adoring party. Instead, he waved his arms and shouted what about me?

He becomes the invisible man and this is not for lack of trying, but he has not managed to take a look at what should have been his glory. His senior colleague, Amy Adams, will also feel a little upset after presenting figures to National Party supporters who are supposed to show that the country has the second lowest business confidence rating in the world.

John Key stole their thunder, speaking of the international economic nervousness saying that their spluttering fortunes could have an impact on this country, and if that's the case, then the current crop in the Beehive are the bad parts to straighten it. It was the first time Key had attended the conference since he suddenly left it in 2016, but the party is still considered by many to be his.

The only thing Bridges was able to find during his glory days promising to reduce class size in our schools, something that National did exactly the opposite of six years ago when Hekia Parata was in the hot education seat before being slapped by Key. The bridges have also resulted in more charter schools that will be at least a glimmer of light for the corpse of the restless act whose idea was the schools in the first place.

The most difficult news of the conference comes from the old idea of ​​Mark Mitchell The gangs are not worn in public, an idea implemented by a former New Zealand deputy, Michael Laws, while 39; he was mayor of Whanganui, but who was finally the subject of an appeal

. an act of violence, so why should they be able to intimidate the public by wearing their badge of honor? The police already have the power to remove gang patches in some places.

But many studies show that the prohibition of patches does not make a significant difference to gang membership and what they attach to

former aspirant for leadership national, marked the publicity stunt that the bridges could only envy. And this led Winston Peters, in his last week as Acting Prime Minister, to find that jackals were beginning to encircle.

The smell of Bridges was too much for Jacinda Ardern, she added to her By releasing another disjointed "multi-tasking" video, cradling Neave from one foot, looking at the papers from the stack that she had to read and tell us that she was ready to go back to work

As for Bridges, well, he had a chance.