Morrinsville’s World Famous Takeaway Worker

It’s Friday night in the small town of Morrinsville and a handful of locals are waiting at the Golden Kiwi on the main street for a greasy parcel of fish and chips, Julia Hollingsworth writes for CNN. It wasn’t so long ago that Jacinda Ardern was behind the counter, taking orders at the nautical-themed takeaway joint. Now, the 40-year-old New Zealand Prime Minister is one of the world’s most recognisable leaders.

In the profile, Hollingsworth writes about the Prime Minister’s childhood and education at Morrinsville College where she was well respected and where, principal John Inger says, she “walked around with a big smile on her face all the time.”

“There’s no public and private Jacinda, there’s just Jacinda,” Ardern’s former social studies teacher Gregor Fountain says. “And she’s always been like that. I just feel like it’s genuine authenticity.”

If Ardern wins a majority in this year’s election, she’s in a position to push through more transformational policies. For now, her legacy is likely to be limited to the deft handling of multiple crises, said political commentator Ben Thomas.

Hollingsworth writes that the question now is whether she can parlay her popularity into transforming New Zealand in other ways.

Original article by Julia Hollingsworth, CNN, October 12, 2020.

Photo by Foundations World Economic Forum – Safeguarding Our Planet at the Annual Meeting 2019, CC BY 2.0.