Editorial: Will TV's bloodless revolution translate to the ballot box

Mark Dawson, editor, Wanganui Chronicle

There was only one question in New Zealand this week: What next?

Over five consecutive nights, TVNZ pondered that question in a "live television event" that took in on-the-spot nationwide polls and Facebook conversations as it charted a course to NZ 2037.

The programme was bold and ambitious, and so were the ideas it threw up with presenters John Campbell and Nigel Latta, imbued with revolutionary fervour, leading a bunch of - yes - "futurists" in shaping the kind of country they wanted.

Economic equality, the end of poverty, shareholding workers and technological innovation were all laudable landmarks along the route.

But the question remains: What next? Coronation Street or Shortland Street perhaps.

There was certainly too much on offer for the short-termism of our three-yearly, vote-grabbing cycle to deal with, so will we get much of this stuff from politicians with both eyes on the ballot box as the September election draws near? What next from them?

Elections have got a bit curly lately. Donald Trump promised to break up the political establishment in the US - and, in a way, he has.

Bernie Sanders, the oldest hippy on the block, ran shoe-in Hillary Clinton remarkably close for the Democratic nomination, while Britons voted for Bexit even though most of them didn't really want it.

And in the British election, proud-to-be-a-socialist Jeremy Corbyn stunned everyone by nearly overturning the dyed-in-the-wool Conservatives.

Anti-establishment fever seems to be everywhere; the often-absent youth vote is making itself felt; hope and a vision for the future are outstripping the "we-stand-on-our-record" nod to the past.

Will this epidemic of political disorderliness infect the New Zealand election?

Do we have a party leader with enough fire in their belly to stand aside of the mainstream and rally the young and the disaffected to their cause? Or is it "steady as she goes, New Zealand"?

Even John, Nigel and their "futurists" didn't have the answer to that one.