Most dictionary definitions of irony include the idea of a disconnect between what's said and what's intended, or an inconsistency of words and deeds. An essential element is that irony denotes human vanity or folly.
Some ironies are so extreme, they're laughable.
There's the spectacle of former US House Speaker Newt Gingrich who worked to impeach President Clinton for an affair with a White House intern.
At the time, Gingrich was having an affair with a House of Representatives intern.
Former Education Secretary Bill Bennett wrote a book decrying the general decline in morality.
It was learned that his special personal indulgence was a serious gambling habit.
Some ironies may evoke tears, or close to it.
In New Zealand, it's ironic that John Key and Paula Bennett, the two government officials most preoccupied with making things a bit tougher for beneficiaries, are the same two whose own lives were made easier by similar benefits.
Given the boost they got, they've risen quite high and seem now, to be drawing up the ladder behind them.
The double irony is that Ms Bennett's own work and the benefits that come with it, placing her far above her former station in terms of earnings, come from the grant of the vote of a few hundred of her fellow citizens whose tax money is still the source of her support.
In Wanganui, it's ironic when the former mayor accuses anyone of lying, as he did recently in respect to Councillor Rob Vinsen. Of course, Michael Laws said that in the context of the city's debt, hoping to deflect from the fact that while he was the mayor for six years, the city's debt tripled from $35 million to $105 million.
Irony is the only way to describe the former mayor's insistence on fact gathering from the DHB using an Official Information Act initiative.
The irony stems from the past history when Michael seemingly ran the council as a one-man, one-vote machine; his being the only vote. His was the only voice, too, as any information about council had to come from him.
The whole thing comes nearly full circle when it's remembered that the same councillor, Rob Vinsen, had to institute Official Information initiatives from the previous council, to find facts that the former mayor withheld about debt.
Now, the former mayor has become the champion of retaining our maternity services.
I applaud him and note that the immediate beneficiaries of successful retention of those services would be the poor pregnant women of our community, among whom Maori women are significantly over-represented.
In a recent face-to-face encounter after a DHB meeting on the maternity service, I said: "Michael, you surprised me today. You actually said something sensible."
In rejoinder, he promised to keep surprising me.
If it means less incivility and divisiveness, and indeed sensible effort for the common good and not just his own, I'm both willing and hoping to be more surprised.
