My dad was PM once or twice. Somewhere along the way a politician’s job changed dramatically |
My dad was PM once or twice. Somewhere along the way a politician’s job changed dramatically
October 26, 2026 — 3:30pm
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The kids of politicians are often asked if they’ve considered the same path as their parents. Some of us have. It’s a consideration coloured by lived experience, good and bad. The warmth and purpose of public service are difficult to separate from its uglier realities: rage, vitriol, abuse – and sometimes violence.
“I don’t know how your old man does it,” people would say to me when Dad had an office in the same building as Helen Haines. “You must be so proud.” But when they don’t know they’re in the company of a politician’s kid, their barbecue throwaway lines are much different. “As if you’d choose to be away from your family like that.” “You’d have to be crazy to put yourself out there like that, wouldn’t you?” “I guess it’s part and parcel of public life.” “It takes a certain kind of person ...”
A certain kind of person. What is that kind of person?
Representative democracy rests........