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Do you reckon Chris Hipkins regrets the deal he did with Grant and Jacinda late last year? \\xa0

Do you think Jacinda had an inkling that things were spiralling out of control, both economically and internally, and thought "tell you what, a book deal, a King\'s Honour and wandering around a few universities waxing lyrical about kindness looks way more fun than this cluster"?

Poor, old Hipkins can\'t even leave the country without yet another minister imploding.

We must be careful, of course, in a world where our mental health has taken on new significance, personal tumult is not to be dismissed.

But the Kiri Allen story appears to have two different chapters to it. Her personal leave is for personal issues, but there\'s also a group of people seconded to her office that clearly couldn\'t stand it and bailed early.

There is a pattern here, given she is not the first minister to face staffing issues. Meka Whaitiri was accused of assaulting one of her staff, Anna Lorck had trouble and who can forget Gaurav Sharma. \\xa0

In the meantime, in China poor, old Chris, still frozen in fear from having to talk about foreign matters, was bailed up about errant behaviour back home. \\xa0

He said concern had been raised, although there was no official complaint, as though that somehow justifies or explains it. You have to wonder how many more fall between now and October 14th. \\xa0

Jan Tinetti still awaits her verdict from the Privileges Committee. What must her staff think of her, given they gave her the warning about correcting the mess she created in the house?

Michael Wood, like Allen, is off on personal leave, having imploded under the weight of his hubris.

Stuart Nash got warned and sacked and warned and quit - or whatever the order was.

Now, Hipkins has to rumble his way back to the country via Manila and Darwin to face yet another ministerial crisis.

Here is a thought - could part of it actually be on him?

Wood was a busy minister portfolio-wise. Post sacking all his work got distributed to other already busy ministers.

Why? Because Hipkins, having learned from Tinetti and the Ginny Andersen promotions, knew he had no talent left so he had no choice.

Which brings us back to Ardern. Good leaders, actual bona fide leaders, leave with the place in better shape than they arrived.

You don\'t bugger the place up and then bail leaving a trail of destruction.

Yet, here we are.

One question left - how much do you want to bet the carnage ain\'t over yet?

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