Wizard running for mayor of Christchurch

In a recent press release, the Wizard of NZ confirmed he has put his hat in the ring for the Christchurch Mayoralty.

Full text of press release:

“I am issuing this Press Release to make it clear that, as I announced in October last year early in the proceedings, I am standing in the forthcoming election for Mayor of Christchurch.

This has become necessary since my name has been omitted from the main stories that have appeared in the local media when listing the candidates who have stated so far that they are standing. My letters to the Press have not been published and I have not been approached for any comments on why I am standing. As the Elephant in the Room it appears that I will have to do the best I can to keep democracy alive in New Zealand. As has been said a lot recently, democracy dies in darkness.

My reasons for standing

My past record over fifty years including my rather sensational stand for reform and free speech in the universities in Australia demonstrates that unlike my attackers I am not driven by desire for power or for material reward or even security. If I wanted fame or fortune I would never have taken on the identity of a thought-provoking wizard who loves the fun of being alive and kicking in a free country. I would have assumed the persona of a ‘righteous do-gooder’, or a ‘sincere truth-teller’ instead of a provoker of laughter at pretension.

Exercising my British rights to free speech I spoke without amplification or foul language on important topics not being covered in the universities or mass media. I did this in Cathedral Square, then the heart if the city, most days between 1974 until the Earthquake. This was despite being daily threatened with arrest by the City Council for the first three months which I evaded by my ingenious use of dramatic forms of presentation covered in the media. Had I stood for Mayor of Christchurch forty years ago when I was at the height of my fame and influence in NZ I would have stood a good chance of being elected, like Tim Shadbolt at that time in Invercargill.

As a sociologist and psychologist with years of watching the increasing political bullying going on and career cancellation in most democratic countries, I had to wait patiently until a critical tipping point was reached. I believe that it has now been reached.

Experience

Experience, rather than age, money, or friends in the right places, is important for being elected as Mayor, who will be the face of a major city, not only to all the citizenry, and visitors, but to the world outside. I believe I am uniquely qualified for this role. I have performed successfully and gained valuable experience in the following roles; Boy Scout leader, Flying Wing Adjutant at the RAF fighter station of Duxford, Teacher of English Literature at the British Council and University of Tehran; CEO of the major Festival of the Arts in Perth in WA, first academic theoretical sociologist in Australia (UNSW in Sydney) and, for those who enjoyed The Office series on TV, my first experience of the commercial  world was three years as a paper merchant’s representative in the City of London.

I was appointed Wizard of Christchurch in 1981 by the City Council and proclaimed the world’s first and only official Living Work of Art by the Art Gallery Directors Council of NZ around the same time. I received the prestigious Newman Award in 1989 for my contribution to tourism. In 1990, as a result of my importance in bringing both high morale and discriminating tourists to the city, the then Prime Minister of NZ appointed me official Wizard of NZ. For my performance in this role I was awarded the Queens Service Medal in 2007. I have no criminal record nor have I lost a job through incompetence.

In spite of the extraordinary lack of coverage of my candidature in the mass media I believe that I not only have greater name recognition but also wider-ranging experience in the real world than my rivals. Let a veteran disrupter of bullies who has successfully identified as a wizard for fifty years demonstrate what he can do to humourously disrupt those individuals in authority with stupid or bad intentions.

Action

I am forming a community of friends and well-wishers to publicise the fact that I am standing. I am relying on the successes of what I have contributed to Christchurch over the past forty years rather than making the usual promises of the great things I will do after gaining power. To understand what an elected representative is up against, as an independent social scientist I recommend the BBC comedy series “Yes Minister”.

I sympathise with the plight of all those reporters and journalists who would love to support me in my sensational struggle for the triumph of common sense in this absurd time in our history but daren’t do so for fear of being cancelled.

See my Facebook Page for images and comments.
Email jack@wizard.gen.nz