Daniel Hutchinson From The Hutch

When Will Smith charged up onto the stage at the Oscars this week and slapped Chris Rock in the face, it seemed appropriate.

The slap was on behalf of his wife who had just been insulted in front of the whole crowd. It wasn't a closed fist punch or a headbutt. It was just that – a slap in the face.

And let's face it, we all need a slap in the face at some stage otherwise we just carry on doing what we have always done.

The practice of rolling out extreme insults to get a laugh – ‘roasting' it's called – has been around for a few years now. It was weird and awkward at first. Now it's just a tired, lazy way to get a laugh.

Out in the cold

Tauranga City residents have had a few slaps in the face lately. While everyone else in the country will be casting their votes in October, city residents will be stuck with the four stooges.

There will be no Mayor to represent them, no councillors to lobby their constituents and respond to their needs and wants. It will be a very weird situation for Tauranga residents as the rest of the country exercises its right to choose while they sit there nursing angry red welts on both cheeks.

The first slap in the face was barely warranted. There was a less extreme way to deal with the internal ructions. It was shamelessly opportunistic. This latest slap in the face is just an assault – plain and simple.

Vote your heart out

Simon Bridges' resignation has at least given Tauranga residents an opportunity to exercise their right to vote this year. Perhaps voters will deliver their own slap in the face.

After 14 years in politics and more than a few bruises to show for it, it is time to try something new and focus on family.

While many became weirdly obsessed with how well Simon's house sale was going, the NZ Women's Weekly carried an article explaining the stinger that prompted the sea change.

It wasn't so much a slap, as a playground swing to the liver for Simon's son Harry. He wound up in intensive care and while he is well through the recovery, it's one of those shocks that makes you look at your priorities.

I respect that and wish him all the best – it's a gracious and considerate way to exit. Not many politicians look more relaxed on the way out than they did on the way in.

Turn the other cheek

We have all had our share of slaps to the face these last couple of years thanks to this most unwelcome pandemic. The strikes keep coming too, with the spectre of a world war hanging over everyone's heads and inflation rising faster than the blood pressure of your average Tauranga ratepayer.

Good things are often born from adversity, but we really are starting to run out of cheeks.

daniel@thesun.co.nz