[jacques_chester]

> Being a politician is probably a thankless task. I’ve no doubt it’s difficult.

I worked part-time for a backbench MP for a while. There is no time off for a politician: if you are awake, you are on duty. At home? Constant calls and texts from colleagues, journalists and party officials. Out shopping? You'll be interrupted. Celebrating wedding anniversary at a nice restaurant? You'll be interrupted. Walking down the street? Insults yelled from cars. Plus you are expected to show up for everything. Every new classroom, every intersection being repainted, every Northern Districts Cat Club AGM, every school fête, every art exhibition, everything. And you are expected to fix everything, whether or not you are even the right level of government for it: immigration policy, local hospital, the roof of the primary school, potholes, rubbish collection, council rates, parking fines. You are blamed for thousands of things beyond your direct control and outside your legal control.

It is actually a terrible job.