Jacinda Ardern , who was plucked from obscurity, even within New Zealand, to lead her country when she was 37, resigned in exhaustion just over five years later in early 2023. It’s not entirely surprising she was worn out. She came to global prominence for her sympathetic and effective response to a mass shooting in Christchurch in 2019, after which she had to deal with a volcanic eruption that killed 22 people, and then a global pandemic, during which she quickly shut the country’s borders. Fewer than 5,000 people died of COVID-19 in New Zealand (less than 0.1% of the population), but there was deep unrest and lasting protests.

Also, in June 2018, about eight months after assuming office, she had a baby.

Her then partner, now husband Clark Gayford, who was a well-known national tel

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