Jim Anderton treated like a rock star? Which rock star was the reporter thinking about?

Mick Jagger ... a bit past his prime now, but he can pull a crowd of much more than a hundred or so.

Well, bugger me, Alf muttered on learning that Jim Anderton was treated like a rock star when he addressed his campaign supporters on Saturday night after being defeated for the Christchurch mayoralty.

A rock star on the way down, no longer pulling the crowds as he did in his prime, one is tempted to observe.

According to a report at Stuff

… more than 100 People’s Choice and 2021 members gathered at the Woolston Club to celebrate what many called the most organised grassroots political campaign seen in the city for more than 30 years.

The crowd included community board and council candidates, Labour MPs Lianne Dalziel and Brendon Burns, and Labour’s Wigram candidate, Megan Woods.

A crowd of more than 100?

Alf supposes this means either it was less than 150 or the reporter can’t count beyond 100.

He is tempted to opt for the former.

Political crowds are much easier to please than those at rock concerts, of course.

And so –

Cheers were given to sitting 2021 councillors Yani Johanson and Chrissie Williams, who were returned with increased majorities, and also to new councillor Jimmy Chen, the highest-polling candidate in the Riccarton-Wigram ward.

Whoops of delight were also heard when Burwood-Pegasus councillor-in-waiting Glenn Livingstone arrived, although his election will not be confirmed until special votes are counted.

But the biggest cheer of the night was reserved for Anderton, who was given a lengthy standing ovation.

He spoke about the campaign’s success in getting younger people involved in politics, how it exposed some of the previous council’s failings and its flow-on effects which he predicted would bolster the city’s Centre-Left movement and help Labour MPs at next year’s general election.

The down side of this result, of course, is that Anderton will continue performing in Parliament as MP for Wigram for the rest of this term.

Alf would much rather go to a Rolling Stones gig.