Chris Trotter

[4] Novelist, poet and critic C K Stead described the book as "a dashingly written and persuasive elegy for the Scandinavian-style socialist democracy New Zealand might have been, and at the same time a realistic (though at times appropriately angry) acknowledgement that, given the forces, internal and external, ranged against it, the chances of it happening, and lasting, were never very good.

"[5] In February 2008, he said that Labour leader and prime minister Helen Clark should stand down before that year's general election and be replaced by Phil Goff, who he thought may have been Labour's only hope of regaining ground with struggling families.

[6][7] In July 2018, Trotter joined the Free Speech Coalition, a group of former politicians, lawyers, journalists, and academics that pursued legal action against the Mayor of Auckland and former Labour leader Phil Goff for denying Auckland Council facilities to two Canadian alt-right activists Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux.

[12] In late March 2023, Trotter criticised the conduct of counter-demonstrators protesting against controversial feminist and anti-transgender activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, who attempted to speak in Auckland's Albert Park, describing their aggressive behaviour as a thug's veto against free speech.

He also criticised the Labour and Green parties and elements of the media including TVNZ's Jack Tame for allegedly inflaming opposition against Keen-Minshull, and criticised the Police for their perceived inaction in maintaining peace between Keen-Minshull's supporters and the counter-demonstrators.