“Who on the left still talks to you Josie?” he once asked. “You mean apart from you, Jim?”

Jim defined leadership as being able to see a different world and then working towards that. How different to the leadership of the past 15 years that has been about personal popularity, symbolism and vibes.

Jim spent his last years pointing out that the economics of the 1990s failed. The gap between haves and have-nots grew too big. Nearly all the fruits of reform were captured by a few. Inequality is the cause of growing instability and backlash across democracies around the world.

Jim possibly achieved more clarity in retirement about what New Zealand needs, but he never lacked for courage.

Josie's obit for the former PM is here.