You might not know this, but the Prime Minister is going to have a baby.
Very soon, in fact - Jacinda Ardern's due date is June 17, but she could go into labour any time now.
The question on everyone's lips - apart from if replacement PM Winston Peters could change the constitution and make himself permanent leader - is who will the baby look like?
- Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's baby birth plan released
- No, Jacinda Ardern did not have a labour 'false alarm' last night
Ardern and her partner Clarke Gayford share some key similarities: they're both attractive brunettes who are frequently on TV and tend to smile a lot. But which half of the happy couple has the stronger genes?
Will the baby pop into the world with a fishing rod in hand? Is it reading up on policy in the womb, decked out in a Labour-red blazer?
There's only one way this question can be answered before the baby arrives, and that's with technology. There are about a trillion 'baby-predicting' websites and apps which take two people's photos and mash their features together into an approximation of what their offspring could look like.
In the interests of science, I'll be using the same two photos for each programme (many of which are rather suspicious and probably gave my work computer a virus).
The software usually asks for a photo of the person with their mouth closed - no easy task for our ever-grinning PM. A close-up from the iconic Vogue photoshoot is the best I can do, and I found a serviceable serious shot of Gayford on Google Images.
Now let's make some babies.
Morphthing
I'm familiar with Morphthing - my high school friends and I spent many an enjoyable hour mashing our faces together with Johnny Depp or Beyoncé. The website design doesn't appear to have been updated since 2008 either.
Morphthing's prediction of what Clarkinda (working name) will look like:
Grandma Clarkinda looks faintly disappointed, like she wishes you'd come and visit her more often. This baby has some concerning signs of premature aging and a confusing hair situation, but overall this is a reasonable prediction of how Ardern and Gayford's features might mingle.
Makemebabies
This website features no less than three misleading 'CLICK HERE' buttons on its homepage, so you know it's legit.
Makemebabies' vision of Clarkinda:
Wise Buddha baby has clearly inherited its parents' serenity - this kid looks like it could handle a stressful press conference and then head straight out on the water to film a fishing show.
It's unclear why this baby is wearing a turban, but I'm sure Ardern would appreciate the nod to New Zealand's multiculturalism.
Babymaker
This babymaking software is promising - it was developed by a high-tech company which specialises in facial recognition.
The website doesn't ask for any additional information such as ethnicity, it just takes the two photos and runs with them.
Babymaker's vision of Clarkinda:
What the hell is this? I asked for a baby, not a tennis player who looks at least seven.
Face-wise though, Babymaker seems to have got closest to what Clarkinda might actually look like.
Ignore the blonde hair and there's Gayford's eyebrows, Ardern's cheekbones and an expression that says 'I'm relentlessly positive I'm about to smash this volley'.
FaceFusion
After a series of lazy apps which just present you with a stock photo of a generic baby, I've had to turn to the app FaceFusion - which morphs faces but doesn't have the option of a babymaking prediction.
So this software is more of a suggestion of Clarkinda's future appearance than the other highly accurate creations.
FaceFusion's vision of Clarkinda:
If this monstrosity comes out of Ardern, she is legally allowed to leave it at the hospital.
Newshub.
