I think that at the point that people start calling New Zealanders brainwashed, and comparing them to members of a known cult, any semblance of a good faith discussion goes out the window.
Particular when irrelevant subjects such as the inclusion of a transwoman on an Olympic team, which actually had quite a bit of discussion and dissension from New Zealanders is introduced as evidence of that.
Personally, I see very little to respect, emulate, or admire in the UK's pandemic response, other than sponsoring the successful vaccines, and ultimately upping the roll out so people could act responsibly and get vaccinated as they wished. I also see very little to respect, emulate, or admire in the UK's recent cavalier approach to the rule of law, human rights, ( you want to talk about recent approaches to demonstrators? How about talking about the policing approach to the Sarah Everard vigil), governance, or accountability and respect for the law of the politicians. I'm possibly misusing the term UK, as Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, in desperation, started making their own independent decisions, based on what they thought was in the best interests of the people they were responsible for, not having any faith left in central leadership.
If NZ is looking for superior examples, and trustworthy data on which to base their decisions, I sincerely hope they look elsewhere.
One way in which NZ differs to the UK, is how divorced their politicians, including their PM, are from the general populace. It's a lot harder for an NZ politician to hide behind a security detail, the police, and spokespeople to avoid being called out on suspect or controversial decisions. They are a lot more likely to be a product of New Zealand society in general, rather than an elite 'political class', which holds itself aloof from the mere mortals that make up the working population, e.g. in education for example. Even John Key was a product of the public schooling system, as the free education system is known as in NZ.