At least Nats and the Greens seem to be in root agreement on the cause of the winter power crises. A power system designed when all houses, new and old, had fireplaces. With free or cheap firewood and subsidised coal (when the overall scheme was being planned) it seemed logical that very few people would pay for expensive electric home heating. Most of the schemes were almost complete when Christchurch banned open fires in new houses and raised awareness of winter smog as a health problem nationally. By then it was too late. We had an electricity system with inadequate storage to handle a high percentage of homes using electric heaters.

The Greens solution is best – insulate the houses to reduce winter consumption, especially to keep in some of the heat absorbed from the winter sun to flatten the sunset spike in demand.

The Nats solution is second best but still worth doing. Increase storage capacity in the upper Waitaki scheme to avoid the need to spill overfilled lakes during spring and summer alpine rainstorms.

Labour’s solution completely didn’t even considered the root cause of the problem. So while the Green’s hit the bull and Nats got a double twenty, Labour missed the dartboard completely.

Like or Dislike: 0  0 (0)

yes, fair point Lyndon. I must admit I forgot about him when I wrote that sentence. (by the way the link to your website has a spelling mistake in it -you might want to update it)

Like or Dislike: 0  0 (0)

as far as I know we are the only parliamentary party to make that pledge so far

I think I heard Mr P admitting the inevitable recently. I forget the source but it was probably to do with the conference. He’d undertaken to commit to who they’d (he’d) support and when questioned agreed it was fairly obvious who it would be.

Like or Dislike: 0  0 (0)

“Does anyone really believe that the Greens would go with National?”

Labour is quite unpopular right now. If the Greens say they will only go with Labour, this will probably dilute their vote a little…though maybe the ~7% we have now would prefer Labour anyway.

The Greens’ strategy in respect to this should probably be to say ‘the more Green votes there are, the more influence we have on Labour!’

Like or Dislike: 0  0 (0)

Does anyone really believe that the Greens would go with National?

The Greens only options are to be in government with Labour and others or to abstain again if they get enough votes.

A more realistic assessment says that the Greens don’t need to worry as odds are they’ll be in opposition or (unlikely the way Labour is losing ground) not in parliament at all.

Like or Dislike: 0  0 (0)

Oh, those things are all true. But often people work out who you are – they recognise your eyebrows under the mask = )

Like or Dislike: 0  0 (0)

some people work in jobs that censor their views, or have reasons where it is best they are not known to have a certain view.

ie being anti mining on the west coast or gay in certain cultures or communities.

its cool having masked heroes and bad guys and anonymous people.

ever been in a black bloc………. or a rebel clown army….. heh

Like or Dislike: 0  0 (0)

Bloggers do need to play a careful game if they’re going to hide behind pseudonyms. While I’m not inherently opposed to the idea, they should act as if their identities will eventually become public, and their comments will be attributed to them.

Like or Dislike: 0  0 (0)

That website actually makes me feel dirty. It’s so slick I feel like I’ve been covered in oil.

Like or Dislike: 0  0 (0)

the greens need labour, like animals need cages. or rio tinto needs cheap power from new zealanders.

Like or Dislike: 0  0 (0)

And remember that the P stands for Paranoid Prohibitionist fun Police

Like or Dislike: 0  0 (0)