Posts by Richard Grevers
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Hard News: Sharing the Wealth, in reply to BenWilson,
Can one talk about the elections in any way whatsoever?
Nor may you tweet about being sad (blue), envious (green), courageous (red) or indigenous. Don't mention theatre (act) or what Man U. might do. And only mention New Zealand sporting teams if they place second or worse.
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Vote early and vote often...
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Hard News: Criminalising Journalism, in reply to Steve Barnes,
And yet there were "microphones pressed against the glass" next to the leaders hoping to pick something up. They could see them yet did nothing about stopping it, and if one of those had gotten a recording it would clearly have been intentional. The claim of privacy is effectively destroyed, methinks
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Some pertinent (dammit, I can't even use key as an adjective any more!) questions:
Did the media invites to the cuppa tea stunt explicitly say that no recording of the conversation would be permitted, or did the media turn up with a reasonable expectation that they would get sound bites? Hardly worth radio journos turning up if there are only photos in the offing.
If it wasn't mentioned in the invites, how clearly was it announced at the gig? Forty journalists must make a fair bit of background noise. Was everyone who was "hustled out" under the clear understanding that the remaining conversation had "private" status? -
Hard News: Presentation and Reality, in reply to Kumara Republic,
You forgot the Conservatives
I didn't think there were enough skinheads here to make an impact
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I had a dream... NZ First gathers momentum and gets 4.7% of the vote - but no seat. ACT gets 4% but loses Epsom. Their votes come from National who only get 44%. Labour and Greens get through :-)
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Indeed. The reason the electricity companies have built so many gas-fired power stations (more than we need as "peakers") is that the price of Maui gas is well below international averages (and industry pays about 20% the rate residential customers do). No more new gas stations because the gas is running out now. Residential and commercial use each account for 3% of consumption - power generation is 59%.
Pohokura has only extended our gas supply to 2020-ish. Imports of natural gas will be at world prices and have a major impact on industrial users. Also, there was so much opposition to a LNG terminal at Port Taranaki (since half New Plymouth was in its explosion risk zone) that the idea was scrapped.
So, a valuable resource which could have earned the energy companies top dollar if mainly used for residential/commercial applications might have lasted another 120 years. But it was squandered in 30.
While much of the blame must rest with the Muldoon Government for setting that in place, sensible energy companies would have increased gas tarriffs so that it was comparable with electricity, utilising the profits to build new renewable generation. But that was never going to happen in a competitive environment. -
Hard News: We interrupt this broadcast ..., in reply to BenWilson,
The other message I got from ACT's effort was that even their younger candidates are disconnected from the 99%. All in all I'm rather glad that our TV is broken at the moment - and not rushing out to replace it.
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My favourite billboard so far: Labour's "If you're in a hole, you don't sell your ladder"
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Hard News: Occupy: Don't call it a protest, in reply to Steve Barnes,
“For a Brighter Future”? WTF?
I was assuming that it referred to the rosy glow as we kill the planet by burning Southland lignite