NX-Files

The new leader of the Nats is pushing all the right buttons so far. He’s a smooth operator which is in contrast to Dr Brash.

Although I’ve liked what John has said his speeches are full of feel good phrases and words used to appease the media and people with huge chips on their shoulders but doesn't really mean much. For example talking about ‘inclusiveness’ and ‘tangata whenua’ really means bugger all in the lives of everyday New Zealanders. It’s interesting to see Brash detractors warm to Key when all that’s change is the language rather than the policies – stupid if you ask me.

Anyway here's my favourite quote from John’s State of the Nation speech;

"For me, politics is not about the pursuit of power for the sake of it. Unlike some, I won't measure the success or failure of my political career by the number of years I hold office."

“You'll see this later today in Labour's response to this speech. A press release will come out listing a whole lot of programmes Labour has piloted and reviews it has introduced. It will tell you the cost of each of them.Well, I'm not interested in spending money simply to allow me to ease my conscience, look busy, or fend off attacks from the opposition or the media. I'm interested in results.”

From Bill English's conference speech:

"What is Labour’s plan for the economy? Here is Labour’s economic strategy, as described by Helen Clark last week.

She was asked if there was anything the Government wanted to do that it hasn’t done yet. She said: “It has taken time to work up the kitty for Working for Families. It has taken time to work up the kitty for interest-free loans and early childhood programme. So undoubtedly there will be areas we will build on for next time which will be new.”

So there it is – the economy is for Labour the way they build up the kitty for sweeteners, for giveaways in election years, using your money to buy your votes. Your money – they’ll be spending it."

• Having just one bottle of beer after each working day costs the planet 120kg in greenhouse emissions each year.
• mowing the lawn and odd jobs around the home produce almost 3.75 tonnes of emissions each year
• Australian mothers juggling child-rearing responsibilities and housework pumped out more than four tonnes of emissions a year.
• Using a leaf blower once a fortnight for 15 minutes to clear up the garden and driveway produces almost 8kg annually.
• Mowing with a two-stroke fortnightly for 20 minutes burns 29kg each year and buying a sandwich every day accounts for 120kg, including the production and transportation of ingredients.
• Daily computer use produces 240kg of greenhouse emissions each year and watching TV for four hours a week pumps out 46.8kg.
• A sedan driven 40km five days a week spews out more than 2.7 tonnes of emissions. Taking the bus would slash that to 888kg.

Basically whatever we do produces carbon.  So instead of continually scrutinising auto and air travel perhaps the spot light should be shone on those hippies who buy sushi for lunch .

"Labour's top echelon are committed internationalists. I've always found their practice of running a sophisticated agenda offshore, while stirring up domestic unease for political purposes, cynical in the extreme".  Link.