The Breaking Views blog is administered by the New Zealand Centre for Political Research at NZCPR.com. The views expressed are those of the author alone.
EU issues green energy warning
In this newsletter:
1) European 'green recovery' falters as car sales continue to tumble
Nasdaq, 24 November 2020
2) EU transport chief issues green energy warning
Financial Times, 24 November 2020
Here is the great advantage Nanaia Mahuta has over most of the rest of us: we don’t care.
What she is doing in trying to change the law and prevent a democratic action in terms of Māori wards and the ability to have any sort of public say is racist.
She, along with the rest of the apologists on various councils around the country who favour separatist Māori wards, is that the bulk of the constituency don’t want them.
We know this because when we get the chance to directly vote on them, the no’s win and win by large margins.
Boris's green jobs for China
In this newsletter:
1) Europe's Green Deal in limbo as Poland demands 'further cost analysis'
EurActiv, 20 November 2020
2) Europe’s largest employer’s association questions EU climate policy cost modelling
EurActiv, 23 November 2020
The figures yesterday on retail sales were remarkable weren’t they?
As an article in the Herald pointed out, we knew anecdotally there were big spend ups happening on home improvements and new furniture, but the stats now bear that out.
The retails sales figures released yesterday showed the biggest quarterly rise in 25 years.
So when we heard, saw, and thought people were out shopping up a storm, we were right, they were. We clearly went nuts after being released from lockdown .. we clearly saw the writing on the wall with the borders and thought, stuff it, I’ll spend up large at home.
The problem with Sir John Key speaking at the National Party AGM is that he looks, sounds, and acts like a leader.
And all that does is shine a light on the lack of leadership - or any real cut through going on within the party currently.
Under Key the party was tight. It didn’t leak. It was a cohesive unit that held its ground.
These days it’s a shambles. And that was reflected in the vote.
Only 19 have had any lab-confirmed cases among students or employees, all of which it confidently stated have been traced to outside sources. Positive cases have touched less than one-quarter of 1% of on-campus learners. Schools in the diocese are practicing social distancing, students are wearing masks in class, parents are completing online child-screening forms in the mornings, and children are having their temperatures taken before being allowed to exit cars at drop-off.
One in three motorists cannot afford even the cheapest electric car, experts warn
In this newsletter:
1) One in three motorists cannot afford even the cheapest electric car, experts warn
Daily Mail, 21 November 2020
2) Electric car push set to drive energy bills higher
The Daily Telegraph, 19 November 2020
In crafting its policies, the Biden administration may heavily rely upon a blueprint already created by former Obama administration officials and environmental experts. Known as the Climate 21 Project, the exhaustive transition memo seeks “to hit the ground running and effectively prioritize [Biden’s] climate response from Day One,” after which it hopes to implement major institutional changes within the first hundred days of the Biden presidency.
Is James Shaw trolling me? It’s Thursday and he’s onto his second wacky idea for the week.
Tuesday, he was still banging on about that damn wealth tax despite the fact it, one, is not happening, and two, even if it was, it wasn’t solving the problem he was claiming it would solve, i.e. the price of houses and first home buyers trying to get into the market
Now its cars. Combustion engines to be precise, he wants them banned.
He’s not the first of course. Announcements have been made internationally, not least of which is in Britain where they are banning their import from 2030.
Why Boris Johnson did that given all he’s got on his plate I have no idea.
Is it the politics of envy or is it simply the politics of ignorance?
Chris Hipkins was kept on in a newly created Ministry handling the Covid-19 response while the Health portfolio was split off for Andrew Little to take care of.
Hipkins was kept in the job essentially because anyone following the Covid cowboy David Clark would look good and sound convincing and he did, that is until he was talking about how Kiwis were obedient sheep compared with other countries.
The other country that's been infinitely better than us is Taiwan, a country of almost 25 million, which took no time to eliminate the virus with just over 600 cases and just seven deaths. It's insisted on mask wearing since February and closed its borders the following month.
I see the mandatory mask mandate is coming.. and there will be many people happy about that.
There seems to be a large portion of this country who are happy to be locked down, made to scan in and out of places, have businesses closed, do as their told.
It’s been a revelation this year just how law abiding and fearful we are as a country.. barely anyone dare question the status quo – if the PM says it, we do it. Not only that, half the country voted for more of it.
So given more rules are coming for all of us, will more people follow them?
Petrol and diesel vehicle ban to cause £40 billion black hole
In this newsletter:
1) UK plans to charge motorists for every mile they drive to fill £40billion tax hole left by the switch to electric cars
Daily Mail, 16 November 2020
2) UK Treasury pushing back against Boris’s costly green agenda
The Observer, 15 November 2020
Earth always cycles between warmth and cold. Every
recent warm period (Medieval Warming, Roman Warming etc) was a time of plenty
for all life on Earth, whilst cold periods like the Little Ice Age saw crop
failures, famine, migrations, invasions, disease and death.
Sea levels rise as ice sheets melt, and fall as they rebuild. Coastal dwellers and offshore coral reefs must always migrate landward or seaward, or north/south, following the climatic environment they prefer.
