Tuesday, January 29, 2008

South Auckland Crime Update

8 shots fired in South Auckland tonight. At least two people admitted to hospital with gunshot wounds following what was described as a gun battle.

Neighbours are extremely concerned - wonder what Annette King will find?

At this rate there will be room in Barracks for Key's Trainees - the soldiers will be on the street.
A Very Inconvenient Truth

News that last Friday's electricity demand was at least 90% of the available supply is alarming. We are talking a warm day in Auckland but my estimate is not everyone is back from hols yet and many had taken Friday off to make the most of the long weekend. So airconditioners were not running at max. The electricity system has no flex. We are close to brown-outs.

Usually February is our warmest month. What then? Much of the capacity that is off line at the moment will still be out for maintenance in Feb...

Further the installed capacity of 180MW of wind generation was online and not spinning - why ....NO WIND. That hot warm summer we're enjoying has often been windless where the turbines are. The other sting in the tail with the warm weather is the temperature of the Waikato River may be too hot for cooling Huntly Power Station - 1000MW unavailable.

Readers of this blog will recall my rants about the parlous state of our energy supply. The poor situation is being proved daily. My pick is this will become a political issue for the Gummint sooner rather than later. They have had eight plus years to sort this out.

Bryan Leyland (often excoriated because he posits facts regarding the lunacy of NZ's energy strategy and takes a balanced view on climate change) was right on the money with his response to NZ's (read Labour's) energy strategy in 2004. Looking at the graph his predictions are spot on. In NZ the growth in supply is way behind the growth in demand. We are at the intercept - life gets progressively worse from now on.
Let the Battle Begin

Minister Annette King rules out tough measures to solve the problems of Youth crime in south Auckland.

Guess this makes it National 330/0 on day one of the Test.
An Inconvenient Truth

Is Clark really as shallow as this?

Self - Appointed Chief Mourner at Hillary's funeral
As noted by Colin James today.
...impeccably groomed and magisterial centre stage at the Hillary funeral, thereby stating her identification with "the nation"...

Note who was Chief Mourner at the Muliaga saga where Matt McCarten was close to being on the button in his record.
...Critics have, of course, lambasted her for being opportunistic by attending Muliaga's funeral, held in Mangere, where Taito Phillip Field is expected to stand at the next election...

But she couldn't make to the funeral for the young man killed in his father's Manurewa shop while many could fit it in.
...More than 1000 mourners filled the Manukau Memorial Gardens Chapel, with many having to stand in the foyer to watch the service on televisions...

This is only remarkable because Clark began to be the nation's conscience - didn't last long did it.