Word of the day

Immiserating – causing to become poor or impoverished; the act of making or state of becoming miserable.

Milne muses

You can’t help respecting anybody who can spell TUESDAY, even if he doesn’t spell it right; but spelling isn’t everything. There are days when spelling Tuesday simply doesn’t count. ~A.A. Milne #TuesdayThoughts pic.twitter.com/apvF9cxJhL

— A.A.Milne (@A_AMilne) May 14, 2024

Beautifying the blogosphere

Probably the best sheep photo I’ve ever taken. pic.twitter.com/WE5mMjqxTL

— Nikita Jane Garner (@NikitaJGarner) May 11, 2024

Maya muses

On #NationalSmileDay, let’s celebrate the power of a smile. As Dr. Maya Angelou said, “If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love.” Share a smile today and spread joy! #SpreadJoy #MayaAngelou pic.twitter.com/JrtaMRfSNe

— Maya Angelou (@DrMayaAngelou) May 31, 2024

Have you failed enough to succeed?

I am blessed with many friends who are successful people and not a single one hasn’t made mistakes, hasn’t failed at something, hasn’t faced seriously difficult challenges.

These people aren’t successful in spite of their failures, they’re successful because of them – they’ve been knocked down, learned from that and got up again.

Some can learn from others’ mistakes the rest of us have to be the other people and learn from our own mistakes.

I don’t know Roger Federer, but his is a message for getting success from failure.

His messages include:

• Effortless is a myth. . . 
• Belief in yourself has to be earned. . . 
• Discipline is a talent. . . 
• When you’re playing a point, it has to be the most important thing in the world and it is. But when it’s behind you, it’s behind you. This mindset is really crucial, because it frees you to fully commit to the next point and the next point after that with intensity, clarity, and focus. The truth is, whatever game you play in life, sometimes, you’re going to lose a point, a match, a season, a job. . . 

The transcript is at the link above or you can listen to it.

Word of the day

Raptorial – belonging or pertaining to the Raptores; like or resembling a raptor; seizing or plundering;  living by preying on other animals especially by catching living prey; predatory; adapted for seizing prey, as the bill or claws of a bird.

Sowell says

A careful definition of words would destroy half the agenda of the political left and scrutinizing evidence would destroy the other half.

— Thomas Sowell Quotes (@ThomasSowell) June 6, 2024

Woman of the day

Woman of the Day militant suffragette and lifelong feminist Margaret Haig Thomas, Viscountess Rhondda, born OTD 1883 in London. She used every single opportunity she could to advance the cause of equality for women from all walks of life. As a hereditary peer, she won a famous… pic.twitter.com/zmXLQAzZvw

— The Attagirls (@TheAttagirls) June 12, 2024

Stealth increases

A Taxpayers’ Union poll shows a majority of people support adjusting tax thresholds for inflation.

A Taxpayers’ Union – Curia Poll shows that 67% of respondents back adjusting tax thresholds for inflation with only 14% opposed. pic.twitter.com/SMKuCGWkFF

— New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union (@TaxpayersUnion) June 13, 2024

 

Do the people who don’t support this understand they are favouring tax increases by stealth?

Inflation feeds wage and salary increases which push people into higher tax thresholds and shields governments from the opposition they’d face by announcing tax increases.

Adjusting thresholds for inflation stops increases by stealth and lets people keep more of their own money.

Word of the day

Afebrile – without or not marked by fever; feverless.

Sowell says

As long as human beings are imperfect, there will always be arguments for extending the power of government to deal with these imperfections. The only logical stopping place is totalitarianism—unless we realize that tolerating imperfections is the price of freedom.

— Thomas Sowell Quotes (@ThomasSowell) June 5, 2024

Woman of the day

Woman of the Day Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett born OTD 1847 in Aldeburgh, who made it her life’s work to secure for women the right to vote on the same terms as men. It was Millicent who wrote the introduction to Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Rights of Woman when it… pic.twitter.com/SLWoaWP4L1

— The Attagirls (@TheAttagirls) June 11, 2024

 

UK should learn from NZ’s mistake

Is anyone surprised that New Zealand’s gas production is continuing to decline?

New Zealand’s natural gas production continues to decline according to the latest Energy Quarterly data released today by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

“Natural gas net production for the quarter was 31.89 PJ, a 12 per cent decrease on March 2023 and the lowest quarterly net production since March 1985,” says MBIE Markets Manager Mike Hayward.

“A planned outage at Pohokura gas field for maintenance in March added to the steady long-term decrease in gas production. The trend is expected to continue into Quarter 2 with Kapuni gas field going offline for planned maintenance in April.

Less gas is impacting businesses that need it at a time we need all businesses to be working at peak to help get the economy back on track.

“Reduced natural gas production had a direct impact on consumption with a 33 per cent drop in non-energy use compared with March 2023 quarter, and a 31 per cent decrease in energy use in the chemical sector. Driving this fall was Methanex, one of the largest users of gas in New Zealand reducing its production of methanol in response to less available gas supply.

And Labour’s policy that was driven by a mistaken attempt to reduce carbon emissions has resulted in an increase.

“Although the gas-fired Huntly Unit 5 returned to service earlier than scheduled following an unscheduled outage, the lower gas supply led to the need for coal-fired electricity generation to meet demand.

“Following a dryer summer and below normal rainfall, generation from gas and coal was needed to meet demand for electricity. Compared to the same quarter last year there was a 99 per cent increase in coal for electricity generation.

“As the share of renewable electricity generation decreased, greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation increased to 861 kt CO2-e, a 21.5 per cent increase compared with the March 2023 quarter,” said Mike Hayward.

The UK is likely to make the same mistake.

The UK Labour Party is pledging to ban new drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea. Energy experts are urging them to learn from New Zealand’s mistake:

. . . New Zealand’s trailblazing policy, which was the first of its kind, became a key inspiration for the Labour Party’s own plan.

However, some in the party are now questioning the commitment after New Zealand resources minister Shane Jones last weekend denounced its own ban as a disaster – and revoked it.

It followed three years of rising energy prices that have left 110,000 households unable to warm their homes, 19pc of households struggling with bills and 40,000 of them having their power cut off due to unpaid bills, according to Consumer NZ.

Since April the situation has further deteriorated: Transpower, the equivalent of our National Grid, warned that the nation was at high risk of blackouts.

New Zealand’s shift to renewables meant it no longer had the generating power to keep the lights on during the cold spells that mark the Antipodean winter, said Transpower, as it begged consumers to cut their electricity consumption.

The threat to New Zealand’s energy security comes despite the fact that geologists have discovered billions of cubic metres of natural gas in the seabeds around the country.

Sean Rush, a leading New Zealand barrister specialising in petroleum licensing law and climate litigation, called the oil and gas ban “economic vandalism at its worst in exchange for virtue signalling at its finest”. . . 

Economic vandalism and virtue signalling were hallmarks of the Labour government.

Jenny Stanning, director of external affairs at OEUK, says exploration is essential to simply slowing the decline in output.

“The New Zealand experience shows how important it is for countries to carefully manage energy transition and energy security. We will need oil and gas for decades to come so it makes sense to back our own industry rather than ramping up imports from abroad.” . . 

Russell Borthwick, chief executive of Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce – the region that lies at the heart of the UK offshore industry – says the UK needs a managed and nuanced transition to low carbon energy.

“The New Zealand experience is a salutary lesson in why it’s so important to devise a better approach to energy policy,” he says. 

“Oil and gas will still make up 50pc of our energy requirements by the mid 2030s and will even provide over 20pc of our energy as we reach net zero by 2050.”

The UK should prioritise the North Sea as long as it needs oil and gas, believes Brendan Long, an energy analyst with WH Ireland Capital Markets.

“The resources of the UK can be produced with lower emissions than elsewhere in the world – reflecting the engineering acuity of the UK’s energy industry and their willingness to invest in low carbon strategies.”

New Zealand’s experience suggests much of the UK industry would not survive a ban on new drilling. 

“Back in 2018, at the time of the ban, there were 20 international and five local companies engaged in exploration and production in New Zealand,” says John Carnegie, chief executive of Energy Resources Aotearoa, the local industry trade body.

“Since then, exploration has fallen dramatically. We only have nine remaining investors, seven international and two local. The rest have left.”

We’re paying for that with higher power prices and the risk of power cuts with no environmental gain.

Robin Allan, chairman of Brindex, which represents the UK’s independent offshore companies, says: “New Zealand’s ban was a politically motivated decision which ignored data on oil and gas demand, the advantages of domestic production and a realistic pace of decarbonisation.

Political motivation and a propensity to ignore data were also far too common with Labour.

“The Labour Party should see what is happening in front of their eyes in another island nation which has already implemented a poorly reasoned policy – and think again.” . . 

If the polls are accurate the UK Labour Party will win the election.

If it fails to learn from New Zealand’s mistakes it will get the same result. Some can learn from others’ mistakes, the rest have to be the others.

Word of the day

Deleterious – causing harm or damage; harmful, often in a subtle or unexpected way; injurious to health.

Sowell says

Considering how often throughout history even intelligent people have been proved to be wrong, it is amazing that there are still people who are convinced that the only reason anyone could possibly say something different from what they believe is stupidity or dishonesty.

— Thomas Sowell Quotes (@ThomasSowell) June 4, 2024

Woman of the day

Woman of the Day is Mrs Clements of Durham who OTD in 1720 invented a staple of almost every household kitchen and restaurant in Britain today: English mustard, in powder and paste form.

I can’t tell you her first name but her invention revolutionised the mustard trade, brought… pic.twitter.com/SZGWcVIBK7

— The Attagirls (@TheAttagirls) June 10, 2024

Rural banking inquiry

The government has asked the Primary Production Select Committee to launch an inquiry in to rural banking:

. . . ACT MP and committee chair Mark Cameron says he look forward to discussing with members of his committee and the finance and expenditure committee the terms of reference for an inquiry.

He will also discuss holding joint meetings to hear evidence from submitters and preparing a report on rural banking to feed into an overall inquiry report on banking competition.

“I’ve heard from countless farmers about the disparity between rural and urban bank lending practices, and I have been working on this issue since I became chair last year. . . 

One contribution to higher rural interest rates is the requirement for banks to hold more capital for lending to farmers than for urban mortgages.

One justification for that is volatile prices for primary produce which can lead to big losses.

How does that differ form the risk of people with mortgages on houses in town losing their jobs?

Prices for primary production do go down, but they always come up again.

But there’s more to concerns about rural banking than interest rates:

Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) is welcoming today’s announcement that there will be a full Parliamentary Select Committee inquiry into banking competition, focussing on rural banking.

“We know from our members that rural communities are experiencing a range of issues with their banks and that banks are not currently meeting their needs,” RWNZ CEO Gabrielle O’Brien says.

“The range of issues is broad and includes everything from constrained access to lending and high interest rates to the closure of rural bank branches and ATMs.

“Our members are also concerned there’s an over-reliance by banks on digital services as opposed to personal banking services which is leaving rural communities without adequate support. This is especially the case when some rural communities continue to experience poor connectivity,” Gabe says.

“With the food and fibre sector making up 10 per cent of GDP, banks need to support rural communities, farmers and businesses, especially in these tough economic times. . . 

Banks are businesses and they need to make good profits to stay in business.

Is it too much to hope that the inquiry will show they can do that while offering lower interest rates to rural businesses and better services to rural communities?

Word of the day

Timocracy – a form of government in which possession of property is required in order to hold office; a political unit or system in which possession of property serves as the first requirement for participation; a form of government in which love of honour is the dominant motive of the rulers.

Sowell says

It doesn’t matter how smart you are unless you stop and think.
pic.twitter.com/pJbR5xBNs7

— Thomas Sowell Quotes (@ThomasSowell) June 2, 2024

 

Woman of the day

Woman of the Day Elizabeth Garrett Anderson born OTD 1836 in Whitechapel. First woman to qualify in Britain as a physician and surgeon, co-founder of the first hospital staffed by women, first woman Dean of a medical school, first woman elected to a school board, first woman… pic.twitter.com/i8EGDIqfOE

— The Attagirls (@TheAttagirls) June 9, 2024