h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Te Tai Tokerau is one of the electorates that only registered Maori voters can vote in. It covers the tops of the North Island.

The 3 main candidates are Harawira for Mana, Davis for Labour, and Tipene for the Maori Party.

Labour have traditionally held the Maori seats, until recently when the Maori Party have had them. At the last election the Maori Party went into coalition with National, and have been generally useless and increasingly right wing. Harawira, who holds the seat, resigned from the MP a few months ago and set up Mana. He also resigned his seat triggering a by election.

The interesting bit is that if he wins again, Mana will stand in the next election and get MPs in parliament who could help Labour form a govt. The risk is that they steal votes from Labour and/of the Greens, but it's likely they will pick up more votes from Maori who don't already vote but would vote for an obvious workers/Maori left wing party. Mana intends to be left wing rather and a party for Maori alone.

Also, last week Tariana Turia, one of the leaders of the Maori Party, who Harawira had fallen out with, said that the Maori Party candidate was a lovely man but didn't understand politics, and when asked if she would tell Maori Party voters to vote Labour to scuttle Harawira's chances said no.

There's been the usual, tedious media beatups of all this (MSM are notorious for not understanding Maori politics or Maori anything for that matter).

Thanks for that - I'll keep an eye on it.

I find the Kelvin vs Kelvyn battle strangely interesting, but that's because I'm in a silly mood.

And that'll teach me to refresh the screen - I just saw a couple of your posts that I haven't read yet... Back in a minute.

Kelvin vs Kelvyn

The results are coming in pretty fast, shouldn't be too long. The big polling booths will be coming in last of course.

As it's a Maori seat that makes my next question redundant - I thought there was a significant proportion of Maori names on the list and was going to ask about that.

Trying to read a few things while eating, by the way - sorry if I get disjointed.

No worries, it's a bit naughty of me to engage you in politics when your meant to be resting.

I do feel satisfyingly geeky though and don't know that many people I could talk to about this as it's happening.

It isn't my politics, so it's compatible with resting.

Now, what's a 'special vote'?

Votes made from outside the electorate. The specials will rise as those all of votes can take time to count. There was one election where the specials changed the election result I think - something to do with the Greens ending up with an extra MP. In a general election it takes a couple of weeks to count the specials I think. Lots of votes come in from Sydney

Ah yes. Bondi in particular, I suppose.

'Special vote' sounds so much nicer than 'absentee vote'.

Is the NZ media all clogged up with post-election analysis today?

I haven't listened or watched today I'll catch up with some of the political blogs during the week.

I did get to spend some time in the garden which was nice - winter tidy up is always satisfying. Do you have a garden at your new place? You're probably not up to much, but I always find the garden so good when I'm feeling crap (as long as I don't over do it).

I do indeed have a garden, and it needs a lot of work done to it over the next few years before I get the garden I want. (That is, almost all the original plantings are exactly what I don't want - but at least I've disposed of all the blasted concrete already.) I was out there today for a brief while, getting some of that exercise I'm supposed to get by killing off a small unpleasant shrub. In Spring I'll put in something much nicer, a native something much nicer that'll attract birds.

If I do just one bit of garden stuff every day over the next fortnight, I'll have it ready for Spring and I'll have space ready for all the new things I want to put in.

But yes, I wasn't up to much. I got the shrub hacked to bits and then had to come back inside and sit down. Tomorrow I'll see about digging out the stump, then I'll rest some more.

That sounds exciting. Do you get frosts there?

Most definitely. It's currently -5C out there, and there's a bronzewing getting perplexed by a frozen birdbath. (Bronzewings are very pretty, and they're almost as bright as other pigeons.) Gardening might happen sometime this afternoon, probably just after lunch.

It's so cold here today that I've got the fire and the heater going

I only have a heater, which is reasonably efficient in conjunction with very thick insulation in the roof cavity. But it's the original 1976 heater so it probably won't last forever... I need to start looking at alternatives.

The 1976 heater will probably last longer than one made now

It's finally warmed up here. And the waxeyes have arrived! I put out sugar water 3 days ago and they completely ignored it. I think waxeyes came from over your way originally.

I'm considering reverse-cycle aircon, ducted - and ideally powered by solar panels on the roof. I might not be able to achieve all of this at once, because of the foul fiend money, but I will try to be as green as I can while I'm upgrading/replacing/repairing stuff. Which reminds me, I should call the electrician and book her in to replace the fusebox etc while I'm on leave.

I had to google 'waxeye'. I know them as 'silvereye' or 'white eye' depending on who I'm talking to, and I'd never seen one before I came to Canberra. I think there are a couple of subspecies.

They get called silvereyes here too. They're a fairly recent arrival here - some time in the 1800s?

I haven't read the thread properly, but how cool to have that woman starting an interesting thread in Ask. I've stopped myself from going over there and gushing but it's been too long since we had new blood.

(and no mention of either the n word or the g word )