Painting Fakes

Here's the text of a letter I just sent by snail mail to our dear Prime Minister. Dear Prime Minister First of all, let me begin by congratulating you on your and your party's recent election win.  You have been handed a huge and difficult responsibility, and I pray for wisdom and compassion for you and your colleagues as you lead us over the coming three years. I should perhaps say, by way of honesty, that I didn't vote for your party.  I disagree with you on a number of things I regard as important.  However, one thing I know you and I will agree on is the value of a democratic system in which governments are elected and removed peacefully by the people.  This system requires all of us to compromise at times.  So I am happy to have the opportunity to graciously accept the choice of the majority of my fellow citizens, as I know you would have graciously accepted the opposite outcome. I am also not a member of any political party, nor a loyalist.  If Labor had won

Climate change and energy policy go hand in hand.  The biggest source of greenhouse gases, and the easiest to change, is electricity generation.  Of course we need to reduce emissions in other areas too but the electricity system, as a unified system relying on a relatively small number of large scale generators, is an ideal place to make a big impact.  No surprise, then, that in Australia this is the policy area that is most fraught, as politicians and industry players jostle for position and advantage while trying to deflect blame for things that go wrong.  Sometimes it seems impossible to get at the truth in the cacophony of mutually incompatible assertions and accusations. I've recently been trying to get more of a handle on this subject and among other things have just finished reading Matthew Warren's new book, Black Out: How is Energy-Rich Australia Running Out of Electricity? Warren is an energy economist who has worked for the Minerals Council of NSW, the Australia