Eric Thompson: Against the green brigade

We live in a democracy, therefore what the majority wants should go. But it may come as a surprise to the tree-huggers that the vast majority of New Zealanders don\'t want to drive a green car. It\'s patently obvious. All you have to do is look at the uptake of cars sold - sorry, did I say uptake? I meant the minuscule number sold. It\'s your job to live your life as you see fit and cause no harm to anyone else. I have no interest in what you do in the privacy of your own home - you can sleep with damn electric hybrids for all I care. Me, I want to be able to drive to remote beaches kilometres from the nearest electric plug, commune with nature as I see fit, enjoy the great outdoors and be able to drive home. I don\'t want to be railed against because I\'m not saving the bloody planet in my internal combustion, petrol-powered, great-sounding and powerful car. So there. I\'d like to make a suggestion to our Prime Minister John Key: take the billions of dollars you\'ve been blind-sided into putting into electric this and electric that, low-emission bollocks and bio-whatevers, and leave it in the bank. Guarantee the country will be in the black before you know it. If the Treasury does feel the burning desire to spend all that money saved from pie-in-the-sky \"save the planet\" ideas it could always build bigger and better roads, because we sure as hell need them. For our population, New Zealand has more land than you can rattle a stick at so a bit more black top isn\'t going to cause too much grief. Also, a better road system will increase transport efficiency and all cars will have better fuel economy. And think of the new jobs that will be created for all the out-of-work youth in this country. You know the old phrase, \"give a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach him how to fish and he\'ll eat for life\"? It\'s the same with work - teach all these aimless young fellows a skill and they can get a job. Can\'t see an electric or hybrid car creating jobs or a real industry, can you?