Still hoping for 'LPG' government

Chris Trotter is still unhappy that we didn't get a real, red, died-in-the-red-wool socialist goverment last election -- Helen Clark's steely authoritarianism is still too limp for our Chris -- but he hasn't yet given't up hope:

A Labour-Progressive-Green-Maori Party coalition is what the 49.7% of New Zealanders who didn't vote for National, NZ First, United Future or ACT were expecting. Given the dangerous tensions in Labour's present support arrangement, it may end up being Clark's only alternative to calling an early general election.

To Trotter's way of thinking, a brown-tinged LPG government can still deliver the hard-edged socialism he's been hoping along that MMP would deliver; all it takes is either the Greens and Tariana to start working as a bloc, Clark and Tariana to kiss and make up.

Will that happen? Who knows? There are plenty who would like it to happen - not me, I'm a fan of keeping the buggers stelmated by numbers, as they almost are now -- but Chris doesn't, he's just trying the idea on for size.

Linked Column: 'Counting to 10' - Chris Trotter, Independent Business Weekly