Advocates of net zero need to live the brand

It is not a sensible approach to green matters to impose more and more rules and restrictions on the lives of the many, only for the establishment to show scorn for such rules in the way they themselves behave. I think all those who preach the green revolution should ask themselves two things before saying anything. The first is, have they done themselves what they are telling others to do? If not it is hypocrisy, and will damage their cause. The second is to check that their advice to everyone else offers practical and sensible ways of conforming with their views that people can afford and accept.

I remember attending a presentation on the need for electric cars sometime ago before the pandemic in Westminster. The person presenting on how we all needed to switch to electric vehicles invited questions at the end. I asked him the simple question of when had he bought one, what was it and how had it worked out for him. It was not meant to be a trick question and it never occurred to me that such a devoted advocate would not have bought one, but he confessed he had not yet made the purchase. I asked the supplementary of when would he, and he still fluffed it, refusing to commit!

I still have not met people with a heat pump on their wish list and when I last made enquiries of heating engineers  they guided me off any such idea on grounds of high cost and poor effectiveness. Sales of diesel and petrol cars are down as people have grasped the government intends to make owning them dearer and more difficult, but sales of electric cars are far from replacing the lost sales. People are not reassured about range and battery performance, and think the products are still dear.

The Green revolution needs popular good value products promoted by people whose own lifestyles conform with their net zero doctrine. Creating a Tesla class and seeing the ultra rich flying around in private jets does not help create a popular green revolution.

342 Comments

  1. Sea_Warrior
    July 28, 2021

    I am not in favour of the government’s ‘Net Zero’ ambition but could I suggest that compelling people to go down particular purchasing routes, for the benefit of Chinese manufacturers, is wrong on several levels. Perhaps the government should fund the appropriate technologies and then leave purchasing decisions to the people. Good products almost sell themselves – even to eco-sceptics like me.
    P.S. Yesterday was to be my first railway journey in about a year. I had decided to be green and avoid the traffic jams around Goodwood. My train? Cancelled due to a points failure, so I abandoned my outing. Still, the important thing is that the government is investing ÂŁ100 bn on an HS2 that no-one wants.

    1. MiC
      July 28, 2021

      The thrust of John’s piece is a tired repetition of the “those who believe in State education are hypocrites if they send their children to private schools” fallacy.

      If the present position as to standards falls woefully short of that for which you are working assiduously and campaigning, then it is in no way any kind of moral or other failing on your part if you make whatever pragmatic arrangements are necessary to spare yourself and your family its impacts for the time being.

      The same is true for those working to lessen the emissions of CO2.

      There are as yet no practical or economic alternatives in many circumstances for existing fossil-fuelled transport and heating means.

      So until there are, like millions of other ordinary people, scientists, campaigners, and engineers will continue to use them when they must.

      Reply Love the admissions here. Not much of a defence of hypocrisy though. When do you think the net zero products will be good enough?

      1. SM
        July 28, 2021

        MiC – it’s called ‘setting an example’, and is precisely why it has always been so laughable that champagne socialists happily send their children to privileged schools while advocating State education for the proletariat.

        1. MiC
          July 28, 2021

          They do not do the latter though.

          They work to improve the quality of UK state education so that it equals that of say, the French lycée system. That is, so that grammar school standard teaching available to all, and to minimise the disadvantage of not going to a private school.

          So you -as ever – cheaply and disgracefully misrepresent very decent people.

          Yes, if, Diane Abbott say, had said that people should not privately educate their young then she would indeed be a hypocrite.

          She never has said this, however.

          I’ve been hearing this clichĂ© from lazy-minded cynics for at least forty-five years now.

          1. NickC
            July 28, 2021

            Telling others to do what you don’t do yourself is hypocrisy however much you wriggle, Martin. Stop digging . . .

          2. MiC
            July 28, 2021

            Yes it is Nick.

            But Diane Abbott has not done that.

          3. Peter
            July 28, 2021

            MiC,
            ‘They work to improve the quality of UK state education so that it equals that of say, the French lycĂ©e system. That is, so that grammar school standard teaching available to all, and to minimise the disadvantage of not going to a private school.’

            Nonsense.

            “If it’s the last thing I do, I’m going to destroy every f****** grammar school in England. And Wales and Northern Ireland.”

            Tony Crosland MP 1918-1977

            Labour minister very keen to cut off the bottom rungs of the ladder. One of many. A destructive rather than constructive individual.

          4. John Hatfield
            July 28, 2021

            “grammar school standard teaching available to all”
            Grammar schools used to be for those who were able to benefit from them, those who qualified by passing their eleven plus.
            Just sending all children simply lowers the teaching standard and wastes the original intention of grammar schools

          5. No Longer Anonymous
            July 28, 2021

            Thankfully my boys did go to grammar and their education was miles apart from my own comprehensive school disaster.

          6. a-tracy
            July 29, 2021

            Martin, you need to google her, 22 September 2019 or are you saying some MPs deliberately mislead their party activists who vote ‘to declare war on private schools”, with no intention of following through on a vote if elected?

            You can’t level up every school to grammar school standard children do not all have the same level of intelligence at the same school year age. The lower stage children hold back the brightest and they risk becoming average without parental support. You didn’t go to a comprehensive/secondary modern high school did you?

          7. MiC
            July 29, 2021

            Yes, I went to a grammar school too.

            However, it is simply the case that the comps were run down under Thatcher instead of being built up to offer like standards to those pupils who would benefit as originally intended.

            That said, I didn’t have to share a classroom with the disruptive, education-immune offspring of those who would probably latterly have voted ukip, so there is perhaps an Achilles Heel to the idea there.

          8. MiC
            July 29, 2021

            Those who promote grammar schools – so as not to “waste” teaching effort – are advocating sending nine-tenths of our young to no-hope sink schools, and making that life-wrecking decision for them at age eleven.

            I think that to be utterly appalling.

          9. a-tracy
            July 30, 2021

            Martin, I don’t promote grammar schools my children were in the top 5% nagty set and I sent them to a mid-league comp even though they could have gone to a grammar school. I had to top up their education with home study especially when the school made an error on setting one year and couldn’t move my child because they misallocated her place. I have the experience personally of what you’d consider attending a ‘sink’ secondary modern school, I have an August birthday and was slightly behind on English and missed a grammar school place on the margin. I wouldn’t change my life for one minute though and most of my secondary modern friends took on trades and became very wealthy after attending these schools coming out in the Thatcher years of free enterprise, self-employment and self-improvement encouragement.

        2. Lindsay McDougall
          July 30, 2021

          We mustn’t forget the huge contribution of the late unlamented Shirley Williams to the destruction of our Grammar schools and Direct Grant schools (independent schools with a generous provision of free places for gifted children of poor people). For good measure she mangled Andrew Landsley’s health service reform bill, so that the Act passed was a pale shadow of what had been intended.

      2. Lifelogic
        July 28, 2021

        When will net zero products be good enough?

        Well there is no “net zero” energy products – even wind energy require loads of fossil fuels to build and maintain the turbines (circa 50% of the total energy they will ever produce in some cases) plus they need spinning back up or very expensive and energy inefficient battery back up.

        Electric cars too use loads of energy to build them and their batteries and replacement batteries. In general more than the energy they will use driving. Plus that energy still has to be generated and distributed to charge them. In general they increase CO2 and are absurdly expensive and limiting too.

        As to schools the government should give education vouchers and tax breaks that can be topped up. Then nearly all schools should be private and released from the dead hand of the state. Give power to parents it will drive standards and the number of options up. The same is true of the dire NHS.

        It is of course totally hypocritical to use private schools but then want to force others into bog standard comps in the Dianne Abbot mode. Just is it is to lecture others on CO2 while spending ÂŁ1m plus on your own transport – in the Prince Charles, Emma Thompson, Boris/Carrie modes!

        1. Alan Jutson
          July 28, 2021

          +1

      3. a-tracy
        July 28, 2021

        Martin, why is it tired to say that people that want State education for other people’s children but not their own is hypocritical? It is the height of hypocrisy. I’ve been in conversations with senior Labour Councillors that believe that if all those with the means to pay for private school sent their children personally to the lower league State schools those state schools would climb rapidly up the league get better results, have more money paid in by parents and more stringent and focused governors.

        1. MiC
          July 28, 2021

          Where is your evidence, that any person whom you can name, who privately educates their young, seeks to prevent others who can also afford that from doing so?

          If you have any then I’d be interested to read it.

          If you have none then you are libelling such people Tracy.

        2. MiC
          July 28, 2021

          Those councillors are simply stating fact – that is what would probably happen.

        3. a-tracy
          July 28, 2021

          Martin, does voting to remove grammar schools whilst sending their own to private schools count?

          1. MiC
            July 28, 2021

            Not if the intention is to raise all schools to the same standard as the grammar or private in the area, no, it doesn’t.

            Out of interest, who has done that?

          2. a-tracy
            July 29, 2021

            The link isn’t getting through moderation Martin, google it. MP who would support abolishing private schools having sent her own child to one.

          3. MiC
            July 29, 2021

            Please read and understand this.

            That might seem irrational, but it is NOT hypocrisy if she intends to improve education for all as soon as possible.

            It absolutely IS hypocrisy if she says that other people must not send their children to private schools in the meantime.

            Please grasp this fundamental difference between the two cases, Tracy.

            And Diane Abbott for one has NEVER said that.

      4. NickC
        July 28, 2021

        Well, the solution for the rich hypocrites who advocate state education is to buy their way into the best state schools by bidding up houses in the catchment areas, Martin. What’s your excuse for that?

        As for electric cars and electric home heating you know it’s expensive and not fit for purpose. So why not admit it? Don’t try and sell an ideological pipe-dream – you’ll be found out. And you just have been.

      5. MiC
        July 28, 2021

        Thanks John.

        People are only hypocrites if they tell others not to do what they themselves do.

        There is the world of difference between saying that where possible, if people could change what they do then that would benefit all of us, and telling them that they must do this. I can’t think of any eminent scientist who has said that in a personal sense, i.e. other than state the imperatives for humanity as a whole.

        I am not a green activist but I do generally support the movement’s long term aims.

        For now I drive an ICE car and heat my house with a gas boiler. I will only change when it is economic and convenient for me to do so, like millions of others.

        “Good enough” is a relative term depending on who you are. Some people already drive electric cars, so for them they are clearly good enough.

        As for me, I don’t know. Technology tends to advance in sudden jumps rather than gradually – look at flat screen TV upon the invention of the blue LED, for instance.

        We may have e.g. chemically-rechargeable electric cars soon, i.e. where a liquid electrolyte is quickly replaced in the battery and reprocessed elsewhere, rather than being changed electrically in the battery over a period of time.

        Something like that would probably swing it for me.

      6. MiC
        July 28, 2021

        I am not defending hypocrisy – why would anyone?

        What I am pointing out is that you are wrongly accusing honourable people of being hypocrites by its definition.

        Now, as for telling people that they should observe lockdowns and distancing whilst taking the family to see relatives or embracing staff members, well, that would seem clear enough on the other hand.

        1. Narrow Shoulders
          July 28, 2021

          Of course you can not recognise hypocrisy marty.

          1. MiC
            July 28, 2021

            Oh, but I do.

          2. Narrow Shoulders
            July 28, 2021

            *sniggers quietly*

      7. Original Richard
        July 28, 2021

        MiC : “The thrust of John’s piece is a tired repetition of the “those who believe in State education are hypocrites if they send their children to private schools” fallacy.”

        The Left who send their children to private schools despite calling for these schools to be closed are demonstrating not just hypocrisy but the final result of their policies which would inevitably lead to a ruling elitist class with their own schools, shops (like GUM section 200), hospitals and even (Zil) lanes on the highway.

        I believe the EU bureaucrats have their own shop in Brussels and an extremely large duty free allowance.

        1. MiC
          July 28, 2021

          “I believe for every drop of rain that falls, a flower grows…”

          1. Micky Taking
            July 28, 2021

            Citing Scotland, does heather count as your flower?

      8. Richard1
        July 28, 2021

        Anyone arguing for the abolition of private education who sends their own child to a private school is a hypocrite.

        1. MiC
          July 28, 2021

          Could be, depending on timescale, and what they intend to do with State schools, yes, but name such a person, and give a quotation reference to when they might have said this?

          I mean, is a person who pays privately for life-saving treatment unavailable on the NHS, but who is working to make it so and free for everyone a hypocrite?

          A reasonable person would say “no”.

          It is similar with education.

          1. NickC
            July 28, 2021

            Labour, in 2019, voted to abolish private schools. Many Labour politicians have either sent their own child(ren) to private schools, or benefited from one themselves: Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbot, Shami Chakrabarti, Emily Thornberry, Seumas Milne, Valerie Vaz, to name but a few.

          2. MiC
            July 28, 2021

            And you voted to end Free Movement around the European Union, but I bet that you made fond use of its convenience – and of much else – when you went on holiday?

            Your point is?

          3. NickC
            July 28, 2021

            Martin, You seemed to doubt some Labour politicians’ hypocrisy, so I helpfully provided you with some examples.

            And you don’t need the EU’s dirigiste unfettered movement of labour to go on holiday.

          4. MiC
            July 29, 2021

            No, they were not examples of hypocrisy.

            They were examples of your labelling people as hypocrites when their conduct does not meet its definition, but with the intention of smearing them.

            None of them have ever said that other people should not do as they do until such times as they succeed in their objective of radically improving State education and ending private schools.

          5. NickC
            July 30, 2021

            Actually, Martin, you asked for names and I gave you some. Telling others what to do, but not doing it yourself is hypocrisy, however much you wriggle.

        2. Mark
          July 28, 2021

          Children in state schools derive some benefit from comparison with what private schools manage to provide. Without the benchmark standards could fall inexorably.

          1. MiC
            July 28, 2021

            The lycĂ©e system in France doesn’t seem to have any particular problem like that.

        3. a-tracy
          July 28, 2021

          Richard1 or sent their children to private school or sent them to specialist selective state schools that only ‘certain people’ can grab a place from.

      9. jon livesey
        July 28, 2021

        Before anyone buys MiC and his version, here is what Diane Abbot actually said, reported by the BBC 31 October, 2003. From the BBC website.

        “Labour MP Diane Abbott has said sending her son to a ÂŁ10,000-a-year private school instead of a comprehensive is “indefensible”.

        In her first detailed comments on the controversy, she told BBC One’s This Week programme: “Private schools prop up the class system in society.

        “It is inconsistent, to put it mildly, for someone who believes in a fairer and more egalitarian society to send their child to a fee-paying school.”

        But, she added: “I had to choose between my reputation as a politician and my son.”

        Got that? Abbott herself said it as “indefensible”. Where exactly is the “fallacy”?

        By the way. how many fabrications does MiC get away with simply because no-one will take the time to look things up and check what he says?

        1. MiC
          July 29, 2021

          I think that she should have stuck to her guns.

      10. No Longer Anonymous
        July 28, 2021

        MiC

        They ARE hypocrites.

        They pay to avoid the crap comprehensives they have created by sending their kids out of the catchment by spending lots of money or using their religion. They do not advocate selection by ability because their own kids probably couldn’t compete.

        Other hypocrites with middling ability kids do this by buying expensive houses in the catchment of good schools.

        Ms Abbot couldn’t very well tell people off for using private education but she has definitely stood against gifted children (like my own) being filtered out for targeted state education and the worsening social mobility (especially in politics) is reflected in this.

        We moved well away from London for the sole purpose of finding a good grammar school.

        1. MiC
          July 29, 2021

          I repeat.

          You are only a hypocrite if you direct others to behave differently from what you yourself do.

          NONE of those whom you accuse have done this.

          They are working very hard – against the Tories – to improve education for all.

          It is a fact now that in general the better-educated VOTE LABOUR.

          So why ever would they do as you wrongly claim?

          1. Peter2
            July 29, 2021

            They want to ctually abolish private schools.
            They belong to a party that wants to end private schools and abolish grammar schools.
            Marxist nationalisation by theft.
            Yet whilst maintaining their membership of that party and some with Cabinet positions or shadow cabinet positions they send their own children to such schools.
            That is their hypocrisy.
            I couldn’t do it if I was a member of such a party and wanted that policy to happen.
            Or I would send my children to private schools but resign from the party.
            Bear in mind it is as MP they can afford these school fees.

      11. Al West
        July 29, 2021

        An electric car as a company car does work out financially now, buying one new doesn’t.
        I can report as a general run around it’s great, more challenging on longer journeys- factor in 20-30% more time for charging. Also if you live in a hilly area electric cars are particularly economical because they reclaim 75% of the extra energy to go uphill on the way down again.
        The heat pump policy coming out of the government is bonkers. Condensing gas boilers are near 100% efficient. These should not be gotten rid of until the energy mix is vast majority nuclear/renewable and houses have been properly insulated.
        A far better approach would be to look to combination gas combi / stirling engine / gas driven heat pumps. With the waste heat being used as a pre-heater input for the heat pump, and the electricity from the stirling engine going in to the grid / used to charge vehicles.

    2. Lifelogic
      July 28, 2021

      Indeed. We should abandon net zero and the green crap revolution and let technology compete without government rigging the pitch and picking the wrong winners. It will be far worse than the poll tax once people realise the lunacy and vast cost of it all. Circa ÂŁ50,000 per household and all for no benefit what so ever.

      A report by the Commons Transport Select Committee called for the use of prices to change drivers ’charging habits to meet electricity demand. They called on the Government to take measures to encourage drivers to recharge their batteries more often than to charge them all at once, which will put more strain on the power grid, “The government should force consumers to take a ‘little, but frequent’ approach to using price as a lever to give up their usual fueling habits.” “ALTERNATIVELY, THERE WILL BE CRACKS IN THE NORTH OF THE COUNTRY” – Huv Merriman, Chairman of the Transport Committee. (a law graduate).

      Yet another pain the the arse for anyone who buys an EV. A bit like having a petrol car that you can only refill at 1 litre of petrol per day. This takes an hour then you have to go home and come back for another litre the next day. Brilliant scheme – it should work well Huv!

      1. lifelogic
        July 28, 2021

        A moronic article by Allegra Stratton (an arch and anth graduate who is Boris’s COP26 “spokesperson” should that be Carrie’s) yesterday in the Telegraph.

        She says, “ For readers weary of international summitry, who view this as just “more talk” from world leaders, COP26 is different.”

        Let us pray it is indeed “just talk” as the actually agenda is political, economic and scientific insanity Allegra.

        She goes on about – 13 climate ambassadors life – Formula E racing driver Alice Powell whose car is electric; NHS boss Dame Jackie Daniel whose hospital is working to net zero; Hugo Chambers who monitors the carbon footprint of the coffee stocked by Sainsbury’s…

        What on earth is “green” about Formula E racing? It is about as green as Billionaires sending people into space. It is all utter and complete B/S dearest Allegra. Hospitals might be better dealing with the millions awaiting years for urgent treatments

..

        1. Mark
          July 28, 2021

          The carbon footprint of flying all those cars, chargers, mechanics, drivers, and elite spectators, TV commentators, etc. around the world is colossal.

          1. lifelogic
            July 28, 2021

            +1

        2. MFD
          July 28, 2021

          +1

        3. Fedupsoutherner
          July 28, 2021

          Two common sense posts as usual L/L.

      2. NickC
        July 28, 2021

        Lifelogic, Finally, MPs start to wake up to the looming battery car fuel car-crash. My calculations (using 306 billion vehicle miles for cars and light vans (2018); and 3 miles per kWhr avg) show that about 8.3 GW must be added to UK demand every hour of the (24hr) day. If that is concentrated at night (as it will be) demand could increase by c36GW – or roughly double current electricity demand.

        That is a massive increase in demand, requiring a massive increase in electricity generation, and beefing up the Grid, none of which is being planned (see BEIS Energy and Emmissions Projections 2019) – there’s no new capacity up to 2040. The government has no idea what it is doing.

        I suppose at least the government has been forced to defer its ban on household gas boilers until 2040.

        1. Mark
          July 28, 2021

          If you look at the plans in National Grid’s Future Energy Scenarios you soon realise the aim is to restrict transport severely.

          https://www.nationalgrideso.com/future-energy/future-energy-scenarios/fes-2021/consumer-view/transport

          1. NickC
            July 28, 2021

            Mark, Thank you, that’s interesting. I suspect that the lower projected energy demand is a consequence of the higher energy efficiency (conversion from fuel to mechanical energy) of electric motors over ICE, not actually a restriction per se. The restrictions will be caused by the cost and impracticality of BEVs.

        2. lifelogic
          July 28, 2021

          +1 but it is worse as much energy is wasted in transmission, voltage conversion,ccharging and battery losses.

      3. lifelogic
        July 28, 2021

        Prof Neil Ferguson “I’m quite happy to be wrong if it’s wrong in the right direction.” Shows he is a politician not a scientist what is “the right direction” for such a prediction?

        In this case and for Climate for the government the most alarming scenario possible is the “right direction” it seems. But this causes huge net harm, collateral damage economic and to health and massive over reactions.

        1. Richard1
          July 28, 2021

          Where are the headlines ‘[100] experts wrong!’ Etc? It is by now clear that the original apocalyptic forecasts of doom upon which the lockdown policies were based were wrong. But we don’t see apologies and admissions of failure, and we continue to hear from the same experts who have been wrong in the past, while the ones who were right – like the Great Barrington Declaration authors -are cancelled.

          It’s a dry run for hysteria of the form ‘12 years to extinction due to climate change’ etc.

        2. Mark
          July 28, 2021

          It’s time the government and the BBC paid more attention to those whose forecasts have a much better track record. He gives science a bad name.

    3. Lester
      July 28, 2021

      Sea_Warrior

      ÂŁ100billion?
      Surely it’s far more than that?
      Acres of ancient woodland being bulldozed, homes being subjected to compulsory purchase orders
      Too many with snouts inserted in the trough

      1. Fedupsoutherner
        July 28, 2021

        Lester. Sure sounds good for the environment. My arse.

    4. DavidJ
      July 28, 2021

      +1

  2. Peter
    July 28, 2021

    Maybe there will be ZiL lanes on the roads for the nomenklatura.

    We had a taste of that during the London Olympics.

    1. Lifelogic
      July 28, 2021

      +1

  3. No Longer Anonymous
    July 28, 2021

    And even those who have bought Teslas have gone for smething rather flashy (not so green) and still have ice cars in their fleet.

    I use a tiny old Suziki for work and an old 1600 Skoda estate for camping, distance, dump and shopping

    I rarely fly or holiday abroad.

    How can I possibly be using more than the preachy Tesla class ?

    1. lifelogic
      July 28, 2021

      +1

  4. Mark B
    July 28, 2021

    Good morning.

    The Green Revolution is not Green at all. The energy and materials required are neither environmental or sustainable. If you really want to go Green, at least in terms of transportation, then I am afraid you are going to have to walk, cycle or travel by a horse. THERE ARE NO ALTERNATIVES !

    The plan is not, as everyone pretty much agrees, about saving the planet, but reducing our mobility. All better to control us. The rich will of course be unaffected. They can afford the costs and benefit from reduced congestion.

    1. MFD
      July 28, 2021

      +1 As every engineer knows, battery life is only temporary look at your phone battery as an example

      1. Lifelogic
        July 28, 2021

        Indeed and often (indeed usually) more (fossil fuel) energy goes in to producing & recycling that battery than is ever stored and used by that battery. If you read EV battery guarantees they often only give a very limited warranty that capacity will not fall below say 60% or something within x years. Reducing “claimed” (but often exaggerated) range hugely. EVs do not reduce C02 relative to keeping your old car they increase it.

        1. Alan Jutson
          July 28, 2021

          MFD

          Indeed, battery capacity reduces slightly with every recharge, mobile phones and workmen’s battery powered tools are probably the most common examples.

    2. Everhopeful
      July 28, 2021

      WE will be tramping and cycling. No mistake there!
      Drenched by splashes from the Teslas as they rush to the next charging station.
      Horses are methane makers so will they be allowed?
      The local Party bureau will dictate comrade!
      Such decisions are not for the likes of us.

      A cousin was once nanny to very high ups in a commie country. They got the best, reserved meat.

      1. Lifelogic
        July 28, 2021

        Walking is fuelled by food and is not actually very efficient in energy or C02 terms especially for meat eaters (you have to consider all the energy used and wasted in the food growing, packaging, production, transportation and cooking) plus the sewage treatment systems needed. Five people walking 40 miles uses far more energy than one car driving them there. I also saves about 45 manhours of their time and they do not need a hot shower and change of clothing on arrival either.

        So why do the government push this?

        1. Everhopeful
          July 28, 2021

          Extremely good points!
          I guess our leaders dare not disobey or dissent? In too deep maybe?
          Dissenting leaders have not fared all that well!

          Under a global junta we might not be able to move about a lot I suppose?
          No jobs/school/ university/ holiday to go to.
          Grim, grim, grim!

    3. Nota#
      July 28, 2021

      @Mark B – agreed. It is not the end product so much as haw it gets to market and how long its intended lifespan is.

      With the UK being held over the barrel for it energy needs by the French an Chinese States its hypocrisy for any Government Minister to lecture, advise or suggest the rest of us change. They need to get the core of the UK’s security, safety and future in energy sorted first.

    4. Mitchel
      July 28, 2021

      Even keen-to-appear-green Norway is spending large sums on further developing it’s oil industry.From the Barents Observer yesterday :”Hungry for more oil,Norway aims for 36bn Euros investment in new fields.”

      “Exploration wells drilled this year are expected to be up c25% on 2020”.

  5. No Longer Anonymous
    July 28, 2021

    I’m not going to be lectured on green and on sharing by a billionaire who has created space tourism for other billionaires.

    1. Lifelogic
      July 28, 2021

      +1

    2. MiC
      July 28, 2021

      You and I, personally, are not lectured by any eminent climate scientist however.

      They are addressing governments, corporations and other powerful entities.

      Yes, they’d very much like us on their side and will try to persuade us to join them by supporting their aims, but that is quite another matter.

      Business people – e.g. Tim Martin – are entitled to their opinions, like anyone else on the other hand, but generally have no special qualification to speak, so I don’t know why people pay them so much heed.

      1. NickC
        July 28, 2021

        What, ‘nothing to see here, move along please’, eh, Martin? Until it’s too late for us to protest. Is that the plan?

        Actually we are lectured by climate scientists (Michael Mann, James Hansen, Robert Watson, etc, etc); and also by climate activists such as Prince Charles, Al Gore, Carrie on Boris, Greta Thunberg; and by woke corporations, GOs, and NGOs such as WEF, BBC, IPCC, NASA, etc.

        Moreover, it’s not a matter of “persuasion” it’s a matter of coercion. Even when the government clearly doesn’t know what its doing; and amid repeated failures of “green technology”.

      2. John Hatfield
        July 28, 2021

        You don’t need a special qualification to talk common sense Martin.

      3. jon livesey
        July 28, 2021

        “You and I, personally, are not lectured by any eminent climate scientist however. They are addressing governments, corporations and other powerful entities.”

        Really? And that is why they make their statements to the newspapers, radio and TV? Because they are not talking to us? Are you serious?

        1. MiC
          July 29, 2021

          And you post you comments here, and no one stops you either.

          Why should others be censored?

          1. NickC
            July 30, 2021

            Martin, Strawman! – Jon Livesey didn’t advocate censorship, he merely pointed out that your claim that climate scientists do not lecture us was false.

  6. Everhopeful
    July 28, 2021

    Isn’t the idea, though, that oil, coal etc remain available to the rich?
    Aren’t they already jetting all over with total impunity?
    I saw something about mega rich folk owning and hiring out private jets ( not electric ones!).
    The rich have got much richer during the plague and are now gathering all global resources to their bosoms.
    Never mind “kind” to wear a mask or “selfish”not to add to the profits of big pharma.
    The rich intend never to share the bounty of our planet ever again.
    Stolen goods!!

    MOST gratifying to see the thousands of downticks under the egregious Minister’s preachy video re “selfish” to refuse the injection. They had to close comments too. Could have been a Victorian on the Poor Law Board telling a starving beggar not to be greedy!

    1. J Bush
      July 28, 2021

      Re: the egregious Minister. I am pleased with the response he got and justly deserved. Who the hell does he think he is! That said, I was not even aware of this until now.

      1. Everhopeful
        July 28, 2021

        +1

    2. Christine
      July 28, 2021

      I believe this is what it really boils down to. Oil and gas are running out. I watched an interesting podcast on the diminishing returns on extracting oil and gas as reserves are increasingly difficult to find and exploit. The rich and powerful who run the world need to conserve supplies to continue their lavish lifestyles. This means stopping the masses from using up resources. Force people onto public transport, move people from rural areas to the cities, make people work from home, stop foreign holidays, make car ownership cost-prohibitive. Does any of this sound familiar? Seems like the pandemic has been a way to change the lifestyle of the masses which is what was intended.

      It’s never been a viable option for the little people to own and run EVs. The National Grid could never cope with it.

      As a multi-millionaire radio presenter said a couple of weeks ago, “Maybe people just need to learn to live in colder houses”.

      1. Micky Taking
        July 28, 2021

        Christine that would mean more old ‘uns dying of pneumonia, so fewer pensions to pay out. Is that Andy cheering I can hear?

        1. Fedupsoutherner
          July 28, 2021

          Micky. Yes and a good excuse to put on the death certificate CoviD.

      2. Mark
        July 28, 2021

        There is little sign of oil and gas running out just yet. In 1980 there were under 30 years of proven reserves of oil. Here we are, over 40 years later with about 50 years of proven reserves against a hugely greater level of demand. Technology for exploration and production has improved out of recognition in the mean time. We have 3D seismic, 4D reservoir modelling (time ith the 4th dimension), the shale revolution, and much else.

        Of course, eventually the resource will become scarcer. Meantime Western refusal to spend on developing it will create artificial shortages if not reversed, and will ensure that projects are controlled by China and Russia and others who ignore the calls to stop. That will leave us with strategic supply shortages and dependence on less pleasant regimes.

        In the long run we need energy sources that are up to the task of providing cheap and reliable supply in large quantities. That will mean various forms of nuclear power.

      3. NickC
        July 28, 2021

        Christine, I don’t think we’re running out of natural fuels, or anything like. According to Worldometer’s proven reserves we have 133 years of coal and 47 years of oil, at current consumption levels. More reserves are waiting to be discovered.

        1. John Hatfield
          July 28, 2021

          In any case as natural resources diminish, we have global warming to compensate.

          1. glen cullen
            July 28, 2021

            I’ve seen lots of models, forecasts and predictions…..no solid consensus nor evidence of global warming

    3. MiC
      July 28, 2021

      Ah, “safety in numbers”. How like the Right.

      1. NickC
        July 28, 2021

        Ah, “riches for the elite”. How like the Left.

  7. turboterrier
    July 28, 2021

    Interesting post.
    Over the last two days have happened to meet a financial consultant who works in London , his view is all electric will happen there is no choice because all the financial institutions, really big international banks and pension funds are investing in it and governments will have no choice to go where they are led. His brother is a CEO of an Australian investment bank. When I asked about the impact on the poorer in society his commit was “there is always collateral damage somewhere”
    The second meeting was trying to help out a neighbour with a no hot water problem in his 8 year highly insulated property with an air source heat pump.
    Sorted out the system and asked how he got on with the system in general. Very good for the Uder Floor Heating but the hot water side was found wanting when high demand was required Overall good but doesn’t live upto all the hype. Would he have it again? NO

  8. Everhopeful
    July 28, 2021

    Re Gove’s nasty little jibes at people exercising their privacy and bodily autonomy.
    A Swedish friend will not have the jab because she feels ( thanks to previous govt. manipulations) that all available serum should go first to those in need abroad!
    So pipe and smoke it!

    1. Everhopeful
      July 28, 2021

      Oh and maybe stones, glasshouses and throwing.

    2. Lifelogic
      July 28, 2021

      Gove the man who inflicted Theresa May on the nation (and cost me my bet on Boris) and he even wanted VAT on private school fees so parents paid 4 times over.

      An English graduate so probably rather too innumerate to realise that Covid vaccinations in the young almost certainly do far more harm than good, to them and to the NHS from complications. Especially those who have already had Covid. He had even fallen for the Net Zero lunacy.

      1. Everhopeful
        July 28, 2021

        + oh so many!

      2. NickC
        July 28, 2021

        Lifelogic, Well said.

  9. J Bush
    July 28, 2021

    I am reminded of the 1960’s architects who designed and raved over multi-storey blocks of flats, which look(ed) like great long oblong blocks hurtling into the skyline. Very few, if any of them, chose or indeed wanted to live in themselves.

    Today those raving over net zero and green issues are rich enough that it would not affect them. They continue to drive around in limousines or 4×4’s and jet around the world. Indeed the only message they are sending is ‘good enough for thee, but not for me’.

    1. Lifelogic
      July 28, 2021

      +1 or those “green” idiots who clad them in pointless and damaging inflammable insulation panels at vast expense for no good reason.

  10. BW
    July 28, 2021

    Could not agree more. Climate change activists flying around the world to spout off spring to mind. I expect St Greta of Thumberg hasn’t given up much. Don’t pee down my back and tell me its raining Clint Eastwood said.

    1. formula57
      July 28, 2021

      St. Greta to her credit (really!) did travel to some conference in America by ocean-going yacht – but there was considerable carbon offset when the c. six crew to sail it back travelled there by airliner!

      The COP26 show ought to be virtual, via zoom etc. to set an appropriate example, as Sir John has opined hitherto.

      1. lifelogic
        July 28, 2021

        Plus energy used in building the ÂŁ million yacht.

    2. John Hatfield
      July 28, 2021

      John Vernon.

  11. Nig l
    July 28, 2021

    Absolutely correct but it goes further. The governments appalling handling of large elements of the Covid pandemic, just one example if anyone can be bothered. Just follow the Test and Scheme from the large unwieldy initial executive team lacking key knowledge, 70% of contracts awarded without open tendering, to a Select Committee report that it had spent 20 plus billion making no discernible difference to the ping scandal now with HMG in total denial, means that it’s credibility with the public is zero.

    Indeed I know many people that think the government is corrupt giving contracts and jobs to mates, companies with inferior testing results but big lobbying budgets etc.

    So with credibility shot, double standards everywhere, no one is listening.

    And in other news anyone find it ironic, Michael Gove accusing people of being selfish. How thick is that man’s skin? Or Dido Harding’s thinking she should be head of the NHS. Strewth.

    1. Hat man
      July 28, 2021

      Nig l
      Indeed. Perhaps someone should ask Michael Gove’s soon-to-be-ex, who the selfish one is.

    2. MiC
      July 28, 2021

      Apparently, much of the billions has been spent on “consultants”.

      Since this is a world first situation, for this country and for almost every other, from where do these people claim to have got their knowledge and experience to make them worth consulting?

      1. jon livesey
        July 28, 2021

        From where do you claim to get your own genius level wisdom, MiC?

        1. hefner
          July 29, 2021

          Jon, the difference is that MiC is not paid to post his comments whereas all sorts of consultants are, with a rate of ÂŁ300/hour or more.

          1. Peter2
            July 29, 2021

            How do you know people on here are not paid to comment?

            Reply Certainly not paid by this site

    3. MiC
      July 28, 2021

      But it’s not all bad news.

      I see that Sheffield Forgemasters have been nationalised.

      It’s good to see the Tories make a break from puritanical, Chicago School, Tufton Street doctrine at last.

      1. Peter2
        July 28, 2021

        Which the MoD couldn’t have done if we were still in the EU

        1. MiC
          July 29, 2021

          I think that you will find that it could.

          1. Peter2
            July 29, 2021

            Such State action goes against EU member State subsidies rules.
            The UK fell foul of those restrictions several times.

          2. MiC
            July 29, 2021

            It’s the MOD.

        2. hefner
          July 29, 2021

          ‘Let’s be clear, nationalisation is not against EU law’ anothereurope.org, 22/12/2015
          Proof being that Network Rail reentered state control in September 2014. Or was it something else P2? I wait for your usual clear explanation.

          1. Peter2
            July 29, 2021

            Depends if EU Commission rules consider it to be illegal State aid or subsidy.
            Cases are decided as they occur.
            The UK has been ruled against.
            And Ryanair took won a case against the virtual nationalisation via state aid to KLM and TAP.
            I’m surprised you dont understand these EU rules Heffy

          2. hefner
            July 30, 2021

            P2, as usual you moved from Network Rail to something else.
            But OK, that’s how you only seem able to function: Your example of Ryanair against KLM and TAP is a proof that the EU does not always side with the ‘big’ state-aided companies. In fact, KLM being state aided was one of the reasons for the decision taken by the Luxembourg court.
            Then ‘The UK has been ruled against’. What has this to do with Network Rail or Ryan-KLM-TAP. Are you working for confused.com? Or has T.Turner could have said ‘What’s that has got to do with it?’

      2. jon livesey
        July 28, 2021

        Don’t be so completely silly. There is no nationalization “principle” here. They went bust and got rescued, that’s all. The MoD said the eventual aim is privatization.

        Funny how you didn’t mention that last bit, eh?

        1. MiC
          July 29, 2021

          I didn’t claim that there was.

          And yes, well, they have to keep the likes of John quiet, don’t they?

  12. Everhopeful
    July 28, 2021

    Lol
    Utter logic often gets one into trouble! That chap should have been riding a bike!

    “Can I see your heat pump please, Mr J?”.
    “Errrrr
ummm
NO! My dog’s leg-humping exploits are much more interesting!”.

    Fancy talking about his dog’s yukky habits in public!

  13. Sakara Gold
    July 28, 2021

    I have had solar panels on my roof for seven years and they have now paid for themselves. My neighbour has had a Tesla for two years, he has the solar panels and managed to get the grant for a heat pump system. All the taxi drivers in Wokingham drive the Toyota Prius, which is an electric hybrid. Electric charging points are popping up everywhere. With diesel costing ÂŁ1.40 a litre (!!) more and more people, like me, are saving up for a pure EV. At roughly ÂŁ7 to drive ~350 miles its -duh – a no-brainer.

    I also have a well insulated house with double glazing and during the lockdown I got my gardener to dig over a patch and start growing vegetables. My net energy costs including gas are ~ ÂŁ250. Dont blame me if you failed to take advantage of the tax breaks, incentives and grants available over the last ten years to do your bit to save the planet.

    1. MFD
      July 28, 2021

      Well Sakara, thats ok for city slickers but not everybody. Bring your Tesla down to Devon and show me its capability of pulling my sheep trailer, especially out of a field gateway that rises onto the road! No tow bar? Not surprised- useless.

      1. Andy
        July 28, 2021

        You can get a tow bar for a Tesla. And they can pull 2.5 tonnes.

        Incidentally a mate of mine just took his Tesla from London to the Lake District. Stopped once en route to recharge, took 15 minutes at a supercharger and cost about ÂŁ8.

        I’ve never got a petrol car from London to the Lakes without stopping.

        1. Ian Wragg
          July 28, 2021

          You must buy lousy cars.
          My Civic Sport averages 500 miles on a tank of petrol on long runs.

          1. steve
            July 28, 2021

            Ian Wragg

            So does my Jag, and it’s a 3.0L V6 Automatic.

        2. Peter2
          July 28, 2021

          Very strange andy
          It is approx 300 miles from London to Lake District
          Nearly every petrol car has a range greater that that.

          1. Fedupsoutherner
            July 28, 2021

            Yeah even my Range Rover. Nobody tells you how expensive it is when solar energy goes wrong.

        3. MFD
          July 28, 2021

          Well Andy you obviously dont know the weight of a bullock or cow! 2.5 tonnes , daily use- it would never last a week until I abandoned it behind the barn along with the old Austin Cambridge that hens brood in.
          As for 15 mins at a supercharger !! I might be an old country haggle but I know that small diesel cars the size of a Tesla will do 70 mpg and will get there and back on less than a tank full!
          I recon you should learn to engage brain before opening mouth

        4. John Hatfield
          July 28, 2021

          “Research by Euro Car Parts has pitted the top ten most purchased cars in 2018 against each other to see which could travel the furthest on one tank of petrol.
          It found that the Ford Focus came out on top with one full tank able to carry the driver up to 1,112 miles. The Ford Fiesta, the most popular car in Britain, was found to only be able to cover 74 per cent of that total journey – 821-miles.”
          There and back Andy

        5. ChrisS
          July 28, 2021

          You should buy a Vauxhall Astra, Andy.
          The all-electric version “only” costs twice the price of the cheapest IC-engined version and has been found by a leading car magazine to have a useable range of just 140 miles.
          Utterly pointless.

        6. glen cullen
          July 28, 2021

          But that was his choice, and I support his freedom of choice
          But what about my freedom of choice in 8 years

        7. No Longer Anonymous
          July 28, 2021

          Wait until there are four cars waiting at that 15 minute ‘pump’ in front of you.

    2. Alan Jutson
      July 28, 2021

      S G

      Not all Taxi drivers in Wokingham are using the Toyota Prius, there was not one parked outside Wokingham Station waiting for hire last few times times I have passed, the latest being yesterday, also not aware of the private hire companies of which there are many locally, using them.
      I have seen the odd one about, but that is about it.

      The green energy products that you mention have been subsidised by the Government (taxpayer) in the past and to some degree at the moment, but that subsidy has and will continue to reduce as more and more are purchased, then taxes on them will start to rise, because that’s what Governments do.

      The life expectancy of a heat pump and solar panels is 20 years, the same as a gas boiler, and the same as many double glazed sealed units.
      The life expectancy of basic loft and wall insulation is way more than that, so I agree insulation is a good investment.

    3. Nig l
      July 28, 2021

      +1

    4. Narrow Shoulders
      July 28, 2021

      By referencing your gardener are you not highlighting that these policies are for the rich?

      Even with the grants one still needed investment capital in order to make the savings you highlight.

      1. graham1946
        July 28, 2021

        Yep, the rich never pay the right price for anything and expect subsidies from those that cannot afford these things. Being poor is expensive, always paying top dollar for everything. It was ever thus.

        1. Micky Taking
          July 28, 2021

          Ah….The National Lottery…..set up to convince you that you could win your dreams, but actually paying for things the State might avoid.

    5. Julian Flood
      July 28, 2021

      You are Telly and I claim the ÂŁ5.

      JF

    6. Lifelogic
      July 28, 2021

      “I have had solar panels on my roof for seven years and they have now paid for themselves.” – Well no Sakara other tax payers have paid for them for you and with no benefit to the climate whatsoever!

      1. ChrisS
        July 28, 2021

        My solar array was paid for in six years and, thanks to Gordon Brown, I have another 19 years of tax free, index linked feed-in tariff to come. On average we make a profit of ÂŁ1,750 a year ! The panels themselves are guaranteed to emit 80% of their original output for the full 25 years.

    7. Micky Taking
      July 28, 2021

      You make a great argument for taking up subsidies of all kinds, yet that in itself proves the inefficiencies and the real cost of the items you list. Would you have deployed all these items if you had to pay the real cost?

    8. Lester
      July 28, 2021

      SG

      You have a gardener?

      I think that is very revealing and speaks volumes!

      1. MiC
        July 28, 2021

        Lots of ordinary people have gardeners these days, like they have dog-walkers and cleaners.

        Free time is at a premium for many – thanks largely to surreal property prices and rents.

        1. Micky Taking
          July 28, 2021

          Is Elon Musk going to change his advertising of Tesla to ‘Ordinary people have Teslas’?

        2. NickC
          July 28, 2021

          “Lots of *ordinary* people have gardeners these days” – oh ohhh hahahaha !!!?!! You’re beginning to sound like Lady Nugee!

          1. MiC
            July 28, 2021

            Ordinary people like me – I do my own, but neighbours in similar houses, especially the elderly, have gardeners who come about once a month for a couple of hours to do their small patches.

            Stop being so silly.

          2. NickC
            July 28, 2021

            Lots of “ordinary people” don’t even have gardens, never mind gardeners, Martin. Stop being so Lady Nugee like.

          3. MiC
            July 29, 2021

            So new millions are added to the “metropolitan elite” are they Nick?

            Anyone with a garden.

            😂😂😂

          4. NickC
            July 30, 2021

            No, Martin, simply that few “ordinary people” either have, or can afford, a hired gardener to grow their “own” vegetables, contrary to your assertion.

        3. jon livesey
          July 28, 2021

          “thanks largely to surreal property prices and rents.”

          Really? And are they paying their gardeners by dismantling their houses one brick at a time? You have to have an income to pay a gardener. You can’t pay him from a price in a Real Estate advert.

          1. MiC
            July 29, 2021

            Many people are working every hour sent to repay loans and rent.

            They live on takeaway food rather than spend earning time shopping and cooking.

        4. jon livesey
          July 28, 2021

          “Lots of ordinary people have gardeners these days, like they have dog-walkers and cleaners.”

          And like all they send their children to ten thousand a year private schools?

          1. MiC
            July 29, 2021

            A typical cost of a gardener for someone with a terraced cottage and a front garden is ÂŁ20 a month – and then only for half of the year.

            Loads of people do that.

            You are clearly completely out of touch.

          2. Peter2
            July 29, 2021

            ÂŁ20 a month for a gardener?
            Have got their details please.
            Sounds too good to be true.
            Did you mean ÂŁ20 an hour?

          3. MiC
            July 29, 2021

            A friend of mine was one until fairly recently, doing people’s small gardens..

            He charged ÂŁ9 per hour.

            I’m not sure why you’re all in such a froth about this, TBH.

          4. Peter2
            July 29, 2021

            So ÂŁ9 an hour and in just few hours per week we are now way over your claimed amount of ÂŁ20 a month.
            You just keep making stuff up and it falls apart when challenged.

    9. No Longer Anonymous
      July 28, 2021

      Doing 4000 miles per year is it worth me chopping in my paid up Skoda for a ÂŁ70k Tesla ???

    10. stoneman1960
      July 28, 2021

      “I got my gardener to dig over a patch”
      This says all you need to know

      1. MiC
        July 28, 2021

        …to make your usual silly assumption.

    11. Fedupsoutherner
      July 28, 2021

      Sakara. It might be cheap to charge your car now but wait until most people are driving them and there is a different way of charging us for road tax. I don’t think it’s going to remain cheap.

      1. No Longer Anonymous
        July 28, 2021

        +1

  14. SM
    July 28, 2021

    Thank you, Sir John, and how sad that the bloomin’ obvious needs to be constantly repeated.

    I came across this the other day: ‘social structures resembling religion arise in every society. [Extreme] environmentalism is the most obvious and direct remapping of Judaeo/Christianity into something not called a religion but behaving exactly like one.’

    Rather like the NHS, too.

    1. Everhopeful
      July 28, 2021

      “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him” Voltaire.
      The State has destroyed religion and the vacuum has been filled by Marxism. (French Rev invented the Supreme Being).
      An ideology leaves no room for anything else in the brains of its followers but if like religion, it instructs mainly socially useful behaviour then it is ok. But Marxism ( modern version of) virtually upends Christian teachings, except of course when used to manipulate, which it has done in spade loads ( charities, social care, immigration).
      So we are left with a rabid ideology that will lie, cheat, abuse and obfuscate with total impunity.

    2. Nota#
      July 28, 2021

      @SM – its a massive list to long for Sir John’s Blog

    3. MiC
      July 28, 2021

      Well, brexit, certainly.

      1. NickC
        July 28, 2021

        Well actually Remain, Martin.

        1. MiC
          July 29, 2021

          Well, the religious word for “traitor” is “apostate”.

          We have seen plenty of Leave fanatics disgracefully labelling Remain activists as traitors, and strongly implying that they should suffer the historical penalty for that, exactly as religious fanatics do for their claimed disloyal.

          The parallels between the two are chillingly similar.

          There is no symmetry here with Remain people.

          1. Peter2
            July 29, 2021

            Says the man who called leave voters traitors and called for their execution.
            Then denied he said it the next day.
            Selective memory of the left eh MiC?

          2. MiC
            July 29, 2021

            Would you like to link to where I “said” that, Pete?

          3. MiC
            July 29, 2021

            The people whom I criticised, for undermining the fight against a mortal enemy, which has killed 130,000 British people so far, were not Leave voters, but people who spread lies about the effectiveness of vaccines, masks, distancing, quarantine etc. anyway.

            Weren’t they?

          4. Peter2
            July 29, 2021

            Oh so just people who you disagree with over Covid.
            Well then Marty, that’s understandable.

          5. NickC
            July 30, 2021

            No, Martin, I called Remain politicians and activists, who were specifically working in cooperation with the EU to overturn our democratic vote to Leave, traitors. People with Remain views, or who voted Remain, are clearly not, and I never said they were.

    4. MFD
      July 28, 2021

      +1 SM

  15. Oldtimer
    July 28, 2021

    On a related note the Australian Institute of Marine Science has reported, after its latest annual survey, that the coral on the Great Barrier Reef is now at record levels. This news has not been trumpeted by the BBC. Apparently cyclones, a variety of the starfish family and bleaching are the big drivers of coral death, not anthropogenic global warming as claimed by the advocates of net zero. Like the phony polar bears story, now flourishing, we have been fed tendentious propaganda to instil the fear that we will all be boiled alive if we do not abolish the ice-driven motor car. There needs to be a mass revolt against this rush to beggar the nation by here today, gone tomorrow, politicians.

    1. Lifelogic
      July 28, 2021

      +1

    2. Everhopeful
      July 28, 2021

      Did you ever notice that a certain sweet has replaced its iconic polar bear?
      Previous ad kind of disproved climate catastrophe.
      Of course polar bears fish from icebergs.
      They can swim
bloody well.
      And glaciers are rivers of ice
they flow and melt at the bottom. They have to because of the pressure of snow at the top. And if they didn’t drought would ensue.
      No wonder they burned all the books.
      When I realised I gathered many at car boot sales.

      1. Original Richard
        July 28, 2021

        Everhopeful : “No wonder they burned all the books. When I realised I gathered many at car boot sales.”

        Yes, when the internet is in the hands of a few individuals, be they multi billionaires or governments, and they can control the all the information on the internet, books will become again a very important source of information.

        1. Everhopeful
          July 28, 2021

          +1

  16. Ian Wragg
    July 28, 2021

    Net zero, zero Covid just the same socialist experiment on the masses.
    PPE graduates spouting technical nonesense.
    It will be your nemesis.
    Farage spots an opening. Beware.

    1. Nig l
      July 28, 2021

      Talking of spouting nonsense 

..

    2. Lifelogic
      July 28, 2021

      +1 but alas no opening for Farage with the FPTP voting system.

      1. Ian Wragg
        July 28, 2021

        Look what he did with UKIP.

    3. Everhopeful
      July 28, 2021

      +many!

    4. J Bush
      July 28, 2021

      +10

    5. MiC
      July 28, 2021

      Farage doesn’t want to be a proper politician, that is, one who does actual work.

      He got too used to being paid a six-figure sum and the same again in expenses for making paper planes and for flicking food at the European Union Parliament.

      All he had to do here was to paraphrase Daily Express headlines and the credulous flocked to him in droves.

      If the press hadn’t created him then they’d just have done the same with someone else.

      There’s nothing special about him.

      1. jon livesey
        July 28, 2021

        “There’s nothing special about him.”

        Except, of course, that he is called in to rescue a national TV station, while you spend you time being mocked here.

      2. Fedupsoutherner
        July 28, 2021

        Mic. Nothing special about Farage? Well, he talks alot of common sense which is refreshing and kind of special when you listen to the other idiots.

      3. NickC
        July 28, 2021

        Martin, Don’t be so silly. Whether you approve of Farage’s politics or not, he worked extremely hard. And he needed constant protection from the Remain and hard left thugs out to make his life a misery.

        1. MiC
          July 29, 2021

          It seems that John doesn’t like my more apposite responses.

          Pity – I think that you would have enjoyed it.

        2. MiC
          July 29, 2021

          When I see the European Union flag, and the Red Flag, tattooed upon neckless bulletheads, like we see the England flag, “BNP” and the like, then I’ll accept that Remain and the Left have a significant thuggish element.

          We just don’t though, do we?

          And John – unlike some MPs – walks the streets feeling reasonably safe, I assume?

          1. Peter2
            July 29, 2021

            Strange definition of a thug
            A neck tattoo.

          2. NickC
            July 30, 2021

            Are you really doubting that Farage was seriously threatened by EU supporting thugs, Martin? So his security detail was just imaginary? Because you say so? And there were plenty of Remain supporters with the EU flag painted on their faces. Facepaint – the middle class version of tattoos.

  17. DOM
    July 28, 2021

    Simply another issue that has been politicised to impose further controls over human behaviour and impose limits to freedom to act, freedom of choice and freedom to oppose.

    Is there any human related issue today that these bottom feeders haven’t politicised?

    John knows full well western governments have embraced authoritarian imposition on western populations and perversely people have voted for this without realising it

    I just hope the voter pulls back their support from the Tory-Labour web of capture before it’s too late

    At the next GE, no more talk about free-lunch spending to bribe naive voters rather focus on the Marxism that is ripping through our lives impose by John’s government aided and abetted by the poison from across the pond and in opposition

    There’s gonna be a kickback against Johnson’s tyrannical rule. This man’s volte face from freedom loving libertarian to Stalin on steroids is so sinister that I fear for our very souls, human identity and right to say anything at all without it being denounced as hate speech, the ultimate catch-all denunciation that is destroying our very world

    Reply It is the Queen’s government led by Mr Johnson, not my government. As you should see here I do not always agree with it.

    1. graham1946
      July 28, 2021

      So it’s Her Majesy’s fault then. Can she do anything about it? I thought it was party hacks who had the say about who is their leader and whether they can stay. Seems no-one in the Tory party is interested or brave enough to say anything other than what a great leader we have. Heard Teresa Coffey squirming around on the radio this morning, not even having the courage to defend or criticise Gove over jabs for the young. More interested in keeping her job than telling any kind of truth.

      1. graham1946
        July 28, 2021

        PS. The main thing I took away from this interview was that she, as being in charge of pensions could not even say if the government will honour their election pledge over pensions! I know she cannot say what rate of inflation will be next month, though that should be pretty obvious to her, but on a point of principle, she doesn’t know?

    2. Lifelogic
      July 28, 2021

      To reply – I and you should disagree with almost everything this mad, socialist, net zero, economically illiterate, oppressive government is doing – alas the Labour/SNP alternative is even worse.

      1. DavidJ
        July 28, 2021

        Well said LL.

    3. Lester
      July 28, 2021

      Reply to reply

      But JR you do nothing to stand against it?

      1. steve
        July 28, 2021

        Lester

        “But JR you do nothing to stand against it?”

        Be fair Lester, what do you expect JR to do, barge into Johnson’s office and commit some act of martydom by ‘taking him out’ ?

        Also check JR’s voting record……he stands against plenty of things bad for the country.

    4. Everhopeful
      July 28, 2021

      Channel situation = open borders = end of nation state = end of citizens’ rights = end of democracy.
      Liblabcon know what they are doing!
      Police buying up dinghies
Pah!

    5. Micky Taking
      July 28, 2021

      What part did the Queen take in selecting the Government, I gather she has never cast a vote?

      Reply The voters choose the Parliament. Ministers serve in the Queens name and are confirmed in office by her.

  18. Richard1
    July 28, 2021

    COP 26 should clearly be moved online as an example to the world.

    Off topic, can we please have an apology from the Labour Party for the appalling child abuse which it seems was actually encouraged and enabled by left-wing Lambeth Council as a way of getting at Mrs Thatcher. It’s incredible what left-wing zealots will do and say. Corbyn praised the evil leader of this terrible Council when he died last year.

    1. Lifelogic
      July 28, 2021

      +1

    2. ukretired123
      July 28, 2021

      Reply to Richard1
      Agree and further questions why Tom Watson Labour’s Deputy was keen to pursue the smears against Peados in High Places to divert attention away from the Labour party failings in many other places e.g. Rotherham
      So keen were the BBC to help Labour because it divert attention away from their infamous Jim will fix it for us both……..

    3. NickC
      July 28, 2021

      Richard1, I agree on both points.

    4. Fedupsoutherner
      July 28, 2021

      +1. It’s truly sickening.

  19. Narrow Shoulders
    July 28, 2021

    When Apple and Samsung are forced to make their phones not too become obsolete or upgraded and when our ostentatious millennial generation and elites keep their phones for more than two years I will believe that climate change is a real concern for them and not just an excuse to spout.

    Until then, let the market decide.

    Hypocrisy is the trait that grinds my bones more than anything.

    1. Lifelogic
      July 28, 2021

      +1 by locking the batteries in the phones and changing software so as to make them redundant.

    2. J Bush
      July 28, 2021

      +10

  20. Iain Moore
    July 28, 2021

    A great deal of this climate change zealotry would disappear if the advocates of it were made to live the lives they are trying to foist on others. For some reason virtue signalling gives these people a free pass on hypocrisy, the likes of (billionaire Ed) is estimated to rack up some 7,500 tons of CO2 for his lifestyle, yet preaches to the rest of us on climate change who have a CO2 footprint of 7 tons, and Johnson, who has a mission to make our lives as miserable as possible with his greenery, thought it beneath him to take the train to the G7 ,as the Queen did, instead flew the 400 miles. If there was a law that required all our MPs, who vote for Climate Change restrictions, to live audited CO2 zero lives, it would be the last we heard of it.

    1. Lifelogic
      July 28, 2021

      +1

    2. J Bush
      July 28, 2021

      +10
      I would really to see all these zealots live on minimum pay, after tax, for 2 years, with no access to credit facilities or other monies, except possibly ÂŁ200 in the bank account. Fund all their ideals the same way they expect the plebs to and come back and still say its a good idea.

      Oh dear,
      Sorry the cook, the housemaids, the butler and the gardener will have to go, they cost more than we have to live on.
      Sorry wifey, no more shopping in Harrods and afternoon teas, use the local charity shop and make your own tea/coffee. You need to learn to cook, the food must not cost more than ÂŁ80.00 a week. I understand you can purchase reasonably decent pack of 6 sausages from Aldi for ÂŁ2.00 and they have a range of potatoes and vegetables. No, you can’t use any of the credit cards. You will need to clean the house and do the laundry, as I will have to learn to tend the grounds myself. There will no more trips abroad as the jet will have to go.
      Sorry Tarquin, you have will to attend the local comp school and you will have to walk to and from, as the fleet of cars have to go. The tax and insurance alone is beyond our means, never mind the cost of fuel.
      Sorry Jacinda, you will have to do your own hair, there is a local hairdressers less than 4 miles away who can cut your hair, so long as it is not cut more than once every 2 months and doesn’t cost more than ÂŁ20.00. What? No you will have to walk to and from like Tarquin. And help your mother with the cooking and housework. You could always apply for a job in Tesco, that way you could maybe continue with your manicures…

      The winter energy bills, oh God we are all going to freeze! Is this what the plebs mean by a choice between eat or heat?

      The Council tax bill! I will have to phone an estate agents…

      They wouldn’t last a week in this real world.

      1. Fedupsoutherner
        July 28, 2021

        J Bush. Brilliant post.

    3. Ed M
      July 28, 2021

      @Iain,
      You’re caught up in ideology. Get caught up in how EXCITING science can create the new EXCITING tech (and the services based around this) of tomorrow which will lead to great EXCITING jobs in this country, and a more stable, productive, EXCITING economy, whilst preserving our environment at the same time.
      The gas-guzzling capitalists, who refuse to accept this, are like dinosaurs – or dragons, desperately trying to guard their hoards of gold (an unnecessary fear – they’ll do just find without sticking to gas-guzzling capitalism) – and nearly as bad – or in some cases, just as bad – as the hysterical greenies who would destroy our economy whilst ignoring science that has the potential to resolve the environmental problems of the day that are, in some way, connected with man / consumerism etc ..
      We can have our cake and eat it, just requires planning, research, investigation, courage, holding one’s nerve – spirit of adventure.

      1. Ed M
        July 28, 2021

        And if government don’t open their eyes and get involved, then the hysterical greenies will rule the show, resulting in red-herring technology and rules – which are counter-productive to the well-being of our economy AND environment – when with a more objective eye to what’s really going on, government can help influence the creation of useful tech – both in terms of building our economy and saving the environment.
        We need to be rescued and protected from the hysteria of the greenies and from the complacency, lack-of-adventurous-spirit and short-term thinking of gas-guzzling capitalists (as opposed to long-term, sensible, entrepreneurial capitalists who are focused on science and high tech / digital and the services based around these).

      2. Mark
        July 28, 2021

        I’m not looking forward to exciting power cuts and a diet of turnips.

    4. steve
      July 28, 2021

      Iain Moore

      “A great deal of this climate change zealotry would disappear if the advocates of it were made to live the lives they are trying to foist on others.”

      ……..or just make them do hard graft for a living.

  21. Micky Taking
    July 28, 2021

    Advocates – – Do as I say, not as I do.

    1. Nota#
      July 28, 2021

      @Micky Taking – and some!

  22. dixie
    July 28, 2021

    Government and politicians are the primary Hypocrite class and Gove is the latest prime example of that.

    Teslas are not the most popular or numerous EVs in the UK by a long way, the Nissan Leaf outnumbers all the Tesla variants and the most popular by far is the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV.
    Interesting that try to label all EV drivers by the most expensive marque. But what are you, John, saying to the Couldn’t-Give-A-Toss and We’ll-Let-Our-Children-Clear-Up-Our-Mess classes?

    Access to resources is dwindling and yet many seem to think they don’t have to change at all and that costs won’t go up. So what are you John and the rest doing to preserve the level of accessibility, what alternatives are you offering? And what will you do to defray the higher costs?
    As far as I can see the only position by the anti-EV brigade appears to be to adopt a head in the sand approach. They declare there is no problem at all and CO2 is not a poison or a problem and demand freedom of choice is preserved in a world where the majority probably don’t see the problem as too much CO2 but as high cost or lack of fuel and don’t believe you should have freedom of choice at their expense.
    Where is the research funding, the informed debate, the lobbying for nuclear, for alternatives to natural gas and petrol/diesel? How are we going to afford these and other resources we depend on when UK governments facilitate the export of our industries, businesses and resources?

    1. steve
      July 28, 2021

      dixie

      “Government and politicians are the primary Hypocrite class”

      …….I reclassified Johnson and his crowd as ‘shysters’

  23. Roger W Carradice
    July 28, 2021

    Sir John
    The people at the UN make it clear that they are using climate change as a trojan horse to change the world economic system to socialism. I used to think that the Conservative Party was a conservative party but it is now New Labour.
    Roger

    1. DavidJ
      July 28, 2021

      We need the UN de-funding. Let them try and survive with a proper job.

    2. SM
      July 28, 2021

      +10

    3. glen cullen
      July 28, 2021

      +1

  24. Julian Flood
    July 28, 2021

    You are Telly and I claim the ÂŁ5.

    JF

  25. glen cullen
    July 28, 2021

    You’re either an advocate of ‘freedom of choice’
    or
    An advocate of marxism ‘social engineering’ and banning everything unless sanctioned by junta government

    We don’t need a carrot nor stick…..If electric cars are so good allow free market force to support

    1. NickC
      July 28, 2021

      Glen, Just so.

    2. SM
      July 28, 2021

      +1

    3. hefner
      July 29, 2021

      How simplistic such a comment can be: I can be an advocate of freedom of choice and free market, and not have the means to exert this freedom, because at the end of the month having paid the mortgage, food, clothes, transport, heating, and other basic expenses I do not have much left, certainly not to pay ÂŁ15k+/year/child for school or ÂŁ1500+ of private health insurance for the family.

      In which case I do not get any benefit whatsoever from this supposed freedom of choice.
      Oh yes, I had the freedom to send my children to private schools or to send us to see a private doctor or enter a private hospital if required.
      When the costs were put in front of me, I could not afford them. So what good does this ‘freedom of choice’ charade do to little me?

      1. Peter2
        July 29, 2021

        I cant afford a Rolls nor many any other things.
        Your definition of freedom of choice is ridiculous.
        Do you really expect to have this ultimate ability to afford anything or everything you desire?

        1. hefner
          July 30, 2021

          P2, obviously not, but putting everything and anything in terms of ‘freedom of choice’ is as silly. What about a case of ‘small minds hiding behind big ideas’? Titillating, isn’t it?

      2. NickC
        July 30, 2021

        You’ll have even less money when the government forces everyone to buy heat pump installations and battery cars, under pressure from CAGW believers (like you), Hefner.

        1. hefner
          July 30, 2021

          Well I will wait till the day these things happen and are made compulsory. It looks like it will not be before 2030 maybe later, by which time I might not be around anymore. So 
 not like you, Don Quixote, who are filling every day pages of nonsense about these ‘wind mills’.

          And I expect you, as a non-believer, to provide explanations for the curious case(s) of the recent weather events. And before you start, do not be as stupid as those who ‘explain’ things by quoting changes occurring over thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of years, but please, could you try to concentrate on the last 200 years.

          Thanks in advance.

  26. glen cullen
    July 28, 2021

    I wonder how many MPs have an electric car and no other ICE vehicle in their family unit, and bought from their on pocket ?
    Impose the ICE ban on MPs next month and see its support dwindle away

    1. steve
      July 28, 2021

      Glen

      “I wonder how many MPs have an electric car and no other ICE vehicle in their family unit”

      Probably lots, they can afford it.

  27. George Brooks.
    July 28, 2021

    Your second paragraph, Sir John, illustrates very clearly the complete and utter lack of forethought by those promoting this Green Revolution. Before inviting questions that chump on the platform should have anticipated your very obvious question.

    Apart from those with a small front yard we have no way of charging these battery cars and even if we did, we don’t have the facility to generate the power needed. We are littering our countryside and coastal waters with windmills that cannot work in a gale and don’t work in calm conditions. Several times every winter high pressure settles across the country, the temperature drops and there is little or no wind, so the country will come to a standstill and we will freeze to death.

    Yes, that is extreme, but when will those looking to offset climate change get real, and come up with practical, workable and affordable plans to reduce CO2. If they want cooperation then stop taking us for fools and trying to frighten the country into submission. It won’t work

  28. Bryan Harris
    July 28, 2021

    Well said – This is something I keep saying:

    Advocates of net zero need to live the brand.

    But they do not, and they are not even offering excuses these days – It’s their right to nag us while doing exactly as they please.

    The report called ABSOLUTE ZERO, accepted by the government for discussion as the way forward is full of inappropriate requirements and untested technology.
    One thing the report demands is that we all stop eating beef and lamb – under these rules eating them would become illegal — (How oppressive is that!)

    Other sources say that we should get used to eating anything that crawls as replacement protein.

    Before parliament starts to put these insane requirements into law it would be only appropriate if the Westminster eateries served only protein which had crept or wriggled across the floor, immediately.
    If they are unable to stomach that, then why should we?

    1. DavidJ
      July 28, 2021

      Indeed.

    2. Fedupsoutherner
      July 28, 2021

      Bryan. Stopping people eating meat or going vegan will be a disaster for health. Most people will not be careful enough to follow this kind of diet. Vegans, might be at less risk from heart problems but they are 46% more likely to break a bone and more prone to mental problems and strokes. My daughter and her husband are both vegans and only in their thirties. They have both broken bones recently. Stopping us eating meat and perhaps dairy products will create a health problem.

      1. Bryan Harris
        July 29, 2021

        @Fedupsoutherner – I agree – But this is exactly what they are proposing, amongst other horrors – check the report

        My point is that those in Parliament who expect us to live off lesser types of protein should be forced to have it themselves.

        You only have to see the stocks of ‘plant’ food now flooding some supermarket shelves to see what the future will be – poor quality ingredients, and the protein is worse…

  29. ChrisS
    July 28, 2021

    I am quite happy to admit here and now that at the age of 69, I am not going to go green except where it makes sound sense for economic or other reasons.

    Our sole contribution so far has been to install a 4kw solar array when Gordon Brown introduced his ludicrously over-generous feed in tariffs. I recently bought a mild hybrid 3 litre diesel Audi A7, not because it was greener, but because it was the very best car for our needs.

    We will continue to live in the four bedroom house we have already occupied for 22 years and we will be keeping our modern gas boiler. We will continue to drive our other Internal Combustion-engined motorcycles and cars , two of which are classic cars more than 50 years old. These are used for a few thousand miles a year and are both MOT and road tax exempt.

    Just before gas boilers are banned, we will have a brand new one installed alongside the existing one and that should see us out. If not we can eventually live on the ground floor and sit around the gas Aga – and the new wood burning stove I am just installing in our conservatory.

    I feel no sense of guilt. As we all know, however much our politicians spend of our money on their Green Crap agenda, it will not have the slightest effect on climate change around the world.
    In reality, only China, the USA and India can make a significant difference.

    If a future UK government decides to increase the taxes on running gas boilers and petrol and diesel cars, I will ensure that we have enough money in reserve to pay it.

    1. Original Richard
      July 28, 2021

      ChrisS : “If a future UK government decides to increase the taxes on running gas boilers and petrol and diesel cars, I will ensure that we have enough money in reserve to pay it.”

      The idea is to convert everything to electric so that the government can implement energy rationing.

      Running Agas, gas boilers, ice cars, wood stoves and generators will be banned.

      1. ChrisS
        July 28, 2021

        As I said, Richard, I am already 69. None of the events you predict are likely to be of any bother to me !
        Gas and fossil fuels for cars are going to be around until at the very least 2045, by which time the very last pure IC-engined cars will only be 15 years old and I will be 93.
        Sadly,even if I am still around, I can’t imagine me being fit enough to be able to drive my V12-engined Ferrari across Europe at that age !

      2. steve
        July 28, 2021

        Original Richard

        “Running Agas, gas boilers, ice cars, wood stoves and generators will be banned.”

        They can’t ban AGAs, Petrol Engines, Wood Stoves & Generators.

        I have all four…..no one is coming around here stopping me, I dare them. Besides, those making such laws would have to expect plebs to invade their country mannors & have THEIR Agas ripped out. If we can’t have them, they won’t either. Same for toffs classic car collections.

        What is good for the goose etc…..by force in necessary.

        I’m fortunate in that my gas bill actually goes down in winter, thanks to an AGA and a log burner, which I fuel with driftwood found in my location, and also scrap palettes etc.

        So what they gonna do ? ban driftwood and self-sufficiency ?

        1. Fedupsoutherner
          July 28, 2021

          Well said Steve and ChrisS

  30. William Long
    July 28, 2021

    You are quite right: there is an awful lot of “Do as I say, not do as I do” in all of this, and I am in no doubt that any bits of it that are desireable and economic, will be marketable without any need for compulsion or subsidy, as I know is the case with solar panels on commercial roofs.

  31. Iain gill
    July 28, 2021

    Green stuff that makes better economic sense includes better house insulation. If the powers that be really cared they would be helping improve this.

    1. glen cullen
      July 28, 2021

      All new builds have full insulation
      And we’ve been providing grants to support home-owners insulate their houses since the 1970s….we must’ve insulated every household twice over by now !

      1. MiC
        July 28, 2021

        Sadly there was no inspectorate to police the work of what were very often cowboys, let alone to prosecute them.

        Much of the work was shoddy, sub-spec, and unsatisfactory.

        1. glen cullen
          July 28, 2021

          National Federation of Builders

        2. Peter2
          July 29, 2021

          MiC
          You’ve therefore never heard of Local Council planning depatments nor their regular building inspections where developments are signed off at various stages, nor the enormous amount of legislation called building regulations that have to be followed.

          1. MiC
            July 29, 2021

            I was writing mainly about the work done under 1980s grants.

        3. Peter2
          July 29, 2021

          We are meant to guess that presumably?
          Even in the previous decades there were still planning permissions, building regs and Council inspections and sign offs.
          You sure you know what you are talking about MiC

      2. Iain Gill
        July 28, 2021

        standards of new builds are terrible, and the system of checking they comply with building regs is blatantly corrupt with the builders drinking in the pub on the weekend with the same people supposedly inspecting their work for building regs compliance. its a national scandal.

        1. MiC
          July 29, 2021

          Yes, absolutely – see “Boeing” and “Grenfell Tower”.

        2. Peter2
          July 29, 2021

          If you have evidence of that claim Ian you should report it to the Police.
          You do have proof I presume?

  32. agricola
    July 28, 2021

    Nett Zero’s problem is that it is largely political in concept and execution. As such it has all the ingredients to bumble around and get nowhere causing chaos as it proceeds as a concept. It relies on electricity we have not got and some of what we have got is in foreign hands that do not wish us well. Due to its politicisation there is no grand plan for charging all these electric vehicles, a process left to ill defined others. I foresee increasing chaos as it progresses and lots of animosity.

    It will lead to a greater division in society than we have already. As you infer it is the Westminster bubble indulging in hypocrisy. Why do they never consult with engineering and science.

    HGVs and buses are moving towards hydrogen feeding cells to produce electricity. It will industrialise the production of Hydrogen. I like the idea of hydrogen as a direct fuel for an ICE. It is clean, it has the range and could reduce the cost of a car by eliminating the costly catalytic converter. Is anyone working on this.

    1. Nota#
      July 28, 2021

      @agricola – from all the noise from other quarters in the World, the World(even the EU is spending big) is moving to Hydrogen for heir transport networks. The UK version is to get the taxpayer that cant afford this new World ‘virtue signal’ to pay for extra power points for those that can

    2. Fedupsoutherner
      July 28, 2021

      Agricola. Several companies are working on hydrogen vehicles including JLR with the new Defender.

  33. Nota#
    July 28, 2021

    “Advocates of net zero need to live the brand” – as if they think it means them.

    How much waste, CO2 etc. will those that attend COP 26 pile on the World – but as part of the ‘Great Reset’ it wasn’t meant to be them.

    If you need to confirm the conspiracy theorists, just look at those freeloaders that think the rule the World. They bring all notions of compassion and we are all in it together into sharp focus.

    Just more ‘Grand Standing’ and ‘Virtue Signalling’ meant so the surfs believe someone has a clue and is doing something, when in reality is about doing the opposite.

    1. DavidJ
      July 28, 2021

      +1

  34. None of the Above
    July 28, 2021

    Enough said Sir John, well done!

  35. Christine
    July 28, 2021

    If the Government and councils want to promote electric vehicles then put in place car-sharing schemes. I like many want access to a car, so I own one but I rarely use it. Give tax breaks to local garages and car hire companies to set up carpool schemes. I wouldn’t want to buy an EV as they are too expensive and I don’t trust the battery life. If we had a similar scheme to the Boris bikes but on a countrywide level, this would provide a service to many people living in cities and large towns who only need access to a car on rare occasions.

  36. DOM
    July 28, 2021

    Nord Stream-2 exposes the scam of the west’s embrace of net-zero fascism. Germany and the EU will implode without Putin’s gas. What power the Russian President now has at his fingertips.

    1. Micky Taking
      July 28, 2021

      But Germany and the EU can prepare for failed supply by installing generators everywhere powered by …err …fossil fuels.

    2. Mitchel
      July 28, 2021

      Absolutely.Nordstream I,Nordstream II,Turkstream(To Turkey and the Balkans),Power of Siberia (to China),the rapidly expanding LNG output from the Arctic (sold to the highest bidder),etc

      Not only that,the trade routes between Europe and Asia will increasingly pass through Russian controlled territory and waters-taking trade away the former maritime powers and their financial institutions.Last week Russia signed a joint venture deal with UAE-owned DP World(one of the world’s largest port and logistics companies)to develop infrastructure for transit traffic along the Arctic sea route across the Russian Arctic coast.At the moment the rapid growth in traffic along this route is largely due to Russian exports from their expanding portfolio of natural resource developments in the Arctic but capturing a slice of east-west container transit traffic is the big prize.The first shipments under this new JV are expected in 2025 using new specially built combined bulk carrier/container ships.

      1. Mitchel
        July 28, 2021

        Eurasia is an idea whose time has well and truly come and ,as Victor Hugo famously wrote,”nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come”!

        1. hefner
          July 28, 2021

          O/T: It might be useful to point out that DP World is the same Emirati company in charge of the DPW London Gateway. It should not be confused (as I did for a time) with DPD Group (the delivery service), part of Le Groupe La Poste (French) or DHL (another delivery service) part of the logistics group Deutsche Post.

          I guess a lot of (no, some) contributors here will now refuse to receive any parcel arriving with either DHL or DPD, or Hermes, part of the Otto GmbH group.
          We will have to rely on deliveries by pigeons hoping they are not killed over La Manche by the immigrants on their rafts.

  37. a-tracy
    July 28, 2021

    The wealthy people that at the moment are getting the tax concessions off ‘electrical’ fuel for their vehicle, easy refill in some places because there aren’t so many people that could afford to take advantage and are loving it. They will still benefit in the future because they can all have a personal recharge point in their garage or garden even when the road taxes per mile start. They also won’t have to deal with the rotting battery because they can afford to replace the car every couple of years.

    I personally cannot stand people that journey around the world miles and miles lecturing people who only have one holiday per year and would like it in the more predictable weather Countries in the South.

  38. Nota#
    July 28, 2021

    Off Topic – from the MsM today.
    “The suspension of the pensions triple lock appears to be moving closer after it emerged last night that Conservative MPs are privately being canvassed on their views on dropping the manifesto commitment.”
    The basic state pension is ÂŁ137.60 per week after paying full contributions for minimum of 30 years.
    National minimum wage ÂŁ9.50 per hour, for a 37 hour week that makes it ÂŁ351.00 per week, you can change job, earn more and so on. You get a choice
    MP’s pay rise (2020-21) 3.1% giving ÂŁ81,932 per year – ÂŁ1575.61
    Any increase on 137.60 is unfair to the ‘young’!
    All in it together – let the young buy food clothe themselves, pay rent and rates socialize on a ÂŁ137.60 a week and then hear them holler.
    In other words let’s hit those that can’t respond, don’t shout

    Reply I have not been canvassed on this

    1. Martyn G
      July 28, 2021

      In 2020 I (and presumably all other OAPs) received a letter telling me that my pension was being increased by 25p/week. I could hardly contain my joy at this communication, which probably cost 3 times more than its content to post to me. We should ask Andy if he could get by on such a munificent pension paid for over a lifetime of work.

  39. Nota#
    July 28, 2021

    @Nota# – Famously this was also announced this week in the MsM a now retired MP(ex-speaker) gets to take his ÂŁ35,000 per year (ÂŁ673.00 per week) pension at age 56 without directly ever contributing to it. The ‘taxpayer’ carries the burden. At full retirement age he will then get his state pension added. That by those that pontificate on these situations is called ‘fairness’ ‘level paying field’, ‘we are all in the together’ –

    Reply The MP pension scheme is contributory with deductions from pay if you opt to be in it.

    1. Nota#
      July 28, 2021

      Thankyou – there are so many things that this Government ad the HoC entertains that aren’t equitable you suspect all of their antics to be in the same category

    2. Fedupsoutherner
      July 28, 2021

      Reply to reply. Yes but look at the rewards. Just a bit more than the very meagre state pension many have to live on.

  40. Denis Cooper
    July 28, 2021

    Off topic, Richard North has an interesting article today:

    http://eureferendum.com/blogview.aspx?blogno=88047

    I would particularly highlight:

    “At the heart of this, I rather suspect, is the increasing complexity of the SPS “official controls” which have been heavily revised since the 2016 referendum. The bulk of the changes only came into force at the end of 2019 and some of the more onerous provisions have only applied since last year.

    It is all very well therefore, taking the view that the parties (and in particular the UK) should have anticipated the problems but, in a very real sense, both sides have been “flying blind”, with no experience of how the changes implemented would work in practice.”

    1. Denis Cooper
      July 28, 2021

      Similarly off-topic, this article by Graham Gudgin has just appeared:

      https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/columnists/this-is-a-radical-uk-plan-to-overturn-the-protocol-3326878

      “This is a radical UK plan to overturn the protocol”

      “If any unionists doubted the commitment of Boris Johnson to Northern Ireland, they should read last week’s White Paper on the Northern Ireland Protocol.”

      “Out would go any checks on goods brought into Northern Ireland from Great Britain. Instead checks would only take place on goods destined for the Republic of Ireland.”

      I hope so, it has always been the obvious solution:

      https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2021/07/25/state-borrowing/#comment-1246836

      1. NickC
        July 28, 2021

        Denis, I read your link to the newsletter article by Dr Graham Gudgin and, whilst I like what he has to say, I think he is being over-optimistic. I no longer believe such rumours as “Boris Johnson has been “infuriated” by the EU’s intransigence” (who isn’t?). But we’re just being suckered as we are with the illegal migrant problem – the government keeps announcing new “crackdowns” until the news cycle moves on – then, rinse and repeat when the issue reappears.

        1. Denis Cooper
          July 29, 2021

          Agreed, with the totally untrustworthy Boris Johnson we cannot believe anything that he promises, let alone anything that is just being rumoured, until it actually happens, and even if it happens we then have to very carefully check has actually happened …

  41. MWB
    July 28, 2021

    The driving range of BEVs is still the deciding factor in whether to purchase or not. Petrol/diesel is the best option if one drive 200 miles somewhere and then the same 200 miles back home in the same day, as I do many times each year. Then I can re-fuel in a few minutes, not the best part of an hour.
    The government must remove this 2030 ban on ICE vehicles.

    Talking of hypocrisy, this is evident in people like May and Cameron, who say we should have thousands of immigrants but make sure that none are placed in their constuencies.

  42. Roy Grainger
    July 28, 2021

    The most blatant example of this was Andy of this parish boasting that he was enjoying a BBQ ! A massive fossil fuel carbon footprint even if he was only cooking French vegan sausages.

    1. MiC
      July 28, 2021

      Did he tell you that you – or anyone else – should not have an occasional barbecue?

      No, he didn’t did he?

      So give it a rest.

      1. Peter2
        July 28, 2021

        But if you really want net zero then things like BBQs and log burners will have to be banned.
        And Guy Fawkes bonfires and fireworks.

        1. MiC
          July 28, 2021

          Why?

          BBQs burn charcoal, which is from trees, and they regrow to absorb the CO2 produced by burning the earlier charcoal.

          1. Peter2
            July 29, 2021

            BBQs burn gas mainly which is a fossil fuel dervitive and log burners burn wood which I note you didn’t even bother to address.
            Charcoal s a fossil fuel which creates CO2 and creates smoke which is a pollutant.
            Just saying trees grow magically somewhere else to balance that actiondoesnt work.
            Have another try MiC

      2. jon livesey
        July 28, 2021

        “Did he tell you that you – or anyone else – should not have an occasional barbecue?”

        If he is a fan of net-zero and he has not invented a net-zero barbecue, then yes, he has told you that.

      3. NickC
        July 28, 2021

        Martin, Actually, both you and Andy have told us not to have barbecues. You’ve told us over and over and over that wanton emission of CO2 is wicked and should be forbidden (it’s that hypocrisy thingy again). We’ll all boil away in a emergency, runaway, global meltdown catastrophe unless we all mend our ways and stop using “fossil fuels”. So, are you and Andy going to put your actions where your mouths are? Or not?

        1. MiC
          July 29, 2021

          Tripe.

          I have not.

          1. Peter2
            July 29, 2021

            And stop eating tripe MiC
            It is from animals.
            We are being told to eat less meat to save the planet.

  43. agricola
    July 28, 2021

    You can all investigate this via the internet. The fact that Toyota are seriously engaged in the development of ICE engines running on hydrogen is highly significant. Development is as of old by doing it via competitive racing engines. The move will not have been altruistic nor will it have been driven by vocal ill informed politicians. It is being done for sound commercial reasons because they consider that it offers the best solution to emission free propulsion. ICEs require lubrication using oil so a miniscule amount of oil gets burnt, but that is all. the only emitted product is water and a small amount of tyre particulate.

    Do I need to mention the advantages of such thinking, well I will.
    Refuelling time the same as fossil fuel
    Range between refills much the same as with current ICE vehicles
    No catalytic converter cost, ergo cheaper vehicles.
    No mushrooming of charging points despoiling our streets
    No problems for those who live in flats.
    BP and Shell are investigating large scale hydrogen production I believe.
    We do not have to vastly increase our electricity generation, only sufficient to replace inter connectors.

    I would submit that the above is an engineering/ scientific solution to eliminating vehicle pollution, rather than the knee jerk, sound bite solutions offered by an ignorant political circus in Westminster. I bet you that when Toyota come up with practical solutions at an acceptable price, people will buy into them. The most significant point is that it does not restrict Joe Citizens personal mobility. Current thinking, if you could call it that does, and that is dangerous for any politician.

    If Toyota are doing it so will Honda, Nissan, Mitsubishi et al. This is the real future staring you in the face.

    1. Mark
      July 28, 2021

      Hydrogen is very expensive to make. Even more so if you insist on green methods only.

      1. MiC
        July 28, 2021

        Pyrolysis of methane is actually quite cheap.

        It produces high quality carbon for industry too, the excess going to landfill.

        1. NickC
          July 28, 2021

          Using the methane directly is even cheaper though, Martin.

          1. MiC
            July 29, 2021

            Yes, dumping raw sewage into rivers is cheap too.

          2. Peter2
            July 29, 2021

            More ridiculous wharaboutery from our 30 posts a day resident lefty.

    2. Fedupsoutherner
      July 28, 2021

      Agricola. It certainly makes sense for most people.

    3. glen cullen
      July 28, 2021

      Don’t forget Porsche with Siemens Energy are developing of synthetic fuel due for production 2022

  44. agricola
    July 28, 2021

    Worcester Bosch have already developed a hydrogen burning domestic boiler. Eliminating natural gas pollution at a stroke. Check it out with Robin Walker. Yet another example of engineering providing practical low cost solutions. Forget about costly inefficient heat pumps and get behind solutions that work.

    1. Micky Taking
      July 28, 2021

      is that hydrogen out of the free air at your house, or liquefied gas? Either would be fascinating, do tell.

    2. Mark
      July 28, 2021

      The boiler may not cost much more, but green hydrogen is about 10 times the cost of methane at the wholesale level. Your bills would be unaffordable to most.

      1. Stred
        July 28, 2021

        And reformed methane with carbon capture, needing burial under the North Sea, is still five times as costly as burning methane.

        1. MiC
          July 29, 2021

          See “pyrolysis”, which produces not CO2 but solid pure carbon as waste.

          1. Mark
            July 29, 2021

            That is a laboratory experiment at the moment. The best version I can find is still conjectured to be more expensive than SMR.

  45. agricola
    July 28, 2021

    My conclusion is that the future is with hydrogen direct burn or fuel cell to electric drive, definitely not pure electric via a battery which is an inadequate product with an unbelievable infrastructure requirement., all at high cost.
    HMG need to get behind volume hydrogen production, and a domestic hydrogen gas distribution via existing pipelines. We would then be on the way to the desirable nett zero.

    1. Alan Jutson
      July 28, 2021

      Agricola

      Tend to agree, but a changeover using the same distribution system is not easily done.
      I can well remember the changeover from manufactured gas (Coal /Coke burning) to the cleaner Natural gas..
      All gas appliances needed to be upgraded with new burners, if no spares available to convert, then new appliances had to be purchased.
      Natural gas supply was then phased in on a local basis, with agreed supply areas outlined well in advance after all gas appliances had either been modified or scrapped within those areas.
      Cannot remember how long it all took, but the so called safer, cleaner natural gas was then the answer to all our problems, Less pollution, and cheaper than the old, and with a plentiful supply.
      Who would have thought at the time, that 60 years later we would be looking for another alternative.

  46. Ed M
    July 28, 2021

    Gas-guzzling capitalism isn’t real capitalism.
    Real capitalism is to see the opportunities to be made – in the long-term – by the way the market is heading (bigly) towards Green Tech.
    And these capitalists also know there is some substance behind why the market is heading towards Green Tech. There does seem to be some kind of connection between consumerism and problems with the environment.
    But these capitalists also refuse to accept the hysteria of greenies as well.
    These capitalists are also big believers in SCIENCE! And how a strong, stable economy depends on a country making high quality goods (high tech / digital) with high quality services based around these. Science is key here.
    So we need to stay clear of the short-term capitalists, focused more on short-term profits, AND the hysterical greenies on the left who would end up destroying our economy without saving the environment – which can ultimately only be saved by saved (and the new habits of people based on new science).

  47. margaret
    July 28, 2021

    Oh come on, not a trick question .. right . We do all need to go to electric cars, BUT we also need more electricity plug in points and perhaps more relevant ,the money to purchase the new age luxury .

    1. glen cullen
      July 28, 2021

      Assumption 1 we need ban ICE cars and promote electric cars
      Assumption 2 we need to reduce ICE cars to combat CO2
      Assumption 3 we need to reduce CO2 to combat rising global temperature
      Assumption 4 we need to reduce global temperature as scientists models predict world disaster
      Assumption 5 we need to reduce global temperature as its man-made
.definitely not sun flares or planet life cycle

      So we’re banning ICE cars for electric cars because some scientists have a dodgy model and the Tory party now support the green party policies and are scared of the media….no other reason

  48. Stred
    July 28, 2021

    My diesel estate isn’t quite big enough and it’s electrical system is playing up at low mileage so I went to the Toyota dealer to look at an Avensis. I couldn’t find one and asked a salesman if they had any. He said that they had discontinued this model and only made big electric and hybrid models. These were enormous Chelsea tractors with big fins and lights and I wouldn’t be seen dead in one. He didn’t bother to explain the advantages. There was a couple looking interested who were in the age group educated by the Al Gore disaster film and Green socialists. What they don’t know is that a large hybrid car produces as much CO2 as an efficient diesel and more particulates from brakes and road dust because they are heavier. They are also very expensive. Even second hand cars were over ÂŁ23,000. No wonder the value of newer conventional cars has risen. Mine is only ÂŁ3000 less than I paid for it five years ago.

    1. Alan Jutson
      July 28, 2021

      Stred

      You are correct, the price of relatively new second hand ICE vehicle has risen because fewer are being manufactured and thus purchased now, so people are buying nearly new, but that will gradually drop off the closer we get to 2030 when the Government will start putting huge tax increases on diesel and petrol fuel, and ICE vehicles, to “encourage” the purchase of what they believe are greener alternatives.

      Makes the financial decision of purchasing another vehicle a bloody nightmare because the goalposts are moving constantly.

    2. ChrisS
      July 28, 2021

      My Audi A7 was bought through the dealer network. It has been pre-registered six months earlier and had just 30 miles on the clock. I obtained a discount of 42% from the list price and it has a range of 625 miles and takes 3 minutes to “recharge”. I paid ÂŁ37,500 for it.
      The week before I bought the Audi, I had tried a fully electric ÂŁ75,000 Jaguar iPace which, during a 24 hour test drive, I found had a range of only 190 miles. That car was offered with no discount at all and would have cost me precisely twice what I paid for the Audi.
      The new all-electric Audi eTron GT is the direct equivalent to my car and has a range of 250 miles and costs ÂŁ100,000. There is no discount available, of course. These prices are just daft.

      1. Alan Jutson
        July 28, 2021

        Good Car at a good price, and very comfortable and very economical for its size.

        Looking for the same at the moment, but not found one at that discount yet.!

  49. Nota#
    July 28, 2021

    The madness continues – Westminster cancel, dumps a load of none-net zero rubbish adjacent to Marble Arch as it will attract the visitors

    1. Nota#
      July 28, 2021

      – Westminster Council

  50. Nota#
    July 28, 2021

    We also learn today that people need to charge their batter cars outside of busy times, as the grid doesn’t have the capacity. Then again that was the point of the ‘Smart Meter’ – energy suppliers get to regulate when you can use the power supplied from the French & Chinese State

    1. Nota#
      July 28, 2021

      – battery cars

      Not a great day for predictive text

    2. glen cullen
      July 28, 2021

      And we are only doing all this because 50% of scientists lobbied governments that their model forecasts suggest that the world is set for a temperature rise of 1.5 degree if we don’t decrease carbon and ban the ICE car, and the other 50% of scientists said they’re wrong
.utter madness

  51. DavidJ
    July 28, 2021

    “Net zero” is an impossible dream intended to allow the few self-declared “elite” to continue their extravagant lifestyles whilst making life difficult for the rest of us.
    It needs to be binned and soon before any more damage is done.

  52. J Bush
    July 28, 2021

    I was considering replacing my 12 year old wee cheap to run, but reliable runaround for something a tad newer, but there is absolutely no way I would consider Johnson’s preferred option.
    1. I can’t afford it
    2. Where would I get it recharged, as I have heard nothing from him how those who live in rural areas could do this
    3. When there isn’t any, public transport alternative is not an option.

    I do wonder what the going price is to behave like a bluff and bluster moronic ignoramus?

    1. Micky Taking
      July 28, 2021

      well you could drive perhaps 20 miles to the nearest charging point, possibly queue up, go get a newspaper, read it cover to cover, and when finished drive back home with whatever level of charging you now have? Whats the problem (ha ha )?

      1. glen cullen
        July 28, 2021

        along with the 2/3s of the population that live in appartments or a terrace house….that can’t charge from home – I demand my human rights

  53. Original Richard
    July 28, 2021

    There is no climate emergency. The earth has been steadily warming since the last ice age which was at its maximum just 22,000 years ago. And CO2 is food for plants!

    It is a scam as evidenced by the fact that the elites promoting it have no plans for its implementation other than by rationing energy from which they will be exempt.

    Just as the UK communists in the last century wanted to weaken our defences through unilateral nuclear disarmament they now seek to destroy our economy and social cohesion, and through this our democracy, by pursuing unilaterally a zero carbon policy that is technologically unachievable.

  54. Margaret Brandreth-
    July 28, 2021

    People want private as the system out there favours those who are in such a situation . State schooling should produce excellence and sometimes does , but it is the hypocrite who cannot see the benefits for their own and denies its existence . Why should I send my child to a school where I know that an equal performance would get an equal university entrance. Why should I be told that at the age of 13 years due to family circumstances , even though my child has performed better than most that they cannot move out of the set . Unfortunately the entrance to private is ‘my father is a Dr or Lawyer . ( You don’t believe it ? Results are fair?) the disparity is between what we see , what we feel is right and family preservation ) It is never as simple as hypocrisy .

  55. margaret
    July 28, 2021

    I say you fellows ” I didn’t eat the cakes” blithering idiots!

  56. Andy
    July 28, 2021

    It seems to me that people who object to environmentalism do not really understand what they are objecting to – or why.

    It surely makes absolute sense for us to be causing as little damage as we possibly can to the planet, whilst doing the maximum amount we can to mitigate any damage we do cause. I genuinely do not see how anyone can object to this.

    The cause of your angst seems to be three main fears. Firstly, that green tech doesn’t work. On the contrary it works very well. An electric car is a perfectly viable option for the vast majority of drivers the vast majority of the time. Solar panels can provide most of your needs in terms of both producing electricity and in heating your hot water. Yes, the work when it is cloudy and in winter. And heat pumps can heat your home perfectly well. If you object because you think the technology doesn’t work you are just flat wrong.

    Your second objection is cost. This is a legitimate concern but it is one which can be resolved by government policies. An electric is currently more expensive to buy than a petrol car. But its running costs are much lower. Maintenance is negligible and recharging is cheap. Heat pumps are similar. More expensive to buy than boilers but cheaper to run. Government can, and should, help with these higher upfront costs.

    Your third objection seems to be that you think some people want to return us to the dark ages. Not true. I want the planet to better not worse. Taking sensible steps like making your home energy efficient, eating less meat, recycling, walking or cycling where you can make a big difference.

    You all lost the climate debate 30 years ago. You can embrace this with good grace or you can miserable about it for the rest of your lives.

    Reply So why doesn’t China and Germany to name but two stop coal fired power generation and coal mining as the UK has done? Why do you support lop sided net zero for the few and increased CO2 for the many?

  57. Mark
    July 28, 2021

    Although I am not a constituent I sent you an email at your Parliament address with an attachment containing my contribution to the OFGEM consultation on interconnectors that you might find of interest to rescue from your email folders.

  58. N. Ominous
    July 28, 2021

    “I still have not met people with a heat pump on their wish list and when I last made enquiries of heating engineers they guided me off any such idea on grounds of high cost and poor effectiveness.”

    I’m surprised to learn that. Even so, a heat pump should result in significantly lower carbon dioxide emissions. I hope greenies buying heat pumps to “save the planet” will subsidise the development of better ones by the time we’re all nudged to switch to them by carbon dioxide taxes or crazy fuel prices.

  59. mancunius
    July 28, 2021

    I see that in today’s news, a report published by the parliamentary transport select committee opines that the country’s charging network will be inadequate to cater for the millions of drivers expected to switch to electric in the coming years. The National Grid claims it will be adequate. They cannot both be right.

  60. Peter2
    July 28, 2021

    As usual you talk only of alternative ways of generating electricity.
    You forget how fossil fuels provide the vast majority of our total energy needs.

  61. Derek
    July 28, 2021

    SJ please delete the above original it posted oincorrectly

    “Net zero” is a pipe dream and a confidence trick. Each time a tree is cut down, tons of CO2 are emitted. Each time our Sea water warms up, tons of CO2 are emitted. Apparently levels of CO2 are now ‘scarily’ high at 410 PPM and we are in danger of killing the planet.
    However some 500M years ago the levels were at 3000-9000 PPM, with our temperatures at 10C higher than today BUT the planet Earth survived. At the time there was no petrol or diesel driven engines nor coal mines nor humans to create that “hell”. So what causes that high reading? The level dropped over the next 400 million years down to a low of of around 180PPM during the Ice Age.
    None of the AGW activists mention our Sun’s involvement in our climate nor the action of Earth’s wobbling orbit. Meaning that over a 115,00 year cycle, it takes us from the Ice Age to peak Solar effect on Earth back to Ice Age. Milankovitch cycles explain that to due to that wobble, Earth gradually orbits closer to the Sun and once at it closest point, moves away to its furthermost point and that is when the Ice Ages are in full swing.
    That mankind can affect the outcome of our Climate is tantamount to suggesting that we can control our weather. And who is actually saying that?
    Besides, we the UK are small fry in the C emission league table so why are we attempting to cut our 50%)? We cannot afford to solely go our own way, can we?

  62. glen cullen
    July 28, 2021

    ‘’On the off chance you do run out of electricity, contact your breakdown provider and ask for a flatbed truck to take you to a nearby charging station. Electric vehicles shouldn’t be towed with a rope or lift, as this can damage the traction motors’’

    What happens if you run out of charge on the motorway, or if it breaks down or if it goes on fire ? Things happen

    ‘’It turns out that more than 70,000 drivers per month in the UK are breaking down after they run out of fuel! That’s 1 million per year chancing the empty zone’’
.now who’s to say the same thing wont happen to EV drivers – Chaos and mayhem

    1. Original Richard
      July 29, 2021

      glen cullen : “That’s 1 million per year chancing the empty zone’’
.now who’s to say the same thing wont happen to EV drivers – Chaos and mayhem”.

      So when motorists are accidentally stranded on motorways and run out of fuel as result, often overnight, because of heavy snow or other inclement weather, or from a large multiple pile-up, those with EVs will need a flatbed truck rather than a can of fuel?

  63. glen cullen
    July 28, 2021

    ”Boris Johnson’s COP26 spokesperson Allegra Stratton told The Independent that people should “join the Green Party” if they want to tackle climate change” ….the true face of this Government and the current status of the Tory Party

  64. MFD
    July 28, 2021

    Well said Derek
    +1 plus

  65. Mark
    July 28, 2021

    I’m pleased to see that at least some of the press is taking notice of the unaffordable and infeasible nature of net zero policies. I’ve seen articles pointing out that most insulation projects are uneconomic and the project to force a minimum standard of EPC C (which is deeply flawed anyway) is looking unviable, that the government has been forced to put the end of gas boilers on the back burner by the cost, that there are big problems with the plans to try to force us all to use EVs, that there are inadequate plans for investment in generation. What is also encouraging in the quest to prevent policies that would see the country become poor, cold and hungry is that many of the public are commenting with good understanding of the issues.

  66. ferd
    July 29, 2021

    This subject is all about money not science. The top scientists know that there is virtually no risk of excessive heating from CO2. Enormous sums have been spent by Government(taxpayers) to promote the idea by subsidising windfarms – they are failing even with heavy subsidies, etc. Don’t try to get research funding for a paper saying that net zero is wrong. I have studied the subject or twenty-five years since the Club of Rome paper said it doesn’t matter if the concept is not true, it just matters that people believe it to be true.
    We just cannot afford replacing gas boilers or insisting people buy electric cars. The gas boiler change has now been thrown into the long grass. The electric car decision will be put back at least another 15 years.

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