Lawson bashes the coalition

Nigel Lawson takes potshots at the UK coalition government's environmental policies in the pages of the Mail,

In a devastating verdict he writes: ‘The Government’s highly damaging decarbonisation policy, enshrined in the absurd Climate Change Act, does not have a leg to stand on. It is intended, at massive cost, to be symbolic: To make good David Cameron’s ambition to make his administration “the greenest government ever”.

‘My dictionary defines green as “unripe, immature, undeveloped”.’

Comments

[Phillip Bratby]

Other definitions of green which seem to fit :

not in condition for a particular use.
deficient in training, knowledge, or experience.
not fully qualified for or experienced in a particular function.
marked by a pale, sickly, or nauseated appearance.
not in condition for a particular use.

[Anoneumouse]

In my part of the world the vanacular for "going" is "gan"

I, the local Tory has gan green

[Richard Drake]

It is time this government grew up.

Great article by Lawson. George Osborne is already listening I'm sure - it's just that they can't quite admit that yet. Votes, you see. Until the unenlightened green vote diminishes to negligible levels the hypocrisy is going to stink. The Daily Mail is doing its bit.

[Barry Woods]

something is changing not just the content, but the Daily Mail running it with a very high profile (10 time plus the readership of the Guardian!)

THREE days in a row in the Dailly Mail.

Front page - greentaxes
Two Comments sections dedicated to the issue.
Littlejohn full page article.

They had a ful article about windfarm scam by arch sceptic Christopher Booker a month ago...

Not quite out and out climate change scepticism..

But Out and Out Climate Change Energy Policy scepticism and criticism, which will lead to AGW scepticism, especially when the green groups start flinging 'denier' around.

Grass roots environmentalists will not want Wales covered in turbines...

[lapogus]

@ Barry - "Grass roots environmentalists will not want Wales covered in turbines..."

I hope that's the case, but sadly that's not what has happened in Scotland, where the RSPB, FoE and WWF have led the charge to ruin our landscapes (and tourism economy) for pitiful amounts of electricity. Thankfully John Muir Trust has stuck to its roots and campaigned against tellytubby towers, but to my knowledge it is the only environmental organisation which has not gone along with this madness.

[Robin Guenier]

Lawson observes "the absurd Climate Change Act ... is intended, at massive cost, to be symbolic." And the government is proud of that. Here's a comment from Oliver Letwin (from an article in the Telegraph):

… this is an issue of moral leadership – we absolutely have to establish moral leadership on the issue of climate change …
Those of us who made the case at Copenhagen for a carbon cap now have a moral obligation to show that we are true to our word by delivering green changes in our own countries. Doing so will send a signal to more reluctant countries that we are serious, and will help build the conditions necessary to reach a global agreement to act.

It's especially amusing that these are almost exactly the words used by the CAGW believer in this hilarious video. (At approx. 3:40 and 4:30 minutes.)

[Richard Drake]

Robin, I have it on the authority of someone supervised by Letwin at Cambridge, who spoke to him recently about energy policy, that he is a true believer. There are some of those - far too many, in fact, given the botches in the science.

However, my hunch is that Osborne is listening. I think Osborne was underrated, pretty widely, before the election. When one City titan I know started to dismiss him, as they all did at that point, he noticed I'd gone silent and asked what I felt. I said that it wasn't a problem to be young, as long as you listened to the right advice. Boy George is unlikely to go public on this stuff for a while so my hypothesis in untestable for now. But the howls from the special interests when the windies, the wavers and other rent-seekers have their subsidies cut to zero will alert us if I'm right.

[peter_dtm]

my MP in response to a fairly generic complaint about wrecking Britian :

quote

I am equally concerned about the 4th Carbon Budget, as you say hamstring Britain’s business sector at the exact time we want that sector to grow and perform to its fullest capacity. In other words, I believe Mr Huhne’s policy in this respect will only hinder this objects and are therefore simply unacceptable.

In truth I cannot understand why it is important for this Government to be seen as the world leader in this nonsense, and I am doing all I can to bring to the attention of the Government the concerns of industry and comers which you so clearly express.

end quote

well xome MPs seem to get it and seem prepared to do something to try and stop it.

I guess we all have to keep writing to our MPs using facts and consequences

[DaveS]

There's also a prominent opinion piece in today's Telegraph by Charles Moore. "Why 'vote blue, go green' doesn't sound quite so clever any more". Every little helps, but until Cameron comes to his senses on this issue it's difficult to imagine any major U-turn (Cameron appears to have been chief supporter of Huhne's recent silliness, after all).

[oldtimer]

It is helpful to see Lord Lawson in the Daily Mail taking up the cudgels and also Charles Moore at the Daily Telegraph.

James Delingpole, in his blog here:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100055500/global-cooling-and-the-new-world-order/
has drawn attention to an item on the current Bilderburg Conference agenda, namely "global cooling"! He suggests that some of those in power are starting to see the writing on the wall. But warns us all to be wary of the next spin cycle.

Those who have followed the thesis offered by the historian Niall Ferguson in his latest tome, "Civilisation - The West and the Rest" on why the West has dominated the past 500-600 years, will know that he suggested what he called six "killer apps" as the reason. Now, he says, countries such as China and India are making rapid strides by downloading and using these apps themselves to power rapid economic development. His recent talk at Chatham House (available on-line) offers a quick introduction for those unfamiliar with his thesis.

This rapid industrialisation is, of course, fuelled by massive consumption of fossil fuels, especially coal, and the non-participation by China and India in the decarbonising agenda adopted in Europe. It is clear that this agenda really is a killer app in the full sense of the term. It will kill business/industrial life as we know it and cause a significant drop in our living standards. That is why it is one app that the East has decined to download from the West.

[Rhoda]

They have lost the Mail, and that means they will lose the fight. The Mail ran an editorial piece in support of Lawson as well. It is only a matter of time now.

[Richard Drake]

Oldtimer: one of Delingpole's greatest posts, in my view, but wrong year - he was talking in September about the reported agenda of Bilderberg in June 2010. What they're talking about today - and whether such agendas bear much relationship to it - I don't think we know.

[Jake Haye]

Robin Guenier

Thanks for the amusing video link.

Once again, I watch a 'dissenting' video, and the 'featured video' promoted at the end was from one of the most obnoxious CAGW policy shills on YouTube, "wanderingmind42", who principally targets children.

Could it be that YouTube are using 'featured videos' to promote CAGW conformism?

[Mike Jackson]

until Cameron comes to his senses on this issue it's difficult to imagine any major U-turn

At the present time both Cameron and Clegg (or their close relatives) have a vested interest in what is generally referred to as "renewable energy". They have already "come to their senses" in a way which in most other walks of life would be seen as a major conflict of interest sufficient to disqualify them from any office where they took part in anything to do with the subject.
If they were local councillors they would be barred from even entering the council chamber while the subject of energy in general, let alone any particular aspect of it, was under discussion and would be reported by the Council's Monitoring Officer to the Standards Commission if they refused to abide by this ruling and his decision.
Yet somehow the Prime Minister and his "deputy" (a post unknown to the British Constitution) are allowed to make and influence decisions which have the effect of impoverishing the British people by stealth while at the same time enriching their own families.
I'm sure there is a name for this sort of behaviour and I am also sure that (to dig up an old argument) my father did not lay down his life 68 years ago so that such behaviour could become commonplace in the government of Britain.

[Robin Guenier]

As for Letwin's view that we "have a moral obligation to show that we are true to our word by delivering green changes" and need to "send a signal to more reluctant countries" (see my post here yesterday) ... well, they're not listening. See this article by the excellent Liam Halligan in today's Sunday Telegraph.

Some extracts:

… in 2009, [China and India] grew 8.7pc and 6.6pc respectively. Last year … [they] expanded by nearly 10pc. … In 2010, Chinese oil use grew by an astonishing 15pc year-on-year, with the People's Republic now burning more than 10m barrels daily. And China's per capita oil usage still remains only at a fraction of Western levels. As incomes grow, in the decades to come, Asian crude use will not only keep rising, but could well accelerate.

… Almost all the rise in energy use over the coming two decades ... will come from emerging economies such as China, India, Indonesia, but also the nations of South America and the Middle East. So, even if America and Western Europe manage to conserve energy, and Western demand is flat, global energy demand is still on an upward mega-trend.

… We can talk about renewable energy. The emerging markets, particularly the Chinese, won't hesitate to burn more of their still-abundant coal. But the world economy, and particularly the West, must brace itself anyway, for previously unheard of levels of global oil consumption, driven up by the emerging markets.

Yet we, it seems, are to carry on regardless - because of a pathetic wish to "send a signal".

[Miss Sixty high end jeans]

they're not listening. See this article by the excellent Liam Halligan in today's Sunday Telegraph.
Miss Sixty high end jeans