Green nonsense
Whenever I hear of a new energy “policy”, I recall President Ronald Reagan’s claim that the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Michael Gove’s decision to follow the French energy minister – the aptly named M. Houlot – and ban petrol and diesel cars by 2040 is but the latest piece of dystopian green nonsense.
Our energy policy is a total mess: decarbonisation has been pursued to the point of lunacy with “alarmist” ideology trumping affordability, reliability and security at every turn. Nigel Lawson’s liberalised energy markets were undermined by a series of idiotic policy interventions culminating in that crony-capitalist’s dream, the 2008 Climate Change Act.
Holyrood ignored its first scientific adviser Prof Wilson Sibbett and wrecked Scotland’s iconic scenery with wind farms whose subsidies were paid from the poor to the rich. Sibbett warned that the shale gas and oil revolutions had changed everything but Alex Salmond, in thrall to peak-oil and “sustainability”, insisted North Sea oil would stay at $150 per barrel. If proof was ever needed that the greens are out to destroy industry and capitalism, the un-researched and seemingly arbitrary decision by government to scrap petrol and diesel cars in favour of electric is that proof. As usual with these green schemes, there is no regard for cost, or consideration of likely outcomes, which will be on a global scale. It is simply assumed this will cut air pollution levels. Where are the calculations? Nowhere. Because there aren’t any.
But it does take attention away from the cost of servicing our ever growing national debt, and the rising levels of consumer debt that give the illusion of prosperity, so some government purpose is obviously being served. MALCOLM PARKIN Gamekeepers Road Kinnesswood, Kinross I note that Ivar Colquhoun, (Letters, 29 July and Brian Monteith in his column today, are concerned about how we are to produce sufficient electricity to charge all the elecmay tric cars once petrol and diesel cars are banned. Surely the answer is obvious – we will all buy diesel generators.