When governments speak warm words about consulting the public it is sensible to be wary. The word “choice” will not be far away and, as the Thatcher years proved, the apparently harmless idea of offering consumer choice can be the magic key that opens the door to deregulation and a financial free-for-all. It is big… Continue reading A protest worth making if you care about our landscape
Read moreWhat stirring news it has been that the National Grid has performed spectacularly well this year, posting a mind-boggling 45 per cent increase in its pre-tax profits for the first six months of this year. The impression in some quarters has been that it as if a great British institution – the National Health, say,… Continue reading Beware the “vision” and “values” of National Grid plc
Read moreI had always thought that people who actually liked the sight of enormous metal structures in the previously unspoilt landscape were a slightly eccentric minority. Society needs electrical power but I had assumed that a sensible scientific establishment would be looking for ways to reduce the cost of transmitting energy in underground cables for the… Continue reading Pylon-fanciers will love this BBC propaganda
Read moreThere are many practical advantages to government by panic, as our politicians have recently discovered. Fear is an excellent way to cut through awkward questions. In a pessimistic, timorous world, emotion beats reason into a cocked hat. Right now, government by panic is propelling a series of appalling planning decisions in the name of energy… Continue reading A land despoiled by pylons
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