PSST! WANT TO KNOW A SECRET?

Promise not to tell anybody?

Okay, here goes: even the protesters know that their wild claims about wind farms can't be proven.

Gosh, that's an extraordinary revelation, isn't it? I mean, surely that undermines their argument more or less completely. They're just speculating, plucking their so-called 'facts' out of thin air. How do we know this?

Let me explain ...

Being the fine, upstanding citizens that they are, the anti-windfarm protesters are not above using threats, harassment and, where necessary, physical violence to get their own way. After the unseemly incident in Norton and Lenchwick, when the 'nutters' descended from the Lenches and one of them grabbed a parish councillor by the throat, the good people of Norton and Lenchwick decided that it's best not to let VVASP hire their village hall because they can't be trusted (only 44% of Norton and Lenchwick residents expressed opposition to the windfarm proposals, which no doubt drove the rabid protesters up the wall). Warnings have also been issued to various villagers who have let their support for the proposed windfarm be known. If, like VVASP, you can't tolerate open debate, forcing everybody else to agree with you is the only option, even if such behaviour exposes the protesters as thugs and bullies.

A while back, a particularly nasty piece of literature was thrust through our door. Some residents of Norton and Lenchwick received it, others didn't. It was an A4 leaflet, crudely produced, which rehashed some of the familiar nonsense about wind turbines catching fire all the time, creating imaginary sound-waves and wrecking your property values.

Nowhere on the leaflet did it mention who was responsible for its production or publication.

Tucked into this leaflet was a pro forma letter which the protester wanted residents to sign and send to a local landowner.

The principal effect of this leaflet and letter was to convert several villagers, who had previously been sitting on the fence, into active supporters of the wind farm out of disgust at the furtive, misleading and cowardly activities of the protesters.

The letter which we were asked to send to a local landowner was nothing short of a threat. This particular landowner is an elderly lady who lives on her own - in fact, the land in question is her son's. Hidden away at the end of this letter was a very revealing phrase.

Now, a confession - I don't have a copy of this letter anymore. Copies were passed on to the police (who acknowledged the potential criminality of the letter, but couldn't take action because no one was admitting to having produced it) and to the district council, so that the planning committee was aware of what the protesters were up to. But I well recall how the letter ended.

It gave notice that, if any of the claims made in the leaflet were, at a later stage, proven to be true, legal action would be taken against the landowner for allowing wind turbines to be erected on her family's land.

So - an anonymous letter, inciting villagers to harass an elderly woman, and a belated admission that the crazy statements made by the protesters about the hazards of wind turbines are not (yet) backed up by any empirical proof.

Let's be clear about this. With swaggering arrogance, the protesters were doing their utmost to terrify the locals with tall stories about health risks, dangerous machinery (which, they insist, doesn't work anyway), flying debris, sleepless nights and negative equity. And THEN, they quietly had to admit that NONE OF THIS WAS ACTUALLY PROVEN! It might be proven, sometime in the future (wind farms have been around for years, so whatever proof they're anticipating is taking a long, long time to appear), but at present, there is NO RELIABLE EVIDENCE that their preposterous claims are true.

Their claims would simply not stand up in a court of law.

And THEY KNOW THIS.

Naturally, VVASP denied all responsibility for the nasty, borderline-criminal filth that had been pushed through doors in Norton and Lenchwick. But then, VVASP has shown itself incapable of controlling its members, and besides, denial is at the very heart of their campaign. They're specialists in burying their heads in the sand.

But the incident revealed much about their approach and their methods. Which are:

* fling no end of outrageous statements about wind turbines out there with the sole intention of confusing and terrifying your neighbours

* be prepared to issue warnings and threats, to incite hatred and harassment, and to shout down and silence all alternative opinions

* only grudgingly admit that there is no evidential or scientific basis for the ridiculous claims that you've been making

So, remember - the loudmouths of VVASP cannot prove any of their claims.

No wonder their followers have resorted to menaces.