SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL MP

Spare a thought for poor Peter Luff. And not just because of the expenses business. No. He's got a problem.

Peter Luff MP opened Evesham's first 'Eco-Fair' last Saturday, and a good time was had by all. The main aim of the event was to promote awareness of, and to stimulate local responses to, peak oil and climate change.

We all know what climate change is (although we may not all know how urgent the crisis is - at the recent climate change conference in Copenhagen, a poll of the scientists present revealed that the vast majority had knowingly underplayed the problem: most had acknowledged a likely increase in average global temperatures of 2 degrees this century, but admitted that, in reality, they actually expected a rise of 4 to 5 degrees; they hadn't publicised their beliefs for fear of causing panic, because although we can't predict what a rise of 4 or 5 degrees will lead to, we do know that the consequences will be devastating).

Peak oil has a specific meaning. Crude oil has to be pumped out of the ground under great pressure. Halfway through extracting the total amount of available oil from any source, the job starts getting immensely more difficult and expensive. 'Peak oil' is the moment when half of the available oil - the easy half - has been taken, and whatever we're able to extract of the remaining oil costs a lot more to recover. In the United States, peak oil was reached in the early 1970s - and instantly, there was a global oil crisis.

Remember when international oil prices were rising so high last year? Well, that's just a taster of what's coming. Globally, peak oil is happening now. Oil is getting harder to find, harder to extract, more expensive to use. That trend is irreversible. Pretty soon, we're going to have to give up our dependence on oil.

So, Peter Luff MP was doing a Good Thing in opening the Evesham 'Eco-Fair', because it's important that we all know about, understand and respond to the colossal issues involved in climate change and peak oil.

But then, Mr Luff also has some obstreperous and uppity constituents who don't give a stuff about climate change or peak oil. All they care about is themselves, and the views they seem to imagine they've bought.

As any Tory MP will tell you, there are few things in this world more unreasonable than a Tory voter who thinks, rightly or wrongly, that his interests are threatened.

Now, it could be that your interests consist solely of patrolling the borders of the village you moved into about twenty minutes ago to make sure that nothing ever changes. In which case, yes, your interests might be slightly threatened by the proposed Lenchwick Windfarm. Otherwise, no - your interests are not under threat from the wind turbines. Your local area - you know, the one you've only just moved to - will only benefit from the turbines.

Ah, but the mendacious maniacs of VVASP have been pandering to your baser instincts. They have been telling you lies, winding you up, turning you into a spluttering idiot. They have convinced you, in the face of all the evidence, that these wind turbines mean the end of civilisation as we know it. You went to one of their hate-filled, moronic meetings - the equivalent of a Do-It-Yourself Lobotomy. And now you're demanding that your long-suffering local MP does something about all this.

Hang on - Peter Luff MP publicly opens an event designed to raise awareness of climate change and peak oil, which hopefully signifies that he's aware of the issues. He's also a member of Dave Cameron's newly-green Conservative Party. And he's a smart guy, so he knows that humanity faces a simple choice - wise up or die out.

And you want him to help you stop these turbines coming to a site near your jumped-up little village?!

You don't want these turbines because you don't want them. You don't want them because you don't understand them. You don't want them because your so-called friends and neighbours have been lying to you about them. Do you have an actual, grown-up, intelligent reason for not wanting them? No.

So what are you really expecting your MP - a man who apparently understands the terrifying real issues involved (not the ones that VVASP have just made up) - what are you really expecting him to do about it?

Sell the planet downriver just so that a tiny bunch of ignorant, self-centred cretins can live in their own little dreamworld for a few more years?

The 'Eco-Fair' in Evesham was part of a movement called Transition Vale, which aims to 'decrease dependency on cheap oil by localising economic and lifestyle activities as well as producing a healthier and more vibrant community'.

Ah, yes - I remember a healthier and more vibrant community.

It's what we had before the moneyed idiots moved in. Before lies, bullying and narrow-minded self-interest. Before the lunacy of VVASP. When there really was a community.

Nice one, Peter, for doing your bit for the planet at the weekend! Now, do a bit more for the planet and tell the self-important quislings of VVASP where to go.