KNEEJERK RESPONSES

BBC local news is getting very good at letting us know where windfarms are being proposed for various sites in the West Midlands. The very latest is at Bishop's Itchington, near Burton Dassett in Warwickshire.

But, hey - guess what? Every time, we hear the same old tiresome nimby nonsense. The same old kneejerk silliness. The same old unsubstantiated claims about 'noise', 'health', 'wildlife', 'property depreciation' and all that daft blather.

Wherever they're proposed, it seems, the same kind of nimbies (have you noticed that they all tend to look alike?) pop up, all spouting the same irrational rubbish.

They all say, 'Oh no, we believe in windfarms - just not here!'

That, then, is the predictable nimby stance, at least until everyone grows up a bit and acknowledges that these things are here, they're necessary, they produce cheap, clean energy and, compared with the nuclear or fossil fuel alternatives, they do no harm whatsoever.

Until then, we'll see outbreaks of mindless nimbyism, always chanting the same stupid mantra - 'We believe in renewable energy, but just not where we can see it.'

So where, then? Where would these cretins be prepared to accept a windfarm? How can they all assume that it should be somebody else's problem? How dare they think that they are unique, special, and should be exempted from all responsibility for society, the planet and the future?

(Want to know the latest scam? 'Epidemiology'. Yep, that's right. Turning science on its head, they're trying to pretend that wind turbines are somehow responsible for spreading disease.)

Now, this will change, as one by one the moronic claims made by nimbies everywhere and our own local nookies in particular are proven to have been absolutely muddled, misleading and fraudulent. Besides which, the nookies don't actually believe any of this rubbish. They don't want the windfarm because ... well, because they don't want it. They think they're special and important enough to be excused this sort of thing. They don't want it because it wasn't their idea, because they won't own it - but having no better reasons to oppose the plans than their own self-importance, they have to dream up any old nonsense, and jump on any anti-green bandwagon they can find, in order to kid themselves that there's just a speck of principle behind their thoughtless opposition.

We must all share responsibility. We can't all go round saying, 'Build a windfarm near somebody else - we don't want one here.' We have to put this Thatcherite brand of selfishness to sleep and start accepting the changes which are inevitably coming.

So email me. Tell me you support the windfarm, and that, when the time comes for the rational people of the area to be heard, you'll lend your voice to the 'YES' campaign.