THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS

Exciting times!

This week, VVASP finally remembered that they were supposed to be 'Pro-Renewables'. Their spokesperson gave a ringing endorsement of windpower ... as long as it is out at sea, where no one in the Lenches can see it.

The endorsement came as the result of a heartfelt and effective letter, written by two local teenagers and printed in the Evesham Journal. This is not the first time that the youth of the area have engaged in the windfarm debate on the side of the angels - and, let's face it, it's their voice that matters most.

For a start, they haven't fallen into the trap of thinking they own the views from their windows (a quick look at title deeds should disabuse the selfish nimbies of the Lenches of that misguided notion). More importantly, it is their generation which will have to cope with the damage caused by the nimby generation.

Unusually, though, the newspaper editor offered VVASP an immediate right to reply. Perhaps he was seeking to avoid a torrent of barely literate, spume-spattered nonsense emanating from brainwashed nimbies. Perhaps he knew that if he gave the VVASP a right to reply, they'd say something typically stupid and wrong.

VVASP took the opportunity to witter about the 'information' on their website (mostly non-existent, the rest is just hogwash) and to say, "If they can put wind farms offshore I'm 100 per cent behind it."

Now they only have to get tractors, combine harvesters, airplanes, helicopters, motorbikes, dumper trucks, lorries, 4x4s and music festivals sited offshore and they can look forward to a quiet life.

A clue to the kind of propaganda VVASP has been showing to the ego-warriors of Lench also came to light this week. Judging by some of the fantastical gibberish being spouted by VVASP supporters, the nimby group has been screening 'The War of the Worlds'. Little old ladies do seem to believe that offshore windfarms are marching onshore to clutter up the English countryside (they never seem to worry when windfarms are constructed in Wales or Scotland) and to fire their evil death-rays into middle class homes.

Actually, Peter Luff MP seems to be partly responsible for this. His line would appear to be that windfarms were developed for offshore use and are only now being built onshore. This is a slightly bizarre reading of recent history. And, thinking about it, given that the nimbies have been brainwashed into droning that onshore windfarms are 'too expensive' all the time, offshore windfarms would hardly seem to be the solution.

But VVASP and consistency are like Hugh Hefner and monogamy. Peter Luff has previously described VVASP's claims as 'overly dramatic' and appears privately to feel that Lenchwick Windfarm will go ahead. So his public statements are there only to stroke the egos of the nimbies and shouldn't be taken too seriously.

This past week, ScottishPower Renewables made it possible for locals to find out more about the proposed windfarm. They were greeted with some fine displays of traditional rural pursuits - such as Abusing the Visitors, Playing Loud Noises Till the Police Arrive, Making Up Stories, and of course there was an Olympic standard Village Idiot competition. No winner has yet been declared (the competition was just too intense), but there were some firm favourites.

One guy kept banging on that windfarms should be built 'on the edges of towns'. He clearly hasn't heard of such places as Oxford, Glasgow, Rochdale ...

(The latter, by the way, is a classic example of nimby nonsense being ignored, even though the three main political parties jumped on the nimby bandwagon in a daft attempt at winning votes. The Scout Moor windfarm of 25 turbines is now happily, and quietly, supplying enough electricity to power half of Rochdale.)

Harvington seems to have been the quietest of the public information sessions - partly because there must be plenty of people in Harvington who now wonder whether the windfarm has got anything at all to do with them, and partly because the VVASP Nazis were saving their energies for the following evening.

Church Lench saw the height of nimby irrationality and hostility, for which the VVASP ringleaders are entirely culpable. By then, though, the BBC had lost interest in their little protest.

Overall, the public information sessions would appear to have been a remarkable success ... for supporters of the windfarm. Not only did the VVASP tactics convert several more locals into active supporters of this harmless and vital development, but early indications are that the sessions revealed a strong body of opinion in favour of Lenchwick Windfarm. Despite the nimbies' best efforts in lying and bullying everyone around them into empty-headed agreement that windfarms are 'noisy' (not true), 'expensive' (compared with what? Nuclear?), 'inefficient' (rubbish) and hazardous to house prices (balls), a surprisingly large number of people have maintained their independence, weighed up the facts, and decided that the windfarm is a Good Thing.

So - a strong base of support for Lenchwick Windfarm and lasting shame for VVASP.

Wind of Change is now eager to hear from anyone with a good, practical solution to the problem of disposing of all those ghastly nimby placards which are littering up Sheriffs Lench, Church Lench and Atch Lench. They're already an aesthetic nightmare, and we can't afford for them to become an environmental nightmare too. VVASP won't have concerned themselves with this because THE EARTH AND ALL THINGS IN IT IS THEIRS TO DO WHATEVER THEY WANT WITH, GOT IT?

But those of us with an eye on the future are going to have to advise them on the safe disposal of all their silly placards. Dumping them and burning them are both out of the question.

Any suggestions?