Friday 26 February 2010

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS

There have been some astonishingly cretinous statements overheard in the Lenches in recent months. Things like:

"Sound travels outwards, so wind turbines get noisier the further away you are."

"The turbines will blow all the blossom off the trees."

"The planned development will kill the Vale countryside" (probably 'forever')

"I take no notice of building regulations so I don't see why the parish council should stick to the guidelines."

And, most recently -

"All this ASA business was just over one word."

The purveyors of all these dimwitted remarks were once intelligent people, many of them with qualifications. Now one almost feels like launching an appeal on their behalf.

So what happened? What on earth could have caused this mass degeneration of faculties?

Alien spacecraft landed (no they didn't), ate our brains (no they didn't) and reduced our property prices by up to 54% (no they didn't).

They also didn't kill all our wildlife (especially trout and bees), make a sound like a ghost train approaching, always approaching, never arriving, or cast gigantic shadows over unlikely distances.

Those who were infected by these non-existent space creatures weren't always easy to spot. They looked pretty much the same as always. Only two things gave them away. They tended to put up little yellow signs saying "NO to air!" and "Keep me 2 kilometres away from everything!" And when they opened their mouths, out came a sound that could hurt your brain.

But if it wasn't some sort of alien invasion that caused all this horror, what might it have been?

Could it have been VVASP, the protest group that is to informed debate what Hitler was to equal opportunities?

Had they been listening to the self-serving merchants of nimby nonsense?

You bet they had! Fools.

Thursday 25 February 2010

ANGEL OF THE NIMBIES

In the fairly short history of anti-windfarm nonsense in the UK, one person has emerged as the darling of the nimbies. Let's call this person 'JD'.

'JD' now gets paid by nimby groups across the country to come along and wind them up. The reason - when a windfarm was erected not far from the farmhouse where JD and her partner were living, they quickly found that they had to move out of their own home in order to get away from the constant noise, etc., of the turbines.

This sad story is music to the nimbies' ears. That's everything they want to hear: put a windfarm up nearby and you'll be forced to move out of your own home.

But before we create a shrine to JD in the heart of Middle England, there are a few questions that are worth considering:-

1. Why is it that, if JD and her partner were forced to leave their own home, JD's in-laws were perfectly capable of remaining in the same house?

2. How come acoustic engineers and sound recordists spent over three weeks solid at the house and couldn't trace, let alone monitor, record and identify, the so-called constant noise?

3. How could it be that JD and her partner claimed to be hearing the noise of the turbines even when the turbines were not connected to the grid and weren't operational?

4. Why should JD's partner still be hearing the turbine noise when they were five miles away from the windfarm?

Bearing those pertinent questions in mind, we shouldn't be too surprised to discover that no less than five of the thirty-or-so people referred to in Dr Nina Pierpont's meaningless study of 'Wind Turbine Syndrome' are accounted for by JD and her family.

Or, to put it another way, Dr Pierpont spoke to JD over the phone, and JD answered for FOUR MORE PEOPLE - at least two of whom did not leave the farmhouse.

Are we getting a picture of how nimby propaganda works, here? The nookies publicise Pierpont's claims about 'Wind Turbine Syndrome' and trumpet JD's unfortunate experiences. What they don't tell you is that a fair amount of Dr Pierpont's 'research' was just a phone conversation with JD, or that JD's story isn't quite as clear-cut as it seems.

No, as usual they tell you what they want you to know. That someone was forced to leave home because a windfarm.

Perhaps when the four questions raised above have been properly answered, we will be able to decide how much merit this story really has.

Monday 22 February 2010

HAVE THEY NO SHAME?

No sooner has the ASA ruling been published, forbidding VVASP from spreading ill-informed rumours and dangerous misrepresentations of the evidence regarding windfarms, than the said VVASP publishes its latest newsletter pretending that they know better than the ASA!

Citing their 'experts' repeatedly - these are the very same experts whose work was dismissed by the ASA as either poor quality or somewhat misquoted - VVASP are blustering away that their evidence is good and the ASA were wrong to throw it out.

So, we're down to an argument about how good the evidence is. An independent investigation concluded that the laughable 'evidence' the VVASP were relying on was rubbish. VVASP say it's good. Stalemate, then.

Of course not. Some liars are pretending that the misleading quotes and dodgy, biased 'evidence' they've been telling everyone about was actually real science.

Or, put it another. They've been lying to their neighbours, and now the word is out: THEY WERE LYING ALL ALONG. And boy, are they annoyed. So now they're running around, whining to the very villagers they lied to and claiming that they weren't telling lies - no, absolutely everybody else in the world is!

Well, for a group that pretends to be offering comprehensive information about windfarms to the locals, they certainly are guilty of leaving out an awful lot of information. All the good stuff about wind farms, for example - the recent studies which point out that wind turbines cannot possibly cause the kind of ridiculous symptoms claimed by VVASP, and that house prices are not affected by the proximity of turbines.

Here's the standard of VVASP's science: they reckon that it stands to reason that a house near a turbine would cost less than one further away. That's not science. That's guesswork, based on their own prejudices. A huge study conducted in the United States revealed the very opposite: house prices go up faster near turbines than further away. So, as usual, VVASP wrap a prejudice up in a 'quote', call it a 'fact', and then scream blue murder when you point out that it's nonsense.

They lie. They cover up good quality information. They mislead those poor fools who pause to listen to them. And then they run around citing biased studies and low quality research when an independent organisation points out that they've been misleading people.

Honestly, no shame, these people. No shame at all.

Friday 19 February 2010

Ooooh - LOOK AT THIS

http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2258147/ad-watchdog-slams-misleading

SOUR GRAPES

The problem with telling a lie is that you tend to end up telling another one, and then another, and then another, all the time trying to cover up the fact that you started off by telling a lie.

VVASP has moved into Desperate Damage Limitation Mode. They're now saying some really dumb things, like 'The evidence [for windfarms damaging your brain/bank balance] may not have convinced the ASA, but the evidence exists.'

Now, here's the point. If that evidence had existed, the ASA would have considered it. And, having considered it, if the ASA felt that the nimby nutters had a point, their ruling would have reflected that.

But no, say the nookies. 'Someone in the ASA has an interest in windfarms.'

WHAT?????????

Oh, dear. VVASP really are desperate. That is an alarming rumour to spread (well, that's VVASP for you) and a dangerous charge to make. What they're implying is that the ASA ruling was not objective or independent.

That, my friends, is a base slander on the part of VVASP.

When the Advertising Standards Authority received the complaints about VVASP literature, they first had to decide whether or not there was a case to investigate. They then contacted VVASP for their explanation, reasons and evidence.

VVASP supplied the rubbish 'evidence' they consider 'facts' to the ASA. ASA officers studied this and drafted a ruling, which was then sent to the VVASP for comments. If VVASP felt that the draft ruling contained inaccuracies, or there was additional evidence to be considered, they then had another opportunity to state their case.

The ruling, along with the evidence, was then submitted to the independent ASA council, who accepted the ruling as was and determined that VVASP had broken the rules on Substantiation and Truthfulness.

That is, the VVASP had been making extraordinary claims that they simply could not back up. Their so-called science was trash. They had cherrypicked a few bits of 'bad news' and lied about everything else. They were misleading and misinforming the public.

Now VVASP are desperately trying to claim that the ASA judgement was wrong. They had their chance, but the evidence (i.e. REAL evidence) to support their idiotic claims does not exist. A great deal of reliable evidence which undermines their stupid claims does exist.

So, all that VVASP can do now is pretend that the ASA is biased.

But didn't Mr VVasp say that a complaint to the ASA about ScottishPower Renewables had been upheld? He did say that, didn't he? So the ASA isn't biased at all.

A warning to people of decency: don't talk to the nimbies. They're deranged.

Thursday 18 February 2010

NIMBY DISHONESTY

When Harborough Council contacted nearly one hundred local residents to acknowledge receipt of their objections to the proposed 3-turbine Gartree Windfarm near Market Harborough, the council and the residents both had a surprise. Because those 100 or so residents had never registered an objection to the windfarm.

No - the local bunch of nimby liars and loonies had stolen their identities in order to bulk out the number of objections received by the local council.

These are the depths to which the crazy Middle Englanders will stoop to protect something that isn't theirs against something they don't understand.

So what about our own locally-produced Liars and Loonies? How low will they go?

Judging by reactions to yesterday's bombshell - the Advertising Standards Authority's ruling that VVASP's propaganda has been misleading, unsubstantiated and untruthful - they're perfectly happy to continue trying to pull the wool over people's eyes.

Oh, they're angry - of course they are. Someone has called their bluff and they don't like it. They certainly don't like being exposed as gullible, fraudulent or both.

In a radio interview, Mr VVasp himself burbled away. This is just a skirmish, he said (yep - the kind of skirmish which leaves you holed beneath the waterline). He also tried to give the impression that his nimby group had previously complained to the ASA about ScottishPower Renewables' literature and had won. So, as he put it, 'We're thinking of this as one-one.'

Well, VVASP have never successfully complained to anyone (except themselves) about SPR's literature. In a completely separate case, a complaint was made about a photomontage of wind turbines. SPR then changed the image. Nothing to do with Lenchwick Windfarm.

And certainly nothing to do with making crazy claims and lying to people.

Mr VVasp referred to the recent ASA ruling as concerning 'two trivial complaints'. The first was about VVASP's use of the word 'forever' - as in, the windfarm would 'change the landscape forever'.

Now, as a former scientist, Mr VVasp probably has a grasp of the notion of infinity. But not, it would seem, of 'forever', which is rather similar to infinity and evidently does not mean what VVASP propagandists seem to think it means. So their advert was clearly nonsense and the 'trivial' complaint was upheld.

So which was the other 'trivial' complaint - the one about VVASP telling people they were all going to go mad or the one about VVASP telling everyone that their houses were going to be worthless?

Mr VVasp chose not to be drawn. Probably because neither of those complaints could in any way be considered trivial by a sentient and intelligent human being.

He cited the two disreputable reports which they based their idiotic claims about mental health on - one ('published', said Mr VVasp; 'self-published' says the rest of the world) which has never been peer-reviewed, involved a tiny sample of agitators interviewed by phone, all of whom had previous medical conditions, and no control group. The other was commissioned by an anti-windfarm group and was dismissed by the ASA's investigators as not a very scientific report.

And then Mr VVasp insisted that his group had quoted 'verbatim' from the RICS 2007 study of windfarms and house prices. That is fairly true, in the sense that they had homed in on a handful of words which, when quoted out of context, were likely to raise alarm and ignored the rest of the report, which said something else altogether.

No, basically, VVASP have been caught out. They lied to themselves, they lied to each other and they lied to you.

If you haven't already read the full ASA ruling, check the blogpost below and click on the link.

If you have, never, ever let anyone forget that the VVASP can't tell the difference between Absolute Nonsense and Fact.

PS: for those of you who haven't yet seen the article in the Evesham Observer:

http://www.eveshamobserver.co.uk/news169788.html

Wednesday 17 February 2010

VVASP SLAMMED BY OFFICIAL RULING

One of the initial reasons for this blog was the urge to find the facts, the actual reality, about windfarms and to investigate the crazier claims being made by the antis (VVASP).

You see, it's a lot quicker to make up a lie than it is to go and find out (and then explain) the truth.

Besides which, the truth - the facts of the matter - are of no help whatsoever to Vale Villagers Against Scottish Power, so they have to make things up or distribute the propaganda of some other looney-tune anti-windfarm group and pass it off as 'fact'.

Ah, yes - that awkward word. 'FACT'. I think we all agree basically what is meant by a 'FACT'. But apparently, not VVASP. To them, a 'FACT' is an opinion, a rogue statistic or a terrifying thought wrapped up in bogus scientific language in order to fool the unwary.

Certain of these 'facts' were published by VVASP in a leaflet drop at the very start of their anti-social campaign. The same made-up 'facts' were published in their October '09 newsletter.

They should have been more careful, because there is an independent body known as the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) which looks into this sort of thing.

To read the ASA's full report and ruling on VVASP's dodgy facts, published today, just follow the link:

http://www.asa.org.uk/Complaints-and-ASA-action/Adjudications/2010/2/Vale-Villagers-Against-Scottish-Power/TF_ADJ_48094.aspx

Here's the proof, folks. VVASP have been misleading you. They have breached the Code of Advertising Practice guidelines on Substantiation and Truthfulness.

We need never trust another word they say.

Sunday 7 February 2010

AUDIT COMMISSION

A kind soul has been in touch with Wind of Change to suggest that the Audit Commission might be interested in the way Parish Council precepts have apparently been diverted into fighting the proposed Lenchwick Windfarm, even though the planning application for the said windfarm has yet to be submitted.

It has always struck us that the use of tax-payers' money to fund the activities of the Windfarm Working Party may not be entirely appropriate.

Being staunch believers in democracy (of the democractic kind), we would be very interested in hearing from anyone who knows about the Audit Commission and the way it works.

If you are happy to advise you can contact us in confidence by email: wind-in-the-orchard@hotmail.com.

PS: we're still sworn to secrecy but have been reassured that some Good News will be on its way in a week or two.

Keep smiling!

Tuesday 2 February 2010

BLOW, WINDS

Over the past couple of months, a new support group for the proposed Lenchwick Windfarm has been forming.

BLoW - 'Back Local Windfarms' - currently consists of representatives from the Lenches, Harvington, Norton & Lenchwick and the wider Wychavon area. Expect a website to appear imminently.

Of course, BLoW will never be as raucous as the protesters of VVASP. And why would they need to be? The truth speaks more quietly than lies, and BLoW has the advantage of being on the side of progress and common sense, whereas VVASP represents self-interest and ignorance.

It is extremely likely that the proposed Lenchwick Windfarm will go ahead. As soon as the blades start turning, local residents will realise that all the hogwash spread about the place by VVASP nimbies was total nonsense. There will be a few who were foolish enough to believe VVASP, which is a shame because their lives might well be blighted - not by the windfarm but by VVASP's brainwashing. Let's be honest, though: the skyline over Bishampton Bank will, before too long, be graced with five elegant turbines quietly and efficiently harvesting the prevailing winds to produce green elecricity.

So, in many ways, BLoW doesn't really have very much to do. The members seem to be aware of this. Letters of support for the windfarm to be sent to Wychavon's planning department is about as much as is required, but there is also work to be done, pointing out the lunacy of VVASP's propaganda and helping to skew the argument back towards some kind of normality.

If you wish to know more about BLoW, please feel free to contact us here at 'Wind of Change' (wind-in-the-orchard@hotmail.com) and we will keep you posted.