I read somewhere recently that Mr Branson (who still hasn't apologised for his part in the air price fixing mess) was offering free train tickets for people traveling from Manchester to London by air.

So, when it came to me traveling to Exeter last weekend at fairly short notice I looked on the VT website for the price of a single ticket (as I was getting a lift back.

£120. I honestly thought that my mate Richard was taking the piss. It costs me £35 (14p per mile) to lug half a ton of metal with a 2 litre engine that distance and for that I get privacy, my choice of music on the onboard radio, toilet stops at real toilets rather than the curious potties that he has, and I'll get there faster.

All in all he was expecting me to fork out 48p per mile with no guarantee of a seat, 5 hours of tedium and delays and the opportunity to sit in a carriage overrun with bored kids and mobile wielding morons.

So, looking around I fell across Flybe's website who advertised the same journey on the same day at £40. For this I got to sit on comfy seat, a 35 minute trip and feeling a lot less stressed! And all this for 16p per mile.

I understand that it is more environmentally friendly to travel by train than plane, but not at any cost! And so long as Flybe are more competitive than Virgin Trains then I know how I'll be traveling!

But Richard Branson has both a train company and an airline, so how the hell does he have rings run round him by a smaller company? Deserves to lose his CrossCountry Franchise!

So, the BBC has reported on how Councils should reconsider the idea of fortnightly bin collections.

No they shouldn't.

There are rumours of pestilence, plague and many other things, but they are all bollocks.

I remember when my bin collection got changed to fortnightly. I got 2 blue plastic boxes and told that my black bin would be emptied half as often.

I dealt with it.

But, many are claiming that the food waste will cause vermin etc to invade our gardens.

Ok, 2 things.

 - It is a wheelie bin with a lid that should close fully. If it doesn't then you are overfilling it.
 - Don't waste as much food! Simple. I don't, why should you?

People constantly whinge about certain priviliges etc, but at some point they will also have to make sacrifices, or pay more council tax. This is one of those points; and I pay enough council tax thanks.

I have a nice big wheelie bin for glass collection outside.

Wonder how long that'll take to decompose?

So the libs are professing to be the greenest party of the big 3.

They might be right, but are their ideas the right ones? I asked my subconcious......

What are their Plans?
Well they are anti nuclear, pro renewables and energy efficiency (no big shockers there) but they have decided to rock the boat with the main plan...

Which is?
Green taxes

Green Taxes?
If you repeat everything I say this could take some time!

Sorry..... Green Taxes?
Grrrrrr

No, I mean what are they?
Oh, simple really if you live a green lifestyle, you'll see a reduction in tax that you pay.

And I presume that means if you pollute you pay more?
See even you can get this!

How can they tax you though?
Easy, you drive?

You know I drive!
Play along will you! The amount of road tax that you pay will be according to how polluting your car is.

Oh, take it the same will go for utility bills?
Exactamo!

Are they offering incentives in return?
Surely that's incentive enough to get a greener car?

Well it would if I could afford to change car, I often have several thousand in the bank for such occurances!
No need to get sarcy with me! I haven't actually seen any as such......

....so they simply start taxing for polluting without any sort of incentive to make alternatives affordable?
Er....... looks like it

Oh thats nice of them! Do any of these MP's know that we don't all earn the £57k salary that they do?
Actually yes, they factored into these plans that the lowest earners don't pay income tax at all, but that's nothing to do with environment.

What so I'll get taxed extra for driving a polluting vehicle, and sub a section of the population without any sort of financial assistance to help out those of us just about keeping our heads above water?
And flying.

WHAT?
And flying, you know, plane, holiday.

Great, holiday in Devon then!
Well with climate change it'll soon be like the Costas anyway!

So a load of people got arrested for various alleged criminal activities outside (and inside) Drax Power station in Yorkshire. See story here

They were campaigning for its closure in favour of renewable forms of energy.

Fair enough, just one quick pointer though. Right now it is active for a reason, and it's not just to pump pollutants into the atmosphere!!! The good people of Yorkshire (and the majority after that) want a brew this afternoon and you are trying to stop them, hell hath no fury like a Yorkshireman scorned!

One protester was quoted as saying,

 "Shutting down a power station isn't enough to stop climate change but it's a start."

 
Now I don't want to piss on anyone's parade, but that power station wasn't just powering the "planet trashing economic growth" that they claimed that Drax stood for, it is also powering many hospitals, police, fire and ambulance systems, coastguard communication systems........ would you like me to go on?

So we shut down Drax, then what? Simple we power up the nuclear plants to overload, what a good idea - well thought out!!!

I understand and agree that we need many more renewable sources of energy in this world and that the government's foot dragging and incompetence is delaying the system and coming up with the wrong answers, but reacting in this way is nothing short of murderous!

Environmentalism CANNOT come at all costs!

I knew that titling a blog "environmentalism" would have its' downsides. Today I got lampooned by an environmentalist on another site for driving to work.

I was branded a hypocrit for driving to work (and many other things but I'll come to those another time!!!)

So here's my answer, as I wasn't allowed to respond first time!!!

Yes I drive to work, and yes I will shamelessly confess that I prefer the comfort of my own car to the bus or train. But that isn't the reason for my driving to work.

I'm not a 9-5 office junkie. My working hours vary from 5 am starts to 3 am finishes. You try getting a bus or train in Greater Manchester at that time!

But I also wouldn't want public transport to be running at that time! (this is why I was called a hypocrit)

The reason for this is very simple. At 3 in the morning (if they were to run) I am two buses away from my house: an hour trip which covers nearly 20 miles I would also almost certainly be the only passenger as well. Alternatively I am 9 miles away in my car which would take 20 minutes.

I drive a 1.9 diesel engine carrying less than 1 ton of chassis. The alternative is a bus which engine sizes start at 7 litres and carry a chassis of over 7 tons.

All of a sudden, getting the bus at 3am doesn't look quite the green prospect.

Wind power. Say those two words in a hilly area and you can almost guarantee that local residents break out in a cold sweat and start a campaign.

But is that such a bad thing really?

I don't think so, but then again I'm staunchly against wind power. Funny I know considering the title of the blog, but I REALLY have a problem with wind power.

So you can only imagine my glee when E.ON, the illustrious German owners of Powergen, submitted plans to build a wind farm on Denshaw Moor near Oldham (Greater Manchester) of 7 windmills up to 350ft each!!!

There was a public uproar, local residents, environmentalists (including Dr David Bellamy) and media lambasting the plans with real passion. So what did the company do to try and win the local population over?

Missed the point
A statement was issued by them saying that a survey concluded that windfarms did not direcly affect house prices.
So what? The main point of protest was the blot on the landscape that seven 360ft concrete towers would cause, the irreperable damage to the landscape and wholesale slaughter of wildlife it would cause.

Saddleworth is one of the only places left in the Greater Manchester conurbation that you can escape from inner city life and take in some stunning scenery. Concrete and windmills would be seen from so far around that not only would it ruin the hills either side, but for miles around. We all need that escape in this modern world and having it taken away is too much!!!

The moors above Saddleworth already have National Grid power lines bisecting it, several communication masts and the M62. That is no excuse or business case for adding to it. Know when it is full and accept defeat.

Fixed an opinion poll

This was a masterstroke!!!!

The Oldham Advertiser (newspaper) set up an online opinion poll to gauge what local people felt about the proposals.

They noticed 104 votes for the scheme come in within quick succession of each other, which they thought was strange, so they looked at the i.p. details of the votes and traced them straight to the offices of E.ON subsidary Powergen!!!

When quizzed a spokesperson said,

Members of the Renewables Team wanted to show their support for the project

OK, but just one thing. Powergen's offices are in Nottingham nearly 100 miles away from the planned site!!!! The "renewables" team couldn't even tell you where Denshaw is on a map!!!!

Not a good way to make friends in this kind of situation.

The Outcome

Oldham M.B.C. turned the proposals in February citing, very correctly that the site would be damaging to the landscape. It would also have been damaging to the council if it had allowed the plans to go ahead, but that's democracy!

Have E.ON taken it lying down?

NO! In fact they plan to appeal the decision and run to the government to overturn the decision!!

So, not only are E.ON underhand in trying to get their way, they think that the Council and majority of Oldham's residents are wrong so will try to force this on them.

The worst part of this is that E.ON is a retail company not just a generator, so relies on the business of the sort of people who they ended up fighting!

I know this because I'm one of their many customers. But how can I remain the customer of a company with such few ethics and breath taking arrogance?

Simple, I've just switched to one of their biggest competitors! I would strongly recommend the same to anyone else.