Leila's blog

Mon, Nov 26, 2007

Still here and still steaming

So I spent Saturday getting soaking wet all in the name of dolphins... I was in Aberystwyth with two other hardy soles having greeting cards signed by members of the public. The cards are now going to be sent to Malcolm Wicks, Minister for Energy, as an ironic Christmas surprise. Lets hope he gives the wildlife of Cardigan Bay an excellent present - the right to live in the sea free of disturbance from oil and gas exploration.

Admittedly I was not overly enamoured by the idea of an early election when it was being seriously considered this autumn. However, I am loosing patience with the government. First they have made no attempt to really consider public wishes; then they loose 25 million child benefit records; Gordon has yet to sack Alistair Darling despite his obvious incompetence; they try and tell us that identity theft can be stopped by entrusting them with even more personal data (including DNA); and they are going to try and persuade us that they can expand airports whilst 'meeting their targets' on combating climate change. Excuse me, but I would have thought that any government serious about this threat (arguably larger than that of identity fraud) would not merely be aiming to meet targets but to exceed them by having a radical rethink about structures and lifestyles in this country. I also have major misgivings about how they intend to meet their targets - by building new nuclear power stations and probably giving planning permission to any renewables application outside Labour constituencies. I like renewable energy but it has to be spread across the country and sited appropriately alongside a real push on energy efficiency, better public transport, lower consumption of goods and more small scale local schemes. Rant over.

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