Even fuel protesters are apathetic this time round
Very thin pickings in the campaign news today... Airbus's new A380 'superjumbo' was the highlight of the day - the double-decker twin track to environmental disaster. Meanwhile, the attempts at a 5th anniversary fuel protest appears to lack the strength in numbers of the autumn 2000 effort. Even the legendary David Handley, of Farmers for Action, seemed unable to produce a good media soundbite to rally the troops this time round. (But dig the Union Jack plate and moving bull icon on FFA's website!)
I'm sure if I was hired as the farmer's election campaign disruption strategist (a Lynton Crosby in a Land Rover, if you will) I could have produced much more disruption than the farmers have managed to this time round. In fact an Agricultural Revolution would have already taken place. Handley would have installed a chicken run at No. 10. Birmingham's Bull Ring would have been given back to the bulls, and all London pubs would sell farm cider, at 7.4% ABV. And milk, at a fair price of £6.50 a pint.
So this is a call to Farmers For Action - guys, please live up to your name. Please give us some excitement in the last few days of this campaign. And a few days off, for those of us who drive to work (or a few days in the office, depending on where you get stuck when the fuel runs out.) It's also environmentally friendly - we sure do use less petrol in those fuel protests. As Jimmy Carter once said, "let's talk better mileage". And as he didn't say but should have done, "show me a Sports Utility Vehicle and I'll show you a rocket launcher. "
I'm sure if I was hired as the farmer's election campaign disruption strategist (a Lynton Crosby in a Land Rover, if you will) I could have produced much more disruption than the farmers have managed to this time round. In fact an Agricultural Revolution would have already taken place. Handley would have installed a chicken run at No. 10. Birmingham's Bull Ring would have been given back to the bulls, and all London pubs would sell farm cider, at 7.4% ABV. And milk, at a fair price of £6.50 a pint.
So this is a call to Farmers For Action - guys, please live up to your name. Please give us some excitement in the last few days of this campaign. And a few days off, for those of us who drive to work (or a few days in the office, depending on where you get stuck when the fuel runs out.) It's also environmentally friendly - we sure do use less petrol in those fuel protests. As Jimmy Carter once said, "let's talk better mileage". And as he didn't say but should have done, "show me a Sports Utility Vehicle and I'll show you a rocket launcher. "
3 Comments:
...the double-decker twin track to environmental disaster... - actually, the A380 will - apparently - be one of the most fuel-economical planes around, in terms of consumption per passenger, precisely because of its size.
...in terms of consumption per passenger...
Yeah, but there'll be a lot more passengers. Actually I think there's a case for building much bigger jumbos - say one that carries 4 billion people? And let's make it viable as a spacecraft as well. That way once we've used up all the planet's natural resources we can move the whole human race on to the next one and start again. (Very 1970s sci-fi!)
Good to see the tiredness of your arguments doesn't just encompass economics -= would advise you read the excellent Bjorn Lomborg before putting pen to apaper on Green issues.
On a lighter note, sorry to see the fuel protest has petered out. I think a certain SchadenFreude on the part of motorists and the entire Transport Industry is almost taken for granted. Whilst the Conservatives make noises about tax cuts , the 30p per litre cut in fuel duty that would be appropriate and fair for the Private motorist and for Farmers and Road Hauliers doesn't seem to be on anyone's agenda - it'd create too great a hole in the public finances......
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