Guardian Grinches

By Paul Homewood

 

GWPF reposts Dominic Lawson's piece in the Mail about the Guardian grinches:

 

Of all the accounts of Christmases ruined by the Gatwick drone incident, the most affecting came from 16-year-old Tivka Dillner.

She described, in a letter to the Guardian, how her grandfather's dying wish was that his five grandchildren — who'd never before been on a plane — should be able to enjoy a Christmas trip to Lapland

'My grandma kept the trip a secret from us until December 17, when she broke the news: we would be getting a plane early in the morning, riding on a sleigh, meeting Father Christmas and his elves, petting reindeer and so much more in one beautiful day. We were ecstatic.'

Tivka went on to describe the 'heartbreak' when the flight was cancelled after the emergency shutdown of Gatwick's runway: 'I've never heard my grandma cry so much — she is devastated.'

 

Jan Johnson (centre) had paid for a Lapland trip for her grandchildren – from left, Tori, 12, Teddy, 10, Tirah, eight, Tivka, 16, and Tivon, 14 – but their hopes were dashed

But Tivka's letter did not arouse the slightest sympathy on the part of Guardian readers — or at least not those whose letters were published by the paper last Saturday.

Diana Heeks of Llanrhystud, Ceredigion, wrote in to say: 'The last thing I would do is book any flight for my grandchildren … I applaud the people who flew drones over Gatwick, perhaps checking by a tiny amount the advance of global warming.'

And Laura Clout of Ivy Hatch, Kent, declared the damage caused to the planet by such holiday flights made her wonder 'why to even bother continuing.

Our only real choice comes down to whether we boot our fellow travellers into the void, or help them find a firmer grip — until perhaps this ruined planet shifts and rolls and belches its sorry self free of the whole damned lot of us.'

These Guardian readers would have been superb material for Charles Dickens, the writer we most associate with the joy of an extravagant Christmas for families whose day-to-day life is penurious.

With names like Heeks and Clout they already sound like his invented characters. They are Scrooges for our age — although the misanthropy and righteous pessimism of such people is beyond satire.

https://www.thegwpf.com/dominic-lawson-these-green-zealots-are-the-modern-scrooges/

 

By coincidence I came across this article today in the Belfast Telegraph from 2009:

 

The UK may have to consider restricting the number of flights people take in the future, an independent body set up to advise the government on climate change confirmed today.

Lord Turner, chairman of Parliament's committee on climate change, said the Government may have to consider ways of reducing the demand for flying as part of a series of measures that need to be taken in the future.

He also said that action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions was needed across Europe.

When asked if flights may have to be constrained in the future, Lord Turner said: "In absolute terms, we may have to look at restricting the number of flights people take."

His comments came at a meeting of the Environmental Audit Committee on Wednesday.

"Pan-European action on aviation emissions is required," he said. "The UK will be able to emit 30 million tonnes C02 as part of a global share.

"We therefore need to look at what is achievable in terms of reducing aviation emissions in comparison with other |sectors of the economy."

Former Labour minister Brian Wilson, chairman of the pro-aviation coalition FlyingMatters, said: "One always suspects with these half-baked proposals that the people who put them forward really intend them to apply to ordinary people, many of whom have only recently gained |access to air travel, rather than to themselves.

"Any political party inclined to support flight rationing should tread warily since |voters do not take kindly to limits being placed on their mobility."

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/environment/climate-issues-may-limit-flights-28466032.html

 

One wonders how air miles Lord Turner has clocked up in the last decade?

from Climate Change Skeptic Blogs via hj on Inoreader http://bit.ly/2F5CvCL