EnviroSpin Watch

Thanks goodness for Simon Hoggart.....

A pearl in the clammy oyster of British journalism, Simon Hoggart is one of the few remaining jewels in the fading tiara that is The Guardian's People's Palace of Print, as he filters out, yet again, the pious plankton of modern ecocant:-

'Yesterday Middlesbrough, today the world' (The Guardian, December 20):-

"Of course the centenary of the first successful man-powered flight this week has brought out in hives all the ecological fundamentalists who are outraged that almost anyone can now afford to go nearly anywhere in the world. It's not just pollution they're worried about, or the effects of mass tourism. What they really hate is giving people freedom to go where they please and to do what they like once they get there. I've noticed, over the years, that the doom-sayers are almost invariably middle-class, and that their jeremiads only get going when working-class people start to enjoy the same advantages they've had. Nobody bothered much about cars until they became available to almost everyone."

"When they see a flight leave for Carcassonne, even the ghastly Ryanair, they see the coming end of the planet. I see a hundred or so ordinary, not especially rich people, off to enjoy marvellous food, wine, scenery and French culture. I raise a glass to the Wright brothers and their magnificent invention, and to the confusion of the eco-warriors."

Brilliant, as ever - and there is nobody more elitist than an eco-fanatic! I've met quite a few.....

The DNOC of Dave the Spart,
Still prefers the horse and cart;
The masses are just out of luck,
No planes, or cars, just nice organic tuck;
Pay up, pay up, and play the game,
Travel by cart - it's just the same;
"I say, old chap! It's not quite on
When things are done by everyone!
So save the world you nasty proles -
Annabel! - Get out the Rolls!"

Philip in deep admiration of The Hoggart School of Wisdom and Wisecracks.