Ministerial meetings
The government now publishes details of meetings between ministers and outside bodies. They are published separately on each department's website. I thought I'd take a look at the DECC one and see who has been bending Howlin' Mad Huhne's ear.
In essence it's simple: with very few exceptions, Huhne gets to meet only:
- energy companies asking for subsidies
- environmentalists.
I think this could explain a lot about government energy policy, don't you?
I found it particularly interesting that Huhne (and indeed his predecessor, Ed Miliband) seem to grant a regular monthly audience to groups of environmentalists.
- In June, he entertained Friends of the Earth, Green Alliance, Greenpeace, RSPB, and WWF.
- In July it was Cafod, Christian Aid, Friends of the Earth, Green Alliance, Greenpeace, Oxfam, RSPB, Tearfund, and WWF.
The records have only been released up to July, but if we look back in time, we can see that under Miliband the same pattern was there (sources, 1, 2):
- October: Green Alliance, E.ON, RWE Npower, Scottish Power, Scottish & Southern Energy, Greenpeace & European Climate Foundation
- November: WWF, Greenpeace, ActionAid, Oxfam & Friends of the Earth
- Again in November: Meeting with NGOs including RSPB, Christian Aid & WWF
- Still in November: Oxfam, WWF, Greenpeace, RSPB, Tearfund, E3G, Christian Aid, Cafod, Friends of the Earth, Green Alliance
- And yet another: PIRC & 10:10.
- February: WWF, Greenpeace, Green Alliance, Cafod, RSPB, IPPR, E3G, Tearfund, Oxfam, TUC, Christian Aid, Friends of the Earth.
- March: TUC, Cafod, Oxfam, WWF, Christian Aid, Tearfund, RSPB, IPPR, E3G.
- April - no record of any meetings, presumably because of the election
There is no sign of anyone who might give a different point of view getting through the door at DECC. This is rather remarkable. We know that the majority of the British public are unconvinced by the manmade global warming hypothesis and yet it appears that, whatever the stripe of the government, only groups with vested interests get through the front door at DECC. The views of the majority are not to be heard.
Is Mr Huhne dancing to the greens' tune?
Reader Comments (58)
Worse than it appears. Not only is he only talking to, or being allowed by his civil servants to talk only to, "renewable" subsidy dependent companies or alarmist "charities" but looking through the names most, perhaps all of the "charities" are government funded fakecharities.
This appears to be government looking for enlightenment purely by going up its own arse.
We shouldn't forget that Buff Huhne dumped his wife and children to run off with his lesbo lover. Just as his sidekick, little Greg Barker dumped his wife and children to run off with his gay lover. (There seems to be some theme there...)
OK, Whatever floats their respective boats, but don't come lecturing me about family values (especially whilst scrapping child benefits for middle class tax payers).
These meetings with Greenpiss, Fiends of the Earth, World Wild Lies and the rest are obviously opportunities for him to preach to the choir. Or perhaps he demonstrates the origin of the expression "brown snout".
Ironic that Oxfam (once the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief) now enthuses about battling "carbon" and no doubt biofuels, which have done so much to increase food prices and, indeed, famine in Africa.
And the RSPB, which takes a £10 kickback from every RSPB Member who they persuade to transfer to a "green" electricity tariff, just puts a brave face on the number of their favorite raptors that get shredded by wind turbines.
Meanwhile there is still no evidence whatever of one human being, or one bird, anywhere, dying of famine (or anything else) caused by man's CO2 emissions.
I cannot express the depth of my contempt for these people.
Neil Craig ,
"This appears to be government looking for enlightenment purely by going up its own arse."
I think it started off as a narrow quest for votes. A few years back it was popular, that was when the costs were far off and everyone was basking in a boom based on debt. Now the costs and disadvantages are becoming clear and it's becoming less popular. However, the government is committed and finds it all hard to get out of and in many ways rather convenient. By "the government" I don't just mean the coalition, there's the Labour Party, the Civil Service, Local Government and the EU. Miliband's actions with regard to these activist groups were exactly the same as Huhne's. The idea that it's all nonsense, will have to be abandoned and facing the consequences of dismantling it, is too horrible to contemplate, especially for the crowd in office. No wonder they surround themselves with sayers of soothing words.
The whole business of NGOs receiving grants and fake charities financed by government donations to lobby the government, is one that really doesn't receive enough attention. It's creepy, it's dishonest, it's underhand, it's astroturfing, it's corrupt and corrupting.
I suppose Huhne could say he was taking advice from both sides, green organisations and Big Energy, thereby confirming his idiocy.
A problem one faces when saving pdfs downloaded from the web is what name to choose for the saved file. One wants a name that isn't a paragraph long, but also a name that makes the file instantly recognizable when eyeballing a directory that contains hundreds of such files. For the paper that Mac and ScientistForTruth linked to above, I chose "Andrew_Hoffman_2010_A_Climate_Goebbels_Wannabe.pdf".
@Jeff Wood,
You quote Cerberus as saying that:
"I do not deny that, out of 35,800 molecules of air, mankind contributes just one of CO2.
I do not deny that for every 35,800 molecules of air there are only 33 molecules of CO2."
We actually he should! He's got his sums all wrong. Maybe you would like to have a go at correcting these numbers?
Hints:
1) Look up Avogadro's Principle on Wiki
2) The current concentration of CO2 is approx 390 ppmv.
3) Pre-industrially it was 280 ppmv
The Roman Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney, Australia, George Pell, is a devout anti CAGW. He wrote that the wheels are falling of the Global Warming Gravy Train.
I believe the Pope has said that the theory needs examining carefully.
Most of the Anglicans push are following the hoax. They need challenging by sensible adherants.
Most or all of the hangers on at Church organizations have never been challenged on their mistaken allignment with the CAGWers. Charlie is pushing off shore wind farms. Not bad revenue for the House of Windsor.
Jane Coles
Andrew Hoffmann is far too boring to ever make it as Goebbels. His sheer ignorance of the vast popular opposition to his lunatic views is demonstrated by the fact that he appends two email addresses and his telephone number to the article. Be polite everyone.
Cosmic
"Sayers of soothing words". Shouldn't that be Soothsayers?
"There be thirty chosen prophets, the wisest of the land,
Who always by Lars Porsena both morn and evening stand:
Evening and morn the Thirty have turned the verses o'er,
Traced from the right on linen white by mighty seers of yore;"