Saturday, 23 November 2024
Virtuous can-kicking
There are a number of plausible drivers for Net Zero and windmills on the hills. From virtue-signalling in politics, media and celebrity gossip, a widespread fondness for bandwagons plus what isn’t far removed from slush funds and racketeering. And a dash of simple stupidity.
An important influence which is often forgotten is the political predilection for kicking the can down the road. Rather than tackle a nuclear future with its many political and regulatory drawbacks, politicians in the developed world use wind, solar and Net Zero as a particularly handy way to kick the nuclear can a very long way down the road.
It’s a powerful political attraction, this virtuous can-kicking. Although there are hints that the end of the road is now worryingly close and the virtue somewhat flaky, it is long enough for the present. Possibly one of the main reasons why virtuous imbecility may prevail for some time yet.
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7 comments:
Virtuous imbecility will continue, I suspect, until the lights go out.
I think virtuous imbecility would most likely be at east held in check by violent insurrection. Not the type that occurred after Southport, but more like the sort the IRA used to practice some of the time.
When you have kicked the can to the end of the road, the story doesn't end. The can bounces back off the wall at the end of the road and a determined politician can continue to kick the can on the rebound until the can is destroyed. He, or she, will then look foolish trying to kick nothing, although ridicule may not be enough to overcome a political behaviour.
The current 'wall at the end of the road' appears to be the growing realisation that COVID was the result of a lab leak and that lockdowns were harmful. Some (ex)politicians (Matt Hancock) are still kicking...
I think many cans are reaching the end of their roads simultaneously.
The Net Zero one is definitely starting to intrude into people's lives in a negative way and will start to get pushback soon. If we have a bad winter with multiple blackouts at crucial times NZ could well hit a wall at the end of the cul-de-sac.
Mass immigration is definitely getting pushback, Southport showed us whats bubbling under there.
The high tax and spend economy could easily hit the buffers in the next few years. If the tax rises recently announced don't raise the money they think they should, and indeed we fall into a recession as a consequence of Labour's anti-private sector bias, and spending continues to rise inexorably (as it will under Labour) there could easily be a 1975 style moment where the UK government can't borrow money on the open market. Or only at considerably higher rates than today.
You have to wonder if the Tories purposely threw the last election, knowing that pretty much all the above is going to come to a head inside this Parliament. Best to be out of power and let the Labour be the ones to have to deal with it, and take the anger of the nation when the inevitable happens.
Peter - yes, that could finally lead to the Great Awakening. Not for Ed though.
Tammly - something may kick off if power cuts become part of life.
DJ - Matt Hancock's main advantage is that the pandemic mess lies in the past and a dire Labour government is grabbing most of the attention. He should lie low for a while or try to join Musk's trip to Mars.
Sobers - I agree, many things bubbling up at the same time. It would be no surprise if the Tories did purposely throw the last election, it was the only move they had, although the result may have been worse than they hoped.
It's even possible that the result wasn't worse than they hoped though, because a major defeat put them in the shade to such a degree that Labour blaming them for the mess already sounds like incompetent whining.
"It's even possible that the result wasn't worse than they hoped though, because a major defeat put them in the shade to such a degree that Labour blaming them for the mess already sounds like incompetent whining."
Yes as the years go by and things get worse and worse the Tories can realistically say 'We've got 120 seats to your 400 plus, the crisis in X isn't our fault, quit blaming us!'
And given the volatile nature of the electorate in the internet age its hardly a stretch to suggest that in 2029 a loose Tory/Reform alliance (whereby each party targets seats they finished 2nd in) could result in as big a landslide rightwards as Labour got this time.
Sobers - yes a a loose Tory/Reform alliance could be interesting. They should begin early to take advantage of the present situation.
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