Well said Sir sinkov!
Good afternoon 59-60. As you will know I have no time for Labour, and certainly not for the one-eyed Scottish lunatic, but your attempt to blame Labour generally, and Brown in particular, for the diesel shambles is disingenuous to put it as mildly and as politely as I can.
The whole 'dash for diesel' was inspired, led and encouraged by the environmental lobby, the Greens, who had convinced, not just our Labour government, but the entire EU and much of the rest of the world as well, that CO2 emissions were causing global warming/climate change and had to be reduced as a matter of urgency. We signed up to Kyoto in 1997, and in an attempt to reduce CO2 emissions as promised in that agreement, the Labour government decided to actively encourage the sale of diesel cars which emitted much less CO2. Of course it was known that they caused air pollution, but it wasn't known at the time how damaging that pollution was, and it was very much the accepted view of environmentalists and scientists that CO2 reduction was by far the greater priority.
To blame Brown and Labour, as that BBC piece is doing is ludicrous, they did what they had been convinced was the right thing for the environment, the BBC was behind it, so was Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth etc, the Lib Dems, the Tories, the entire EU. Gordon has a lot to answer for but you can't hang this one on him. Those responsible for the thousands dead because of air pollution are the environmentalists with their obsession with CO2 reduction, they got it wrong, they were blind to the air pollution dangers, they killed those people, not the politicians who were gullible enough to listen to them and believe them. The politicians have to go along with the Green orthodoxy or they're toast, that's the way it is today, and never mind how many the Greens kill along the way, we have to save the planet.
Well said Sir sinkov!
Great post sinkov. How easily are we led?
Sorry Sinkov, the whole point is that the Government KNEW at the time that diesels were harmful. For purely political reasons they chose to promote diesels anyway.
As a result we are all breathing in more sh1te than we would have been if they had not taken this action.
If they were ignorant of the problem then fair enough. But they weren't..
With respect 59/60 but that is utter drivel. Of course they knew that diesel engines caused air pollution, but petrol engines emitted far more CO2 and it was accepted universally, not just by our government, that the overwhelming priority was CO2 reduction and the pollutants from diesel were not a major health risk.
If this is not the case then perhaps you can point out the objections the Lib Dems made to this dash for diesel at the time ? Or what they proposed to do about the harmful effects of diesel when they had the chance in government from 2010 ? In fact I can save you the time, if you check the 2010 LibDem manifesto you'll find all the environmental proposals highlighted in green, there are about 80 of them. To improve air quality there are proposals for a bus scrappage scheme to replace old polluting buses, to scrap plans for a 3rd runway at Heathrow, to work with the EU to ensure zero emissions from new cars by 2040. Under a 'Fair deal for motorists' they propose to expand public transport to reduce private car use and cut carbon emissions. Just that, to reduce CO2 emissions, no mention of polltuants from diesel engines.
From 80 highlighted proposals on the environment the diesel engine is never mentioned, not even once, and this is 2010, the LibDems, very hot on the environment, were clearly unaware of their lethal emissions just seven years ago, yet you claim the full extent of this problem was known to Gordon Brown 10 years earlier. Stop trying to re-write history.
Glad to hear it! Now please reconsider your views on Trident...
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Bloody hell BT, I find I'm on Gordon's side again, he was considering reducing the fleet but no way would he consider scrapping our nuclear deterrent. The old boy's going up in my estimation by the day.
Aye I remember now! Brown does not like the idea of spunking billions of pounds on Trident but could not afford the political backlash in Scotland if he scrapped it.