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Energy: National Policy Statements

An increasing number of scientists share the views that I am now putting forward. If the noble Lord consults what is available on various websites—I can give him a few—he may be able to broaden his mind. The collapse in credibility of the whole IPCC edifice is sensed by the public, whose appetite for the huge cost of the commitments to which all parties still gaily subscribe was never very great and is now disappearing fast—witness the latest opinion poll published earlier this month by the Times. My noble friend Lord Howell of Guildford, who was here earlier, published his book Out of the Energy Labyrinth three years ago. In it is a much quoted sentence that has given heart to many people such as me: ""the enthusiasts (and lobbyists enriched by subsidies) who have rushed into extensive wind farm developments will be seen in due course to have taken public opinion for a colossal ride, although this may take some time to emerge"." As we live in a democracy, I live in hope that eventually the voice of the public will be listened to or that some outside agency—some deus ex machina—may force us to cast off these crippling burdens. The sooner the better; some day, someone will have to save us from our own follies.