This line from today's Daily Telegraph.
individual freedom versus any collective responsibility.
Rowing back on greener pledges is desperate stuff and should be enough to give anyone road rage
www.telegraph.co.uk
Strikes me as one of the seminal dividing lines in the political universe.
The UK has gone into a bit of a tizzy because Labour lost Boris Johnson's seat. They felt they had an open net in a posh lefty riding in London that somehow both hated Johnson and kept electing him. Anyway the loss had been blamed on Sadiq Khan's ever expanding Exclusion Zone which charges any car entering London 12.95 UKP a trip. Commuters are not impressed.
What has happened though is that both the Tories and Labour agree that consumers are revolting and something must be done. Ultimately that means that the Tories, who initiated much of this greenness, are now rowing backwards as fast as possible. They are suddenly fans of motorists, opposed to traffic-calming/road-rage zones, postponing the introduction of electric vehicles (not selling fast enough because no one can afford them), contemplating joining Germany and France in rethinking Net Zero, approving new gas drilling licenses all over the place, shutting down the HS2 rail link to the North and allowing people to keep their gas boilers instead of forcing them to switch to electric heat pumps.
The Heat Pumps issue is particularly fraught. The chairman of the leading heat pump supplier said they don't work. Especially in Scotland - too cold and damp. He also said they are ugly and noisy which many Planning Committees are agreeing with.
The Tories fortunes are rising.
This has got those invested in Greenery perturbed. Both those that are actually financially invested in Greenery, like Ambrose Evans Pritchard who has been selling electrification for 15 years, and those that are emotionally invested, like the author of the article in which the opening line was found, Suzanne Moore.
Which brings me back to the dividing line. The collective mind of the urban hive vs the individual. Those that contemplate the old Outward Bound experience of spending a single night alone in the woods with horror and those that find that to be soothing, a prospect of paradise and certainly not a challenge.
And where does the car fit into all of this....
Meatloaf...
Paradise by the Dashboard light.
The 57 Chevy granted teenagers freedom, a safe space on wheels that they could take with them anywhere. It also permitted their parents to escape the Hive and move where their fists weren't at risk of accidentally bumping into their neighbour's noses. Those cars with their 500 km ranges epitomize the freedom of the individual.
Plugging into the Grid every 150 km, like a toaster, is a constant reminder that you can't escape the Hive.
Some people thrive in the Hive. Good on them. There is lots of room in Canada for Hives. The ones we have only occupy 0.1% of the landmass. There is room for plenty more. If you like that kind of thing and are willing to pay for it.
For the rest of us. Freedom to roam. Even if we don't exercise it every day. Jeeps, Harleys, Boats, Skidoos and ATVs. Their sales all reflect that need to know their is a way out.
