After doing so much travelling this week today was very much a home day, catching up on picture editing and various other bits and bobs. The weather’s been awful once more – although for once we haven’t had any downpours or gales just dull weather where you can’t make out the other side of the valley. The news has been just as dull. The Government continues to implode no matter what stupid stunt Sunak dreams up – as the latest opinions polls show. We’re in the hands of a decaying Government that has no idea what to do other than fight culture wars but they’ll hang on for as long as they can to feather their nests. It’s depressing but there’s nothing anyone can do about it until an election’s called as this lot have no honour. I hate to think what state the UK will be in by the time the Tories are finally dragged (kicking and screaming) to the polls for voters to pass their verdict. I’m trying to be positive, but with so little positive news around that can be difficult.
Hopefully, I’ll be out and about again soon, as there’s plenty of changes on the rail network to report on if nothing else – especially in this neck of the woods where the Trans-Pennine Route Upgrade (TRU) is ramping up. Plus, there’s the December timetable change which will see some trains disappear – like the Trans-Pennine Express Class 68s and Mk5 coaches. I hope to get a few more shots of them before they do. Today’s picture is of my last opportunity to see (and ride) behind members of the fleet. Here’s 68024 ‘Centaur’ at Manchester Piccadilly on the 7th November after arriving with 1U52, the 12:48 from Scarborough.
Place your bids please! Who wants a fleet of noisy locomotives and rakes of not the most well-built coaches? Only one careful owner – going spare from the 9th of December (if not sooner).
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Gordon Bennett – has the weather forecast got it wrong again! Having thrown open the bedroom blinds expecting the promised cloudy but clement day I was greeted by the sight of trees being battered by blustery winds and rain sweeping in from across the valley. This mornings walk to the station may prove to be a bit of an endurance test.
07:50
As I mentioned yesterday, today I’m off to Bradford to meet up with some of the Northern rail company’s management team for a visit to some of the city’s religious centres as part of their annual Interfaith and Cultural awareness event. It promises to be an interesting day, but first I’ve got to get there. Let’s see how things pan out. Railhead conditions are going to be difficult today, so I expect some late running…
09:05.
Mt predictions about late-running were correct, but with weather conditions like this that’s hardly surprising. Here’s the view across the Calder Valley from my walk to the station.
It’s grim up North…
I was aiming for the 08:57 but arrived in time for the 17 mins late 08:43, one of a slew of Leeds bound trains that were arriving within minutes of each other.
Better late than never!
09:40.
The day’s starting at the Great Victoria hotel with a briefing for all those attending. So far there are representatives from the Canal and Rivers Trust (CRT). Yorkshire Cricket and me, wearing a Community Rail Network hat. Northern have a range of staff here, including some of their Conductors and train preparation teams. Here’s the group just before the off…
Our first port of call was the Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara, one of several Sikh temples in the city. We were given a really interesting historical background on the origins and practices of the Sikh faith by Amandeep Kaur Maan. One of the things I’d never realised was how important baptism is as that cements someone into the purer, or stricter, version of Sikhism (vegetarianism, no alcohol or tobacco) compared to Sikhs who haven’t been baptised into the faith.
Learning about the Sikh faith from Amandeep Kaur Maan.Our group joined other visitors in the cafeteria where free food is offered throughout the day, prepared and served by volunteers. We were warned not to take more than we could eat otherwise we’d get a hard stare from the ‘Aunties’ who were doing the washing up as they hated waste! Here’s my meal. Clockwise from top left, Gulab Jamun (sweet) Veg curry, dahl, chapatti and rice pudding (Kheer).
Our second visit of the day was to the Shree Lakshmi Narayan Hindu Temple which was only a short walk away. A crash course in what’s considered one of the oldest (if not the the oldest) religions in the world that has over 300 million gods is no easy matter. The devotees did their best, it’s not easy – especially when you’re touching on concepts like Karma and reincarnation that are alien to Christians.
Balakhrisnan, a Sri-Lankan Hindu who moved to the UK in 1968 explains who the various Hindu deities are. The temple is named after Lakshmi, one of the most important Hindu deities. Our group inside the temple, with statues of several Gods in the Hindu pantheon behind us.
After tea, biscuits and the chance to chat to some of the devotees our third stop was another short walk away – the Abu Bakr Masjid.
Imran (left) and Mahatb (right) were our guides to their religion and how aspects of the faith work, including rituals around prayers and the five pillars of Islam. They were both entertaining and informative.
16:15.
What an interesting day – and a bonus is that despite the hairy weather and walking between temples we didn’t get soaked once!
Right now I’m back in Halifax, wetting my whistle with a pint at the new Grayston Unity before walking home.
My final chariot home…
The Grayston’s interesting. This afternoon they’re having a Northern Soul event downstairs. It’s early days but they hope to do it every month. Judging by the numbers coming up to the bar to buy drinks it’s well attended but its obvious from the demographic it’s still the same people from the 1970s – they’re just 40 odd years older – so the dancing may be a little more sedate! Of course, in those days Northern Soul was fuelled by amphetamines, now it’s probably Sanatogen!
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We’re back at Bigland Towers after a busy day in Nottingham which began early as we were staying in the hotel where the CRN conference was being held. The pair of us rate the Crowne Plaza, having stayed there several times now. The rooms are comfortable, the conference facilities ideal. The food’s also very good and the staff are both friendly and very helpful. Having risen at 07:00 I had time for a hearty breakfast whilst Dawn opted for a light one as she was working the conference reception desk. So I snaffled a selection of jams, toast and pastries for her to eat on the go. The conference started before 09:00 with a couple of informative presentations from Jools Townsend, CRN’s Chief Exec, followed by Cat Chrimes from GM social investment.
I found this really informative as one of the projects Cat’s organisation has been working on is Broadbottom station which I’ve written about recently. What I didn’t previously know was that around £1m has been raised to bring the building back into use with a range of uses, including a microbrewery! Next up was Shuna Baggaley from contractors SKANSKA, one of CRN’s corporate partners. Shuna has been working on HS2 at Euston, but that wasn’t what she’d come to talk to us about, it was corporate responsibility. After the talks and Q and A the rest of the conference programme was devised by the delates themselves, who decided what they wanted to talk about with a little help from CRN staff. Here’s the programme they devised.
There were some fascinating and informative sessions although I didn’t get chance to listen to more than snippets as my job was to visit each session to photograph what was going on. Here’s taste;
It’s not all serious – honest!Note-taking…More laughs…Paying attention…
Unfortunately, due to disruption to rail services around Leeds and the cancellation of the train we’d intended to travel home on a few of us had to leave early, which was a shame as the conference (despite the ‘risky’ format) was a great success.
Our ride home from Nottingham to Leeds being admired by a member of the local canine community.
On the way home we bumped into a friend and colleague from Northern who’d intended attending the conference but he’d been diverted in order to help out with today’s service disruption. Meeting Richard changed my plans for tomorrow. I’d planned on working from home. Instead, I’ve been invited to join some of the Northern management team in Bradford tomorrow morning on their annual Interfaith & Cultural Awareness Event. We’ll be visiting a Hindu temple, a Mosque and a Sikh Gurdwara. It promises to be an interesting session. I’ll blog about it tomorrow…
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This morning the pair of us head to Nottingham for the annual Community Rail Network conference. Today and tomorrow station friends, Community Rail officers, rail staff and others will congregate to listen to updates on the world of community rail, share best practice and network.
Thankfully, although we’re in the midst of storm Debi, last night’s winds and todays heavy showers haven’t caused any disruption to our travel plans. We’ll be heading to the station shortly to begin our trip South. Let’s see how things go…
12:00.
We’re on our way to Leeds on Northern’s late running 11:37 from Halifax. Railhead conditions can’t be good as the latest storm’s brought down tons of leaves overnight.
Nottingham here we come…
I’m being kept entertained by following the latest political farce following the sacking of Home Secretary Cruella Braverman.
I mean – who on earth saw former PM and MP David Cameron returning to government as Foreign Secretary! The man whose biggest political failure was in the area of foreign policy. The man who called the Brexit referendum to appease warring Tory factions and ended up dragging us out of the EU, leaving us an international laughing stock to precipitate another 8 years of Tory fueding that’s dragged the country down even further!
What on earth was Sunak thinking? What’s the Tory party thinking? There’s 350 Tory MPs and Sunak’s just admitted not a single one of them is fit for elevation to high office! I bet that’s rankling on the back benches! And there was the Brexiters complaining that we were governed by ‘unelected bureaucrats’! Who’s elected Cameron?
13:20.
Leeds was fun for all the wrong reasons – bar this one. One of TPE’s class 68s working a Manchester – Scarborough service with just weeks left to run.
When I’d checked before leaving home this morning everything was running well with just a few delays due to railhead conditions. Things had changed when we arrived at Leeds to catch our train to Nottingham. A landslip towards York, overhead wire damage near Wakefield and a broken rail in the Aire valley were causing many delays and cancellations. Thankfully, our 13:08 was running and left on time – albeit it’s a 2-car, which is ‘cosy’…
16:10.
And relax! Well, for a few minutes anyway. We’ve made it to Nottingham, with our little 2-car picking up various members of the community railway family on the way. The weather improved as we passed through the storm front which was travelling in the opposite direction to us. It’s actually a balmy 13 degrees here in the city centre – hardly what you’d expect. Our first stop was to admire the work going on outside the stations where East Midland Railway’s community rail team have arranged for a new street-art mural which is being spray painted over the next few days by artists from ‘Image Skool‘. Completion date and unveiling is planned for Friday.
Having elected to walk to the hotel we’re now unpacking at the Crowne Plaza hotel before the staff briefing and preparing to meet and greet the bulk of the delegates who’re still in transit. Later there’s a drinks reception and buffet supper when delegates will discuss and decide on what topics they want to see the conference cover tomorrow.
Here’s a few shots from the reception, after which a couple of groups headed off to explore some of the local hostelries to sample local real ales…
Members of the Penistone line partnership, including Chair Neil Bentley (left) at the reception.Michel Lintermans from Cooperatie Stationspark Deurne in the Netherlands, a regular entrant to the Community Rail awards.
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The end of another week here at Bigland Towers and it’s been one of my most inactive for quite some time. By inactive I mean spending more time indoors at home than being out and about. I’ve problems with an elbow which has been cramping my style. I’ve no idea what I’ve done or how I’ve done it but it’s restricting my camera arm. Hopefully, now I have a physio appointment booked I can get it sorted out.
The awful weather we’ve been having hasn’t exactly encouraged me to get out much either apart from a couple of brief forays. Instead, I’ve been catching up with paperwork and picture editing in the comfort of my office. The only occupational hazard here is risking developing corns on my bum from all the sitting I’m doing. I’m not used to being this confined at all. To add to the ‘fun’ the Met Office has issued a new storm warning for this neck of the woods. Apparently, storm Debi is on its way, bringing high winds and (surprise, surprise) yet more rain. Just what we need when it’s hardly stopped all day! Getting to Nottingham tomorrow for the annual Community Rail Network conference may prove interesting…
In the meantime, here’s a picture of something I’ve not been able to see at all today. The other side of the Calder Valley and beyond – and certainly not with skies like this!
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My, wasn’t that predictable? Today’s scenes from London went on as suspected. The Metropolitan police reckon that 300,000 people joined the march calling for a cease-fire and end to the violence in Palestine and Israel. The demonstration included a cross-section of people and religions, including both Jews and Muslims. No arrests were reported and the demonstration went nowhere near the Cenotaph. But then it was never planned to. Protests about the situation in Palestine/Israel also passed off peacefully in Cardiff and Glasgow.
Meanwhile, egged on by the rhetoric from Home Secretary Suella Braverman, a few hundred far-right knuckle-draggers – including professional far-right grifter Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, aka ‘Tommeh’ Robinson turned up at the Cenotaph in London to ‘protect’ it from *checks notes* themselves. After which, they went on the rampage through central London (including Chinatown and Pimlico) which led to (so far) over 100 arrests.
Having incited such violence and hatred it’s hard to imagine any other Home Secretary staying in their job, but this is a Tory Government ‘led’ by Rishi Sunak who’s so weak that it looks likely Braverman will get away with it. Sunak has condemned the “unacceptable scenes” but not his Home Secretary who incited them, who apparently, has his ‘full support’. Will she classify the far-right running battles as a ‘hate march’ the way she did the peaceful protest? Of course she won’t.
God, what has this country become – apart from a plaything/battleground of yet more internal Tory party ambitions and lies? Surely, the few remaining decent Tories (yes, they do exist) must make their voices heard. Or is the party too far gone? I fear that question’s rhetorical.
Meanwhile, I’ll end this blog with a literal ray of sunshine. Things can only get better…
Decent folk of the UK watching the sun set on the Tory party and 13 years of shit…
Sunday update.
The Met police now confirm that some arrests *were* made at the main demonstration and that 3 people are under investigation for hate crimes (the banners they were carrying were appalling). The Met also say that while the march itself did not see such physical violence, serious offences relating to antisemitic hate crimes were being investigated (and rightly so).
Sadly with such a large crowd (300,000) you’ll always get some bad eggs, it’s a statistical certainty. But those few shouldn’t detract from the fact one demonstration was overwhelmingly peaceful – and one was not. One was condemned by our Home Secretary and one was egged on. Guess which was which.
It’s no wonder the UK’s Jewish community is feeling under siege at the moment. I’ve no sympathy for anyone espousing violence (from any side) towards anyone. I can only hope our political ‘leaders’ like Braverman are seen for what they are – cynically manipulating sentiments for their own ends.
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I’ve had another day working from home here at Bigland Towers, which has allowed me to have news channels and podcasts playing in the background as the the Tory Government descends even more into a farce as our hateful Home Secretary, Suella Braverman spreads her hate speech even further. Not content with attacking the homeless, she’s moved on to protesters angered by what’s going on in Palestine/Israel, labelling them as terrorist sympathisers – and at the same time impugning the police (and indirectly, the Ulster Unionists of Northern Ireland). All this seems to be in direct challenge to the Prime Ministers authority as Braverman positions herself as the flag-bearer of the right, who’ll lead them in their culture wars. Sunak looks too weak and to indecisive to sack her, so the war will continue over the weekend – and beyond. Police, fearing that the far-right will mass to ‘protect’ the Cenotaph from an imaginary threat on Remembrance Sunday will have thousands of officers on the streets over the weekend.
There’s just a couple of teeny-tiny problems with Braverman’s rhetoric. The protest march is scheduled for Saturday (Armistice day, not Remembrance Sunday) and it’s not planned to go anywhere near the Cenotaph, as this BBC map makes clear.
Yet again, the country’s caught up in more Tory-infighting, this time over who’ll be next leader of the party when Sunak leads the next election. We’ve been here before. Last time it was the infighting over Europe that led to Brexit, and the economic and reputational harm that did.
Which brings me back to the title of this blog. In all the Tory infighting, they’re forgotten what they’re meant to be here for. It’s the economy and the wellbeing and prosperity of the nation – only that’s been thrown under the bus (that same red one, the one that promised £350m extra for the NHS). Because if you look away from the infighting, you may just notice that the UK economy’s in the doldrums. Have you seen the stock exchange recently? Here’s how it looks today. Down 1.28% It’s been up and down like a bride’s nightie all year. This is the biggest fall in three months as news of the economy flatlining has broken. Having been hit by interest rate rises and inflation, we’ve narrowly avoided going into recession.
But what are the Government doing about it? Well, nothing positive. Sunak’s lied about things as usual. Just three days ago he claimed the economy was growing! Oh, he also lied about debt falling! The Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) had to point out that (in fact) the opposite is true. Now, what was that Sunak said about bringing ““integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level” back to Government?
Lies and culture wars are all we’re left with by this lot nowadays. This week the secretive fossil-fuel funded lobbyists at the Institute of Economic Affairs tried to claim that Brexit was marvelous and our sales to the EU had risen. The truth? They hadn’t adjusted their figures for inflation. When you did, the opposite was true and trade with the EU had fallen by 7.2%. Of course, the right-wing press only mentioned what the IEA claimed and ignored the chart in their report that showed the opposite! Funny, that…
It took the likes of Johnathon Portes, Professor of Economics, King’s College London to expose the IEA’s lie on Twitter (Sod off Elon, I’m not calling it X).
Lying at the heart of Government has become endemic. The Tories have made such a mess of the economy after 13 years it’s no wonder all they and the rest of the right-wing want to do is talk about ‘culture wars and the ‘woke’. And let’s not even mention what’s happening with the NHS.
Don’t be fooled. Don’t let them keep throwing dead cats on the table as a distraction. I hope there’s no trouble in London this weekend, but don’t let the Government weaponise it for their own ends. People have the right to protest, the right to have their voices heard. Even the Royal British Legion have come out in support of people’s right to protest – and who should know more about people fighting for freedom?
So, I come back to that phrase coined by James Carville in 1992 and used by Bill Clinton’s election team. It IS the economy that matters – and don’t let the Tories and their friends in the media distract you from that fact.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Apologies for my absence these past few days. I not really been in the mood for blogging. I’ve been kept busy with other things and really couldn’t find either the time or the inclination. Besides, what I’d have penned would have turned into more spleen-venting on the state of the country and the Tory party in particular – so at least you’ve been spared that! Normal service will resume shortly.
I’ve been spending much of my time cooped-up here in Bigland Towers for one reason and another. It could be worse as the weather here in the Pennines has been dank and dismal so being in the warm and dry has had its compensations – such as being warm and dry!
I’ve also managed to wade through a backlog of pictures which have now been filed away on multiple hard-drives or added to my Zenfolio website which has been good timing as Zenfolio have started archiving galleries’ on people’s websites that haven’t been updated for over three years. It’s a pain as many of mine are historic galleries that I can hardly update as the subject matter disappeared years ago! Still, it’s given me the impetuous I’ve needed to begin slimming down and consolidating the number of galleries on my website. They’ve got a bit out of hand in the past 12 years. It’s a big task as it’s a slow one. Zen’s a bit cumbersome when it comes to moving pictures around so it’s going to take some time. On the bright side I’ve been looking through pictures I’ve not checked out for years. Hopefully, the process will be finished by the Spring.
In the meantime, there’s plenty of other things to keep me occupied. It looks like I’ll be doing a lot more writing for a living in 2024, which is no bad thing. I enjoy it and it gets me out and about almost as much as taking pictures.
Talking of pictures, here’s today’s. It being autumn woodlands are bounteous places. Our local squirrels are certainly making the most of the seasons largesse. Unfortunately a lot of it seems to be getting added to my pots and flowerbeds! Here’s one thing we don’t have in our area. Sweet Chestnuts. The woods around the hotel where Dawn and I stayed in the Lake District were full of them. As soon as I have time I’ll be writing a review of the Wild Boar as it’s well worth a visit. In the meantime, here’s what covered their woodland floor.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
‘Tis been a quiet weekend here at Bigland Towers. Partly because the weather’s been so bloody awful, but partly because it’s been nice to have the downtime and the opportunity for the two of us to spend some quality time together as well as to catch-up with various chores and bits.
I’d quite fancied the idea of attending a local firework display but the one’s I could find were on Saturday when the weather was crap. I’m glad I didn’t book as I ended up getting soaked just nipping out for some shopping. Standing around in the rain, trying to look up when you wear glasses wouldn’t have been much fun at all. I might as well have stayed at home, stayed dry and stared into a Kaleidoscope! Instead we had a quiet night in with me cooking, enjoying air-fried chicken thighs with a lovely honey, chili and soy sauce glaze, dressed with spring onions and Coriander and served with steamed veg. Bugger, I forgot to take a picture!
Today’s been better, the rain has (mostly) stayed away, allowing the two of us to get out for an evening stroll which eventually led us to our local pub for a drink and a warm by a real fire. Yes, they’re very un PC in these days of Climate Change, but when it comes to my contribution (or not) towards screwing up the planet, they’re the least of my concerns. If you want to help the planet survive, don’t have kids and don’t vote Tory…
Talking of voting Tory (or not, if you have any sense of community, decency or self-preservation) I couldn’t help but wonder what the latest gaffe from our Home Secretary, Cruella, sorry Suella Braverman is meant to be a dead cat for? I mean, suggesting that to want to ban and fine charities from giving tents to homeless people because homelessness is a ‘lifestyle choice‘? Even she can’t be this stupid (oh yeah? Ed) so what’s this a distraction for – the Covid enquiry? The sooner we’re shut of these asset-strippers, feather-bedders and shysters the better. But I’ll bet they’ll hang on as long as they can to remove all the fittings they can get money for. And the next election will be dirty and divisive. The Tories will fight the ‘culture wars’ as they can’t defend their 13 year record on the economy (they’ve trashed it) all they’ll do is pick on minorities as a tactic to appeal to their ageing and intolerant vote-bank – and their friends in the media will cheer them on.
Right, I wasn’t going to vent any spleen tonight, it just sort of happened. So now I’ll leave you with a picture of the day which isn’t in any way political and should hopefully make you go ‘awww’ Back in December 2022 I was standing in a queue to get through the ticket barriers at London’s St Pancras and felt this pair of eyes on me. Then I looked down and saw this.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
I’ve long said that the UK’s ‘green’ movement is hypocritical and unfit for purpose. Their years-old stance of opposing us building HS2, the new spine of the British railway network is the classic example of this. The Green Party of England and Wales (The Scots are separate, and sensible) have a mad policy where they support building a new North-South high-speed line ‘in principal’ but vehemently oppose it in practice. So much so that their energies go into trying to stop a railway whilst giving road construction a free pass.
Yesterday, their outgoing MP for Brighton, Caroline Lucas tweeted this load of tosh whilst linking to a Guardian article on the trial and conviction of Gail Bradbrook, one of the co-founders of ‘Extinction Rebellion’.
Where to start? Was Bradbrook convicted of protesting? No. She was convicted of criminal damage, for smashing a plate glass window in protest against the building of HS2! Yep, protesting against building a new railway! Not a road, not a motorway – a railway! Criminal damage is NOT covered by article 11 of the ECHR law. It is NOT a ‘peaceful protest’ – it’s criminal damage. That some ‘greens’ simply can’t get their heads around that because of their exceptionalism is just another reason I have little time for them.
I won’t go into the rubbish Lucas has claimed about HS2 ‘destroying’ nature. Regular readers will have seen me cover that canard at length in previous blogs. I tweeted this is response to Lucas.
“Without Hs2 we won’t have the rail capacity we need to get modal shift from road/air to rail to cut #co2 emissions to tackle GLOBAL #ClimateChange. Stopping HS2 isn’t ‘green’ it’s the opposite. You’re literally doing the fossil fuel lobby’s job for it”.
This rattled Bradbrook’s cage, as she responded with two tweets, both of which sent my irony meter off the scale! The first quotes the Times newspaper and its recent attempts to fly air-cover for Sunak and the Tories by rehashing old claims of corruption with HS2 Ltd as a way of diverting attention from the mess they’ve got themselves into by cancelling parts of HS2. Never forget, who had oversight and control of HS2 Ltd? The Government. But, a founder of XR? Using a Murdoch-owned newspaper as ‘evidence’? Bless! However, it was this tweet that was the most interesting.
This is a link to an anonymous document with no provenance and no names on it to say who compiled it. Called ‘supporting facts and figures’ it’s essentially a cut and paste job a list of cobbled together reasons and ‘evidence’ of why ‘greens’ should oppose HS2. It’s a litany of lies, discredited claims and things that never, ever happened, including the classic that “HS2 is the largest deforestation exercise in the UK in over 100 years, not since WWI has the UK cut down so many trees”. I skewered that one here back in 2019!
But the real doozies are these. Amongst the list of cut and paste incoherency and contradictions the list uses ‘evidence’ and quotes from both the Institute for Economic Affairs and Policy Exchange, two of the most opaque right-wing ‘think tanks’ in the UK.
Both have been linked to being funded by oil companies. The ironies here are weapons grade! In 2018 a Greenpeace investigation linked the IEA to British Petroleum (BP)! In 2022 it was revealed that Policy Exchange is partially funded by ExxonMobil! Next is where we hit ‘through the looking glass’ territory. The Open Democracy investigation revealed that the new controversial anti-protest law may have originated in a briefing from Policy Exchange! Bradbrook is espousing the views of the very people who may have helped the Government impose the law she’s spent so much of her time protesting against and claims to be a victim of!
That a co-founder of Extinction Rebellion is circulating this travesty of the truth and actively promoting the views of climate-change denying, fossil-fuel funded ‘think tanks’ is beyond belief. Or is it? I’ve long harbored suspicions that XR is a front for attempts to discredit and sideline the green movement by showing them up as a bunch of fools who do more harm than good. Lets face it, many of their actions have had real greens holding their head in their hands. Gluing yourselves to green electric public transport to disrupt the lives of ordinary people is a bizarre way to get people ‘on side’. Many of their actions seem to be intent on alienating ordinary people and provide the right-wing media with a massive stick to beat the environmental lobby with. Is this by accident, or design? The fact the likes of Braybrook are peddling fossil fuel lobbyists anti rail propaganda looks less like stunning ignorance of who these lobbyists are and more like a deliberate attempt to further their agendas.
Bradbrook claims to be a ‘trained scientist’. But if this is the quality of her research…
Still, I’m sure Bradbrook spends even more of her time campaigning and Tweeting about the 1000s of miles of new roads the Tories are planning to build, doesn’t she? Oh, wait. @CanburyLiberal did a search on Twitter and found this. Nada, zilch, zip, SFA…
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Paul Bigland 