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An open letter to the Rt Rev Michael Langrish, Bishop of Exeter, on the subject of his foiled wind farm scheme
James Delingpole
Your Grace,
I was surprised to read in my paper this morning that you are feeling hard done-by over your foiled scheme to erect two 25-metre-high wind turbines on glebe land in each of three different sites in north Devon: Chittlehampton, Black Torrington and East Anstey.
Apparently you felt the opposition you encountered to your scheme was unnecessarily hostile and aggressive. You wrote (in a letter to the congregations of the villages you were planning to blight):
“I and many of my colleagues have received very unpleasant letters and those who have attended public meetings in a genuine effort to explain the thinking behind our proposals have been shouted down and called liars.”
What surprised me about your letter was that a man intelligent enough to have gained two degrees (one from Cambridge) and canny enough to have risen to the not totally immodest heights of the Bishopric of Exeter should yet be puzzled as to why his flock might object to having a hideous pair of bat-chomping, bird-slicing eco-crucifixes plonked next to their tranquil North Devon villages.
Bishop, you are no doubt a very busy man, what with all the sustainability workshops you have to attend and all the junk-science books by Mark Lynas and George Monbiot you have to read in order to keep abreast of the latest weapons-grade drivel about “climate change.” Probably you haven’t found time yet to visit Chittlehampton, Black Torrington and East Anstey. But that’s OK: thanks to the wonders of the internet you can now visit them without once having to leave your episcopal throne.
Here, for example, you will find pictures of the land near Chittlehampton where two of the turbines were to have been sited. (Bang next to the Old Vicarage, ironically). Pretty, isn’t it? The kind of place, indeed, which needs wind turbines about as much as Exeter Cathedral green needs an Occupy encampment or a nuclear missile site or a high altar to Satan. The kind of place on to which only somebody woefully ill-informed, unbelievably thick-skinned or hopelessly in thrall to the pagan religion of Gaia-worship would ever dream of imposing such monstrosities. Which of these describes you, I wonder.
CrustyB
June 13th, 2012
I intend to use “weapons-grade drivel” in a sentence today.
Buddy
June 13th, 2012
British cynicism is the best
Mary Jane Anklestraps
June 13th, 2012
He is pretty awesome
“But to quote a book I know the church doesn’t use that often these days, so forgive my impertinence in reminding you of it:
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
Because where, ultimately, Bishop, do you think that annual £50,000 would have come from?
Not from the electricity generated by the turbines themselves, let me assure you. Wind energy is to all intents and purposes worthless since, being intermittent and unreliable, it has no value in a consumer-demand-led free market. The only reason the wind industry exists at all is because of the massive subsidies it receives, mostly added onto electricity bills in the form of concealed tariffs.”
scribble
June 13th, 2012
If a wind farm is not good enough for the Kennedys to gaze upon from their ocean view at Hyannisport while drinking and carousing, I say spare the English!
Anonymous
June 13th, 2012
They should put these closer to the wind source and put one at every major street intersection in Washington DC.
RANDO
June 13th, 2012
“…bat-chomping, bird slicing eco-crucifixes…” !!
Pure gold!
Shutterbug
June 13th, 2012
Delingpole is Daniel Hannan, unleashed.
I would love to hear Delingpole read the letter aloud.
Delingpole is Christopher Hitchens without inconsistencies.
I love the (real) Brits!
Corona
June 13th, 2012
That’s some great snark.
Callmelennie
June 13th, 2012
I wouldn’t venture out into the public today, libs
This sniper’s got talent
Maudie N Mandeville
June 13th, 2012
James Delingpole is one of a kind. Extremely intelligent and witty, he brushes off the left’s ignorance and smugness with humorous condescension. His every retort is calculated to allow them an opening for another twist of his dagger.
TooMuchTime
June 13th, 2012
We have a winnah! A new word for the useless bird-cuisinarts the koolaidians want to put everywhere; except near themselves.
I am SO stealing that…
TooMuchTime
June 13th, 2012
One of the commenters on the The Telegraph site said that Mr. Delingpole is their version of Mark Steyn. Yep!
reddecaesari
June 13th, 2012
game set match.
Chuck U Farley
June 13th, 2012
No one can put you down better than a well-phrased Brit.
God, I love good British wit.
Hail Britannia!
…and thank you for being the foundation of the United States.
Chuck U Farley
June 13th, 2012
Delingpole is a great read. I suggest…
http://www.amazon.com/Watermelons-Green-Movements-True-Colors/dp/0983347409/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329322764&sr=8-1
In England it’s subtitled “How the Environmentalists are Killing the Planet, Destroying the Economy and Stealing Your Children’s Future”.
‘Nuff said.
Bob M.
June 14th, 2012
ANGLICANISM: When you can’t be a CHRISTIAN, it’s the NEXT best thing…