A couple of days ago, the BBC opened up for comments an article about sagging demand for EVs:
Ford calls for incentives to buy electric cars as backlash grows
When I last looked on Thursday, the comments had reached over 10,000. Thus it was only possible for me to skim them. But I could not help but notice the abundance of common sense exhibited by our fellow citizens, a currency that is seemingly in short supply among our elected politicians. I reproduce below a handful of such comments from the first eighth or so of the pile, with occasional retorts thrown in, and a reply by me in one case. The scores are the net user votes. I have generally left in typos, but have added a space or two where words were stuck together.
Will anybody in the corridors of power see any of them? Unlikely.
Lawrence fining a company because the consumer doesn’t want their products is as daft as you can get. If EVs were the answer they’d need no incentives. how about fining the government for not having a plan for charging points in the countryside or inner city tower blocks. +3700
mb018538 No surprise why demand is so low. Poor range on cars unless you spend £50k+ (which people can’t afford), terrible charging infrastructure, expensive supercharging, massive depreciation. Meanwhile your trusty ICE can be refilled in a couple of minutes and reliably get you going for 400 miles. At the moment the balance is still far too much in favour of ICE. +1900
Reply by Rodrigo
Yeah, who cares if the earth burns!
-1800
Captain Baked Beans What a crazy country we live in that a company can be fined £15k for just producing an item that its customers want. Successive governments have gone completely loppy when it comes to climate change.
What proportion of global CO2 emissions are produced by ICE cars in the UK? Is it even 0.01%?
Minimising climate change is a good thing. But crippling your country in order to do so is not. +1500
Andy Everyone with more than a single functional brain cell knows, and has known from the very outset, that the 2030 deadline is unachievable and will be dropped at some point.
Unfortunately, politicians don’t fall into said category. +1250
CG1975 EVs:
– Cost more
– Pollute more (entire lifecycle)
– Lack infrastructure
– Mostly look like plastic toy cars
No thanks. Easy decision. +1250
Mr Pastry EVs, a fix to a problem that does not exist. Keep your ICE car longer and save the planet. Plus, you’re paying through the nose for inconvenience. Don’t drive an EV when it’s too cold, you have to use the blower to keep warm, too hot you have to use the blower to keep cool, too windy, too many hills, don’t tow anything, servicing is expensive, depreciation is savage a total waste of resources. +1050
Guy Smiley Forcing people to down the EV route was always a recipe for disaster.
How about just giving people the option to buy both ICE and EVs. Consumers will decide the market – if EVs are better economically and practically then the market and consumer choice will begin to reflect this. +850
Bobby Why should we be forced to buy something we don’t want! +600
Reply by dd “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses” +200
[Reply by Jit: Missing the point. Making the offer of the product is asking people what they want. People were not forced to buy cars by a ban on horses.]
Andy If you remove company car buyers, discounted schemes and green zealots with more money than common sense, net sales of EV’s would be … ZERO. +450
DaveyCrockett People in houses without driveways seem to have been forgotten by the government – how are we meant to charge our car? Are we meant to drape cables across pavements? (if we’re even able to park near our house). Or waste 30+ minutes twiddling our thumbs every few days at a garage? Until EV’s can charge as quickly as filling a petrol car then they’re just simply not a realistic option for many. +450
un1man Basically, the electric car fan boys, have bought theirs, no-one else wants one for the reasons we all know.
Politicians jumped on the electric car bandwagon as an apparently easy way to polish their green credentials without realising the implications for power generation and distribution. The majority of politicians are non technical, and dont understand the consequences of their policies. +200
Reply by PaulB95 Vast majority of users don’t own they lease or its a company car because of the tax benefits. +200
Wally the welder I might have missed the bit where they told us how they are mitigating the rape of the earth for the minerals to make the batteries and how they are going to sustainably dispose of the spent ones.
Could someone explain please? +150
McMaddon I live in a terraced house, no driveway. There is no way I can economically charge an EV. I already have a hybrid that runs well. Why would I pay more for a vehicle that will cost me more to run, be less convenient and has questionable environment credentials anyway.
There’s literally zero benefits to me doing it. +125
BBCx Government fines UK companies that don’t sell enough electric vans. Company closes UK factory and makes them abroad. We buy vans from abroad.
Assisted dying for industry. +100
DonkeyKong EVs are a debate dominated by misinformation from both sides.
In truth, EVs are great if you do a lot of local mileage and you own a driveway. If you are reliant on public chargers, they’re more expensive to run. If you do a lot of long distance driving then range becomes an issue. If you don’t drive much, then you won’t recover the additional initial cost of the EV. +100
LeafySuburbanite EVs are not suitable unless you can charge them at home. If you live in a flat or terrace or have no dedicated parking at home they are impractical. +100
Reply by Meat n 2 veg Ahh, but in politicians feeble minds if you live in a flat or terrace you probably are poor and they dont want you on the road. Only the well off in their mad dash to net zero. +100
bluekryton99 I saved £20K on my electric car by buying one with a petrol engine +50
R E Tired What’s not to like about EV’s
High initial cost.
Poor charging infrastructure.
Limited range.
Low residual value / High depreciation.
High cost of battery replacement.
How much CO2 is produced in manufacture and making the electricity to power them?
Do I want one, not on your life. +50
Elonsfire Fining companies for not making things people don’t want to buy.
Only a politician could think that up. Ridiculous.
Then:
“There are flexibilities in the system, allowing manufacturers who can’t meet the targets to buy “credits” from those that can.
In practice, this means buying credits from companies such as Tesla or the Chinese.”
Again only a politician would think up such nonsense. +50
ashaf1976 I don’t think it’s a case of demand walking, simply that EVs are so expensive. The rest of us are waiting for the 2nd hand market to cycle through so that they become affordable. +50
Reply by StVitus I am waiting for an estate with a 500 mile range for less than £5K… +90
mav Say it quietly, keep old stuff, use it longer, buy less new stuff.
Help save the planet. +40
Reply by backinmyday Unfortunately people do not listen. Car ‘sales’ via the use of PCP etc will continue to feed the addiction to a new car. When an 18 year old can have a new car on the road for £200 a month, you know we’ve got a problem that cannot be solved by your correct statement. +10
Mediadesign Had mine 16 months – Cost 55k – Recently valued at 25k – Hiring a car to travel to visit family at Christmas – My advice – Don’t buy one! +40
informed-glasgow This is still meant to be a “free” country. Forcing motorists into unwanted electric cars cannot be justified. Will the government see this or is the rush for a mythical “net zero” blinding our politicians? +40
Zain I currently own a 20 year old petrol car. It takes me everywhere that I want to go. Refueling takes 5 mins and pumps are everywhere. Can I expect a 20 year old EV to do the same because this is the only thing I can afford? I have never bought a new car. I can’t afford the prices and I don’t want to just rent one via the pcp plans that are so popular right now. And no thanks to 2nd hand EVs. +35
Andy Tom ” In practice, this means buying credits from… Tesla or Chinese firm BYD, which build electric models exclusively. “
Ludicrous, UK consumers subsidising these foreign entities.
Demand for EV’s is low because they are rubbish.
Nobody has explained what the legacy of all the unrecyclable highly toxic waste will be. I sense another Diesel scandal, with the same “Industry Experts” in the dock. +30
Andy Kirkland I’m retired from work. Over 70 years old and doing alright financially. But I’m not caught up in the net zero carbon initiative so long as many other nations are still heavily invested in extracting fossil fuels. I’ll never own an electric vehicle and don’t believe that I should be feeling guilty for continuing to use internal combustion engines for the years I have left. +30
Reply by Ardamiactadh Sorry Andy but that is a shocking attitude and yes – you absolutely should feel guilty along with those who upvoted you. We have to show leadership. -20
Sarah I have a charging point at my house and I would love an electric car. I don’t have the money for one unfortunately. Until electric cars become the norm and I can pick one up for less than £1k then I’m afraid I’m going to still be driving my old 306. +30
ADR Find me an EV with a big payload that can tow 2 tonnes+, has range that works in the real world in a Scottish Highlands winter which annually sees temperatures into -double digits and will go for 150,000 miles or more. Oh, and is affordable. Then maybe I might consider one. +25
Climate Scepticism 
Quite a pile-on and for very good reason. But despite all that, I have the feeling that in my next incarnation but one I will be driving an EV. After all I drive an electric toaster, toothbrush, even can opener because they do better along a sufficient number of dimensions. Maybe the pod that my future self will be driving will not be a BEV as they face an insuperable problem that time won’t solve which stems from the fundamental fact that ions, unlike electrons, take space. So maybe something akin to the trolley bus solution, only with power picked up from the road.
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So of course the dictatorship is looking to criminalize criticism of EVs….
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Politicians, especially those in power, are supported by loads of advisers, whether civil servants, special advisers (SPADs) and party apparatchiks. Surely they can see the wisdom of taking the pulse of popular opinion? The comments under a BBC have your say article may or may not be entirely representative, but they should give pause for thought.
Are our politicians, and those paid to advise them, completely ignorant of public opinion? If so, how on earth did they manage to become so removed from the vox populi? And why do we keep electing them?
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Everyone with more than a single functional brain cell knows, and has known from the very outset, that the 2030 deadline is unachievable and will be dropped at some point.
Unfortunately, politicians don’t fall into said category.
I used to post that anybody with a GCSE in a STEM subject and a calculator could see that Net Zero is unachievable given the current known laws of physics and chemistry, so there can’t be any politician or civil servant who meets these criteria. But then I discovered that Ed Miliband has AAB A-levels in physics, maths and further maths (but then took PPE at Oxford – a strange decision, unless you’re a Labour princeling, with your name down for a safe seat from birth), so he must realise that it’s all nonsense.
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Are our politicians, and those paid to advise them, completely ignorant of public opinion?
These are the same people that were taken aback by the Brexit vote, the rise of Reform and Trump’s elections. So it would seem the answer to your question must be “Yes”.
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These people aren’t stupid much as we may wish it were so, there’s money and power in it that’s why they are in the game in the first place.
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Do you have to be registered and sign in to see the comments or even know that they are there?
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Mike, just scroll down & they should be visible. Now there are 12,678, but they are closed so that’s the limit. To comment on a BBC article you do have to register.
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JIT, I opened a BBC account and I still can’t find them. Perhaps they’re only for UK readers. I couldn’t find the comments in the Wayback machine captures either.
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Mike: You are correct. I have the same issue. I cannot see the comments on the BBC website unless I use a VPN.
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Mike D/potentilla,
I think the issue arises because you are outside the UK. I have been surprised, when on holiday abroad, to note that the BBC website then available looks very different from that available within the UK.
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“Five ways to persuade more people to buy electric cars”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj3mkrrll2ro
The BBC is obviously concerned with this problem for the net zero agenda. Rather than accepting that people don’t want EVs en masse, they are still pushing ways of persuading us that we really do want them. This time they have decided not to allow comments on the article. That’s so much easier than taking on board what the great unwashed actually think.
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Mike/potentilla: sorry, I had no idea that comments were not visible. I half-suspected that users outside the UK would not be able to register to comment, but it seems that they’ve closed that loop entirely.
I just saved the .co.uk page to the Wayback Machine; on viewing it, it immediately transmogrified itself into the .com version (without the comments).
Are there browsers these days with built-in VPNs?
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EVs haven’t hit the real problems yet. There won’t be enough electricity to go round at certain times of the day, if renewables are the dominant source and commercial vehicles are going electric too.
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The BBC article is hardly flattering for the EV case. And comments? Wow, I struggled to find anything supportive. The commenters are, of course, correct. EVs are simply impractical. The biggest problem is over fifty per cent of homes do not have off-street parking, oh and the electricity grid is not up to the challenge. When push comes to shove, it ain’t happening. If motorists do not buys EVs – new or used – the whole gravy chain comes to a grinding halt. The only problem will be that a load of NGOs will sue like the old ladies did in Switzerland. The only solution to that will be overturning the Climate Change Act. Interesting times.
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Jit – thanks for your BBC article link, authored by Theo Leggett and Mitchell Labiak (Business correspondent and business reporter, BBC News) & for highlighting the highest rated negative comments it received out of 12678 comments.
Mark, in the above comments then links to the latest BBC article “Five ways to persuade more people to buy electric cars”, authored by Theo Leggett (Business correspondent, BBC News).
Which starts of with this – “The government is facing a backlash from car manufacturers, who claim that current rules designed to promote electric vehicles are too harsh.
They say consumer demand for electric cars has fallen far short of what was expected, meaning they are struggling to sell enough.”
So Theo Leggett was involved in both articles, but either does not read any comments on 1st article or wilfully ignores what BBC commentators have to say on this matter.
The “backlash” is driven (pun intended) by the car owners who don’t want EVs forced on them.
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It would appear that not only the workers are losing their jobs:
“Stellantis boss abruptly quits in boardroom clash”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgx5pe4r0xo
...Mr Tavares’ position had been undermined recently by a dramatic fall in sales and profits at the company.
In September, Stellantis had issued a profit warning after it reported a sharp drop in sales in North America.
David Bailey, professor of business economics at Birmingham Business School, told the BBC’s Today programme that while there is “huge turmoil in the car industry generally” Stellantis has got “particular problems of declining sales [and] declining profits”....
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This, apparently, is how you grow the economy:
“Vauxhall closure set to have ‘£310m impact on Luton'”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdxv1kdyp7jo
The closure of the Vauxhall plant in Luton will cost the town a total of about 3,700 jobs and have a £310m impact on the local area’s economy, a council leader told BBC Politics East.
On Tuesday, Stellantis, the owner of Vauxhall, announced plans to close its Bedfordshire van-making factory, putting about 1,100 jobs at the plant at risk.
Hazel Simmons, the Labour leader of Luton Borough Council, said this was “devastating news” for the area and that she had talked to trade unions and was planning talks with Stellantis.
The Department for Business and Trade said it was a “concerning time for the families of employees at Luton”….
That’s all right, then – so long as the “concern” is recognised. Who does Starmer think he is? Thatcher?
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I could have posted this under two or three of Jit’s pieces about EVs, but here seems as good as anywhere, given that it demonstrates a determination to plough on regardless of the evidence of job destruction and public hostility:
“If we delay the UK’s drive for electric vehicles, our rivals will overtake us
Jonathan Reynolds
The government is determined to work with the car industry to increase take-up, boost jobs and hit emissions targets”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/01/if-we-delay-the-uks-drive-for-electric-vehicles-our-rivals-will-overtake-us
...When this government says that decarbonisation must not mean deindustrialisation, we mean it. There is no route to net zero without backing British industries and workers.
With recent job cuts announced by Ford across Europe and the proposed closure of Vauxhall’s Luton plant by Stellantis, we are in no doubt at all about the global challenges the industry is facing and the need for us to play our part to support it.
That’s exactly why I’ve been getting round the table with industry leaders to hear directly from them on how best to deliver this transition, and my message has always been loud and clear: this government is listening and we want to work closely with you to deliver our plans.
The bottom line is: we can either sprint ahead and harness the clean energy transition to deliver growth, create new jobs and a greener future, or allow ourselves to fall behind. This government will not make the same mistakes of the past and let that happen.
The scale of the self-deception is truly staggering, IMO.
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This is from Wikipedia:
Under Ed Miliband, Reynolds was appointed Shadow Justice and Constitutional Affairs Whip. He was later appointed Miliband’s Parliamentary Private Secretary[.and Shadow Minister for Energy and Climate Change.
It appears to me that this government has a bunch of like-minded people selected from a small pool of mini-Milibands, so I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that they all support the agenda despite the manifest harm it is causing.
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Thanks Mark. It’s hard to believe that someone in such a high position could think long and hard, with the assistance of minions uncountable, and produce
as a triumphant crescendo. Does anybody really believe this? Do they not understand that the transition they refer to means buying everything from China, the real beneficiary?
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It’s not just Luton of course. I’m following Mark’s lead on where to post this
https://x.com/afneil/status/1863253256773812251
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EVs, heat pumps, renewables – spot the pattern. Replacing what people want and what works with what the government wants and doesn’t work.
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It’s a bloodbath in other countries too:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/12/01/automakers-may-rue-choosing-bureaucrats-over-customers/
In (probably) related news, the CEO of Stellantis has resigned with immediate effect.
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Lots of standard points against EVs some of which are spot on. However none of you or other EV unfans and climate deniers etc really get to grips with it on a larger level. Try to see all this with a tide of history view. The Stone Age didn’t end because we ran out of stones. Bronze then iron then steel is just so much better even after cost of production. I’ve travelled in many EVs and talked with many owners and check out sale sites. EVs are just a superior experience unless you’re a teenage petrolhead etc. Drivers, passengers and owners love them. They’re still dearer than ICE cars even in China and they do appear to hold their second hand value. They simply are the future. But think o f the phone you’re probably reading this on. The first smart phone – the original iPhone came out in only 2007. Remember those NimH batteries phone we used to have ? Things move fast.
However there are other major factors no one ever talks about. Start with the millions like me – staunch Toyota drivers. We’ve tried other cars but we kept coming back and now we’re staying unless there’s a REALLY good reason to change. And that’ll be a while because Toyotas last a long time.
Range and recharging are really important but people will develop new businesses based on new thinking. Remember – radio took years to take off because no one could figure out how to make money broadcasting stuff. Then someone invented one of great scourges of civilisation – commercial radio. So yeah, we’re gonna have electric transport which will end up better and cheaper than old oil burners. And so much cleaner and quieter and just more civilised. Honestly what’s to like about diesel exhaust ? Remember what it was like when people smoked everywhere like shops, offices, buses ?
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Falstaff; you make some good points but miss a few key fundamentals. Like you, I follow the EV debate closely, such as the forum on PistonHeads which has many battles between EVangelists and EVorcists (I just made that up!). Cars are an interest of mine anyway, plus I want to be up to speed come the day I choose – or am obliged – to buy an EV. I would agree that, for the vast majority, EVs are a better product and most of the counter-arguments are based on lack of knowledge. “It won’t let me drive from Land’s End to John O’Groats without stopping, while towing a yacht” characterises a lot of the comments. There’s even an EV Bingo scorecard!
However, better products should displace older ones, or open up whole new markets, on their merits. Taking your mobile phone analogy, there was no compulsion to purchase. BT wasn’t constrained in its sale of landline services. We opted for mobiles out of free choice – and paid for the benefits they brought. The govt interference in the market is, imho, the main reason for the waves of anti-EV sentiment.
Then there is the issue of cost. The vast majority of EVs are sold as company cars, driven by the dramatic tax savings on offer. My fag-packet maths say that is costing the Exchequer £5 – 6 bn per year in reduced tax revenue, probably much more when you throw in loss of fuel duty, installing chargers, etc.. It is baffling that the govt endorses hosing money at folk who are generally comforably-off anyway – and some are downright wealthy – while cutting the winter fuel allowance which costs a fraction of EV subsidies.
Air quality is a poor justification for the subsidies and ratcheting compulsion. It would be far more cost-effective to run a scrappage scheme in tandem with subsidies to get folk out of their old diesel smokers. That would be a direct boost to the less well-off who can’t afford a newer, cleaner car – of any flavour.
Lastly, pushing EVs actually increases our CO2 emissions, whether that matters or not. All of our zero-carbon electricity generation is always fully-allocated as it has priority on the grid. So any incremental load is met by increasing the gas burn. The well-to-wheel efficiency of an EV powered by gas-fired electricity is little different from that of a modern ICE car, in CO2 terms.
In summary, let the market decide. Remove the subsidies and the ZEV mandate and let people make a free choice. EVs will probably become cheaper (especially once the obsession with range wanes) and will be a good option for many folk. I suspect this will be driven by the second-hand market where there is already rough parity with ICE and the combination of low running costs and better user experience are attractive.
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Jit: thanks for that. Rather surprising, given that they both live and breathe cars, that they seem poorly-informed on a number of points, especially “sustainable” fuels.
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Mike/ Sir John
There are a number of points to respond to here. First, we must remember that emotion trumps fact. We will have to be persuaded emotionally that EVs are the better option before we buy one. And even a minor inconvenience is likely to be enough to tip people into the “never” camp. People who lack off-street parking, but can presently afford new cars on a 3-year lease, are likely to decide to keep their car when the lease ends, rather than moving onto an EV – purely because of the inconvenience of public charging. That’s just basic common sense.
Regarding the cost advantages: EVs are cheaper under the extant conditions, of charging from home and crippling fuel duty with VAT on top, BiK and VED advantages. It is quite obvious that early adopters (with a driveway, local vehicle use) have done stunningly well financially. But it’s equally obvious that the success of EVs inevitably saws off the branch they are sitting on. The Treasury will turn its beady eye on EVs shortly, since the losses of tax are becoming too large to ignore. It’s a difficult balancing act, because they do not want to stifle the growth of EV sales by taxing them like ICE. And the obvious answer is road pricing, which taxes friend and foe alike. That approach would mean that EVs are still winning, because ICE is now taxed on so many fronts it is still cheaper to run the EV. But road pricing has knock-on effects that are far reaching. It will deter car ownership, and it will deter economic activity.
Mike, you speak of towing a yacht as if the point is absurd. Yes; but it stands as an exemplar for the transport of goods. From my casual observations, whether towing or moving loads, resorting to EVs is going to reduce efficiency and become inflationary. The only case I see is short-range deliveries. Electric HGVs? Not optimal.
Regarding synfuel, it may be a niche product for the well-heeled to water their sports cars. And I would not want vast areas given over to the growth of corn to be turned into ethanol. But fuel is already 10% synthetic. (And I note that we still pay the same duty.) If synfuel could be made from CO2 extracted from flue gas, that would provide the utility of ICE with a certain amount of sustainability for the fuel (it’s not a closed loop).
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Jit; we’re on the same page, more or less.
Certainly EVs do not work for those who can’t charge at home, either practically or economically. However there’s plenty of time for that to change. As you know, folk will be able to buy pure ICEs for another 5 years and hybrids (which seem likely to be the dominant configuration) for another 10. That is just new cars. The used market will still be there, outnumbering new sales by 3 or 4 to 1 and ICEs will be in the majority for many years yet. Even if EV uptake meets the mandate targets, the number on the roads will be less than 15 million by 2035. Changes that will ameliorate the current problems include improvements in battery technology and charging. Also there is the idea of letting users access their domestic tariff via public chargers which would lower costs dramatically. The charging companies would be paid for providing the infrastructure rather than selling power.
Clearly the present level of subsidy is unsustainable, as you say. There are straws in the wind already: the BiK rates are set to rise – very slowly; the waivers on VED and congestion charging have been dropped; the extra duty on “high-price” cars over k£40 will apply to EVs from next year. I fear you are right about road pricing and the consequences.
Towing is clearly problematic for EVs. My yacht reference was flippant: the issue comes up a lot in debates on EV forums. As well as the dramatic loss of range, very few charging facilities are configured for cars with a caravan or whatever in tow, leading to much hassle in parking up, unhooking, charging the EV and then re-attaching.
Synfuel – and other alternatives – is a whole other can of worms. Some large portion of the US corn crop goes into ethanol production which is obscene, turning food into fuel when it could be shipped abroad to hunger-stricken places. The holy grail, aiui, is e-fuel made from captured CO2 and green hydrogen. The energy inefficiencies and sheer cost make it totally impractical but that is no barrier when there are subsidies to be had and virtue to be signalled.
Personally I am watching developments with a mixture of horror and amusement. At some point I will replace my current car, probably with something similar of fewer years and miles but I don’t exclude the possibility of a second-hand EV as they are already financially attractive. We shall see.
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Speaking of vox populi more generally:
“I regret none of the climate policies we pushed in Ireland. But we underestimated the backlash
From rural buses to solar panels, our Green agenda has been transformative. Yet, vested interests and big polluters helped to poison the well of public thinking”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/11/green-party-ireland-general-election-2024
Ireland’s Green party went into government in 2020 determined to bring Ireland from laggard to leader on the climate crisis. Public opinion was with us, and we won more than 7% of the national vote. This mandate allowed us to negotiate a coalition agreement with Ireland’s two large centrist parties that was recognised by European Green colleagues as one of the greenest deals they had seen.
Over the past four and a half years we worked flat out to implement that programme. I think most independent experts would say the impact has been transformational….
…In cloudy Ireland, solar panels are being put up on 100 roofs every day and 1,000 houses are being retrofitted every week.…
Despite, or perhaps because of, all the above, we lost all but one of our seats in the national parliament in last month’s general election, after losing both our seats in the European parliament elections in June. Green parties who had been in government in Belgium and Austria have experienced similar electoral reversals in recent months, and all eyes will be on the German election in February to see if the Green party there can buck the trend.
I feel sure that our party can come back stronger, but we do need to ask questions about what lessons can be learned, as we face the climate action leap we know we all still have to make.
The first lesson is that delivering change is easier said than done....
…Perhaps we underestimated the backlash we were to receive from the vested interests that want to maintain the status quo. …
Interesting. Was the backlash from vested interests, or form the electorate, who didn’t like the reality of green policies? “Despite, or perhaps because of…“ indeed. Perhaps because of. Is reality dawning? The public aren’t enamoured of “green” policies once they’ve experienced them. No, it seems this is only a temporary setback as the Irish Greens march on and the public are persuaded they (the public) were wrong to reject them:
…We are engaged in what is in effect a war on climate breakdown, and there will be many battles won and lost. The vital thing is to believe that change is possible and not just to give up when you lose on one particular day.…
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“In cloudy Ireland, solar panels are being put up on 100 roofs every day and 1,000 houses are being retrofitted every week.…
Despite, or perhaps because of, all the above, we lost all but one of our seats in the national parliament in last month’s general election, after losing both our seats in the European parliament elections in June.“
“Despite, or perhaps because of” – reality is a bitch, so lets ignore reality and blame “the vested interests that want to maintain the status quo“.
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“In cloudy Ireland, solar panels are being put up on 100 roofs every day and 1,000 houses are being retrofitted every week.…
Betwixt the reality and the dream …
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