On this day, 2nd July 2013, Boris Johnson wrote a column in the Daily Telegraph (he was getting £250k a year for this gig). Its title was “Wind farms couldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding.” Johnson warned the UK is facing a major energy crisis. That at least he got right.
Offshore wind is of course a huge success story, and on-shore wind would probably have been too, but for the Cameron government making it virtually impossible to get planning permission.
Why this matters.
This sort of ignorant glib opposition is, well, it’s one of the many reasons the species isn’t going to make it.
What happened next?
Offshore wind took off.
Boris Johnson became Prime Minister.