Electric- Solar, wind, human emissions? Take your pick...

Innovation, innovation, innovation. Just saw a TV program called ‘Click’. On this occasion it highlighted the small companies in both the Netherlands and Sweden engaged in the development of electric boats, small fast cruisers that even hydroplaned! In Sweden even ferries! And the question I have is – What is happening in Britain? Once the powerhouse of the world? Is it perhaps something to do with government backing? Is money being made available for this type of research and development? Well, you answer that question, my perception is that precious little is done in the UK except arguing whether we are ‘its’, ‘binary’ or ‘pan sexual’. The development shown showed cars that were virtual solar panels! Obviously there is not a lot of sun in western Europe. But with so much greater need for charging the costs overall are also greatly reduced. And here comes my nasty brain – this is not what OUR UK government wants because of the also greatly reduced tax basis. The sun comes free and I’m certain that at this precise moment someone in government is already thinking – How can we tax sunlight. In the UK I have to mention it again, we are now concerned only with watching Twitter and Facebook to see what our neighbours are thinking of us. Our UK children spend inordinate time on phones and tablets to play the most stupid games you’ll ever see. Instead of having a look at how to make a brilliant chess move they are looking at Google Play Store for interesting items like World of Tank Battles or Bed Wars. Good question – Why don’t we ban Google? Or severely curtail it? Personally I have curtailed Google as much as possible, I use DuckDuck as search engine and change over every now and again to Startpage. Like when I was in the army it pays to be fleet on foot. Change frequently, don’t stay in the same place more than a minute. I use more than the two mentioned, obviously we need to be security conscious. 

But back to innovation – why do we not pay much attention to solar panels in the UK? I hear mealy-mouthed explanations such as being not very efficient, costly to make, costly to install, not making enough electricity. Yet other countries are forging ahead with much better solar cells, better manufacturing processes and as seen are now producing vehicles, cars, boats, ferries that run entirely on electricity. There are developments that work on road surfaces where lines are embedded, much like the idea of the Chinese mag-lev. Where magnets levitate the car, making friction virtually nil reducing costs again. (So less tax for the government, I think the Civil Service here has nightmares!). All in all, we are seemingly married to the idea that wind will do it all. We are plastering our hills, every spare bit of green with inefficient and very costly wind-turbines. Why? Because most in our government, MPs, ministers, Civil Service, all believe that wind-turbines provide employment across the board. This might be true but it is costly as well. In Holland, my old stamping land, most new build houses have solar panels. Factories all have more and more solar panels. They are not converting valuable farming land in panel monstrosities but still, there are plenty to go around. Britain? Ah, you see we are clever we believe in wind. IT blows all year round doesn’t it? No, you gormless minister, it doesn’t! For most of 2022 the wind was pretty poor in the UK. Except for the hurricanes coming out of various political orifices. And so we are in the doldrums (!) in more ways than one. Let’s hope good ol’ Liz will hoist up the trousers (sorry!) and take this country by the scruff of the neck. Sorry to say but despite promising, this was Boris’ greatest failure.