Us and Them

On police advice, the energy firm intent on fracking under West Sussex is today reported to be scaling back its operation. Because we live in a democracy in which free speech is permitted, the protestors have achieved a moral victory in the war. Long may it last.

These protestors like the women at Greenham Common in the 1980s are entitled to their view. I suspect history will look back on them as being far ahead of the rest of us. This whole episode is driven by the need for energy in a carbon dependent world. It does not have to be like this and they are merely seeking to highlight this reality. The array of renewable energy forms is is growing all the time. Admittedly, many of them are prohibitively expensive in the short term to the vast majority of us. In the long term though, most forms of renewable energy just make so much sense. Anything which moves us away from carbon fuels can only be a positive step in the right direction. We shouldn't just be doing this to make ourselves feel better although this is a good start. We really need to be thinking about the generations who will ultimately inherit this amazing planet. The protestors have been a shining example of democracy in action. Nobody has been killed and ordinary people have been granted the basic human right of expressing their view.

In Cairo today, democracy must seem a million miles away for the Egyptian people struggling to address the recent decision to remove the democratically elected government. There is absolutely no point in having a vote if the army is just going to do what it wants anyway. In effect, they have a dictatorship hiding behind the guise of the army. That people have died during peaceful demonstrations is shocking to me and serves as a reminder to us all just how lucky we are in the UK. Sure, we have plenty to moan about in our everyday lives but compared to the people of Egypt, we don't know we're born.

Even though it is unsettling to learn that the BBC is not to be investigated further for irregular payments to senior managers and even though corruption is as alive here as anywhere else, at least our police aren't yet given orders to open fire on innocent civilians. In the great big scheme of things, we have much to be thankful for.