“Net-Zero Tyranny”

The Alberta government’s $8-million campaign to “educate Canadians and Albertans” on the impacts of new emissions regulations proposed by the federal government has begun rolling out across the country.

The campaign, involving a wide range of television, web, social, billboard and other forms of advertising, will run just a little more than a month, until Nov. 2, when the federal government’s public input period on net-zero rules is set to conclude.

It’s running in Alberta, Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, chosen because they are the regions “most impacted by the regulations,” a spokesperson with the province said.

Wardens policing Sadiq Khan’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) are wearing balaclavas after Blade Runners activists mocked them on social media, The Telegraph can reveal.

The Labour London mayor has rolled out mobile automatic number plate vans (ANPR) in an attempt to prevail over vigilantes determined to sabotage the green scheme.

The vans are being deployed on roads in outer London boroughs in the newly-expanded zone, where older vehicles are charged £12.50 a day.

A new Leger poll finds that a clear majority of Canadians want the carbon tax reduced or eliminated entirely — and that nearly everyone thinks that federal plans for “net zero” are unrealistic.

Of respondents, 55 per cent wanted the carbon tax reduced (18 per cent) or abolished (37 per cent), while 27 per cent were fine to keep it as-is. A mere 18 per cent said they agreed with the current strategy of raising carbon levies each year.

Punishing the workers won’t save the planet

Britain’s cosy climate consensus has been broken. No longer is “net zero” some airy target that can waft freely in the intellectual blue sky of speeches and policy papers — it is an ambition that has finally drifted onto the frontline of politics. And, as it arrives there, its doctrines are beginning to manifest themselves in divisive policymaking.

Nobody ever asked us if we wanted green energy. They just did it

It has been said that the road to net zero carbon emissions runs through the homes of the poor. This statement is echoed in UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s decision this week to water down net zero commitments, a political manoeuvre, no doubt in response to growing concerns over the costs of the energy transition.

Perhaps the Prime Minister has recognised, as Nigel Farage has been saying for some time, that there has been a democratic deficit around net zero that is similar to the deficit that eventually led to the Brexit vote. Because, as with EU membership, political elites have taken us down the road to net zero without waiting to see if this is a road we, the public, wish to travel.

Things are not going well in Germany’s bid to reach net zero by 2045, five years earlier even than Britain’s own unrealistic target. For months, the German government has been trying to devise a way to save its heavy industry from high energy prices which are sending production fleeing to Asia. Just last year, chemicals giant BASF announced that it would invest in a new £10 billion plant in China rather than Europe, thanks to the cost of energy.

Now, the government seems to have found a way. It is going to raid its £200 billion climate transition fund, which was supposed to invest in green technology. The fund was also meant to compensate householders who have been groaning under the expense of policies such as next year’s proposed ban on new gas boilers.

According to Greek mythology, Prometheus stole fire from Olympus and gave it to humanity. It was a gift that liberated and empowered us. For many, that Promethean fire has come to symbolise scientific and technological knowledge. But I think the fire can be interpreted more literally than that. I think it represents combustion – the ability to create useful energy via the process of burning things. It captures our ability to transform and employ different forms of energy to master nature and improve our lives.

Do you sometimes read a sentence or phrase and think ‘I wish I’d written that’. Well, I came across one the other day written by Andy Kessler in the Wall Street Journal: ‘climate-excuse assaults on our liberties’. He was running through the range of restrictions, bans and taxes being imposed on citizens around the world in the name of climate change – or should I say, climate emergency or even global boiling.

But here’s the thing: these assaults are now going beyond reducing our freedoms; they are also driving up the cost of living while diminishing our scope to have fun. It’s early days, but there are some signs that the peasants are revolting – thank God.

Ever get the heebie-jeebies just reading about something. Maybe only a line or two was enough to make you go, “Ew” and you either kept moving or…?

Up to one in 15 motorists – some two million – could be doctoring their number plates to avoid being caught by cameras enforcing Ulez zones and speed limits, a police investigation has suggested.

Government advisers have warned that controls on the sale of fake plates are so lax that the number of motorists seeking to evade detection is expected to rocket following the expansion of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras to police new Ulez areas and 20mph speed limits.