The Desolate North

[Christmas Tree 4725]

Lord Howell, a Government energy adviser and father-in-law to George Osborne, has described parts of the North East of England as “desolate” and suggested controversial fracking should be concentrated away from the south.

 

The Conservative peer, who advises William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, on energy and resource security, called for fracking to be concentrated in the North East because it is “large, desolate and uninhabited areas”.

 

He claimed that it could be a “mistake” to discuss shale gas drilling – known as fracking – in terms “of the whole United Kingdom in one go”.

 

In comments sure to cause controversy, he seemed to suggest that there are not “beautiful” areas in the North East and that it would be ripe for shale gas exploration.

 

“There are obviously in beautiful rural areas, worries not just about the drilling and the fracking, which I think are exaggerated, but about the trucks, the delivery and the roads and the disturbance,” Lord Howell said. “And those are quite justified worries.”

 

“But there are large uninhabited and desolate areas, certainly up in the North East where there’s plenty of room for fracking well away from anyone’s residence where it can be conducted without any kind of threat to the rural environment.”

 

He added that “a distinction should be made between one area and another rather than lumping them all together”.

 

Lord Howell is father to Francis Osborne, the Chancellor’s wife.

 

The controversial comments by someone so close to the Chancellor will raise questions about the Government’s energy policies.

 

The Tories have also repeatedly faced accusations that they ignore the north of England because it is largely dominated by the Labour Party.

 

Lord Howell stepped down as a Foreign Office minister last year.

 

Environmental groups have previously raised questions about Lord Howell’s influence on the Government’s green policies because of his close relationship with Mr Osborne.

 

Lord Howell has also faced a series of questions about his links to companies.

 

He is a consultant to a Japanese high-speed train firm expected to tender when the controversial HS2 rail line is built.

 

The peer, who was Margaret Thatcher’s transport secretary, is being paid as a “European consultant” to JR Central, which could be a bidder for multi-million-pound contracts connected to HS2.

 

He is also an adviser to the Kuwait Investment Office.

 

David Cameron has said that shale gas drilling could help cut the cost of living for families struggling with average bills of more than £1,300 per year.

 

Earlier this month Mr Cameron gave some of his strongest ever comments in favour of shale gas.

 

"In America they are now almost self-sufficient in gas," he said. "Their gas prices to business are now less then half as much as ours are and the reason for this is they have put a lot of investment into unconventional gas.

 

"The figures are actually quite frightening. Europe as a whole has 75 per cent as much unconventional gas as America. So we’ve got less in Europe as America.

 

"But whereas they are digging 10,000 wells a year, so far in Europe we’ve dug just 100. So we are way behind, so I’m in favour of fracking, the government is making it easier."

[Ayatollah Hermione 13869]

The only thing desolate about the North East is the idea that these horrible, unfeeling cunts will continue to oversee the pillaging of it for the near future. Desolation is seeing your glorious leaders slash and burn their way through institutions and services that have been here long before us to line their pockets, not some of the most perfect scenery in the British Isles.

[Monkeys Fist 42457]

Staggering.

There are obviously in beautiful rural areas, worries not just about the drilling and the fracking, which I think are exaggerated, but about the trucks, the delivery and the roads and the disturbance, Lord Howell said. And those are quite justified worries.

 

But there are large uninhabited and desolate areas, certainly up in the North East where theres plenty of room for fracking well away from anyones residence where it can be conducted without any kind of threat to the rural environment.

Does the monumental cunt not realise that what he calls " large, uninhabited desolate areas" are what we call " beautiful rural areas".

Or do they not count because they're up north?

What a pile of shit

[Monkeys Fist 42457]

Your thoughts CT?

You wouldn't need to take the microwave camping anymore, you could just set light to the water supply.

[LoveTheBobby 1]

 

H2Oh-no

[Christmas Tree 4725]

Your thoughts CT?

You wouldn't need to take the microwave camping anymore, you could just set light to the water supply.

[Howmanheyman 33231]

Seeing as I've seen quite a few desolate areas in the South I'd say they can quite easily spread the joy of fracking nationwide, unless of course, the real reason is the North East has no political interest for these cunts.

[Ayatollah Hermione 13869]

Desolate: Adjective

(of a place) Deserted of people and in a state of bleak and dismal emptiness.

I was born and grew up in the North East. Regular readers of LabourList will know that I love it like nowhere else and will happily talk about the region for hours. Mostly I love it because it’s people are passionate and friendly and honest and true. When I’m not there I miss being there, and I go back as often as I can. One day I’d like to move back to the North East and live there again.

And who wouldn’t want to live there? It’s one of the most beautiful parts of the Britain. Northumberland especially is Britain’s best kept secret – picturesque villages, rolling hills, spectacular coastal villages, historic castles and babbling brooks. It’s stunning.

Alternatively, if you believe Lord Howell – Tory Energy Adviser and Father-in-law of the Chancellor – it’s “desolate”, (meaning “bleak and dismal emptiness” according to the dictionary). Howell wants the government to concentrate their great fracking experiment (which is in no way inspired by Lynton Crosby) on the North East. The “desolate” North East. Let me tell you Lord Howells, there is nothing desolate, bleak or dismal about one of Britain’s proudest and most beautiful regions.

Here’s what Howell is reported to have said:

“There are obviously in beautiful rural areas, worries not just about the drilling and the fracking, which I think are exaggerated, but about the trucks, the delivery and the roads and the disturbance. And those are quite justified worries.”

“But there are large uninhabited and desolate areas, certainly up in the North East where there’s plenty of room for fracking well away from anyone’s residence where it can be conducted without any kind of threat to the rural environment.”

Howell clearly contrasts “beautiful rural areas” (not in the North East) with “uninhabited and desolate” areas in the North East. Yet, this region – lacking even the most basic transport links thanks to a chronic and historic lack of infrastructure investment in the area – would suffer due to “the trucks, the delivery and the roads and the disturbance”. Arguably it would suffer more, as beautiful, majestic rural Northumberland lacks the road capacity for trucks and industrial machinery. And building that kind of capacity would risk trashing it.

This isn’t about preserving beauty. It’s about avoiding any difficult rows and counteracting NIMBY-ism.

Some have also sought to defend Howell’s comments by saying that this will bring manufacturing jobs to the North East. But if the rural North East is so “desolate”, where are these workers going to come from? No-one wants to see more manufacturing jobs in the North East than I do, but tearing up the Northumberland countryside isn’t the answer to that.

The vast majority of the population in the North East is based around large urban centres.

Newcastle, for example, has miles of factories along the banks of the Tyne that were once used to build tanks and ships (factories in which several generations of my family have worked). If the intention is to focus on the North East for job creation (which it isn’t, Howell has focused on the North East because he think it’s empty) then why not use those factories to build and invest in hydro-electric, wind and other renewables? That way the manufacturing would take place where the workforce is, rather than a couple of hours away in the countryside.

Frankly, it would be quicker to get to Leeds than most of Northumberland for an unemployed would-be worker from Newcastle or Sunderland.

But I’m trying to use evidence here, and evidence clearly isn’t what it behind Howell’s comments. He believes that there are beautiful rural areas. He believes that the North East does not contain such areas, and is just empty land between the North and Scotland. I want to show him otherwise. I’d like to extend an offer to Lord Howell to come and walk with me across the beach at Bamburgh, through Teesdale, Weardale and Tynedale, across Hadrian’s Wall, through Country Durham and around Kielder.

And then I’d like him to tell me that this is desolate, that this isn’t beautiful and that this isn’t worth saving. Because it’s not bleak, and it’s not desolate. It’s one of the most wonderful places we have.

 

 

[Dr Gloom 21924]

i think the general takeout from this tory cunt is: "it's grim up north"

[Monkeys Fist 42457]

Has the cunt ever set foot up here?

I'd love a genuine response from him.

[PaddockLad 17274]

Lord Howell, a Government energy adviser and father-in-law to George Osborne

You dont fuckin say?

[Gemmill 44890]

Google image him. Every inch the tory, right down to the Douglas Hurd walnut whip hairstyle.

[Dr Gloom 21924]

from the FT:

 

The statement has puzzled industry analysts, who point out that the bulk of Britain’s shale gas reserves are not located in the north east

[Monkeys Fist 42457]

 

What a fucking arse.

[CleeToonFan 1]

Nice to see the owld 'fracking is definitely bad' propaganda has effected such senior people...

[Renton 21627]

from the FT:

 

The statement has puzzled industry analysts, who point out that the bulk of Britains shale gas reserves are not located in the north east

I know very little about fracking, but was vaguely aware most reserves were in the South. What a thick Tory cunt. Edited July 30, 2013 by Renton

[Monkeys Fist 42457]

Nice to see the owld 'fracking is definitely bad' propaganda has effected such senior people...

You think it's not?

[Renton 21627]

You think it's not?

It's a different debate but is it? I'm not sure personally.

[Howmanheyman 33231]

 

If you ever wanted evidence of a typical Southern Tory twat then this bloke is it. Doesn't want his nice people in their nice areas to suffer fracking, wants them up there in their grimy hovels to put up with it instead despite there being no decent transport links and above all nothing to err, 'frack' up here as well having no problem ruining our beautiful countryside. We shouldn't laugh too much, these cunts have the power to do the Souths bidding.

[@yourservice 67]

He's appologised and narrowed it down to Boldon.

[Monkeys Fist 42457]

It's a different debate but is it? I'm not sure personally.

I'm not 100% sure- but that's the point. No one is.

Nowhere near enough is known about the effects , long and short term, for me to be ok with Tory cunts selling off the rights to do it under my house or anyone else's.

[Monkeys Fist 42457]

He's appologised and narrowed it down to Boldon.

In that case, fill your boots.

[CleeToonFan 1]

Absolutely it's a different debate but there's no conclusive evidence it DOES have an effect yet people are going crazy about it, assured its definitely going to be awful. I worked a month in June for an oil and gas exploration company who had a job in the Basque Country, the locals heard about it (it wasn't even fracking), presumed it was fracking and did their best to make our lives hell, cutting cables, shouting abuse at us (one guy even tried throwing a Molotov cocktail ). The company ended up pulling out of the job which had the potential to create thousands of jobs in Spain... Not like they need it or anything. Ever since gas land people are speaking definitively about things which aren't necessarily true about fracking.

Still, this cunt makes me hope it contaminates all the local water and they do it in the south east, prick.

[PaddockLad 17274]

Aye the old fracking's harmless..

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LBjSXWQRV8

 

 

And a minor earthquake around where they were drilling around Blackpool?...

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-15550458

 

Tbf, theres nowt scientifically proven as far as I know...but there is a cause for concern..

[Monkeys Fist 42457]

Yorkshire people get angry over the strangest things.