How to lose a campaign

The BNP turned up in Henley today to campaign for the by election. They had a car with a loudspeaker that repeated a message in a voice that sounded like a 50s TV announcer. Several people complained about them, some voters told me that they rang the police to complain about this, but they moved on before the police could act.

I met their leader Nick Griffin, who tried to convince me that peak oil was more urgent than climate change, and that after its effects the emissions would be reduced so it wouldn't be a problem. Now I've not noticed the BNP campaigning on peak oil before, perhaps they are changing tactics, following the tories towards greenwash. I questioned Nick about turning coal into oil, he seemed not to have thought of this as he answered that we would soon run out of coal. Actually there's over a century worth of coal, but I didn't shatter his illusions.

It's a real danger that when the world wakes up to how low oil reserves are, the pressure will build to use alternatives. We've seen an increase in biofuel production leading to a lack of food. We can expect to see an increase in nuclear power and use of gas. The real answer is to cut back on waste, become more efficient and get serious about renewables, but this doesn't please the fossil lobby whose profit depends on exploiting limited reserves.