A question for the environmentalists

I’ve finally got around to reading George Monbiot’s Heat with his proposals for a greener, cleaner future that curbs global warming.

But while I agree with much of what he says, I have one fundamental question that he, nor most of the professional environmentalists and “radical thinkers”, seem unable to pose, much less answer.

And that is, how are large-scale wind turbines, wave generators, solar power stations, geothermal projects and hydro-electric schemes going to be build without access to vast and cheap supplies of steel, aluminium, concrete and plastics?

The wheel of daftness rolls onwards…

I telephoned Scotch Premier, the abbatoir we use in Inverurie, today to book three pigs in for slaughter next week.

It was business as usual until I was told the pigs would have to have our herd number slapmarked on both shoulders (basically a tattoo) to avoid confusion.

I found this a little puzzling as the legal requirement is for metal tags (in the ears), ear tattoos or slap marks. Any one of these three is deemed acceptable by SEERAD in Scotland and DEFRA in England.