Democracy is blown off course They don't know and they don't care - as long as they get their own way. There has long been a lingering suspicion - and little real evidence to the contrary - that this statement adequately sums up the Government's attitude to wind farms. They would - politically - be a series of hugely visible monuments to Tony Blair's "green" credentials. Huge engineering masterpieces spinning away - and hopefully generating votes. And that, many people believe, is the only thing they can generate with any kind of efficiency. The fact is that the claims made for wind power have been hugely inflated for purely political reasons. The planning process designed to build them has been laid down - some would say "rigged" - for purely political reasons. A whole industry has been spawned, largely at the taxpayer's expense, for purely for political reasons. The environmental facts are simple. Wind farms are a better bet, politically, than upsetting the motoring lobby, flirting with the nuclear power issue or actively preventing people from doing what they like, when they like, in terms of energy consumption. Now, a parish council in Northumberland says it is being told it cannot even discuss the issue. They are not the only ones. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister also appeared reluctant to discuss the issue yesterday - failing to respond to three requests for comment. While one appreciates they have been somewhat busy recently - and are currently at least one civil servant down - the people of Northumberland and Durham deserve better. The very least they deserve is to believe that, whatever the outcome of the planning applications currently on the table, everyone has had the chance to have their say, and that their opinion has been taken seriously. That is not the case at the moment - and it is a situation which shames a democracy. On stony ground They don't know and they don't care - as long as they get their own way. That just about sums up this Government's attitude to rural communities. Having held back millions which should have been paid to farmers, new Agriculture minister David Miliband promised yesterday that this situation would be resolved very soon. But that does not gloss over the mistakes of recent months. Despite the Government's best efforts, farming is still the mainstay of the rural economy and when you starve farmers of cash, you get a knock-on effect. And all in the name of the environment - which they are determined to wreck with their aforementioned wind farms. To find out more on both of these stories, subscribe to The Journal SmartEdition. Click here. | 
