Sometimes it's difficult to know where to start with propaganda like this, but let's pick up the thread here ...
The government says its aim is to insulate every home in Britain by 2020 - and energy companies, councils and voluntary organisations will be making door-to-door visits in deprived areas to promote the scheme.
1. Nulab will be out of gummint in two years' time at the latest, by 2020 they'll be an unpleasant memory.
2. The poorest people live in council flats. If councils want to insulate their blocks of flats properly, then good luck to them. From the point of view of a tenant, with a concrete floor, walls and ceiling, there aren't any 'loft spaces' to insulate, and they probably can't afford double glazing (even if that were an economically rational thing to do, which it isn't in most cases).
3. Just look at the list of meddling quangocrats and lobbyists in that article who'll be slathering over this; Warm Front (the BBC try to throw you off the scent by not capitalising it, Warm Front themselves try and throw you off the scent by having a co.uk rather than a gov.uk URL); the people at the Benefits Agency who decide who does and who doesn't qualify for the means-tested £25 a week; councils and voluntary organisations who'll be making the visits; the manufacturers of double glazing and lagging who think they're in for a taxpayer-funded bonanza; Help The Aged; the trade unions (foremost Unite); the National Housing Federation, who "represent 1,300 not-for-profit housing associations in England and campaign for better housing and neighbourhoods" (some of the UK's biggest subsidy junkies who are keen to get the taxpayer to shovel yet more money at them to enable them to do up their properties) i.e. not to be confused with the Home Builders' Federation, who can see a pretty taxpayer billion or three rolling their way but were too polite to mention it.
4. "Door-to-door visits"? Hmmm, now why does that phrase fill me with dread?
The BBC don't appear to have included soundbites from their taxpayer funded chums at Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth, but there's only so much crap you can squeeze into one article, I suppose.
Male Talkers
3 hours ago
4 comments:
Mark, I can't wait for 2020, Britain will be an amazing place to live!
"The energy companies will be expected to pay for the £910m package and Mr Brown has urged them not to pass the costs on to consumers. "
So, Brown doesn't want a windfall tax, just a rose by a different name.
At least a straightforward windfall tax would just take the money off companies and go straight to poor people, bypassing sociology graduates and contractors who will fleece the simple shopper.
Yes, I get telephone calls from companies trying to sell me insulation via a government grant. The conversation goes something like this:
Caller: Did you realise that you can get a grant to help with the cost of cavity wall insulation?
Me: I have solid walls.
Caller: Well, what about loft insulation?
Me: It's boarded out.
"At least a straightforward windfall tax would just take the money off companies and go straight to poor people"
Dream on. Poor people won't see a penny of it in their purses.
The most that can happen is that it will prevent the government borrowing an additional sum equivalent to the amount raised by the one-off windfall tax. No windfall tax and the money is spent on capital projects or research and development or dividends, each of which is a far better use than reducing government debt by the equivalent of maybe £100 per person.
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