It is beginning to get a bit chilly in the man cave these days. Summer is clearly over and autumn is here. Nice to look out at, but with a foretaste of winter. Of course, I have all the mod cons here such as electricity, air-conditioning (rarely used) and heat can be delivered by the same device. But that is expensive and also, according to Mr Miliband, killing the planet.
So, mainly on the grounds of cost, I decant a few days a week to the University of Hull Library and, from the reading room I can get a good view of the ‘flag of the day’. These alternate between the Ukraine flag, for reasons I cannot fathom, and every possible combination of LGBTQWERTY flags. I have referred to this penchant for flag waving in these pages before.
The flag cupboard at the University of Hull must be full to bursting. However, I cannot recall seeing the union flag which is probably buried under a pile of multicoloured pieces of cloth depicting every possible combination of sexual ‘preference’ and perversion. Do what you like chaps, but is there any need to flag it up, as it were? More to the point, why does my former employer feel the need to do this?
As for the Ukraine flag, one knows they are getting a beating by the Russians and that they are led by a chump but in how many other countries are narcissistic lunatics at the helm and people being killed and displaced? Is there a flag for the persecuted Christians of Nigeria or those in Syria? Perhaps there is, but they are not flying at the University of Hull or at any other UK university, I suspect. Of course, the persecution in Nigeria is being performed by people of a darkish hue, while the persecution in both Nigeria and Syria is carried out in the name of the religion of peace, which is beyond reproach by our lords and masters.
This is not real Islam some may say. But yes, it is as any study of the campaigns of the Prophet Muhammed (opprobrium be upon him) shows. He slaughtered his way across the Middle East. Mecca was taken by killing all the inhabitants, and is now the most important place in all the Islamic world. What does that tell you?
A warm welcome in Hull
Speaking of cold weather and the death of the planet, these things may no longer be such a problem in my hometown of Kingston-Upon-Hull. The local council, Hull City Council, have it sorted. Ever mindful of their push towards a zero carbon economy and the need to virtue signal their good intentions, Hull is in the throes of having a ‘green heating’ system installed. The early proposals for this mad scheme were covered in these pages last year.
Imagine having a new heating system installed in your house and the disruption that can cause. Well, imagine having a heating system installed in a whole city and the disruption that would cause. We residents of Hull don’t have to imagine it; we are living with it.
Hull is not a bad place. It is much nicer and greener (by which I mean leafy) than its reputation suggests. I would, normally, recommend a visit. But not now. If you get into the city, you run a severe risk of not being able to get out. Many key thoroughfares, including one of the main bridges over the River Hull, are closed. Even Gandhi Way (yes, we have one of these) is closed in the name of green energy. At busy periods, journey times have doubled (at least) and this is on the back of many recent road closures, none of which have led to any visible improvement.
Hull’s new heating system involves a massive programme of excavation to install pipes to transport heat, in the form of hot water, around the city. The scheme is costing £125 million and, allegedly, will prevent the release of ‘110,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent from entering the city’s air over 40 years.’ Which is just complete gobbledegook. What is ‘carbon dioxide equivalent’, and why measure it over 40 years? The company profiting from all this is Vital Energi Utilities Limited who claim to be in the business of ‘energy generation’. It seems they can neither spell nor do they understand the laws of thermodynamics, the first one of which states that ‘energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only converted from one form into another’.
Ask the people of Hull what problems they are facing and you can be sure that excessive amounts of ‘carbon dioxide equivalent’ in the air will not be anywhere near the top of the list, if it appears on the list at all. We are overrun by migrants, every second shop is a ‘Turkish’ barber (they are Kurds actually) or a nail bar, historic pubs are closing, unemployment is quite high and benefit claiming is very high (something to do with migrants, perhaps?). Our pavements are death traps due to e-bikes and e-scooters without speed regulators, and we have a high crime rate. The police, quick to turn up when the ‘far right’ are protesting, otherwise do next to nothing.
The energy is to be ‘generated’ in a remarkably ugly looking building bang in the middle of the city. This ‘energy centre’ – sorry ‘low-carbon energy centre – will have a 75-foot chimney and will burn ‘waste energy’, whatever that is. The heat will then flow from it to the shivering masses of Hull. According to a report from the Department of Energy, households requiring this miraculous substance called ‘heat’ flowing mercifully under their very feet will have to receive it by means of a heat exchanger.
It looks as if no households in Hull have one of these at the moment and my guess is that the council won’t be paying for them. These can cost up to nearly £4000 to install. Is that the sound of the tills rattling at the local plumbing and heating companies? Kerching!
Roger Watson is a retired academic, editor and writer. He writes regularly for a range of conservative journals including The Salisbury Review and The European Conservative. He has travelled and worked extensively in the Far East and the Middle East. He lives in Kingston upon Hull, UK.
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Such a pity that Hull, like many other towns and cities in the sixties, got rid of its ‘green’, eco friendly public transport system. The trolleybuses were quiet and fume free, and very efficient. Okay, there was a nasty coal-fired power station to provide the clean electricity, but that’s a minor point.
The new ‘green’ heat system in Hull is only operable (if it ever actually works) in a small area of the city centre and is intended to heat the City Council’s own buildings. Would any Hull resident be foolhardy enough (were it possible) to use HCC as its heat supplier given their track record of incompetence and everything being massively over budget and delivery delayed not infrequently by years (Queens Gardens refurbishment as a prime example)?
As I said to a gentleman in a shop today when he remarked about the rain pouring down outside, “I can’t wait for the climate change we keep hearing about – will make a change from the rain, wind, snow we keep getting.” He laughed. That is my stock response to any commentary on the weather these days and I can always tell the believers (who stiffen in disapproval) from the normal people (like that elderly man), who know the whole thing is a scam.
All I can say about the above article is: I’m glad I don’t live in Hull!
Me too.
What is the reason for calling Zelensky a chump? Please explain. Was he supposed to roll over and surrender his country and people within 3 weeks, as expected? The misery and destruction in Ukraine was and is unbearable, they didn’t ask for it and it needs to stop – however, didn’t some other countries whom we won’t mention promise to look after Ukraine if they gave up their nuclear capabilities? That went well for them, didn’t it? Does that mean helping them just enough for them not to lose, but not enough for them to win? The only people gaining from this are those who want to keep the war going.