Whoever the Vestas protesters are, they won't go away
As I write, four climate change protestors are chained to cranes at Southampton docks. Others are attempting to board the barge Blade Runner - which transports the huge wind turbine blades across the Solent from the Vestas factory on the Isle of Wight.
We're not sure if any of the people taking this direct action are former workers at the factory who staged the occupation last month.
It's the latest stage of a campaign that's capturing the public imagination. The Guardian has pointed out the new red and green alliance between unions and climate change protestors.
The police will no doubt get them down, they will have made their point, it's all exciting stuff. But what still interests me is where the energy for this campaign is really coming from.
Coverage of the Vestas dispute on the island has a different tone. Read Ventnor Blog (it's not just about Ventnor), the County Press, Wightbridge or Island Pulse and you'll see much of the talk has been about jobs.
Watch a short BBC video of the protesters...
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And read the full news story from BBC Hampshire.
I heard a little anecdote from someone sitting in a Newport pub during the protests on the island. Someone came in to call on the locals to show more support - there are too many mainlanders was the cry.
On the island there was a backlash against the continued occupation of the factory. You've made your point about the redundancies, people told those on the sit-in, the Isle of Wight planners will look more favourably on turbines in future, now you're harming the island's chances of future investment.
But that really isn't the point. The suggestion that there's some connections between Isle of Wight residents rejecting planning applications for wind turbines and the loss of jobs is entirely bogus. The manufacture of blades is an entirely global market - largely unaffected by individual orders, but heavily dependent on political opinion.
The Danish owners of Vestas know that their continued prosperity is entirely dependent on public views about wind power - in this country, the US, and China. That's why they openly spend millions each year on political lobbying.
So say, as we think, the people up cranes today come from London, perhaps they're international protestors, so what? The action was highly co-ordinated - spokespeople immediately in front of the media at the TUC conference - does it matter?
Climate change is not a local issue.
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~03~RS~)
Welcome to the hustings! I'm Peter Henley, the BBC's political reporter in the south of England. From parish councils in Sussex, to European politics in Oxford, this is the blog for you.
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There's a comparatively unobtrusive wind-turbine installed at Itchen Valley Country Park. Why can't we have more of those smaller ones dotted around strategically, like mobile phone masts, rather than the hundred foot monsters gathered together in "farms" which clearly spoil the natural beauty of theses septic isles...
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As for the Vestas protestors harming the IOW, I think Vestas have done more damage to the IOW, by closing the factory as it obviously damages the local economy. If the Protestors are harming anything, its the Governments green credentials and Vestas reputation rather than the IOW itself...
But as I inferred above, the huge wind-turbines were the wrong product. Nobody wants them in their back yard, or on the top of Butser Hill. Coal-fired power stations used to be built large for efficiency reasons. The same efficiency argument applies to the monster wind-turbines, but for practical reasons it would be far better to have more of the smaller turbines dotted around the UK.
The view from my house looks over an industrial yard. Stick a modest-sized wind turbine in that yard and generate some useful power for the local community...
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