Panorama: Go green or else!

Hi

Did anyone see this? I only saw the opening few minutes (will download
it later) but it seemed to be based around telling people that they'll
have to "go green" one day and that from then their lives will be
miserable with no car and no cheap foreign holidays. The show followed
a family who had been forced to live under these conditions for a
year. The presenter, Jeremy Vine (someone who massively irritates me
at the best of times), was his usual antagonistic self: "I don't like
being told what to do so instead I drove my massive car around and
flew off to the Canaries with my family". Arse.

Perhaps the show didn't live up to its initial impressions (I hope it
didn't) but it struck me as a fairly effective way of turning people
off the idea of perhaps living a bit more modestly. I'm no tree-
hugging swampy but I think it's fairly obvious to anyone with a bit of
sense that we can't sustain current lifestyles indefinitely.

Mark

Mark wrote:
Hi

Did anyone see this? I only saw the opening few minutes (will download
it later) but it seemed to be based around telling people that they'll
have to "go green" one day and that from then their lives will be
miserable with no car and no cheap foreign holidays. The show followed
a family who had been forced to live under these conditions for a
year. The presenter, Jeremy Vine (someone who massively irritates me
at the best of times), was his usual antagonistic self: "I don't like
being told what to do so instead I drove my massive car around and
flew off to the Canaries with my family". Arse.

Perhaps the show didn't live up to its initial impressions (I hope it
didn't) but it struck me as a fairly effective way of turning people
off the idea of perhaps living a bit more modestly. I'm no tree-
hugging swampy but I think it's fairly obvious to anyone with a bit of
sense that we can't sustain current lifestyles indefinitely.

Mark


I'm rather looking forward to Channel 4 on Thursday, for a bit of balance.

"Al C-F" m wrote in
message ...
Mark wrote:
Hi

Did anyone see this? I only saw the opening few minutes (will download
it later) but it seemed to be based around telling people that they'll
have to "go green" one day and that from then their lives will be
miserable with no car and no cheap foreign holidays. The show followed
a family who had been forced to live under these conditions for a
year. The presenter, Jeremy Vine (someone who massively irritates me
at the best of times), was his usual antagonistic self: "I don't like
being told what to do so instead I drove my massive car around and
flew off to the Canaries with my family". Arse.

Perhaps the show didn't live up to its initial impressions (I hope it
didn't) but it struck me as a fairly effective way of turning people
off the idea of perhaps living a bit more modestly. I'm no tree-
hugging swampy but I think it's fairly obvious to anyone with a bit of
sense that we can't sustain current lifestyles indefinitely.

Mark


I'm rather looking forward to Channel 4 on Thursday, for a bit of balance.

Might be worth a watch. I expect Prof Bill Gray to be on there somewhere.

On Mar 5, 10:48 pm, Al C-F
m wrote:
Mark wrote:
Did anyone see this? I only saw the opening few minutes (will download
it later) but it seemed to be based around telling people that they'll
have to "go green" one day and that from then their lives will be
miserable with no car and no cheap foreign holidays.
[snip]

I'm rather looking forward to Channel 4 on Thursday, for a bit of balance.

Indeed.

It turns out Vine only introduced Panorama and the family didn't die
without a car.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programme...ma/6413195.stm

Mark

In article om,
(Mark) wrote:

The presenter, Jeremy Vine (someone who massively irritates me
at the best of times), was his usual antagonistic self: "I don't like
being told what to do so instead I drove my massive car around and
flew off to the Canaries with my family". Arse.

Jeremy Vine, who introduced the programme, said no such thing, and the
reporter, who did fly off to the Canaries with his family, didn't quite
put it that way either.

The rest of your comments pretty much match that pattern of
misrepresentation.

Mark wrote:
I think it's fairly obvious to anyone with a bit of
sense that we can't sustain current lifestyles indefinitely.

I agree, it should be obvious but there are plenty of intelligent
people (and countless others) out there who cannot see it at all. It is
literally inconceivable to them, in the literal sense of the word.
Thanks to wannabe celeb distractions, glittering trinkets and other
shallow distractions almost everyone in the country has been hoodwinked
into this dreamlike state.

Tony B

On Mar 6, 12:15 am, (Terry) wrote:
In article om,

(Mark) wrote:
The presenter, Jeremy Vine (someone who massively irritates me
at the best of times), was his usual antagonistic self: "I don't like
being told what to do so instead I drove my massive car around and
flew off to the Canaries with my family". Arse.

Jeremy Vine, who introduced the programme, said no such thing, and the
reporter, who did fly off to the Canaries with his family, didn't quite
put it that way either.

You're quite right. My mistake. Next time I will watch then speak. It
just happened that last night I caught the beginning of the programme
as I left to do something else. I posted to u.r.c, wondering what the
outcome of the show was as some (or possibly many) of its readers are
carless by choice and possibly more interested in the subject matter
on the whole. I'll admit that my dislike of Jeremy Vine swayed my
initial opinion.

The rest of your comments pretty much match that pattern of
misrepresentation.

I did state that I had only seen the first few minutes of the show and
that I hoped it wouldn't turn out to demonstrate how inconvenient and
dull a more restrained lifestyle would be. I'm glad to see that this
wasn't the case.

Mark

Mark wrote:


Indeed.

It turns out Vine only introduced Panorama and the family didn't die
without a car.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programme...ma/6413195.stm

Thanks for the link.

An interesting article, although some of the savings seemed rather
unconvincing. 50 pounds per year as a reward for extra insulation and
turning the thermostat down doesn't seem worthwhile from a purely financial
standpoint.

A 2000 pounds per year saving giving up the car also bordering on not being
worth it. Bear in mind that there must be an associated increase in
alternative transport costs unless everything you need/want to do is in
walking distance. Add to the monetary savings, the improvements in health
and lifestyle and that might just tip the balance for some people. I might
add, I don't have a car myself.

I'm not sure that there is a culture of people nipping off to another
country when they don't really need to. Foreign travel might be an
improving experience for a lot of people. Again, I should add that I've
never been abroad, although I would like to, one day.

--
***My real address is m/ike at u/nmusic d/ot co dot u/k (removing /s)
http://www.unmusic.co.uk - about me, music, geek sitcom etc.
http://www.unmusic.co.uk/amhs/ - alt.music.home-studio

In article .com,
(Mark) wrote:

I did state that I had only seen the first few minutes of the show

You did, and your response is admirable.

that I hoped it wouldn't turn out to demonstrate how inconvenient and
dull a more restrained lifestyle would be. I'm glad to see that this
wasn't the case.

In under 30 minutes it covered a lot in a mostly positive and honest
way. Reporter and family found foreign holidays hard to forego, young
kids find loss of car hard at first, and so forth. It did show dad and
kids on bicycles (briefly) with comment to the effect that they were all
cycling now. Also talked about hiw it was easier to give up car in big
city with lots of public transport. Wife even walked to nearby hospital
for birth of third kid. In the end they gave their car to friend with
agreement they could use it for holidays. It was quite positive on the
whole but didn't gloss over the negatives either.

On 6 Mar, 07:48, killermike wrote:
I'm not sure that there is a culture of people nipping off to another
country when they don't really need to. Foreign travel might be an
improving experience for a lot of people. Again, I should add that I've
never been abroad, although I would like to, one day.

You don't need to fly to experience foreign travel. I've had 2 ski
trips this spring, one by coach and one by train. Last year's holiday
was by boat. You might have a great holiday by jetting and and out of
a resort, but for an "improving experience" you'll do better
travelling more slowly overland.