Philip Johnson's Must Read in Today's Telegraph.

I've never met Philip Johnston, who writes for the Daily Telegraph. I have read some of his stuff - but I've not read anything as good as the article he's written today. The headline reads ' Wind farms aren't just a blight, they're a folly'. As a PPS, I have to be conscious that I do not say anything that conflicts with Coalition Government policy of 'onshore wind having a role to play as part of the energy mix, but that proposals should have strong community support and democratic legitimacy". So I'll just tell you what Philip wrote, without embellishing it with my opinion.

"there is one fundamental difference, between the great transformative projects of the 19th century and today's wind turbines: the latter don't work"

"To produce the same amount of electricity as one coal-fired power station, you'd need a wind farm the size of Greater London. And when there is no wind - or too much - the power produced is minuscule or the turbine has to be switched off while fossil fuel stations take up the slack."

"to see remote tracts of countryside that, by and large, survived the industrialisation of the landscape now threatened with defilement for no good reason is scandalous."

"A conspiracy of vested interests is seeking to bludgeon communities into accepting what has become a money-grabbing free-for-all masquerading as an environmental panacea."

"It is the greens and not the opponents of wind farms who are the true heirs of the 19 century Luddites, standing in the way of an energy policy that would benefit us all - and protect the landscape."