Germany, which is desperately short of energy options, has finally decided (after much debate / dithering) that it will shut down its last nuclear power stations by April 2023. This is an act born of green ethical principle it seems.
At the same time, however, it is going to flatten a wind farm north-west of Cologne to make an open-cast mine that will serve up its speciality fuel: dirty brown coal. Worse, this will include forcibly resettling 7,500 people who live in the area.
It's not clear what principle this is born of. What word would you use to describe it? "unconscionable" will do for starters.
Benighted though the UK is, and whether you think that we're off to hell in a hand-cart or merely going slowly to the dogs, it is impossible to believe that this could now happen here. Are there no activist lawyers in Germany? No public protest? Is no one gluing themselves to bulldozers?
We did do this though in WW II when the village of Imber on Salisbury Plain was forcibly abandoned to create a site for infantry training. It is still used today. The MoD never quite succeeded in keeping people out completely, although the villagers never returned to live there, despite clear promises. I visit when I can if only to help keep the roads open.
No such luck awaits the lost 7,500 as the mighty German state sends in its earth-movers and rolls over them.
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