Cheers and Boos: Government joy, boring fields and Germany still ahead on penalties.

Government joy
A wind turbine is to be built near the Scottish home of the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother despite planning officials admitting that it will have an “unwelcome” visual impact.

One strange aspect of the affair is that it is reported that the councillors approved the planning application after deciding that most of the protesters did not live in the area – so they appear to be saying that unless you live next to a protected place you have no business complaining about it being subjected to unwelcome visual impacts. The Government will love that! Bribe a few yokels with cheap electricity or a new village hall, discount moans from further afield,  job’s a good un, loadsa development opportunities and the heritage lobby written out of the script!

Boring fields
A second (and third) sign of the Government’s love-affair with development. Last week we had a cabinet minister revealing himself on the telly as a climate change denier. Now we have the Planning Minister, saying if a field is “boring” it might as well be built on!

Germany still ahead on penalties
And then there’s this. Five years ago in July 2008 we wrote in the Journal: “Britain shamed by Germany ….. German Ebay has just introduced new rules on the sale of archaeological artefacts. Anything sold must be accompanied by proper documentation showing the seller’s title and proof that it has been properly reported to the authorities”. Seems a sensible idea. Yet Ebay UK hasn’t followed suit. Why? Are there people in Britain who are totally against the idea? Who would benefit from resisting openness about the origins of artefacts? It’s a puzzle.