Guido Fawked - Fracking Failure

Those who observe the increasingly abysmal outpourings of the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog will not have to look for long to see the influence of their real masters at the Murdoch press, as today’s lament at Lancashire County Council’s decision to throw out an application by Cuadrilla to start fracking for gas - rather than just drilling test wells - makes clear.

Fart in lift Inquiry mulls merits of natural gas

“Lancashire Luddites Block Shale Revolution” bleats the headline, as readers are told “Lancashire County Council have refused planning permission for the fracking site at Little Plumpton”, before the assertion that “The refusal means that all applications for shale extraction have been refused in the county”, which actually means “The refusal means that all applications for shale extraction within the county have been refused”.

But good to see Jeremy Wilson maintaining the tradition of shonky grammar begun by the odious flannelled fool Henry Cole. And there’s more: “The council rejected the application after considering legal advice submitted by Friends of the Earth that assured them a  decision to refuse planning permission would be ‘a reasonable one to take and capable of being defended on appeal”. Ah, the rank whiff of bullshit.

As any fule kno, the Council will have considered advice from all interested parties. The idea that Cuadrilla decided to forego the option is the stuff of fantasy. The thought that the rotten greenies pulled a fast one may appeal to those who still find the Fawkes blog credible - so not very many people, then - but the reality is that Staines and his pals are doing no more than peddling the accepted Murdoch line.

Last Monday, there was a typically slanted interpretation of Pope Francis’ encyclical by Sun deputy political editor Steve Hawkes, telling “Two years after appearing to back the eco lobby, Pope Francis said natural gas was the ‘lesser evil’ of fossil fuels. And in a highly influential papal letter he signalled it was fine to exploit this source until the world is ready to go green”. And the Times last week was even more explicit.

“Just Frack It … Lancashire should embrace fracking without delay” pontificated an editorial, telling of the wonderful things fracking had brought to the economy of North Dakota. What the ST did not tell was that Lancashire has twice the population of North Dakota, living in an area just one sixtieth of the size. It is then suggested that Britain could be vulnerable to “shocks to the Norwegian [energy] market”.

The ST suggests that all would be fine for fracking companies, if only they would bung the locals a bit more of the old folding stuff. But all their urging - along with that of the Sun, and the Fawkes rabble - has been for nothing. There is a genuine public concern over fracking, which is why the Murdoch empire is wrong, and Labour leadership candidate Andy Burnham is right. Imposing fracking without approval of those affected is wrong.

Staines and his pals have shown who their real boss is. Another fine mess, once again.