Darren Grimes - Angry And Jealous

One does not need to see too many examples of Darren Grimes’ punditry to figure out his tendency to rant ad infinitum, and indeed ad nauseam, about how he’s been put upon and subjected to abuse because he’s got one of those accent things, or because he’s right-wing, or because he’s a Brexit booster, but never because he gets on people’s tits.

Darren Grimes. Not exploited at all

But while Grimes likes to play the victim while he’s getting it wrong (today’s example is to claim that only people in London and journalists use trains, and that everyone else uses cars. Hello Darren from train-using, non-car-owning Crewe), he does like to dish it out. And he really likes to dish it out when he feels not merely intellectually threatened - which is probably most of the time - but also when he gets uncontrollably jealous.

Now here's an organisation that wouldn't dream of exploiting young people

Right now, Dazza is clearly feeling both threatened and jealous. Because the young activist bar has been raised significantly by campaigner Greta Thunberg, now en route to New York by sail and solar power. She’s getting attention. And he isn’t.

So off he has gone on one. “It’s important to remember that pandering to the likes of Greta and her merry band has led to hasty eco warrior-backed policy like: Now-discredited diesel cars … ‘Renewable’ wood pellets producing more emissions than coal … Felling tropical forests for palm oil for biofuel”. But Ms Thunberg does not have a Tardis. So wrong. Again.

Still, if at first you don’t succeed, well, try sucking some more seed, eh? “In 1989 the UN warned, ‘entire nations could be wiped off the face of the Earth by rising sea levels if the global warming trend is not reversed by the year 2000.’ It's not denial. It's looking at the evidence. Greta is a 16-year-old looking for an excuse to bunk off school”. We don’t have the evidence yet. See previous point about that Tardis. But he’s not finished yet.

“Do you reckon if Greta Thunberg was a 16-year-old demanding that the politicians of this country get their act together and start to respect the biggest democratic mandate in British electoral history, anyone in the press/party leader would pay her the slightest bit of attention?” No thanks, I don’t want to look over there.

“Alternative headline: Child terrified of death and destruction will sail to group of adults that have convinced her she’s going to die in a ball of flames to convince others to ditch the only hope that we have - capitalism”. Why should capitalism mean global destruction? Oh, look at this one: “Greta’s embrace of outdated transportation epitomises the fundamental problem with the green movement - its assumption that solutions lie in the pre-industrial past rather than an innovative, capitalist future”. Solar energy is “pre-industrial”? Er, no.

Then Grimes’ jealousy boiled over into genuine nastiness. “At what point into Saint Greta's inevitable mental collapse as a child star does the media and politicians that have given her this platform admit responsibility? At what point do we stop telling our children that they're to die in a ball of flames and engage in some rationality … Can we just admit now that this is child abuse?” And it got worse. Rather a lot worse.

“I watched this interview, I found it seriously creepy. We should be educating our children about the climate, not terrifying them about some apocalypse.She is clearly a vulnerable, scared child that is being exploited - I find it incredibly unnerving”. And of course Darren Grimes isn’t being exploited at all. And if you believe that, you’ll believe anything.

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