All very true Mary. But how to put a stop to the creeping theft of our autonomy and our rights?

Voting for Labour or the Conservatives will only continue the direction of travel, with nearly identical political policy whichever we elect. The problem is not just that they lie to us, but the blatant, open, and contemptuous way in which they do so. They can’t be bothered now to even try to maintain the appearance of being honest.

Personally I shall vote for Reform UK, which is not a wasted vote for the reason above. Or I might abstain – out of respect for all those who gave their lives for our democratic rights – who must be spinning in their graves at the theft of that democracy by those elected to protect it.

The alternative to the ballot box is of course civil disobedience. I practice this routinely and frequently in small matters, and will always do so. But perhaps a more definitive and powerful response may develop . The UK population is notoriously slow to anger, but tends to burn hot once the flame is ignited.

Our politicians seem to have forgotten a basic lesson, which is that if you disempower people you humiliate them, and humiliated and disempowered people who feel that they have nothing left to lose become very, very dangerous indeed – especially in large numbers.

I have lived in this country for 65 years and have seen many changes, some welcome, some less so . But to my grave concern, I find that I have never better understood the way most Germans must have felt when they elected Adolf Hitler to power, than I do now.

That’s quite a thought.

The only thing I’ll add to this excellent article is this: the confiscation of liberty and living standards is not a regrettable by-product of a sincerely-believed need to reduce carbon emissions: it is the primary agenda. Some of the rule-makers may also possess a sincere belief in dangerous climate change, but most either do not really believe it or more likely don’t care.

These people seem to possess a private conviction bordering upon religious zealotry that the entire point of most people’s existence is to form a country-sized regiment organised, directed, prodded, judged and experimented upon by themselves. Their greatest fear – a justified one – is that not only can we do without themselves, we’re better off without them. If this sounds mad, that’s because it is. But the tone of the debate leaves me in no doubt that certain people are in fact this mad.

We have had three blackouts in my town in Ireland in the past six months – the first I have experienced since childhood – all part of our drive to Net Zero, I presume. Two of the blackouts lasted over one hour. The open fire was a welcome source of light and heat when this happened. We need clarity on these matters: if we are to have continued blackouts, and a ban on open fires, wood-burning stoves, etc, then is the plan for us plebs to just sit in the dark?

I can’t really add much more to the excellent article except to reach a terrifying conclusion. None of this is popular but these policies are baked into the political system. We cannot change them. We the people are not deciding or influencing the trajectory. We are simply adapting to them, often with a shrug of powerlessness. Until they get round to changing the meaning of the word democracy, for now the very meaning of the word means these Net Zero policies are not democratic. It means we no longer live in a democracy.

Marvellous – at least one good article on UnHerd this week.
Worth it just for the phrase “factually wrong, but still directionally accurate”. That covers so much about politics and society these days – people’s gut reaction and instinct are invariably correct, but the actions they take in their frustration aren’t always productive. But the core instincts aren’t wrong.
And “caravan dreamers” almost makes me feel some appreciation for caravaners. I’d always imagined it to be a rather dreary and practical activity lacking in any romance or imagination.
Now where can I get a wood-burning stove …

Yo! Written from the heart. Caution, otherwise – following Neil Oliver – it’ll be you next targeted.

“If owning a woodburner afforded the reassuring prospect of being able to stay warm even in the event of power cuts … for the type of modestly comfortable independence”
How long before people realize that the choking off of avenues of real independence is the point. This started with the enclosure movement 500 years ago and has never stopped.
To the ruling class, serfs are far more useful than citizens.

“How to make further reductions?” The correct question is, why bother with further, pointless reductions in a country producing less than 1% of global emissions?

“I’m far from being a climate denialist. I suspect most of us will get used to fewer nice things, as the century goes on. ”
Every time I’ve advocated onshore and offshore gas, and more nuclear it’s guaranteed that someone will pop up and deride the idea. They will confidently state that this is because wind and solar are half the price of gas and nuclear.
If that’s true then surely we are in for a century of energy plenty and more nice things…

“A middle class who recently learned just how much more flexible lockdown rules were for the right people will already be taking an educated guess at how climate rationing might play out.“

Eloquently put.

If people keep consistently not voting for the Greens, why do both Tories and Labour keep pushing pseudo green agendas no one asked for?

Brilliant article. And terrifying.
Yet there is more to come. The next step, if and when Labour gets to power, will be open season on our wealth, starting with the confiscation of our assets: no second homes (not even your beach hut), little or no inheritance tax allowance (preventing the passing on of your property) and national taxes based on the value of your property (regardless of ability to pay) all of which are already present to one extent or another in the nations of Europe. As Claus Schwab famously said, The future is ours; you will own nothing but you will be happy.
What our halfwit politicians have failed to realise is that eventually the anglo-saxons, historically glacially slow to anger, will rebel. If our elite rulers had read Rudyard Kipling they would know this but they haven’t; and even if they had they would have read the woke edited version with all the offensive bits cancelled.
The fuse is slowly burning.

Unfortunately, both in the US and Britain, the “elites” own the politicians and bureaucrats so it is only going to get worse unless folks wise up and vote for anyone but an incumbent and quit giving their hard earned money to these clowns. Otherwise, it will come down to two bumper stickers I saw recently: Eat the Rich and Revolutions is the only solution.

Surely conservatism is, or should be, about responsible conservation – balancing rights with responsibilities; not living beyond your means financially, nor imposing on others, nor greedily burning up finite resources.

All this touches a deep nerve with me as there is so much truth in it. About half of our problems are caused by the global warming deception although I am strongly against actual proved pollution. The narrative fits neatly into the desire of the globalists to rule the world which in the end I do not think will be benign. We know that globalists now rule us because of their membership of the World Economic Forum. Global Warming Narratives help their purpose as it gives them the power to push everyone else around to save the planet. If they achieve a digital currencey then their control would be greatly increased and our freedom would be gone as in China.

Instead of setting targets for “net zero” why not let people vote with their wallets as to what they want to do, and what things they are prepared to give up? Then, you would see real democracy in action – people deciding for themselves what they want, and then doing it.

I may go Unabomber on them if they try to take what is mine. I won’t win, but I bet I could hurt quite a lot of people, which is a kind of victory.
You have to draw a line (a line of death?) and then respond if the state crosses it.

‘I’m far from being a climate denialist.’ ‘much of it is factually wrong but still directionally accurate.’ These two statements are linked. For most in the media and political worlds, it doesn’t matter how often the crazy hare-brained tinfoil-hatters are right- they will always be wrong. The covid-19 pandemic of the last three years is replete with many examples where the tinfoil-hatters were correct, but were insulted, lied-about, excoriated and fired from their jobs by the authorities. It is dangerous to be right if the powerful have decreed what is ‘right’. In fact, there is no climate crisis. Far from it. Yesterday, some stats came out- no rise in average temp in the US for 18 years. Ice at the ice caps within the normal range of variation. The ‘devastated’ reefs of the Pacific are growing nicely. But vastly powerful forces have decided there IS a climate crisis and if you get in their way, you are going to be very sorry about it indeed.

It ought to be pretty clear by now, and if it isn’t it will be soon – there is no democratic solution.

Most of the comments here think that what Mary Harrington describes is simply a political decision driven by ideology. That misses the point. It is a political response to an inescapable physical reality, which is the increasing marginal cost of fossil fuels. As older fields deplete they have to be replaced by newer ones. These are from higher cost sources (because the easy access fields get developed first) and so the marginal cost of oil, gas and coal, the amount you have to pay to get the last few million barrels the world economy needs to run at full blast, will go upwards. This keeps on triggering recessions and financial panics so the actual pattern is an up and down yo-yo but with the bottom slowly rising. This means that economic growth will peter out (but at different rates in different parts of the world). What she describes is the response to this ebbing of the tide of economic growth, which is firstly to try and keep it going by increasingly desperate expedients (mainly funny money) and secondly to protect the elite and force the middle and lower classes to bear the pain. One thing after another will become a luxury good, accessible only to the upper classes. The only alternative is to share that pain around. What is not coming back is growth.

“The slow hollowing-out and financialisation”
It surprised me just how long our society could run on empty — several decades — before reality started to hit hard. The magicians that made the illusion possible are the banksters and financialisationists. Somehow, production of real wealth — real stuff — could end, to be replaced with ‘knowledge’, and yet, for a while it all seemed like it might just work. At the top of a hill one can turn the engine off and coast … for a while. We’ve been coasting since more or less the 80s and finally ordinary people are starting to get poor fast. Not to worry tho, the globalists are doing fine.
Funny thing, given the choice I’d almost rather be impoverished by right wing ‘market’ people than left wing eco-wokies. The former at least wear their avarice honestly. Gordon Gekko didn’t pretend to be anything other than the parasite that he was.

“The slow hollowing-out and financialisaton of Britain that Thatcher inaugurated has already delivered “Brexitland” populism”
– Very astute, but It’s funny how these little references are creeping in unremarked on by commenters. It’s as if Unherd is beginning to quietly edge away from the scene of the crime, muttering “nothing to do with me guv”. The realisation is dawning that Brexit was a symptom, not a cure, and has diverted us into a cul-de-sac of pointless culture war spats and economic stagnation.