I have not decided, or rather the Mrs has not decided, whether to install a wood burning stove or two in a couple of the 17th century fireplaces at the Welsh Hovel. We may just go with an open hearth. And we will not be troubled by new batshit crazy plans from the Tories to ban the sale of domestic coal and most logs. We have enough of our own wood in our fields and in the old barns and sheds to last not just ourselves but also our neighbours, for a lifetime. However, we are unusual and lucky.
Based on the usual daft green lack of science, the Government wants to ban the sale of both coal and wood that has not been kiln dried, i.e. is very expensive, with a roll out starting next year. For once the great Rod Liddle is wrong in saying this is the Tories having a go at the chattering classes with their wood burning stoves. For such folks probably already use kiln dried wood and, if they don’t, they will, without blinking, be able to afford the higher cost if buying such wood, rather than just ordinary logs.
Those who will suffer are poorer folks mainly in the North and here in Wales who are reliant on an open fire for much of their winter heat. Of course they could not use the fire and rely on gas and electricity but thanks to the green taxes which this Government is so keen on, that too will be more expensive.
Some poor folks will, thanks to this daft idea, suffer extreme cold and, in a hard winter, possibly die. The next time a mad lefty tells you that the Tories like killing poor people then this ridiculous plan will be part of the case for the prosecution. It shows that the Tories under Boris are just as out of touch with how folks outside the Metropolitan bubbles as the Labour party. It’s the political class versus the rest of us.
I asked my local Tory MP, the first winner of the Wrexham seat not to wear a red rosette since 1935, if she would put the needs of her constituents, many of whom in the former mining villages around here, have open fires, ahead of her career and tell Boris that she was opposing the plan. Naturally Sarah Atherton MP has not replied and I think we can guess what she will do. The lure of the greasy pole is hard to resist.
Many folks around here lent the Tories their vote to get Brexit done and on that count the Tories are doing well. But those votes were lent, not offered out for life, and this sort of idiocy, a simple failure to understand how normal folk live, will pretty quickly start to erode the trust we placed in the Conservatives.