Reddit appears to be the easiest way to review Neil Oliver's recent sounding-off on GB News. It is easy to dismiss his tirade as that of just another conspiracy theorist, but his insightful TV programmes on geology, history and archaeology show that he is a cut above QAnon and its ilk. It could be that his attack on Net Zero was funded by Big Oil. After all, the Dubai-based Legatum Group, which has extensive interests in oil and gas, recently took effective control of GB News alongside Sir Paul Marshall (infamous in Liberal Democrat circles as the funder and co-editor of the Orange Book). However, some of Oliver's evidence does stand up, though the conclusions he draws from it are debatable.
He starts by declaring a realisation that the state is not benevolent, not on the side of the ordinary citizen. One must accept that this is largely true of what is left of the civil state, but it was not always so. There was an understanding between the parties at the end of the devastating second world war that people should be able to rely on a system of government that ensured that basic needs were taken care of. There were people running our public and social services who, provided they were paid a fair wage, had the public good in mind. That all changed from 1979 and the "greed is good" ethos of Thatcherism, continued by Major and Blair. This would be round about the time that Oliver was in high school and no doubt absorbed in the academic career he wished to follow, so he may be forgiven for not noticing the change.
What resulted was a competition between various parties as to how much of the assets of the state they could strip and exploit. So rather than an organised conspiracy there was a fragmentation of what was formally a whole with a common purpose.
I agree that not all so-called renewables are green. It is a scandal that Drax, with its extra fuel miles and damaging emissions is still regarded as such by the government. Too many energy firms base their green credentials on bits of paper rather than actual generation. However there are genuine non-carbon generators out there which should be given more encouragement by government, not less. Why, for instance, is there a "carbon tax" on distribution of electricity which penalises green energy companies along with the rest?
It is not a grand coordinated conspiracy. It is old-fashioned hypocrisy and greed writ large. Oliver is right to object to the lack of restraint on big companies, which are treating us as, in his words, "battery hens", but the media company he works for would be among the first to complain if a government tried to rein in their excesses. It has to be done, though; government for the people has to be restored.
His anti-vaccine tirade at the end is sad. Yes, this insidious coronavirus can strike vaccinated people, but they are protected from the worst effects of SARS-CoV-2. Hospitalisation and possibly intensive care are avoided. And the falling death toll in 2022? Well, that is because a more contagious strain which originated in South Africa has now conquered the world and it is milder in its effects. This was certainly not the case in 2020/21, though, and given the government's dereliction in allowing the virus to spread in the first place, Johnson and co. did well to drive through the vaccination programme.
What is reprehensible is the profiteering by certain chancers who happened to be friends of the prime minister or his political party. But this is where we came in.
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