Unsustainable practices at Stansted Airport

Somehow it all hangs together or maybe better said: it all falls apart together. How many more warnings do we need that just about everything we are doing is unsustainable?

I write in response to today’s announcement that Stansted Airport is going to be expanded to handle something like 30% to 40% more traffic over the next couple of years. The numbers are ambiguous. The report says an increase of 10% in flights but and increase from 25M to 35M passengers (10/25 = 40%) Strikes me this announcement is rushed out just when the PM has to be seen to be "optimistic" about the future. Of course there will be more people flying in and out of Britain over the next 5 years, he has to say. To say otherwise would be a sign of lack of confidence in the economy.

Travel will continue to grow, people will continue to take more holidays, food will be flown in from Berserkistan while water is extracted from deep aquifers in desertifying Sahel to drive dwindling oil production. The only thing flying besides accusations is pigs. And, I mean that in all the ways you might take it.

We blame the bankers, the bond traders, the short sellers and so on, but the values of the pinnacle are also the values at the base. Yes, we are anaesthetised by advertising, co-opted by politicians, dependent on supermarkets but, basically we all have to bite a big bullet or the least of our worries will be whether the grey squirrel overtakes the red. We will have eaten them all and be wishing there were more vermin to feed our starving children with.