Have you heard of Anna Coote or Aleski Knuutila? No? Well, neither had I until today. But these are the luminaries of a body called the New Economics Foundation. I hadn’t heard of that until this morning, either, but it turns out that they are self-appointed “experts” on economics and the welfare of our planet. And immediately, in the eyes of the BBC, that makes them very important gurus who can spout the most arrant nonsense but still be given endless, unbalanced publicity. In this case, this body of eco-loons has spent lots of time working out that planet earth has reached a point in the year where we have used more resources than are available. There’s no way of checking their methodology, but to those at the BBC, it’s an important pronouncement that doesn’t need qualification or challenge. All that matters is that their creed agrees with that of our Corporation friends. And it does, as the Foundation’s “about us” page clearly shows:
The international economic system creates damaging inequalities between rich and poor, and fuels climate change and environmental degradation.
It’s a mantra that’s probably on every BBC office wall and computer screen. They chant it every morning. The more guilt they instil in us about living at all, the better.