THE ENEMY WITHIN

Dr Johnson said "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel."

If he was alive today, maybe he'd change that to "Nimbyism is the last refuge of the scoundrel."

One thing we can say about nimbies - no one is more unpatriotic than they are.

How can we prove this? Well, let's take a nimby myth that's been doing the rounds for a while. Germany and Denmark have made great strides in wind energy over the years, and both have considerably more windfarms than the UK does. But the nimbies have been telling everybody that Germany and Denmark have stopped building windfarms. Basically, they want to mislead everybody into believing that tired old nonsense about windfarms "not working".

In fact, if you look at the figures supplied by the Danish Energy Agency and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, you'll find that installed wind capacity in both countries is still rising.

How can that be, if they've both stopped building windfarms?

Denmark saw its installed wind capacity level out over a four-year period, between 2004 and 2008. During that period, old wind turbines were replaced by modern ones. And because modern turbine design means that they can harness the wind more efficiently, the total output remained constant even though there were fewer turbines operating in Denmark.

Then, from 2008 onwards, installed wind capacity began to rise again. And in Germany, it's been rising steadily since 1991.

Now, of course, if you're intent on misleading people into thinking (wrongly) that Europe's wind energy frontrunners have given up on wind power, just because you don't want a windfarm where you might be able to see it, then, well, you're lying in order to make sure that the UK lags even further behind its friendly competitors.

Another stupid myth. One dingbat wrote to the paper a while back stating that the consumer paid more for electricity in Denmark, and this was because wind power was expensive, and therefore wind power is wrong.

Well, Danes do pay a bit more for their electricity than we do. That's because of the Danish tax system. In terms of generating cost, electricity is in fact much cheaper in Denmark than in Britain. The reason for that is wind power.

So, as usual, the nimbies aren't only wrong. They're out by about 180 degrees. They couldn't be more wrong if they tried.

All this anti-windfarm nimby nonsense is guaranteed to hold the country back. Britain is currently third-from-bottom in the European wind energy league table. If the nimbies had their way, we'd be in last place. And saving our pennies in order to buy electricity off those European neighbours who had the decency and common sense to invest in renewables.

Why should anyone hate their country so much? We all know that nimbies are fundamentally selfish, as well as constitutionally dishonest and chronically misguided. But are they really so selfish that they would betray their own country's vital interests - as well as future generations - even though, by doing so, they gain NOTHING?

Do they have to tell pointless lies about other countries - countries which have at least bothered to generate lots of cheap, clean, green energy - purely in order to jeopardise their own country's economic future?

You'd think they were a bunch of fifth columnists, or something. Sleeper cells working for Al-Qaeda, maybe. Definitely spies and saboteurs in league with an enemy power.

Maybe that's what they are, at heart. Traitors. The enemy within.