The Monday after...

Apologies for a few days' absence, but I was involved in the local voting jamboree Thurs/Fri (followed by too much booze at a somewhat food-free 'lunch' on Friday after the count).

One of the big issues in the elections across the country was the introduction of 'alternative weekly collection' of bins - recyclate one week, residuals the next - which has been shown to increase average recycling rates from 23% to 30%. Problem is that it is just too tempting to attack - one leaflet throught my door claimed it would put us at risk of bubonic plague. Councils changed hands just on this issue alone.

I owe an apology to Max Hastings as well. Given his numbskull piece on windfarms a few months ago, I had him down as a rabid anti-environmentalist. But today he calls for swingeing taxes on airlines to address climate change. I didn't, however, like his 'sod the poor' approach as the fast rise in flying is amongst the well off. I'm not a Tory, but, as I've said before, I did like their idea of a 'one tax free flight a year' allowance which would target the guilty rather than the carbon innocent.