Government backs away from forest sell-off, like we told them to

3 days ago (14 Feb) I wrote about the government’s plans to sell off England’s forests. And today (17 Feb) they made a U-turn on the despicable plot. The Guardian tell us that forestry minister Caroline Spelman made what looked like a heart-felt apology on the matter, “a real, full-on mea culpa”, and that she even sounded tearful at times! Not a standard politician’s apology at all.

Of course, the proposed sell-off was a filthy plan, and I’m glad has been called off. But we also have to stay on our guard. It was not a sudden change of heart that caused this U-turn – rather, it was the strength and passion of the calls in opposition that made the government back off. Remember, even though they won’t do it any time soon, the government want to sell the nation’s forests. If they think they’ll be able to get away with it, these plans will quickly be back on the table again. Don’t ever forget that.

If you’re interested, a transcript of the speech is on the DEFRA website.

As you might have guessed, there’s a lot of back-slapping going on amongst the organizations that opposed the plans. If you like to witness or indulge in self-congratulation, you can get a hit of the good stuff at the 38 Degrees site; or, if you’re a Facebooker, you can check out their page.

If you doubt that petitions and activism don’t usually amount to much (like me), maybe this’ll make you a little less cynical. I must confess, this news has lessened my general hatred for the general population. And if you’re one of the logging corporation head honchos who thought they’d struck gold by jumping into bed with Cameron and opting to sleep on the wet patch… HA HA HA!

Unfortunately, going by what has happened before, the government will at some stage table a watered-down proposal that will in essence amount to much the same thing. We need to keep an eye on the slippery rats – they don’t cover themselves from head to toe with vaseline every morning just for the fun of it.

But enough of the doom and gloom! Round One to the People. Come on, Cameron, bring it on. You’re a loser who thinks that being born with a silver dildo up your ass makes you Superman. But you’re not as invulnerable as you think – I’ve got a chunk of kryptonite with your name on it. Wanna come have a look?

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