Back in April 2020, during the first Covid lockdown, I predicted that the principles of locking down to protect us from a virus could and would be applied to help avert the (fictitious) climate crisis.
I offered examples. I said that in the near future I wouldn’t be surprised if driving was rationed.
I imagined a scenario whereby people living in certain postcodes would be permitted to take to the roads on the first and third weekends of the month. Folks living in adjacent postcodes would then be allowed to drive on the second and fourth weekends.
In short, I predicted that non-essential driving would be curtailed to help reach net zero.
I discussed it frequently on the radio show and wrote about it on this site.
Late last year, this appeared on SKY News:
Talk of climate lockdowns is not limited to Telegram communities.
Broadcaster Richie Allen presents a radio show which regularly pulls in around 20-30,000 listeners on its main platform. His coverage includes claims that although coronavirus is real, there is no pandemic and that the COVID-19 vaccine is dangerous.
Mr Allen has increasingly spoken and written about climate lockdowns, including on a recent blog post on his site.
He writes: “Didn’t I say last year that climate lockdowns would be a thing? I said that Sunday driving would be rationed as well as certain foods.”
In response to Sky News’ article, Mr Allen said he believes “climate lockdowns will be introduced at some point in the future and that governments will impose restrictions on people’s movements, including banning driving at certain times”.
He added that he believes that mainstream journalists “failing to do [their] jobs has resulted in the UK turning into a totalitarian state” and that he does interviews with “academics from accredited universities who have said similar, and who dispute the notion that we are in the midst of a climate crisis”.
Callum Hood, from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, told Sky News that COVID-19 conspiracists pushing “climate lockdowns” are “justifying their conspiracy theories about the COVID pandemic”.
Incidentally, I sent SKY News the metadata to demonstrate that my radio show had ten times as many listeners as claimed in the piece, but hey-ho.
I wonder if SKY News producers have been reading The Times lately?
An article headed Oxford set to cut its famous traffic jams by degrees appeared in The Sunday Times at the weekend.
The paper’s transport editor Nicholas Hellen wrote:
It is famous as the home of Britain’s oldest university and students on bicycles — but Oxford is known to its residents for its gridlocked traffic.
Now the council is fighting back with plans to divide the city into six districts from next August with strict rules on how often motorists can drive outside their neighbourhood…
Its 150,000 residents will be allowed to use their cars as much as they like within their district and will be given free permits allowing them to drive to other districts on 100 days a year.
If they exceed this limit, they will be fined, possibly £70 a journey or a day.
A maximum of three permits a household will be allowed if there are several adults with cars registered to the address. The restrictions will take effect between 7am and 7pm, seven days a week, in four of the six districts, but not on Sundays in the other two.
Buses, coaches, taxis, delivery vans, HGVs, motorbikes, mopeds and bicycles will be exempt and there will also be exceptions for blue badge holders and people with caring responsibilities.
The county council is due to make a decision on November 29 following a consultation, but it is widely expected to go ahead. Enright said: “It’s going to happen, definitely.”
At the heart of the plan is a desire to reduce traffic and make city living more pleasant, creating a “15-minute city” within a small walking radius, a concept popularised during the pandemic.
I don’t imagine I’ll be hearing from SKY News anytime soon.
