Philippa Oldham is lead author of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ report
‘A breath of fresh air: new solutions to reduce transport emissions'

Yorkshire Post of course gives her 1/3 page Why we need a new clean air act to save lives

Everyday Yorkshire Post #DramGreens put out a mountain of
ProjectFear about green issues
I guess it's in the pocket of the #GreenBlob SubsidyBiz & Politics

We know how they work
They fire up the outrage bus on one topic
..then move on to another topic

Times : Now coal fires are Gove's enemy Sales of coal .. could be banned
" About 40 per cent of particulates in 2015 came from burning coal and wood in homes, more than double the proportion from diesel cars. A wood-burning stove can produce more particulates than an HGV. The stoves are increasingly popular in middle-class homes and hotels, with 1.5 million already fitted, and 200,000 sold annually. Old fireplaces have also been opened up in many houses and can cause greater pollution than stoves. During a smog episode in London last January, half the toxic emissions in some areas came from domestic wood burning. Mr Gove will call for evidence today on the use of house coal, smokeless coal, manufactured solid fuels and wood used for heating. He is considering banning the sale of house coal and only allowing low-sulphur smokeless alternatives.
... He may also encourage people to burn only dried wood. screenshot

..so diesel wasn't that bad then ?

@Quentin cooper tweeted
New changes to MoT mean fail for ‘visible smoke of any colour’. I told Select Committee of the insanity of too many old, worn, smoky and badly maintained engines passing MoTs yet cleaner Euro 6 cars are penalised by higher taxes. @FairFuelUK educates govt in common sense!

VW monkey tests
Times : Heavy Claim : "Newer diesels caused the monkeys more stress than the old ones"
..VW had already abandoned the prog so never paid for this stage of research, but it got leaked to the German press
The one report rule applies..be suspicious
Secondly the test itself is invasive; a tube into the bronchial ,
I wouln't draw too concrete conclusions to be transferred to humans in the real world.

The the PR guys have another scare story

"only greenest cars will escape £130 fine "
Yeh where ? ... 9 streets 9 streets in Hackney/Islington in rush hour

From BBC Bubbleworld
Daniel Sandford @BBCDanielS tweeted
Islington’s new diesel surcharge means
that when there is no space in residents bays on our street we have to pay almost £5 to park for 23 mins.
This is parking we have already paid for.remember.

OMG They'll be warning him about his log burning fires next

This canard about "The UK is in breach of EU pollution laws"
... Basically every country that has heavy traffic and air pollution measuring station will exceed the EU limit
As ever context is everything

Measurements last year showed 57 percent of air testing stations in German cities
recorded nitrogen dioxide levels exceeding the EU’s limit of 40 micrograms per cubic meter.
...The number of cities exceeding the EU’s limit also fell to 70 last year from 90, she said.
handelsblatt.com/mobility/eu-action-likely-to-protect-german-cities-from-diesel-fumes-881665

A Radio4 You and Yours interview with Sir David King the man who originally called for more diesels
, was more disinforming than not being on at all

Really he's a non-expert on the topic, yet was introduced at as expert
saying a lot of untrue things
..and there was no counter voice
just a few quotes from VW at the end

His errors : "Responsible for early deaths of 50K people"
..the normal number is 40K
..and in one report that is used WRONGLY to say 40K people die early
The true guesstimate is life days lost across population is equivalent to 40K deaths from ALL pollution
not just diesel..
"Yes other MAIN air pollution in our air comes from the burning of FOSSIL fuels for electrcity"
... No it also comes from non-fossil fuels like home logs, gas central heating, biomass heating etc.

It's non-urban pollution that comes from electrcity biomass, and Drax-wood
He then said that it's dangerous for 3-7 year old kids on the school run
..Said diesels have to be phased out with in 10 years and Electric cars pushed

Air pollution 'you see spray cleaning products give off VOCs and VOCs degrade into PM2.5s
...so some professional cleaners have same lung decline as regular smokers'
Say LA scientists
' 50% of VOCs come from cleaning products "
'Net result of cleaning products rivals vehicles' hmm.

Whose done their bit by giving up spray on deodorant ?

Female hormones could cause asthma to develop
Correlations with puberty and menopause.
Edinburgh Uni

Times : "Cap HPI" say that even after 1 year and 10,000 miles the value of many electric cars goes up by 4-8%
There might be technical tax reasons for that
But I actually doubt that it's true.

Eco bullies kick out
James Baggott tweets
"Despite their anti diesel stance,
our investigation reveals more than half of government ministers’ cars
are still diesel powered" 58%
"of the government’s pool of 84 ministerial vehicles, 49 are still diesel-powered"
But "Six electric Nissan Leafs, 21 Ford Mondeo petrol hybrids and a hydrogen-powered Toyota Mirai – leased last year – also form part of the fleet used ,"
Could find hardly any pictures of ministers being driven in these alternatively fuelled cars

Times 11th Feb
Gov is doing consultatio on banning diesel trains by 2040
* I think is wrong just to shout "Ban it" for things, cos it is simplistic thinking , instead of proper maths.

- Ban diesel trains ? That's crazy if you can filter NOx doen say by 95%
cos that is probably cheaper than going for a more complex solution like hydrogen power and spending £billions on electrification.

Pg 41 Times 10th Feb : Air Pollution fuels crime by causing stress
- Claims cities with the highest pollution have the highest crime
..They are probably places with the highest immigration as well , but they don't mention that
..Then you check how did the research ..total rubbish
... They designed a test with rewards ..the second part had a part that you could obviously cheat in .
So they tested 256 people and concluded that the people from the highest pollution areas were more likely to take the cheat.

Times : Fire Fighters 3 times More Likely To Get Cancer.

@RC yet some speak of a diesel comeback
and of them being necessary to be on the path to CO2 reductions
March 9th VW CEO predicts a comeback for diesel technology

Until January the Times DieselsRpaedos team had page 6 almost every day.. Then a hiatus
But 2 stories on pg 4 today

'Even safe pollution harms children's brains"
Monica Guxens claims even EU limits are too high
Sample of 873 Netherlands kids MRIed claim NoX and soot effects show in babies brains
Rules
- Correlation is not causation
- one study doesn't count unless properly replicated multiple times.
Quote "There is no safe level of pollution"
That statement sounds bollox.
-----------------
Same page they also run CarbonPants pants study "UK emissions at 1890 levels"
sounds like PR not science.
..accountancy tricks as emitting REAL CO2 from bio gas plants but immediately writing it down to zero in the books.

Woodburning stoves cause fires
BBC prog see 10 mins in

Pg 2 "One in five deaths is linked to lead pollution, scientists reveal"
Canadian study , scientist claims study shows there is no safe level of lead
.. Hmm it breaks the "too wow to be true rule"

For the final take the Times quotes the British Heart Foundation , association Medical Director
“The air that we breathe is still dangerously toxic and we know that it has harmful effects on heart health. We therefore cannot be complacent in our campaign for clean air in order to reduce the risks posed to the nation's health"
..That sounds like a generic PR line.

Pollution ?
Fly tippers have dumped half ton of asbestos in the wood near Wimbourne
Forestry Commission land, that is popular with dog walkers.

First media is full of a call to arms
' the phase out of diesel/petrol cars by 2040 is not good enough we need to make it 2030"
according to a joint report from 4 parliamentary committees
..'said that cross party support need to be organised"

FFS dumb politicians going on a dumb easy solutions CRUSADE
Presumably there was some logic as to why a 2040 date was first set
That like having a bridge project in Florida scheduled to finish in 2020
..and then some polly says no it must be 2018
... so they rush it and everything gets screwed up.

To me there is no evidence that measures to save QALDS (life days) by air pollution measures will be better than other completely different methods , never mind the fact that we know that tech moves on, without pollys setting targets .

There is a best way of doing things and many wrong ways of doing things.

And when you have PR people, subsidy dependent businesses and political agendas pollys will waste their time with them. ..meanwhile they ignore things that really need doing.

egThe grooming gang and CSE stuff is full colour complex and has racial PC minefields, hence it goes on.
and pollys avoid sorting it.

but I'd rather live a few weeks shorter life, if it meant that grooming gang issue had been sorted and some dozens of children more had not been raped..

Anyone hear Radio 2 Jeremy Vine at lunchtime, with his segment 'what can we personally do to reduce our own exposure to air pollution' ?
Vine was fffing useless as always
Stuck in his metrobubble to him air pollution was all about diesels
.. I cringed
But then his expert was slow and careful and set about slowly correcting Vine

eg Mentioned that "air pollution is 10 times less bad than 45 years ago"
eg2 Having an open fire is a big deal
... it matters what fuel you use and how you manage things..eg sweep the chimney, use predried logs etc.