Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s pollution campaign simplistic, says chemicals boss

The Times in April had a report "UK air is worst in Europe for causing child asthma"
Kommando commented
\\ Pollution has been falling for the last 40 years with NoX and particulate emissions being a quarter of what they were in 1970. As we haven't seen any reduction in asthma rates over that time it suggests that any link is improbable and it would be better looking elsewhere.
My Asthma has got significantly better over the same time period, going from hospital admissions to now an inhaler lasting a full year before another is needed.//
Yes pollution has fallen for 40 years, so asthma should have fallen

I think NOx has at least halved in the last 40 years

Tuesday team takes over pg12
Houses on polluted street face demolition

Nitrogen dioxide levels at Woodside Terrace, Crumlin, south Wales, are the the highest for anywhere in Britain outside London

Homes on one of Britain’s most polluted streets outside London may be demolished and the owners paid compensation to move elsewhere under a council effort to hit air quality targets.

If the plan is approved it would become the first time homes were demolished to meet air pollution targets.

Buying and demolishing the 20 homes and three businesses on the road in Crumlin, south Wales, would cost about £4.5 million, according to estimates by Caerphilly county borough council

Commenters as always are skeptical
A local says its not actually a rat run but a main road

NOx levels always fall with new engines so why take drastic action when the levels will be lower in a few years anyway ?

Road noise might be a different thing.

Same page
Greenest cars have the worst air filtrring do drivers at risk.

- Greenpeace sourced story about huge forests being cut for food production.

Channel 4 Dispatches
claims we are ingesting plastic particulates from tyre wear

hmmm
but dont mention iron oxide dust all over the underground etc.

I re-iterate my main view
99% of media on road Air Pollution is PR BS
As a cyclist I can clearly see that most vehicles are clearly pretty clean in exhaust
..and then those one in 30 or one in 100 vehicles comes pat that is really filthy.

If authorities really cared about road air pollution they would simply station themselves by the road and set out to trap those vehicles.
That would make such a huge difference for the cost.

activist "no child in Britain is breathing clean air"

no they are NOT cos air naturally has dust and pollen in it.

Is there such a thing as clean air ?
No
Just relatively cleaner

June 13th Tackle scourge of *indoor* air pollution, doctors urge
..they sent a letter to Gove

- Same Gove that wants to police everyone elses nose shoves coke up his.
I've been in a lot of green orgs.. they are always smoking dope and dancing around bonfires. #FakeGreenses think about it sure

but how to police indoor air?
ban pub fires ?

Saturday big front page splash
Tory hopefuls pledge to support Times campaign to give people legal right to clean air.

https://www.twitter.com/ukpapers/status/1139800993372053505

BS cos everyone already wants clean air
and we have laws already , that we breach but try to get levels down and succeeding.

The Times journos spent quite a few pages praising May's 2050 wacky pledge
London letter writers supported them.
as ever most commenters gave the Times a kicking in the comments.

Madrid Region's new right government has rolled back the city's
ban on older diesels
..they said the scheme was flawed
..so is London's ..#Prius

typos : Greenest cars have the worst air filtering so drivers at risk.

Tue 18th hyperbole
"Toxic air in class leaves pupils at risk of dizziness and headaches. Read the full story with
@GraemePaton @thetimes
(link: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/toxic-air-in-class-leaves-pupils-at-risk-of-dizziness-and-headaches-jwzz6vfsv

readers give the Times a kicking ..37 of them
"Excessivly high CO2 is to do with poor ventilation or too many people in a small room. It is common in many places such as class rooms, meeting rooms and conference centres. The initial effect is drowsyness hence why as meeting drag on (and the CO2 builds up) you start to feel sleepy."
The NoX level was in in the limit even in the high pollution area

so title not justified.

Another day starts ...and the psychological warfare continues
#1 "Today is world Refugee Day"

#2 Scientists say pregnant women are more susceptible to road pollution
... cos they walk less so spend more time in the car"
.... Em sounds BS to me, I monitor this debate and the big thing is that if road pollution is such a great harm, it would show up in way reduced lifespan in professional all day drivers like taxi drivers
.. yet no such research has been done.
..Indeed this pregnant woman claim is most likely not to be from proper real world studies, but from meta- Analysis of sitting in your office and cherry picking some old studies and then constructing computer modelling and then making grand claims.

6:08pm Local itv news 3 minute item on the 'air pollution crisis"
claims
..2,500 deaths in our area
5% of deaths are due to air pollution
2 Sheffield train platforms constitute the eighth most polluted place in Britain.
..Amazing claim, cos I sure the air is cleaner than in the golden age of steam.
Then live coverage of XR protesters singing in the street.
Other dramatic claims were made.
... but AFAIK its all public relations trickery .. with added "think of the children" emotional blackmail

The UN limits are basically made-up numbers and engine tech means each new decade of engines is cleaner than the last.

.

pg 12 4 #DieselsRpaedos stories
- Guests promised breath of fresh air at smog-filtering Inhabit hotel in Paddington
(tosh ..there is no smog on London, NO2 can't be filtered anyway)

- CLEAN AIR FOR ALL
Classroom pollution to be tackled through Ofsted-style inspections
Reviews of air pollution in schools, similar to Ofsted inspections, will be launched for the first time amid...
Saturday June 22 2019, 12.01am, The Times
Graeme Paton, Transport Correspondent

- 'tipping point' as zero-carbon tops fossil fuel
- Pot plants Help pupils to bloom

- CLEAN AIR FOR ALL
London bans cars for a day in the fight against air pollution
Cars will be banned from more than 12 miles of central London roads under plans to encourage the adoption of green...
Thursday June 20 2019, 5.00pm, The Times
Graeme Paton, Transport Correspondent

CLEAN AIR FOR ALL
Dirtbuster buses to purify toxic city air
A new generation of “pollution-busting” buses is being rolled out under plans to clean up dirty city air. Go-Ahead...
Thursday June 20 2019, 12.01am, The Times
Graeme Paton, Transport Correspondent

Thursday's page also article about letter saying WHO limits should be law
signed by charity heads like Penny Woods

Media almost always write as if WHO made up limits
, are already law.

Catching up
putting more details in from May12 on our page 27
where I mentioned
Thursday May 9th the Times launched " The Times Clean Air For All Campaign"
with a 5 point manifesto

Front page
millions of children breathing dangerous levels
quotes WHO limits which are BS

May 9th continued
pg 10-11
4 articles

pg 12-13.?
4 articles
Why it’s safer walking to work than choking in a polluted car
Ben Webster, Environment Editor

Every school in London has been found to be over the WHO’s recommended limit for air pollution
Join The Times clean air campaign to tackle pollution

- Parents tackle air pollution in the playground
Ben Webster, Environment Editor

- Twelve thousand people died in London during the Great Smog of 1952 but the spike went unnoticed
Air pollution: Undertakers knew truth about the Great Smog
Tom Whipple, Science Editor

- Rising seas mean homes may have to be abandoned
CCBGB

- Editorial
The Times view on clean air: Suffocating Cities
It should be a right not a luxury. A Times manifesto sets out what has to be done to let Britain’s children breathe deeply again
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2019-05-09/comment/the-times-view-on-clean-air-suffocating-cities-sp08x80t3
Times gets the usual
Few people interested in it (9 likes for top comment)
Top comments lay into the Times
especilly about it's #ThinkOfTheChildren #EmotionalBlackmail
this line "Pollution is a thief, it steals the air from our children."