Forget all that trivia about the American election campaign. It's nothing, zilch, compared to the growing crisis that the European Parliament is heroically confronting. We haven't seen anything like it since the French armies went up against the Hun at the Maginot Line. This time, though, free Europe is determined to get it right.The threat? You knew it was coming: Patio heaters.
Yes, to the relief of all decent men and women, the plague of patio heaters may finally be crushed, buried by the might of a God-fearing Europe. The Times of London reports:
Britain’s growing café culture and taste for alfresco drinking and dining may be under threat from MEPs who want to ban the patio heater.
A vote in Brussels today is expected to call on the European Commission to abolish the heaters to help to tackle climate change. Such a move could cost the pub and catering trade dear.
Of couse, there are the excuse makers, the same kind of people who defended Hitler:
Experts claim that patio heaters are being singled out unfairly and that their impact on global warming is minimal. Eric Johnson, national expert reviewer for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said that televisions emitted more carbon dioxide. Using government figures, he said that patio heaters accounted for 22,200 tonnes of CO2, 0.002 per cent of total emissions in Britain.
Probably some heater-industry patsy. Go at it, Europe. It's about time someone put the heater crowd in its place.