Marvel at the unspoilt glory of the highlands while you can. On Tuesday the UK revealed the winners of its latest auction for new wind farms, with all but four of the 22 onshore sites planned for Scotland.
Also this week, Starlink launched another 21 satellites into low Earth orbit. It already has more than 6,000 up there, and the plan is for a “megaconstellation” comprising seven times as many. Your kids will never again see a clear night sky.
I weep at such announcements — on aesthetic grounds alone. Where I live on the South Downs is one of only 21 designated international dark sky reserves in the world. When Elon Musk’s string of tin cans passes overhead, they almost cast a shadow.
It amazes me that no one seems too bothered. My fellow kite surfers on the south coast of England think I’m crazy to moan that the Rampion offshore wind farm ruins my pristine view out to sea. Where are the marches against flashing advertising billboards?
Governments care even less. Labour’s plan to build 1.5mn new homes is necessary, but minimising ugliness will be far down the agenda. Britain does many things well, but designing new houses is not one of them.
Aesthetics usually succumbs to economic forces in the end. And against worthy goals such as reducing inequality or net zero, beauty doesn’t stand a chance. Who cares if Sardinia is skewered with thousands of turbines if global warming is reversed?
I do. And so does Alessandra Todde, the Italian island’s president, who just declared an 18-month moratorium on their construction on the basis they make the place ugly. She is a brave politician who puts aesthetics above everything else, which is odd because non-financial objectives are on the rise elsewher