The Guardian: The anger over fracking is real: but the truth is, we can't manage without gas
The battle for Balcombe is a distraction. It allows politicians and businesspeople who want to ditch the green agenda to depict environmentalists as mindless nihilists opposed to modernisation of Britain's energy infrastructure.
It is also fair to ask why anti-frackers are willing to go down to Sussex in large numbers while the oil and gas explorers in Aberdeen and Great Yarmouth are ignored. If climate change is the target of the protesters, there is a case for demonstrating against those who drive petrol-guzzling 4x4s on the school run, never mind the coal plants that are merrily pumping out CO2 by the chimneyful.
And some campaigners are leaving the country little option when they say no to shale gas, no to biomass and no to nuclear. If there is a body of opinion that states that wind farms and energy efficiency can fill the looming energy gap, then it is small and deeply unrepresentative.