Hard To Please

07/07/2009 by Steve Tierney.

Hard To Please
My council colleague from the Liberal Democrat side, Nichola Harrison, has written a new blog post: “Very good is not green enough.”  As usual it is well-written, interesting and cleanly-presented.  But its basic premise is that the council is not being ambitious enough with its ‘green’ agenda because it is planning to build a new school using an eco standard that is very good.  Not “poor”.  Not “lacking”.  Not even “could try harder.”  Very good.

Huh? 

You might be forgiven for re-reading that and wondering if I had mis-typed.  “Surely a ‘Very Good’ Eco Standard is an achievement?” you might ask. 

If my young son came home from school with a report card that said he was “Very Good” my wife and I would be cracking open the champagne (he can be a little <ahem> naughty boisterous, you see.  But he’s a wilful four-year-old boy and you know what they are like!) 

If, having just cooked dinner for my family, I asked: “How was it?” and they rubbed their tummies and said: “Yum yum, very good” I think I’d consider it a job well done.

But not Cllr. Harrison.  Not a bit of it.  Nichola you are one very hard to please lady!  I suppose you could generously look at it as demanding higher standards.  As part of the opposition party that is her job.  But really, would it kill the Lib Dems to be positive once in a while?

Just imagine a young lad coming home to his mum after sports day and telling her he’d won a gold award for achievement after winning three out of his four events.  “Look at my trophy!” he says, brandishing it enthusiastically.
“Only three out of four?” Comes his mother’s stern reply.  “That’s not an achievement son, that’s failure in my book”. 
“But Mum, my gym teacher said it was Very Good?”
“But not excellent, boy.  Not outstanding.  Only very good!  Now to bed with you and no supper for a month!” *see note at bottom

Nichola’s argument, you see, is that although we went for the “Very Good” standard, there is a higher “Excellent” standard.  Apparently they have even now introduced another level “Outstanding”.  Presumably next year there might be “Astonishing”, “Super-Human” and “God-Like” for people who are prepared to build houses out of regurgitated straw and heat them with starlight and fairy-breath.

Now I accept I’m poking a little fun here.  Climate change is a real issue and one that concerns many people.  But so is the recession.  If it were cheaper and easier to reach high eco-levels then even the most difficult stuck-in-the-mud petrol-heads would do it.  But it isn’t, it’s generally more expensive in the short-term. 

Since we are in the middle of a deep recession there isn’t a lot of money floating about.  It doesn’t grow on trees (and even if it did the Lib Dems would certainly want to protect those trees).  Pay extra money for one project and you must take it from another.  It’s not our money we are spending, it is the taxpayer’s money, so we have to balance ’saving the world’ with paying for vital services and find some sensible middle ground.  No matter which way you look at it, upside-down, diagonally, or from behind, Very Good is Very Good.  It’d be nice to see that recognised, though I wont hold my breath.

*Note: For the record.  I do not condone or approve of withholding food as a means of punishment.   It was a metaphor for goodness sake.

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