The story of the week for me was Keir Starmer clashing with that Bath publican.

Landlord Rod Humphreys gave the Labour leader a piece of his mind about the three lockdowns which over the past year kept his pub closed for many months at great expense to him and his staff.

The lifelong Labour voter berated Starmer for not opposing government policy and cited arguments I have used here before.

And this is the rub, Labour has not provided any opposition to government policy on Covid-19. If anything, it has been lockdown's (and thus Boris's) most enthusiastic backer, urging him to go harder, faster, earlier and for longer.

Apart from a few dozen Tories, the only voices we hear against lockdown seem to be Talk Radio, the actor Laurence Fox and whatever is left of UKIP and the Brexit Party. There is also Bob Moran and his lovely cartoons (see attachment).

Yet, there are many distinguished scientists and experts who oppose the government line [read the Great Barrington Declaration ] as well but on lockdown the government has wrapped its own experts around it and the media, the tv networks especially, have also fallen into line.

Now, how much is down to the government now becoming the UK biggest advertiser as its policies trash the private sector, which we must remember is what government needs to fund it, I do not know. But either way, haven't the Tories gone remarkably quiet on abolishing the TV licence after the BBC has relentlessly pumped out fear day-after-day, night-after-night, for over the past year.

We see the same with climate change, where Labour will seek to outbid the Tories over cutting carbon emissions.

Thursday was Earth Day and all the politicians were out there virtue signalling over the issue.

Rutland Council has a Climate Change Champion, according to a press release it sent out that day. And South Kesteven District Council has also declared a 'Climate Emergency' in case you did not know.

Meanwhile, as Boris Johnson and Joe Biden obsess over Earth Day, Russian President Vladimir Putin is amassing tanks and troops near the border with Ukraine.

Now, don't get me wrong, I don't want to see the planet fry. But the share of carbon emissions put out by the UK is tiny, about 1 per cent according the UK government. But our virtual signalling leaders are making commitments that are either hard to keep or will make life very tough indeed.

Already the Prime Minister has promised to abolish the sale of news petrol and diesel cars by 2030- something that was not in the Conservative Party election manifesto of 18 months ago. Instead, we were promised 'consultation.'

Now, we have his move to slash carbon dioxide emissions by 78% of 1990 levels by 2035.

Again, this is something he has done without consulting the public, without any sort of debate.

And are you aware of its impacts?

Here is something experts say will cost householders thousands and will significantly slash our living standards. It means all electric cars, and while their price is likely to drop, motoring looks set to become increasingly expensive and more likely to return to being a preserve of the middle and upper classes.

And many of us can forget about foreign travel as carbon taxes make that unaffordable too. Forget Spain, the future is Skegness, forget Paris, go to Peterborough and instead of Miami and Marbella, there is Mablethorpe.

If you have family and friends overseas, be it Canada, the USA, Australia and New Zealand, you can probably forget about seeing them ever again. Likewise with our East European friends wanting a quick visit to Poland, Lithuania and so on.

Don't believe me? Before this week's tightening of targets was announced, government-backed research was saying ALL airports would have to close by mid-century, amid other lifestyle changes, for the UK to meet its targets.

Government also wants to rip out your gas boiler, so instead householders will have to spend thousands on a heat pump.

With higher fuel prices you can also expect what's left of British heavy industry and manufacturing to decamp overseas where fuel will be cheaper and more readily available.

With all this, you might think that the Green Party and Extinction Rebellion had won the last General Election, rather than the Greens winning just one seat out of 650 and 2.7% of the vote in 2019.

It's a pity that lockdown cost us £400BN. We could have used this cash to develop new technologies to make life a little better but instead it has been frittered on shutting things down.

And the best is yet to come. We will be told and expected to eat less meat and dairy thanks to those farting cows and their emissions. So will they be slaughtered to make way for solar and windfarms?

Of course, the rich, including our MPs, who will be voting for these policies if given the chance, will still be eating their steaks. There will be few nut roasts in the Westminster restaurants. It will be the poor who will suffer most from dearer food, dearer fuel and dearer motoring. The rich will be fine.

So what can we do about it? Where is the debate? The last General Election was about Brexit not about something quite so fundamental to our everyday lives like how we eat, how we heat and how we travel.

In some ways, we only have ourselves to blame. With barely a murmur, we have allowed the politicians to rule over us by dictating if and how we can work, if and how we can sell our products and services, where we can work if we still can, who we can and cannot meet, where we can travel, if at all, and whether we can stay out overnight and who with.

It's like after lockdown the politicians have just got a little carried away with themselves with environmental-related restrictions that will be permanent. But with a populace too unwilling to defend our freedoms, rights and liberties, we have just made it all too easy for them.

I hope I do not sound at all conspiratorial but this has been coming for some time. Every planning application talks about 'sustainability' and if you need a car to go to where the house might be, it is much harder to get approval.

Last week, I wrote about the homes planned at the army barracks just outside Grantham. It spoke of homes without gas and the need for bus services. I expect the homes planned for the barracks in Rutland will be just the same.

The conspiracy theorists have talked about a 'Great Reset' after the pandemic being imposed by a global elite . Well, it certainly seems we are heading that way, what with talk of Covid passports to travel or go to an event, even Chancellor Rishi Sunak is now talking about a digital currency, something again that was once a conspiratorial fantasy.

Who would have thought a Prime Minister who was widely seen as 'libertarian' would be the father of so many restrictions? Is it down to the women in his life, such as his partner Carrie Symonds aka 'Princess Nut Nuts', the eco-campaigner who seems to be ruling Number 10- and who voted for her?

Not to mention that former Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg who now seems to have also cast a spell over Boris Johnson.

We need to stand up for our freedoms, defend our way of life, our right to live as we ourselves see fit. We must certainly not let them die without debate and also a general election, if at all.

To those in charge who wish to rob us, we should also use that snappy phase that Greta herself used at the United Nations: "How dare you!"

• This is an updated version of a newsletter only article which subscribers to our FREE newsletter received on Friday. To subscribe, click on the coloured box below.