It appears that the British plans to suppy a third of national energy needs through offshore wind farms are being jeopardized by claims that the turbines interfere with defence radars that are supposed to detect aircraft flying overhead.

The Ministry of Defense is arguing that when a turbine is in line of sight of a radar, it creates a hole which prevents flying aircraft from being picked up by the detection equipment, making windmill energy threatening to national defence.

Now, this type of interference has been known about for a long time and it's fairly specific in that it requires line of sight for the turbine to actually create the disturbing effect on the radar.

Birds also get caught in turbines and when they're rare there's public outcry. Humans too occasionally get annoyed by the noise that affects their tranquillity, disturbed TV reception or the change on the skyline that upsets their view.

But isn't it good to make the news and move public opinion so as to create an outcry against something greener? I wonder whether there isn't someone behind all this who has a vested interest in convincing us all that the only real solution is nuclear.