Our beliefs are like our families. Some we live with every day. Others are distant relations we rarely see but still think of as part of our clan in a warm, vague way.
On the odd occasions they thought about it, leftists and more conservatives than readers of the Spectator may expect have seen the green movement as an eccentric aunt: a bit dotty perhaps, but a good sort and one of the family. I suspect that the majority of the population thinks the same.
Stereotypes reveal popular attitudes, and although many mock the caricature lentil-eating, bicycle-loving vegetarian, their mockery is not malicious. No one would complain if an organic shop were to open in their town — indeed, they would feel their town was coming up in the world. Nor would anyone feel threatened if members of Friends of the Earth moved in next door.
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