FT266

On a grey and overcast weekend in late March 2010, there is an atmosphere of passionate polemic about much of the Alternative View Four conference taking place at The Thistle Hotel, Heathrow. The ironic proximity of possible chemtrails does not escape me. The conference, founded by Ian R Crane as a community, declares as its mission statement on its website: “To advance awareness and facilitate discussion of Political, Scientific and Spiritual alternatives without constraint by Consensus Reality and/or Received Wisdom”.

AV4 sets out to do exactly what it says on the tin. In a new millennium which has seen the terrorist game-changer of 9/11, all-out war between nations of the West and the Middle East, the return of terrorist bombings to the heart of London and the implacable march of concern and disagreement over the reality and causes of climate change, AV4 certainly has an atmosphere conducive for people from all walks of life to seek an alternative view of just what on Earth is going on, and why.