Having just come back from possibly the wettest walking weekend I have ever experienced in the Lake District - the highlight of which was having to wade across a swollen river normally crossed by a small footbridge - I am fairly sympathetic towards the Government's belated attempts to push climate change to the top of the political agenda.Of course, Labour are playing catch-up here. The Liberal Democrats have a well-deserved reputation as the most environmentalist party in British politics, having long favoured greater "green taxation." Latterly, David Cameron has also jumped on the bandwagon and, to be fair, seems to be far more serious about green issues than any of his predecessors.
Nevertheless, today's publication of the Stern Report together with Gordon Brown's appointment of Al Gore as an environmental adviser have to be seen as steps forward. I cannot understand my fellow blogger Iain Dale's oft-stated objection to Gore and can only put it down to pure Conservative tribalism.
When I went to bed at 2am on 8th November 2000 after watching the early results come in, Gore was US president-elect. When I got up at 7am and turned the telly back on, Bush was. There are very few people among my own circle of friends who do not think the world would now be a much better place had that reversal of fortune not occurred.
2 comments:
Amen indeed to your last point Paul. My recollection of 2004 was a racing journo mate ringing me up at midnight to say 'Kerry's won it-the bookies have said so and they know yer know'. I went to sleep a happy man and woke up to find the dunderhead still in the White House...
Kerry and Bush are the same club, ditto Gore and Bush. There'd be no fundamental change, except for the portal Cheney. Lieberman was a different other animal. CFR have less clout than many suspect but only because the divisions are blurred, ie. some wear many hats.
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