Bringing It To The Boil

Well, it wouldn't to you, George, would it?

Watching BBC TV's Question Time last Thursday (www.bbc.co.uk/questiontime/ ) I was struck by a remark from Paddy Ashdown to the effect that since he no longer runs for office, he can finally say that the voters ARE wrong on many issues. The comment came in the middle of a discussion involving climate change. The other politicians on the panel visibly squirmed & then looked at him as if he'd just given away a magician's tricks.

There's no doubt that the public are in denial about something which is a far greater threat to the planet than Osama Bin Laden & his motley bunch of acolytes. An opinion poll in Friday's Independent showed that at least 7 in 10 voters would not be willing to pay higher taxes to fund eco-friendly initiatives (http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/green-tax-revolt-britons-will-not-foot-bill-to-save-planet-819703.html ).

The article depressingly notes:

"The public's climate change scepticism extends to the recent floods which inundated the West Country, and reported signs of changes in the cycle of the seasons. Just over a third of respondents (34 per cent) believe that extreme weather is becoming more common but has nothing to do with global warming. One in 10 said that they believed that climate change is totally natural."

As Mike Childs, spokesman for Friends of the Earth, points out in the report, the government is using the green agenda to justify raising further revenue from ordinary taxpayers, rather than impose a windfall tax on the oil companies, the proceeds from which would finance home insulation schemes.

A further example of this collective denial came at the Stanlow oil refinery on Thursday evening when a blockade was mounted, seemingly by the same idiots who organised the protests across the country in 2000 (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2008/05/02/fuel-protesters-blockade-stanlow-oil-refinery-100252-20852332/ ).