It took Keir Starmer just a couple of days to fall from grace after publicly taking gifts of football tickets and fancy spectacles, along with other ‘freebies’, shortly after taking up residence in 10, Downing Street as the then new Britirish Prime Minister.
It’s taken Andy Burnham, his successor, a similar length of time to offer his best plan to reverse global heating and the destruction of almost all life on earth, which is to ban the sale of disposable barbecues.
We hear that Burnham is planning a round-Britain-tour in the manner of a conquering king or emperor, presumably to shake a lot of hands and show people what a great guy he is. No doubt he’ll be well informed where not to visit; the wildfires might scorch more than his ego.
Meanwhile, the whole planet is held to ransom by one man and his group of psychopathic egomaniacs hellbent (possibly literally) on hauling more lethal oil and gas out of the ground. The tecno-nerd multi-billionaires build their energy and water guzzling data centres willy-nilly with bought planning permission from bent local councillors.
This summer has been a nightmare. Yet it is nothing compared to the nightmare to come. Here in northern France there has barely been more than a few days respite between heatwaves. To be out of doors for more than five or ten minutes has become rapidly unbearable. Oh sure, there will always be the young machos lying on the beach in 40 degree heat, allowing their skin to take on the hue of burned chicken. They pass the time on social media slagging off black people, (who, incidentally, don’t have to risk skin cancer to have what lily-white folks crave), while submitting themselves to a not-so-gentle simmering in order to achieve it.
According to the CCPI 2026 (Climate Change Performance Index) not one country on the planet ranks “very high” on it’s implementation of necessary work to combat climate change. In fact, so low is the bar that the top ranking nation in the CCPI report only managed fourth place. No country on earth managed a 1st, 2nd or 3rd.
Perhaps I’m wrong to slag off Andy Burnham. He’s not really the one to blame for not working furiously to resolve the climate crisis. After all, politicians in a democratic society are supposed to support the majority. Surely, after this summer of hell the majority of folk must support more political effort towards greener energy and banning fossil fuel production?
Wrong.
In a nutshell, apathy! No, not political apathy, people apathy. Not one major nation on earth has a majority population that believes climate change is the most important issue for them.
Only 23% in the UK; 25% in France. Even Vietnam is well off the 51% necessary for a majority.
So what are politicians supposed to do? The answer would seem simple. Tell the US to bugger off and mind it’s own business. Take a stand against that Mafia-style administration and to hell with the consequences. If necessary, the world can manage without them. Press forward with solid green policies and if necessary privatise the fossil fuel companies and commandeer their assets. They are traitors to the planet. They’ve known what the results of their fossil fuel extraction would be since the pre-1970s and they kept it hidden.
While in the process the governments can tax the data centre billionaires at 95 cents in the euro (95 pence in the pound) to help pay for the new green economy. Britain did exactly that to the Beatles and others in the 1960s.
Oh, but wait! If a few brave, enterprising politicians set about that they’d be voted out of office in the blink of an eye. Why? Because things would get rough for a time. You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs and there would be a lot of eggs to break: lost jobs, price rises, more wildfires, food scarcities, and who knows what damage the US administration might throw out? Sky high tariffs, certainly. Possible withdrawal of military hardware and personnel. I’m sure the madman could find lots to avenge when a nation stops licking his boots, or wherever. There’d be no immediate positive results for having a greener country. The planet would keep on heating for quite a while. Mister & Missus Homo sapiens don’t like to struggle, especially when it’s too hot in Spain for the annual summer holiday and the wildfires are burning ever nearer.
Perhaps Burnham is a bit more canny than I give him credit for. Better to wait and let those figures creep up over fifty percent.
It may yet take a while.
It may yet prove too late.