We can’t let politics get in the way of tackling climate change
It’s the sign of a fine newspaper that you can disagree with the editorials and stay hired. This is a fine newspaper and I disagree with the conclusion of Monday’s editorial that all windfarms should be off-shore “just as David Cameron’s government has decreed”. Cameron’s boast that he would lead “the greenest government ever” has been shown to be a total sham. His government’s failure to conclude the deal by which Ireland would export wind energy to the UK was about nothing stopping the UK Independence Party winning seats from concerned Tories in the shires — which is, come to think of it, something on which we should agree with David Cameron.
But as the latest report UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shouts from the rooftops that we need to triple or quadruple our output of renewable energy if we are to stand a chance of averting catastrophic climate change, Cameron’s government is reverting to business as usual. Two years ago the prime minister appointed a climate change sceptic as Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson, who opined only last year, “People get very emotional about this subject but I think we should just accept that the climate has been changing for centuries.”
