Is Boris Jeremy Clarkson or Greta Thunberg?
By Paul Homewood
Dan Hodges sums up the problem superbly.
It is the metropolitan bubble all over again:
The whole piece is worth a read, but this comment stands out:
But though Ministers may be aware of the pitfalls, the reality is COP26 represents a giant political trap. And the Government is in danger of plunging head-first into it.
A false consensus is again forming. Just as we saw with immigration and Brexit, a self-selecting group of politicians, activists, media commentators and blue-chip corporates have decided their will is now the settled national will. And they have unilaterally decreed tackling the ‘Climate Crisis’ is the priority of the moment.
Whether ordinary people agree with them is neither here nor there. The environmental elite will determine the price to be paid to save the planet from destruction. You’re worried about the cost of a new boiler? Or a new electric car? We’re saving the world here. Just shut up, plebs, and pay.
Never mind that’s not where the public are. Yes, they believe in – and are concerned about – global warming. Yes, they want to do their bit to protect the future of the children and grandchildren. But they are not about to be dictated to by a global environmental clique who will jet in to Glasgow, get whisked around for 12 days in their darkened SUVs, then jet out again.
The inconvenient truth is the environment is not the No 1 issue for the majority. Maybe it should be. But it isn’t. A secure job. A decent home. A good school. Safe streets. These are the real ‘global priorities’.
But in the weeks ahead, as COP 26 and the international environmental clique bears down upon us, these priorities will be shunted aside. The news pages will be filled with one issue – and one perspective. TV will be the same. The global corporates – who see COP26 not as an opportunity to save the world, but a perfect moment to burnish their social responsibility profiles – will push their greenwashed advertising campaigns.
And once again, the gap between those who govern and those who are governed will widen. Let’s call it the Canning Town Paradox.
In 2019, Extinction Rebellion took to the streets of London. They were lauded by politicians. They were applauded by many in the press. They were feted by celebrities.
Then Extinction Rebellion turned up at Canning Town and Shadwell and Stratford stations, and jumped on to the roof of the trains.
At which point, ordinary Londoners expressed their own feelings by hauling them off the carriages and nearly lynching them.
This is the danger for Boris. As the lustre of COP26 beckons, he loses further focus on the agenda – and voters – that delivered him his majority back in 2019.
‘Carry on, Allegra’? I really wouldn’t.
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
At heart he’s sceptical, but like everyone else in public life he’s surrounded by an army of lobbyists, agenda driven environmental activists and scientist activists. Like it or not they control the perception that their alarmism is the only valid opinion to have. It would take a veritable Titan of a PM to face all of that down.
Britain needs the equivalent of Field Marshal Alanbrooke, the CIGS during WW2, whose usual response to anything and everything was, “I flatly disagree!” His summings-up of people were bleakly accurate. Of one general he said “He is not a big man. He takes on the shape of the last person to sit on him.”
Johnson is another political product of Eton and Oxbridge i.e. a good orator, but generally spineless and incompetent. He has been dealt a dire hand of Covid cards, but kitchen and heat.
I thought Lord Sumption’s short description fitted well –
A good Pamphleteer who is intellectually idle.
“Johnson is another political product of Eton and Oxbridge …”
It’s more to do with knowledge: Boris read Classics, a subject not renowned for its Physics, Chemistry, or Engineering content.
He might have advisors but, without a basic understanding of the subject matter, it’s difficult to formulate suitable questions or understand the responses. And his advisors are hand picked by one side of the debate. Even the BBC, in its even handed way 🙂 , only presents one side, the wrong side!
In the House of Commons, few members have any Scientific/Engineering degrees and industrial experience. And the Cabinet is devoid of these skills, or hasn’t let on that they have! 🙂 And the Civil Service can’t be any better, given the evidence.
No wonder government projects are rarely on time, within budget, and to the specification – assuming there is one! We need a variety of skills available.
I saw him in a video clip the other day trying to unfurl an umbrella, it was frankly laughable, his ‘bacon sndwich’ moment I thought.
The problem with government projects is often the government. They like changing the requirements after the project is underway, which plays havoc with the schedule and/or the costs.
The old cliche about the advantages of a scientific education looks rather weak when I contemplate the Astrologer Royal, and the other worthless “scientists” who have dominated the advice given to government during the pandemic.
A scientific education can be profoundly useful but really needs to be combined with a critical intellect and a sound character.
Here’s how the BBC trains its journos in the “even-handed” way to report climate change – it is purel political campaigning:
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/revealed-the-bbc-guide-for-covering-climate-change
The closest match would be Walter Mitty
Did Walter Mitty plan national policy around getting a leg over?
Yes; he is in bed with the enemy.
Boris thinks he is another Winston Churchill. He has Winston’s enthusiasm for novel solutions but lacks Winston’s ability to surround himself with good advisers (rather than Yes Men). Also he lacks Winston’s wide experience of life and the backbone to endure criticism.
The simple reality is that the Glasgow conference will be a humiliating disaster for Boris. And that’s not because of Allegra’s misspeaks, nor the cost of new boilers or electric cars, nor the practical impossibility of our getting rid of fossil fuels. No – the real reason is that there’s no realistic possibility that Alok Sharma (the COP26 President) will be able to persuade major non-Western countries, such as China, India, Russia, Iran, South Korea, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Mexico and Taiwan, to agree to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 to the level that he says is essential ‘to accelerate the green transition‘ and thereby ‘set the course of this decisive decade for our planet and future generations‘. Indeed, it’s unlikely that he’ll be able persuade them to cut them at all.
Robin Guenier
…………….the real reason is that there’s no realistic possibility that Alok Sharma (the COP26 President) will be able to persuade major non-Western countries, such as China, India, Russia, Iran, South Korea, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Mexico and Taiwan, to agree to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 to the level that he says is essential……….
No one at COP26 has to agree. They just have to issue a statement that pretends to agree. They will agree to make a best effort but phrased to make it seem like more than it is. A cliff hanger, hard fought, final communique signaling that finally everybody came on board to try and achieve the goals using the best methods suited for their own particular situation recognizing the social needs and economic conditions of each country. .
Sums it up in a nutshell Ron
The West want the rest to sign a meaningless piece of paper (Munich?), just so they can go back to their electrorate and say “look, even China is doing something”
Meanwhile China nd the rest can carry on with business as usual
I am not sure they will get that much out of it. Certain things are supposed to happen that will not happen. Stuff like increased ambition and $100 billion a year. Neither will happen. The last two COPs were paralyzed by the internal struggle between the moderates and the radicals. COP26 may well be worse.
For background here is what I observed two years ago, the beginning of a civil war among the alarmists.
https://www.cfact.org/2019/09/28/is-climate-alarmism-tearing-itself-apart/
That war is ongoing. The COP can flop.
My hope is that some journo or two will remember COP25 and COP24 and and and and make the connection that there’s no change – futile gesturing at each. The saddest thing about the Paris Agreement was that the press office exploded with joy on camera when Agreement was reached. Not a journo said hey hey
Whatever the final communique says, there’ll be attempts in the West to put a brave face on things. But Sharma has been specific: the ’1.5C warming limit … requires the world to cut carbon by 45 per cent by 2030 … we need all governments to accelerate the green transition, so that we leave Glasgow with a clear plan to limit global warming to 1.5C’: https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/china-india-russia-climate-crisis-b1889287.html?r=9531.
That’s not going to happen and it’ll be impossible to hide that reality. And that will be a humiliation for Boris.
No.
It won’t be a humiliation for Boris. It will be used as authorization by the world leaders to by bypass normal procedures and use their regularity authority and other residual powers to protect the innocent majority from an ignorant, science denying, greedy, obstructive minority.
It will be used as a final call to action to take the necessary measures that will place short term burdens on the social and economic life of citizens. Burdens that all responsible citizens have said over and over that they are willing to shoulder. (except when actually presented with a real live burden)
The leaders, and especially Boris, will be portrayed as heroic figures prepared to make the sacrifices necessary. Legends that will go down in the history books for their determination to issue tough sounding press releases.
The media, elites and chattering classes will make sure that you understand that. And if too many people form contrary opinions,…. well, maybe something will have to done about that. But of course, that is for a follow up conference explaining yet another failure.
Here’s hoping for another Copenhagen.
No Ron – leaders of Western countries may try all that. But not ‘world leaders’, most of whom will continue to prioritise economic growth. And that means continuing to burn fossil fuels.
And I’d be prepared to bet that the final communiqué will be agreed some time in the 48 hours after the Conference was supposed to come to an end. History tells me …
Out of interest, follow this link:
https://unfccc.int/decisions?such=j&volltext=%22cancun%20agreements%22#beg
and be prepared to be shocked, though probably not surprised.
It reads like the Minute of a 1970s union meeting transferred to Dante’s vision of Hell!
Alok Sharma is yet another, in a very long line of climate clowns, who has forsaken his intelligence and integrity to prostitute policies that he presumably knows, deep down, will do bugger all to change the weather but, hey ho, might feather his nest even when Glasgow proves to be a similar disaster to all of the other climate jamborees in history. If he doesn’t know, then he hasn’t done his homework.
Waving the flag for climate catastrophe seems to get desperate politicians comfy and very lucrative slots on the boards of green subsidy farmers when their political careers hit the buffers. As his surely will. He’s only following in the footsteps of a legion of recent cabinet ministers who have sold their souls to the green blob to advance their pension pots: sadly, such individuals cause real harm to the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society, not to mention the poorest communities in the world, where green virtual signalling has dire and, regularly, fatal consequences.
Leaders of non western countries are happy to issue press releases portraying these waste of time conferences as being successful. That positions them to ask for more money and/or concessions that are buried in background papers.
I was responding to your statement that Boris will be humiliated.
Ron – you say:
‘Leaders of non western countries are happy to issue press releases portraying these waste of time conferences as being successful.’
No they don’t. The Rio Convention and the Paris Agreement clearly exempt them from any obligation to cut their emissions. So they’re more than happy to sit back and watch the West tearing itself apart over the issue. And, except for fuelling the fire by loudly demanding vast amounts of money, keep clear of the fun while continuing to develop their economies by burning vast amounts of fossil fuel.
Boris will be humiliated because his man Sharma has specifically stated that all governments must agree at Glasgow to cut their emissions substantially by 2030 – and that’s not going to happen.
Neither has shown any skill at driving. As for steering….
Boris is not the man for the PM job, never has been.
Maybe Gove, Sunak or best thinker of all, Redwood could be right.
Redwood certainly talks more sense. He also has a lot more experience.
I’ve always had a lot of time for Redwood but like Powell he’s too much of a thinker and too “cold” for the top job. Purely my opinion, you understand. Johnson, of course, isn’t cold enough.
I still reckon the Conservatives made a blunder in choosing him over Hunt who would have been an unexciting PM (though you never know until you try!) but a safe pair of hands. The campaign against him was well-orchestrated and I’ve not been able to find out from where!
Who else could have got Brexit through Parliament? None of the above certainly. Gove is seen as a snake in the grass, Redwood is and always has been rather arrogant, Sunak was nowhere to be seen. No election, no majority, no Brexit.
People like Boris and he brings in a shed load of votes, they might quite like Sunak or Truss. They don’t like Gove or Redwood.
Back in the day – I used to think that Dan Hodges and I would find little to agree on if we met in a pub. BUT I eventually realised 10 years ago that although we have a different slant on things, I rarely disagree with his articles.
I think it means we are both in the centre.
Perhaps Johnson should ask his wife which he is? She seems to be running the country from upstairs at No10? She’ll probably know…LOL!?
Will anyone have the courage to repeal the disastrous ‘millband’ climate change act, it really sums up how uninformed our ‘members’ really are! Career politicians bah, I bet not one ever had a paper round or know what one is! However, the public always get what they deserve, note the good people of Birkenhead had a thoroughly decent man as MP, Frank Field, who decided after decades ‘Corbyn’ labour wasn’t for him, stood as an independent and the sheep just voted labour. Not even lions led by donkeys.
I’ve suggested that in the basis of the latest report on the CCC that amending the Act to abolish that Committee would be seriously worth considering. That alone would draw several of the Act’s teeth while not declaring outright war on the environmentalists.
Softly, softly is the way to go. There might be votes for amendment; at this stage I doubt there would be the votes for repeal.
I have just watched BBC Breakfast and in an interview about the forthcoming IPCC report, Liz Thomas of the British Antarctic Survey stated that 7 out of the last 10 years have been the hottest ever. The statement was accepted by the Breakfast Team but was Ms Thomas correct or was she misrepresenting the statistics??
Certainly not “ever” – almost certainly at least as warm in the Medieval, Roman and Minooan Warm Periods and certainly warmer in the Eemian.
And warmest by what? A few tenths of a degree over a global average that’s not that accurate and compared with previous years that have been cooled.
I suspect we are in a bit of a warmish period but if we weren’t being constantly told we are we would simply not notice.
I see John Humphrys writing in the Daily Mail has joined the climate bandwagon claiming “every scientist” agrees that we must cut emissions to save the world. Presumably every scientist except the 31,487 who signed the Petition Project or the 900+ who signed the Climate Intelligence Foundation’s declaration there is no climate emergency.
He further makes a preposterous claim that climate change has halved the speed of the Gulf Stream and might stop it altogether. I don’t know how much ocean temperatures have warmed but suspect the rise is so small it can hardly be measured yet this is supposed to threaten the existence of the Gulf Stream. I am drafting a complaint to the Mail.
Today in the Daily Mail…
DOMINIC LAWSON: Why IS the BBC a pulpit for eco-fanatics and their doomsday climate cult?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-9875005/Why-BBC-pulpit-eco-fanatics-doomsday-climate-cult.html
Boris has the Medusa touch, everything he gets involved in will end up in a mess.
Unfortunately we elected him as PM
I fear this misses the point. The scare is not about climate. The climate scam is being used to impose the political will of the World Economic Forum headed by Klaus Schwab. That is no conspiracy theory, Schwab is on video telling us just that. He says we “must re-imagine capitalism” for which read “destroy” This piece from the Heartland Institute explains it better than I can. Begins:
The climate alarmism industry and its media allies present a daily barrage of false, misleading, and one-sided information designed to convince people that a climate crisis is at hand. As the years pass, the “climate crisis” keeps being pushed into the future. Why? Because the forces of collectivism and big, controlling government are using it as a means to gain more control over us.
The global climate agenda, as promoted by the United Nations, is to overhaul the entire global economy, usher in socialism, and forever transform society as one in which individual liberty and economic freedom are crushed.
Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, recently penned an article for TIME that focused exclusively on the Great Reset, titled ‘A Better Economy Is Possible. But We Need to Reimagine Capitalism to Do It.’
As Chris Talgo wrote on Heartland’s Stopping Socialism site, Klaus and the WEF plan to exploit the COVID crisis in the short term, and the “climate crisis” in the long-term. Their goal: to replace free-market capitalism to usher in a command-and-control structure on a global scale. And there appears to be little to stop them.
This will be the most important event of the year to counter climate alarmism AS AN EXCUSE TO impose the GREAT RESET featuring the best scientists and experts from around the world who know that humans are NOT causing a climate crisis.
We are being lied to about our CO2 emissions. We are told UK is responsible for 1% of global CO2 emissions but they conveniently forget to mention that 96% of emissions are from natural sources; the other 4% are from human activity.
We emit 1% of that 4%. 1% of 4% is 4 parts in 10,000!!
If UK sank beneath the waves tomorrow our emissions would be quickly replaced by China and others and CO2 levels in atmosphere would be unaffected.
If our politicians don’t stop lying to us and continue on their insane Net Zero path they will do more damage to UK than any terrorist group.
According to the latest IPCC report, we won’t sink under the waves until the end of the century!
Today Richard North follows up his piece in the Mail on Sunday by looking at how far away the UK is from replacing any of its nuclear generation while the morons plan for increasing electric heating from 2025 and the current 2030 sale of battery cars only.
My understanding is that initially Margaret Thatcher when PM was alarmed by the Global Warming hypothesis and took a great interest in the science. However, post Number 10 she became highly sceptical when, I assume, she had more time to study the details. Whatever one might think of her she, unlike Boris, usually studied her brief and delved into the background. Boris appears to have no knowledge of the small print of the IPCC and others who question the many assumptions and dubious conclusions especially in the blatant political document Summary For Policymakers..
I have been studying climate science for 11 years and one thing I have learnt is how incredibly complex it is with myriad assumptions often not supported by observations (eg models running too hot)
Johnson is a well-tailored suit with an ill-fitting man in it.
The trouble is Boris tends to go with the majority so if the majority are frightened he will.try to react to it.
During WW2 it was common to ask people seriously, “Are you having a good war?”
For some – those who had risen unexpectedly to the top, and were giving orders and getting perks, glorying in the communal hating*, all the while avoiding the front line – it was the greatest time of their lives.
Too many people are ‘having a good climate war’ for it to to be stopped anytime soon.**
Also, the ‘doom trolling’ in the chattering classes is, for them, like watching porn Too much of it actually changes the brain so that the watching becomes an addiction.
* An opinion poll in 1944 revealed that 13% of the American public and 50% of G.I.s
were in favour of the EXTERMINATION of the Japanese. I guess you could replace
‘Japanese’ with ‘carbon’ and ‘G.I.s’ with ‘climate scientists’ and get similar figures at present.
** “Put that mask on ! Don’t you know there’s a Covid-19 war ?”
By the way, I have not noticed any of the usual, late summer, “Ship of fools” stories, with brave men sailing to the North Pole.
“World watches in horror as boat finds water in Arctic Ocean!” is the prepared headline.
Have these vessels been laid up, along with the rest of the cruise ships, because of Covid-19 fear? Or is it obvious that the ice-wall has no chinks this year?
As for, “The Arctic will definitely be ice-free by summer 2015 [and every year thereafter]!” I guess there will be another opportunity for us to say “What a load of balls that was !” – UNFORTUNALY NOT ONE PERSON IN A THOUSAND IS LISTENING TO US.
As to why nobody is listening (or likely to) it occurs to me that – after one has said all the true things about confirmation bias and group think and stupidity, -there is one overwhelming fact to face. Most adult people have no curiosity whatsoever.
Being curious is a juvenile stage of development in intelligent mammals, and quite a short one. When you are under the watchful eye of your mother, you can try risky things, and should learn as much as possible. As soon as you are on your own, adopting new behaviour has more risk than reward..
In humans the exploring stage lasts longer than in other animals (an example of what is called ‘neotony’ ) but it does end, and for most people it ends with the hormones of puberty. Before then, learning is a joyful sort of play (unless the school has smashed it out of you prematurely) and after that time – just a chore. Who actually enjoys studying for their accountancy exams or doing their PhD work? Very few.
Being curious, and showing it, when adult, will often attract the slurs neurotic and crankish. Backing up a minority view with actual knowledge will get you truly hated.
There is the occasional cat or dog who stays kittenish or puppyish all their lives. The old phrase is ‘being bonkers.’ My grandmother had a dog which the family actually named Bonkers. Even when old, it would race around the room trying to investigate its own tail until it collapsed in a heap.