A change of wind - by Richard... Wednesday, September 15, 2010

A change of wind - by Richard... Wednesday, September 15, 2010

All but one of the 48 Republican hopefuls for the Senate mid-term elections in November deny the existence of climate change or oppose action on global warming, reports The Guardian.

Spluttering in its muesli, the paper goes on to report that the strong Republican front "against established science" includes entrenched Senate leaders as well as the new wave of radical conservatives endorsed by the Tea Party activists.

Some pundits are predicting a bloodbath in November, making it a pity that only a third of the Senate seats are up for grabs. But we can see the Senate fall very firmly into the Republican camp, and not just the good ol' boys, but hard-edged, in-your-face activists who are prepared to rip throats out.

We can then, or shortly thereafter, start seeing the death of the climate change miasma, with the chances of Obama getting anything through the House becoming vanishingly small. And then we see the bonfire of windfarms – not so much the wind of change as a change of wind.

Some time, very much later, we might possibly see British conservatives follow suit, if there are any left by them and just supposing we haven't been completely taken over by the evil empire. But then, when you're heading for a civil war, nobody really gives a stuff about renewable energy anyway.

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They missed it - by Richard... Tuesday, September 14, 2010

There is a degree of, shall we say, discord in the Labour ranks at the Cleggeron decision to drop the Queen's Speech from this session, with complaints that this is "an affront to Parliament and an abuse of power".

It is rather ironic that one of the lead dissenters is the great Europhile Denis MacShane because, if he had stopped to think about it, there was an event last week he should have a look at. This was when the leader of our government gave the state of the union address. Look at the wording and the style of the phrasing – and the context:

Today, I will set out what I see as the priorities for our work together over the coming year. I cannot now cover every issue of European policy or initiative we will take. I am sending you through President Buzek a more complete programme document.

Essentially, I see five major challenges for the Union over the next year: dealing with the economic crisis and governance; restoring growth for jobs by accelerating the Europe 2020 reform agenda; building an area of freedom, justice and security; launching negotiations for a modern EU budget, and pulling our weight on the global stage.

For sure, President Barroso did not precede his statements with, "... my government will", but this is purely a stylistic difference. That was the Queen's Speech. MacShane and his cronies missed it.

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