Being Red and Green

In todays Observer here

‘the heatwave should alarm us all. Though it may have been less punitive to experience than last summer’s record temperatures, which led to thousands of deaths, it has spread across many more countries. “We can regard this as the most extreme event in European history,” said one climatologist.’ here

John Kerry, who leads on climate change issues for the Biden administration, appears to recognise that the global response to the climate and ecological emergency needs to recognise historical injustices and do something about them. He is also right to say that there is a need to co-operate with China and the Middle Eastern fossil fuel producers, however unsavoury the nature of the ruling dictatorships might be. If he had won the US Presidential election in 2004 ( he narrowly lost to George W Bush) would we be any further forward in dealing with this existential threat ? Read Guardian article here

The following comment from Dr Sharma of the BMA is damming in the extreme and should be recalled during the next general election campaign “For staff working in the NHS or any patients desperately trying to access care, No 10’s refusal to admit that the NHS is in crisis will seem simply delusional. To try to reassure us that ministers are confident the NHS has all the funding it needs, at a time when families are seeing relatives left in pain at home or on trolleys in hospital, is taking the public for fools. “Moreover, the attempt to portray this winter’s crisis as the result of the pandemic and not the result of more than a decade of political choices to reduce investment in the NHS and its workforce is little more than an attempt to rewrite history,” full article here >

Five 40 minute programmes ( two already broadcast with the rest to follow this week ) discussing how the world should be addressing the Climate and Ecological Emergency. The lament by the climate activist/ academic from Bangladesh about the need for a truly global response ( he wants a global government ! ) and the lack of the prospect of one was perhaps the most pertinent and depressing comment in the discussion so far https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001gk5d?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

From an article by John Harris in today's Guardian “If you don’t want politics flooded with betrayal myths and conspiracy theories – which have a much greaterpurchase on public opinion than anyone in politics and the media currently seems to realise – then do not ignore uncomfortable facts. When mainstream politicians indulge in denial, demagogues often make hay" Read the full article here

In a generally uncontroversial discussion between esteemed BBC journalists about how 2023 was likely to turn out and what was going to be important , the failure of anyone of them to focus on the global climate and ecological emergency was both disappointing and alarming At least The Guardian gave the issue attention when reviewing the year https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/30/environmental-review-of-2022-another-mile-on-the-highway-to-climate-hell