Such enthusiasm
for a parliament
without power
John Cameron
What climate change?
If my poor pun needs an
exclamation mark, please
add it yourself
Thom Cross
A letter to David Torrance
John Cameron
Regardless of whether the globe is actually warming, interest in the subject is cooling and the opening of the Durban conference on climate change attracted almost no attention.
With the world on the brink of economic depression, global warming is yesterday’s news and climate hyperventilation is no longer fashionable or even intellectually respectable. Scientific mistakes and green propaganda have undermined public confidence while the behaviour revealed by the Climategate whistle-blower’s latest emails is deplorable.
In political debates heralding next year’s elections, US presidential hopefuls described global warming as a ‘hoax’ and outrage at such a suggestion was remarkably muted. Europe promoted the Kyoto Protocol at the same time as it promoted the disastrous euro and today costly green initiatives are the very last thing voters are prepared to welcome.
Its economic nightmare is forcing the EU to face up to the reality that more than €200 billion has been squandered on completely inane and ineffective climate policies.
A new report by Swiss bank UBS reveals the emissions-trading scheme has already cost European energy consumers many billions with ‘zero impact’ on CO2 emissions. The UN notion of a rich north making emission cuts and a poor south being compensated was always a bit simplistic but with China still classed as ‘south’ it looks plain daft.
Brazil, South Africa, India and China have also kicked the ball into the long grass by announcing any future agreement must await the 2014 IPCC report.
So the overall message of the Durban summit is already clear – the hopeless gridlock of international climate diplomacy is set to continue for the foreseeable future. Some nations, like Scotland, may try to ‘go it alone’ but fuel poverty and the departure of any remaining energy-intensive industry will eventually induce some common sense.
However the green obsessives at the back end of our pantomime horse of a coalition are still intent on sending one third of a billion to Africa to fight ‘global warming’. Sadly, even when aid is given for something practical like a hospital, it tends to end up in Harrods and it will get there a lot faster when the target is such nebulous nonsense.
Given the manifest reluctance of the world’s big emitters to accept legally binding targets we should expect the emergence in Durban of climate realpolitik of ‘wait-and-see’.
Next week: a
contrary view by Anthony Seaton
Faces of Scotland
Ending a month of character studies by Islay McLeod
15. My uncle Loudoun
Such enthusiasm
for a parliament
without power
Alan Fisher
And so, for this small neighbourhood, history was about an hour late.
One by one, the people were allowed through, past the army and the
police on security duty, to cast their votes.
A tall man in a long coat asked people to be patient, to allow them to do their job to sort out this issue. There were a few raised voices, but the crowd quietly accepted the delay. One woman told me: ‘We’ll forgive them because it’s a new experience for everyone and lots of new things are happening to our country’. Twenty-five minutes later, wandering down the road, the men with the bundles of papers hoisted on their shoulders. They said they had got lost. They weren’t told the exact location of the temporary polling station, so they simply followed the crowd, a brave decision on Cairo’s busy streets.
And so, for this small neighbourhood, history was about an hour late. One by one, the people were allowed through, past the army and the police on security duty, to cast their votes. As they emerged from the polling booth, there was pleasure, excitement and hope. The woman, who earlier had been ready to forgive, appeared, the blue dye on her thumb to show she had voted: ‘It’s been great. What we’ve done is great, there’s been organisation – the only problem was delay’.
Throughout the day the lines grew longer, stretching back from the polling station. The delay of an hour of so was a minor inconvenience to those who had waited for this for years. As night fell still they came to vote – some taking advantage of the two-hour extension to polling times ordered across the country. One slightly harassed looking man told me: ‘I work quite far away, and without the extra hours I wouldn’t have been able to vote either day’.
Another late voter believes the decision will increase the turnout, which will improve the poll’s legitimacy in the eyes of the people. Turnout across the country is reported to be high, but the reality is that this election will put in place a parliament with very little power. Even after the politicians take their seats, the country will still be run by an unelected military council.
But still, this election is a small step in Egypt’s transition from the Mubarak years. A small but historic step.
Alan Fisher is an Al Jazeera correspondent
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