Enough of the gesture politics, leaders need to act on climate crisis
FEW would dispute that Vladimir Putin is the villain of the piece, the greatest danger to world peace since World War Two.
The representatives at the recently ended G7 conference have laboured mightily to contain Mr Putin in the hope that an enlarged NATO and a defence package for Ukraine will check his ambitions and allow more modest Russian advisers to influence him.
The conference ended with broad smiles, much back-slapping and commemorative photos before the national leaders hurried off for their comfortable flights home, untroubled by airport chaos or luggage checks.
Barely had this homeward exodus begun when the bombshell fell: the US Supreme Court had made a decision allowing for continued exploration, production and use of coal, arguably the worst of the fossil fuels which are helping mankind’s headlong flight towards extinction if major changes are not instituted within the next very few years.
Coincidentally, this week, we have heard from Bob Geldof and George Monbiot, two of the most eloquent and energetic people fighting the dead hand of the climate change deniers.
Both were exploring a similar theme: that the promotion of “green” fuel made from plants is taking food from the mouths of the world’s starving people and in the process leading to the irreversible destruction of the rain forests which play a vital part in maintaining the stability of our planet’s climate.
The three things which we, the earth’s human inhabitants, have in abundance are sun, wind and tide, in different parts of the world.
These are the three elements which can be safely developed to provide the energy we need.
We have just had the
Cop26 conference, with much fanfare, but where are the international bodies beavering away to find the answers and instituting action?
Or is it “hey ho, let’s fly off to the distant beaches and tan ourselves while the earth catches fire?”
Rod Slater, Lymm
Human rights under threat
THE European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) was drafted after the end of World War Two by the council of Europe in the Hague.
It set out to deliver a human rights agenda in order to prevent human rights violations and to protect democratic society against authoritarian and totalitarian regimes.
The ECHR has done much to safeguard our human rights – some of which are under threat by our current Westminster government.
The convention was designed to incorporate a traditional civil liberties approach to securing effective political democracy, from the strongest traditions in the United Kingdom, France and other member states of the fledgling Council of Europe.
The government has come up with a policy of exporting its migration policy to the African state of Rwanda, which quite understandably has garnered opposition from the Church, some courts and society’s leaders as well as the ECHR.
The response by the current government is to withdraw from the ECHR and to replace it by a British Bill of Rights. This hastily drawn up document does little to preserve and enhance the rights of the citizen. It is more to serve the needs of the government and to dull scrutiny of some of its actions.
In addition, other recent moves that the government has made, may effect our rights:
The recently adopted requirement of Photo ID to vote could well deter the poor, the young and elderly from voting, thereby slanting the outcome in the government’s favour.
The Police and Crime Bill has the provision to remove our right of peaceful demonstration. It can also have a draconian effect on our right to peaceful protest over a wide range of issues.
The Nationality & Borders Bill demonstrates the overly harsh treatment being meted out to refugees, many of whom are escaping persecution in their home lands.
It is time for the public to wake up to the threats to our human rights. Share your concerns with your MP, who should be there to safeguard your interests and values.
Justin Beament, Devon
Six years of Brexit disaster
SO, it’s now over six years since the EU Referendum.
Some say it is too soon to judge the results but it is worth seeing how we are doing so far.
Since the referendum the pound has dropped 15 per cent against the dollar. This has meant our imports including oil, gas and food have increased in cost by 15pc.
The Office of Budget Responsibility still considers that our GDP will be 4pc lower than had we stayed in the EU.
Farmers have suffered a loss of seasonal workers, trade deals that are detrimental to their industry, and a serious loss of subsidy.
Small and medium size businesses recently told the cross-party UK Trade and Business Commission that they were facing an ‘existential threat’ due to Brexit red tape.
The Northern Ireland Protocol, part of the ‘oven ready deal,’ threatens peace in Northern Ireland, a trade war with the EU and sends the much-vaunted trade deal with the USA from the backburner into the dustbin.
It also threatens our EU Horizon science funding, with UK scientists stating the effect for UK science could be ‘catastrophic.’
But let’s talk of the benefits of Johnson’s Brexit deal.
We now have the chance to manufacture noisier vacuum cleaners, though, of course, we couldn’t sell them to our nearest neighbours.
Our new immigration policy allows us to hire a plane for £500,000, not to fly to Rwanda.
Best of all, Jacob Rees-Mogg states that we have saved £1bn by not doing the checks on imports of EU goods that we didn’t need to do
when we were in the EU - the logic of the madhouse!
This is a disastrous state of affairs. The fact is that prior to the referendum the British people were lied to – lied to by someone who has subsequently been proved to be a habitual liar.
Of course, the Tory party now realises that he is an electoral liability and, of course, they will get rid of him.
But we must not forget that many in the Tory party always knew he was not fit to be prime minister, but still supported him.
They supported him to gain power, just as he saw Brexit as a means to personally gain power.
Our ire should not just be directed at Boris Johnson, but at the party that allowed this disastrous state of affairs to come about.
Mike Baldwin, via email
GP surgeries need reform
I AM deeply concerned about the issues raised on BBC Panorama (June 13) regarding Operose Health and the practice of buying GP surgeries.
This has come about by a change of legislation in 2007 by the then Labour government to encourage competition and innovation within the NHS.
What we need in the NHS is the ability to see a qualified GP when we want to and what we don’t need is competition between surgeries and NHS money going directly to shareholders of private companies instead of being spent on patients.
This system is not providing savings or efficiency within the NHS, it is providing profit for private equity companies – some of whom do not even originate in this country.
This system of allowing private companies to buy GP surgeries needs reversing as soon as possible.
The reason for A&E departments being unable to cope is because patients cannot access their own GP. Anthony Cooper, Blackley
Pog will never match the hype
I CAN’T believe Paul Pogba has the audacity to call Manchester United’s contract offer derisory.
It is obvious that Pogba felt no shame or guilt about receiving his exorbitant wage each week while sitting out a large part of the season injured.
The fact that Pogba won the World Cup playing for France does not make him world class.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are world class and they are not World Cup winners. World class players turn up for every game and not when the feeling suits them.
Pogba played in a Juventus side packed with so much talent that they would have won Serie A multiple times without him.
It is an indicator of how highly Pogba thinks of himself that he releases a documentary at this time in his career.
After six underwhelming years playing for United it is no surprise the documentary received some of the poorest ratings ever known.
Pogba is a product of social media and self promotion who will never live up to the hype around him. Jack Haynes, Swinton