Old fossil fuels young challenger’s heat

THE world watched and listened recently as Swedish teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg denounced the current generation of adults, in the UN General Assembly, for doing nothing meaningful to reverse the human-induced global warming that threatens the planet’s future.

But maybe something is being done. According to Sky News, a lawsuit starting later this month could have a profound effect. The New York State attorney-general is suing petroleum giant Exxon Mobil for misrepresenting to investors the way it was accounting for the economic risks of climate change.

A number of corporations apparently did their own research as far back as the 1980s to work out what the continued burning of fossil fuels would do for global warming. Some predicted, with frightening accuracy, what the consequences would be for sea level rises and severe weather events, among other things.

Today, the predictions are being borne out all over the planet.

This could be interesting. Will Donald Trump – a noted climate change denialist and fossil fuel enthusiast – be glued to his TV?

Moment of truth?

THE Brexit soapie seems about to go into a more serious phase.

The Moment of Truth is approaching.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks bullishly about an impending deal with the EU over arrangements for the Northern Ireland border, post-Brexit.

The Irish government says the Brits’ suggestions – not even concrete proposals – are out of the ballpark, involving a scattering about of customs clearance posts and using technologies that have not yet been invented.

Who is correct? They can’t both be right.

And what happens if no deal is achieved? Does BoJo observe the act of parliament requiring him to return to the EU to seek a further extension of the Brexit deadline?

Or does he somehow evade or ignore it?

The potential consequences are enormous. And what happens on the Northern Ireland border?

What seems clear is that Article 50 – setting in motion Brexit – should never have been activated before the Northern Ireland question had been addressed and agreed.

The Good Friday Agreement, which makes the Northern Ireland border virtually irrelevant, has ended more than 300 years of sectarian conflict. Suddenly the border is the Big Issue.

As with the old Chinese curse, we live in interesting times.

Tailpiece

AN AFGHAN, an Albanian, an Algerian, an Australian, a Bahamian, a Bahraini, a Bangladeshi, a Belgian, a Burundian, a Cambodian, a Cameroonian, a Canadian, a Congolese, a Dane, a Djibutian, a Dominican, a Dutchman, an East Timorese, an Ecuadorean, an Egyptian, an Equatorial Guinean, a Fijian, a Filipino, a Finn, a Frenchman, a Gabonese, a Gambian, a Georgian, a German, a Haitian, a Herzogovinian, a Honduran, a Hungarian, an Iraqi, an Irishman, an Israeli, an Italian, a Jamaican, a Japanese, a Jordanian, a Kazakhstani, a Kenyan, a Kuwaiti, a Laotion, a Latvian, a Lebanese, a Liberian, a Macedonian, a Malagasy, a Malawian, a Namibian, a Nepalese, a New Zealander, an Omani, a Pakistani, a Palestinian, a Pole, a Qatari, a Romanian, a Russian, a Samoan, a Saudi, a Senegalese, a South African, a Tajik, a Tanzanian, a Trinidadian, a Ugandan, a Ukrainian, a Uruguyan, a Venezuelan, a Vietnamese, a Welshman, a Yemenite, a Zambian and a Zimbabwean … walk into a bar.

Doorman: “Sorry, I can’t let you in without a Thai.”

Last word

I WAS married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury.