Developed countries have duty to give real climate change lifeline
I’M impressed by the daily torrent of Cop26 reported resolutions.
On Thursday evening on the radio I heard reports of Scottish islands facing evacuation as they are inundated by seasonal extreme tides – and let’s remember the repeated fires on our moors, it’s not just in Australia and California.
And let’s not forget the flooding that destroyed German villages in recent months.
Vast sums of climate finance have been pledged. It is impressive until one reflects both the projected cost of Trident replacement (£205 billion) and on the massive under-delivery of funds already pledged.
Oxfam has looked at the climate finance already provided concluding its true value is even less – $19-25bn once loan repayments, interest and over reporting have been taken into account.
Vast sums are needed just to hang on, let alone adapt or put something by for loss and damage when the inevitable disasters strike.
The need is much higher than was the case before. We didn’t put in a ‘stitch in time.’
However, the real tragedy will only become apparent if the ‘lifeline’ so generously to be provided by the private sector is taken up.
Oxfam has reported that
80 per cent of the climate ‘finance’ already provided has been provided as loans - i.e. further debts for countries where money is needed for healthcare, schooling infrastructure and other public services.
Some governments currently spend five-sixths of their funds on payments to high interest charging banks, eager to safeguard and maximise returns for shareholders and prepared to exact penalties aggressively.
This is a Manchester issue. Many of us have family and friends whose life-chances are jeopardised.
Are we prepared to be complicit in this debt-entrapment, this new financial enslavement?
Turn volume up on recycling
I FIND the idea that all young people are interested in the problem of climate change naive.
The rubbish left behind at the Reading Festival site which contained many bottles and cans took two weeks to clear. This behaviour is duplicated all over the world at festivals and similar events.
No interest shown in recycling by those attendees. It is obvious from the number of plastic bottles and drinks cans littering our country that the message about recycling is being ignored.
After the easing of each lockdown children could be seen packing into airports with their parents. Add to this those flying out to party in Ibiza and other similar locations. No interest in reducing their carbon footprint. Then we have the children dropped off at school by parents driving gas-guzzling cars.
There are many car drivers who like to draw attention to themselves and their vehicle by making as much noise as possible. Attracting these people to a quiet electric car is going to be difficult.
According to a climate change lawyer on TV this week, young people can take governments and fossil fuel companies to court (and have done so) for failing to carry out their climate change pledges.
The fact that this is possible prompts the question as to why Extinction Rebellion and these insulation protesters have to carry out such disgraceful actions.
Surely if someone should die on the way to hospital due to a road blockade by insulation protesters I would expect them to be charged with manslaughter. If these protesters purport to be intelligent then why not take the valid legal route mentioned above instead of turning the public against them.
Prince Charles has said he supports the protesters’ cause but not their actions which he rightly describes as destructive and disruptive.
Name and address supplied
Prime minister is winging it!
THE flooding in Oldham (Flood chaos shuts roads after rivers burst banks, M.E.N., November 2) can’t be blamed on Boris Johnson and his cronies, nor can the weather that has led to leaf-choked drains and massive puddles leading to traffic soaking pedestrians.
However, his decision to fly to and from the Glasgow climate talks (so as to keep up with the Bidens?) shows a breathtaking failure of leading by example.
Yet again his flagrant ‘do as I say, not as I do’ sense of entitlement erodes support.
Glasgow may be in a different country, but couldn’t he sleep or work on the train like normal people? I’m sure a prime ministerial coach would be cheaper to do up than a private (or RAF) jet costs to run.
We may expect this sort of exceptionalism from the likes of Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, and perhaps the POTUS needs his own security, but hey, Bozza doesn’t need to cross the Atlantic to get home – only the Clyde and Ribble! Sue Domino, Withington
Road protest is warranted
I DON’T know anyone in Insulate Britain and drive a car (as well as cycle), but I support their action, most recently near the airport.
As we saw recently with a mother in Essex using her Range Rover against protesters, their action puts them in danger as well as being uncomfortable.
We all make excuses and English is used to make excuses which are really ridiculous.
When people say ‘I support what you are doing, but let me carry on this once,’ they simply don’t appreciate change requires us all to change.
And if we haven’t done it when we get to the crunch (or road block), we shouldn’t be surprised or ratty if we are inconvenienced. We need to be the change we want to see.
The IB offshoot of Extinction Rebellion show a grasp of reality which puts us all to shame.
Roger Oublard, Manchester
End-of-life care reform
HOW we treat people at the end of life is a fundamental mark of a civilized society. Yet, far too often people are missing out on the care and support that they need.
This week new research from the Marie Curie Research Centre at Cardiff University reveals three quarters of people across the UK (77 per cent) think that end of life care should be given equal priority in the NHS with care for people at any other stage of life.
The Health and Care Bill making its way through Parliament provides a rare opportunity to level up the support people receive at the end of life, but as it stands, it makes no mention of care for dying people. We believe this needs to change.
Marie Curie is calling for the UK government to include two amendments to the bill; the first would introduce a duty for Integrated Care Boards to commission palliative care services across every part of England, the second would ensure that every dying person is offered a conversation about their personal needs, wishes and preferences for the care and support they receive.
We urge the UK government to ditch the sticking plaster and deliver real reform of care for dying people. Dr Sam Royston, Marie Curie Director of Policy and Research
Need help with Street slang
AS A son of the north west, now living on the south coast, I keep my cultural roots fertilized with a weekly dosage of Coronation Street.
I’ve noticed of late an expression which the scriptwriters are commonly using on the show and it’s causing some puzzlement.
The phrases ‘bob over,’ ‘bob-off’ and ‘bob-on’ have all made an appearance recently and I wonder if this is a genuine Manchester saying, or hails from deepest Lancashire? I’ve never heard it before and would welcome Mancunian thoughts on this ‘Corrie curiosity.’ Allen, West Sussex
Hoping store makes return
BACK in February this year I shared with readers my sadness that the Booths supermarket in MediaCity was closing down. A lot has changed in the intervening months which has made Booths’ closure not just disappointing but frustrating. A new shop, the General Store, has opened in the Lightbox building in the adjacent block to where Booths used to be and is doing a brisk trade. Not only that, a new Co-Op will soon be opening in the very same unit that Booths vacated, ready to serve customers from the new residential blocks that are being built on its old car park. There seems to be plenty of business to go around the local area, and it looks like Booths closed too early. It’s a great shame, because it was a store I enjoyed. Hopefully it can work out another way to return to the area in the future. Robert Frazer, Salford