States may throw us a climate lifeline

JOE Biden was last night poised to throw Boris Johnson a lifeline in his bid to keep alive hopes for a global deal on climate change.

The Prime Minister yesterday read the riot act to world leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York over their failure to meet their commitments to a $100billion (£70billion) fund to tackle climate change in developing countries.

The fund is seen as central to hopes of a deal at the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow which Mr Johnson will host in November.

And hope was rising in the British camp last night that the US President is poised to announce a major financial commitment when he addresses the UN gathering today.

President Biden’s climate envoy John Kerry said the world was ‘going to get it done by Cop26 and the US will do its part’. Asked whether Mr Biden would commit more funds, he told Sky News: ‘I’m not hoping... I’m telling you to stay tuned into the President’s speech.’

Earlier, Mr Johnson clashed with Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro over the destruction of the rainforest. No 10 said the PM had ‘stressed the important role Brazil must play, as a major South American economy and home to the Amazon rainforest, in tackling climate change’. Mr Johnson also chided Mr Bolsonaro over his scepticism of Covid vaccines.

The PM later told a summit of 30 world leaders that it was no longer good enough to simply agree that ‘something must be done’.

‘I confess I’m increasingly frustrated that the “something” to which many of you have committed is nowhere near enough,’ he said. ‘The gulf between what has been promised, what is actually being delivered, and what needs to happen... it remains vast.’

A TrOUBlING report by academics lays bare the dangers of potentially fatal illnesses being missed because of the rise of virtual GP consultations.

Patients who have a phone appointment with their family doctor are significantly more likely to end up as an emergency hospital admission than those seen in person.

Of course, at the height of Covid remote check-ups were mostly inescapable. But despite the hugely successful vaccine rollout freeing us from lockdown, the number of faceto-face consultations is still critically low.

That is why the Mail, along with our amazing readers, is proud to fight for patients whose voices are being ignored.

The key demand of our new campaign – let’s See GPs Face To Face – is a guarantee that anyone wanting to see their family doctor in person can do so.

Crucially, it has already won support from No10, which urges practices to stop shunning patients.

While digital appointments have their place, the pendulum has swung too far. True, responsibility for this unedifying situation does not lie entirely at GPs’ doors.

But some GPs are stubbornly resisting the resumption of normal service. For the Corbynite-leaning British Medical Association to claim criticising this dragging of heels is ‘fuelling a spiralling climate of abuse’ is sensationalist twaddle.

Nurses, hospital doctors and countless others have tirelessly dealt with people face to face throughout the pandemic. Why won’t GPs reopen their surgeries?