Who is this made-up anti-growth coalition? And will the divide-and-rule strategy backfire?
“Vested interests dressed up as think tanks?”
Yup. The response from her opponents has been something like this:
Above – “Tarantino’s new star” by North & South, 1997
And not just ‘the usual suspects’. This from the Institute for Government’s Dr Hannah White.
Above – things were meant to get better under the new Prime Minister. Does it look like they have?
Above – Dr White wrote Held in Contempt, and Isabel Hardman wrote Why we get the wrong politicians, both of which are worth reading in these troubled times.
When it comes to avoiding scrutiny, ministers have been very good at this for a number of years – much to the frustration of those of us who want to see politicians in and/or aiming for high public office subjected to much higher quality scrutiny of their policies. In this case below, Michael Gove could not avoid Femi. A superb piece getting straight to the point.
Here’s another example of a climate activist who, being arrested for (presumably) blocking a road, gets her points across quickly and clearly – while being carried off.
Turns out it’s part of a daily protest against the fossil fuel industry taking place throughout October. All the more striking given the announcement by the oil cartel OPEC earlier today – saying it will *cut production* by 2billion barrels of oil per day. Which is just before the US mid-term elections. Had Western nations made a faster transition to renewables, their economies and societies would have been less vulnerable to such geo-political actions. Can’t say they were not warned.
Greenpeace activists gatecrash the speech
Below – a screengrab from the livestream on the BBC.
Above – one of the protesters was Rebecca Newsom of Greenpeace – who along with Ami McCarthy explain their actions in The Guardian here.
Earlier this year I got myself one of these given the culture wars that ministers have been stoking for far too long. Various campaigning charities have set up print-on-demand merchandise and clothing ranges – which makes a change from the random designs on what’s left of shops on the high street. Such as surfing competitions in places most people have never heard of, let alone been to! That plus the massive environmental footprint of the fashion industry. Our planet cannot sustain a fast-fashion industry. (Or fast food industry – Blue Peter told us this in 1990 so it must be true!)
“No really – who voted for this?”
It’s a sore point politically because the big change in policy direction under the new PM has no mandate from the electorate. Which amongst other things means the House of Lords can us far more delaying tactics compared with legislation that implements manifesto commitments.
Targeting nature – and some of the biggest civic society organisations in the country
The RSPB is one of the largest membership organisations in the country – with over 1m members. That’s more than the memberships of all political parties in the UK put together. So taking them all on is either very brave, or very foolish. Take your pick.
Expect some ***very full*** postboxes and email inboxes in constituency offices.
What’s even more striking is the Conservatives’ Party Conference 2022 has provided lots of video footage for their party opponents to use and re-use in the run up to the general election. Such as this.
As unforced party political errors go, this is up there with the best/worst of them.
The Smoggies
Yesterday there was more news on fracking.
…with the interesting claim that the new Business Secretary would be happy to have fracking in the plot of land behind his house.
“I dunno – what does he call the plot of land behind his back garden?”
- The back yard
- The garden
- Somerset
Take your pick!
I heard a version of the above on The News Quiz years ago. But then hey, we learnt about the Rees-Moggies from Sunday morning telly in the late 1980s/early 1990s. Sing along!
If only there was a superhero to save us!
Like Captain Planet! Which pre-dates the fall of the Berlin Wall. So we can’t say we didn’t know about the damage we were and still are doing to the planet.
(The theme song is here)
Anyway, the House of Commons is back on 11th October at 2.30pm. With Questions to Treasury Ministers. Which should be a sparky exchange given recent events.
Food for thought?
The Cambridge Town Owl 