Xi Jinping, the President of China (the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide these days) will not be attending COP26. Nor will the Pope (traditionally the biggest emitter of more old-fashioned hot air). Very wise, on both their parts.
So far, these sorts of conferences have been talk shops, which have led to very little real action. On the whole, climate change porn has so far been quite popular, as long as it is just talk, with very little real action. But I think things might be starting to change now. In the UK, people are starting to see what it means when bonkers policies are actually introduced. The cost of electricity rises. The cost of the last available gas rises even more, and people cannot afford to heat their homes. Grannies start dying. In the overall scheme of things, grannies do die, as they hit old-age, and they sometimes leave a bit of money to their grateful children and grandchildren. But we do not like to see them dying of cold. That is more of a Russian thing.
And so, when these things start to bite, people in the UK will start asking questions:
- We have got loads of shale gas available in England, underground. All we need is a bit of fracking (which the Americans have done without any deleterious effect for years now) and we can efficiently and economically fuel our central heating systems, and cook our bacon and eggs on our gas hobs, without even having to get our feet wet. Let alone having to negotiate with the Scots or the Russians. Why are we not using it?
- These bloody wind turbines are a disaster. They are ugly, noisy, and don’t work half of the time when the wind isn’t blowing at just the right speed. They cost a fortune to build, never pay their own way without subsidies obtained by taxing ordinary people, and the environmental damage caused by building blades for these things, although it happens in China, affects us all in the long run. Why are we paying so much subsidy for these things?
- Why the hell have we not got decent nuclear power? Even the French have got decent nuclear power. The UK used to be a world leader in the generation of nuclear power for the National Grid: what happened to bog it all up? All ‘elf ‘n’ safety gone mad?
- What the fuck do you mean, “I can’t buy a proper car, with a petrol engine?” If you want a milk float, that’s up to you. But I’ve got better things to do with my life than to wait for access to some poxy little post where I might, with a bit of luck, be able to charge an electric car sometime within the next 12 hours.
Think about the optics. All this is bad enough, as the Western economy is being trashed. But then to cap it all, we have Mad Greta, in a bright yellow cagoule, shouting at us that we need to do more in order to save the planet. All this as the world trudges inexorably towards the next ice age.
Where will Boris be in all of this? Like so many politicians, his usual place is barging to the front of the moving crowd saying, “Follow me”. He may have a few problems here, in the short term, as Princess Nut Nuts tries to hold him to the greenery. Does he want to have sex, or not?
Happily, in Australia, Scott Morrison looks a better bet. They tease him as “Scotty from Marketing” and it is a bit worrying that he goes Bible bashing of a Sunday. In Victoria, things will continue to be seriously bad as long as the union thug Darren Andrews is in the premiership chair. But hopefully, Scott Morrison will keep the country as a whole on a steady course.
As for the rest of the world? Who knows? Canada is plainly in the hands of a completely woke nutter. The USA is now run by an old people’s home. The jury is out as to who will be running France and Germany.
One thing is for sure. Over the next decade or so, the Western world is up for grabs, as, in the red corner, the WEF, and the flopsies who do its bidding, do their best to weaken Western economies, until they fall into the shade of China. Meanwhile, in the blue corner, there are still a fair few of us who value what has made the modern Western world the healthiest, the freest, the kindest and the best culture this planet has ever seen.
It might be a close-run thing.
phenell 