The Chinese promise to cap their emissions by 2030 looks doable; but to reduce levels down to net zero in the next three decades is a huge task.
Trying to price a technology transition ahead of it happening is a fool’s errand. History is littered with examples where the ‘experts’ were proved wrong.
Ardingly & Balcombe, Aldeburgh & Leiston, Downs North; Horndean Downs, Brundall: what might all these local government losses have in common?
If Conservatives don’t take the Opposition seriously, one can hardly blame them. And yet that could prove to be a big mistake.
What if somebody as far to the right as Corbyn is to the left managed to win the Tory leadership?
This is not so much a pro-market position as an anti-democratic one. There is more to politics than market versus state.
Onward seems set to propound the liberal and Freer the libertarian versions of the globalist agenda. Where does that leave the anti-globalist voters who now back the Tories?
Even in an age of austerity, government has plenty of power and assets, which it could on a small-scale, experimental basis transfer to the control of community groups.
“This is the most important job of your political career so far – and there’s a lot riding on what you make of it. On this one you need to make a difference.”
But unless his fully-developed vision of the future can capture heart-and-minds, I’d expect control of the party to stay with the mainstream.
Since I last surveyed the political landscape in 2013 and 2014, some ruling tribes have been cast down, and some formerly lost tribes have risen to rule.
While the responsibilities of government must be shouldered, there’s no doubting the need for a time of renewal – one as profound as in any period of opposition.
To reduce investment in infrastructure or R&D is to take away from the future – just as surely as running up unsustainable debt does.
The shrinking of opportunity allied to the visible influence of crony capitalism makes for a poisonous brew.
30 years ago, it could all have been different. No Duncan Smith, no Cameron & Osborne…and no referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU.