May 2013

Polling conducted for Carbon Brief shows that the public primarily blame profiteering by energy companies for recent increases in energy bills. Only 7% of those polled blamed ‘green’ taxes, despite a concerted campaign by certain newspapers to persuade them this was the culprit.

When the alarm rang at 4.45am this morning, I was already awake. Nobody overslept or moaned about feeling tired. And after a quick pre-action breakfast we piled into the minibus, loaded with climbing equipment, a huge banner and our petition printed with the names of 20,000 UK campaign supporters. We were on route to Lewes, the constituency of UK Transport Minister, Norman Baker, who this Wednesday will represent the UK in a make-or-break moment for the future of pollution from cars.

If you listen to Ronan Keating much (I don’t) – you’d be familiar with the concept that Life is a Rollercoaster.

But for some of us, it’s a bit more accurate to liken the process of reforming Europe’s failed fish laws to that particular fun-fair ride : full of twists and turns, highs and lows, moments of hopeful elation, followed by moments of abject panic and fear. And sometimes making us reach for a sick bag.

Duta Palma is a notorious palm oil company with an inglorious history of trashing the rainforest. This morning, it became the first company to be kicked out of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

Lean, mean budgeting machine Lord Nigel Lawson is back in the news, still resolutely sceptical but, for a change, not about climate science. He’s returned to his old stamping ground, the European Union, and is now being resolutely sceptical about that. These two positions, climate scepticism and euroscepticism, are complementary.