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 With respect to the politics of ‘global warming’, it is probably encouraging news that ‘Bouncing Boris’ - Boris Johnson
(pictured) - has just been voted in as the new Mayor of London (from May 3),
replacing that inveterate ‘global warming’ grand-stander, ‘Red’ Ken
Livingstone [see: ‘Elections 2008 -The London Mayor’ (BBC Online Politics News, May 3); ‘Boris Johnson is the new London Mayor’ (The Daily Telegraph, May 3)]:
“Boris
Johnson claimed a remarkable victory in the London mayoral contest on
Friday night to cap a disastrous series of results for Gordon Brown in
his first electoral test as Prime Minister.
The
Conservative candidate’s win over Ken Livingstone followed a calamitous
showing for Labour at the local elections - the party’s worst
performance at the polls for 40 years.
Mr
Johnson’s landmark victory, a result that would have been almost
unthinkable six months ago, was the most symbolic blow to Mr Brown’s
authority on a day that left the Prime Minister facing the gravest
crisis of his leadership.”
Why Encouraging?
Thus, why is Boris’ election so encouraging?
First,
here is Boris writing in February 2006 on climate change and ‘global
warming’ (it sounds awfully like ‘Global Warming Politics’) [‘We’ve lost our fear of hellfire, but put climate change in its place’, The Daily Telegraph, February 2, 2006]:
“Humanity
has largely lost its fear of hellfire, and yet we still hunger for a
structure, a point, an eschatology, a moral counterbalance to our
growing prosperity. All that is brilliantly supplied by climate change.
Like all the best religions, fear of climate change satisfies our need
for guilt, and self-disgust, and that eternal human sense that
technological progress must be punished by the gods.
And
the fear of climate change is like a religion in this vital sense, that
it is veiled in mystery, and you can never tell whether your acts of
propitiation or atonement have been in any way successful. One sect
says we must build more windfarms, and these high priests will be
displeased with what Lovelock has to say. Another priestly caste curses
the Government’s obsession with nuclear power - a programme Lovelock
has had the courage to support.
Some
scientific hierophants now tell us that trees - trees, the good guys -
are the source of too much methane, and are contributing to global
warming. Huh? We in the poor muddled laity scratch our heads and
pray... ”
Secondly,
in his brief speech given immediately after his election in the early
hours of this morning, there was refreshingly no cant about climate
change. Instead, Boris rightly focused on real issues, above all on
crime, on transport, on urban ‘green spaces’, and on the need for
low-cost housing. At last, we might have a genuine change of climate in
London.
My How The Greens Fear Him
But,
thirdly, we know that ‘Bouncing Boris’ is likely to be an improvement
simply because of the vitriolic responses of his ‘green’ opponents,
like Sian Berry of the Green Party, and of long-standing ‘warmist’
environmentalists, such as Jeremy Leggett of ‘SolarCentury’ [see here] and Prince Charles’ chum, Jonathon Porritt, of the Sustainable Development Commission [see here]:
“Under
a climate change denier like Boris Johnson, we would have to fear for
our futures, and for the jobs of all the hundreds who work for us. We
would also have to fear for the physical security of the city itself,
under the assault of unmitigated global warming, were others to follow
Johnson’s ‘lead’ on climate change.” [Leggett, April 25]
“The
prospect of Boris as Mayor of London is just so scary. Either he is a
genuine, out-and-out buffoon, in which case London becomes a laughing
stock alongside its Mayor, or he is a pseudo-buffoon, in which case his
true ideological nastiness will soon be revealed. The prospect of Boris
taking over London’s Climate Change Action Plan is even scarier. He may
have learnt not to reveal his full contrarian bigotry on climate
change, but he really doesn’t get it, and would rapidly scale back or
completely get rid of the ambitious targets in the Action Plan. And
that would be a massive set back. Internationally, London is widely
recognised as one of a handful of cities showing real leadership on
climate change.” [Porritt, March 28].
Well
lads, I’m sorry to have to report to you that ‘Bouncing Boris’ has won
the day, and, whatever happens under David Cameron’s [the Leader of the
Conservative Party] careful tutelage, I still think Londoners will now
be spared, at the very least, further grandstanding over ‘global
warming’. That dreadful cant will be dropped:
“You
are right that the 4 by 4 charge is just designed to raise revenue. The
environmental benefits are minimal - roughly comparable to a couple of
hours’ emissions at Heathrow. And it will hit family cars and people
who have to drive their vans into London. We can do far better...” [‘Boris Johnson answers your questions’, The Daily Telegraph, April 30]
I do hope so.
So, for the moment, it is definitely: “Two Cheers for Boris!” Source
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