Sleepwalking with Boris Johnson

Before I begin I want to say that I am no fan of Boris Johnson. However, I will give him credit where it's due - during his leadership campaign he said many things I approve of. But what Boris says and what Boris does are not necessarily the same thing. He has said and done things in the past which lead me to be skeptical about his character and intentions. Yet he might be exactly what this country needs. Nevertheless, I am reserving my judgement until the day after Halloween.

That being said, the point I want to make is this: 

People who shout the loudest tend to have the most to hide. 

Some people think it's clever to cry foul when they're the one who farted...

A New York state attorney general who rose to prominence by apeing the feminist #MeToo movement is being taken to court not only for assaulting women, but for using campaign funds to quietly shelve the accusations...

I'm not saying everyone who complains about pot-holes secretly takes a pickaxe to their streets, but as Aesop said 

"Those who cry the loudest are not always the ones who are hurt the most".

So how does this relate to our Prime Minister?

Because as soon as his ascent was announced all the usual suspects cried out the loudest. These folks seem to believe that Boris = Apocalypse. No one has offered any explanation as to why this is the case. If he is indeed the Four Horsemen tell me why? Show me your crystal ball.

So if you are reading this and you have publicly expressed distaste/horror/despair because Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is the Prime Minister, I'm calling you out.

I suspect you who lament the loudest actually have no idea about him. You are merely parroting the mainstream media narrative. I think you have not looked at his record in any detail whatsoever. 

And the thing is, neither have I. I readily admit I have not done any real research into the man and his deeds. But I am not the one asserting his premiership means the end of the world.

So finally, if you have irrefutable evidence that Boris is the devil incarnate please let me know. If you can't, then you need to wake up. You're sleepwalking.

Climate Change and the UK

The climate changes. It has since the beginning of time.

Whether human-generated greenhouse gas emissions are causing climate change is another question.

That's not the question I will tackle in this article!

However, I did come across some interesting information that really contextualises the debate for the UK. It's about how much CO2 in the global atmosphere the UK is responsible for:

"CO2 levels at present are near 390 part per million of the atmosphere (0.039%)... 
The natural carbon cycle produces 2,960,000 tonnes CO2. 
Mankind's contribution is understood to be 33,500 tonnes which equates to 1.13%. 

The UK contribution of 458.6m tonnes equates to 0.0155%...

So, the UK's CO2 percentage of global atmospheric gas is: 0.0000000604%."

The USA produces ten times more CO2 than the UK.

China produces even more than the USA, not to mention the developing economies of the world.

Given this information, does it make any sense to set a carbon zero emission target by 2050?

Does it make any sense when the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, said hitting such a target would cost £1trillion?

Does it make any sense when taxes on energy companies to subsidise green energy projects are increasing our energy bills by £149 every year? 

Somebody tell me if I'm being illogical here: 

It seems to me that, even if we accept human-driven CO2 emissions are manipulating the planet's climate, it doesn't make sense for the UK to do anything unilaterally. Our supposed influence on the climate is literally zero.

Therefore if the climate change lobby want to save the world from CO2, they have to convince the USA, China and the entire developing world to go carbon zero by 2050.

Sound like madness? Is it impossible? Is this revelation the doom of us all?

Only if you believe CO2 is a problem...