Shaun Spiers
@shaunspiers1.bsky.social
Former Green Alliance director, CPRE chief executive, and Labour & Co-op MEP. Rochester resident, ever hopeful Gills supporter.
.@zackpolanski.bsky.social is right: the PM and most of his ministers have been remarkably quiet about the growing climate crisis. They should rebut the arguments of the Conservatives & Reform, whose response to the crisis has been to say that we need to rely even more on fossil fuels! #Wato
Blimey, Amol Rajan really taking Daily Telegraph/ Reform UK talking points on net zero! #r4today
Latest blog is on how Kemi Badenoch can insist she’s not a climate denier, but she clearly doesn’t understand the nature of the threat, fails to comprehend why net zero was adopted, and currently has no plan on how to cut emissions. www.businessgreen.com/blog-post/45...
A hot messy summer
As the wildfires rage, what passes for climate discourse on the right of British politics is plumbing depressing new depths
businessgreen.com
Interesting #r4today interview with Louise Haigh - but extraordinary for Dharshini to trash her argument in linking to the next item. Perhaps Today should ditch the guests & just give the presenters’ views.
Does anyone know if Badenoch, Farage et al have said anything about the extreme weather and what they'd do to prevent ever more extreme weather in the future? It should be one of the first questions interviewers ask.
Shaun Spiers@shaunspiers1.bsky.social · 2w agoWhen Kemi Badenoch, Claire Coutinho, Nigel Farage, Richard Tice and all the other climate sceptics & climate deniers (spot the difference) read stories like this in the Telegraph, I wonder what they think. Mind you, the Telegraph story doesn't mention climate change at all. So that's all good.
When Kemi Badenoch, Claire Coutinho, Nigel Farage, Richard Tice and all the other climate sceptics & climate deniers (spot the difference) read stories like this in the Telegraph, I wonder what they think. Mind you, the Telegraph story doesn't mention climate change at all. So that's all good.
#r4today seems to have become an arm of the defence industry (moonlighting for oil and gas on the side).
On the day of Andy Burnham's entrance into Downing Street, LCEF's Director @paulmcnamee.bsky.social writes on how climate and environmental ambition speaks to the people from all parts of the UK. Read it here: lcef.co.uk/blog/good-ne...
All this focus on sticking to Labour’s manifesto - was there as much talk about honouring manifestos in 1990 or 2007 or 2016 or 2019 or 2022 (twice)? I don’t remember it.
As Andy Burnham contemplates “drill, baby, drill” for the North Sea - a little reminder of why it would be electoral madness to desert net zero, whatever Tony Blair and the Treasury might think www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘Act on the evidence outside the window’: Andy Burnham urged to stick to net zero targets if he becomes PM
Burnham is coming under pressure from some to ditch net zero targets but this could be highly damaging on many levels
theguardian.com
Andy Burnham’s team’s signalling on N Sea oil & gas drilling is hugely disappointing (however much it pleases D Trump). If the rumours are true, it’s crucial that the new PM also commits to positive climate action (the ZEV mandate, heat pumps, home retrofit, public transport, adaptation etc etc).
As someone who also joined the Labour Party in the mid-80s, fired up by Neil Kinnock's oratory, it was good to hear Andy Burnham pay tribute to him.
What’s really bizarre is the idea that strong backing for net zero (a legally binding target ) is anti-business. It’s the one area of the economy that’s growing in the UK. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
‘Bizarre choice’: business and Labour puzzle over Shabana Mahmood as future chancellor
The home secretary, favourite to take over at No 11, has minimal economic credentials and many MPs would prefer Ed Miliband
theguardian.com
Good to see England win at our national sport (though of course, test cricket is the real test).
In defence of planning: my letter in this week's @newstatesman1913.bsky.social. It baffles me that so many people on the centre left take their analysis of planning and the housing crisis from their ideological opponents.
As the impacts of climate change become ever more evident, more and more politicians and commentators choose to attack the policies necessary to address it. It really is fascinating, though I can also think of a few other words.
Sam Freedman@samfr.bsky.social · 3w agoOr much of a drop in public support. Fascinating example of elite consensus switching despite popular opinion.
My first football memory was England losing to Brazil in 1970. #56YearsOfHurt. The least T. Tuchel could have done in Keir Starmer’s last week is bring on Bukayo Saka. Better than parking an inadequate bus. (But hey, I’m a Gillingham fan, so what do I know…).
“Her view is that while climate change may be real, there’s no point in trying to do anything about it” - John Crace sums up Kemi Badenoch’s position.
Kemi declares war on net zero – and what remains of her party
Badenoch’s ideological purge gathers pace as moderates are cast out and the Tories edge ever closer to political extinction
theguardian.com
Letter of the week in the New Statesman: "There is no pleasing John Gray, is there? After decades of denouncing 'progressivism', the Enlightenment and any idea of human progress, Gray now has a US president who embodies the backwardness and nihilism he craves, and he still doesn’t like it..."
The Lower Thames Crossing is an environmental & financial disaster but the government has never seriously considered alternatives (as set out by @transportaction.bsky.social). Andy Burnham should scrap it. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
UK’s public spending watchdog to investigate Lower Thames Crossing project
Exclusive: Campaigners voice concerns over rising costs of £11bn Essex to Kent road tunnel
theguardian.com
It's good to see this from Andy Burnham. Instead of uncritically fixating on the % of GDP spent on defence, we need to debate what we're defending & how, what the threats are & whether we're getting value for money (spoiler: we're not).
Peter Apps is spot on. Developers and credulous think tanks mither on about about planning as the sole reason we don't build enough new homes. There needs to be more of a focus on "fixing our broken housing market", to quote the title of the 2017 housing white paper.
The Guardian@theguardian.com · 4w agoUK housebuilders have far too much power. Now a £4.5bn lawsuit could change that for good | Peter Apps
Sympathy to whoever was dropped from #r4today to make way for Count Binface.
“The MOD wastes money hand over fist. We need to give it more money.” www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
‘Unbelievable’ waste and inefficiency at MoD, says ex-defence minister Al Carns
Exclusive: Carns, who quit last week, says he was angered by unwillingness to confront sunk costs of legacy programmes
theguardian.com
‘If Burnham wants to “beat Reform”, he could point out that Farage wants to chain us to the fossil fuel market, with all the wonderful results for “cost of living” and “national security” we see around us – along with the little matter of heating the planet.’
The Lead@theleaduk.bsky.social · last mo.Andy Burnham has uncovered a new problem that every would-be Prime Minister dreads: a policy area with hardly any safe ground left to stand on, writes Adam Barnett national.thelead.uk/p/andy-burnh...
“The most persuasive narratives on climate were not transactional arguments about jobs or bills, but simple, values-driven stories rooted in our shared future: ‘global leadership’, ‘climate impacts’ and ‘future generations’.”
Labour Climate and Environment Forum@lcefuk.bsky.social · last mo.'Climate action can be one of our strongest electoral assets, helping unite the broad coalition required to win a second term. But only if we get the messaging right' - @lukemurphy.bsky.social for @newstatesman1913.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/20...
