Life on earth will cease to exist and Armageddon will strike because of too little – rather than too much – carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, so say scientists. Astrobiologist Jack O’Malley-James of the University of St Andrews told the National Astronomy Meeting that as the sun grows hotter, more and more carbon dioxide will be taken away from the earth’s atmosphere, making the planet uninhabitable for photosynthesising plants and therefore herbivorous and then carnivorous animals. As things stand we currently have a mere two billion years left before the end of the world, though theoretically that date is being drawn ever nearer by the drive to cut greenhouse gases and so further reduce CO2 levels. Fire up the coal furnaces and get fracking to save the planet…

At the beginning of the last decade over 60% of Britain’s goods exports was to EU countries. Over the last twelve years that percentage has fallen to 50%, as our goods exports to the rest of the world has increased from under 40% to 50%.

What’s more, Britain’s trade deficit with the EU is far greater than its deficit with the rest of the world. The idea they wouldn’t trade with us if we leave is farcical.

Thirdly, Europe is becoming less important in world trade. In 1990 the EU was 27 per cent of world output. By 2016 it will be just 18 per cent of world output, a pretty significant fall.

Food for thought come Friday.

Via notourbiggestmarket.org

More Labour wars today as Dan Hodges accuses Miliband of ordering Labour bigwigs not to attack St Owen of Jones. According to Hodges, orders have gone out from on high in Labour that Owen is not to be criticised, lest he was to go for Ed’s jugular:

“…just about the only person who hasn’t properly felt Jones’s progressive wrath is Ed Miliband himself. And Labour’s leader wants things to stay that way. In particular, he’s desperate to keep him onside over his stance – or non-stance – on welfare. “Ed’s terrified of being attacked on welfare,” said one MP. “At the last PLP meeting he did a presentation of polling on the key battleground issues. There was no polling on welfare. Nothing. Ed just doesn’t want it seen as a battleground issue.””

Hodges alleges that Lord Wood, Ed’s consigliere, has been charged with handling Owen and keeping him off of Ed’s back. Something Guido has heard before but people around him insist is not true. A Labour source puts the boot in:

“Don’t worry. Dan’s USP of being 100 per cent wrong 100 per cent of the time is still intact. It’s nonsense to claim we have told people not to criticise Owen Jones.”

So it’s official: fire away reds.

Labour wars on today’s Daily Politics as rising star Simon Danczuk went for Owen Jones. He doesn’t like it up him:

https://twitter.com/OwenJones84/status/352029302071631873

Fight…

H/T @liarpoliticians

Tory  MP Rob Wilson tells the Telegraph:

“I have therefore written to the National Audit Office today asking whether it has further information it can share about the process by which pay-offs were made and whether any element of fraud or other criminal wrongdoing associated. Based on the reply I receive, I will consider whether there are grounds to refer this matter to the Police.”

That might get Mark Thompson back from New York…

A bad day for Tom Watson, as his role in Labour’s current woes emerges. Guido has been saying it for weeks. As the Telegraph points out this morning: “If Ed Miliband wants to become prime minister in 2015 he needs to sack Tom Watson.” They lift the lid on how toxic the Mafia-man works behind the scenes. When he takes time out of tweeting pictures from Glasto, that is:

“Part of Tom Watson’s problem is that he is a man in the right place at the wrong time – an old-school Brownite machine politician in an era when the political machines are grinding to a halt. “I was in the room at the first meeting Tom had with us after being appointed campaign coordinator,” says one party insider. “His first words were, ‘You’ve got to understand, I know more about political campaigning than any of you’. You just can’t do that. No one’s impressed by that talk any more.” Which isn’t strictly true. Ed Miliband was impressed by it, which is why Watson was given carte blanche to expand his influence over selections, campaigns and broader political strategy.”

The BBC’s James Purnell put it, Watson is a “cancer at the heart of the Labour Party”. As Rachel Sylvester says in the Times, Miliband “must prove that he is strong enough to stand up to the macho politics of fixing and back-room deals. The world has moved on. Labour must adapt too — or it will die.” A good start would be for Ed to release the full Labour inquiry into what went on in Falkirk. If Watson will let him…