A judge has refused Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell’s attempt to give evidence at the trial of 13 climate protesters accused of blockading a Heathrow runway. Plane Stupid supporters are alleged to have cut a hole in a fence at the airport before chaining themselves to railings on the north runway in July 2015. They apparently even wore nappies so they didn’t have to break the strike to nip to the loo…
McDonnell wanted to give evidence defending “the benefits of direct action”, yet District Judge Deborah Wright deemed what he had to say irrelevant:
“It (his witness statement) gives an opinion about the debate around the expansion of Heathrow and talks about the benefits of direct action, which he says may cause short term inconvenience. In order to allow his evidence to be given I have to be able to say that it is relevant. I am therefore not going to allow Mr McDonnell to give give evidence.”
That’s the same direct action advocate John McDonnell who previously endorsed spitting in your boss’ tea. What is it with Labour’s top two and defending alleged criminals in court?
Guido is pleased to reveal that the Environment Agency has speedily found a replacement for its former Chairman, tanned jet-setter Sir Philip Dilley. As readers will be well aware, Dilley resigned from the £100,000-a-year post after the outrage that he was sunning himself in Barbados whilst some parts of the North were experiencing some of the worst flooding in 70 years. Dilley cited the expectation that he would have to be “available at short notice throughout the year” as his reason for stepping down. Guido is sure we can all sympathise, after all one wouldn’t want work to get in the way of luxury jaunts to sunnier climes…
His successor is one Emma Howard Boyd, former deputy Chairman of the agency. Unlike Sir Philip, who comes from an engineering background, Emma specialises in “corporate social responsibility”, and serves as a director as of a green investment vehicle, in addition to working in varying capacities for a number of environmental NGOs. One might argue such a CV isn’t the ideal one for someone tasked with the large-scale re-engineering of our flood defences…
One of the organisations Boyd works for is ShareAction, which works to “persuade major shareholders such as pension funds and fund managers to challenge companies about environmental, social and corporate governance issues”. Part of this remit also involves campaigning for “long-term planning and investment in tomorrow’s low carbon and resilient infrastructure”. Well at least carbon activist Emma presumably won’t be taking long-haul trips to the Carribean…
Hat-tip Bishop Hill
UPDATE: DeFRA sources emphasise that Emma Howard Boyd is not Sir Philip Dilley’s replacement; she is “interim Chair”, as deputy she was the buggins turn person to be interim while a permanent chairman is sought. Guido understands that she would need to review her other commitments before considering applying for the permanent role…
The Guardian have decided to expand their admirably broad definition of what constitutes climate-change “denialism” to include those who doubt the viability of renewables sector for large scale energy production, instead preferring nuclear power. In an article released yesterday, Naomi Oreskes argues that a “new, strange form of denial that has appeared on the landscape of late, one that says that renewable sources can’t meet our energy needs”. Perhaps sensing the weakness in her argument she goes on to concede that some proponents of this new denialism are climate scientists themselves:
Oddly, some of these voices include climate scientists, who insist that we must now turn to wholesale expansion of nuclear power. Just this past week, as negotiators were closing in on the Paris agreement, four climate scientists held an off-site session insisting that the only way we can solve the coupled climate/energy problem is with a massive and immediate expansion of nuclear power. More than that, they are blaming environmentalists, suggesting that the opposition to nuclear power stands between all of us and a two-degree world.
Climate scientists just aren’t anti-industrial enough for The Guardian…
H/T mark_lynas
Parliament has given the green light for fracking below national parks by a majority of 37 votes. The bill was passed by 298 votes to 261, and will allow fracking 1200 meters below national parks, areas of natural beauty and world heritage sites. The victory will be welcome for pro-fracking Climate Secretary Amber Rudd, coming after MPs previously pledged an “outright ban” on fracking in national parks in January. Should give the anti-fracking lobby something to think about…
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s big brother has been on This Week, where he wasted no time in laying into the theory of man-made climate change.
WATCH: @Piers_Corbyn tells @afneil he does not believe in man-made climate change ▶https://t.co/VikPMy2vHM #BBCTW
— BBC This Week (@bbcthisweek) December 4, 2015
No comment from his little brother Jezza yet…
Readers will be well aware of the stench coming from the rotten borough of Sutton, where the LibDem council gave a £1 million discount to a company of which neighbouring MP Tom Brake is a trustee and unpaid director. Ecolocal, an environmental charity based in the borough, won its £600,000 bid for the historic local Lodge building, despite the council’s own valuations estimating it to be worth £1.5-1.7 million. That’s just the tip of the iceberg…
Before Ecolocal was awarded the discount, the eco-charity was oddly quiet about controversial plans to build a 300,000 tonne a year incinerator in the borough. Incinerator operators Viridor will be allowed to burn rubbish for 25 years with a taxpayer-funded contract worth £1 billion. Ecolocal is the premier environmental organisation in the borough, yet they were strangely silent. Surely they would have something to say?
The Brake-linked charity says its primary aim is to “help people move toward more pro-environmental behaviours”, yet had no comment about plans to build one of London’s largest waste incinerators inside their borough. Coincidentally they were then awarded a £1 million discount by the LibDem council, voted through by two of Brake’s own staff. Local councillor Nick Mattey says:
“Ecolocal would commit financial suicide if they criticised any element of the LibDem’s ‘environmental policy’. If the LibDems suggested that setting light to Battersea dogs home was green Ecolocal would stay mute.”
Curiouser and curiouser…
