Andy Burnham vows UK will hit net zero target despite Jackdaw gasfield approval
Andy Burnham has said he will not “abandon the responsibility” of fighting the climate crisis after the government approved the Jackdaw gasfield, pledging to block new North Sea licences and keep Britain on track for net zero by 2050.
That's the headline, but it's worth teasing out the language used by the UK Prime Minister, Andrew Burnham and his Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Miatta Fahnbulleh.
It is not the language of sincere political leaders aiming to convey important information in an honest and responsible manner, it's a low-grade script.
But we expect that.
Burnham
Fahnbulleh
Burnham
- Said - he will not “abandon the responsibility” of fighting the climate crisis
- Said - he wanted to make the transition to a greener future “on our terms”
- Said - I want to be clear that our determination is unwavering,
- Said - he was conscious of the “acute global instability” affecting energy security and wanted to treat oil and gas workers with more dignity.
- Said - he is “personally committed to confronting” the challenges of the climate crisis.
- Said - Britain has just emerged from its hottest summer on record, during which we had nurses collapsing on hospital wards, bus drivers working in intolerable conditions and families losing everything to wildfires
- Said - More extreme weather is forecast in the months ahead.
- Said - The climate crisis is no distant threat. It is here, on our doorstep, affecting people’s lives and livelihoods.
- Said - I am personally committed to confronting it, and I will not abandon the responsibility we have to future generations.
Fahnbulleh
- Is - "really concerned” and “quite sad” about the breakdown in consensus about the climate crisis.
- Said - I think it’s a sad place where Reform has gone and got to.
- Said - But I’m even sadder about the Tories because they know better
- Said - It has been really painful and tragic to watch that consensus burn
- Said - It’s people’s livelihoods, it’s their jobs, their communities
- Said - Even if you don’t care about climate – care about that, you’ve got to take action.
7 comments:
"Britain has just emerged from its hottest summer on record": not based on honest records.
"... during which we had ... families losing everything to wildfires"; only a moron would think that wildfires are caused by hot days rather than by the fools who have legislated to arrange that there's more fuel lying about for wildfires to consume.
Chap's a dud.
“… It’s people’s livelihoods, it’s their jobs, their communities…”
Particularly, of course, those who live in Aberdeen.
Oh, wait…
dearieme - yes he is a dud. He'll never load responsibility onto the right shoulders in the right institutions.
Peter - good point, it's easy to imagine what they think of that comment.
Why do I feel that most political speech nowadays is like painting with numbers but using stock phrases rather than paint?
DJ - that's a useful analogy, they are fitting stock phrases into a previously laid out context. The phrases may as well have numbers - "you missed out 5 and 9 Andy".
5/9s were a type of World War1 German artillery shell.
Tammly - was that the 'Jack Johnson'? I remember the name from Bruce Bairnsfather's book.
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