A Desperate Man

 

Miliband parades UK clean energy deal with Trump's worst enemy Gavin Newsom

Ed Miliband has ricked [sic] triggering the wrath of Donald Trump by signing a clean energy deal with his arch American enemy.

The desperation of a weak man is, of all desperations, the most unscrupulous and the most unmanageable—when it is once roused.

Wilkie Collins – Poor Miss Finch (1872)

Miliband plots solar farms in space in quest to hit net zero

Solar farms could be deployed in space to help Britain hit net zero targets, according to a new report published by the Energy Department.

Nations, like individuals, cannot become desperate gamblers with impunity. Punishment is sure to overtake them sooner or later.

Charles Mackay - Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1841)

Tortoise Politics

Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.

Charles Mackay - Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1841)

Labour ‘unlikely’ to ever meet £28bn a year green pledge

Labour’s pledge to spend £28bn a year on its flagship green economic policy is unlikely to ever be met because of the state of the public finances.

Labour’s “green prosperity plan” promised to pour the money into climate-friendly investments every year until 2030 if it wins the next election.

But it was already watered down by the shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves earlier this year – after she blamed that Tories for “crashing the economy”.


A problem with major political actors and their parties is how slow they are to catch on. This announcement may be a faint hint that the ludicrous nature of Net Zero is seeping into the swamp, but if so it has taken an absurdly long time.

Herds

Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.

Charles Mackay - Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1841)


As Christmas approaches it becomes more difficult to set aside the idea that we are manipulated as herds. It’s not an attractive idea, because as social beings we must to a considerable extent do as others do. We can't really leave the social and political herd, yet we are clearly exploited as herds. Net Zero is herd politics – nothing to do with the climate.

Maybe current economic difficulties will have some influence on the more ludicrous herd-like excesses of Christmas though. These woes added to the garish, tat-crammed supermarkets and horrible music could help turn things around in ways we would never have anticipated last Christmas.

Or maybe not because we vote in herds too. One main political party divided into different clans, each with its own traditions, mantras and stories, each deferring to professional herders behind the scenes.