James Forsyth writing balderdash in The Times today about Boris Johnson and his phoney Green credentials

There is an extraordinary article by the Right Wing Editor of The Spectator James Forsyth in “The Times” today. I responded to it by saying that If I want to read puff pieces praising Boris Johnson I’ll go straight to the press releases of Conservative Central Office – I don’t need the middle man. And if I want updates on Green energy I’ll read scientists not political hacks. And the idea that political interests can be “genetic” is as wrong as it is lazy journalism. It’s nurture not nature !

In Northern Europe there is a dependence on Natural Gas for home heating which is unlikely to change for the foreseeable future – certainly 50 years probably much longer. What we can do, and are doing, is burn our gas more efficiently. Conservation via improved efficiencies and home insulation is far more practical than some fantasy about burning hydrogen in boilers! And as well as using less we can, and are reducing emissions.

Boris Johnson will spout any old rubbish that he thinks people want to hear. I don’t think that he “really does mean it on Brexit” because there is scant evidence that he has any coherent beliefs about anything except himself. His “views” are those of those who advise him. If Dominic Cummings thinks an environmentalist pose is politically advantageous he’ll write the speech.

This is is a Little Englanders article praising one its kind. And the idea that Britain can “push other countries to go further” on environmental matters is utterly preposterous. For example the British Isles are connected into the European Gas grid and rely on that grid to manage gas supply. A country on the fringes of Europe is not going to have much influence on the thirty other independent countries it has turned its back on. Europe’s continued focus on environmental matters will be driven collectively by the EU and debated in the European Parliament.

Whilst the correlation is not perfect there is a good overlap between Euroscepticism and Climate Change denial. On the political Right to be pro Brexit often means that an individual also derides those argue for urgent action on the environment. And a Britain impoverished by COVID and by Brexit is unlikely to be able to afford the huge investments required anyway.