We have learned so much from American culture, it seems a shame that we also feel the need to ape some of its worst manifestations. Namely, their gratuitously aggressive, crude, offensive, quarrel-picking radio and TV shock-jocks, as delivered to us by the likes of GB News.
It is a provocative pontificating negative style of broadcasting which does not begin to help solve any of society’s many problems, and, if I am not being too old-fashioned, seems particularly alien to British culture.
Where has Ofcom been while all this has been going on?
Gavin Turner
Norfolk
The public is waking up – we cannot ignore climate change
Rishi Sunak’s announcement last week to weaken some of the environmental policies underpinning the UK’s journey to net zero justifies all the criticism that has come his way.
So soon after the prime minister’s decision to grant 100 new licences to drill for oil and gas in the North Sea, his latest attempt to undermine the UK’s legal commitment to reduce its carbon footprint should be seen from both an environmental and economic perspective.
The decision to push back from 2030 to 2035, the ban on new diesel and petrol cars is a point in case. From an environmental perspective, it will do nothing to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels in the transport sector; it also makes little economic sense.
Ford Motor Company have just stated they need three things from this government: ambition, commitment and consistency. A relaxation of 2030, Ford continued, would undermine all three!
The decision not to apply taxes to discourage people from flying frequently should be seen through the context of the advice given to this government by its own Climate Change Committee.
In December 2020, it recommended that there should be no further airport expansion until the industry could demonstrate that it was on track to achieve Net Zero by 2050; a frequent flyer tax was seen as a demand management mechanism to help facilitate the sector’s disproportionately high and increasing impact on the climate.
The fact that Sunak has chosen to pursue a business-as-usual approach to the aviation industry clearly demonstrates where his priorities lie.
Chris Skidmore, the former Conservative cabinet minister for energy, has stated that this announcement would be the greatest mistake of his premiership!
Just imagine the prime minister’s shock when he realises that the summer of 2023 was the hottest on record!
One of the reasons that so many people are disillusioned with politics is that they perceive that many politicians prioritise personal ambition over the national interest.
Weaponising the environment reassures very few, while uniting so many in this country who now realise that climate-change is an issue that can no longer be kicked into the long grass!
Jonathan Fox
Essex
We have a duty to protect all life on this planet
Graham Powell highlights the catastrophic decline in our flora and fauna. The older ones among us cannot help but compare what we used to see compared to how very little we see now.
In recent years I have noticed multiple heartbreaking losses. For example, I have not heard a cuckoo for years, something that would have been unthinkable when I was a child. I saw no ladybirds this year. The numerous swifts that arrived every summer have diminished dramatically. The flock of lapwings I saw every year in nearby fields have gone. I used to have fieldfares visit my garden to eat the fallen apples – they dropped to just one or two – now they have vanished. I used to see numerous butterflies and bumble bees in my garden, but this year far fewer. I used to have to release bees from my windows several times a day in the summer – now only a few. And most of the gorgeous moths seem to have vanished too. I know all these creatures can be found in nature reserves, but they used to be all around us, uplifting and lovely.
This makes my heart ache. I do everything I can to make my country garden completely wildlife welcoming but if the creatures have gone, they cannot benefit.
My idea of a healthy society is one where the most vulnerable are protected from harm. In my book that most definitely includes animals – indeed all wild and domestic creatures. Greed, selfishness and the prioritising of every human whim has resulted in the depletion of the very fabric of the natural world. How can we stop this headlong destruction? How can we make politicians care?
Penny Little
Oxfordshire
HS2 has exposed the Tories’ levelling up agenda for what it is
The fact that the government will not give a firm undertaking as regards the northern section of HS2 and a terminus in London Euston despite so much work already undertaken just shows what a sham their so-called “levelling up agenda” really is.
It is an agenda driven by a Conservative Party divided and at war with itself at a time when Britain and British businesses are desperately crying out for strong leadership.
When we need politicians who put the national interest and public service first, all we have are ideological monsters picking fights on a daily basis.
Which is why it’s time for change and time for Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour.
Geoffrey Brooking
Hampshire
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