This government is giving off quite the stink

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Owen Paterson breached lobby rules according to a parliamentary investigation (Getty)

Government sleaze is no longer a whiff, but a stink. By using the whip to force changes in the rules on parliamentary conduct, the Tories have sunk to an all-time low.

All this in support of their colleague Owen Paterson, who is said to have committed an “egregious case of paid advocacy”. We now have confirmation, were it needed, or were it ever the case, that this government has abandoned all intentions of behaving with any standards of honour.

Richard Lloyd

Dunfermline

Government lessons

Last week it was sewage in our rivers. Now the Tory party is dragging itself back onto the manure heap of “we’ll have no rule breakers here” by making up a whole new set of rules. Has Boris Johnson learned nothing from sleaze, the expenses scandal and cash for access etc? If it smells like manure, it probably is manure. And everyone notices excrement. Especially voters.

Perry Gardner

Wolsingham

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Freedom of speech

The resignation of Professor Kathleen Stock from Sussex University over allegations of transphobia will have chilling effects across the academic spectrum. We have witnessed similar incidents like Professor David Miller of Bristol being dismissed for his stance on Israel.

Freedom of expression without coercion or censorship is an indispensable human right. Universities should be bulwarks of civic, social, cultural and social rights, freedom of expression and the right to protest and practise religion in an environment of tolerance, openness and fraternity.

The last thing we need is students becoming scared of voicing their opinions or research results for fear of exclusion, marginalisation and dismissal.

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob

London

Keep focused

It appears that the SNP is attempting to use Cop26 to politicise the sustainability debate.

In their recent adverts run in newspapers they say that “Scotland helped lead the world into the industrial age. Now we’re proud to help lead the world into the net zero age. We’re busy creating a greener, fairer, sustainable Scotland. While not yet an independent nation, we’re more than ready and able to play our part on the global stage at Cop26”.

Sounds good but wait a minute … Scotland is an integral part of the United Kingdom and cannot survive on its own – not economically, not financially and not defensively.

Pride can be so blinding. Look, Scotland is doing its best but in the big scheme, we just couldn’t host an event of this size on our own.

Let’s stop trying to politicise the issues being discussed at Cop26 to grandstand Scotland. Cop26 is much bigger than this. It is about finding solutions to the sustainability challenges facing every country and being responsible about how we care for our planet. It’s not for pushing a narrow independence agenda by taking advantage of some limelight. That is truly missing the whole point of Cop26.

Ian Paynter

Glasgow

Climate data

Ever since the G20 resolution to make supply chains better, one of the four top priorities for leaders was to be “sustainable”. This sustainable approach will become fundamental at Cop26, while global leaders seek solutions to the world’s climate crisis. It seems countries are still struggling to make a commitment to limit global warming to 1.5C and reach net zero by 2050. For end-to-end sustainable transformation, they need to understand how a unified, real-time view of data can maximise efficiency and therefore the environmental footprint of supply chains.

As nations and organisations seek to overcome supply chain complexities, there might be hope in creating a cleaner environment. However, although the UK’s net zero strategy has mobilised more billions in government investment for the green industrial revolution, throwing money at the situation is not good enough.

This boils down to a global data challenge. Data is the lubricant in the machinery of supply chains, allowing the right decisions to be made and efficiency to be maximised. Without the technology to provide a more automated and transparent system between buyers and suppliers, the supply chain and environment crisis will be a hard one to crack. The proven way to access, use and act on data is through real-time data, which helps information travel from point A to point B as it happens, wasting no time or resources. Real time, unified views of a supply chain can reduce wasted energy, resources, time, and minimise environmental impact, killing two birds with one stone.

Tom Fairbairn

Engineer at Solace