Too Little, too late – the politics of climate change by Colin Challen MP
Come this Tuesday and short of a meteorite hitting the House of Commons, the Climate Change Bill will receive its Third and final reading by MPs. To listen to the hype, this Bill will represent a groundbreaking first for any parliament, and 
even stripping away some of the hype it will undoubtedly break new ground. But to paraphrase the millionaire upon discovering that Tony Curtis was a man in the last scene of Some Like It Hot (there is a connection with climate change somewhere there), nothing is perfect. I’ve put down some amendments which would improve the Bill but the government is most unlikely to accept them. One of the most important of these amendments suggests that the independent climate change committee, which Lord Adair Turner currently chairs, should be given a clue as to what methodology it should use when drawing up its recommendations. As it stands, the committee seems too susceptible to the whims of politicians or outside campaigns, and whilst those influences may seek to be benign, they don’t always bear close scrutiny. This is because they very often only talk about the science behind a CO2 emissions cut, and not how the responsibility for the cuts should be globally distributed. It is a crazy situation – like we’ll all be asked to make cuts, and be told to cross our fingers that this will be enough without having the foggiest idea if that is true. Apparently, we don’t want to give away our thoughts on the methodology, lest our negotiating position in the international climate change talks is compromised. It’s British bullshit at its best.