Dennis Benson

Forgive me if I sound disillusioned but Bank Holidays used to be about sunshine, sand and a bit of the other. Now it’s pouring rain, mud and grumpy chickens, at least it is in my little world. As if on cue the news today is somewhat depressing. The latest figures on CO2 emissions are far worse than predicted and, say the headline writers, leave the world’s climate on the brink. There has been a record surge in greenhouse gases.

So presumably the world is in panic, after all the prediction now is that global warming has reached the irreversible stage which means that the lives and livelihood of hundreds of millions of people across the planet will be destroyed, there will be mass migration and conflict and to visit many of the present tourist delights will require diving suits. But no. In Malta they have been conducting a referendum on divorce, no worries about the end of civilisation there then. Half of the rest of the world has been transfixed by the Fifa show starring Blatter, the Houdini of soccer, and here at home we have inevitably been focussed on Andrew Lansley who perhaps  could be the perfect replacement for Blatter in that fantasy world.

The only conclusion one can draw is that all the mighty people that lead the planet are content to learn that, despite the recession and the various efforts made to reduce emissions, a record 30.6 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide poured into the atmosphere last year, mainly from fosssil fuel  – a rise of 1.6Gt on 2009. According to Faith Birol, chief economist of the International Energy Agency, this is ” the worst news yet on emissions and the prospect is getting bleaker”.

If this year’s emisions rise by as much as they did in 2010, it will apparently be all but impossible to hold warming to a manageable degree. The executive director of Greenpeace, John Suaven, says that time is running out. “This news should shock the world”, he says, adding that far from doing that it has not even weakened the resolve of poiliticians to extract the world’s last remaining reserves of fossil fuels from under the melting ice of the Arctic.

Governments are due to meet next week in Bonn for the next round of talks. Hope at last?  Not really, the American and British governments were but two of those who warned that there was little prospect of progress.

Never mind, order your wet suit and draw comfort from the fact that the Maltese decision on divorce consumed more column inches this morning than the desperate situation on global warming.

Appropriate perhaps given that the whole world seems to be increasingly divorced from harsh reality!

                           OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

ANSWERS TO YESTERDAY’S SPECIAL FOOTBALL QUIZ ;   1.  Wilf McGuinness    2.  First woman ref of men’s soccer    3.  Italy (1990)    4.  Man City    5.  Richard Branson     6.  Liverpool     7.  Everton    8.  Wigan Athletic    9.  67 games   10.  Morocco

           !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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