I find the Greens in Australia - particularly in VIC - a combination of technophobic neo-Luddites, ferals, NIMBYs and disguised Trots.
As shown in 2019 in the UK with Corbyn, very few voters are interested in a return to dead socialism.
Back in July, the Tories narrowly retained the London suburban seat vacated by the disgraced Boris Johnson, even though it had the smallest margin of the three. They did this by exploiting opposition to the plan by the Labour mayor of London to extend the ultra-low emissions zone (ULEZ) to the whole of Greater London.
ULEZ is a tax on high-emission vehicles, designed to cut London's CO2 emissions. The plan has operated successfully in central London (where most people use public transport) since 2015, but its extension to the commuter belt (where most people drive to work) has met fierce opposition.
Of itself, this small Tory success is of no significance - Rishi Sunak's ramshackle government is still headed for a heavy defeat at the 2024 election. But it sends a very bad signal.
All of Europe is currently being given a graphic illustration of the reality of climate change, in the form of a second successive summer of lethal heatwaves. (June was the hottest month ever recorded in the UK.) Yet voters in suburban London still voted to put their right to run high-emission cars ahead of all other issues.
This underlines how difficult it is proving to be to get public acceptance for the much more radical changes that will be necessary if the rapidly approaching climate apocalypse is to be averted, or even mitigated.
I find the Greens in Australia - particularly in VIC - a combination of technophobic neo-Luddites, ferals, NIMBYs and disguised Trots.
As shown in 2019 in the UK with Corbyn, very few voters are interested in a return to dead socialism.
Back in July, the Tories narrowly retained the London suburban seat vacated by the disgraced Boris Johnson, even though it had the smallest margin of the three. They did this by exploiting opposition to the plan by the Labour mayor of London to extend the ultra-low emissions zone (ULEZ) to the whole of Greater London.
ULEZ is a tax on high-emission vehicles, designed to cut London's CO2 emissions. The plan has operated successfully in central London (where most people use public transport) since 2015, but its extension to the commuter belt (where most people drive to work) has met fierce opposition.
Of itself, this small Tory success is of no significance - Rishi Sunak's ramshackle government is still headed for a heavy defeat at the 2024 election. But it sends a very bad signal.
All of Europe is currently being given a graphic illustration of the reality of climate change, in the form of a second successive summer of lethal heatwaves. (June was the hottest month ever recorded in the UK.) Yet voters in suburban London still voted to put their right to run high-emission cars ahead of all other issues.
This underlines how difficult it is proving to be to get public acceptance for the much more radical changes that will be necessary if the rapidly approaching climate apocalypse is to be averted, or even mitigated.