I see that the King has been prevented from going to COP27 in Egypt next month. \u00a0That\u2019s to say, he was advised against it by the government and he's taken the advice.<\/p>\n
What a pity.<\/p>\n
You have to wonder why he was so advised. \u00a0Fear of his going off-message, perhaps? \u00a0Especially with the government \/ Defra allegedly getting luke warm again about all that \u201cgreen crap\u201d. \u00a0 Fear of his overshadowing UK politicians, perhaps, by being knowledgable and passionate and charismatic? \u00a0Maybe.<\/p>\n
That old smoothie, Lord Deben, chair of the climate change committee, was interviewed in the latest Bath I-SEE seminar. \u00a0He said don't worry. \u00a0Defra has been sorted out and that there is no longer a risk that the proposed environmental land management [ELM] scheme will be watered down by our new shape-shifting government. \u00a0My local wildlife trust feared: \"instead of rewarding farmers for restoring nature, preventing pollution from entering rivers and climate-proofing their businesses, we could now see a return to simply paying landowners based on the area of land they own.\"<\/p>\n
Not so [*] according to Lord D who in another life used to be John Selwyn Gummer<\/a>, Minister for Agriculture \/ the Environment. \u00a0Mind you, if he'd had a veto over Brexit (he implied in the seminar) it would not have happened and we'd still all be enjoying the manifold benefits of the EU's common agricultural policy; that is \"paying landowners based on the area of land they own\".<\/p>\n Square that circle if you can.<\/p>\n