David Miliband on Newsnight
- 7 May 08, 11:59 AM
Tonight Jeremy will be talking to the Foreign Secretary David Miliband live in the studio after he delivers what promises to be a radical speech on transforming Britain into a low-Carbon economy.
He argues that this is the only solution to the problems of spiralling energy and food prices as well as water shortages.
But will the shift to low carbon economy mean difficult decisions for all of us - especially the government - about how we live our lives?
If you have a question you'd like to put to David Miliband on this, or any other issue relevant to the Foreign Secretary then please let us know.
Read David Miliband's answers here.
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Why is the government persisting with biofuels. When there is so much evidence about the harm they cause why do we need another review/enquiry into them, can you not just take the decision to ban them?
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If the government loses the BIOT (i.e. Diego Garcia inhabitants) case in the House of Lords next month how will it manage resettlement of the islands?
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How is a low-carbon economy compatible with calling for more production from OPEC? Why has this Government been frittering away the inheritance of North Sea oil and discouraging further exploration by sharply raising North Sea oil taxes two years ago?
And why can't the Prime Minister keep up to date with oil prices? Today he assured the House of Commons that the oil price was "now at $110" a barrel - whereas in fact it is at or over $120! Is this because he has made the mistake of assuming that the pace of inflation is accurately reflected in the official CPI/RPI measures?
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Does Mr Miliband accept that the move to a low carbon economy will only be accomplished through new cleaner technology?
If so how does he reconcile this with the recent cuts in science funding reported by Newsnight.
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Can the shift to low carbon economy sustains a steady economic growth?
Thanks and Regards
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How can you have a straight face when claiming that a low carbon economy is the key to low food prices, when it is the knee-jerk reaction to increasing atmospheric concentrations of CO2 that has led to monstrous hikes in the cost of food crops?
How can you justify this when the earth has been cooling for a decade and the most recent data categorically shows that human induced global warming is NOT happening?
For example, the NASA Aqua satellite data shows NO warming in the upper atmosphere, lower levels of water vapour than expected and a total lack of tropospheric heat island. Without this heat island, the central mechanism for man made global warming does NOT exist.
The Argos sub-sea probes also show cooling of the oceans. Other global measuring systems are showing the same results. The IPCC are busy scrambling around, altering their models and hoping that warming picks up again in 2015... In fact the only place where catastrophic CO2 induced global warming occurs is in computer models that have been proven wrong. The earth is not behaving that way at all.
Can you point to one single computer model that predicted the 10 year drop in temperatures that we have witnessed since the peak in 1998? Or one that does NOT have the tropospheric heat island?
In fact, How can anyone take you seriously as a party on anything, when your central identity as a party of the working class has been exposed as a cruel and humiliating hoax by the fact of your cynical betrayal? Wasting hundreds of billions of tax payer pounds to bail out banks with loan guarantees on worthless loans, whilst at the same time doubling the taxes on the poorest workers?
Wars started with lies, £Billions for billionaire bankers and taxes doubled for the poor! That is labour's legacy.
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Dear Mr Miliband,
Please would you explain how cutting back on Science funding and education is going to help the UK become a less hydrocarbon dependent country?
Surely we will need all the innovative and bright young minds we can find? This is surely rhetoric at its best!
Yours sincerely,
Jonathan Townley
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How can a Labour Government that is falling behind in the polls make the radical and sometimes unpopular changeswithout loosing further public support?
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
A low carbon economy will require a radical change in the way we lead our lives. How can a Labour Government that is falling behind in the polls make the radical and sometimes unpopular changeswithout loosing further public support?
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As a local Councillor trying to combat the effects of climate change, I am continually frustrated by the lack of a Planning Directive that will allow us to insist that new build properties must, as part of the Planning process, include such items as Photo-voltaic cells, grey water schemes, recycling facilities and mini wind turbines. Developers see this as an extra cost and will not accede unless forced to. When will the government make this simple enabling order?
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Over a year ago David Miliband rightly predicted on BBC Question Time
"People will be saying 'wouldn't it be great to have that Blair back because we can't stand that Gordon Brown',"
These were prophetic words. Does he now regret not standing for the leadership against Gordon Brown last year?
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Never mind the high brow stuff like global warming and foreign aid, thats on hold with a government that failed to spot the problems with removing the 10p rate! With the recent results in local and London elections all the British people want to know is when will Gordon Brown face the electorate and let us decide if he should be the person in number 10 or not?
If Labour lose Crewe and Nantwich will Mr Millband join us in calling for a General Election, as Brown will have had 3 strikes and your out with regard to the publics point of view!
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Is closer engagement with Europe particularly around employment and the euro the best way to distinguish yourselves from the Conservative party? And given the PM's eurosceptic attitude, is there any chance of that happening?
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The size of the carbon footprint may have more to do with the weather and the size of the population, neither of which the government has much prospect of controlling.
However, some small saving might be found in this Information Age, and that is by encouraging companies to keep their workers at home. Perhaps Information Age business premises could be taxed by the square foot, encouraging smaller, fewer of premises.
Before the Industrial Age this was not an issue as everyone lived over the shop or on the farm.
Thanks for reading this,
Terrance Chapman.
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David Milliband is familiar with our Shark and Coral Conservation Trust. We are doing our first schools presentation (on shark depletion and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)) on Friday 9th May.
Four questions for him - - -
a. Can he confirm that the Marine Bill will be brought onto the statute books during the current parliamentary session (it places obligations on power stationsand others to capture their CO2 emissions for storage below the North Sea bed). How is this being monitored ??
b. What are his views on the BP Peterhead refinery - Miller field pipeline project (separating out hydrogen (burns with only water exhaust) and CO2 (to pressurise the pipeline and optimise gas/oil recovery)).
c. Is there a future industry for the UK oil industry in the spare North Sea capacity of the depleted oil/gas strata becoming available to other CCS nations.
d. What are his views on replacing fossil fuel combustion with hydrogen combustion. If positive, how long will that process take? BY 2025 the oceans will be so acidic that the formation of coral reefs (and all they support) will become impossible. By 2012, the oceans are due to vecome "CO2-saturated".
Yours faithfully
Monty Halls (Senior)
Secretary
SCCT
Yoursm
Monty Halls (Senior)
Secretary
SCCT
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Isn't the solution population control? Carbon control means real (living) people must modify their behaviour for the benefit of imagined (not yet born) people. If the imagined people are never to become real (i.e.never born) there is no reason real people should make sacrifices for "them".
We have as much chance of persuading the expanding nations to slow down population growth as we have of persuading them to reduce carbon emissions and other pollutants. If we really want the earth to support human life for longer we need less people. I'm not convinced we should worry. We cannot prevent the end of the human race, just perhaps delay it to allow the births and deaths of extra people, who would otherwise never exist (and so are not worth worrying about).
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David Milliband is familiar with our Shark and Coral Conservation Trust. We are doing our first schools presentation (on shark depletion and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)) on Friday 9th May.
Four questions for him - - -
a. Can he confirm that the Marine Bill will be brought onto the statute books during the current parliamentary session (it places obligations on power stationsand others to capture their CO2 emissions for storage below the North Sea bed). How is this being monitored ??
b. What are his views on the BP Peterhead refinery - Miller field pipeline project (separating out hydrogen (burns with only water exhaust) and CO2 (to pressurise the pipeline and optimise gas/oil recovery)).
c. Is there a future industry for the UK oil industry in the spare North Sea capacity of the depleted oil/gas strata becoming available to other CCS nations.
d. What are his views on replacing fossil fuel combustion with hydrogen combustion. If positive, how long will that process take? BY 2025 the oceans will be so acidic that the formation of coral reefs (and all they support) will become impossible. By 2012, the oceans are due to become "CO2-saturated".
Yours faithfully
Monty Halls (Senior)
Secretary
SCCT
Yoursm
Monty Halls (Senior)
Secretary
SCCT
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Given the Foreign Secretary's short time in the job, and indeed his inexperience of foreign affairs, and at a time of enormous tensions around the world from the Middle East to Darfur and Zimbabwe why does he feel justified in taking considerable time out now to develop a paper on developing a low carbon economy in Britain? Does he have any particular expertise in this field? Or, as many will suspect, is this just political posturing before a leadership challenge when the opportunity arrises?
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Would the government discuss the possibility of returning its bases in Cyprus to the new administration if such an action helped a comprehensive solution onj the island?
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David
What are you going to do to recognize my 'green footprint' with respect to my car. It will be 20 years old next year. It is a 1988 Volkswagon Estate. It has a 1588 CC diesel engine and its fuel economy does between 50mpg short urban to 62mpg on a longer run. This is similar to its official figures. This is therefore not like the examples I've seen used in other arguments to remove old cars from the road whose mileage is down to the teens or early 20's like Jaguars and Rangerovers etc. It requires minimal maintenance to pass MOT and is therefore of reasonable condition. To my mind it has avoided the carbon cost of manufacture of 4 vehicles assuming renewal every 5 years and the carbon cost of their disposal. It is more fuel efficient than many 'smart cars' and will run on any 'green' fuels if neccessary.
I'd like to have my road tax reduced accordingly.
Mark
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Why is Mr Miliband, like other members of the cabinet, so hit and miss with his pronunciation of the letter "t."
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Is this his policy ideas or is he spouting others words - dose he consider himself to be old enough and wise enough and experianced enough to make any decisions on behalf of the people of this country and will he suffer any loss through his actions or will the British people subsadise his pocket while we suffer as normal.
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Will Mr Milliband throw his hat into the ring when Mr Brown falls on his own sword in the coming months?....
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Why is HMG continuing to waste Millions of Pounds of Taxpayers money as it fights against British and International Law as it tries to uphold its ILLEGAL actions against the people of the Chagos islands ?
Why are British Subjects expected to obey the Law, when our own Government does NOT ?
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Id like to know if Mr Milliband agrees that solving the long term problem of climate change is incompatible with short, 5 year term parliaments. Surely the measures required are going to be painful so no government needing re-election would ever pursue rigorous enough policies. It seems that all 3 parties are essesntially agreed on the scale of the issue and the need to address is seriously, so wouldnt it be wise to create an all party climate change group - with representation from the scientific community too, with the mandate to create the UKs policies in this arena and for those parties to be obliged to carry out these policies when they form a government. By removing the politics from the issue we just might get a set of policies that will actually work, rather than the wonderful rhetoric but lightweight, ineffective actual polcies that are the inevitable product of securing power in the short term.
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Mr Milliband
Transport in the UK accounts for 20--25% of total CO2 emissions, and the highest emissions come from passenger cars.
Don't you think that as a first step car consumers should be legally entitled to vital CO2 and fuel efficiency information across all car advertising so that they can make an informed choice given the current environmental and economics problems we face?
If you look at most billboards and internet sites there is no CO2 information supplied, or it is so small, or in a mishmash of positions and fonts, that it's almost impossible to glean what the emissions really are - shouldn't it be the government's position to protect the consumer and enforce the display of the information in a standard, consistent and legible manner?
Are you also in favor of making further moves, as suggested by Julia King recently, to include the 10 year lifetime running costs in the car showroom, as well as making colour coded tax discs so that cars are easily identifiable by their VED band, and therefore educating us all as to the emissions of the car models?
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My question to David Miliband:
Is the future a Europe of regions rather than a Europe of nations?
Dr Ron McDonald.
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Dear Mr Milliband
Since all the latest scientific readings prove that the world is cooling - potentially rapidly - and that the previous computer models were flawed why waste taxpayers' money on futile gestures in respect of CO2, a necessary gas to prevent the world becvoming a giant snowball.
In any case man-made CO2 is a tiny fraction of the CO2 from natural sources.
You have jumped on a bandwagon with a broken axle!
Christina Speight
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I would like to ask you whether you, as a party, are serious when you say you have to "listen" to the people.
If you are serious then please listen to our pleas for a chance to vote on the EU constitution (aka the Lisbon treaty) as promised in your last manifesto.
If you don't allow a vote then you will have been rumbled as a bunch of shallow salesmen that decide on what you want to listen to and not what the public want you to listen to. In which case you deserve to be well and truly beaten at all levels of government.
Danny Fincham, Eastleigh
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Sir glad to have you on this programme, so since the Carbon fuel is not going to go into extition soo and seeing that food is going into extition and vz a viz human lifes what shoul be the atitude of responsible goverments in the face of this also i want you to comment to the tratments of Nigerians aboard BA flights and at entry points of your country.Thank you sir
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A 61 year old english guy working and living in Tokyo for over two years..
well aware of the Japan-UK Joint Reseach Project "Roadmap to Low Carbon World".. both nations have their own LCE target for 2050.. the UK 60% and Japan 70%.
However, it seem to me this unilateral, sorry bilateral approach is just not enough to solve a massive global problem. Are the UK and Japanese governments convinced they can persuade many other nations to come onboard making it a multilateral, rather megalateral approach.
The combined 200 million population of UK/Japan is afterall [pardon the pun] a mere drop in the ocean [both island states!]
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Can truly radical changes in society ever be achieved by democratically elected governments, or will they always be voted out at the next opportunity by an electorate and market focused on short term gratification?
And as a postscript to comment 11 re the planning system - a volume housebuilder once said in a seminar when I posed a question about what they're doing to prepare for climate change "if we had our way the toilets would still be in the garden - we won't do anything that costs us more unless we're made to"
Julian Mellor, Somerset
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Will the up-dating of the Trident Missle System have an effect on the transformation of Britain into a low carbon economy.
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Qu 1: Will it ever be possible to see the choices (especially many, much vaunted 'alternative' options) broken out as peer-reviewed, agenda-free, non-lobbyist-influenced, 'clearly identified subsidy-support requiring' and based in fact? Also in spin-free, clear, objective, accurate, pro and con terms so that 'we', the voting, tax-paying public, can assess, decide upon and/or support, confident that we are not being managed by government, compliant media and interest groups to achieve box-ticking targets that have little to do with our kids' futures by being little more than just 'looking' like 'carbon' is being reduced?
Qu 2. If so, please do. A few starters for 10 (off the top of my head - sorry, no legions of research wonks at my disposal, as have most govt. ministers and programme makers)...
Wind farms.
Nuclear.
Latest Road Tax logic.
Coal fired power stations with no scrubbing systems planned.
Vast quangos with even greater comms budgets that DO what, exactly?
Focusing on trivia such as plastic bags when there is a LOT more, more critically, going on.
Cutting support in key areas allowing an individual option to help, such as solar, etc
Plus a few others I am sure others have/will provide...
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Is it really worth the UK ruining it's economy and making us all poorer to save a paltry 1 or 2 percent of global CO2 emissions, whist China, the US and India forge ahead regardless?
IF Climate change is happening is it not better to prepare for the change, rather than the Cnut-like* attitude the Governemnt is currently displaying?
*That's Canute-like... I once got a posting banned for using the proper spelling...
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As global temperatures have not gone up for 10 years - why do you want to destroy the UK economy and way of life - by following some unproven green agenda.
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There is a lot of confusion about the so called low Carbon Econmy. We need a clearer definition from David Miliband.
Spiralling oil and food prices have nothing to do with high carbon emissions. It is a demand and supply issue in the fast growing world at present. The low carbon concept has minimal impact on this equation.
The real solution is finding an adequtae alternative source of power like nuclear. We have not done anything about this though we have been talking about this since the first oil shock in the 1970s. All other talks are palliatives that will not lead to lasting solution.
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Can he catagorically assure 2 million people, 250,000 kids and the 100 plus people who will die as a result of expansion at Heathrow(due to noise and air quality health impacts) that the government is not seeking to get a 10 year air quality waiver for Heathrow from The EU? That aviation is enjoys tax free fuel as appose to civilians who 64% on car fuel
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Given the effect of oceans and the sun on the Earth's climate, with Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory finding that the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) had unexpectedly shifted into its cool phase and the continue inactivity of the Sun, doesn't it occur to the Minister that his speech is somewhat perverse?
The PDO will have a downward effect on temperatures for the next three decades. The behaviour of the Sun with the lack of sunspots suggests that the pessimists are correct and that the planet is facing another Maunder Minimum period. If the Minister knows his history, that period was the coldest part of the Little Ice Age. Against this, the increases in CO2 concentrations will be overwhelmed.
The next couple of decades will be colder and agriculture will become less productive. Its not going to be a great time yet the Minister is planning for a fantasy. Nature is far more powerful than man.
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It will fall to you, Mr Milliband, to present the UK case to the Chinese and Indians that they should not build coal-fired power stations without operational carbon capture technology fitted from the outset. As it is your government is planning to give the green light to unabated coal-fired power stations in the UK. If this policy is not reversed, will you not - to use Nye Bevan's phrase about negotiations with the Soviets - be going into the conference chamber naked?
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Hello Mr Milliband;
Can you tell me why you and the rest of your British Parliamentary members always water down your words of condemnation when it comes to Israeli violation of human rights and collective punishment?
Does being Jewish yourself cloud your judgement?
Thanks
Dell.
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Dear Mr Miliband,
Who authorised the use of Depleted Uranium munitions in Iraq/Afghanistan?
How will any of our troops who develop cancer in the future be compensated?
Yours Sincerely,
Bret Calvey
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Why doesn't the government halt the use of biofuels from crops now, considering:
(i) we already know there is a scarcity of food - simply not enough left over to go round the poor - so each unit of food turned into fuel is a unit less for hungry mouths?
(ii) the review it has commissioned is by the Renewable Fuels Agency, 3/5 of whose board appointments are from industry stakeholders in biofuels, so it's as unlikely to be impartial as turkeys would be about Christmas?
(ii) the EU Joint Research Centre has already warned that the costs of EU biofuels exceed the benefits, and cellulosic ethanol is even less cost-effective than first generation (report at http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/jrc/index.cfm?id=2550)?
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Bilateral relations between the UK and Russian Federation continue to be difficult and edgy. Does the inauguration of President Medvedev present an opportunity for an easing of tensions and will the Foreign Secretary take advantange of it?
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Does the Foreign Secretary agree that a wholistic approach across Parliament is necessary to ensure a successful future for Britain? The piecemeal approach and backbiting in Parliament which is prolific currently is unhelpful and destructive. As a man hailed as a potential leader of his party does Mr Milliband have any intention of helping to bring about change in a more meaningful way than Labour's current short term band-aid approach?
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With Labour in the doldrums is it not time for a return to a more radical agenda such as introducing a tax rate of 50% on those earning in excess of £100,000. Otherwise the existing mundane policies being delivered in such an uninspiring manner can only spell certain and humiliating defeat in the next election.
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How will the Government reach it's carbon targets when only a few of the planned millions of new homes will be carbon neutral? How long will the non-carbon-neutral homes last?
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Algae is the only feed-stock for biofuels that could conceivably make a significant contribution. It could also be used to absorb CO2 from conventional power stations. What is the Government doing to encourage research into algae based biofuels?
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In more than 10years in Government, what has been the Labour achivements in making Britain a low carbon Country and Economy?
Nothing! for 10 years Northsea oil and gas has been squandered for the profit of the treasury coffins.
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Is the Government still considering the use of personal tradable carbon allowances as a way of encouraging consumers to demand energy efficient products and services from suppliers?
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How can you reconcile aiming for a low carbon economy and not rule out now a third runway at heathrow Airport?
It would generate more air and noise pollution to an already polluted area of West london.
Not only is air travel the fastest growing source of greenhouse gases - it is also one of the most damaging because the pollutants are released at high atmospheric levels. Travel too and from Heathrow causes traffic congestion through additional car based travel due to its location.
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THE GLOTTAL SLUR
If we play a tape of "early Miliband" will the use of "wo-happened" and the like, be evident in his speech? Would the aspiring Prime Minister agree with me that to ape a silly mannerism of the leader, is a sign of weak character?
NB The Blair glottal slur, is not the same as the 'Stenders' glottal stop. That is: "wo' 'appened". ( I hope the blog gremlin does not mess with my apostrophes!)
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No doubt your augument ref carbon foot-print tonight will be full of stats and quasi-science.
Why should we believe you when, collectively, the entire cabinet couldn't work the maths out that 20p tax is TWICE 10p tax ?
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The trend for CO2 targets seems clear - the numbers are getting bigger and the timescales are getting shorter. An 80% reduction in emissions by 2030 leaves only 5000 'work days' to achieve a total transformation of the UK (and other's) economy. A prudent, precautionary approach would be to 'backcast' a plan from 2030 to today, and from that, work out what needs to happen tomorrow, this week, this year. Will you commit now to making this happen and dedicate the resources need to build a change plan to save civilisation?
Andy Middleton
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Many outside the UK see you as a very bright and enlightened leader who can come up with unconventional solutions. Will you be reiterating your calibre by looking outside traditional Western paradigms? For e.g. will you promote vegetarianism as an eight times more efficient way to feed the world? Or are you going to be bound by your baggage of looking at such ideas as not yet politically appropriate?
I live in Singapore and have lived a healthy and successful life for 40 years without once eating any kind meat, fish or other sea food. It is not that difficult you know...
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For largely economic reasons there is a rapid expansion in environmentally damaging short haul flights within the UK. What is the Government going to do to discourage this? Would it look at encouraging a network of luxury coaches linking to urban transit systems at motorway junctions as a way of reducing congestion and reducing CO2 output?
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UK companies do not feature strongly in the global low carbon technology sector for example in the FTSE Environmental Technology 50 index there are only 3 UK companies compared to 5 from Germany, 4 from Spain and 18 from the US. What can the government do to encourage greater innovation from UK companies in the environmental technology sector?
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Why has the Foreign Office's decided to abandon work on sustainable development in favour of just focussing on climate change as if this is the only SD issue? This just provides further evidence that the Governement refuses to see the whole picture but instead focusses on selected (albeit large) parts of it and in so doing fails to recognise that the solutions are holistic ones that it isn't set up to deliver.
P.S. If you claim that everything else is covered by it being "mainstreamed" (usually code for sidelined) please can you give some objective evidence for this.
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I would like to know when Gordon Brown will finally admit that the game is up and resign from the position he took, unelected from the discredited and mistrusted Blair. I would also like to know what we are going to do about the massive overcrowding we are all suffering in this country due to Labour's insane immigration policies.
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Low carbon economy as far as this government is concerned, invariably means more taxes. It seems they have learned nothing from the recent electoral disaster. All they know is how to tax and spin....they are sleep walking into oblivion.
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Isn't this "greening" approach just another excuse to increase the taxes you already impose on us? Why not bring our armed services personnel home from American wars and reduce the worlds carbon footprint positively?
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DEMOCRATIC INTEGRITY
Given that it takes almost four times the votes to secure a Lib Dem seat (with reference to a Labour one) and somewhet less than two times the votes for a Tory seat, will he PERSONALLY speak out for reform, or is this situation OK with the Honorable D Milliband?
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Is it this governments intention to continue down the nuclear route? Do you still insist on buying American nuclear reactors? Also, do you still intend to buy the American nuclear weapons system that none of us wants?
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There was once a time when the Foreign Secretary was a hard hitting formidable character with years of experience. Apart from reading text books what experience do you think you have to do your job?
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Please can Jeremy dress like a cowboy and interview Millie same as Mini -me the other night - it was so good even the Standard are still in print with the graphics
Jeremy is the new walrus
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The Chief Scientific Adviser and numerous members of the House of Lords have highlighted the perverse moves towards biofuel production advocated by the European Commission. These have already caused, and are still causing not only shortages of food crops but also the incentive for furhter excessive destruction of rain forests in nations such as Brazil to provide high-quality farmland, and the farming of otherwise natural habitats which will take years of lying fallow to reverse. In these circumstances would the Foriegn Secretary care to congratulate Robert Mugabe for returning high-quality farmland to its original state.
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Whenever Government ministers discuss climate change and over-expoitation of the earth's limited resources, including fossil fuels, the need to cut-back on consumption never seems to be acknowledged.
The lifestyles of many in the developed world are almost certainly unsustainable, even with more efficient technology, but the need to restrain the excesses of consumerism is dismissed. The message being that if we could only use the bus occasionally and fit energy efficient light bulbs, it will all be OK.
Isn't it the case that if we are to have a sustainable, carbon neutral future, dramatic changes to lifestyles will be required? When will the Government and opposition parties publicly acknowledge this and start working towards this end - hopefully before it is too late?
Neil
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The Government should be applauded for introducing a target of 60% reduction in CO2 output by 2050. However the scientific consensus is for a 60% reduction worldwide which implies a 90% reduction for developed countries. Is the Government looking at ways it might achieve this more ambitious target?
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As a proud gas guzzler with a raging case of American hubris, do you really think a unilateral British policy can make headway in the truly global problem of climate change?
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Two questions.
Q1. Given that this government has pushed incoherent policies based upon naive ideology and Hollywood fantasy, rather than quantifiable evidence or relevant expert testimony, how can we be expected to believe anything this government announces?
Some related examples:
Giving up freedoms to 'win' the 'War on Terror'.
Reclassification of cannabis without apparently understanding expert advice.
Biometric ID cards.
Laws on prostitution.
(Really the list could just go on and on.)
Q2. Why is it that the HoC with so many lawyers makes such a mess of creating laws?
Some related examples:
Mission creep on the RIP act so local government is now spying on residents (the enemy?).
The current fiasco that is the Criminal Justice Bill (studiously avoided by Newsnight, when either a brief summary of the amount of legislation introduced by this government would be enlightening, or discussion of anomalies in the proposed Criminal Justice Bill would at least be cynically amusing).
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I'd like to ask Mr Miliband a couple of questions about the upcoming treaty to ban cluster bombs that will be negotiated in Dublin this month:
Firstly will the UK take a leading role to ensure the agreement of this treaty to ban cluster munitions?
Secondly is the UK under pressure from the United States not to endorse a ban on cluster munitions?
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Generally spekaing this is admirable stuff from David Miliband and, to my mind, the kind of conviction and vision that the present government needs if it is to be re-elected. However, speaking as someone actively involved in green issues for over 25 years and on climate change since our first Greenpeace campaign in 1987, the government sends hugely confusing price, regulatory and procurement signals on sustainabiltiy. sort thes eout forst before you do too much exhortation and imploring of ordinary people...and we will follow...
Jonathan Smales
Beyond Green
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Dear Mr Miliband,
Last October Ms Ruth Kelly told the Observer that:
'We can see aviation emissions growth, but [that will] be offset one-for-one elsewhere
in Europe.'
[http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,,2200616,00.html]
Is the government advocating that other people should cut their emissions so that we can carry on as usual?
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When the Government invites bids for new nuclear power stations will the Government ensure that the bidders include financial provision to cover the full cost of decommissioning, waste storage and insurance for all of the third party risks?
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Is the talking up of the environment just a distraction from failing to plan for our energy needs? Are we paying now for a lack of a coherent plan earlier? Having ideas about energy is totally different from a coherent energy policy. Is Labour respected enough internationally to make the right partnerships to secure our future? We need more than a dream of a greener future.
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What are David's views on the idea of a single, secular democratic state of Israel/Palestine rather than the two-state solution that has been pursued for so long now?
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What is the point of us doing anything;when China ,India and the majority of other countries are not doing any thing,except increasing pollution.....it appears that we are in the same position as the little Dutch boy with his finger plugging the hole in the Dyke.......but with no one coming to save us?
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Zimbabwe - when is the Brit govt. going to get cross with the failure by "Africa" to DO anything about Mugabe other than support and applaud him. In particular Malawi and South Africa - especially Mbeki with his No crisis in Zimbabwe, Allow transit of Chinese arms and refusal to allow subject to be raised in Security Council. By all means let Africa deal with their problems provided they do something in face of killings and lootings by ZANU PF.
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On a general note - Do you believe MP's are answerable to their constituents or are the results of last week's election evidence that people don't feel the government is listening?
What are you, personally, going to do about it?
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Why should we ever believe anything Mr Miliband tells us?
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=x71INuYQnTk
Biofuels are a disaster and we need to build nuclear power stations as France has done for the past 30 years before we get more BROWN OUTs.
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Dear Mr Miliband
Why are politicians so untrustworthy and despised?
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How long do you think the labour party has left?
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I see my comment was withdrawn because I included a youtube web URL which showed Mr Miliband lying through his teeth. I never posted here before and tried again. This, the third time, will be lucky I hope.
Anyone wanting to view it should type in
We Are Change UK featuring Hilary Benn
in which you will see this most serpentine politician playing his craft well. There is only one solution to the energy crisis and that is nuclear power.
Lastly you can see the future they plan for you on Alex Jones Endgame again on google videos. Let us hope Newsnight will not lose the opportunity to eviscerate this most dangerous of pretenders to the throne.
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To Mr Milliband:
Do you believe in the theory of the carbon cycle, if so shouldn't we be planting more trees instead of taxing according to how much CO2 we produce?
Isn't the predicted population growth for the United Kingdom going to increase the levels of CO2 we produce beyond our control? Why then should we bother with taxes?
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1. Is the government going to be supporting global initiatives to improve corporate GHG data availability, consistency and reliability, so that this information can be factored into investment analysis, ownership practices and decision making?
2. Is the government aiming to influence public pension schemes to incorporate climate considerations in their investments? (and if so how?)
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What competences remain wholly and solely jurisdiction of Parliament in Westminster without any necessary reference to the EU to allow us to make our own laws?
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This is more nonsense from this government. Could Mr M explain why his government chose to back T5 at Heathrow; why their own ministers jet around the world taking entourages of unnecessarily large numbers; why the Speaker, appointed by Labour, encourages his family to fly from and to Scotland when they could travel by train, and gives them Airmiles to do so? Or does the government think the people of the country are stupid and cannot see that this is another method of extracting money from us? His government would be better employed in getting the 'offending nations' of the world are on board - the US springs to mind. And Labour say they are 'listening'!!?
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Dear Mr Milliband,
Low carbon means nothing to most people in the UK, and the current "ActonCO2" campaign, like most other calculators, only provides a number which is unempowering.
In our work we are trying to help make carbon 'visible'. We think this lies at the core of the problem.
What do you think the government should be doing to really make carbon 'visible' to ordinary citizens such that it empowers change and action?
Kind Regards,
Fraser Durham
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Considering how much utility bills and basic living costs have already risen, how will private companies be prevented from passing on the costs of reducing their carbon footprints to the public?
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1.
Given that traffic calming increases the production of carbon dioxide by 50% and 20 Mph Zones by 10% how can you justify apparently supporting the continued introduction of the said schemes if you claim to be doing your bit for the global environment ?
2.
As part of future transport policy would you consider removing traffic calming and scrapping 20 Mph zones as part of a policy to significantly reduce transport emissions?
If the government continues to allow local authorities to introduce traffic calming etc. it may be reasonable to believe that the environment has become simply an excuse for a marketing scam aimed at those with a below average IQ or just poorly educated in science.
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Why not show real depth of character and cancel the ridiculous 2012 Olympics? Here is a waste of fuel and energy hardly equaled in the follies of modernity. No one wants London overrun, millions of passenger air miles and massive building not to mention overcrowded and overly expensive London. THAT would be proof the government takes climate change seriously.
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Do you think your govt's low carbon policy is consistent with at least maintaining, and preferably increasing, current standards of living?
Does biofuel in the UK keep the middle classes happy whilst causing starvation in the Third World?
Do biofuels, with only two-thirds the calorific value of hydrocarbon based fuels, actually emit more CO2 in the journey from field to filling station?
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If a sustainable fuel is found to replace our fossil fuel dependency without harming the environment, will the Government still heap 'green taxes' on it? If not how will the government replace its dependency on these taxes?
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Dear David Miliband,
I agree with Fraser Durham's comment above (91) about helping make carbon VISIBLE. Of course it (CO2) is really BRIGHT purple you know, or if it were, we would have seen the sky change colour in our lifetimes - with our smokey PURPLE air fill HAZE bringing a new sunset on humanity.
And why stop with just the 'visual' sense.
Government campaigns COULD help make carbon LOUD (dischordant) pungent (malodourous) toxic (distasteful) etc. When will we start to see campaigns that are on a scale and of an impact that are in keeping with the scale of the challenge ahead. VAST.
Surely an advertising dream.
When we sense CO2, then we will act on CO2.
Dave
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If we, the public, are to support the radical actions that you propose, we need to have trust in the basic competence and integrity of the government. How can you convince us that you possess either quality?
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One more quick question for David.
Can he explain why HMG did a U-turn on the pledge (that he personally made - and a very good one) that every home in the UK should be issued with a little "real time energy display" device, so that we could see - instantly and conveniently - and for ourselves - how fast our eleccy meters really are spinning at any time.
These devices are superbly effective! Does HMG actually want us to save energy? Or does it rather want to draw off the power of the electricity companies lobby.
This particular U-turn is profoundly demoralising, and frankly, downright stupid... however you look at it... (imho!)
Dave
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David, would you be willing to become the next Prime Minister if Gordon Brown were to go? Boris Johnson seems to think you would be the best candidate. What would you do if you were PM?
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How will the government prepare people for the considerable changes in lifestyle that will come in the near future?
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Dear Mr Miliband,
I have a couple of questions ;
1 Do you really understand the science behind the current rational that man is significantly affecting the current elevation in the Earth's temperature and if so could you personally explain the science in simple laymans terms to the general public ? From a personal view all that I hear on the media is a garbled, hysterical view that man's burning of fossil fuels is grossly affecting out climate but sadly, as an enginer, I see no supporting science.
2 Notwithstanding my first question and regardless of the notion of the carbon neutral debate, with North Sea oil and gas disappearing fast, dont you think the UK should be urgently building nuclear plants or are we actually too late.
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You can show leadership by committing the UK Government to disclosure of all it's direct and supply chain GHG emissions.
Will you commit to doing this?
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Dear Mr Miliband,
I have just been walking in the very productive landscape of rural Buchan in Aberdeenshire. There are lot of fallow fields being sown for crops and there is an abundance of beef cattle and lambs.
Within a close radius we have the Rivers Tay, Dee, Spey and Ness all of which flow with clear fresh water.
There are strong tidal currents running round our shallow coastlines which can easily be harnessed by the technological Oil knowledge base in Aberdeen.
It seems to me that Scotland will fast become the jewel in the UK crown.
Do you see the SNP and in particular Mr Salmond as a near term threat ?
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I just would like to know what David Miliband's other interests are.
The reason why I ask, is that a "Natural Labour Voter", I can inform him I will be voting Tory come the next general election primarily because I don't like the Police being used to extort money out of ordinary people going about their ordinary business.
Cameras, cameras, cameras. The fines only arrive if the "criminal" citizen is mad enough to have registered his car at his own address in his own name... Of course people who really don't give two monkeys about the law don't register their cars so still behave extremely badly but they don't get caught... And even when they do, they are extremely disproportionately less punished than ordinary people like me!
David, I don't like thieves. I don't like the police being used to steal from me! I know that the Tories don't care about me or my family - but at least they don't spout that this heavy handed control freakery is good for me.
Enjoy the last 2 years of power, won't you. How I feel right now about the endorsements on my driving licence for 'innocently' driving a few handfull of MPH over the limit means I will NEVER vote Labour again.
Theft as a policy doesn't work
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When can we expect this Government to take the hint and resign!
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Please ask David Miliband whether he accepts the following messages from the IPCC 4th Report:-
1) That the implication of the report is that we are already certain to breach the 2 degree centigrade limit and be stuck with dangerous climate change.
2) That the IPCC says that the world must drastically cut its emissions before 2030 in order to prevent catastrophic climate change of 3 or 4 degrees.
If not why not?
If so then does he not agree that the only way to achieve rapid cuts is to impose restrictions on the population, technology cannot do enough in the time available?
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How can the government claim to be tackling global warming while at the same time planning for big expansions at Heathrow and Stansted airports?
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Does David Miliband yearn to be PM sometime in the future?
Is there the typical brotherly rivalry as regards their careers with brother Ed?
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I would like to ask Mr Milliband the following questions:
What is you genuine motivation for wishing to move the UK to a low carbon economy? Is it the imminent peaking of global oil production, the related energy security issues and the impact of escalating oil prices on our economy, or is it the risk of climate change?
Which of these motivators does he believe is a more palatable explanation to give to the voting public?
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Changing to a Low-Carbon economy will mean either or both of: imposing taxes, or legislating against, non-green items. For example, you could tax bottled water imported from other countries, or restrict or totally ban it's import.
What is the Government's preferred method?
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why, if the environment is so important, is the levels of taxation always higher?
why is no household rewarded for "saving the planet?"
(I hear of so many government policies that contradict the "green" arguments they use when applied to other policies of theirs!)
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How much will global temperatures rise by 2050 if:
(a) we do nothing
(b) we become a "low carbon economy"
I wish people would quantify what their proposed measures will achieve. Then we could decide if they were worth implementing.
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Why are the British public misled over "green" issues?
Policies such as this announcement/speech tonight, has more to do with future financial penalties about to hit us all from the EU, rather than green issues.
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What emphasis does the foreign secretary place on the use of bio fuels?
Is it right that we should be encouraging the use of bio fuels in this country, given that it means starving the developing world of crops to satisfy our need for ?feel good energy??
isn?t it time we really looked at what we are doing, isn?t it more important that we save Humanity first?
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I was watching PMQ?s not too long ago and a Labour backbench MP proposed something along the lines of:
?Can we enter into a 21st century, climate change arms race with Germany.? he then went on ?one in which we?d end up with more jobs, more exports, better technology'
then added, almost as an afterthought:
?Oh, yes, and a cleaner environment.?
Why wasn?t he ripped apart for the use of such laughably backward, old world, supremacist language?
I suspect that may have been because he?d been chivvied into coming out with these kind of stupidly xenophobic statements by an equally nationalist PM in an attempt to please the tory voting middle Englanders.
It?s silly and pointless for we in the E.U to not only be competing against each other to create a more supreme climate change industry but have to each, as small, little countries, to also have to compete against a giant like america, and in the not too distant future, an even larger one in china. We in the E.U should be pooling resources to create a joint industry which will be far more beneficial for all of us. GB doesn?t get that we understand, that we?ve experienced, that we have an experiential, if you know what I mean, awareness of being part of Europe now. We?ve all lived in various different parts of Europe, we feel really connected to that and are very enthusiastic about being afforded the opportunity to go and live and work in beautiful, and usually much warmer, different parts of the E.U. Old GB, bless him, has still yet to so much as enter the late, little england 20th century, I guess grasping the open, expansive, greater than 21st century European horizon that we all want to live in now, is proving a challenging and still quite elusive mental acquisition for him. And obviously, along with a fair few of the more ?, slower? Labour backbench MP?s. A joint E.U created industry would be far more beneficial for all of us and that wouldn?t be only on condition that the majority of the jobs were created in this country. or that we could siphon off a greater share of the profits. We all live in Europe now, we don?t see ourselves, our lives, in terms of being confined to just one county, this country, people really want to gto off to explore the world, live and work elsewhere, it?s an unusual british person now that would object to having to go to another country to find work, we relish it. So yes, a joint E.U industrial response to tackling climate change via a hard headed, self serving, all about the bottom line, business model would be a more ethically effective and yes, it might not result in the workers in the UK gaining the lions share of the jobs but that?s not relevant to us anymore. GB doesn?t get that. He?d have a more nationalistic response, a too nationalistic response to the obvious fact that we in the E.U, if jointly pooling resources, could create the most economically successful and effective technological response to climate change. And probably quite quickly as well. Small, little nations working alone, like us for e.g, can?t compete against the larger nations. GB wouldn?t get that, David Miliband would. How does he feel about that?
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Can I ask David Millband, MP, what the government plans to do to help the poor citizens suffering in Burma from the recent cyclone?
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Here's An idea to keep the lights off.
Lets get up with the sun.
Anyone noticed how high the sun is when we get up at our usual time?
The dawn chorus is beautiful to hear.
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Which is the greater theat to the UK economy, Global Warming or Peak Oil?
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Jeremy, just be sure to give him the sort of grilling that only a few broadcasters, including you, are capable of.
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David.
To offset or not to offset - that is the question ?
Paul Taylor
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What's the best book you've read that puts the case, from a scientific point of view, that global warming isn't a crisis that needs the attention of policy makers?
If you cannot name such a book, what is the best book on policy that argues that even if the view presented by the IPCC to policy makers is broadly correct, most of the current suggested policy measures are likely to be futile or counterproductive?
What was the best argument that you read against increased production of biofuels at least a year or more ago?
If you have trouble answering the last, don't you think you should soon have better answers to the first two?
Lastly, if books on science are too hard, are you still sure it was wise to say that you would not even watch the documentary "The Great Global Warming Swindle" when it came out in March of last year? (There were some excellent scientists on it. Of course the argument was a little simplified, as you'd expect in such a documentary. That's the why the initial questions were about the best books.)
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Why don't you stop messing about with things that don't matter and tip McBean ouit of No 10?
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why are up to 50% of planning applications for solar panels being turned down? Why have the micro generation grants stopped? Why have taxes been raised on vegetable oil to make it more expensive than diesel?
we have hundreds of acres of empty roof and garden space for panels, windmills and heat pumps yet the planners obstruct citing its 'out of character' . Well they didn't have those things 100 years ago so of course its 'out of character. How mad is that.
These changes should be seen by planners as as national defence issues not as an merely aesthetic issue.
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What steps will Mr. Milliband take to ensure that the UK and EU plays the effective leadership role in negotiating an adequate climate regime which will not undermine the right to development of the poor?
Will Mr. Milliband move beyond the usual rhetorical focus of making the EU a model for the rest of the world and actually commit to drastic emissions reductions while supporting the poor in the global south to deal with the climate crisis and to develop in a clean and sustainable way?
While EU leaders talk of transforming the EU?s economy to a low carbon one there is no mention of the commitment by industrialized rich countries to facilitate and finance same in developing countries, through measurable, reportable and verifiable technology cooperation and financial measures.
European leaders like Mr. Miliband have got to commit to equitably dealing with climate change in a way that does not compromise the aspirations of comparable levels of prosperity of billions of poor people around the world.
Rich industralised countries of the world have amassed wealth primarily based on fossil fuel burning. They are historically responsible for the climate problem and also most capable of undertaking the largest effort of dealing with it.
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Being responsible to man-made disasters like creation of Israel, war against Islam killing over million innocent civilians of Iraq and Afghanistan, my question to you is:
When are you getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan and perhaps start making mends by helping starving world already facing shortage of basic food.
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Foreign Secretary -
1/ Will you give urgent consideration to biochar and other means of carbon sequestration, since atmospheric CO2 levels need to be reduced, not just increased more slowly?
2/ Will you do your utmost to discourage air travel and unnecessary private car use?
3/ Will you rule out coal or shale oil power plants, which can only compound the climate crisis?
4/ Will you embark on a major education programme which encourages the public to put survival before convenience?
5/ Will you begin to restructure the British economy to survive in a low-carbon world, and stop blindly chasing economic growth?
Sincerely,
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Noted during press coverage of the on-going economic meltdown that Norway uses its North Sea Oil revenue bonanza to create a Sovereign Wealth Fund. A Fund which is now a significant player in global investments and which can be used to promote Norway's Foreign interests. How has the NuLab government which has been in power for over 11 years stewarded our North Sea Oil Wealth. What strategy have they adopted, how successful has it been, how does it fit into their overall energy and foreign policies
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Aren't we a mouse to China the Elephant? What's the point of my changing my 4x4 whilst they open two new power stations a week?
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1) To what extent does it undermine a British government's ability to exert influence overseas that the UK media traveling with government ministers to high profile events think it clever to use the opportunities to ask embarrassing domestic questions? Or does that reflect a general contempt for overseas matters and the leaders of other countries amongst the whole British political class?
2) There is a perception that, with responsibility for Human Rights vested with the Ministry for Justice, where the culture is that of defending present UK law, and refugees to the Home Office, the UK has ceased, except where it is unavoidable, or where invoking "democracy" has other foreign policy advantages, to be a force for promoting and defending human rights overseas. The UK now seems internationally conservative on children's, women's, sexual minorities, torture victims and refugees' rights. Progress towards the CEDAW objectives seems to have stalled. Is this something Mr Milliband sees and wishes to change? To what extent does he see it having been down to the Bush presidency and the religious beliefs and other priorities of the previous Downing Street incumbency?
3) Does anyone in Whitehall have an overall eye on UK international carbon policy? It seems strange that a UK Foreign Secretary would be making speeches advocating strong sacrifices towards carbon reduction when the UK recently sold China an entire internal combustion engine factory, together with all the patents and trademarks, which seems likely to result in considerable carbon production where other, cleaner technology could have been used, and is cooperating with the US to demand that a substantial country burn oil for power instead of using nuclear power. Not to mention the UK having sold the state owned nuclear plant manufacturer to an american company and having failed to to build even replacement domestic nuclear plants for decade, never mind providing them for other countries. To what extent is a mistaken anti-nuclear lobby still influential?
4) Does Mr Milliband anticipate that, with his appointment, a new UK Prime Minister, and the prospect of a new US President in seven months, the UK and USA will turn from a policy of regarding Russia as the humiliated rump of the USSR that needs NATO or US bases up to its borders, its government lecturing on government by countries with enough failings of their own, and converting to Christianity? A policy which sometimes seems to threaten a renewed cold war, and which certainly with increased defense vigilance, not least bomber and fighter patrols and is not helping carbon emissions. Does Mr Milliband consider it still helpful to demand extraditions from a country with a constitutional bar on extraditing its citizens whilst refusing to provide the necessary evidence for the alternative provision of local trial for overseas alleged crimes? How much does Mr Milliband see the American anti-missile bases on Russia's borders as about (a) the stoking of pressure for war on Iran, (b) humiliating the stump of the USSR and promoting Russian fears, and (c) the then governments of the host countries responding to American holding out that it could exert pressure on their behalf in the EU?
5) The UK is a major bridging point for extreme religious cults and sects that target the third world, Eastern Europe and Russia, hosting media operations, training schools and fund raising. As has been exposed on Newsnight, some promote belief in witchcraft and the torture of those accused of being witches. Others promote faith healing at the expense of proper medical care. Most undermine women's rights and persecute sexual minorities. Promoting the inevitability, and desirability of an imminent judgment day, or "rapture" is a frequent characteristic. Their leaders seem free to transport considerable funds, preachers, and even babies, with no restriction. Most of this has come about following the relaxation of media regulations and funding controls in the USA. Does Mr Millband see this as a worthy inheritance of Britain's imperial role and our part in liberating eastern Europe? Does he see these destabilising and persecuting groups as beneficial presences amongst the poor? Is there a UK policy in favour of such groups, or will Mr Millband consider turning an unfavourable eye upon them and making representations to the US to curb their sources of funding and direction?
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Why is the UK government still using public funds to promote in poor countries Tory privatisation policies that have clearly had what are now clearly divisive and impoverishing effects here. Water privatisation being one example. Is it that the policies, and the gravy train for those funded to advise on them, have sailed on without being noticed by Labour foreign secretaries?
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David,
What's happened to Climatechallenge.gov.uk? Is the government rolling back on funding some very innovative public engegement campaigns funded under Climate Challenge?
P.S. Do you recall 'Ethical Man' on Newsnight?
What aspects of his lifesyle changes have you and your family undertaken, if any?
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I was at the talk Mr Milliband gave at the London School of Economics 2 hours ago. The Foreign Secretary spoke about mandating foreign powers to use renewable energy, and seemed to suggest that the European Union would be the body to do exert commercial pressure.
Could the Foreign Secretary confirm that he is advocating an EU Green Tariff on imports, as a means of encouraging foreign powers to develop their economies around renewable energy sources.
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On July 3rd it will be the tenth anniversary of the USS Vincennes shooting down an Iranian airliner on a regular, scheduled flight, causing the loss of 290 innocent civilian lives, including 66 children, on the eve of a holiday. It was the result of trigger-happy servicemen acting with dangerous incompetence in a civilian area. They misidentiied the A300 airbus as a F14 fighter on an attack run. They "warned" it on military frequencies calling to "Iranian F14". The A300 was at all times in voice contact with air traffic control, using English. It received no warning. The Vincennes, one of the most sophisticated of US warships, had no equipment to participate in civilian communications, excepting on the emergency bands, which the A300 had no reason to use. The US Navy denied any blame and has never apologised. The officer responsible was present with an honour for "heroic achievement", and President George Bush soon after declared that he would never apologise for any action of US forces.
It has often been suggested that the downing of US airliner PanAm Flight 103 over Lockerbie on 21st December 1988, on the eve of a holiday (killing 260 onboard, and 10 more on the ground), was, for someone responsible (the exact perpetrators are still disputed), the eye for an eye that follows when only power and arrogance rule.
Would Mr Milliband not agree that it is time the relatives of those victims - nationals of 6 countries - received an apology, to start clearing the air between our close ally, the US, and their countries, not least Iran, and that he, as Foreign Secretary of the third country in which the PanAm flight took off and crashed, is the ideal person to encourage and bring about that apology?
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Who are you, if you are a high profile politician then why is it that nobody knows who you are?
You are talked about as the next Labour leader, yet you choose to keep a low profile.
This is easily measured by doing surveys and I am sure you know all the results.
So either you don't want to be high profile and are not ambitious, or you feel that by being low key and subversive you have the best strategy to succeed Gordon.
Could you please explain what your approach is, or give statistics to show you do have a high profile (and I am wrong), or shrug your shoulders to avoid the question - and then we will all know the answer.
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The US has an emission per head of about 20 tonnes, the UK has an emission per head of about 10 tonnes, China has one of less than 5 and India's is probably around 1.
Given this what level should be our target be and how are you going to persuade the US, Canada, Australia, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Japan, etc to agree to such targets, given the complete lack of progress in the past.
Also given the lack of progress over the last 10 years here what is going to change in the UK?
What will be different in a years time and will you resign if it isn't?
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In my posting numbered 134, for tenth anniversary, please read twentieth.
When we mark the terrible anniversary of Lockerbie in December, it will be the more hurtful to the relatives of the victims in the Iranian airbus if they, despite receiving financial compensation on a "no blame" basis, still face a blank refusal to apologise from the country that was so clearly responsible in their case.
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Does Mr Milliband really believe that the British people can save the planet. There are more people in 3 of India's largest cities than are in this country, yet ask them about climate change and they haven't a clue what you are on about. I fear that the current climate of tax tax tax everything green is having an adverse effect on people believing in the case.
My car runs on Lpg and is duel fuel, yet the dvla say i can only recieve a £10 reduction in road tax, what a fantastic incentive. The only way to get people to change the way the think about green issues is to incentify them, not TAX them. No wonder Labour is out, its because they are out of touch with real life. We don't all live on expense accounts and have extortionate wages for pocket money mate.
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Why is the government defying the Information Commissioner and Tribunal by blocking Freedom of Information access to the results of the Gateway Reviews into ID Cards? What is it hiding? What value is the Freedom of Information Act if the government can ignore it at will?
Why is New Labour pushing for an early referendum on Scottish Independence which it originally opposed, yet reneging on a referendum on the EU constitution which it originally promised?
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Why cannot politicians start with the basics and look at what we all consume? Solar panels on all our houses would make a huge difference but the lower paid cannot afford them (especially now some of us are instantly losing £12+ monthly in extra tax).
Why not just look at implementing 90% grants to all households for solar panels and grey water use, and force all business premises to use solar panels and grey water with immediate effect? Sometimes if an EEC directive says some energy reduction must occur by, say, 2012, you seem to just sit back and think you have plenty of time! You need to speed up and start doing essential and basic things NOW.
The cost of these grants could be found by disallowing MPs to claim £250 weekly in expenses without a receipt. And by stopping all the other scams MPs have to steal taxpayer's money, including paying their relatives to do nothing.
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How green is increasing trade with the biggest polluter in the world - CHINA. How can we support a country with it's history on Human Rights.
The government has really jumped on the Green Bandwagon when it comes to taxing the British! Double standards I say.
Brown should wear a mask as he's the biggest robber ever!
He has robbed the poorest in the Nation with abolishing the 10p tax band. I have had a 4% pay rise and have ended up with only 33% of it. Peanuts compared with the increases the Government are imposing on all of us.
Brown's a real joke and the electorate have shown him what they think of him. Robbing the poor to pay the rich, HA!
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What is the green taxes being spent on! Don't think it is being spent on green issues is it.
The British Isles cannot sustain all the immigration that the Government allow.
We send aid to other countries yet the govenment don't look after it's own population.
We should look after ourselves and once we are in a position to support other countries then that would be easier to digest.
Seems that the govenment just want to keep us down and we may begin to starve ourselves if they keep on robbing us with all the new taxes!
We as a nation have shown him our disgust at his policies.
Get Gordon out! He's the worst leader of any party, give someone else a chance.
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Having listened to the interview with David I am very pleased to hear that we can:-
have growth in air travel
build coal fired power stations
reduce petrol duty
buy the right to dump a tonne of pollution for a small fistful of Euros
continue to blight those overseas with our pollution without any sense of responsibility
...carry on much as we are in fact...
and still meet our radical 60% by 2050 target
phew!
there was me thinking we might have to do something
Dave
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Last week Britain joined the other European governments in signing a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Serbia. When Margaret Beckett was Foreign Secretary the FCO wrote and confirmed to me that Britain would insist that before an SAA was concluded Serbia would first have to discharge its duty to the International Criminal tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at The Hague ICTY by handing over Ratko Mladic to the ICTY before such concessions were made.
Does David Miliband believe that EU governments, fearing the electoral success of General Mladic's collaborators and apologists, should confirm the view, so often voiced in the past by those collaborators and apologists, that international justice is merely the servant of the West's political concerns?
In refusing to insist that Mladic should be delivered to The Hague Mr Miliband seems to consider that the EU's and the UK's commitment to justice for the victims of genocide is something that can be put away in the drawer as soon as political convenience demands. Srebrenica is of course a very small town, very far away.
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On the number 10 website it says 'the world's oil and gas resources are sufficient to sustain economic growth for the foreseeable future' yet the IEA have recently expressed serious doubts about this. With the rapidly increasing price of oil now a major threat to the world economy, do you believe that 'peak oil' may be a reality and that the supply of oil may not in fact be sufficient for oil production to continue growing?
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Given UK taxpayers are working from 1st Jan to 1st June in order to pay tax to Mr Browns Government, the pollution generated during this period is created purely to pay tax.
Therefore my question to Mr Miliband would be: Given that taxing people pollutes our planet, how can further taxes [aircraft passenger tax] reduce pollution?
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If the government are supporters of green policies, why is there such high VAT on solar panels, heat pumps, water butts, energy saving lightbulbs and other resource/energy saving devices. Surely items such as these should be subsided.
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Does the rotational speed of your father in his grave at the sight of a son who has become a right-wing technocrat ever trouble you?
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the goverments own forcast show that
north sea oil will be only producing 20%
of curent production. where will we import
the shortfall from?
world crude oil production has not grown
since 2005, and even the iea says that by
2012 there is liable a shortage of surplie.
the lack of growth in oil supply has already
seen the price go from $30 to$120 and still
going up in 3 years.
how will we have any economy at all if oil
supplies fall by 2% + year after year.
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What are the governments plans to secure energy independence in the light of Peak Oil and the rising oil price? Also why does the government not accept that oil is running out and that peak oil is the reason for increased oil prices, but rather talks about the distraction of 'global warming'? What is government policy on building nuclear power stations and in the light of increased energy costs why are we not building any new ones now? That would be a great legacy to bequeath to the nation - electricity independece!
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DID I MISS-LISTEN?
I thought David Miliband was going to "answer" more of the posted questions online. Where should I look?
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Why has the Government taken such a stand offish attitude to The Mugabe regime i n the last few years. It's as if his thuggish murderous regime is allowed to get away with whatever it wants without really strong condemnation and direct action fom The UK Government.
I know you made a statement following the debacle of an election there more than a month ago but really is this good enough shopuld we not be imposing proper sanctions on the rregime, should we not be pressing for an Internationally administered election and count?
The Governments position on Zimbabwe is shameful and you Mr Miliband should show some spunk over the issue.
Chas dow
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How is it posible for the person responsible for managing the economy impecably for a decade to make such a mistake as that over the abolishment of the tenP tax band?
Grendad, Malvern
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When will you actually ASK the Public before you waste OUR money on foreign Aid ?
Please don't reply 'It's a measure of how civilised a Country is judged by the amount it gives'
I believe 800 Million was given in AID to INDIA !!!! WHAT FOR ??
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The Holy Grail of ethanol
Submitted by SHNS on Wed, 05/07/2008 - 17:27.
* By DALE McFEATTERS, Scripps Howard News Service
* editorials and opinion
WASHINGTON -- This is a lesson for the civics books. Five months ago, ethanol derived from corn was the new miracle green fuel. By using corn to power our cars, we could tell the sheiks to go pound their sand.
It all sounded so simple. It also ignored the basic laws and limitations of economics, geography, chemistry and electoral politics. If we learned anything from the 1970s, we apparently forgot it. Then it was synfuels. Now it's biofuels, equally expensive and impractical.
The thing about oil is that there's a lot of it. True, a lot of it is in unfortunate parts of the globe but we get most of our oil from our neighbors -- in fact, Hillary and Barack should be very careful what they say about NAFTA because Canada is our largest supplier.
http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/32987
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Which of the following situations do you think is more likely:
1) An international agreement on the reduction of carbon emissions to 1980's levels by 2015?
2) An investigation into the impact of biofuels on global food markets by 2010?
3) Labour winning the next UK general election under your leadership?
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WHY ARE WE PAYING HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS TO THE EU AND TURNING INTO A THIRD WORLD DUMPING GROUND? WE GET NOTHING FROM THE EU EXCEPT PAIN.
Flooded areas miss out on EU cash
By Chris Mason
BBC News, Brussels
Youths rowing in Toll Bar during 2007 floods
Toll Bar in South Yorkshire was one of the worst-hit areas
Communities affected by last summer's floods across England are to get much less compensation from the European Union than originally thought.
In March, the European Parliament voted to give the United Kingdom about £110m from the European Union's Solidarity Fund - a pot of money set aside for member states to apply for if hit by a natural disaster.
But it has now been confirmed the payout will only be £31m.
So why is the cheque being written only for around a quarter of the amount originally announced?
I was in Strasbourg when the European Parliament voted by a massive majority for the payout - 639 Euro MPs were in favour and just nine voted against the move.
Those that I spoke to from the main parties were jubilant and relieved.
For once, they muttered, there would be some positive headlines in Britain about the European Union.
A blind man in the dark could have actually seen that this was going to present serious difficulties
Barry Dare, leader of Gloucestershire County Council
But with today's news, many are once again disappointed.
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A Low-Carbon Economy means cut backs on energy, food and water and who wants that in the West ?
Noone wants to go without a shower every day, go hungry or not having the car to drive to work.
Labour and Miliband want the West to go East and the consequences we already see with the huge immigration and the expenses of that to society as a result. Now it is about letting the Western Lifestyle go altogether and that is just totally unacceptable.
I suppose the next leader of Labour is Miliband when Brown leaves in a year but will there be enough voters for this very Anti-Western policy ?
As a note I refer to The Times online had an article on Brown getting one more year in power to improve the voting results.
It seems that the red blog and blue blog continue to compete in abolishing the West and turning East all.
Will the Conservatives be able to improve the present British policies ?
One thing is sure they never defend the poor. Can and will they defend Western society or is it a dead-end all policies have reached now in 2008 ?
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Why is HMG not providing active support to the former British Protectorate of Somaliland? It is a beacon of stability and security in the Horn of Africa but is ignored because of the International focus on the failed Somalia "state" as a whole.
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Some years ago, John Smith - a Scottish MP with commitment and intelligence - sadly died. He had no exposure to the demands of Government, so it is impossible to know how well he would have done in office.
He was succeded by a shallow, light-weight, issue-skater called Tony Blair.
Blair showed his solidarity with "the common folk" by building a £8+Million property portfolio, while allowing his Chancellor to unleash a cyclone of credit and expensive (and foolish) tax changes. We now have a dour, no doubt intelligent, Scottish MP leading the Labour Party and sadly, the nation.
What benefit will be gained by dumping him in favour of either of the Milibands, (or a rash of smug, we-know-best alternatives who seem to be the "future of Labour"). God help us.
Who cares what Miliband has to say?
The next generation of potential Labour leaders appear to be shallow, light-weight, issue-skaters who demonstrate about as much empathy with the folk who create money for the UK as that shown by a fox in a chicken coop.
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If Mr Miliband were made leader of the Labour Party does he think he could win the next election?
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Mr Miliband;
There are currently 1.5 billion cows on the earth which are responsible for 18% of the worlds greenhouse gases, which is more than the total emmited by all forms of transport Globaly, this number is expected to more than double within the next 40years. Horrendous ecological damage inflicted on the globes natural resources, in terms of the collateral damage created by deforestation, grazing, water pollution and transportation of meat products. My question is. How do you propose to address this major cause of global warming?
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So will Mr Milliband be challenging for the PMs job before of after the General election?
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
How on Earth did you get this job. It is beyond your competence.
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I would like to know what Mr Milliband thinks that Mr Cameron can do to get some substance. Does he think that being a good joker will get him to No 10 on its own.
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Hi my name is Bashar Mamki CB19631 and i have been in Colnbrook detention centre for 19 months so far and immigration is NOT sending any one back to Iraq-Baghdad, how long are you or the home office is going to keep me here, my number is [Personal details removed by Moderator] thank you.
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At the beginning of this section it was said 'This time, as well as answering some of your questions on the programme, the Foreign Secretary has kindly agreed to respond to several more via the Newsnight blog tomorrow morning.'
So now I am searching for these 'kindly agreed' responses from Mr Milliband. Where are they????????????
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Given the Government claims to care about the thousands of dead people in Burma why is it that the Government didn't care about them when they were actually alive?
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Where are the answers that were promised for today? I noticed only one of the questions from the blog being put to Mr Miliband by Jeremy - and I can find no trace of the answers that were promised on the blog!!
If they ARE lurking somewhere on the BBC site, shouldn't there be a clear link from this page to them??
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The environment is a key topic, but before planning any type of change, example should be taken from current cities around the world. Such as Curitiba, Brazil. Otherwise it will be a waste of time, and government budget (which is currently in a deficit.)
My question is How can an country like brazil, suffering from high debt and a much lower GDP, create sustainable cities, but one of the richest countries in the world cannot?
Mr. Milliband would squabble about something at this point, and not see the truth: there is no leadership, and the government cannot give out right proposals except taxing cars - another tax revenue raiser
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As today the world is seeing shortage and increased demand of oil......tomorrow the same food may cost us the price of oil so why dont we start providing incentives for agricultural countries which will give everyone better today.
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i have one question
to ask:
1]global warming: is any political
figure in the world going to solve this
situation.
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At risk of being accused of pestering (as I have been before for simply gently reminding that a promised piece of information or clarification remains outstanding, which can be frustrating in rounding out the totality of our news appreciation as objectively as possible), as a few others as well now seem to be wondering (if not here we might have missed where... or if still coming at least any explanation for a delay, which can often be unavoidable and/or reasonable), might I also ask where Mr. Miliband's promised replies are?
It would be a shame if 'events' moved us on and left this hanging too.
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Taxing me to the hilt just to use my car, which is a standard Volvo S40, how is this going to save the planet? I need a car as public transport is not a usable substitute, what do you recommend I do.
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