Paphos Life

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-63426674

There is little doubt that climate is a burning issue (pun intended). The new Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has opted not to attend the meeting of the COP27 in Egypt in the coming weeks. It would seem that he does not have his priorities right because this is a very powerful international occasion and would be an excellent moment to meet with many other heads of state, as well as to learn about the environmental problems of the world. Even worse, Environment Secretary Therese Coffey has defended Rishi Sunak's decision. Even worse still, is she up to her job by stating that this international conference of heads of state is "just a gathering of people"?

Sir Keir Starmer said Mr Sunak "should be going to COP". "He needs to show leadership," added the Labour leader. The Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey said it "flies in the face of the UK's proud tradition of leading the world in our response to the climate change".

On Wednesday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told the BBC that he would like to see both the PM and King Charles in attendance. Now it looks like neither will be there.

Downing Street said Mr Sunak had "other pressing domestic commitments", including preparations for a financial statement in November. It would seem that he considers that cooking the books is more important than the U.K.'s role in climate change.

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U.S. climate envoy Kerry: King Charles at COP27 would be ‘very powerful’

Opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer criticised Sunak’s decision. “Many people would be expecting the prime minister of the UK not just to attend COP but to use it as an opportunity to pull world leaders together,” he said. “If that doesn’t happen it’s a failure of leadership.”

https://in-cyprus.philenews.com/news/in ... -powerful/

I too agree with him not attending. He has enough things to sort out at home first

Life Is Good wrote: ↑Fri Oct 28, 2022 3:32 pm the days of it being a global power are long gone.

Maybe, but why? Because we let it go that way by our insularity. Our FU Jack attitude has gone a long way to isolate the UK from the rest of the world. This is illustrated well by the notion of the PM (or rather his civil service minions than himself personally) mulling over rows of figures at the time that the world needs action. He very clearly does not have his visions straight. He is a Nero fiddling while the world is burning. It is clear that he cannot do everything to save the world by himself but he must not isolate himself from the rest of it.

Stay at home and sort out the crap first

What will they achieve in COP27 that they haven’t already discussed in COP1 to 26?

So, in 2021 they reaffirmed a commitment originally agreed in 2015.

How much to these two-week beanos cost? Surely they could achieve the same with zoom meetings, and put the money saved into the ecopot?

That is exactly my point. Everybody already knows what needs to be done. It just needs to be done.

And my point is that politicians sitting on their bums totting up figures does absolutely nothing either for the environment or for contributing towards helping the world to become more livable.

So why do you think he has failed by not attending?

I dont know whether to laugh or cry when I see a bunch of film stars , rich dudes, celebrities fly in to some exotic location to discuss the World climate issues, having all flown there in their private jets, then transported in a fleet of limousines to dine on food especially flown in from all parts of the world

Alok Sharma hit the nail right on the head. The new boy on the block has to make himself known to the other kids. By not doing so he risks being ostracised as being a nobody.

I have never seen a bunch of film stars or rich dudes at these meetings. The real sense of them is the discussion of serious matters. Yes, politicians do attend, not just to learn about the environment but to acquire enough environment-speak to avoid gaffes. I have been a delegate to a few similar meetings and, as the official representative of Switzerland and leader of a technical group, I was invited to address the meeting. I have met some major figures including a few national leaders and have even dined with some of them. The dinner table is an excellent venue to talk shop on the environment.

Devil wrote: ↑Sun Oct 30, 2022 11:45 am Alok Sharma hit the nail right on the head. The new boy on the block has to make himself known to the other kids. By not doing so he risks being ostracised as being a nobody.

I have never seen a bunch of film stars or rich dudes at these meetings. The real sense of them is the discussion of serious matters. Yes, politicians do attend, not just to learn about the environment but to acquire enough environment-speak to avoid gaffes. I have been a delegate to a few similar meetings and, as the official representative of Switzerland and leader of a technical group, I was invited to address the meeting. I have met some major figures including a few national leaders and have even dined with some of them. The dinner table is an excellent venue to talk shop on the environment.

https://pagesix.com/2019/07/30/a-lister ... te-change/

Les Bean wrote: ↑Sun Oct 30, 2022 12:22 pm That article is 3 years old, you would hope the alleged participants would have changed for the better. The publication appears to be on a journalistic level close to the "Daily Star"

It doesn't matter if its the daily star or the guardian these meet ups happen regularly,
It just happens it was the first one that popped up when I googled it, if someone wants more proof just google for yourselves.

Les Bean wrote: ↑Sun Oct 30, 2022 12:22 pm That article is 3 years old, you would hope the alleged participants would have changed for the better. The publication appears to be on a journalistic level close to the "Daily Star"

Not only is the article 3 years old, it is not about the people who are working hard, throughout the world, to try and make it a place where one can live in a comfortable climate; it is about a whole bunch of celebrities that have nothing whatsoever to do with the environment. I worked with dedicated professionals and we had to meet three or four times per year to exchange our views and experiences, despite reams of letter post and, later, emails. After about 10 years, we met only once per year, often with one-to-one or multiple teleconferences. After that, we had physical meetings once every three years, on average, until we got the job done. All the delegates to our meetings who were funded by UNEP travelled by cattle class, while some of us funded by countries – myself included – were able to travel by business class. I don't believe any of our delegates travelled first class.

Believe me, it was tough work and most of the delegates earned much less than you would think. On the plus side, we were able to visit many places for discussions with many government officials and inspections with a goodly number of occasions when we were sometimes able to spend a short time off between visits, sightseeing. In my case, I was able to do this in the USA and about nine developing countries in Asia and Africa.

He can't win, can he? If he goes, half his supporters will denigrate him for having changed his mind. If he doesn't go the other half will denigrate him for ignoring the environment and climate change. He has worked himself into a lose-lose situation – and he thinks he is a politician!

He is not really a politician but he has one quality of a politician, the gift of the gab!

Devil wrote: ↑Wed Nov 02, 2022 6:11 pm He is not really a politician but he has one quality of a politician, the gift of the gab!

Perhaps you should have been one too,

So all these politicians fly in and spend lots of taxpayers money to eat drink and have a good chat, then what? Oh yes they reaffirm what they agreed years ago..... Stunning.

Yes, tune in next week when Devil starts a thread bemoaning the PM for attending the summit.

Oh wait...