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Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]

Well in that case…

When I read this zinger:

“It is absolutely clear that climate change is a threat to our collective security and the security of our nations,” said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who presided over the meeting.

I thought it was perhaps the most succinct summation of why (1) the ‘Conservative’ Party should be prosecuted under the Trade Descriptions Act (2) I will never vote for them again.

It is bizarre to think we can thank Russia (an enemy state run by gangsters) and India for providing the voice of sanity.

39 comments to Well in that case…

  • JohnK

    I just don’t know what to make of Johnson.

    As a journalist, he had been a fun loving libertarian. He used to mock green policies as the nonsense they were.

    Now, he has morphed into a fervent believer in Big Green. I don’t know why. I understand his girlfriend is a green loony, but is she so good in bed that he’s prepared to destroy our nation’s economy for a shag? Knowing Boris, it’s possible.

    What is clear is that those people who said he was an unprincipled liar were absolutely right. He is a bullshitter, which is perhaps why the green bullshit appeals to him. He must know it’s bullshit, but he also knows that it’s where the money is, and he needs lots of it to support his lifestyle. He used to be paid £250k by the Telegraph as a columnist (!), now he has to rub along on £150k, with a new girlfriend and kid, as well as his other kids to support, plus the alimony, and he has no house. So when in a couple of years (I can but hope) he leaves Number 10, Big Green is where the money will be for BoJo. Maybe it really is as simple and venal as that.

  • Snorri Godhi

    I just don’t know what to make of Johnson.

    I don’t know either, but for a different reason. Boris has been reasonably good on Brexit and quite good on vaccination (at least, by comparison to most of the rest of the world). The latter in particular is quite amazing to me, given my opinion of him.

    Of course, he must go. But never vote Conservative again? Not sure about that: it would remove an incentive for the “Conservatives” to improve. OTOH if it serves to destroy them and replace them with a better Party, then it might be worth it.

  • Lee Moore

    Yeah, well. I’m still voting Kerensky over Lenin.

  • Of course, he must go. But never vote Conservative again? Not sure about that: it would remove an incentive for the “Conservatives” to improve. OTOH if it serves to destroy them and replace them with a better Party, then it might be worth it.

    Yes if we don’t vote Tory we could end up with a party willing to bring down civil society by prohibiting all cultural activities like restaurants, cinemas, plays, pubs, concerts, sporting events, gyms, barbers, FOR A YEAR and then make it clear they intend to rebuild the economy they just smashed with additional state planning this time, using a catchy slogan sold as “Build Back Better”, and then reduce the economy even more by making it Net Zero… oh… hang on…

  • bobby b

    “It is absolutely clear that climate change is a threat to our collective security and the security of our nations . . .”

    If you write it this way:

    “It is absolutely clear that “climate change” is a threat to our collective security and the security of our nations . . . “

    then it becomes correct.

    Sadly, I doubt that Boris would write it that way.

  • Phil B

    Bozo Johnson is a weathercock politician and will face whichever way the political wind is blowing and has as much conviction and spine as slime mould.

    (With apologies to slime mould for the comparison).

  • Jon Eds

    He’s not the first man to be swayed by an important woman in his life (Salvini has also gone soft). Happens easier if you haven’t got strong principles to start with, and if you like to be popular, which Johnson does. We need a king for winter, not summer.

  • Have you ever read the Trade Descriptions Act?

    Actually I have.

    The Conservative party passing itself off as a conservative party is a bit like Raj & Sanjay’s Fags & Booze Corner Shop passing itself off an international container logistics company 😜

  • HGS

    Yep, the go to people are Russia and China. To rely on them (the governing types) shows we have hit the bottom and are still digging.

  • Allen

    @Lee Moore: Karensky doesn’t want your reactionary vote!

  • itellyounothing

    All the reasons UKIP, then Brexit party were having “Conservatives” over still apply.

    The media hate on Corbyn did kind of imply the fix was in with Bojo via his masters / donors.

    For all his flaws Piers Corbyn is impressing me muchly with his actual suffering for his principles….

  • bobby b

    “He’s not the first man to be swayed by an important woman in his life (Salvini has also gone soft).”

    I can’t be the only one who thought that was semi-unfortunate wording.

  • Fraser Orr

    I was recently introduced to an acronym (which at the time was to explain why people were buying into the stock market despite the stratospheric valuations.) The acronym is TINA — “there is no alternative”. One wonders how this applies to the OP’s comment.

  • Once the inflation gets going, the stock market will show even higher numbers. Might not be worth as much, but think how virtuous we will feel paying capital gains tax on the numeric increase!

  • Shlomo Maistre

    It is bizarre to think we can thank Russia (an enemy state run by gangsters) and India for providing the voice of sanity.

    Why do you think Russia is an enemy state? A rival, sure, but enemy state seems rather strong.

    I agree it’s run by gangsters, but this hardly makes Russia a special snowflake. I actually think it’s a good thing that Russia’s oligarchy is pretty open about being gangsters while in most other western countries it’s a similar reality but far more surreptitious…

  • APL

    JohnK: “I just don’t know what to make of Johnson.”

    I am still of the opinion* that Johnson’s encounter with COVID, was nothing of the sort, rather the magnitude of what he’d just done to the British economy, and the impossibility of extricating himself from the credit of it, led to a nervous breakdown. Since his ‘recovery’ he’s been a changed man. It is the drugs.

    *Since been refuted by an august member of the editorial team here – so I must be wrong.

    PdH: “It is bizarre to think we can thank Russia (an enemy state run by gangsters) and India for providing the voice of sanity.”

    I’m aware you’ve got it in for Putin and Russia, but our state has been run by group of enemy gangsters for a year. And they’ve been preparing the ground for a lot longer.

    ‘Cancel culture’, ‘anti racism’ – ( in one of the most hospitable populations anywhere in the world ), re-writing/erasing of British history – this is the West’s cultural revolution.

  • Jon Eds

    “I can’t be the only one who thought that was semi-unfortunate wording. ”

    How come Bobby B? I’ve re read it a few times and it seems fine to me.

    Russia – it would be nice to make common cause with them, but they don’t exactly make it easy for others to like them. Murdering dissidents on our soil and so on.

    China/India – I have found that pointing out to others that these countries, as well as the rest of the developing world, are the world’s major emitters of CO2, and that they have no imminent plans to reduce their emissions, is fairly effective in conversations with the common man.

  • Stonyground

    In what way has the climate changed since the industrial revolution? It has grown slightly warmer but that is because the little ice age was only just ending. In what way has this been a bad thing? Climate change is going to make things much worse in the future say scientists. The same “scientists” who have been saying this for over thirty years and who have been consistently wrong. The word scientist being in quotes there because actual scientists discard or modify their hypothesis if it is disproved.

  • Snorri Godhi

    Perry:

    Yes if we don’t vote Tory we could end up with a party willing to bring down civil society by prohibiting all cultural activities like restaurants, cinemas, plays, pubs, concerts, sporting events, gyms, barbers, FOR A YEAR and then make it clear they intend to rebuild the economy they just smashed with additional state planning this time, using a catchy slogan sold as “Build Back Better”, and then reduce the economy even more by making it Net Zero… oh… hang on…

    And you are certain that 20 or 30 years from now, with who-knows-who as Tory candidate in your constituency, the above will still be your only consideration?

  • Fred Z

    Phil B is correct.

    BoJo is a politician. He says what he thinks the largest number of voters want to hear.

    So, as usual, the fault is with idiot voters, of which there is a vast surplus, also as usual.

  • CaptDMO

    What?
    IMHO, Mr. Johnson’s bold statement is quite correct, just poorly punctuated.
    The Ltd,. LLC, INC., or registered trademark symbol after the properly capitalized “Climate Change” appears to be missing.

  • Dr Evil

    He has to spout this utter Green bilge otherwise Carrie won’t let him shag her.

  • Frank S

    The sloppy science and hyperbolic bombast of those leading the hue and cry about ‘Climate Change’ has had a long innings. Far, far too long for any informed observer to feel anything but shame over it. How come our media and academics and politicians, in particular, have proven themselves so ‘vulnerable’? Where is the institutional, moral, and intellectual ‘resilience’, ‘diversity’, ‘wokeness’, etc that we need for our society to be ‘sustainable’.

    The recent revelations that BoJo has gone soft in the head over climate is a scary one, given that in the past he has seemed to be a free spirit, and someone who thought for himself. No more, if has truly sunk into the Green Cesspit.

    Three cheers for the GWPF, and for blogs like No Tricks Zone, WUWT, and Not a Lot of People Know That. They, and a good few others, are keeping the flickering flame of reason alight in this area.

  • And you are certain that 20 or 30 years from now, with who-knows-who as Tory candidate in your constituency, the above will still be your only consideration?

    If the 2021 normal is the ‘new normal’ in our NetZero future 20 to 30 years from now, then yes, I doubt I am going to give a flying fuck who the local Tory candidate is.

  • Snorri Godhi

    If the 2021 normal is the ‘new normal’ in our NetZero future 20 to 30 years from now, then yes, I doubt I am going to give a flying fuck who the local Tory candidate is.

    Am i supposed to understand this as follows?
    “If the Tory party remains the same in the next 20 or 30 years, then i am not going to vote for them for 20 or 30 years.
    But if they change before i die, then i might vote for them again.”

  • Something like that Snorri. Voting for a party that has gone completely off the deep end does not motivate them to head back in the right direction, it just demonstrates it doesn’t matter what they do, they’ve got your vote regardless.

  • ORDE SOLOMONS

    You know, we once had a prime minister just like him – Lloyd George.

  • Nessimmersion

    It’s curious how we still accept casual slurs on countries like Russia or Belarus despite both being demonstrably more free than the UK.
    There is more freedom of association and freedom to conduct business in those countries.
    Uniformed state thugs conduct arbitrary arrests of the elderly or vulnerable in the UK.
    Stare thugs shut down small businesses yet let big business carry on.
    Schools, education, sport etc are closed in UK but not in Belarus.
    So which country is the dictatorship now?

  • In a fair system with good price signals, today’s wind and solar cannot achieve high penetration levels in a fair competition.

    Having a strong technical knowledge of the power system along with some expertise in finance, rates and costs can help one see the folly of a variety of policies adopted to support many of today’s wind and solar projects. Very few policy makers possess anything close to the skill sets needed for such an evaluation. Furthermore, while policy makers could listen to experts, their voices are drowned out by those with vested interests in wind and solar technology who garner considerable support from those ideologically inclined to support renewables regardless of impacts.

    This excellent and well worth reading post by Judith Curry (h/t instapundit) explains why rejecting a capacity market in favour of operating only an energy market is attractive to greens but is proving unattractive to Texans in an unusually cold winter. Like eco-enthusiasm in Boris, not having a capacity market in Texas of all states is a bit surprising. Perhaps what looked achievable in other states by green-law fiat was advanced in Texas by these subtler means.

  • It’s curious how we still accept casual slurs on countries like Russia or Belarus despite both being demonstrably more free than the UK.

    Oh yes, everyone’s free to say nice things about Putin & Lukashenko & free not to not be gay, these shitholes are awesome 🤣😜

  • itellyounothing

    There are more important freedoms.

    Zoo animals get to copulate.

    Like us, they can’t go to the pub.

    Repressing people is bad. But right now we are down freedom of assembly, movement and speech.

    Good luck getting laid with anyone under those conditions….

  • Like us, they can’t go to the pub.

    I for one would welcome wildebeest and hippos in the local boozer.

  • Snorri Godhi

    Voting for a party that has gone completely off the deep end does not motivate them to head back in the right direction, it just demonstrates it doesn’t matter what they do, they’ve got your vote regardless.

    Few people would disagree with this 🙂
    The issue is what to do about a party that has not yet gone off the deep end, but is heading in that direction.
    (And i am not thinking of any particular party or country in asking this question.)
    I must say that, after seeing McCain and Romney more hostile to Trump than they ever were to Obama, my views are much closer to Perry’s. I now think that their losses in 2008 and 2012 were in the best interest of the country, and the world.

  • Paul Marks

    Perry we are now being told that the very COLD weather in Texas is proof of the C02 emissions have causes global warming theory.

    Tony Heller (who keeps the old records of temperature recordings – because government agencies, for example NASA, have a habit of CHANGING past temperature figures in their “online” presentations – and anyone who says “paranoid” in response, needs to CHECK FOR THEMSELVES) has been busy publishing old temperature figures for Texas.

    Temperatures this cold have been recorded in these places in Texas many times over the last 100 years (so it is NOT a “once in a century event) – and there has been no real trend to warming in Texas over the last century.

    Till they burn the books (the records), one can still answer back against the establishment.

  • Paul Marks

    If people really want reduce C02 emissions……

    First protest against CHINA which is the number one emitter of C02 and is increasing emissions – not the United States where (thanks to natural gas) C02 emissions have been falling for years.

    In short “Greta” and co were in the wrong country – they should have been protesting in China not America. Although that might not have gone well for Greta and co…..

    But also…..

    Campaign for more NUCLEAR POWER – the regulations make nuclear power more expensive and LESS safe (yes LESS not MORE safe).

    Nuclear power stations could be much less expensive and simpler than they are.

    Sadly a then Vice President Joseph Biden SHUT DOWN the United States Nuclear Depository – which is exactly what someone who really wanted less C02 emissions would NOT have done.

    Without the Nuclear Depository how can nuclear power be expanded?

  • Paul Marks

    Nessimmersion – you are being a bit naughty.

    It is true that Belarus did not “lockdown” and Britain did – so YES since March 2020 there has been more economic freedom in Belarus than in the United Kingdom, but that does not alter the fact that Belarus is a dictatorship, and (by the way) the economy is dominated by state owned companies in Belarus.

    As for Russia.

    Many people have told me that Russia did not lockdown – but they are wrong, because Mr Putin did order a lockdown (his admirers in the West admire a Mr Putin who exists only in their own minds – not the real Mr Putin in the physical world).

    I have also been told that in Russia there is no abortion.

    Again this is just NOT TRUE.

    Mr Putin’s dictatorship is not conservative – it just is not.

    I know what leads to all this – the horrible collapse of the West is what leads to this deperation.

    Seeing society collapsing around them conservatives become desperate and reach for any comfort – even the dictators of Belarus and Russia.

    But that is like a drowning man clutching at a SNAKE.

    I am not sneering – I feel the same desperation myself, but I am not going to put my trust in the dictators of Belarus and Russia.

  • BlindIo

    One might say it is a succinct and accurate statement of fact, although perhaps not from the point of view intended by Mr. Johnson.