In the Shift

The British national elections have been top of the local news these past few weeks.  I waited and waited, but there was precious little said about climate change.  It was there in the party manifestos for the largest parties, and of course the Greens who won their first seat in the national Parliament.  But it barely registered in the much publicised leadership debates, and when pollsters called to ask what I was concerned about, they didn’t seem to have a check box for either of my two top issues (climate change adaptation and higher education).

Now the election over, and the parties are negotiating over who will align themselves with whom there seem to be a few more politicians raising the climate change issues again.  The Conservatives say that one of their areas of common ground with the Liberals is the importance of tackling climate change.

Not a huge change of direction it has to be said. Nothing like the constant reassurances given to the mah-kets that dribble from politicians mouths like slobber from a bloodhound’s jowels.  Nothing like the attention paid to economic recovery. Or education reform. Or parliamentary reform. Or … You get the picture.

So why the absence of climate change during the election, and how much traction will it gain now?  I’m going to be mulling that over as the electoin fever settles down.  Watch this space.