Section:GDN 1J PaGe:6 Edition Date:190831 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 30/8/2019 16:48 cYanmaGentaYellowbla
- The Guardian Sat urday 31 Aug ust 2019
6 Letters
In less than two months, Britain
could crash out of the E U without
a deal. Those who voted to leave in
2016 were promised a negotiated deal
by the Vote Leave campaign. The
prime minister has now announced
that he will prorogue parliament in
an attempt to get a no-deal Brexit
through. Such an unconstitutional
coup risks compromising people’s
jobs, security and living standards, as
well as the Good Friday agreement.
Now Boris Johnson is jeopardising all
this for the sake of his own personal
polling. It is clear that this has been
done to stop MPs debating Brexit at
our country’s most constitutionally
charged time in recent history. We
cannot allow the government to
avoid scrutiny at this time of national
crisis. We call for MPs to sit at an
alternative parliament to continue
holding the government to account
and fi ght this most damaging Brexit.Climate, green energy
and the Amazon fi res
Politicians call for an alternative
parliament to fi ght no-deal Brexit
The Twentieth Century Society
welcomes BT’s plans to update the
iconic Sir Giles Gilbert Scott red
telephone boxes to digital use ( G2 ,
28 August ) and trust that this will be
carried out in a sympathetic manner.
In 1984 BT announced plans to
remove all telephone boxes designed
by Gilbert Scott from across Britain.
This prompted Gavin Stamp, founder
and Chairman of the Thirties Society
(which later became the Twentieth
Century Society), to start its longest
and most vigorous campaign to date
to save these much-loved objects.
The Department for Environment had
previously declined to make a small
change to conservation legislation
to encompass street furniture so
the only solution to safeguard the
boxes was for the society to press
for the statutory listing of kiosks as
“miniature buildings ”, which was
achieved in 1986 with the listing of a
rare example of a K3 box at LondonThinking outside
the phone box
Seeing red
‘Cornwall’s
Red Rebel
Brigade arrive
in Falmouth
harbour on 15
August by boat to
raise awareness
of the climate
crisis and rising
sea levels’
JAMES PEARCE/
GUARDIAN COMMUNITY
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these pagesand end our reliance on coal by 2025.
There is a £40bn prize for the taking;
we have a plan and we’re acting on it.
Ian Duncan
Minister for climate change,
Department for Business, Energy
and Industrial Strategy- Judge Richard Blake misses the
point when he tells the Extinction
Rebellion activists arrested
for public order off ences that
“legitimate protests do not need to
break the law” ( Report , 23 Augus t).
Where has 30 years of “legitimate”
protesting got us?
Extinction Rebellion disruption
pales into insignifi cance when seen
in the context of the climate and
social disruption that is coming
down the road. History has shown
peaceful civil disobedience and
personal sacrifi ce to be (perhaps the
only) eff ective tools to bring about
system change. Which is why I and
thousands of other are preparing
for rebellion in October. If we do
nothing we stand to lose everything
anyway, so what’s to fear?
Carol Blumenthal
Andover, Hampshire - I worked in Texas for a year
in 196 9. Expecting the weather
to be hot, I was amazed to fi nd I
was frozen in air conditioning in
buildings and homes ( Blowing cold
and hot , 29 August). I used to walk
outside every hour to heat up until I
earned enough money to buy a warm
cardigan. I was delighted when the
air conditioning broke down for a
week and temperatures returned
Labour , Rachael Maskell MP Labour ,
Siobhain McDonagh MP Labour ,
Anna McMorrin MP Labour , Layla
Moran MP Liberal Democrats, Stephen
Morgan MP Labour , Ian Murray MP
Labour , Kate Osamor MP Labour ,
Lloyd Russell-Moyle MP Labour ,
Antoinette Sandbach MP Conservative ,
Liz Saville-Roberts MP Plaid Cymru ,
Virendra Sharma MP Labour , Tulip
Siddiq MP Labour, Andy Slaughter
MP Labour , Angela Smith MP
Independent , Alex Sobel MP Labour ,
Christopher Stephens MP SNP , Jo
Stevens MP Labour , Paul Sweeney
MP Labour , Jo Swinson MP Leader
of the Liberal Democrats , Gareth
Thomas MP Labour , Chuka Umunna
MP Liberal Democrats , Catherine
West MP Labour , Martin Whitfi eld
MP Labour , Hywel Williams MP Plaid
Cymru , Paul Williams MP Labour ,
Jackie Baillie MSP Labour , Alex Cole-
Hamilton MSP Liberal Democrat, Ross
Greer MSP Scottish Greens, Patrick
Harvie MSP Scottish Greens , Daniel
Johnson MSP Labour , Rory Palmer
MEP Labour , Adam Price AM Leader of
Plaid Cymru , Anas Sarwar MSP Labour ,
Alyn Smith MEP SNPThe letter on Wednesday ( Clearer
green energy targets are needed , 28
August) was right in recognising the
UK’s lofty ambitions to become one
of the cleanest and most innovative
energy systems in the world on
our path to becoming a net-zero
emissions economy by 2050. But I
take issue with the suggestion that
our ambitions are not matched by
our actions. We’re investing £274m
to develop cheap, high-performance
and durable batteries. We’re
removing regulatory barriers to
allow more storage facilities across
the UK. We’re supporting small-
scale localised energy generation
through our smart export guarantee- continuing our world-leading
support for the solar industry.
As members of the EU, we were
obliged to implement the VAT
increase for solar technology and
storage. Once we leave , it may be
possible to review this. All of this
is supported by upgrades to the
country’s energy infrastructure
through our smart meter rollout and
smart systems and fl exibility plan.
This enables homeowners to save
money by putting them in control of
their energy use, such as by charging
electric vehicles or storing energy
in a battery when it is cheapest.
As well as revolutionising
how our energy is generated,
transported and stored, the plan
is ensuring our readiness for the
growth of clean energy. Last year,
low-carbon sources provided
more than half our electricity and
this is certain to grow as we allow
renewables into the capacity market
Heidi Allen MP Independent , Hannah
Bardell MP SNP , Guto Bebb MP
Conservative , Luciana Berger MP
Independent , Tom Brake MP Liberal
Democrats , Karen Buck MP Labour ,
Vince Cable MP Liberal Democrats ,
Alistair Carmichael MP Liberal
Democrats, Janet Daby MP Labour ,
Edward Davey MP Liberal Democrats ,
Geraint Davies MP Labour , Jane
Dodds MP Liberal Democrats , David
Drew MP Labour , Rosie Duffi eld MP
Labour , Jonathan Edwards MP Plaid
Cymru , Paul Farrelly MP Labour , Tim
Farron MP Liberal Democrats , Lisa
Forbes MP Labour , Mike Gapes MP
The Independent Group for Change,
Stephen Gethins MP SNP , Christine
Jardine MP Liberal Democrats , Ged
Killen MP Labour , Peter Kyle MP
Labour , Ben Lake MP Plaid Cymru ,
David Lammy MP Labour , Caroline
Lucas MP Green , Seema Malhotra
MP Labour , Sandy Martin MPto what I regarded as comfortable.
In the present English record-
breaking temperatures I manage
to keep my house comfortable by
judicious use of indoor and outdoor
blinds and opening and closing
windows according to the outside
temperature. It would be even better
if installers of European shutters
were more available here. Air
conditioning adding to more global
warming is not a good solution.
Wendy Mulville
Maldon, Essex- I look forward to reading Steve
Edwards’s post-apocalyptic novel
when it appears ( Letters , 29 August).
But he should be aware that in
500 years there will be no human
communities – small, scientifi c,
scholarly or otherwise – to consider
what happened in the 21st century.
The ecosystem required to support
a complex species such as ours
will have been eliminated by the
biodiversity crash, insectageddon,
the climate crisis, and the mass
release of global warming gases from
dying forests, Arctic permafrosts
and the deep oceans. In 500 years
from now, the crumbling remains of
our cities and towns will be ruled by
cockroaches and rats, who of course
have no capacity to investigate the
catastrophe that rendered us extinct.
Joseph Nicholas
Tottenham, London
Zoo. Many more listings followed. The
C20 Society also campaigned to save
Bruce Martin’s K8 telephone boxes.
The fact that many of these boxes
have been repurposed as libraries,
coff ee shops and workshops , once
again fulfi lling an important role in
the community, demonstrates the
importance of good design.
Catherine Croft
Director, Twentieth Century Society- My favourite red telephone box
is in Lincolnshire. After a day’s
cycle ride along the River Witham
and then across the fens towards
Nocton, I discovered a tiny isolated
hamlet called Wasps Nest. The locals
had turned their box into a tourist
information centre, with beautifully
presented wall panels describing
local history plus a table with leafl ets
advertising local events. The fi nishing
touch was a spider plant sitting
daintily on a white tablecloth. The
weary traveller can sit on a bench
nearby and enjoy the long view across
the green pastures of Nocton Fen.
Christopher Bornett
Lavenham, Suff olk
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see gu.com/
letters-termsExtinction Rebellion
disruption pales into
insignifi cance compared
with the climate
disruption that’s comingCarol Blumenthal- Regarding the furore about Brazil’s
Amazon forest fi res, I would like
to point out that all built-up areas
across the world were once mostly
forested, and were cleared for homes
and farming. Britain, the US, Canada,
New Zealand, Russia, Australia,
South Africa and others have all cut
down millions of acres of forested
areas over several hundred years.
We call the Amazon the “lungs of
the world”. But let’s not forget that
most of the other lungs of the world
we have already destroyed. When
Europeans arrived in North America
it was impossible to travel without
entering forests. Let’s not forget our
past contribution to climate change.
Michael Cook
Poole, Dorset - Seven years ago, Britain hosted
an Olympic Games that had set out
to “inspire a generation”. And it
delivered. The baton was passed
to Brazil in 2016, who called for
um novo mundo , a new world. Yet
now Brazil’s government backs
the destruction of rainforests. Our
leaders seem unwilling to respond to
the science. The 16-year-old climate
activist Greta Thunberg asks :
“Where are the adults?”
We sporting champions hear your
call, Greta. While acknowledging
that we and our sports must continue
to reduce our environmental impact,
we are stepping up. And we call
on other athletes to step up too,
for in these times every person
has the power to lead. Let us all
unite , standing with young people
all across the world for the global
climate strike on 20 September.
Heather Fisher Rugby 7s ,
Rebecca Gallantree Diving , Helen
Glover Rowing , Joie Leigh Hockey ,
Katie Rood Football , Goldie Sayers
Athletics , Greg Searle Rowing ,
Etienne Stott Canoeing and 11
others. Full list at gu.com/letters
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