The Week UK 01Feb2020

14 NEWS Best articles: Britain

THE WEEK1February 2020

Green policies

that make

people see red

Philip Stephens

Financial Times

“We allknowwhattodo,wejust don’tknow how togetre-

electedoncewe’ve doneit.”Jean-Claude Juncker’s warningabout

the electoral price to be paid for introducing austerity policies after

the global crash proved “painfully prescient”, says Philip Stephens.

The voters felt the “left behinds” had been made to pay for the sins

ofthe financialeliteandvotedaccordingly.Andasimilarpopulist

backlash is brewing today over the issue of climate change. Many

politicalandbusiness leadersacceptmajorchanges areneeded if

we aretoreachthe targets ofacarbonneutral worldby 205 0. No

morecheapflights.Nomoregasboilers.Nomoredrivingaround

inoldbangers.Soofficialsarebusydevisingambitious“green

deals”toreorient theeconomy.But what they’venotgivenany

thoughtto ishowto offsetthe cost ofthese changes onlow-

income voters–thepeople whowillfeelthemmost keenlyand

who are inno mood tobecheatedagainby“wealthyglobalists”;

the people whodrivetowork,don’thave thecashtoreplace the

boilerandtakeacheapflightfortheir annual holiday. Politicians

beware:therage ofFrance’sgilets jaunes,whose protests began

over an increase in fueltaxes,is asignofthings tocome.

Young adults

need ahome

of theirown

Liam Halligan

The Sunday Telegraph

Homeownership isinsteepdecline, butdon’tletit botheryou,

declaredThe Economistlastweek: theBritishneed togetover

theirproperty “fetish”.Ibeg todisagree,says LiamHalligan.The

factthatwelloverhalfof 2 5-to 34-year-oldstoday are lockedout

of the property marketshouldconcernus deeply.Only41% of

thoseinthis“crucial family-formingage” are propertyowners,

compared to 6 7%in 1991 .Even manyprofessional couplesin

thatagegroup,people who aschildrengrew upin leafy suburbs,

nowfind itimpossibletoget ontheproperty ladder.And almost

athird of 20-to34-year-old men are still, amazingly, sleeping in

their childhood bedrooms.“Suchasuddenreversalingenerational

fortunes,onsuchalargescale,tears atthe socialfabric.”It’s not

just that owningyour own homeischeaperand more securethan

rentingit. It’sthatit rootspeopleintheirlocal community;itgives

themastakein theeconomy throughtheirownership ofcapital.

Asociety loses itscohesionwhenthesebenefitsareconcentrated

inthehands ofanevermoreexclusiveclassofproperty owners.

The dirty

secret of

Britain’s rivers

Editorial

The Guardian

It’s great to see wild swimming makingacomebackinBritain, says

The Guardian.But youhaveto livenearthe coastto enjoyit. For

whilemany beachesareformallydesignated as bathing areas–the

sea around themhavingbeenregularly tested for cleanliness–no

such system exists forour rivers. However, ifoutdoorswimmers

in Ilkley, Yorkshire, wintheircampaign togetdesignated status

for partofthe RiverWharfe, itmaysoon do so.Just 14% ofour

riversmetthe EU standardof“good”cleanliness.Indeed,there

are 17,600sitesinEnglandwhereuntreatedeffluent canflow into

rivers;and though companiescanbepenalised–Southern Water

was recentlyfined£126mforfailing to workasewage plant

properly–theyseldom are. Environment Agencyprosecutions

for pollutingrivers have actuallyfallen–from30in2014tojust

threein2018. It’s folly. As othernationsrecognise, clean inland

bathing areas benefit both tourism and the environment. Germany

has1,900inlandbathing watersrated sufficientorabove; Italy 660;

France 1,300.“TheUKshouldpaddlefastto catchup.”

Bash London

and you hurt

the nation

Clare Foges

The Times

Twomenwhowerefilmed

showeringwhileridinga

motorbiketogetherin

Vietnamhavebeenfinedby

police.Footageshowsthe

pairridingtopless,their

torsoslatheredinsoap,with

abucketofwaterbetween

them.Thepassenger

gleefullypoursthewaterover

thedriver,whogrinsafter

washinghishairandface.

Afterthefootagewasposted

onsocialmedia,theduo

weretrackeddownandfined

1.8millionVietnamesedong

(£60)fortrafficviolations.

Apensionerwas takenaback

afterdiscoveringhisown

gravein acemetery. “I’m

stillalive,” protestedAlan

Hattel ashestood beside

his tombstone inForfar,

Scotland.“My phonehasn’t

rungforthreeorfour

months.I’vebeenconfused,

butnowIknowwhy nobody

hasbeencalling.”Theretired

welder, 75, said hiswife–

fromwhomhe hasbeen

separatedfor26years–was

responsible.Althoughstill

alive, shehadbought ajoint

headstoneand plot tosave

theirchildrenmoney.But

Hattel only found outafter

the grave wasspottedby

friends.“I’mstruggling to

take it in,” he said.“Idon’t

even want to be buried.

Iplantobecremated.”

AKansasman has asked an

Iowa judge to let him engage

in asword duelwithhis

former wife and her attorney,

so they can resolve their

disputes “on the field of

battle”. David Ostrom, 40,

said that his former wife

Bridgette and her attorney,

Matthew Hudson, had

“destroyed him legally”, and

he was entitled to meet them

in combat, where he would

“REND THEIR SOULS from

their ...bodies”.

ITMUSTBETRUE...

Ireaditinthetabloids

London-bashing is all the rage these days, says Clare Foges.

There’sasensethe capital has growntoo rich anddominant, and

must be“brought downapeg or two”.The Government, mindful

of this moodand theneedtokeepnew Tory votersinthe North

and theMidlands happy,isdirecting far more spending to the

regionsand hasfloated theideaofmoving theLordstoYork.

Labourleadership contendersarefalling over themselves to stress

their provincialroots. TheBBChas declared thattwo-thirdsofits

staff will eventually beworkingoutsideLondon. And, yes,there’s

muchto be said forthe idea of “levelling up” the regions–but we

mustn’t undermine the capital in theprocess. London generates a

quarterofBritain’sGDP. It’sthemagnetthatattracts the“entre-

preneursand tech geniuses” whosparkthe economy. They’re

drawn to itsarty districts,itscosmopolitanfood scene,the buzz

of beingacentre ofpower–the“panoply of experiences”that

only amegacitylikeLondon, ShanghaiorNew York canprovide.

To hobble London would be “anact of national self-harm”. ©P

AUL REID