Best articles: Britain NEWS^1529 February 2020 THE WEEKThe boiling
issue behind
climate change
Ed Conway
The Times
If we’retomeetthe net-zeroemissiontarget by 2050,saysEd
Conway, our biggestchallenge isn’t devisingnew green forms
of transport:it’s workingout howtoreplaceour gasboilers.
Over the past decade,theUK’s boilers havepumpedout similar
levels of greenhouse gases as its cars. We don’t hear muchabout
this,though,because thereisnoclear plan for tackling theissue.
Thereistalk of replacing naturalgas boilers with hydrogen ones,
as hydrog en’s only waste product is water,but it would cost up to
£100bn,andwedon’t yet have asustainableway of makingthe
gas. Another solutionmightbetoscrap boilers –atleastinurban
areas–andinsteaduse districtheating systemsofthe sortfound
in Paris andCopenhagen. Inthese, heat is pipedintohousesfrom
communal facilities.They couldbepoweredby electricityor,
perhaps eventually, by hydrogen;apilot schemein Islington is
going to useheat fr om tunnels in the London Underground.But
howeverwe do it, greeningour heatingis going to“costfar more
than HS2”.Nowonderminis ters ar eavoid ingthe subject.The racial fears
that we prefer
to overlook
JulietSamuel
TheDailyTelegraph
Themiddle-agedmanwhoshotdeadninepeopleintwoshisha
barsinGermanylastweekappearstohavebeenmotivatedbya
hate-filledideology,saysJulietSamuel.LiketheNorwegiankiller
AndersBreivik,TobiasRathjensubscribedtotheideaofthe
“greatreplacement”,whicharguesthatwhiteEuropeansare
being“replaced”byan“invasion”ofbrownandblackpeople
(seepage1 6 ).Atthispoint,thetendencyistostatethatsuchideas
havenoplaceinoursocietyandmustbestampedout.Andrightly
so,whenthey leadto racist attacks.Butanuncomfortabletruthis
thatitisnotonlyextremistswho are worriedaboutracialchange.
My hunchisthatthisisananxietyharboured bymillions of
ordinaryEuropeans, who haveseenahugegrowthin immigrant
populations over avery shortperiod. InSpain, forinstance,the
proportionofpeople bornabroadhasgonefrom 3 %in200 0 to
14%today.No replacementisgoingon; it’s moreofamingling.
Butifwe don’twant anxietiestofesterintostrife, weshould
acknowledgethischange, andbe allowedto discuss it.Don’t let the
US get its hands
on Assange
Patrick Cockburn
The Independent
It was“probably thegreatestscoopin journalistic history”,says
Patrick Cockburn.From 2010,Juli an Assange’sWikiLeaks began
releasing classified USdocuments that revealedshockingdetails
about the war on terror. Theleaks were arguably even more
significant thanthe Pentagon Papersin1971. Butwhereas Daniel
Ellsberg is regarded asaherofor exposingUS actions in Vietnam,
AssangeisinjailinLondon,fightingextraditionto theUS, where
he is accusedofspying–chargesthatcould see him jailed for life.
US officials have done much todemonise Assange. They claim,for
instance, that by releasing thepapers, herisked the livesof people
namedin them–though in 2013theofficialinchargeofthe
Pentagon’sinqui ry admitt ed thatnotone personhad beenkilled
asaresultofthe leaks.Assange lost even moresuppor tafter he
was accused of rapein Sweden.Butthe US case has nothing to
do withthat; it’san attackonfreedom of speech. Thecharges all
relatetothe exposureof governmentsecr ets–which issomething
good journalists should aspireto do,and whichmany havedone,
in Britain andthe U S, without beingprosecutedand jailed.Turning ablind
eye to the crisis
in social care
Polly Toynbee
The Guardian
AmanfromHampshire
claimstohavefoundan
unlikelycureforhismental
healthstruggles.“Idrankmy
freshmorningurine,anddark
cloudsofdepressionwere
liftedfromme,”saidHarry
Matadeen,32.Soon,hefound
anevenbettertonic:urine
whichhasbeen“aged”for
uptofourdays.“Ifeltan
instantupliftinmyenergy...
Igrewtoloveit.”Now,he
sayshedrinks200mlofurine
aday–andevenmoisturises
hisfacewithit.Amanwithatattooonhis
foreheadbearingthelegend
“CrimePays”hasbeen
arrestedinIndianaforthe
secondtimeinthreemonths.
DonaldMurray,38,ledpolice
onacarchasebefore
crashingintoatreeand
fleeingonfoot.Hewas
chargedwithaseriesof
offencesincludingautotheft
andresistingarrest.TripAdvisor
suspended
reviewsfor
aholeina
wallnextto
aNatWest
holein the
wallafter
jokerspromote
of thetopattractions in
Ilkeston, Derbyshire.The
website wasinundated with
glowing reviewscomparing
it to theTajMahal,Sydney
Opera House andthe Eiffel
Tower.“One forthe bucket
list!,”enthusedanother.Awayward sea lion was
found onaroad 20 miles
from the sea in Washington
State. Baffled drivers called
police after seeing the
40-stone beast, which had
walked several miles from
the nearest creek. With great
difficulty, the grumpy animal
was coaxed intoatraile rand
returned to the coast. “I think
everybody hadaface full of
sea lion breath more than
once,” said wildlife officer
Scott Schroeder.ITMUSTBETRUE...
IreaditinthetabloidsThere’s asimplereason whysocial careis in crisisinBritain, says
PollyToynbee:notenoughpeopleare “willing to workgruelling
hours for pitiful pay”. Caringfor theelderlyand infirm is
emotionally andphysically demanding. Yetmedia npay inthe
sectorisj ust £8.10anhour–andfor many,it’s farless because
they’renot paid for time theyspend travelling betweenclients.
As aresult thereare 122,000 vacanciesfor care staff, home care
providersareshutting upshop,and homes areclosing.But if it’s
bad now, it’s onlygoin gtoget worse:it’s estimated we’ll need
580,000 more workersin th enext 15 years, to carefor ourageing
population.Where ar etheygoing to comefrom?Currently,40%
in Londonarefromoverseas–asource thatisabout to dryup
as, underthe newimmigration system, caringwill not qualify
as sufficientlyskilled to meritavisa. If thereis no morecheap
foreignlabour,we’ll havetoraisepay steepl ytoattractBritish
staff. Boris Johnson hasvowedto“fix socialcare”;but he
hasalsopromisednot to forceanyone needing careto selltheir
home topay for it. So where is the moneygoingtocomefrom?edittoone