The Week UK - 29.02.2020

Talking points NEWS 23

29 February 2020 THE WEEK

Britain under water: the “hard truth”

“Thecamerawillnever

competewiththebrushand

thepalette,untilsuchtime

asphotographycanbetaken

toheavenorhell.”

EdvardMunch,quotedin

TheTimes

“You canbeasuccessful

poisoner,or youcanbea

famous poisoner,butyou

can’tbeboth.”

FrankDobson, quotedin

The Guardian

“Celebrityisamaskthat

eats intothe face.”

JohnUpdike,quotedin

The Times

“Strongthumbs,nofingers.”

Political scientist CharlesE.

Lindblom’sdescription of

authoritarian systems,

quoted intheSouth China

MorningPost

I’vetakenmoreoutof

alcoholthanalcohol has

takenoutofme.”

WinstonChurchill, quoted

in theFinancialTimes

“Ifyoudon’t have anything

niceto say aboutanyone,

comesitbyme.”

AliceRoosevelt Longworth,

quotedin TheSunday

Telegraph

“Bewareof allenterprises

thatrequirenew clothes.”

HenryDavidThoreau,

quotedonHyperallergic

“You may glory inateam

triumphant, but you fall in

love withateamindefeat.”

RogerKahn, quoted in

TheWashington Post

“Conspiracytheoriesare

howidiotsget to feel

like intellectuals.”

David Baddiel, quoted in

The DailyTelegraph

Labour’sprotractedleadership
contesthasenteredits“final
phase”,saidTheDaily
Telegraph.Ballotpaperswere
thisweeksentto 5 80,00 0 party
members,invitingthemtovote
foroneofthethreecandidates
vyingtosucceedJeremy
Corbyn.Thefrontrunner,
SirKeirStarmer,oroneof
histworemainingchallengers,
RebeccaLong-BaileyandLisa
Nandy,willfinallybegarlanded
on 4 April–nearlyfourmonths
afterLabourendureditsworst
electiondrubbingsince 1935.
Yetdespitetalkofthe“needfor
change”,allthreecandidates
haveofferedstrikinglysimilar
visions,andremainreluctanttoditchanyof
the“Corbynitebaggage”thatsankthemin
December.Theyhaveallagreedtoinclude
eachotherintheirshadowcabinets–and
blametheparty’selectoralrejectionmerely
on its “confused messageover Brexit”.

Outsiders puzzled bythecandidates’oddly
similarpitchesshould rememberwhata
“peculiarelectorate” willdecidethe contest, said
PollyToynbeeinThe Guardian.Belongingtoa
politicalpartyisa“nichehobby”,and Labour
members’“eccentricities”wererevealed bya
recentYouGovpoll.Asked theirviewsabout
recent partyleaders, 71%expressedadmiration
forCorbyn (atwo-timeelection loser)with
TonyBlair(athree-timewinner) trailingon

37%.WhenLong-Baileygave

Corbyntenoutoftenfor

leadershiplastmonth,she

“knewhervoters”.

Theproblemisthatwhile

Labourisstillplayingthesame

oldtunes,theTorieshave

evolved,saidOwenJonesinthe

samepaper.A“traumatised

Lefthasnotyetcomputed”

this.BorisJohnsonand

DominicCummingshave

proved“ablestudentsofthe

newRight”,blendinga“culture

waronprogressivesocialvalues

withanunashamedraidingof

boththerhetoricandsubstance

ofleft-wingeconomicideas”:a

potentmixtureofanti-migrant“demagoguery”

andincreasedNHSspending.Itisbafflingthat

Labourhasalloweditselftodisappeardowna

“rabbithole”atthiscrucialmoment,saidThe

Times.Asthe party’sleadership hopefulslose

themselvesin“ideological war”overtrans

rights,anew ToryGovernment isgrappling

withsomeof the biggestchallengesofthe past

70 years –includingBrexit, carbon“net-zero”,

digitisation andother profoundshiftsin the

global politicallandscape. Withdecisionsbeing

takennow thatwillaffect usfordecades,there

hasseldombeenagreaterneedforgovernment

tobe heldto account.UnlessLabour canchange

direction oncethis“dismal”contestisover,it

seemsthat the“necessaryoppositionwillhave

tocomefromsomewhere else”.

Labour: singing the same old tunes

Thiswinter’s floodshave
broughtmisery tothousands
ofhouseholdersfrom
Renfrewshire toCornwall.
Thisweek, waterlevelson the
RiverSevernwerereaching
nearrecord levels–and with
more rainforecast,“dangerto
life”warningswereissuedin
ShrewsburyandIronbridge.
Butshocking astheconditions
havebeen, we can’t saywe
weren’twarned,saidSimon
Wren-Lewis in The Guardian.
Following flooding in 2007,Sir Michael Pitt
publishedareportpredicted that owing to
climate change, such events would become more
frequent andmoresevere.The Labour
government respondedby increasingspending
on defencesby10% fortwo years running. “But
then austerityhappened”, andthe moneydried
up. Since2011,spendinghas gone up“a pitiful”
1.2%ayearonaverage.Howshortsighted that
was:money can’t stop rainfalling, butflood
defenceprojects,by keepingmorehousesdry,
“pay for themselves many timesover”.

Alas, there’sno“silver bullet” to prevent
flooding, said Robert Wilby andSimonDadson
on The Conversation.Many arepromoting

theideaof“natural”flood

defences such assoil

conservation and wetland

creation,and thesecanhelp.

But “throwamonth’sworthof

rainon asaturated catchment

inoneweekendand no

nature-based solution isgoing

to hold back the water”.They

canonlybeone part ofawider

setof defences.

Realismwill beneeded as

we adapt to“a morehostile

climate”, saidDavidShukmanonBBCNews.In

aspeech thisweek, the head of the Environment

Agency, Sir JamesBevan, acknowledged thatit

was unrealistic tobandevelopmentonflood

plainsgiven thatthey coversomuchofthe

country(he predictedthe number of properties

on flood plains, wouldalmostdouble inthenext

50 years).Butweshouldavoiddoingso when

possible,hesaid, andensure that newhomes are

designed to copewithflooding. Healsostepped

ontosensitive ground by notingwhathecalled

the“hardtruth” that some places may simply

be too hard to protect.Peopleinthose areas,he

said, mayjust have torelocate.“That’s quitea

bombshell–and something most politicians

wouldprefer to runamile from.”

Statisticsofthe week

Of th e149 women killed in

the UK in 2018, 91 were killed

by acurrent or former

partner, and 12 by sons or

stepsons. Only nine were

killed byastra nger.

TheGuardian

Takeaway delivery companies

distribute an estimated one

billion plastic trays, lids and

bags in Britain every year.

The Sunday Times

Wit&

Wisdom

Devastation in Bewdley

Starmer:downtherabbithole?