the times | Tuesday April 5 2022 33
Leading articles
later specified rights that all governments, what-
ever their ideologies, were expected to adhere to.
By its conduct, the Putin regime has torn up that
diplomatic settlement. The UN is not a world gov-
ernment and exercises no sovereignty. As one of
the five permanent members of the security
council, Russia has a veto on any attempt to pun-
ish it for its aggression. The western democracies
must hence pursue other means, circumventing
the security council, to support Ukraine.
Yesterday the Biden administration called for a
war crimes trial and said it would ask the UN gen-
eral assembly to suspend Russia from the human
rights council. Beyond the UN, action in the courts
should follow. The International Court of Justice,
established in 1945 as part of the UN system, has
declared Russia’s invasion of Ukraine unjustified,
but it lacks enforcement powers.
In the 1990s the UN created its own ad hoc
tribunals regarding the conflicts in Yugoslavia and
Rwanda. These were cumbersome vehicles but
they achieved a measure of justice. The Bosnian
Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and military
commander Ratko Mladic are both now serving
life sentences for genocide and war crimes,
including the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and
boys at Srebrenica in 1995.There is no prospect of a UN indictment of Mr
Putin and his military command. Russia will not
acquiesce. But the founding of the International
Criminal Court (ICC), a permanent tribunal, in
2002, offers a means to indict individuals for war
crimes, genocide, aggression and crimes against
humanity. Its writ is far from universal. Russia, like
America, is not among its 123 members and dis-
putes the court’s jurisdiction. But the ICC has
already, with the agreement of Ukraine, initiated
investigations into Russia’s annexation of Crimea
in 2014 and again in its current aggression. It
should get on with the investigation and issue an
arrest warrant against Mr Putin.
The judicial process will not stay Mr Putin’s
hand, nor will it deliver him to justice. The purpose
is to identify him and his rogue regime as criminal.
Symbolism matters. When the Soviet leadership
signed the Helsinki accords with 34 other states in
1975, specifying a range of human rights, it had no
expectation that this would thereby enable dissi-
dents to hold it to account and strip it of ideological
legitimacy. Declaring Mr Putin a pariah and a
criminal would similarly demonstrate to the
people of Ukraine that they are not alone and will
not be abandoned. Their struggle is universal, for
the rule of law and civilisation itself.secretary-general, summarised the conclusions of
the previous IPCC report, published in February,
which spelt out what such a scenario would mean
for the world: “Major cities under water, unprece-
dented heatwaves, terrifying storms, widespread
water shortages and the extinction of a million
species of plants and animals.”
The good news is that the 1.5C target is not yet
entirely out of reach, even if the window is fast
closing. But it will require global greenhouse emis-
sions, which were higher between 2010 and 2019
than in any previous decade, to peak by 2025 at the
latest. That in turn will require substantial reduc-
tions in fossil fuel use, widespread electrification,
improved energy efficiency and the development
of alternative fuels such as hydrogen. Crucial will
be emerging new technologies to capture and
store carbon emissions from power stations. The
report reckons that the burning of coal, oil and gas
without carbon capture will need to be reduced by
100 per cent, 60 per cent and 70 per cent respec-
tively by 2050 to hit the 1.5 degree target.
Nor is it fanciful to believe such emissions re-
ductions are achievable. As the IPCC report notes,the world has already learnt that with the right in-
centives and regulations, significant strides in
technology are possible. Between 2010 and 2019,
for example, the unit costs of solar energy fell by
85 per cent, wind energy by 55 per cent and
lithium-ion batteries by 85 per cent. Over the
same timescale, solar installations rose more than
tenfold and electric vehicle sales more than a hun-
dredfold, with even faster growth in some regions.
Nonetheless, one of the biggest obstacles re-
mains financial. The IPCC notes that financial
flows are three to six times lower than the levels
needed to limit warming. There is no shortage of
global capital or liquidity. The problem lies in put-
ting in place the right policy frameworks. This
problem is particularly acute in developing coun-
tries, which may be most at risk from climate
change and which need access to cheap, clean
energy if they are to compete in the global eco-
nomy. It is not enough for developed countries
such as Britain to cut their own emissions. If the
1.5 degree target is to be met, governments, inter-
national development banks and commercial len-
ders must work together to drive global action.news websites and to make the tech companies
pay a fair price for new content. First, though, it
needs to be put on a statutory footing. Yet word is
there will be no space for the legislation in the up-
coming Queen’s Speech and it would therefore be
unlikely to pass into law at least until 2024.
The government needs to think again. However
crowded the legislative calendar, the Digital Com-
petition Bill cannot simply be kicked into the long
grass. This is about rebalancing the relationship
between online platforms and publishers in a fair
way that preserves reliable journalism in the
future. Across the industry publishers are havingto cut costs and reduce staff. They have invested
heavily in digital news but find it difficult to mone-
tise their efforts. By the time DMU cranks into
action some publishers may have already sunk.
Since the Cairncross Review of 2018, Britain has
blazed a trail. But Britain risks lagging behind
other jurisdictions if the legislation is allowed to
languish. In Australia, Google and Facebook
already pay much more for news than in other
countries. Canada has plans for similar payment-
for-content legislation. The European Union is
moving rapidly on its own regulation. This is not
a moment for the government to drag its heels.Criminal Regime
Indicting Vladimir Putin at an international tribunal would not halt his aggression
but would symbolise support for Ukraine’s resistance and the rule of law
The Putin regime’s assault on Ukraine, conducted
under the bogus pretext of “denazification”, in-
creasingly resembles the barbarous methods of
wartime Germany. Unspeakable crimes against
civilian populations include the bombardment of
Mariupol, and mass executions and rapes in the
town of Bucha, 20 miles northwest of Kyiv. Ac-
cording to Ukrainian officials, some victims were
shot with their hands tied behind their back.
These atrocities are not ancillary to Russian ag-
gression but central to the Kremlin’s aim of
spreading terror. An article published at the week-
end by the state-propaganda agency RIA Novosti
urged the destruction of Ukrainians who take up
arms and denied the very notion of a Ukrainian
national identity. It is no hyperbole for President
Zelensky to warn that his compatriots face a cam-
paign of genocide. The western democracies have
limited means to support Kyiv but these should in-
clude pressing for the indictment of President Pu-
tin and his commanders for war crimes.
Invoking law against a despot whose methods
show contempt for international norms may
appear futile. It is, rather, a vital assertion of the
principles underlying the postwar global order.
The United Nations charter of 1945 and the Uni-
versal Declaration of Human Rights three yearsReceding Target
Emissions must be cut dramatically if global warming is to be limited to 1.5C
It is less than six months since most of the world’s
governments gathered in Glasgow for Cop26 to
try to limit global warming to 1.5C above
pre-industrial levels with the goal of preventing ir-
reversible climate change. A deal of sorts was
hammered out which, on paper at least, kept the
1.5 degree goal on track. Yet already it’s as if Cop26
belonged to a different age. The fight against cli-
mate change has been overshadowed by war, soar-
ing energy prices and a global cost of living crisis.
Now a report by the United Nations Intergovern-
mental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns
that despite the pledges made in Glasgow, the
1.5 degree target is fast receding. To reach it, emis-
sions need to be cut by 43 per cent by 2030; instead
they are on track to rise by 14 per cent.
The IPCC report should be taken seriously
because it represents a consensus among the 193
members of the UN based on an analysis of 18,000
scientific papers submitted from around the world
and analysed by 278 scientists. It warns that with-
out mitigating actions, average global tempera-
tures are on track to rise by 3.2C by the end of the
century. António Guterres, the UNNews Value
The government should regulate the tech giants without delay
Britain has long held out the prospect of a new era
of tech growth. It cannot hope to achieve that,
however, if power is held by a small band of
muscle-bound tech companies who overwhelm-
ingly dominate digital advertising. Google and Fa-
cebook account for about 80 per cent of the British
market between them and it is squeezing the life-
blood out of local publishers.
A Digital Markets Unit (DMU) has been set up
to regulate the tech giants. It is a perfectly sensible
watchdog and will be given the authority to block
or reverse anti-competitive behaviour, to counter
algorithms that discriminate against popularUK: Health and Social Care Committee
publishes report on cancer services.
World: UN Security Council meets to
receive a briefing on Ukraine.
The wood hasn’t
been coppiced in
some years, and
instead of groups of
slim, straight poles,
the hazel stools
have grown thick
and unwieldy. Between them, soft green
blades of wild garlic pierce the leaf litter; in a
few weeks their white, star-like blooms will
open. But the pale flower spike pushing up
between the dead leaves is something quite
different: a parasitic plant known as
toothwort for its resemblance to a row of
molars, which draws its nutrients from the
roots of certain trees and shrubs — in this
case, hazel. It is insect-pollinated, but can
also self-pollinate; ants are attracted to its
fatty seeds and carry them underground.
melissa harrison
In 1532 Richard Roose, a cook, was boiled to
death for poisoning a meal to be served to
the bishop of Rochester’s household in early
- Poison as a means of murder led to the
1531 Acte for Poysoning. The bishop chose
not to eat that day, but two people died.
Lily James, pictured,
actress, Downton Abbey
(2012-15), (2022), 33;
Marc Allera, chief
executive, BT Group’s
consumer brands, 50;
Andrea Arnold, film-
maker, Wasp (2003), 61;
Jane Asher, actress, Alfie (1966), author and
baking expert, 76; Prof John Carey, English
literature scholar, author, A Little History of
Poetry (2020), 88; Allan Clarke, singer-
songwriter, the Hollies, He Ain’t Heavy, He’s
My Brother (1969), 80; Roger Corman, film
director, the Edgar Allan Poe film series
(1959-64), 96; Mary Costa, opera singer and
actress, voice of Princess Aurora in Sleeping
Beauty (1959), 92; Russell Davies, writer and
broadcaster, chairman, Brain of Britain (BBC
Radio 4), 76; Alex Davies-Jones, Labour MP
for Pontypridd, shadow digital, culture,
media and sport minister, 33; Julius Drake,
pianist, 63; Vicky Featherstone, artistic
director, Royal Court Theatre, 55; Elena
Ferrante, novelist, the Neapolitan Novels
(2011-14), 79; Peter Greenaway, film director,
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
(1989), 80; Krishnan Guru-Murthy,
presenter, Channel 4 News, 52; Victoria
Hamilton, actress, The Crown (2016-17), 51;
Anthony Horowitz, author, the Alex Rider
series, 67; Marcus Jones, Conservative MP
for Nuneaton, government whip
(comptroller, HM Household), vice-
chairman, the party (2018-20), 48; Dame
Suzi Leather, chairwoman, Office of the
Independent Adjudicator (for higher
education), Charity Commission (2006-12),
66; Most Rev Bernard Longley, RC
Archbishop of Birmingham, 67; Caitlin
Moran, journalist, author and broadcaster,
47; Jennifer Penney, ballerina, former
principal of the Royal Ballet, 76; Sir
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, biologist,
president, Royal Society (2015-20), Nobel
prize in chemistry (2009), 70; Byron Rogers,
journalist and biographer, The Man Who
Went into the West (2006), 80.
“It is not necessary for the public to know
whether I am joking or whether I am serious,
just as it is not necessary for me to know it
myself.” Salvador Dalí, Diary of a Genius (1964)
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