A Green New Deal

We were on the coach trip, organised by local climate change activists, to the demonstration in London yesterday. It was one of many around the world demanding real action from governments to combat man-made global warming.

It's easy enough to find things to be against - airport expansion, new coal fired power stations, and the rush for biofuels for instance. But there was a much more constructive theme, too... a call for a Green New Deal that can boost our failing economy, create jobs, improve our fuel security, cut our dependency on ever-smaller oil reserves, and keep money circulating in the economy. And - above all - to cut our carbon emissions.

It's a simple notion, it ticks all the right boxes - but the government doesn't seem to get it.

Steps like a temporary cut in VAT in a desperate effort to get us to spend more on (largely imported) goods, doesn't begin to address the real, deep seated problems - in fact it makes them worse.

Anyway, the trip was also an opportunity for a family get-together, with the London grandchildren taking part in their first demonstration (the 11 year old said a bit of violence would have livened it up!). And we spent nothing in the shops... which must put us a long way down in Mr Darling's Good Citizenship ratings.