Wikipedia tells me that Lord Stern is the nephew of the late great Swann of Flanders and Swann. Flanders and Swann were known for their comic songs in an earlier time. Their song of ‘Patriotic Prejudice’ probably violates several thought crime statutes in our more enlightened era.
Some of their comic genius must have rubbed off on Lord Stern. In 2006 he was responsible for the Stern Review which looks at the economic impact of Global Warming (it wasn’t called climate change in those days). To call it controversial is putting it mildly, and oddly enough it concluded that the government policy of the time was exactly right. His suggested solution to the climate crisis is the usual deadly combination of carbon trading and green taxes.
Yesterday, Tory High command announced that Lord Stern would be advising them on the creation of a green bank to help rebuild the economy.
About ten minutes later Lord Stern said he wouldn’t.
It’s actually hard to put your finger on what aspect of this story is more inept. The fact that the clique currently in charge of the Conservatives thought that the advice of Lord Stern would actually help the economy recover, or the misunderstanding on whether he was involved or not at all.
In the last few days I’ve developed a new theory about what’s going on. I think the Conservatives have decided that the situation is so dire that winning the election is a poisoned chalice. Whichever party gets into power next time will necessarily become so unpopular that their party will never be in power again. Perhaps they want Labour to sort out their own mess.
That must be it.
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