Politics and Human Rights.

In an interview with ITV's deputy political editor,  Anushka Asthana, published in The Guardian on Saturday 13th January 2024, in answer to her question about redistribution of income and wealth from the rich to the poor, Sir Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Labour Party, had this to say: 'No, that isn't how I want to grow the economy. I don't think redistribution is the sort of one-word answer for millions of people across the country... I'm afraid if it's just redistribution, I think that fundamentally disrespects people.' Redistribution has, of course, nothing to do with growing the economy, and no-one is arguing for absolute equality, merely - but vitally - for greatly reduced inequality , so the 'dignity and respect due to skilled work' he referred to is an irrelevance, particularly as many of the super-rich derive their wealth and income, not from work, skilled or otherwise, but from interest and rents. Starmer is - once again - displaying his

Today is Tuesday 9th January 2024. According to the Global Monitoring Laboratory of the US NOAA, Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii, the monthly average atmospheric CO2 level in December 2023 was 421.86 ppm, compared to 418.99 ppm in December 2022. This is an increase of 2.87 ppm, or ~0.685% p.a. The latest methane (CH4) figures, also from the NOAA , are for the month of September 2023, and show an average of 1,927.35 ppb (= 1.92735 ppm), compared to 1,915.44 ppb (= 1.91544 ppm) for September 2022, an increase of 11.91 ppb, or ~0.622% p.a. The World Meteorological Organisation ( WMO ) informs us that CO2 was 149% higher in 2021 than in pre-industrial times; that, from 2011 to 2020, 48% of emissions from human activities accumulated in the atmosphere, 26% in the oceans and seas, and 29% on land. From 1990 to 2021, heating impacts of long-lived greenhouse gases (LLGHGs) increased by 49%, with 80% of these impacts due to CO2. The Keeling Curve informs us that the latest atmospheric CO2 readi