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DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Climate is the wrong priority for David Lammy By Daily Mail Comment Published: 20:03 EDT, 17 September 2024 | Updated: 20:04 EDT, 17 September 2024 e-mail View comments A respected diplomat once remarked that world affairs was a 'fundamental struggle, but a struggle that has to be waged intelligently'. To judge by his first major speech as Foreign Secretary , David Lammy has already fallen at that first hurdle. The planet has never been more volatile and dangerous, and the threats to Britain's security and interests rarely as serious.
Yet instead of focusing on the perils we face, Mr Lammy prefers to pontificate about global warming. In an eccentric address at Kew Gardens, he declared that climate change was a more pervasive risk than terrorism or autocrats. To judge by his first major speech as Foreign Secretary, David Lammy (pictured) has already fallen at that first hurdle Tensions intensified yesterday after at least 11 were killed and thousands injured when handheld pagers used by Hezbollah exploded in Lebanon.
(A person is carried on a stretcher outside American University of Beirut Medical Center) Tackling and alleviating it, he said, would be 'central to all the Foreign Office does'. We know the well-trodden arguments of the green lobby that environmental devastation wreaked by rising temperatures can trigger conflict and humanitarian crisis. Read More DAILY MAIL COMMENT: The rank hypocrisy of Sir Freeloader Worrying as that may be, does Mr Lammy seriously think climate change deserves more of his attention as Foreign Secretary than the threats immediately to hand? Fighting in Ukraine is escalating by the day.
Across the planet tyranny is on the rise. Terrorists are determined to once again bring murder and mayhem to Britain. And in the Middle East the drumbeat to all-out war grows louder.
Tensions intensified yesterday after at least 11 were killed and thousands injured when handheld pagers used by Hezbollah exploded in Lebanon. The Iran-backed armed group has blamed Israel for the attack – and the world now waits with deep foreboding to see how the mullahs in Tehran respond. The truth is, by prioritising climate change policy, Mr Lammy has shown that eco-zealots have captured his party.
This not only embarrasses Britain on the world stage, it unquestionably gives succour to Hamas, Vladimir Putin and our other enemies. The role of the Foreign Secretary involves hard-headed diplomacy in our country's interests, not naive virtue-signalling. If Mr Lammy lacks the political intelligence to grasp that, is he really fit for the job? Business knows best Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds (pictured) said working from home is good for the economy Labour claimed its mission was to get Britain growing.
By insisting that working from home is good for the economy, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds offers more evidence this was just hot air. It hasn't worked in Whitehall, where the Civil Service has been allowed to go missing in action and productivity has plummeted. Teamwork is inevitably diminished.
Face-to-face contact is also vital for younger workers to learn new skills. Mr Reynolds plans to enshrine in law the right to work from home, saying staff that do can be more 'motivated'. But businesses know what's best for them and their workers – not some man from the ministry.
A shocking injustice The disgraced BBC presenter (pictured) escaped prison despite paying the paedophile pal who sent him the stomach-churning images Many will feel outraged by the leniency of the courts towards Huw Edwards after he admitted possessing child pornography. The disgraced BBC presenter escaped prison despite paying the paedophile pal who sent him the stomach-churning images. Some who wrote unpleasant things online during the recent riots received exemplary jail terms.
If that carries a greater sanction than complicity in the abuse of children, the sentencing guidelines are badly wrong. Meanwhile, the BBC seems to be giving up hope of recouping the £200,000 it paid Edwards after his arrest. Private sector workers routinely have pay and bonuses stripped for wrongdoing.
Is the BBC so relaxed because it's only taxpayers' money? Vladimir Putin BBC Hamas Ukraine Israel Share or comment on this article: DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Climate is the wrong priority for David Lammy e-mail Add comment More top stories.
