Time for Climate Action?
| Date | 01 September 2021 |
| Author | Peter Geoghegan |
| DOI | 10.1177/20419058211045150 |
| Published date | 01 September 2021 |
SEPTEMBER 2021 • POLITICAL INSIGHT 3
Time for
Climate
Action?
Social scientists talk of ‘the tipping
point’. That’s the moment in time
when people rapidly and radically
change their behaviour in response
to a particular situation.
The question right now is whether we have
reached a tipping point on climate change.
This summer has seen a myriad of dramatic –
and deadly – examples of extreme weather.
In early August, a record temperature was
apparently registered in Sicily. The mercury
in southern Italy hit 48.8 degrees Celsius. At
the time of writing, more than 150 people are
still missing after an unprecedented series of
oods in Germany and Belgium. More than
180 people have been conrmed dead.
Such drastic weather events have been
repeated around the world. Wild res of
historic intensity have raged in California.
Twelve people were killed when a train
was trapped in oods in the Chinese city of
Zhengzhou.
The unavoidable spectre of climate
change provides the backdrop for
November’s United Nations Climate
Change Conference in Glasgow. British
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has already
hailed COP26 as a historic opportunity for
action on climate change – but what is the
likelihood of meaningful change?
In this issue’s cover feature, Paul Tobin and
Joshua Barritt examine how the politics of
climate change has shifted since the last COP
– in Paris six years ago – but nd that much
greater ambition and nancial support are
needed to keep global temperature increases
below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The impact of climate change policies on
the electorate is already starting to emerge as
a major issue in British politics. While Britain’s
President-Designate of COP26, Conservative
MP Alok Sharma, has called for an end to
coal, his government has been embroiled
for months in a long-running row over a
proposed new coalmine in Cumbria, which
would be the rst in Britain for 30 years.
The Cumbria mine was initially given the
green light by Planning Secretary Robert
Jenrick. Local Tory MPs have supported the
move, saying it would bring much needed
employment to an area of high joblessness.
It is not hard to see climate change
mitigation – and the push for ‘net zero’ –
emerging as a front in Britain’s new political
geography. A key aspect of that has been
the emergence of the so-called ‘Red Wall’,
those once-solidly Labour seats in the north
of England and the Midlands that turned
Conservative in 2019.
In this issue, James Kanagasooriam, who
coined the phrase ‘Red Wall’, and Elizabeth
Simon, trace the emergence of the Red Wall
as a concept, and argue that while it has been
widely misunderstood and misused, the Red
Wall has signicant implications for predicting
future British elections.
One election that did not need a crystal
ball to predict was May’s Scottish election.
But while the Scottish National Party was
returned for a record fourth consecutive
term in oce, the lack of headline drama
masks major subcutaneous shifts, say Fraser
McMillan and Ailsa Henderson.
The state of British politics has been much
debated after a summer of political scandals,
from David Cameron’s lobbying for Australian
nancier Lex Greensill to Health Secretary
Matt Hancock’s aair with an aide. Just how
rotten is Westminster?
Richard Rose runs the rule over the health
of our democracy and nds a patient with a
decidedly mixed prognosis.
One issue that did grab the political
headlines was the UK government’s decision
to cut foreign aid spending from 0.7 to 0.5
per cent of Gross National Income. In the
Last Word, Alison Phipps argues that the cuts
are having a devastating eect on academic
research, while in the regular In Focus slot,
Benjamin D. Hennig puts Britain’s foreign aid
cuts into an international perspective.
Elsewhere, Andrew Glencross explores how
the row between the UK and the European
Union over COVID vaccines earlier this year
exposed post-Brexit tensions, and Bill Jones
examines the ‘infodemic’ of conspiracy
theories that have been unleashed by
the pandemic. Ilham Shahbari reects
on his political life and times of Benjamin
Netanyahu.
James Sloam and Ben O’Loughlin report on
a research project exploring young people’s
lives in London, while Craig Berry shines a
light on a subject many political scientists
shy away from: pensions provision. Emiliano
Grossman proles next year’s French election,
where Emmanuel Macron has suered his fair
share of setbacks but remains on course to
retain the keys to the Élysée Palace.
Whatever happens in Glasgow in
November, climate change is set to dominate
political life for many years to come.
Political
Insight
will be here to bring an expert lens to
bear on developments on this and a host of
other topics.
Peter Geoghegan
Editor
Political Insight September 2021.indd 3Political Insight September 2021.indd 3 16/08/2021 15:2316/08/2021 15:23
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