In which prattling Polonius leads the way, and denialist Jennie and the Bjørn-again one arrive to save the day (but mebbe not the planet)...

 

The pond would like to have begun this day by reporting on the reptile review of the Melania movie, but alas, the pond couldn't find hide nor hair of it in the lizard Oz.

Sadly this means some will likely end up at the one star review by Xan Brooks for The Graudian ...Trump film is a gilded trash remake of The Zone of Interest or at the Beast, Trust Me, ‘Melania’ Is an Unbelievable Abomination of Filmmaking or perhaps Marina giving the red carpet and Bezos a Hyding ...From ICE to Melania’s black carpet, are Trump’s techlords getting pangs of buyer’s remorse? Not to forget Sophie Gilbert in The Atlantic. (And why did it take over a month and a half for the venerable Meade's Weekly Beast to return? Them's ABC holyday hours).

On the upside, prattling Polonius turned his gimlet eye on King Donald this weekend and he turned out to be charmingly irrelevant, out of touch and useless, even allowing for having to file before the latest follies, like the arrest of Don Lemon and yet another Epstein files dump designed to conceal whatever really went down...but with immense amounts of titillation that's sent everyone into a frenzy.

Never mind, it's meditative Sunday, so no reason to get knickers in a knot...

The header: FDR Democrat presidency shows how Republican Trump administration is part of one tradition – America First; It’s important for Australians to recall that Donald Trump is part of a deep tradition in the US whereby a commitment to isolation is superseded on occasions by international commitments. (The pond added an intermittent archive link for those who wanted to try Polonius's links).

The caption featuring King Donald and a movie which can only be mentioned in passing: Donald Trump – this week at the premiere of movie Melania – projects strength and unpredictability but the reality of US failures in South Vietnam and Afghanistan makes it clear US allies shouldn’t rely too much on alliances with Washington DC. Picture: Allison Robbert/AP

This week Polonius indulged in a four minute ramble which showed he wasn't up to the task at hand, namely dealing with a flailing, failing authoritarian government led by a man clearly in physical and mental decline ...

How did Polonius cope?

By heading back to the safety and the comfort of the past ..

There are about three years left of President Donald J. Trump’s time in the White House. But it is unlikely that he will repeat such an egregious error as the comment he made to Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo at Davos in Switzerland late last week.
Asked about the NATO alliance, Trump said the United States has “never needed” NATO. He added “they’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan, or this or that, and they did – they stayed a little back, a little off the frontlines”.
This was profoundly wrong. Such NATO nations as Britain and Denmark suffered considerable fatalities and casualties on the frontline. As did Australia, a NATO partner, which suffered 47 deaths and over 260 wounded. The Australian Defence Force’s involvement is well depicted in Aaron Patrick’s recently released book, The Last Battle (Macmillan Australia, 2025).
In time, Britain and Denmark made strong objections to the President’s comments. And Trump made what is probably best depicted as a non-apology apology. He described the 457 British servicemen and women who died in the Afghanistan campaign “as among the greatest of all warriors” – and left it at that. Well, it was better than nothing.
Trump is invariably abrasive and self-centred. But, as an America First nationalist, he is not unusual.
It’s important for Australians to recall that Trump is part of a deep tradition in the US whereby a commitment to isolation is superseded on occasions by international commitments.
I was reminded of this on January 24 when listening to ABC Radio National’s Saturday Extra presented by Nick Bryant. It being the summer break, an interview was replayed that took place with Lowy Institute director Michael Fullilove, who comments widely on Australian-American relations.

He's still hate listening to the ABC? The reptiles didn't help by forking over a couple of stills to help Polonius wander back down mammary road, Franklin D. Roosevelt; Michael Fullilove

 

It's not as if Polonius didn't have recent events he could have scribbled about ...

But Polonius, always an expert at avoidance, was determined to escape into ancient times ...

On February 15 last year, Fullilove compared Trump unfavourably with the Democratic Party’s president Franklin D. Roosevelt. He stated: “Franklin Roosevelt took America out of that period in the 1930s of isolationism and nativism and, of course, one of the groups that he fought against was called America First.”
Fullilove said that FDR had a broad interest in the forces of democracy succeeding and was interested in what happened in Europe and Asia. He added that “many of those impulses … President Trump clearly does not share”.
This overlooked the fact that, speaking in Boston in October 1940, FDR declared that “American boys are not going to be sent to any foreign wars”. At that time the foreign war was between Britain and its dominions (eg, Canada and Australia) and the Nazi-Fascist Axis. At the time, the US was neutral, Germany and the Soviet Union were allies due to the Nazi Soviet Pact (of 1939-41), and France had been defeated.
The US entered the Pacific War against Japan after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. As it turned out, Germany and Italy declared war on the US on December 11, 1941 and the US responded the same day.
By the time the US entered the European/African theatre, the war could have been lost were it not for the courage of the Allies led by British prime minister Winston Churchill and with important contributions made by Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders and some others.
It was much the same with World War I when Democrat Woodrow Wilson was in the White House. The US declared war on Imperial Germany in April 1917 and US forces did not see battle until the end of October.
Germany surrendered on November 11, 1918. The war could have been lost in 1914, 1915 or 1916.

Could have?

What lust for weird alternative history is this?

It's the sort of stuff you might turn into a movie like It Happened Here, but what's it got to do with the giddy fascists currently in charge of the disunited States?

The reptiles kept insisting that Polonius stay stuck in the past, like the ancient desiccated coconut fuddy-duddy he is, From left, British prime minister Winston Churchill, American president Franklin D. Roosevelt and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin seated together during the Yalta Conference, 1945.

The pond felt the urge to liven up proceedings with a toon ...

That's better, a little rage, as Polonius kept wandering back in time ...

During World War II, US forces played an important role in defeating Germany’s forces on the western front, with Soviet forces succeeding on the eastern front. But, as with WWI, Germany could have prevailed while FDR led an officially neutral nation.
Certainly, the US preserved the peace in Western Europe after 1945. But not before FDR essentially caved in to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in the negotiation leading to Germany’s surrender.
As Adam B. Ulam wrote in his 1968 book, Expansion and Coexistence: “World War II had begun as an attempt by the West to prevent Germany’s goals of domination of Eastern Europe and the consequent destruction of European balance of power; within two years of the war’s end, those aims had been achieved by the USSR (Soviet Union).”
US forces protected Western Europe during the Cold War until the collapse of the Soviet Union. But FDR’s diplomatic weakness prevailed over Churchill’s warnings about Stalin’s iron curtain up to then.
Trump projects strength – along with an unpredictability – not exhibited by the Democratic Obama and Biden administrations. But the reality of US failures in South Vietnam and Afghanistan sends a clear message that it is foolish for US allies to rely too much on alliances with Washington DC. Even though the US has supported the likes of South Korea since 1951 and Taiwan – up to now, at least.

The reptiles interrupted again, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney distanced himself from Trump without mentioning his name. Picture: Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press/AP

Elbows up, Canada, things could be worse ...

And so to a bone to pick with the reptiles.

This was Polonius's next par, with link ...

Prime Minister Mark Carney, of the left-of-centre Canadian Liberal Party, won plaudits from Trump Derangement Syndrome types for his speech at the World Economic Forum – where he distanced himself from the US President without mentioning his name. Carney warned about the great powers, but soon after signed off on a new strategic partnership with China.

It reminded the pond of why the pond so loathes the "keep them inside the hive mind" tactics the reptiles deploy with their links.

If you followed that link, you landed on a Dow Jones story. 

Dow Jones?! The home for TDS types?

The best the pond could find in reference to DTS types was this ...

...Traders have largely shrugged off Trump’s threats about a 100 per cent tariff on Canadian imports over trade dealings with China, said David Rosenberg, head of Toronto-based market strategy firm Rosenberg Research. 
Nevertheless, Trump’s tone matters, Rosenberg said, noting that Trump referred to Carney on Truth Social as “governor” as opposed to prime minister. Rosenberg said this doesn’t bode well as the US launches a formal review later this year of the US-Mexico-Canada trade treaty, or USMCA, at which time trade analysts expect the Trump administration to push for further concessions from Canada.
“The fresh round of name calling signals a clear deterioration in goodwill and an early preview of how the USMCA renewal talks may unfold,” Rosenberg said. “The message is that Ottawa should not expect a conciliatory process.”
Dow Jones

It was just a bait and switch tactic, anything to keep mug punters inside the hive.

Meanwhile, Polonius was wrapping things up, pretending that it was just business as usual ...

Half a century ago in Australia, anti-communist Catholic BA Santamaria and anti-communist Jew Frank Knopfelmacher were strong supporters of the Australian-US alliance.
But they also maintained that Australia could not rely on the US and advocated a substantial increase in defence spending.
At the moment there are mutual benefits in the Australia-US alliance. But a US president might not see it this way in the future.
The Republican Trump administration has not changed the US in any permanent way with respect to foreign policy. Rather, it is part of one tradition – America First. This prevails and then wanes over time – even within presidencies. FDR demonstrates the point.
It’s important that the US’s allies stand up within their respective alliances. In this sense, the leaders of Britain and Denmark, among others, were correct in reminding Trump what their military had done in Afghanistan. It might diminish his America First commitment, for a while at least.
Gerard Henderson is executive director of The Sydney Institute.

How gormless, how insipid, how dull, but the pond must accept the blame attached to the delusion that Polonius might attempt to deal with the here and now ...

Say that again?

The Republican Trump administration has not changed the US in any permanent way with respect to foreign policy. Rather, it is part of one tradition – America First. This prevails and then wanes over time – even within presidencies. FDR demonstrates the point.

Tell him Marge ...

Now there's a difference. Foreign policy conducted on the basis of having your c*ck bitten? (Allegedly, *google bot aware).

Maybe JFK? Slick Willy? Pity Polonius filed too late to answer that one.

And now for a few visual distractions ...

Well it's Sunday, why not a 'toon or three, and as for the rest of the reptile pack, talk about a complete waste of time.

Dame Slap still had Linda buzzing around in her noggin ...

She got her AO. Now Kristina Keneally owes two women an apology
Kristina Keneally has been awarded an AO but refuses to apologise to Linda Reynolds and Fiona Brown, whose careers and health were destroyed by false allegations she helped weaponise.
By Janet Albrechtsen
Columnist

Will this deeply weird obsession never end?

It means Dame Slap is beyond the valley of the incredibly tiresome and completely unreadable.

And the pond found it incredibly easy to send Dimitri off to the cornfield archive as he tried to do a pale Dame Groan-lite imitation ...

Labor ‘vision’ blind to harsh reality of debt/deficit disaster
As federal debt approaches $1 trillion, the commonwealth has quietly amassed more than $400bn in off-budget investment funds, borrowing heavily to intervene in markets while productivity stalls, living standards fall and interest costs surge.
By Dimitri Burshtein

The bouffant one got caught up in the current fuss, but the lettuce had had more than enough of that yesterday ...

It’s Christmas for Albanese: How One Nation became the ‘unofficial’ opposition
The Liberals and Nationals are not only in complete disarray, they’re delusional if they think simply changing leader will dig them out of a political abyss of their own making.
By Dennis Shanahan
National Editor

These days the poor lad is forced to go beyond his usual 2 minute spurt up to an amazing virile 6 minutes, but the pond will only note one thing ... the way the illustration showed just how much the PhotoShop skills at the lizard Oz need a refresher course ...

No wonder there was no credit for that snap of that hastily pasted on ill-fitting Santa headgear... as if things weren't bad enough reading about the pastie hastie ...

The pond realises that grating Gemma has something of a cult following, but the pond simply couldn't go there ...

Why Labor wants your baby with strangers, not grandma
The parent trap: Labor must restore choice of childcare
Labor claims institutionalised childcare gives babies a better start. No data supports it. A parent-led revolution is demanding subsidies that let families care for their own children.
By Gemma Tognini

Granted, the irony is rich, what with the rag every other day of the week deploring taxpayer subsidies for bludgers and ne'er do well scroungers, but garrulous Gemma probably loves the trad wife thing, as a way to get filthy rich on a "right for thee, if not for me" basis ...

But all those dismissals left the pond short of a column, or even a Whitlam government.

Luckily denialist Jennie was on hand ...

The header: Energy security must be treated as national security; It’s not clear how the Albanese government will tackle gas shortages in a few years’ time, even though LNG remains an indispensable part of our energy mix for households and industry.

The caption for the snap of a grim-looking Satan's little helper: It’s ironic that Labor’s change of heart was announced by Energy Minister Chris Bowen, who opposes gas as a transition fuel. Picture: Martin Ollman / NewsWire

That allowed the pond to note other stories, such as this one in the Graudian ...

All so we could grok some deep fake porn ... 

Now take it away Jennie ...

Labor’s decision to implement a gas reservation scheme in 2027 is a welcome commitment. It’s been a long time in the making, having been rejected by the Gillard government and after years of campaigning by the Australian Workers Union. As it was an in-principle commitment, final judgments will depend on the outcome of negotiations and the details of the proposed scheme.
It’s ironic that Labor’s change of heart was announced by Energy Minister Chris Bowen, who opposes gas as a transition fuel, excluded it from Labor’s capacity investment scheme, and told international audiences at COP that fossil fuels had no future in Australia. Are we to believe that reality has ­finally dawned?
Australia is the second-largest exporter of LNG, yet forecasts warn of structural east coast gas shortages on peak demand days in 2028 and more broadly from 2029. Our regulation of gas markets is dysfunctional and has failed to protect our national interest.
A prospective gas reservation of between 15 and 25 per cent will apply only to contracts struck after Bowen’s announcement. Current contracts, under which 75 per cent of our gas production is exported as LNG, are excluded on the grounds of “sovereign risk”. These contracts start to expire from 2031, but in the meantime gas shortages threaten.
It suits Bowen’s agenda to focus on “sovereign risk” to avoid dealing with uncontracted gas sold on international spot markets. In 2024, these sales comprised around 25 per cent of our exports, enough to cover forecast shortages. It’s in our national interest for uncontracted gas to be redirected to meet domestic needs by the use of export controls and/or export levies.
Gas supply has to be affordable as well as reliable. Since LNG was exported from Queensland in 2015, domestic prices have tripled. They need to be decoupled from international prices. The benefits are obvious when comparing prices with Western Australia, where reservation applies.
In 2025, export gas was produced for around $6.50 per gigajoule and exported at an average of $17.00. Before 2015, average domestic spot prices were under $5, they were around $10 from 2017 to 2021, and are currently around $14. By comparison, the average contract price in WA is just over $7.

The reptiles helpfully slipped in a meaningless visual distraction, Workers say they are ‘going to have a future’ under a federal government plan to keep Tomago smelter open, but details remain scarce.

The pond's only complaint was that there were no snaps of whale-killing windmills ...

Cutting the domestic price of gas is a must, as manufacturing industry remains at risk. It would also reduce the overall cost of energy and ease inflationary pressures in the economy. The declining competitiveness of our trade-exposed industries saw Qenos and Oceania Glass join the companies that closed their doors. Many others, like the Tomago smelter, are struggling to remain operational.
It’s not clear how the Albanese government intends to tackle gas shortages in a few years’ time. The energy ministers at their December meeting agreed to draft legislation “to provide AEMO with last resort powers in the east coast gas market to help prevent the realisation of structural shortfalls”.
This followed recent criticism by the Victorian Auditor-General of the Energy Department’s failure “to have fully considered risks in its planning, nor to have factored in contingencies should risks arise”.
It begs the question as to whether, behind closed doors, there’s another plan in the making. Was it just a coincidence that the Victorian government recently gave the go-ahead for Viva Energy’s gas terminal at Corio Bay, which includes a floating LNG ­terminal with regasification and storage facilities?
At his press conference, when asked if the construction of import terminals was now redundant, Bowen’s response was curious: “There’s no state building an import terminal at the moment, I’m afraid. There’s been some talk of LNG import terminals in Port Kembla and Geelong but they are not under construction.”

The reptiles could, along with Jennie, spot tankers all over the shop, An LNG tanker arriving in Gladstone Harbour. A report says navigating the 31km shipping channel into Geelong’s Corio Bay could be ‘challenging’. Picture: Mike Richards

In her final gobbet, Jennie remained determined to gas the country ...

Was the minister unaware that Squadron Energy had completed the construction of Port Kembla terminal in December 2024 and that the Corio Bay terminal is awaiting federal environmental approval? It’s listed on the EPBC’s portal, deferred until September 30, and now under “active ­consideration”, pending a final ­decision.
Until the Albanese government rules out importing LNG, that door remains wide open. Importing refined fuel has exposed our vulnerability to potential disruption of supply chains. This mustn’t be repeated with gas. It remains an indispensable part of our energy mix for households and industry, meeting the needs of power-­hungry growth industries like data centres and to firm renewables.
The times require the incorporation of strategic risk in energy planning, and a coherent integration of energy with industry policy. The Perdaman Urea Plant, under construction near Karratha, shows the benefits of this approach, combined with WA’s gas reservation. Gas will be used as both a feedstock and the main energy source for producing urea fertiliser. Our reliance on imports will be reversed as new export markets open. It shows the importance of gas in sustaining manufacturing.
Importing LNG would make a mockery of Labor’s recent commitment to gas reservation. In troubled times we need to be mindful that energy security is ­national security.
Jennie George is a former ACTU president and Labor member for Throsby.

Here, have a break ...

And now there's just room to slip in a serve of Bjørn-again mania ...

Here the pond would like to start by noting the inane, incessant repetition that the Bjørn-again one indulges in ...

This is from February 2020 and We don’t have money to burn on green mania; The costs alone make the drastic ‘solution’ to climate change wishful thinking. Taxpayers just won’t cop it in the lizard Oz. (*archive link).

The pond had to archive it, but the effort was worth it, so one line could be seen in context:

... By far the most practical policy, with the most impact, is a dramatic increase in investment in low and zero-carbon energy innovation.
That’s because, for decades to come, solar and wind energy will be neither cheap enough nor effective enough to replace fossil fuels. Today, they make up only 1.1 per cent of global energy use and the International Energy Agency estimates that even after we spend $US3 trillion ($4.47 trillion) more on subsidies, they will not even reach 5 per cent by 2040. Innovation is needed to bring down the price of green energy. We need to find breakthroughs for batteries, nuclear, carbon capture and a plethora of other promising technologies. Innovation can solve our climate challenge.

Familiar to the point of nausea?

Back to the future ...

The header: Net-zero revolt has begun: We need to pivot from making energy more expensive to innovation that will make green energy cheaper; Britain’s slide from energy powerhouse to price pariah emphasises the losing argument that climate action justifies exorbitant costs and making power unaffordable for millions.

The caption for the truly terrifying snap of whale killing windmills, with a warning to anyone travelling the Hume to watch out for their carcasses: Today, wind is the primary source of electricity generation in the UK, contributing roughly a third of the country’s total supply. But many wind farms are in Scotland, meaning the region generates far more power than it requires and needs to transmit some south, where most of the demand is. The current infrastructure isn’t sufficient to transport all that power. Picture: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg News

It was only the standard very short 3 minute read, but what a good excuse to swerve to the Graudian... 

 Now to begin the Bjørning, roughly equivalent to a shining ...

A new pragmatism is infusing the climate debate in the West, driven by voters weary of soaring energy bills and annoyed by increasingly hysterical and patronising climate rhetoric. From Washington to Westminster, Berlin to Canberra, the political class is confronting a simple truth: aggressive net-zero mandates are delivering present economic pain for unmeasurable and far-off climate gain.
The starting shot might have been the US election of Donald Trump, but the clearest warning comes from the United Kingdom. The UK’s net-zero law, enacted in 2019, committed the country to zero emissions by 2050. It was hailed as bold leadership, but the reality has been economic sabotage. Industrial electricity prices surged 124 per cent between 2019 and 2024 – quadruple the US increase – leaving the UK with the highest rates in the Western world at 26.63 pence ($0.53) per kilowatt-hour.

The reptiles naturally rolled out expert climate scientist Danica to help the Bjørn-again one ... Sky News host Danica De Giorgio says UK Labour’s green energy plan is an “ominous sign” for Australia. Ms De Giorgio said the UK’s green energy plan could cost £350 billion. “Looks like the UK is going broke and backwards as well in its race to renewables.”

Ominous sign? Haven't we had enough of them already?

Back to the coal mine with Bjørn...

And the Labour government’s renewable-heavy plans will only inflate costs further. At a recent parliamentary hearing, top energy executives laid bare the facts. Chris Norbury, CEO of E.On UK, testified that even if wholesale prices were to plummet to zero, consumer bills would remain just as high as today, due to escalating policy-driven expenses.
Reform UK, now leading national polls and poised to form the next government, first demanded an end to net-zero targets, condemning their design and cost. The Conservatives, staring at electoral oblivion, hastily followed suit, pledging to repeal the Climate Change Act. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is reportedly preparing to delay or dilute key green commitments to curb voter revolt.
Even the Tony Blair Institute, hardly known for climate scepticism, now urges suspending carbon taxes on gas to slash energy prices through 2030, prioritising cheap power over emission cuts like the US and China do.
The UK’s plight is no isolated incident – it’s a harbinger of a retreat from the global net-zero experiment recently championed by politicians even in blue US states and across Europe, as well as further abroad.
In Australia, the conservative Liberal Party has abandoned the promise of net zero in 2050, and will instead prioritise lower energy prices. Germany’s far-right AfD is now leading national polls, railing against “elitist” green burdens and vowing to halt decarbonisation. Japan’s new Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, prioritises nuclear revival for energy security over aggressive renewables.

What's interesting here is how limited the Bjørn-again one has become.

Away from the lizard Oz, search for this post and you'll find it in Facebook, on X and in LinkedIn, and six days ago in the Zambian Sunday Times ...luckily hidden behind a paywall so it didn't pollute the environment too much ...

He really has been sent into the provinces, but what a silly rag - apparently they haven't woken up to the terrifying power of whale-killing windmills.

The reptiles showed how to do it when they interrupted with another snap, one of those entirely useless collages for which Emilia shamelessly took credit, featuring ... you guessed it, not just a bunch of denialists, but also ... windmills! Increasingly, Western leaders are realigning on net-zero commitments. From left, US President Donald Trump, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, former British PM Tony Blair, Liberals leader Sussan Ley and WAS Liberal MP Andrew Hastie. Artwork by Emilia Tortorella

Brownie reports for recognising the terrifying impact of whale-killing windmills Emilia. Ever thought of heading to Zambia to share your skills? 

Even the EU is rolling back environmental laws, watering down sustainable finance rules amid farmer protests and deregulation pushes. Its climate promises for 2040 were watered down and, crucially, the promises can be further loosened if it – inevitably – ends up having a negative impact on the EU’s economy.
Corporations who sold the world on their green credentials are retreating too: Wells Fargo abandoned its net-zero promise in March 2025, while BlackRock exited the Net Zero Alliance in January, citing political backlash against ESG investing.
This broadening dissent mostly doesn’t dismiss the reality of the climate issue, but insists that we shouldn’t deny the climate policy costs either: net zero will cost hundreds of trillions of dollars and deliver benefits much smaller. Moreover, even if all rich countries were to cut to zero emissions by mid-century, the climate models clearly show the impact would avert less than 0.1C of the projected warming by the end of the century, while imposing 8-18 per cent hits to GDP already by mid-century.
It is now becoming clear that the rosy claims of green growth or just modest costs from a forced green transition are no longer plausible.
Instead, if green politicians truly do believe climate action justifies exorbitant costs and making power unaffordable for millions, they now have to make that argument openly. And this is a losing argument. The UK’s slide from energy powerhouse to price pariah emphasises this.
Enter philanthropist Bill Gates, whose recent memo ahead of the COP30 climate summit calls for a strategic pivot. He lays out three tough truths: climate change is serious but “will not lead to humanity’s demise” or the end of civilisation; temperature is not the best progress metric, and; health and prosperity are our best defences against it.

There was one final interruption ...Journal Editorial Report: Saving the planet falls back to earth.

Amen to that, well-played Bill the talking Mr "STD" Clippy (allegedly), Tony Bleagh, Nige and King Donald ...

And so to the final gobbet and that always present sense of déjà vu.

See if you can spot the incessantly repeated mantra ...(the pond has done its best to help)

This means shifting from obsessive emission cuts, which have shaped climate and energy policy across the UK, Europe, and other Western countries. Instead, Gates highlights, we need to focus on what boosts human welfare most. For the world’s poor, that means tackling hunger, poverty and disease directly. This will help people live much better lives and improve their resiliency in a warmer climate. For rich nations, it means addressing jobs, education, immigration, defence and energy head-on.
To respond to climate change smartly, we need to pivot from making energy more expensive to innovation that will eventually make green energy cheaper: investing in R&D to achieve breakthroughs like more advanced nuclear, carbon capture and geoengineering, and far more efficient green energy generation and storage, rather than driving up all energy prices while subsidising today’s intermittent and uncompetitive renewables.
Politicians still peddling painless green transitions must now defend the indefensible: unaffordable energy for negligible impact. The net-zero era is fracturing. It is time for honesty, innovation and policies that serve people the best.
Bjorn Lomborg is president of the Copenhagen Consensus, Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, and author of False Alarm and Best Things First.

And that, thank the long absent lord, was that. 

What a disgrace the rag is, how shamelessly, nauseatingly repetitive the Bjørn-again one is ...

A few last 'toons ... and the pond encourages you to think of the lizard Oz as an executioner, amazingly full of narcissistic self-pitying creatures ...

And now for the weekly update ...even as fresh follies emerge on an hourly basis from this fascist regime ...