Peter Rhodes on the next government, smoky justice and a day out for Kate Bush fans
Let us start the week with a prediction. If Jeremy Corbyn leads a new left-wing party as promised, the next UK Government will be a coalition of Reform UK and the Conservatives (if you risk a bet on this, make it a small one).
An advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice in The Hague means that Britain might one day be sued by poorer nations for “historical emissions” it created during the Industrial Revolution. This is such a bonkers idea that, in our increasingly bonkers world, it might just come true. Remember, the chief aim of international law seems to be providing large salaries for international lawyers.
Meanwhile, I look forward to seeing earnest young barristers trying to convince the pollution-legacy courts that any given percentage of “historical emissions” in a location was caused not by indigenous people chopping down and burning trees, as has happened for centuries, nor by volcanos erupting, nor occasional forest fires but by wicked, imperialist steam engines made in England. Tricky.
