Environmental Emissions

I have received another email in my capacity as humble, fraying thread in the Labour Supporters Network - that vast and increasingly silent majority which believes that the present Labour government has given us somethingty-three new schools and umpty-five new hospitals for every half-day it has spent in office, that virtually everyone who matters is more or less better off than at some time in the past if only the poor fools knew how blessed they were, and that Toppling Saddam was a Good Thing to do. This new email is from the Secretary of State for Doing Nothing Much about the Environment, David Miliband. Today David Milibaland launched Labour's new climate change pledge card, which sets out how the Labour Government, working in partnership with councils, energy companies and the Energy Saving Trust will help households take simple steps to cut energy bills by up to £300 per year and reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, and he did it all in bold type, too. David Minabanal's pledge card highlights five simple actions that households can take in order to cut energy bills by up to £300 per year and reduce emissions of carbon dioxide. These include turning down thermostats, turning appliances off when they are not in use, replacing light bulbs with energy-saving ones, doing washing at a lower temperature, and getting a "home energy check". Despite the simplicity of these measures for households to take, the Labour Government is offering help, just in case the households are even simpler. The Labour Government is offering "home insulation programmes" and "home energy ratings" and phasing out those light bulbs which it considers inefficient. It is offering "free electricity monitors". I am not clear whether these are some sort of device which is simpler to read than an electricity meter (an electricity meter has numbers which go up according to how much electricity is used, which might well baffle a sufficiently simple household) or, perhaps more likely, a sort of New Labour school prefect who goes around knocking on doors, monitoring electricity use, and reporting users of excessive heating and old-fashioned light bulbs for a black mark against their name on the National Identity Database. The Labour Government is also offering "higher product standards and labelling" so that everyone will know just how much higher product standards have become, thanks to the Labour Government. "Every part of society has a role to play in tackling climate change," profundifies David Milibalabaland, in the course of not explaining what results the Labour Government's partnership with energy companies will have in terms of getting energy companies to clean up their act. David Mandibilin is proud of the work Labour is doing domestically and internationally to combat climate change and hopes I will join with him in doing my bit reduce emissions at home (sic) and encourage my family and friends to do the same. David Minibland is Labour's Secretary of State for the Environment.