Noticeable Differences

Things are looking up. The Guardian, which greeted the murderous heatwave of August 2003 with this cheery burble, has noticed that it killed several hundred Londoners. Even the London Haystack has discovered that climate change "could seriously threaten quality of life in London and the capital's position as a leading world city". Better still, he appears to consider this a Bad Thing, and has responded by launching a strategy fit to make the corrupt, inefficient, out-of-touch, anti-semitic and Stalinist administration of Ken Livingstone look like the quasi-Liverpudlian shambles it truly was. The strategy strategically strategises for "promoting less water loss" (sic) by asking the water companies nicely to reduce leakage from water mains insofar as the promotion of such reduction is not incompatible with the continuing profits of the water companies. The strategy similarly strategises for "encouraging people to use less water by promoting and aiding compulsory water metering" - jolly libertarian stuff. It is just possible, I suppose, that the metering will not be undertaken by the same water companies whose efficiency and probity are almost as famous as the political gravitas of the London Haystack; but I wouldn't bet money on it. The strategy simultaneously strategises for "raising the public awareness of flood risk", perhaps by posting Beware of the Flood signs in appropriate places; and also for "flood risk management on the Thames tributaries where properties are at significant risk of flooding". Possibly it was the thought of damaged properties, as opposed to damaged persons, which caused the Badness of climate change finally to obtrude itself upon the London Haystack's consciousness.