Washed Out

When it comes to protecting Britain's seas, the greenest government ever has been about as rigorous and pro-active as one would expect. On the basis of a recommendation in 2011 that it should establish a hundred and twenty-seven marine conservation zones, the coalition twiddled its thumbs for two years and then established twenty-seven, mostly on paper which has the virtue of being cheaper and simpler than establishing things in the reality-based community. The Government has expressed some vague hopes that the whole business will be up and running, or at least wobbling to its feet, in a couple of years' time; much as the Osborne economic miracle has gone from being a single-parliament dose of salts to an indefinitely protracted course of snake-oil and mercury. It is true that a Marine Management Organisation has been set up; but since the MMO is a public body and not a profit-making conglomerate like ATOS or G4S, there is some uncertainty as to whether the Government will bother funding it, particularly when scarce resources are needed for dredging rivers and gassing badgers.