Leaden Leading

Much as Britain's leadership in the fight for peace in the Middle East is demonstrated by the sale of weapons for the head-chopping House of Saud to give Yemen the shock-and-awe treatment, so Britain's leadership in the fight against pollution is epitomised by the sale of lead fuel additives to the only country in the world where this particular method of poisoning children remains legal. Algeria, which takes the Boris Johnson approach to pollution, keeps on placing orders with Innospec Limited, apparently the world's last remaining manufacturer of tetraethyl lead, which causes premature death and brain damage in people who don't matter very much. Since the orders are being placed and the stuff is being manufactured, the company cannot do anything except fulfil the orders, because there is no alternative; and since the stuff is being manufactured and the company is fulfilling the orders, the Government is reluctant to interfere because there is no alternative. It is in the nature of the free market for buyers and sellers to come together, in defiance of Stalinistic regulations in favour of public health; and if Innospec Limited stopped manufacturing the stuff Algeria would grind to a halt because there is no alternative.