Bishop Hill Fewer climate movies for the natives
Jul 31, 2014 Bureaucrats Foreign From time to time I have noted the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's spending on a network of "climate change advisers". On one occasion, I noted one such public funded official using their time to do research for Democrats in the US Congress. Another seemed to fill her days with showing ecodisaster movies to the natives and helping them to make their own ones.
It's therefore quite pleasing to see that William Hague has belatedly been reining back the spending somewhat:
The UK is slashing its climate change diplomacy budget even as global efforts to reach a deal intensify, RTCC can reveal.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) cut spending on its core climate change activities by 39% over the past three years.
Given Hague's posturing as a green, this has no doubt been driven more by the cost-cutting imperative in the Treasury than any concern over whether the money is being well spent. Nevertheless, one should not look a gift horse in the mouth...
Reader Comments (9)
Why not just get rid of it completely and save more money!
It is not as if they are doing anything worthwhile!
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office isn't a problem. Its total budget is around £135 million which is a relatively small amount.
The government department that needs to be reigned in is the Department for International Development which has a £11 billion budget. It used nearly £3 billion to fund the International Climate Fund (ICF).
The ICF's manifesto could easily be mistaken for a WWF, Greenpeace, FoE or any other green group, document.
Sharknado the Sequel.
Story from Briebart
Pulp cult action flick .low budget Roger Corman style so bad it's good catagry .Plot another Hurricane Sandy deluges NewYork and deposits dozens of CGI Great White Sharks swimming around terrorising the flooded streets of the Big Apple.
Described as "the most important film ever made about Climate Change".Hope Al Gore is watching.
"climate change diplomacy"
I'd like to see some evidence of that!
Is the money spent on advice about climate change part of our foreign aid budget?
They're giving away free ice cream, here - if you co-operate with one or two provisos. I wonder when that'll be coming to natives in the Former UK?
http://revealingpolitics.com/blog/2014/07/free-ice-cream-for-climate-change/
Oh no - Deep cuts to the foreign office’s climate spending shatters the UK’s image of global leadership.
LINK (See the comments.)
Perhaps they're saving to pay for the next super duper Met Office computer.
Young Master Hague is no longer Foreign Secretary...