Mark Dolan: Our voices must be heard on climate change because all we’ve heard so far is a load of hot air

There are many parallels between both Covid and the climate. Firstly a monolithic interpretation of “the science”, which precludes any debate or dissent. Anyone who challenges the prescribed narrative around either, is immediately labelled a “denier”. To invoke language linked to the horrors of the Holocaust is disproportionate, illiberal and deeply offensive to those accused and more importantly to the memory of those who suffered one of the worst, most hellish and evil episodes of human history.

A silencing of debate is not the only similarity between Covid and climate.

Dealing with both problems appears to involve enormous financial cost, with the poorest, as always, hit hardest. Higher taxes and spiralling national debt are in both cases, the inevitable consequence. And neither the measures to tackle Covid or the climate are supported by a democratic mandate. We didn't vote for lockdowns, mask mandates, social distancing, vaccine passports, closed schools, a part time health service and a shut down economy. And in the case of Covid, it wasn't the only option. Don't make me show you that graph comparing no-lockdown Sweden to lockdown-loving, police state Lithuania.

The public did not vote for the prime minister's net zero agenda.

It may be the right thing to do, it may not be – I’ve got an open mind - but it will be extraordinarily costly and will impact your life. If that’s not grounds for debate, democratic input and a diversity of scientific opinion, nothing is. Would Boris Johnson have smashed the red wall in 2019 if he had revealed this eco-mission in advance? I doubt it.

I'm sorry, call me old-fashioned, but when a government rolls out a set of transformative policies that cost money and change lives, you’d think they would seek our view and canvass for our support. Doing seismic things to the country without asking the people is not the behaviour of a democratic government, it's the stuff of totalitarian regimes We're having an airport here, a motorway there, we’re going to put taxes on this or that, we’re going to put these people in jail. That’s where this ultimately leads.

Now I'm worried about the environment and I think we have to look at what we're doing to the planet and I’m certainly all for less waste, less pollution and Mrs Dolan isn't keen on having the central heating on in the winter anyway, but any changes must be done with the peoples’ consent and as with Covid measures, it must be based on personal choice. We dispensed with individual responsibility during the pandemic and all we have to show for it is one of the highest Covid death tolls in the world, and a divided and damaged country. We've had an 18 month flirtation with communism and it hasn't been great has it? But if we slavishly follow the most extreme voices on the climate issue, we will be signing up for communism forever.

With the state controlling your movements, how many flights you take, what you drive, to what precise degree you heat your home. Even the food on your plate could be a matter of the government’s discretion. Just a few days ago actress Joanna Lumley said we should have wartime rationing and government minister Alok Sharma has just announced he's giving up meat to save the planet. I’m surprised he had the energy to make the announcement.

Expect more of this nudge politics for the foreseeable future. Wear a mask went from being a good idea to a mandate. And there's one other abiding theme that unites both so-called crises.

Hypocrisy.

With Covid we had Dominic Cummings’ ill-fated sight test in Barnard Castle, Scotland's chief medical advisor Catherine Calderwood sneaking off to her holiday home in lockdown, Professor Neil Ferguson breaking Covid rules to visit his mistress and of course most notoriously, our own health secretary, the governments chipolata smuggler in chief, CCTV sex bomb Matt Hancock. And we've seen countless examples of double standards when it comes to things like the wearing of masks.

The elite are lecturing you, the elite are lying to you and the elite are laughing at you.

And the climate hypocrisy is on another level.

Where do you start?

Dana Strong

The new boss of Sky, who are sponsoring Cop 26, has according to the social commentator Bernie Spofforth, been commuting 3500 miles from America to the UK in a private jet.

What about Amazon chief Jeff Bezos, whose £48 million Gulf Stream jet led a parade of 400 private jets into COP 26.

Or what about President Joe Biden?

The president toured Rome with a cavalcade of 85 cars. Why does he have 85 cars? Perhaps he keeps forgetting which one is his. President Biden’s trip has apparently produced more carbon, than the entirety of Scotland does in a year.

Surely the biggest right royal hypocrite is the globetrotting Prince of Wales. Prince Charles telling you to cut back on your carbon footprint, is like Count Dracula, telling you to reduce your consumption of blood.

Big business, the state, the media and celebrities are at war with the public, selling a range of devastating policies that they themselves will ignore, or are wealthy enough to be insulated from, whilst the rest of us pay the price. A colossal number of people have seen their lives ruined and millions have been made poorer globally by measures during the pandemic. And we’re about to do it again for climate.

In the end, I think we do have to act to preserve this great planet and I take seriously concerns about its immediate and long term health. The good news is that the green economy can generate jobs, fossil fuels will run out in the long run anyway and who doesn't want cleaner air and unpolluted seas, chock full of healthy fish.

So there is a positive case for action, but it's got to be done with the will and consent of the people, in the context of sensible and balanced debate around the science. And it can't be done exclusively by, in relative terms, low polluting countries like the UK. China, who haven't even bothered to show up to COP26, are the elephants not in the room.

Without the likes of China, India, Brazil and America seriously engaging, they are after all responsible for the lion’s share of emissions, and without them pulling their weight, then the project is doomed. As with tackling tax avoidance, the approach has to be global. It's all for one, not one for all.

The global elite are currently attempting a land grab of our money, our liberties and our lives. But there are more of us than them. And our voices must be heard. Because all we’ve heard from the politicians so far, is a load of hot air