New leader, same old spin

There may be a new face at the helm, but it is still the same old role for the spin machine at number 10.

It has been revealed this morning that Government officials have secretly briefed ministers that Britain has "no hope of getting remotely near" the new European Union renewable energy target, that Tony Blair signed up to in the spring, and have suggested that they find ways of wriggling out of it already.

However, the scale of the failure to reach the 2020 EU target date is in contrast to the government's claims to be leading the world on climate change. Officials have admitted that under current policies Britain would miss the target of 20% energy from renewables by a long way. And their suggestion that "statistical interpretations of the target" be used rather than new ways to reach it has infuriated environmentalists.

No doubt then that the spin will indeed include a plethora of statistics about how well we are doing, swiftly followed by a new multi-million pound initiative that won't actually be any new money, just a budget they never spent in the first place, and additional taxes for the worst polluters. It's almost a guarentee that there will be no mention of the failed target, just the cloud nine version that Brown's boys want us to believe.

Now, I seem to remember a certain young fellow that suggested having an annual target in order for this country to keep track in how it does, over the course of those thirteen years, but was shouted down in the House of Commons by Government Ministers. Now, I'm no enviromentalist, but even I know that it is a better idea to have a step-by-step plan, instead of a "this is our target let's see how we do" type of approach.

Doesn't seem so much of a bad idea now does it.