Just as well that Covid figures are being massaged downward this week. With COP 26 - the international money-spinning Climate Change Conference starting in Glasgow on 31 October, there was no way that “Plan B” would replace “Plan A”! That would scupper the government’s prestigious hosting of 30,000 delegates and their entourages...

    So even though Plan B would only mean adding a few more “voluntary measures” like emphasising mask wearing and working from home, “if you can”, it was not to be. Unfortunately, the control of the Covid-19 virus is in the hands of politicians and not virus experts.

    And the sad fact is that so is the future of the planet... It is in the hands of politicians and not physical geographers, meteorologists or natural scientists. Never mind that global warming has already made the survival of some species impossible. Or that ultimately it will make parts of the planet uninhabitable for humans too...

    In fact rather than address the real problems, the idea is to milk it for the purpose of political point-scoring. So, much like the G7 jamboree in Cornwall in the summer, the opportunity is taken by political leaders to point a finger at others and signal their own virtues. And of course for some, it’s a chance for more China-bashing... Forget about the fact that China’s population is 1.4bn, so per capita emissions are far below the US and that China has been doing much of the world’s dirty production for the past 4 decades! And forget too, about the historical emissions from the “West”..!

    As for any real and practical consequences coming out of COP 26 - well - money is to exchange hands, tourism gets a boost and a lot of “blah-blah” is to be spoken (apologies to Greta Thunberg) - and maybe even, as in Cornwall, if nothing else, airborne Covid will get a big booster...