Climate change tax policies seem to be the order of the day, as everyone compares what the Tories have said with what Brown will say in the next Budget. The FT says

David Cameron and Gordon Brown will on Monday set out sharply conflicting visions of tackling climate change, with the Conservatives proposing a raft of new taxes to penalise air travel while the chancellor prefers a carrot rather than stick approach.

Brown criticises the plans, obviously, as “ill-conceived, short-termist, unworkable and unfair”:

However, Mr Brown’s attack may have been blunted by praise for Conservative plans from Matthew Taylor, Tony Blair’s former political strategist, who likened them to ideas being developed by David Miliband, the environment secretary.

Now, hang on a second! Regardless of whether Miliband or Cameron stole them first, aren't these Lib Dem ideas?

The entire subject was thrown up in the air by Channel 4's programme "The Great Global Warming Swindle", aired on Thursday night, and I was curious to see how the pieces would fall again. I'm all for hearing every side of the debate, but programmes like this are self-indulgent, conservative poison that give people who already don't care an excuse to be as irresponsible as they like. So I was heartened (in my self-indulgent, liberal way) to see The Indy's article Climate Change: An inconvenient truth... for C4 about how the director of the piece was already acknoelwedged to be dodgy in the worst possible, fact-distorting way.

But even if the programme happens to have it right and our carbon output has not contributed to global warming, there is no excuse to go on as we have, without considering our environment. Alternatives to fossil fuels must still be found, endangered species must be protected (whether from human predators or changing habitats), waste must be reduced and recycled etc etc.

I hope and pray that this one programme, and the associated band of grumpy, climate-changer deniers, does not turn the impressive tide of environmental responsibility that has gathered pace over the last few years.