BobbyD wrote:
What? So we should build flood defences up in the Pennines to match those they have in the Netherlands because that'd show 'em that our politicians mean business.
As non sequiturs go, that's spectacular.
A slight point: a vast amount of this winter's flooding and damage has been caused by the sea, not just record levels of rain.
And, as we've already discussed, there have been ongoing cuts to the agencies that are tasked with dealing with such problems (and others) and a lack of any long-term planning for years.
Yes, electoral considerations may intervene, but the example of the Netherlands is entirely legitimate as one of showing that, irrespective of the political differences of different governments (there have been prime ministers from three different Dutch parties since 1980 as an example), if the political will is there, long-term planning and long-term action can occur.
Successive governments have apparently had scientists warning of what was going to happen, but have chosen to fiddle while the floods become more frequent.
We need some sort of consensus, across all parties, on what needs to be done, because there's no indication that these are simply "freak events", as Owen Paterson likes to characterise them. One would think that that would be common sense.
