Very odd story in @thetimes this morning on how a 'new front in the environmental culture war' could be in the offing over meat taxes thetimes.co.uk/article/should… @rhysblakely
Odd how? Firstly, because almost no-one is now talking about a meat tax. Why? Because a bunch of research over the last few years has shown how eye-wateringly unpopular it would be - so it's basically off the political menu
For example the recent Citizens' Assembly concluded dietary changes should be voluntary and achieved through education and choices, not compulsion - helping local farms along the way, and not penalising the poor climateassembly.uk/report/read/fi…
Odd secondly in highlighting that Conservative voters are less likely to switch from meat than voters for other parties. Well - duh! Conservative voters tend to be more - erm - conservative - the clue is in the name. Seriously not news
...which, by the way, matters not a jot in decarbonisation terms because 1.5°C scenarios do not prescribe an end to all meat consumption, as some claim, but a reduction in red meat consumption across society. Plenty of room for plenty of people to still eat meat if they choose
Added to which, the idea that there is a culture war over the environment in the real world outside Fleet Street's imagination is for the fairies. Tactics of @ExtinctionR are divisive, but they don't own the agenda -
- the consensus in favour of tackling climate change, accelerating renewables, conserving nature, the UK being a world leader, etc etc etc are massive, cross-society and consistent. What culture war?
So if a meat tax is off the menu, a new front isn't brewing, it doesn't matter that much and there is no culture war anyway, why would anyone commission a survey on it and communicate that survey as though it were a major issue?
The only conclusion that makes sense to me is that whoever's behind it wants a culture war over meat, and wants it to have a party political flavour. I see no other explanation that makes sense. What do you say. @Lexcommuk?
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