When Kemi Badenoch, Claire Coutinho, Nigel Farage, Richard Tice and all the other climate sceptics & climate deniers (spot the difference) read stories like this in the Telegraph, I wonder what they think. Mind you, the Telegraph story doesn't mention climate change at all. So that's all good.

In defence of planning: my letter in this week's @newstatesman1913.bsky.social. It baffles me that so many people on the centre left take their analysis of planning and the housing crisis from their ideological opponents.

Letter of the week in the New Statesman: "There is no pleasing John Gray, is there? After decades of denouncing 'progressivism', the Enlightenment and any idea of human progress, Gray now has a US president who embodies the backwardness and nihilism he craves, and he still doesn’t like it..."

It's good to see this from Andy Burnham. Instead of uncritically fixating on the % of GDP spent on defence, we need to debate what we're defending & how, what the threats are & whether we're getting value for money (spoiler: we're not).

Peter Apps is spot on. Developers and credulous think tanks mither on about about planning as the sole reason we don't build enough new homes. There needs to be more of a focus on "fixing our broken housing market", to quote the title of the 2017 housing white paper.

At which, on the eve of a Met Office red extreme heat warning, Mrs Badenoch will explain why it is responsible citizenship to reverse all meaningful climate action.

There's the normal quota of terrible articles in today's Sunday Times (eg Jason Cowley on "the cult of net zero" - yawn!) but Rishi Sunak's is genuinely interesting. "Burnham has one chance to argue that the world has changed & so must the government’s approach." www.thetimes.com/business/eco...

RIP Roy Hattersley. His memoirs are the funniest, least pompous & shortest I have read by a politician. And “Choose Freedom: the future for democratic socialism” is also well worth reading, though it’s probably too dangerously left-wing for these times.

If this Sunday Times story is true, it's very bad news for the UK's credibility as a climate leader, for consumers & for the long term future of the UK car industry. The world is going electric & the UK needs to ensure it's not left behind.

I don’t think Labour having debates it should have had years ago amounts to the party ripping itself apart. As for Tony Blair, he’s hardly Labour these days. That doesn’t mean he or his funders should be ignored, they have a legitimate point of view. But he’s a bit grand for mere party politics.

One of the many depressing things about Tony Blair's recent essay was his evidence-free attack on the government's climate policies. It's good to read Keir Starmer's response. "Investing in clean British energy strengthens our agency..." keirstarmer.substack.com/p/tony-blair...

This is an excellent book, a plea from a distinguished Holocaust scholar “not to accept the logic of the fanatics & the extremists, who keep seeking the destruction of the other”. You can support the state of Israel while utterly condemning the actions of the current Israeli government.

This is a first on my regular evening walk.

Happy birthday Sir David. On the day after polling day, let’s join the dots between his status a a national treasure who speaks out on climate change )based on deep knowledge), & Reform’s climate denialism & the Conservatives’ determination to trash their legacy on climate action.

From @patrickwintour.bsky.social - this just about what Trump has achieved through his war.

A couple of faves from today’s march against the far Right (&, judging from some of the banners & chants, for & against umpteen other things…). It was good to see such a huge number of people (mostly) taking a stand for tolerance & diversity. Now for a cup of tea.

Good to hear Ed Miliband launch the government’s local power plan - “a glimpse of a different economy”.

Interesting to see farmers campaigning against public support for farmers.

What makes businesses invest? Clear policies & long-term direction, says the CBI’s DG, Rain Newton-Smith. “Carbon budgets have been shown to really work.” Questioning them makes investors nervous. #NetZero

Big divisions on climate change? Jacinda Ardern points out that in every country a majority of people want their governments to go further & faster on climate action. The lowest figures are in Russia & the US where support for action is still over 60%.

It was good to be at this well attended @environmentappg.bsky.social @islamicrelief.bsky.social meeting this evening. Muslim & other faith communities have such an important part to play in campaigning against climate change & for climate justice.

Katie White MP: three options for the UK, don’t invest in our crumbling energy system & risk blackouts; invest in fossil fuels & bake in energy dependency & climate change; & or invest in a clean, secure, affordable energy system. Which one does Claire Coutinho want? #GAevent

Great to hear Katie White accentuate the positive - change is happening & the UK is doing a good job on getting off coal & reducing emissions. #GAevent

#Shameless

Great to be at the @environmentappg.bsky.social & @relondon.bsky.social event showcasing some great circular businesses - there’s so much to do on repair, reuse & re manufacturing!

Quite a big anti-racism protest in Rochester, with some incisive slogans. Charles Dickens says, “Down with this sort of thing.” Indeed. The racists & English nationalists are massively outnumbered (I hope they’re not elsewhere in Medway, putting up yet more flags…).

Jacinda Ardern brings the climate debate back to basics: for some climate states, it’s about whether they will exist at all in a few decades’ time.

Pedro Sanchez, Spanish PM: “We cannot make a trade off between defence & international aid.”

Keir Starmer refers to the far right march, which “sent a shiver down the spine” & (referring to Reform) says “we’re in a battle for the soul of this country about what sort of country we want to be.” More of this, please

Good to hear the PM stress the importance of clean, homegrown energy to ensuring energy security & independence, as well as tackling the (huge) challenge of climate change.