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Whilst there is an ever growing sceptism about the role of mankind in climate change I do not think that most serious observers doubt that climate change is occurring. The doubt seems to be on why the climate is altering and not if it is altering and so we ought really to be concentrating more on the cures and actions that need to be taken.

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Where I do feel the urge to get on my soapbox is over the announcement by Gordon Brown that we will be donating £1.5 BILLION to the Third World to help deal with climate change. This is a quarter of the total EU pledge and the highest individual amount of any EU nation. We are currently the 4th largest economy in Europe after Germany, France and Italy yet will be giving considerably more than anyone !

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This alone would annoy me but coupled with the Chancellor’s announcement the previous week I am pretty angry and very disappointed. Despite rising unemployment and millions of fuel poor UK households our Government announced £0.16 billions for UK households seeking help with poor insulation to both reduce CO2 emissions and also cut their heating bills.

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Whilst I have utter conviction in the principle of helping others less fortunate and believe we should pull our weight internationally it cannot be right to give your own people ONE TENTH of the help and support you are giving to other nations.  We need to keep a sense of proportion about this and address our own shortcomings at home before attempting to solve problems abroad.

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