The environmental problems of our planet are too serious to be allowed being sequestered by unethical vulgar politics

Sir, Martin Wolf’s “An unethical bet in the climate casino” of November 12, exemplifies exactly the main obstacle for the world to start tackling in real problems related to climate change, or, if you wish, problems related with just bad handling of our environment. And that is that the to do or not to do so, is always politicized.

Just read: “The Republican victory in the midterm elections was a triumph for its strategy of sustained vilification of the president and obstruction of his policies. The most important consequence of this election may therefore be to bury what little hope remained of getting to grips with the risk of dangerous climate change.”

I know that when my grandchildren would ask me “Grandfather why did you not do anything” this article of Wolf will, with much sorrow, come in handy.

“Many Republicans seem to have concluded man-made climate change is a hoax.” Does Wolf really think they have concluded that… and not just concluded something political?

“Yet, fascinatingly, the very same people who consider the costs of mitigation excessive wish to lighten financial regulation and so increase the risk of a repetition of the recent calamity… It is no accident that believers in laisser faire are the fiercest climate sceptics. The wish is father to the denial.”

Hold it there! I just know that if the tackling of climate change was to fall into the hands of something like the Basel Committee for Banking Supervision, and the Financial Stability Board, which with their portfolio invariant credit risk weighted capital/equity requirements for banks caused the current crisis… then our planet would be definitely toast L

An unethical tinkering with the casino

My Voice and Noise on the environment

The quality of its unemployed is also vital for the strength of a nation

Sir, Janan Ganesh refers to the relative political tranquility that has prevailed in Britain over the last years, even in the face of 21 percent unemployment among young people, and other hardships resulting from the current crisis/recession, “The British have met crisis with understatement”, November 19.

That is of course extremely valuable and commendable, as long as it is of course much more the result of stiff upper lips, than of a feeling of resignation or sheer apathy, especially in coming generations.

In June 2012 in an Op-Ed I wrote “The power of a nation, and the productivity of its economy, which so far has depended primarily on the quality of its employees may, in the future, also depend on the quality of its unemployed, at least in the sense of these not interrupting those working.”