Britain, climate chaos and war: our road to ruin

Editorial / 29 October 2026 It’s time for the left to stand up to Burnham 29 October 2026 Editorial / 28 October 2026 The first Burnham Budget is miserably unambitious 28 October 2026 Editorial / 27 October 2026 Burnham at 100 days: must do better 27 October 2026 Editorial / 26 October 2026 Lula’s victory matters to the whole world — we must learn the lessons 26 October 2026 Editorial / 23 October 2026 Freedom and sovereignty for Palestine is the only path to peace 23 October 2026 Editorial / 22 October 2026 Rejoining the EU won’t solve Britain’s economic crisis 22 October 2026 Editorial / 22 October 2026 Trump must not be allowed to restart war 22 October 2026 ANOTHER storm knocks out power from tens of thousands of homes, disrupts rail and road transport and prompts flood warnings across large swathes of Britain.

The scientific consensus is that increasingly severe weather is here to stay, even if emissions reduction targets can be met to slow the pace of global warming.

That looked unlikely even before Donald Trump’s catastrophic climate denialism, the largely unregulated contest to build ever more powerful and power-hungry AI systems, and an accelerating global arms race put paid to any real international co-operation on the climate.

A responsible government would recognise the urgency of investment in climate resilience and mitigation — and act.

Our government spent the weekend rattling sabres again, with Defence Secretary Wes Streeting claiming we need to be ready to fight and win a major war in 1,000 days.

Transport chaos and homes without power are current realities; claims of a “hybrid war” being fought against us rest on the word of generals and deep-state spooks.

Those who dismiss the anti-war left as dishonest brokers or useful idiots should be asked why the war lobby obsess over hypothetical future acts of sabotage like Russia cutting our undersea cables, while ignoring the fact that the greatest act of undersea sabotage of recent years was inflicted on Russian-German infrastructure — the NordStream pipelines — with likely US involvement and a Ukrainian suspect now on trial in Germany.

Which refers us back to who is threatening war and why. Even on its own terms, Streeting’s claim that we need a massive military build-up to deter attack is not borne out by history.

Aside from classic examples where arms races led to war such as World War I, the run-up to the current war in Ukraine was not one of Western appeasement but years of enormous annual Nato military manoeuvres along Russia’s borders — the Defender Europe exercises, which in 2021 were even described by the Ukrainian government as a dry run for war with Russia. That followed decades of eastward Nato expansion.

It is no justification of Russia’s illegal invasion to note that it was provoked, not deterred, by fear of the West’s military activity along its border.

Streeting’s claim that war readiness is the best way to preserve peace would be more plausible if combined with diplomatic efforts to end wars.

But Britain continues to back an escalatory policy in Ukraine, will not close its own air bases to US bombers launching missions against Iran in a war we officially deplore (the eventual departure of US bombers from one base was none of our doing) and has recently deployed our air force for more “defensive” missions in the Middle East, this time in service to a Saudi Arabian regime whose decade-long war on Yemen has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Besides our military posture being anything but defensive, militarism is itself a huge contributor to the ecological crisis both in energy consumption and direct destruction.

And, crucially as we enter Budget week, it mandates an immense diversion of resources from socially useful purposes.

Andy Burnham recognises the climate emergency; he noted the increased frequency of extreme weather at last week’s wildfire summit.

But while new equipment and aerial firefighting capacity are useful and will save lives, he is silent on reversing cuts to firefighter numbers at a time when local authorities are still trying to cut them.

This is one example of the investment in resilience — others would include retrofitting homes and schools, upgrading our ageing rail infrastructure or building up national, not just advising on personal, food reserves — which currently comes a poor second to nuclear submarines and tank gun-barrel factories.

War is as real a threat as climate change — but one stemming from our own government’s belligerence. Prioritising the planet not only addresses the one threat, it would help to reduce the other.

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