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COP26 hit by yet another strike

Police Scotland officers join a public order training session in preparation for policing the COP26 UN climate summit. Photo by Jane Barlow / POOL / AFP)

It’s just ten days to go before COP26, the green gathering described by Ed Miliband as ‘the most consequential summit that has ever taken place anywhere in the world.’ The eco-equivalent of Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam is set to begin in Glasgow next Sunday, with delegates jetting in from across the globe to hobnob, hector, hum and haw at the UN’s climate change conference. So, ahead of His Holiness, Joe Biden, various Western satraps and other panjandrums gracing us with their presence, Mr S thought he’d provide an update on how things are going in the host city.

It turns out all is not well in Dear Green Place, where local bosses seem to be intent on re-enacting the Winter of Discontent. The (political) dead have been left unburied, with Britain’s worst council leader Susan Aitken ineffectually presiding over a series of strikes which risk leaving the city at a standstill. There’s firstly the bin workers of the GMB trade union, who last week voted for industrial action as rubbish piled up on Glasgow’s streets, despite Aitken claiming the city merely needs a ‘spruce up.’

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Steerpike

Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

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