Has the Environment Agency given up in its fight against flooding?

Where are the engineers? Whenever climate change comes up we hear from ecologists, activists and the odd scientist. But engineers? The very people we need to solve problems seem to be shut away in a box while school kids and dopey vegan campaigners are handed a megaphone with which to tell us the planet is going to die unless humans go back to pre-industrial poverty.

This week’s floods are a prime example of our anti-engineering age. Hundreds of homes have been inundated with water, while several flood defences have failed, even though they were only recently installed. One might think the Environment Agency – the national body responsible for food defence in England – would be asking what is going wrong. Instead, a sneak preview of its National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy, for publication in the spring, reveals its real priorities. Apparently, because of climate change it isn’t worth bothering with much in the way of flood defences any more.