Nicola Sturgeon’s oil paradox

Is oil extraction a form of environmental vandalism which threatens life on the planet, or a source of revenue which could propel Scotland and its people to new levels of wealth? It is little use asking Nicola Sturgeon: she appears to believe it is both.

Three years ago, when striking schoolchildren and Extinction Rebellion were telling us that the world must become carbon-neutral by 2025 or face massive loss of life, she told the SNP spring conference:

‘I met some of the young climate change campaigners who’ve gone on strike from school to raise awareness of their cause. They want governments around the world to declare a climate emergency. They say that’s what the science tells us. And they are right. So today, as First Minister of Scotland, I am declaring that there is a climate emergency.  And Scotland will live up to our responsibility to tackle it.’

Well, no-one can say she did nothing.