I’m just a soul whose intentions are good, please don’t let me be misunderstood

REMARKS BY MR TOM BURKE CBE AT THE CASTLE DEBATE ON THE CLEAN GROWTH STRATEGY, DLA PIPER, 3 NOBLE STREET, LONDON, JULY 3RD 2018. ‘I’m just a soul whose intentions are good, please don’t let me be misunderstood’ The Animals This is the song that came to my mind immediately […]

Prosperity, Security, Stability

  These are anxious times. Much that we take for granted in the way the world is ordered is in flux. The brief moment when scholars talked confidently of the ‘End of History’ has passed. Change is no longer an option, to be welcomed or resisted, as a matter of […]

SMALL BITES NO.3

  On November 23rd, Financial Times Energy Editor, Andrew Ward, wrote, ‘energy consumers face paying £30bn above market prices for electricity for Hinkley over the 35-year life of the contract’. He was in error. The actual additional cost to consumers is £59bn. In his defence, Mr Ward can fairly claim […]

SMALL BITES NO.2

  Matt Ridley is almost always wrong about the environment. His regular column in the Times is a mishmash of misinformation and malice. He dislikes environmentalists and hates their influence on public policy. His criticism, in yesterday’s column, of Michael Gove’s proposed new ‘independent’ body to ensure a post-Brexit Government […]

ON THE BREAKING OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROMISES

  There are a great many champions of the environment in Britain. Between them, our environmental bodies have several times the membership of all the political parties in Britain combined. They probably know rather more about the will of the people than the political leaders who somehow managed not to […]

The Environmental politics of Brexit – Speech at UK Environmental Law Association Conference

              The Environmental politics of Brexit – Speech by Tom Burke UK Environmental Law Association Conference October 13th, 2017 39 Essex Chambers, London Let me begin by thanking you for inviting me to speak today. This conference connects two issues that, more than most, […]

BBC Radio 4 – Today Program – Who should be held responsible for climate change damages?

      I think that it’s a little simplistic to say that the oil company’s products are what causes climate change, which we have known for a long time, and is absolutely right, and then to say that is where the chain of liability ends. The chain of liability […]

No Need for Nuclear. The renewables are here – Conway Hall, London 17 June 2017

    There is a very broad National consensus about what we want our energy policy to do, what the goal of British Energy Policy should be. It should be affordable, it should be secure and it should be low-carbon, in delivering the service that people want. I don’t know […]

What does Brexit mean for Environmental Legislation in the UK – Guardian Podcast

    One of the things that you get out of our membership of the EU is an enormous amount of regulatory stability. It takes a very long time to create environmental legislation, but then it is very difficult for governments, in a whimsical way, to change it. Now from […]

Sky News – Discussing Al Gore’s new film on climate change “An Inconvenient Sequel” – 11 Aug 17

    Sky news: With me now in the studio is Tom Burke, a former senior adviser to the foreign secretary’s special representative on climate change, and now the chairman of third generation environmentalism, which encourages sustainable development. First of all, Mr Burke, what do you make of this documentary? […]