Our Energy and Environment special asks: What can the UK do to prepare for climate change? Plus, the secret life a press secretary, and government's ugliest postwar buildings
It might not have felt like this in the UK, but summer 2023 was the hottest on record, according to the World Meteorological Organisation, with sea temperatures at an all-time high and extreme weather across much of the globe.
We are already experiencing the impact of climate change and as the impact grows, it will affect everything from the food we eat to the houses we live in and the health services we need. What can the government do to prepare? We speak to former officials, climate experts and parliamentarians to find out.
It makes for a sobering read, but you can take heart from another feature in our Energy and Environment special – an interview with climate diplomacy expert Simon Sharpe, who offers his perspectives on prescription on what civil servants can do to improve climate policy and ends with this encouragement: "Experience shows that when we put the right policies in place, progress is faster than we expect. But we are off-track, so the pace of policymaking has to increase."
Plus, we look back at the grimmest and greatest government buildings from the postwar period, and ask what more the government can do to counter fraud that costs it tens of billions of pounds a year.
Also in this issue:
- Behavioural insights guru David Halpern explains why passion makes for a good perm sec
- The secret life a press secretary
- Making the most of online training
- Is there a mental health crisis in the civil service?
And much more...
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