Ruth Kelly acts decisively...

STOP PRESS: Ruth Kelly has today announced that the UK "acted decisively today to safeguard the proposed European aviation emissions trading scheme".

Sounds great - but what did they actually do? "At the ICAO Assembly, delegates from other countries expressed their wish to move forward on the basis of an international consensus, but insisted on an approach that would have effectively prevented the EU from introducing an emissions trading scheme for non-EU flights."

Hmm, so other countries (read: the US, Canada and a few others) want their own system, and the UK wants EU trading schemes? Over to Ruth: "We are committed to ensuring effective international action to deal with the environmental impact of international aviation." In other words, the UK objected to their proposals - hardly acting decisively, is it?

Maybe if Kelly spent more time doing something about emissions - like taxing the hell out of jet fuel, and halting runway expansion - than you spent releasing bogus press releases, we'd be somewhere to tackling the issue.

At the moment the Government is just fiddling (the NOx levels) while Rome burns, and the industry is calling the tune...