Peter Rhodes on terrorism, taxing oil and why beer is never as good as it used to be

Researchers warn that climate change may affect the cultivation of hops, reducing the quality of beer brewed. No change there. Mankind has been brewing beer for about 9,000 years and in all that time, one universal truth has applied: beer was always better 40 years ago.

There is something disarmingly sweet and simple about Gordon Brown's plan for global fairness. He says oil-producing states such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Norway should pay a three per cent tax which would yield 25,000 million dollars a year, to be given to poor nations in the global south to raise people out of poverty and cope with the effects of the climate crisis. And thus, with one mighty leap, the planet is saved. And all it would take is a few immensely powerful and mega-rich people agreeing to be poorer. Spot the snag?

The BBC veteran John Simpson tells us: “Calling someone a terrorist means you’re taking sides and ceasing to treat the situation with due impartiality.” And yet if you trawl through BBC reports you'll find the T-word used. I noted recently how the BBC described the Birmingham Pub Bombings as “the worst terrorist atrocity on English soil.” In a report on the 1988 Lockerbie bombing published in 2016, the BBC described it as “the deadliest terrorist incident to have taken place on British soil.”After its own news centre in London was bombed by the Real IRA in 2001, a BBC spokesman referred to “terrorist attacks on the media.”

So it's terrorism when the Beeb gets bombed and it's terrorism at Lockerbie, but it's not terrorism when Hamas slaughters Jewish families? Consistency, Auntie?

One columnist suggests that Keir Starmer would have massively increased his popularity if he had thumped the heckler who showered him with glitter, in much the way that John Prescott famously punched an assailant. But there's a world of difference between the two politicians. Prescott is a fiery boxer who delivered a neat left jab. Starmer is a bland barrister who is more likely to deliver a writ. Politics, like beer, is not as thrilling as it used to be.