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Comment and Environment

Brexit makes us question democracy – and so does climate change

No Planet B | Beating climate change is for many a “sacred value” that trumps all others – but is it ever legitimate to abandon democratic norms to achieve a goal, asks Graham Lawton

By Graham Lawton

11 September 2019

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Reuters/Henry Nicholls

LAST week, I found myself participating in a pro-democracy demonstration: not in Hong Kong or some other distant authoritarian state, but in the heart of my own city, London. I am no stranger to protest marches, but I never expected to have to take to the streets to defend something as fundamental to British life as parliamentary democracy.

That was before prime minister Boris Johnson announced his intention to suspend parliament for five weeks in order to push through a no-deal Brexit.

Yes, the B-word. I didn’t really want to write about Brexit. This is a column about environmental…

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