The hottest day of the year compels me to slow down and reflect a bit more than usual. We have a strand of political opinion that says there is no point in tackling climate change, even though it will likely kill the planet because whatever we do in the UK makes little or no difference and other much larger Nations are doing so much more damage than we could do.

It’s a recognised problem, coined in the 1960’s as “The tragedy of the Commons”. Imagine a village had just the one field for grazing cattle. Each individual wants to use it to graze a cow, arguing that there one animal makes no difference. However, it will always reach a point when the field gets overgrazed and the whole system collapses.

The concept applies to a lot of issues. Examples include:

climate change (shared atmosphere),
overfishing oceans,
groundwater depletion,
traffic congestion,
antibiotic overuse,
tax avoidance weakening public systems,
and potentially unsafe AI races.

I accept that, in a democracy, there will always be politicians who gain votes by doing irresponsible things, offering policies that mean something for individuals but contribute ultimately to the collapse of society.

It isn’t a particularly cheerful Bank holiday message. I was interested, hearing on the news that the Pope himself worries about lack of anyone being able to control artificial intelligence.

Can it all these threats be faced up to and dealt with ?