Last week’s (July 20, 2023) by-election result in Uxbridge and South Ruislip was billed by some political commentators as a revolt against ULEZ (ultra-low emission zone) expansion that would affect the area.
Labour had been widely tipped to take Boris Johnson’s old seat from the Conservatives, but it was the Tories that ended up with a slender margin of just 495. New MP for the constituency, Steve Tuckwell, ran a campaign that focused solely on stopping ULEZ expansion, and it did the job.
If you’re thinking ‘it doesn’t really matter, the Conservatives won’t win the general election anyway,’ you’re probably right, but there’s a problem with that line of thought.
Labour party leader Keir Starmer isn’t that keen on ULEZ expansion, either. In fact, he urged London Mayor Sadiq Khan to rethink the scheme, which comes into force next month.
It appears that net-zero policies are being interpreted as voter turn-offs and could be canned to shore up support ahead of the general election. Worrying, given the record high temperatures over Europe and in the US, along with wildfires in Greece.
Could there be a sustainability backlash in optics? There were more than a few interesting takes, from seemingly intelligent individuals, on the true nature of the coronavirus pandemic and whether the public had been lied to by its governments.
Some of these theories garnered a decent amount of support, so it’s not too much of a leap to assume Covid sceptics might also be climate change sceptics. The important thing is that extreme views don’t drive debate, and Optician has a sector-wide initiative on sustainability that will be launched in the coming weeks.
In the here and now, it’s myopic views of a different kind this week, with a special issue on myopia management, a topic that continues to develop rapidly, with more and more management options from a wider group of providers.
It’s an exciting time for this part of the optical sector, which is fully reflected in this issue’s content.
