This eco-hysteria, this dogmatic belief that modernity is setting the planet ablaze and unleashing disease, was further codified at COP26 in Glasgow. The great and the good arrived in their private jets and limousines to gnash their teeth over the horribleness of industrialised society and to draw up a plan for phasing out coal and other ‘dirty’ energies.

Not surprisingly, nations like India and China, whose populations haven’t yet reached such a luxurious level of development that they can sit around for days on end bemoaning the eco-impact of human extravagance, were not so keen on this neo-colonial attempt by Western elites to virtually criminalise certain forms of energy.

Boris Johnson spelt out the revolt against modernity that lies at the heart of climate-change alarmism when he used his speech at COP to complain about the invention of the steam engine. That contraption, which gave rise to the Industrial Revolution itself, was a ‘doomsday device’ that started the clock ticking on the eco-calamity we currently face, he madly said. And this is a PM who claims to stand up for British history and British greatness.

That’s a stunning turn by Johnson, a Tory who spent his salad days writing sports car reviews, “imitation Jeremy Clarkson at best,” for Britain’s version of GQ magazine.