Every time I see headlines like these a small glimmer of hope ignites inside of me, only to be extinguished once I start to question how much impact any of these policies will really have. None of the parties are better than the other ones, no party actually offers policies that would have an impact. Its all just good old paying lip service and trying to reel in the stupid voters.

Its seriously disgusting and its makes me sad to know that the people in charge just care about themselves and their short-term gain and don't have the guts to push through much needed, long-term changes.

They seem to be stuck in the quicksands of hypocrisy and self-interest to the extend, that any movement in either direction would probably be their certain (political) death. Better not move at all, otherwise we might uncover a whole lot of unpleasant truths and the vultures will start circling! ;-)

Michel, Tadley,

Small measures like this are required in order to effect big changes. Look at the smoking ban in Ireland (I'm Irish, and I thought it had no chance) and now look how many smoking bans are being introduced.

The fact is people are ultimately selfish about this, (because if we weren't there'd be no problem) so measures like removing oldstyle lightbulbs and standby buttons have to happen. It's not a new thing, goverments have always enforced bans on items in order for what they believe is a greater good.

The people that are really "peeing in the wind" (as one person so eloquently put it), are those who deny that water vapour and CO2 have nothing to do with temperature! Scientifically speaking (I'm a physicist, so I DO know what I'm talking about) those chemicals DO trap heat and DO exist more and more in the atmosphere. So cutting them down will stop that whole ICE + HEAT = WATER thing from happening. I may be a "nowt to do middle class trendy" but you can't deny basic physics...

Martin, St Andrews, UK

Surely the way forward is to get everyone, or nearly everyone on board. Succesive governments, parties, and leaders have sung the praises of choice. Surely we can have a climate change policy that offers choice. Not so much join in or not, but which way to join in. Policy that is too radical will probably lead to falling governments leading to delays in tangible benefits.

For a start we could do with the publication of carbon footprints so that we can actually see the difference between rail, road, sea and air travel; the effects of buildings with lights on into the night, floodlit play/sport areas etc etc not to mention the subsidies given to railway operators give us the means to makwe comparisons, and then the opportunity to choose.

concerned, Norwich, UK

They say that the first thing that goes in wartime is the truth; the second is democracy. The reason for forming a wartime coalition is that you can't win wars when one side of the house are trying to knock the other's efforts off course, and vice versa.
One thing we are all agreed upon is that Global Warming exists. The second is that it will be the most costly event in the history of the planet and will take millions of lives and bring misery and suffering to many more, if not to all of us. And, if it doesn't stop, it may be the end for us all.
In this situation, we don't need politics. We need a war cabinet where parties cooperate to address certain issues, decide what is the concensus opinion of the experts, decide what appears to be the best solution and tell the nation we are going for it. Whatever we do, it will do no harm and, if it did no good, then at least we gave it our best shot.

John Cullen , Liverpool , England

Why should I not put my TV on standby when there are over 30,000 coal mines in China.
Anyway, after watching the C4 programme last night, it only confirmed my fears that the politicians are out to grab more money under the falsehood that CO2 causes it all when in fact we always knew it was the sun.

Hero, Preston,

Concerning the photo at the top of your story. You seem to show cooling towers. I don't think water vapour is a greenhouse gas.
This seems to be a common mistake. So many news stories on global warming show steam coming out of cooling towers. I think it is all part of the great mis-information campaign being used to delude the public by a green lobby which is delighted to have found such an empowering theory to push their cause.

John Woodrow, Geneva, Switzerland

The media always show harmless water vapour coming from a power station when they want to illustrate pollution. It's silly.

The problems with energy-saving bulbs are that they give a nasty, narrow-spectrum light and do not do what they claim. They are actually dimmer than the incandescent bulbs it is claimed that they replace. More research and development please.

Frank Upton, Solihull,

What are we doing about the carbon emmissions that are resulting from the massive transfer of manufacturing to the far east. We have no direct control and are abdicating responsibility. The Chinese are doing little to control or reduce emmissions, yet the western world continues to entrust more and more of its manufacture to them, in the interest of short term economics, without making them in any way conform to the politics of change that we ourselves are being subjected to. We don't have to buy manufactured goods from suppliers who ignore their responsibiles for the future of our planet... well do we?

Tony Morley, Leicestershire, Uk

Gordon Brown voter friendly ?? Very funny; as the recent IMF report proved, this government have raised taxation to a threshhold of pain not seen for 20 years.
This 'green agenda' by Labour is all about grandstanding, with Brown trying to prove that he is in touch with the electorate. It's also a handy diversion from the 'cash for honours' scandal.

Rick, London, England

Whether you believe that CO2 increases are causing global warming or not, fossil fuels have a finite supply and are polluting in other ways in addition to producing CO2. For these reasons it makes sense to promote renewable sources of energy, and if you combine them with the possibility (probability for the less sceptical) that CO2 is causing or contributing to global warming then the case is even stronger.
However, microgeneration on domestic properties will only ever be a drop in the ocean towards energy demand, and large scale projects for renewable energy sources need to be promoted by the government.
Mr browns order of priority for his 'new' proposals is concerning - putting elimination of standby first will only make a very small difference, and new TVs use very little power on standby (mine is one watt) and will only affect new ones. Insulating homes can make peoples lives more comfortable as well as saving significant money / energy - this should be his first priority.

Gary, Birmingham,

Am I the only person in the UK who watched Channel 4's Great Global Warming swindle? It was repeated on E4 last night. If that body of professors, PhDs and assorted serious experts is right, Global warming has almost nothing to do with CO2 and everything to do with activity within the Sun. Makes sense to me. What is the source of all the weather anyway? Why, it's the Sun, stoopid. How daft will we all feel if we spend time and money addressing the wrong problem?

These guys, who include the co-founder of Greenpeace, at least deserve a damn good listening-to before we all rush off lemming-like in the wrong direction. On the basis of what they all called "very bad science".

David Hoggard, York, North Yorks

I'm intrigued that some consultants somewhere deemed that a formal policy (as opposed to individual action) of phasing out incandescent bulbs and standby buttons would appeal to the electorate. It appeals directly to the lowest common denominator - "I know all the right things to do but my neighbour is too selfish and needs to be coerced" - and says more about the mindset of the party machines than about their determination to cope with climate change.

Ian Kemmish, Biggleswade, UK

Pee- ing in the wind-both of them.Should the prattle about global warming be just that..prattle from vested interests[I believe that is so] will we get our money back?.Air flights..0.6% of UK emmissions..which are less than 2% of the world figure.Stop ALL flights tomorrow and it will not make a blind bit of difference.If Brown and Cameron stopped breathing it might equate.Tomorrows England [a vested interest ] is sponsered by DEFRA{Milliband and Beckett] Milliband talks of Green and purple bands..Beckett says that unbelievers of the climate change theory should not be given airtime..The Green Alliance says it is dangerous and antisocial to challenge the theories..The Green alliance also sponsor Tommorrows England as does a company that boasts $3 billion turnover/74000 employees and claims it is the countries biggest BUS company[Wow] Dont believe the waffle being put forward by middle class .nowt to do trendies..the planet will do what it wants to do.Clean by all means..but youve lost

david, barnsley, yorkshire