Peter Rhodes on energy pumps, Cop26 and don't mention the curry

A number of you have pointed out that Harry Styles, whom I described a few days ago as a “football hero” is in fact a singer of popular songs. There is a useful four-letter word to cover moments like this. Oops.

As if to prove there is no item that cannot be weaponised, pundits are busy denouncing the use of the word “curry” on the grounds that it is largely incorrect and "rooted in white, Christian supremacy". Earlier this year, Chaheti Bansal, 27, posted a video calling on people to cancel the word curry which “has long been misused by foreigners to describe any dish made on the Asian subcontinent.” Joining the furore, Ilyse Morgenstein Furest, a professor at the University of Vermont, says the word “curry” does not appear in any south Asian language and was coined by British officers 150 years ago. Well, maybe it was.

But in multiracial, multi-cultural, multi-calorie Britain today, who are these ignoramuses who talk of curry? By now, even a casual customer like me is aware that curries comprise only a fraction of any restaurant menu. We don't blather about curry; we enquire about tikka, kebab, bhuna, masala or zalfrezi. And when we go out, we don't “go for a curry,” we “go for an Indian,” a term which encompasses the entire Indian sub-continent and is far more accurate than “curry” but which I fear will offend somebody, because there is always somebody out there waiting to be offended. Off you go.

Do you feel you're missing something about Cop26? So far, public debate about the UN climate-change conference, to be held in Glasgow in November, has focused on conference president Alok Sharma flying around the world to whip up support for it and admitting – oh, the hypocrisy! - that he drives a diesel car.

No-one seems to be asking whether Cop26 should happen at all. We know that Covid-19 is a virus that thrives on crowds, in enclosed spaces and in the winter. So as winter begins, 20,000 people from about 200 countries will be pouring into Glasgow. They will attend talks, receptions and no doubt sample Glasgow's nightlife. The 20,000 will then return to their 200 nations. And who knows what they'll be bringing here or taking home?