The world gets smaller every day

I have to confess to having a carbon footprint the size of Wiltshire. Indeed, Ros jokes that Liberal Democrats don’t pay a supplement on their registration to cover the environmental impact of the conference, they do it to make up for my personal carbon dioxide emissions. Naturally, in an attempt to save us all from the potential harm done by climate change, Liberal Democrats have led the way amongst the three main political parties in proposing policies that make air travel more expensive and encourage us all to use more sustainable forms of transport.

And that’s my problem. The effect of such a policy is to limit longhaul travel to the wealthy, or to restrict the amount of travelling I do, something which is more difficult when your family inhabit four continents, and you actually enjoy their company. But even more than that, at a time when jetting off to foreign parts is so easy, we British have become more open and more tolerant of foreign cultures. At home, we still stick to what is safe and familiar. Yet in Budapest, or Marrakech, or Tallinn, our compatriots are discovering the beauties of new scenery, new and unfamiliar cuisines, and attempting (often amusingly - for the locals, at least) to speak new languages. The young Britons abroad don’t, to a greater extent than ever before, crave fish and chips, warm, flat beer and an English newspaper. They drink the local brew, eat seafood, go clubbing, wear local fashions and look forward to their next weekend break in Vienna, Hamburg or Helsinki.

We need to think long and hard before we take these opportunities away from future generations, and retreat into an enforced isolationism that weakens our newly broadened cultural values. So, for example, we need to ensure that carbon offset programmes actually fulfil their promises, encourage airlines to use the most fuel-efficient aircraft, design and resource our infrastructure (airports and air traffic control) to allow efficient use of aircraft. And yes, we do need to encourage the use of rail on shorthaul routes - frankly, why would anyone fly from London to Brussels or Paris any more unless they had a connecting flight?

But let’s not get so fearful of climate change that we completely lose track of quality of life issues and our innate internationalism as liberals. It’s not just about being nice to foreigners, it’s about interacting with them too…