Earthly matters

Michael Meacher, the Environment Minister, declared yesterday that "the world is in a very serious state". According to some reports, much the same could have been said about Mr Meacher himself. He was, we believe, rather agitated about not seeing his name on the list of the British delegation to the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Tony Blair would be there, and so would John Prescott, Margaret Beckett and Clare Short. And yet the man who has done more than any other minister to save the planet, Mr Meacher, was cruelly excluded. Once uncompromisingly militant enough to be nicknamed "Tony Benn's Vicar on Earth" and wrongly kept out of Mr Blair's cabinet, Mr Meacher has proved himself a pragmatic disciple of the green credo, and one of the Government's less flashy success stories. He deserves his place in the sun.