"THERE ARE NO DOGS":

By every relevant measure, humanity is the most advanced and productive it has ever been, and the world is a much better place than it was even a short time ago. To point this out does not take romanticism, nor cherry-picking of statistics, but what should be the blindingly obvious assertion that, as we have all got richer, our lives have gotten better.

The alarmist narratives are grounded in rhetoric, rather than truth. On the environment, carbon dioxide emissions have been declining in the UK for six consecutive years, plummeting last year to levels not seen since 1858. Around the world, use of renewable energy resources has been shooting up in recent decades; as of 2016, modern renewable energy production has seen more than a five-fold increase since the 1960s, with infamous polluters China and India leading the pack.

Life expectancy - the surest measure of how well we are doing at looking after ourselves - tells a heartening story. Less than thirty years ago, we lived to an average of 65 years. As of 2016, that figure stands at 72.5; we added seven and a half years to each of our lives in the space of less than three decades.

At the crux of these great strides forward, of course, is economic growth. In 1990, well over a third of the world's population was living in abject poverty. Today, it is less than one tenth, and that figure continues to tumble. As if that wasn't enough, we are also more peaceful, more democratic and much more literate than at any other point in human history, with these rigidly upward trends showing no signs of plateauing.

Famed orator James May put it beautifully: "The world has never been going to the dogs. Every generation says it but if it were true we'd be there by now. There are no dogs."

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