Who’s going to BrisVegas’ Winter Festival in King George Square starting next week ? Just like Vienna, Paris and Prague before it, BrizVegas will host an outdoor skating rink and ersatz alpine lodge (though perhaps they were the genuine article in Europe).

I can forgive the misplaced cultural overtones, but the fake snow machines and skating rink are just outrageous ! Good thing Tim Flannery is not dead, because he would be turning in his grave over this flagrant disregard of our most pressing public concern . . . climate change.

Of course, being that the Winter Festival is a privately-funded event – staged for profit – we would not expect its organisers to be campaigners of a green lifestyle. But considering the location on the doorstep of our primary council building, it is incredibly hypocritical of BrizVegas City Council. This is the same BCC who advertise ‘Climate Smart Home Service Rebates’, are champions of ‘Earth Hour’, host events like ‘Sustainability Day’ (whatever that means). Council shamelessly flaunts a green-washed, eco-friendly I HEART BNE logo but does not have a moral leg to stand on. The result of such contradiction in our publicly-elected office, is a confused public who do not know where they are supposed to stand in regards to environmental issues.

Is this an ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’ scenario where we are all too afraid to admit squeamishness in the face of gross and wasteful energy consumption ? Is the big cheese who agreed to the concept of keeping a giant plate of ice frozen for three weeks under the BrizVegas sun, aware of the world’s dwindling resources ?

Oh wait, maybe it’s a ‘Let them Eat Cake’ scenario whereby those in power know the world will be a wasteland by the end of the decade. They suppose that perishing together with fond memories of figure ice-skating and churros in King George Square, is better than languishing another few years, pointlessly changing our halogen bulbs to energy-efficient ones and not printing out emails in a desperate bid to save our planet.

Now where did I put my ice skates . . .