If the housing of the homeless and those who are in bad housing has not been a priority of the Government for the past eight years - the figures testify to this and show that there is a Crisis of Unparalleled Proportions - that is a more powerful fact than any that can be made in a speech by a Minister, no matter how mighty she or he might be.

Whatever our differences, whether politically or on some of the responses, there is no doubt that we need an effective, robust and comprehensive set of personal and collective responses in the UK and worldwide to what the scientists are increasingly showing to be a Crisis of Unparalleled Proportions in our environment, given the speed at which changes are developing.