Ignoring watersheds, ignoring climate change: flooded by our ignorance | George Monbiot

Storm Desmond's floods expose the utter madness of government policies, both in the hills and at the Paris talks

It's as if it had come to remind us of what's at stake. While the climate negotiations in Paris trudge their dreary road, Storm Desmond takes a great boot to our backsides. Yet still we fail to make the connection. The news records the spectacle and ignores the implications.

Flooding on this scale used to be described as a "once in 100 years", or 200 years event. But in Cumbria, where some 30cm of rain fell in 24 hours, this is the third such catastrophe since 2005. Exceptional events are, perhaps, no longer exceptional.