It seems the bee has replaced the whale and the polar bear as the friendly face of green authoritarianism.

On Monday, an EU committee voted on a proposal by the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, for a partial ban on a widely used class of pesticides called neonicotinoids. The vote was inconclusive, with no ‘qualified majority’ either for or against. In such situations, the commission is able simply to impose its plan. The whole affair is a case study in incomplete science being used to impose precautionary policy with green NGOs acting as lobbyists and cheerleaders.