Here’s something to bear in mind should the bombs eventually hit the fan.

The United Nations Security Council’s five permanent members and Germany are due to discuss remaining differences on further UN sanctions against Iran.

There are already two UN resolutions demanding that Iran cease uranium enrichment - 1696 and 1747.

The thing is, with everybody running around screaming over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, certain other factors get overlooked. Have gander through those resolutions and see if you can see the words ‘human rights’. Take your time.

Anything? No. Indeed, the UN’s Human Rights Council saw fit last year to ‘discontinue the consideration of the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran’. And apart from those of one or two bloggers, no one turned a hair, at least not the coiffures of the men meeting in Berlin today.

(I wrote about the Human Rights Council’s predecessor, the tawdry Commission on Human Rights, back in the day. Time to catch up with the less than sparkling offspring, I think.)

The thing is, as we’re probably all aware by now, human rights only really come in to play in high politics via expediency and the need to manipulate. When Saddam gassed the Kurds at Halabja in 1988, Tony Blair, Geoff Hoon and Jack Straw weren’t interested in signing the Early Day Motions condemning the atrocity. Fifteen years later, when needing to build a case for war, they wasted no time in waving the corpses at us.

So, remember when the time comes and we’re asked to give a toss about the human rights situation in Iran to make us all feel better about bombing the place. Keep an eye out for the emotional appeals to our decency.

Remember that Gordon and George and the rest didn’t give a sod until the the time was right and they needed another page in the dossier against Iran. We’re not too bothered about the Iranian government enriching its society as long as its not enriching uranium.

Those of us who do give a sod should probably be doing something right now. If it has to take Gordon Brown or George Bush appealing to our consciences on such matters, it’s probably already too late.

Probably more to come from me on the newly announced energy strategy, particularly as there are suggestions (coming via that excellent chap, Rochenko) that they might like to stick a nuclear power station near Brighton.

In the mean time, I’ll kick off with this:

I was determined to stay for Alastair Darling’s nuclear statement. But then he started speaking. His first words filled the chamber, as of a pair of bagpipes groaning into action. We all left. One of the most important announcements, probably, of a generation. Strategic energy supplies. Life-threatening emissions. Ageing power stations. Challenges at home and abroad.

Lunch. No one can listen to Alastiar Darling talking about these things. But that, of course, is the point. That’s how the consultation process will come out as the Government wants. That’s how the public will be excluded, for once and for all.

A fait accompli announced by Darling is like being steam-rollered veeerrry slooooowly. Will you die of boredom before your gizzards bulge out of your eye sockets?

Gordon Brown is probably looking into having him cloned right now. Get Darling to announce we’re bombing Iran and no one will stir from their slumber.

A letter marked “restricted: commercial and market sensitive”, obtained by the Guardian, shows the government paid £184,812,087 to British Energy on March 1 for “spent fuel liabilities”. These liabilities are long standing reprocessing contracts with the state-owned British Nuclear Fuels, at Sellafield in Cumbria.

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