Tony Abbott's climate frolic is strange and sad – and all about politics | Katharine Murphy

The pitch behind the London speech was that a climate ruckus aids the Coalition. He should have been laughed out of the room

It would be tempting to laugh at Tony Abbott’s feelings about how carbon dioxide is secretly good for humanity, and his insights into the goat sacrificing habits of primitives subduing volcano gods – except it isn’t that funny.

The London outing is more strange and sad, and the strangeness and the sadness manifests itself on multiple fronts.

Related: Tony Abbott says climate change is 'probably doing good'