Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.

LAB YouGov lead down to 2% but Johnson trails Starmer by 7% as “best PM” – politicalbetting.com

13567

Comments

  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,157
    MattW said:

    Make sure the latest lot of self-obsessed sociopaths who just crawled out from under the ER stone don't let your tyres down.
    https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/activists-target-hundreds-cars-across-23324148

    The best solution is probably a car-battery powered pump.
    What a bunch of tossers these people are. Another example for you @Beibheirli_C !
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 56,231
    edited March 2022

    BigRich said:

    MattW said:
    looking at that headline - If its possible to cut imports this year by 80% then how does it take another 8 years to cut the remaining 20% ?

    I would have thought it would be very easy (if expensive) to cut gas imports in 4-5 years though a combination of LNG terminals, Fracking, new Pipes, green energy, insulation, and so on. but the problem was/is that very little of that would come on stream before next winter.
    I think it will depend on which countries. I was interested to see yesterday that whilst Germany takes some 50% of its gas from Russia, for some of he smaller Eastern European countries that is 100% . They may struggle to get the necessary infrastructure in place in a short time.
    It's hard to know for sure with a lot of this stuff, but one of the things I found absolutely fascinating about US gas pipelines was how quickly they were reversed as new fields popped up in places that were traditionally energy importers.

    It's far from impossible that Europe's gas network could be (relatively easily) rejigged to allow for gas to flow in from coastal LNG terminals to the East.

    However, there continues to be a shortage of LNG vessels - Europe simply could not supply itself today without Russia, even if the export capacity existed, because there are only something like 700 LNG carriers in the world, and we'd probably need another 3-400.

    I don't have Bloomberg, so I can't tell you exactly what LNG shipping day rates are, but I'd guess they are north of $200,000.
  • Beibheirli_CBeibheirli_C Posts: 8,163

    Whilst UK Conservatives are nowhere near as loony as US / Canadian Conservatives, it is getting to the point that I am starting to block people self-described as Conservatives on my social media accounts.

    I have had all I can take of bigots, xenophobes, apologists, people obsessed with labelling everything "woke", Qanon, lizard people, Trudeau, Biden, Boris, conspiracies, mask freedom, vaccine freedom, etc, etc, etc....

    I mean WTF is going on in these people's heads?

    A little prejudiced. Have you not heard of Corbynistas or ever read any posts by some English hating SNP posters on here? Plenty of looney Tories, but plenty in other parties too.
    They are not in my social media feeds. I used to vote Conservative so that is where many people I knew where coming from. I used to stand on that side of the political spectrum but it has become really weird.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 41,261

    kinabalu said:

    I wonder how long Bully Bercow is going to last in the Labour Party?

    I know a party he could join..

    During my run this afternoon, I had a cold shiver: Boris Johnson may be bad, but imagine if we had had Corbyn as PM over Covid and the Ukraine situation?

    He's been awful over Covid, and instead of sending weapons to Ukraine, he'd probably find a reason to send them to Russia.

    And I also see Chris Williamson's been making an idiot of himself on Twitter: calling on Zelensky to agree to all of Russia's demands.
    When moaning about Bercow just doesn't hit the spot.

    Could you give me a run down on Corbyn's historical attitude to Putin and the Russia of the last 20ish years? I'm sure there's lots out there.
    One of the few politicians to cry foul when many were embracing Putin as an ally against Islamism and before that to be vocal in opposition to the war in Chechnya.

    Messed his pants on Salisbury though. I think that cost Labour dearly.
    Indeed, suppleness of thought was not Jezza's strong point, however also quite sound on the oligarchs from early on.

    In lazy cliché PB Tory world though Putin=Russia=Soviet Union=Communism=Marxism=Socialism=Jezza in a Russian hat, with barely a fag paper of nuance in between.
    Do we know how much money Labour under Jezza received from Russian oligarchs? Is it comparable with the money received by the Tories?
    McDonnell as shadow CoE used to rail quite frequently against Russian oligarchal money corrupting business and politics here. There was a policy on it too, I think, not just rhetoric. In fact all this 'Corbyn era' talk is making me a teeny bit nostalgic for those days when, agree or not, it was all about principles & policy and who cares what the polls or the papers say!
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,157
    Pulpstar said:

    Wow, my smugness at buying a Tesla just hit an all time high. Did I mention I have a Tesla? That is worrying I seem to be morphing into Leon!
    Do you have to pay for the leccy charging or is that still chucked in ?
    No, it isn't anymore, but still only about 30 -40% of cost of petrol per mile. As long as one isn't tempted to do the 0-60 in 3 seconds too often hehe.
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,157

    Whilst UK Conservatives are nowhere near as loony as US / Canadian Conservatives, it is getting to the point that I am starting to block people self-described as Conservatives on my social media accounts.

    I have had all I can take of bigots, xenophobes, apologists, people obsessed with labelling everything "woke", Qanon, lizard people, Trudeau, Biden, Boris, conspiracies, mask freedom, vaccine freedom, etc, etc, etc....

    I mean WTF is going on in these people's heads?

    A little prejudiced. Have you not heard of Corbynistas or ever read any posts by some English hating SNP posters on here? Plenty of looney Tories, but plenty in other parties too.
    They are not in my social media feeds. I used to vote Conservative so that is where many people I knew where coming from. I used to stand on that side of the political spectrum but it has become really weird.
    The B-word rotted their brains.
  • biggles said:

    In the first two months of this year, we generate 7.5 pp more of our energy usage from renewables. I believe that last year was a bad year for wind, but even so, I will never not be amazed at the rate of change.

    I checked our solar energy generation yesterday for the year to March 22 and the previous year and it was only marginally higher for this year
    In February 2021, 1.85% of demand was met by solar, was 2.2% a year later, i.e. a big percent but not much change to the big picture.

    Compare wind:

    25.9% in February 2021 and 39.7% this year.
    I have recently concluded that everything I thought I knew about energy generation is now completely old hat (solid nuclear supply for the core load and then coal/gas to switch on and off, with wind unreliable because you can’t either control or rely on it). Energy storage, dynamic grid management at supplier level, and the efficiency of some of the renewables is just game changing. Though I am a still a big fan of nuclear, but I increasingly find the small, modular reactors the most compelling.
    This is the future

    https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/rolls-royce-begins-search-for-small-nuclear-reactor-sites-17-02-2022/
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 56,231

    BigRich said:

    MattW said:
    looking at that headline - If its possible to cut imports this year by 80% then how does it take another 8 years to cut the remaining 20% ?

    I would have thought it would be very easy (if expensive) to cut gas imports in 4-5 years though a combination of LNG terminals, Fracking, new Pipes, green energy, insulation, and so on. but the problem was/is that very little of that would come on stream before next winter.
    I think it will depend on which countries. I was interested to see yesterday that whilst Germany takes some 50% of its gas from Russia, for some of he smaller Eastern European countries that is 100% . They may struggle to get the necessary infrastructure in place in a short time.
    LNG import is the only way to even vaguely do this. It will have to be existing facilities - you can't build LNG facilities *that* fast. Unless they hire every welder in Boca Chica, to start with.... :-)

    Not sure how this would work.... You definitely can increase imports. I can't see enough for Europe though. Not enough regasification capacity, throughput at existing facilities etc.

    Regas isn't that complicated: natural gas will (on its own) warm up and change from liquid to... err... gas.

    The biggest bottleneck is LNG vessels. And after that it's uncontracted LNG export capacity - the vast bulk of which is in the US.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 27,551

    MattW said:

    ...

    MattW said:

    FF43 said:

    BigRich said:

    MattW said:
    looking at that headline - If its possible to cut imports this year by 80% then how does it take another 8 years to cut the remaining 20% ?

    I would have thought it would be very easy (if expensive) to cut gas imports in 4-5 years though a combination of LNG terminals, Fracking, new Pipes, green energy, insulation, and so on. but the problem was/is that very little of that would come on stream before next winter.
    The EU has already had an enforced cut of 40% this winter thanks to Russia restricting supplies. I'm guessing 80% is relative to the pre crisis amount. Presumably the further 40% is achievable this year by scraping every barrel there is: keeping storage topped up during the summer, switching coal power stations back on, extracting more from existing gas facilities etc. The remaining 20% requires multi year investment: new LNG ships and gas sources, solar panels etc on buildings.

    Interesting speculation in this article. The gap, once all barrels have been scraped could be met by diverting Australia's LNG shipments that currently go to China.

    China hasn't been a reliable partner for Australia recently with a barley embargo and steps to reduce gas shipments. It doesn't even really need Australian gas. Why not divert it to Europe instead?

    https://mobile.twitter.com/M_C_Klein/status/1499042479701561344
    An attempt at working out the arithmetic here, in search of 1600 TWh of energy or savings:
    https://www.rechargenews.com/energy-transition/the-1-600twh-challenge-the-steps-needed-to-wean-europe-off-russian-gas/2-1-1180862

    They seemed to have missed that our renewable generation should be up by a small chunk of that, perhaps 15-18 TWh, this year.
    My wife turning the central heating and gas fires down from 11 (SpinalTap volume, not degrees!) and my offspring turning lights off when they leave a room would be a significant start.
    And bloody Boris getting the larger Green Homes scheme restarted would be even better :smile:
    I understand that on the 23rd March Rishi is to announce a 'Wartime' budget
    Rationing?
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 56,231
    MaxPB said:

    TOPPING said:

    BigRich said:

    MattW said:
    looking at that headline - If its possible to cut imports this year by 80% then how does it take another 8 years to cut the remaining 20% ?

    I would have thought it would be very easy (if expensive) to cut gas imports in 4-5 years though a combination of LNG terminals, Fracking, new Pipes, green energy, insulation, and so on. but the problem was/is that very little of that would come on stream before next winter.
    I think it will depend on which countries. I was interested to see yesterday that whilst Germany takes some 50% of its gas from Russia, for some of he smaller Eastern European countries that is 100% . They may struggle to get the necessary infrastructure in place in a short time.
    IMV this is a message, more than a belief it will happen. Basically, the EU are saying: "Dear Russia, you can try cutting off our gas supply, but it will hurt you more than it hurts us. If you want those lovely petrochemical dollars flowing into your country, how about ending your stupid little war and getting rid of the person who started it?"
    Except that's wrong. It will hurt EU consumers massively. Russia might suffer by selling to China instead but it will manage. EU consumers meanwhile will pay more and likely be subject to shortages and possible rationing.
    Which pipeline will Russia use to sell to China? Aiui most are still in the early phases of construction.
    There is one - relatively small - gas pipeline between China and Russia. There are plans for another, but I don't think it's going to be ready until well into the second half of this decade.
  • MattW said:

    ...

    MattW said:

    FF43 said:

    BigRich said:

    MattW said:
    looking at that headline - If its possible to cut imports this year by 80% then how does it take another 8 years to cut the remaining 20% ?

    I would have thought it would be very easy (if expensive) to cut gas imports in 4-5 years though a combination of LNG terminals, Fracking, new Pipes, green energy, insulation, and so on. but the problem was/is that very little of that would come on stream before next winter.
    The EU has already had an enforced cut of 40% this winter thanks to Russia restricting supplies. I'm guessing 80% is relative to the pre crisis amount. Presumably the further 40% is achievable this year by scraping every barrel there is: keeping storage topped up during the summer, switching coal power stations back on, extracting more from existing gas facilities etc. The remaining 20% requires multi year investment: new LNG ships and gas sources, solar panels etc on buildings.

    Interesting speculation in this article. The gap, once all barrels have been scraped could be met by diverting Australia's LNG shipments that currently go to China.

    China hasn't been a reliable partner for Australia recently with a barley embargo and steps to reduce gas shipments. It doesn't even really need Australian gas. Why not divert it to Europe instead?

    https://mobile.twitter.com/M_C_Klein/status/1499042479701561344
    An attempt at working out the arithmetic here, in search of 1600 TWh of energy or savings:
    https://www.rechargenews.com/energy-transition/the-1-600twh-challenge-the-steps-needed-to-wean-europe-off-russian-gas/2-1-1180862

    They seemed to have missed that our renewable generation should be up by a small chunk of that, perhaps 15-18 TWh, this year.
    My wife turning the central heating and gas fires down from 11 (SpinalTap volume, not degrees!) and my offspring turning lights off when they leave a room would be a significant start.
    And bloody Boris getting the larger Green Homes scheme restarted would be even better :smile:
    I understand that on the 23rd March Rishi is to announce a 'Wartime' budget
    Rationing?
    It will be interesting to see just what he proposes but we have to accept that the west is going to have a reduced standard of living for quite a long time
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 56,231

    These photos of Macron are quite something. Would they have been released if it wasn't an election year?

    Maybe I'm reading more into them than is there, due to my own feelings about Putin, but they don't seem very diplomatic.

    https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1501203496716152841

    The effect of social media on politics, international diplomacy, is fascinating. Would these photos have been released without a decade's use of the Picard facepalm?

    One of the very worst things about Russia's invasion is that I've started to doubt my longstanding dislike of Macron.
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,018
    rcs1000 said:

    These photos of Macron are quite something. Would they have been released if it wasn't an election year?

    Maybe I'm reading more into them than is there, due to my own feelings about Putin, but they don't seem very diplomatic.

    https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1501203496716152841

    The effect of social media on politics, international diplomacy, is fascinating. Would these photos have been released without a decade's use of the Picard facepalm?

    One of the very worst things about Russia's invasion is that I've started to doubt my longstanding dislike of Macron.
    How can you dislike a man that won us lots of money in 2017?
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 48,429
    rcs1000 said:

    BigRich said:

    MattW said:
    looking at that headline - If its possible to cut imports this year by 80% then how does it take another 8 years to cut the remaining 20% ?

    I would have thought it would be very easy (if expensive) to cut gas imports in 4-5 years though a combination of LNG terminals, Fracking, new Pipes, green energy, insulation, and so on. but the problem was/is that very little of that would come on stream before next winter.
    I think it will depend on which countries. I was interested to see yesterday that whilst Germany takes some 50% of its gas from Russia, for some of he smaller Eastern European countries that is 100% . They may struggle to get the necessary infrastructure in place in a short time.
    LNG import is the only way to even vaguely do this. It will have to be existing facilities - you can't build LNG facilities *that* fast. Unless they hire every welder in Boca Chica, to start with.... :-)

    Not sure how this would work.... You definitely can increase imports. I can't see enough for Europe though. Not enough regasification capacity, throughput at existing facilities etc.

    Regas isn't that complicated: natural gas will (on its own) warm up and change from liquid to... err... gas.

    The biggest bottleneck is LNG vessels. And after that it's uncontracted LNG export capacity - the vast bulk of which is in the US.
    Regas trains are fairly complex bits of kit - you want a controlled expansion of the LNG. If nothing else the different fractions have different boiling points. Slugs of gas in liquid and visa versa can be fun fun fun. If you like bangs.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 61,481
    "It is unclear whether Russia will continue to pursue a plan to capture all of Ukraine, the top U.S. intelligence chief said Tuesday. A full military takeover would require more military resources than Russia has currently deployed, Avril D. Haines, the director of national intelligence, told a congressional hearing."

    NY Times

    LOL. They have feck all chance of doing so even if Putin wished to.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 56,231

    In the first two months of this year, we generate 7.5 pp more of our energy usage from renewables. I believe that last year was a bad year for wind, but even so, I will never not be amazed at the rate of change.

    I checked our solar energy generation yesterday for the year to March 22 and the previous year and it was only marginally higher for this year
    In February 2021, 1.85% of demand was met by solar, was 2.2% a year later, i.e. a big percent but not much change to the big picture.

    Compare wind:

    25.9% in February 2021 and 39.7% this year.
    February is not a notably good month for solar! (It's also important to note that a lot of solar simply shows up as declines in demand, as it is used where generated rather than being fed to the grid.)
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 27,551

    Whilst UK Conservatives are nowhere near as loony as US / Canadian Conservatives, it is getting to the point that I am starting to block people self-described as Conservatives on my social media accounts.

    I have had all I can take of bigots, xenophobes, apologists, people obsessed with labelling everything "woke", Qanon, lizard people, Trudeau, Biden, Boris, conspiracies, mask freedom, vaccine freedom, etc, etc, etc....

    I mean WTF is going on in these people's heads?

    A little prejudiced. Have you not heard of Corbynistas or ever read any posts by some English hating SNP posters on here? Plenty of looney Tories, but plenty in other parties too.
    They are not in my social media feeds. I used to vote Conservative so that is where many people I knew where coming from. I used to stand on that side of the political spectrum but it has become really weird.
    Welcome...to the dark side!
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 51,742

    biggles said:

    In the first two months of this year, we generate 7.5 pp more of our energy usage from renewables. I believe that last year was a bad year for wind, but even so, I will never not be amazed at the rate of change.

    I checked our solar energy generation yesterday for the year to March 22 and the previous year and it was only marginally higher for this year
    In February 2021, 1.85% of demand was met by solar, was 2.2% a year later, i.e. a big percent but not much change to the big picture.

    Compare wind:

    25.9% in February 2021 and 39.7% this year.
    I have recently concluded that everything I thought I knew about energy generation is now completely old hat (solid nuclear supply for the core load and then coal/gas to switch on and off, with wind unreliable because you can’t either control or rely on it). Energy storage, dynamic grid management at supplier level, and the efficiency of some of the renewables is just game changing. Though I am a still a big fan of nuclear, but I increasingly find the small, modular reactors the most compelling.
    This is the future

    https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/rolls-royce-begins-search-for-small-nuclear-reactor-sites-17-02-2022/
    When it comes to NIMBYism, the Conservative MPs are going to leave the LibDems in their wake when it comes to having one in their constituency....
  • I may have to give up following the Premier League and Liverpool.

    Premier League close to agreeing huge NFT deal

    Exclusive: 20 clubs could launch officially branded digital assets within the year that could be worth hundreds of millions of pounds

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2022/03/08/premier-league-close-agreeing-huge-nft-deal/
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 56,231

    rcs1000 said:

    BigRich said:

    MattW said:
    looking at that headline - If its possible to cut imports this year by 80% then how does it take another 8 years to cut the remaining 20% ?

    I would have thought it would be very easy (if expensive) to cut gas imports in 4-5 years though a combination of LNG terminals, Fracking, new Pipes, green energy, insulation, and so on. but the problem was/is that very little of that would come on stream before next winter.
    I think it will depend on which countries. I was interested to see yesterday that whilst Germany takes some 50% of its gas from Russia, for some of he smaller Eastern European countries that is 100% . They may struggle to get the necessary infrastructure in place in a short time.
    LNG import is the only way to even vaguely do this. It will have to be existing facilities - you can't build LNG facilities *that* fast. Unless they hire every welder in Boca Chica, to start with.... :-)

    Not sure how this would work.... You definitely can increase imports. I can't see enough for Europe though. Not enough regasification capacity, throughput at existing facilities etc.

    Regas isn't that complicated: natural gas will (on its own) warm up and change from liquid to... err... gas.

    The biggest bottleneck is LNG vessels. And after that it's uncontracted LNG export capacity - the vast bulk of which is in the US.
    Regas trains are fairly complex bits of kit - you want a controlled expansion of the LNG. If nothing else the different fractions have different boiling points. Slugs of gas in liquid and visa versa can be fun fun fun. If you like bangs.
    Have you looked at floating LNG regas? I always thought that was a terrific idea.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 41,478
    Looking at the picture in this article, does Boris have another child?

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-60661895
  • bigglesbiggles Posts: 5,636

    MattW said:

    ...

    MattW said:

    FF43 said:

    BigRich said:

    MattW said:
    looking at that headline - If its possible to cut imports this year by 80% then how does it take another 8 years to cut the remaining 20% ?

    I would have thought it would be very easy (if expensive) to cut gas imports in 4-5 years though a combination of LNG terminals, Fracking, new Pipes, green energy, insulation, and so on. but the problem was/is that very little of that would come on stream before next winter.
    The EU has already had an enforced cut of 40% this winter thanks to Russia restricting supplies. I'm guessing 80% is relative to the pre crisis amount. Presumably the further 40% is achievable this year by scraping every barrel there is: keeping storage topped up during the summer, switching coal power stations back on, extracting more from existing gas facilities etc. The remaining 20% requires multi year investment: new LNG ships and gas sources, solar panels etc on buildings.

    Interesting speculation in this article. The gap, once all barrels have been scraped could be met by diverting Australia's LNG shipments that currently go to China.

    China hasn't been a reliable partner for Australia recently with a barley embargo and steps to reduce gas shipments. It doesn't even really need Australian gas. Why not divert it to Europe instead?

    https://mobile.twitter.com/M_C_Klein/status/1499042479701561344
    An attempt at working out the arithmetic here, in search of 1600 TWh of energy or savings:
    https://www.rechargenews.com/energy-transition/the-1-600twh-challenge-the-steps-needed-to-wean-europe-off-russian-gas/2-1-1180862

    They seemed to have missed that our renewable generation should be up by a small chunk of that, perhaps 15-18 TWh, this year.
    My wife turning the central heating and gas fires down from 11 (SpinalTap volume, not degrees!) and my offspring turning lights off when they leave a room would be a significant start.
    And bloody Boris getting the larger Green Homes scheme restarted would be even better :smile:
    I understand that on the 23rd March Rishi is to announce a 'Wartime' budget
    Rationing?
    A special operation to seize control of France, in order to prevent any chance of war.
  • Beibheirli_CBeibheirli_C Posts: 8,163

    I may have to give up following the Premier League and Liverpool.

    Premier League close to agreeing huge NFT deal

    Exclusive: 20 clubs could launch officially branded digital assets within the year that could be worth hundreds of millions of pounds

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2022/03/08/premier-league-close-agreeing-huge-nft-deal/

    NFT's are the most idiotic thing since Credit Default Swaps were seen as a money-making investment.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 77,440

    "It is unclear whether Russia will continue to pursue a plan to capture all of Ukraine, the top U.S. intelligence chief said Tuesday. A full military takeover would require more military resources than Russia has currently deployed, Avril D. Haines, the director of national intelligence, told a congressional hearing."

    NY Times

    LOL. They have feck all chance of doing so even if Putin wished to.

    Shelling and bombardment of the big cities whilst aiming to hold territory claimed by Luhansk and Donestk republics looks to be the plan to me ?
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,157

    biggles said:

    In the first two months of this year, we generate 7.5 pp more of our energy usage from renewables. I believe that last year was a bad year for wind, but even so, I will never not be amazed at the rate of change.

    I checked our solar energy generation yesterday for the year to March 22 and the previous year and it was only marginally higher for this year
    In February 2021, 1.85% of demand was met by solar, was 2.2% a year later, i.e. a big percent but not much change to the big picture.

    Compare wind:

    25.9% in February 2021 and 39.7% this year.
    I have recently concluded that everything I thought I knew about energy generation is now completely old hat (solid nuclear supply for the core load and then coal/gas to switch on and off, with wind unreliable because you can’t either control or rely on it). Energy storage, dynamic grid management at supplier level, and the efficiency of some of the renewables is just game changing. Though I am a still a big fan of nuclear, but I increasingly find the small, modular reactors the most compelling.
    This is the future

    https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/rolls-royce-begins-search-for-small-nuclear-reactor-sites-17-02-2022/
    When it comes to NIMBYism, the Conservative MPs are going to leave the LibDems in their wake when it comes to having one in their constituency....
    Depends on the localised incentives I guess. If people were offered significantly discounted electricity for supporting it, it might easily tilt the balance. That has been the big misjudgement IMO with a lot of infrastructure improvements.

    Imagine if someone said , hey you can have free electricity or 50% off if you support the local windfarm or nuclear plant. NIMBYism would evaporate like the moral of an invading Russian conscript
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 48,429

    biggles said:

    In the first two months of this year, we generate 7.5 pp more of our energy usage from renewables. I believe that last year was a bad year for wind, but even so, I will never not be amazed at the rate of change.

    I checked our solar energy generation yesterday for the year to March 22 and the previous year and it was only marginally higher for this year
    In February 2021, 1.85% of demand was met by solar, was 2.2% a year later, i.e. a big percent but not much change to the big picture.

    Compare wind:

    25.9% in February 2021 and 39.7% this year.
    I have recently concluded that everything I thought I knew about energy generation is now completely old hat (solid nuclear supply for the core load and then coal/gas to switch on and off, with wind unreliable because you can’t either control or rely on it). Energy storage, dynamic grid management at supplier level, and the efficiency of some of the renewables is just game changing. Though I am a still a big fan of nuclear, but I increasingly find the small, modular reactors the most compelling.
    This is the future

    https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/rolls-royce-begins-search-for-small-nuclear-reactor-sites-17-02-2022/
    When it comes to NIMBYism, the Conservative MPs are going to leave the LibDems in their wake when it comes to having one in their constituency....
    They are, nearly certainly, going to go on the sites of existing nuclear power stations.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,456

    Carnyx said:

    I wonder how long Bully Bercow is going to last in the Labour Party?

    I know a party he could join..

    During my run this afternoon, I had a cold shiver: Boris Johnson may be bad, but imagine if we had had Corbyn as PM over Covid and the Ukraine situation?

    He's been awful over Covid, and instead of sending weapons to Ukraine, he'd probably find a reason to send them to Russia.

    And I also see Chris Williamson's been making an idiot of himself on Twitter: calling on Zelensky to agree to all of Russia's demands.
    When moaning about Bercow just doesn't hit the spot.

    Could you give me a run down on Corbyn's historical attitude to Putin and the Russia of the last 20ish years? I'm sure there's lots out there.
    The ex-leader of the SNP also has quite a lot too.
    Can you document that, as a matter of interest?
    Where have you been? He has his own program on RT, or maybe you missed that? Along with Corbyn, Farage and a few other idiots. They knew how it looked, but they took the money and carried on participating in the propaganda nonetheless.

    They, and the fools who took money from the oligarchs have blood on their hands, but no doubt you will make the exception for the person who is the prime architect of Scottish exceptionalism.
    A chat show about UK politics, with the likes of D. Davis as guests?



  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,157
    biggles said:

    MattW said:

    ...

    MattW said:

    FF43 said:

    BigRich said:

    MattW said:
    looking at that headline - If its possible to cut imports this year by 80% then how does it take another 8 years to cut the remaining 20% ?

    I would have thought it would be very easy (if expensive) to cut gas imports in 4-5 years though a combination of LNG terminals, Fracking, new Pipes, green energy, insulation, and so on. but the problem was/is that very little of that would come on stream before next winter.
    The EU has already had an enforced cut of 40% this winter thanks to Russia restricting supplies. I'm guessing 80% is relative to the pre crisis amount. Presumably the further 40% is achievable this year by scraping every barrel there is: keeping storage topped up during the summer, switching coal power stations back on, extracting more from existing gas facilities etc. The remaining 20% requires multi year investment: new LNG ships and gas sources, solar panels etc on buildings.

    Interesting speculation in this article. The gap, once all barrels have been scraped could be met by diverting Australia's LNG shipments that currently go to China.

    China hasn't been a reliable partner for Australia recently with a barley embargo and steps to reduce gas shipments. It doesn't even really need Australian gas. Why not divert it to Europe instead?

    https://mobile.twitter.com/M_C_Klein/status/1499042479701561344
    An attempt at working out the arithmetic here, in search of 1600 TWh of energy or savings:
    https://www.rechargenews.com/energy-transition/the-1-600twh-challenge-the-steps-needed-to-wean-europe-off-russian-gas/2-1-1180862

    They seemed to have missed that our renewable generation should be up by a small chunk of that, perhaps 15-18 TWh, this year.
    My wife turning the central heating and gas fires down from 11 (SpinalTap volume, not degrees!) and my offspring turning lights off when they leave a room would be a significant start.
    And bloody Boris getting the larger Green Homes scheme restarted would be even better :smile:
    I understand that on the 23rd March Rishi is to announce a 'Wartime' budget
    Rationing?
    A special operation to seize control of France, in order to prevent any chance of war.
    Can I have the Alps please. If not, Nice would be nice
  • Sky breaking

    US and UK to announce a joint ban on Russian oil imports to conclude by December 22
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 41,478

    I wonder how long Bully Bercow is going to last in the Labour Party?

    I know a party he could join..

    During my run this afternoon, I had a cold shiver: Boris Johnson may be bad, but imagine if we had had Corbyn as PM over Covid and the Ukraine situation?

    He's been awful over Covid, and instead of sending weapons to Ukraine, he'd probably find a reason to send them to Russia.

    And I also see Chris Williamson's been making an idiot of himself on Twitter: calling on Zelensky to agree to all of Russia's demands.
    When moaning about Bercow just doesn't hit the spot.

    Could you give me a run down on Corbyn's historical attitude to Putin and the Russia of the last 20ish years? I'm sure there's lots out there.
    I haven't mentioned Bercow.

    0/10 trolling.
    But you mentioned Corbyn which is who I asked you about. I guess that's a no on the run down then.
    I might suggest you re-read your first line.

    Please, if you're going to troll, do a better job.
    I will suggest you work out the difference between mentioning someone and directly asking about someone else.

    0/10 for comprehension.
    Oh, I comprehend perfectly well, thanks.

    You tried one of your snide comments on the wrong target.

    Or shall I ask you about your support of Salmond? ;)
    What support would that be?

    Do toddle off, you passive agressive twerp.
    Nah, I'll stay thanks.

    "Passive aggressive?" I think you and Malc do enough of the aggressive on here. The rest of us don't get a look in.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 27,551

    biggles said:

    In the first two months of this year, we generate 7.5 pp more of our energy usage from renewables. I believe that last year was a bad year for wind, but even so, I will never not be amazed at the rate of change.

    I checked our solar energy generation yesterday for the year to March 22 and the previous year and it was only marginally higher for this year
    In February 2021, 1.85% of demand was met by solar, was 2.2% a year later, i.e. a big percent but not much change to the big picture.

    Compare wind:

    25.9% in February 2021 and 39.7% this year.
    I have recently concluded that everything I thought I knew about energy generation is now completely old hat (solid nuclear supply for the core load and then coal/gas to switch on and off, with wind unreliable because you can’t either control or rely on it). Energy storage, dynamic grid management at supplier level, and the efficiency of some of the renewables is just game changing. Though I am a still a big fan of nuclear, but I increasingly find the small, modular reactors the most compelling.
    This is the future

    https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/rolls-royce-begins-search-for-small-nuclear-reactor-sites-17-02-2022/
    When it comes to NIMBYism, the Conservative MPs are going to leave the LibDems in their wake when it comes to having one in their constituency....
    Are you planning on resurrecting your Swansea Bay Barrage/ Tidal Lagoon scheme? Canning it on the basis of poor "value for money" was a shameful decision by Greg Clark.
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,157
    Carnyx said:

    Carnyx said:

    I wonder how long Bully Bercow is going to last in the Labour Party?

    I know a party he could join..

    During my run this afternoon, I had a cold shiver: Boris Johnson may be bad, but imagine if we had had Corbyn as PM over Covid and the Ukraine situation?

    He's been awful over Covid, and instead of sending weapons to Ukraine, he'd probably find a reason to send them to Russia.

    And I also see Chris Williamson's been making an idiot of himself on Twitter: calling on Zelensky to agree to all of Russia's demands.
    When moaning about Bercow just doesn't hit the spot.

    Could you give me a run down on Corbyn's historical attitude to Putin and the Russia of the last 20ish years? I'm sure there's lots out there.
    The ex-leader of the SNP also has quite a lot too.
    Can you document that, as a matter of interest?
    Where have you been? He has his own program on RT, or maybe you missed that? Along with Corbyn, Farage and a few other idiots. They knew how it looked, but they took the money and carried on participating in the propaganda nonetheless.

    They, and the fools who took money from the oligarchs have blood on their hands, but no doubt you will make the exception for the person who is the prime architect of Scottish exceptionalism.
    A chat show about UK politics, with the likes of D. Davis as guests?



    Ah, you are defending him. Shame on you, and David Davis.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 50,611
    Heat pump installations will soar this summer.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 42,456

    Carnyx said:

    Carnyx said:

    I wonder how long Bully Bercow is going to last in the Labour Party?

    I know a party he could join..

    During my run this afternoon, I had a cold shiver: Boris Johnson may be bad, but imagine if we had had Corbyn as PM over Covid and the Ukraine situation?

    He's been awful over Covid, and instead of sending weapons to Ukraine, he'd probably find a reason to send them to Russia.

    And I also see Chris Williamson's been making an idiot of himself on Twitter: calling on Zelensky to agree to all of Russia's demands.
    When moaning about Bercow just doesn't hit the spot.

    Could you give me a run down on Corbyn's historical attitude to Putin and the Russia of the last 20ish years? I'm sure there's lots out there.
    The ex-leader of the SNP also has quite a lot too.
    Can you document that, as a matter of interest?
    Where have you been? He has his own program on RT, or maybe you missed that? Along with Corbyn, Farage and a few other idiots. They knew how it looked, but they took the money and carried on participating in the propaganda nonetheless.

    They, and the fools who took money from the oligarchs have blood on their hands, but no doubt you will make the exception for the person who is the prime architect of Scottish exceptionalism.
    A chat show about UK politics, with the likes of D. Davis as guests?



    Ah, you are defending him. Shame on you, and David Davis.
    Not defending him - but just checking exactly what you mean by 'propaganda'.
  • bigglesbiggles Posts: 5,636

    Sky breaking

    US and UK to announce a joint ban on Russian oil imports to conclude by December 22

    This is existential for Russia. In the context of net zero by 2050, any move away from their gas and oil will pretty much be irreversible. That’s their economy gone.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 8,380

    Whilst UK Conservatives are nowhere near as loony as US / Canadian Conservatives, it is getting to the point that I am starting to block people self-described as Conservatives on my social media accounts.

    I have had all I can take of bigots, xenophobes, apologists, people obsessed with labelling everything "woke", Qanon, lizard people, Trudeau, Biden, Boris, conspiracies, mask freedom, vaccine freedom, etc, etc, etc....

    I mean WTF is going on in these people's heads?

    A little prejudiced. Have you not heard of Corbynistas or ever read any posts by some English hating SNP posters on here? Plenty of looney Tories, but plenty in other parties too.
    They are not in my social media feeds. I used to vote Conservative so that is where many people I knew where coming from. I used to stand on that side of the political spectrum but it has become really weird.
    The B-word rotted their brains.
    'Boris'?
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 48,429
    rcs1000 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    BigRich said:

    MattW said:
    looking at that headline - If its possible to cut imports this year by 80% then how does it take another 8 years to cut the remaining 20% ?

    I would have thought it would be very easy (if expensive) to cut gas imports in 4-5 years though a combination of LNG terminals, Fracking, new Pipes, green energy, insulation, and so on. but the problem was/is that very little of that would come on stream before next winter.
    I think it will depend on which countries. I was interested to see yesterday that whilst Germany takes some 50% of its gas from Russia, for some of he smaller Eastern European countries that is 100% . They may struggle to get the necessary infrastructure in place in a short time.
    LNG import is the only way to even vaguely do this. It will have to be existing facilities - you can't build LNG facilities *that* fast. Unless they hire every welder in Boca Chica, to start with.... :-)

    Not sure how this would work.... You definitely can increase imports. I can't see enough for Europe though. Not enough regasification capacity, throughput at existing facilities etc.

    Regas isn't that complicated: natural gas will (on its own) warm up and change from liquid to... err... gas.

    The biggest bottleneck is LNG vessels. And after that it's uncontracted LNG export capacity - the vast bulk of which is in the US.
    Regas trains are fairly complex bits of kit - you want a controlled expansion of the LNG. If nothing else the different fractions have different boiling points. Slugs of gas in liquid and visa versa can be fun fun fun. If you like bangs.
    Have you looked at floating LNG regas? I always thought that was a terrific idea.
    Capacity is one question. Another is wastage - methane triple bad for the environment. What happens with excess boil off, if it happens - flaring? - on the land plants, you can have (and do) big buffer tanks..
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 80,371
    edited March 2022
    Former Commons Speaker calls bullying inquiry a 'kangaroo court'

    The former Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow has described the inquiry which found him guilty of bullying a 'kangaroo court'. He said it was 'unjust' and 'hyperbolic' which relied on 'hearsay'.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV5OcXmnNKs

    Total car crash....no no no....no...no....no....

    If he wanted to come across as the opposite of a nasty piece of work, he couldn't have done a worse job.
  • TheWhiteRabbitTheWhiteRabbit Posts: 12,442
    edited March 2022
    rcs1000 said:

    In the first two months of this year, we generate 7.5 pp more of our energy usage from renewables. I believe that last year was a bad year for wind, but even so, I will never not be amazed at the rate of change.

    I checked our solar energy generation yesterday for the year to March 22 and the previous year and it was only marginally higher for this year
    In February 2021, 1.85% of demand was met by solar, was 2.2% a year later, i.e. a big percent but not much change to the big picture.

    Compare wind:

    25.9% in February 2021 and 39.7% this year.
    February is not a notably good month for solar! (It's also important to note that a lot of solar simply shows up as declines in demand, as it is used where generated rather than being fed to the grid.)
    It's the decline in CCGT I'm more interested in. For a brief window on 5 January 2022, supported by imports, we hit a low-point of 6% from UK oil-gas-coal combined. Would have been unthinkable not so long ago.
  • biggles said:

    Sky breaking

    US and UK to announce a joint ban on Russian oil imports to conclude by December 22

    This is existential for Russia. In the context of net zero by 2050, any move away from their gas and oil will pretty much be irreversible. That’s their economy gone.
    I expect HMG will announce new oil and gas licences in the North Sea and Cambo needs revisiting
  • Beibheirli_CBeibheirli_C Posts: 8,163

    Sky breaking

    No.. it is just the weather. The sky will be fine.....
  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,018

    I may have to give up following the Premier League and Liverpool.

    Premier League close to agreeing huge NFT deal

    Exclusive: 20 clubs could launch officially branded digital assets within the year that could be worth hundreds of millions of pounds

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2022/03/08/premier-league-close-agreeing-huge-nft-deal/

    NFT's are the most idiotic thing since Credit Default Swaps were seen as a money-making investment.
    I think you mean CDOs.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 27,551

    Sky breaking

    No.. it is just the weather. The sky will be fine.....
    With all these fossil fuel projects BigG. is resurrecting I am not so sure.

    More renewable technologies please!
  • Beibheirli_CBeibheirli_C Posts: 8,163
    tlg86 said:

    I may have to give up following the Premier League and Liverpool.

    Premier League close to agreeing huge NFT deal

    Exclusive: 20 clubs could launch officially branded digital assets within the year that could be worth hundreds of millions of pounds

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2022/03/08/premier-league-close-agreeing-huge-nft-deal/

    NFT's are the most idiotic thing since Credit Default Swaps were seen as a money-making investment.
    I think you mean CDOs.
    Whatever. CDO, CDS...... in the words of the song "2 outta 3 ain't bad" :D
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 61,481
    Ragıp Soylu
    @ragipsoylu
    ·
    5h
    China says China, Germany and France should jointly support peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, per Jinping’s statement to Chinese state media

    https://twitter.com/ragipsoylu
  • eekeek Posts: 27,481

    biggles said:

    In the first two months of this year, we generate 7.5 pp more of our energy usage from renewables. I believe that last year was a bad year for wind, but even so, I will never not be amazed at the rate of change.

    I checked our solar energy generation yesterday for the year to March 22 and the previous year and it was only marginally higher for this year
    In February 2021, 1.85% of demand was met by solar, was 2.2% a year later, i.e. a big percent but not much change to the big picture.

    Compare wind:

    25.9% in February 2021 and 39.7% this year.
    I have recently concluded that everything I thought I knew about energy generation is now completely old hat (solid nuclear supply for the core load and then coal/gas to switch on and off, with wind unreliable because you can’t either control or rely on it). Energy storage, dynamic grid management at supplier level, and the efficiency of some of the renewables is just game changing. Though I am a still a big fan of nuclear, but I increasingly find the small, modular reactors the most compelling.
    This is the future

    https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/rolls-royce-begins-search-for-small-nuclear-reactor-sites-17-02-2022/
    When it comes to NIMBYism, the Conservative MPs are going to leave the LibDems in their wake when it comes to having one in their constituency....
    They are, nearly certainly, going to go on the sites of existing nuclear power stations.
    +1 - literally zero point putting them elsewhere when the security and infrastructure to connect them to the national grid already exists.
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,157
    Carnyx said:

    Carnyx said:

    Carnyx said:

    I wonder how long Bully Bercow is going to last in the Labour Party?

    I know a party he could join..

    During my run this afternoon, I had a cold shiver: Boris Johnson may be bad, but imagine if we had had Corbyn as PM over Covid and the Ukraine situation?

    He's been awful over Covid, and instead of sending weapons to Ukraine, he'd probably find a reason to send them to Russia.

    And I also see Chris Williamson's been making an idiot of himself on Twitter: calling on Zelensky to agree to all of Russia's demands.
    When moaning about Bercow just doesn't hit the spot.

    Could you give me a run down on Corbyn's historical attitude to Putin and the Russia of the last 20ish years? I'm sure there's lots out there.
    The ex-leader of the SNP also has quite a lot too.
    Can you document that, as a matter of interest?
    Where have you been? He has his own program on RT, or maybe you missed that? Along with Corbyn, Farage and a few other idiots. They knew how it looked, but they took the money and carried on participating in the propaganda nonetheless.

    They, and the fools who took money from the oligarchs have blood on their hands, but no doubt you will make the exception for the person who is the prime architect of Scottish exceptionalism.
    A chat show about UK politics, with the likes of D. Davis as guests?



    Ah, you are defending him. Shame on you, and David Davis.
    Not defending him - but just checking exactly what you mean by 'propaganda'.
    Have you ever tuned in to RT news? One of the things about media generally, whether mass media or social media, is to legitimise the content. This is why people who think that Putin has not tried to influence our politics are so fecking stupid.

    Salmond, Corbyn et al must have known that at some time before or after his "chat show" there would be fake news being propagated. Even if his own content was wonderfully balanced (unlikely) and not propaganda he has managed to assist with the propaganda effort. Much as I despise the fat little toad, I don't think he is stupid. He knew. People who defend him are defending the indefensible.
  • TheValiantTheValiant Posts: 1,871
    Aslan said:
    Bastards.
    No way you could mistake that car for anything other than a civilian vehicle.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,273
    Biden to speak soon.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 61,481
    edited March 2022
    biggles said:

    Sky breaking

    US and UK to announce a joint ban on Russian oil imports to conclude by December 22

    This is existential for Russia. In the context of net zero by 2050, any move away from their gas and oil will pretty much be irreversible. That’s their economy gone.
    Not sure UK and US use much RU oil?

    Seems like though rest of West will follow now. Poland pushing hard for this.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 62,028
    edited March 2022

    Sky breaking

    No.. it is just the weather. The sky will be fine.....
    With all these fossil fuel projects BigG. is resurrecting I am not so sure.

    More renewable technologies please!
    Transition becomes essential to addressing the cost of living and energy crisis in the coming years

    Otherwise we import from Russia and elsewhere rather than being self sufficient
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,275
    edited March 2022
    Nigelb said:

    We’re outside the UK visa application centre in Rzezsow, Poland.

    It’s -3 degrees. People have been waiting in this queue for 3 hours.

    There are children here. An 84 year old woman.

    And plenty of room inside, but they won’t open the door.

    https://twitter.com/mattuthompson/status/1501175179329916930

    Surely this can NOT be true, Shirley? Not from "world-beating" Britain.

    Personally suspect that "world-beating" will soon enter the historical lexicon next to "missed the bus".

    I wonder how long Bully Bercow is going to last in the Labour Party?

    I know a party he could join..

    During my run this afternoon, I had a cold shiver: Boris Johnson may be bad, but imagine if we had had Corbyn as PM over Covid and the Ukraine situation?

    He's been awful over Covid, and instead of sending weapons to Ukraine, he'd probably find a reason to send them to Russia.

    And I also see Chris Williamson's been making an idiot of himself on Twitter: calling on Zelensky to agree to all of Russia's demands.
    Whenever you get situations like this, the useful idiots always show themselves up. Lembit Opik has appeared, claiming its the west's fault, his carefully considered position based upon watching an Oliver Stone film about Putin.
    I pity Putin (not really) for the caliber of his peanut gallery.

    Though having Optik backing you is IMHO far LES embarrassing that being supported by one of our usual PB suspect.

    Including those who (out of deliberate policy or personality disorder) calling on PB for genocidal action against the Russian people. Talk about yer "useful idots!" As suchlike are clearly playing into Putin's game.

    EDIT - Yes, thank God that NEITHER Corbyn OR 45 are heading UK & US governments at this juncture.

    Indeed, will go so far as to say the Lard Ball currently infesting No. 10 is SUPERIOR to the Yard Gnome. Albeit a VERY low standard.
  • BurgessianBurgessian Posts: 2,664
    Quite an interesting in the Speccy on the position of Turkey in all of this.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/could-turkey-rejoin-the-west-

    However I was struck by this:

    "For now, Turkey is proving one of Nato’s biggest assets. Ankara has sent multiple shipments of its sophisticated Bayraktar attack drone to Kiev, effectively handing over the capability to destroy Russian armour from the air. In the Armenian conflict, the unmanned aerial vehicle swung the fighting in favour of Turkey’s close ally, Azerbaijan, and was responsible for devastating Armenia’s armed forces."

    Is it really the case that Turkey has unique ownership of this tank-busting wonder weapon? No equivalents anywhere? Does the UK possess drones like these?
  • MattWMattW Posts: 21,886
    edited March 2022
    biggles said:

    In the first two months of this year, we generate 7.5 pp more of our energy usage from renewables. I believe that last year was a bad year for wind, but even so, I will never not be amazed at the rate of change.

    I checked our solar energy generation yesterday for the year to March 22 and the previous year and it was only marginally higher for this year
    In February 2021, 1.85% of demand was met by solar, was 2.2% a year later, i.e. a big percent but not much change to the big picture.

    Compare wind:

    25.9% in February 2021 and 39.7% this year.
    I have recently concluded that everything I thought I knew about energy generation is now completely old hat (solid nuclear supply for the core load and then coal/gas to switch on and off, with wind unreliable because you can’t either control or rely on it). Energy storage, dynamic grid management at supplier level, and the efficiency of some of the renewables is just game changing. Though I am a still a big fan of nuclear, but I increasingly find the small, modular reactors the most compelling.
    There's a really huge jump coming this year in offshore wind - I was wondering about doing a piece, but it would be quite data heavy.

    In 2022 three new fields (Triton Knoll, Hornsea 1 and Moray East) will bring about 2.8 GW of new capacity onstream, which equates to just over half that of power delivered ie say ~1.5GW.

    The average demand for electricity in the UK is something like 35GW, so that is 4-5% extra of total elec demand coming on stream in one year.

    The other very major investment programme at present is that there are a large number of interconnectors being created from UK to mainland Europe over the past and next year or two.

    Quite how that plays into the whole thing is a bit complex.

    France will do well on the trade balances - they export 10% or so of their generation. Not sure how much extra capacity they have, though.

    Unfortunately the Govt are stupid about the way they deal with the pricing issue, and insist on buggering about with the demand side.

    It's a good time to be getting into solar; I'll be giving my panels a good clean early this year.


  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 27,551

    Sky breaking

    No.. it is just the weather. The sky will be fine.....
    With all these fossil fuel projects BigG. is resurrecting I am not so sure.

    More renewable technologies please!
    Transition becomes essential to addressing the cost of living and energy crisis in the coming years

    Otherwise we import from Russia and elsewhere rather than being self sufficient
    Hmmm, maybe. But no fracking licences in Llandow please.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 61,481
    Maria Tadeo
    @mariatad
    Official tells me USA ban doesn’t change much in real terms, but puts Germany in a very uncomfortable position. Optics bad.

    - European leaders begin a two-day summit on Thursday in Paris

    https://twitter.com/mariatad/status/1501195847081644042
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 41,478
    biggles said:

    Sky breaking

    US and UK to announce a joint ban on Russian oil imports to conclude by December 22

    This is existential for Russia. In the context of net zero by 2050, any move away from their gas and oil will pretty much be irreversible. That’s their economy gone.
    And it is a tragedy. Russia has wasted at least twenty years when it could have leveraged its massive human, industrial and environmental resources to build a world-beating industrial and economic base. Instead a few people got very, very rich. Their GDP per capita is well under a half of ours.

    And it will get worse. Putin spent billions on the Olympics to improve Russia's image. All of that image was destroyed when he attacked Ukraine.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 53,290
    More unspeakable horror in Ukraine today

    And I fear Russia is now advancing swiftly in the south, meaning they can take the whole Black Sea coast, and largely win the war that way
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 61,481
    1/3 of German oil comes from RU.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 51,742

    It looks like the Moscow Exchange is still expected to open tomorrow.

    Will it? I guess we'll find out.

    Buy red ink, there is gonna be a world shortage....
  • MattWMattW Posts: 21,886
    edited March 2022

    Quite an interesting in the Speccy on the position of Turkey in all of this.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/could-turkey-rejoin-the-west-

    However I was struck by this:

    "For now, Turkey is proving one of Nato’s biggest assets. Ankara has sent multiple shipments of its sophisticated Bayraktar attack drone to Kiev, effectively handing over the capability to destroy Russian armour from the air. In the Armenian conflict, the unmanned aerial vehicle swung the fighting in favour of Turkey’s close ally, Azerbaijan, and was responsible for devastating Armenia’s armed forces."

    Is it really the case that Turkey has unique ownership of this tank-busting wonder weapon? No equivalents anywhere? Does the UK possess drones like these?

    They deliver somewhat less performance than the first line version from 'premier' countries, but at a considerably lower cost.

    I think we've had US drones that do a better job, but at 3 (?) times the cost - 5m vs 15-20m. Not sure if we have developed any of our own to reach service yet that actually carry weapons.
  • Former Commons Speaker calls bullying inquiry a 'kangaroo court'

    The former Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow has described the inquiry which found him guilty of bullying a 'kangaroo court'. He said it was 'unjust' and 'hyperbolic' which relied on 'hearsay'.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV5OcXmnNKs

    Total car crash....no no no....no...no....no....

    If he wanted to come across as the opposite of a nasty piece of work, he couldn't have done a worse job.

    John Bercow and Owen Paterson were separated at birth, it can be the only explanation.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 51,103

    United Nations bans staff from using ‘war’ or ‘invasion’ regarding Ukraine

    Email on communications policy reminds staff of their responsibility to ‘be impartial’


    https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/united-nations-bans-staff-from-using-war-or-invasion-regarding-ukraine-1.4821438

    WTF?
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,157
    Leon said:

    More unspeakable horror in Ukraine today

    And I fear Russia is now advancing swiftly in the south, meaning they can take the whole Black Sea coast, and largely win the war that way

    Your optimism is inspirational as ever.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,362
    BREAKING: Former Conservative MP Richard Harrington has been given a peerage and appointed Minister for Refugees across the Home Office and DLUHC.

    He was previously minister for Syrian refugees under David Cameron and Theresa May

    https://twitter.com/hzeffman/status/1501231041667006464
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 61,481

    Maria Tadeo
    @mariatad
    ·
    41m
    Russia says it has 400 huge buses ready to take people out but Ukraine isn’t helping. The Ukrainian government says reason why buses are empty is people don’t want to go to Russia, they want to go West. Yesterday, Macron said Kremlin could not reroute people like that.

    https://twitter.com/mariatad

    ===

    Who can blame them? Seems a death sentence now to be transported to Russia.
  • Beibheirli_CBeibheirli_C Posts: 8,163

    Nigelb said:

    We’re outside the UK visa application centre in Rzezsow, Poland.

    It’s -3 degrees. People have been waiting in this queue for 3 hours.

    There are children here. An 84 year old woman.

    And plenty of room inside, but they won’t open the door.

    https://twitter.com/mattuthompson/status/1501175179329916930

    Surely this can NOT be true, Shirley? Not from "world-beating" Britain.
    We elected a govt on the basis of "Keep Forriners Out". Look at the Home Secretary' attempts to have migrants and refugees turned back out to sea in violation of International Law.

    The govt are doing what they were elected to do
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 41,478

    Quite an interesting in the Speccy on the position of Turkey in all of this.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/could-turkey-rejoin-the-west-

    However I was struck by this:

    "For now, Turkey is proving one of Nato’s biggest assets. Ankara has sent multiple shipments of its sophisticated Bayraktar attack drone to Kiev, effectively handing over the capability to destroy Russian armour from the air. In the Armenian conflict, the unmanned aerial vehicle swung the fighting in favour of Turkey’s close ally, Azerbaijan, and was responsible for devastating Armenia’s armed forces."

    Is it really the case that Turkey has unique ownership of this tank-busting wonder weapon? No equivalents anywhere? Does the UK possess drones like these?

    AIUI, no. We've been developing them, but they're trapped in typical military-development Hell. It's annoying, as we've been frittering around the edges of UCAVs for years. Allegedly.

    https://www.flightglobal.com/defence/uks-unmanned-mosquito-on-track-for-2023-first-flight/145486.article
  • rcs1000 said:

    In the first two months of this year, we generate 7.5 pp more of our energy usage from renewables. I believe that last year was a bad year for wind, but even so, I will never not be amazed at the rate of change.

    I checked our solar energy generation yesterday for the year to March 22 and the previous year and it was only marginally higher for this year
    In February 2021, 1.85% of demand was met by solar, was 2.2% a year later, i.e. a big percent but not much change to the big picture.

    Compare wind:

    25.9% in February 2021 and 39.7% this year.
    February is not a notably good month for solar! (It's also important to note that a lot of solar simply shows up as declines in demand, as it is used where generated rather than being fed to the grid.)
    The first point is precisely why solar is a red herring for the UK!

    We aren't California or Sydney using electricity to power air conditioning, we need our power for central heating in the middle of winter - and that's only going to get worse as more people switch from gas to electric heating.

    Our electricity demand peaks when solar supply dims. Its completely countercyclical to what we actually need.
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 21,869
    rcs1000 said:

    rcs1000 said:

    BigRich said:

    MattW said:
    looking at that headline - If its possible to cut imports this year by 80% then how does it take another 8 years to cut the remaining 20% ?

    I would have thought it would be very easy (if expensive) to cut gas imports in 4-5 years though a combination of LNG terminals, Fracking, new Pipes, green energy, insulation, and so on. but the problem was/is that very little of that would come on stream before next winter.
    I think it will depend on which countries. I was interested to see yesterday that whilst Germany takes some 50% of its gas from Russia, for some of he smaller Eastern European countries that is 100% . They may struggle to get the necessary infrastructure in place in a short time.
    LNG import is the only way to even vaguely do this. It will have to be existing facilities - you can't build LNG facilities *that* fast. Unless they hire every welder in Boca Chica, to start with.... :-)

    Not sure how this would work.... You definitely can increase imports. I can't see enough for Europe though. Not enough regasification capacity, throughput at existing facilities etc.

    Regas isn't that complicated: natural gas will (on its own) warm up and change from liquid to... err... gas.

    The biggest bottleneck is LNG vessels. And after that it's uncontracted LNG export capacity - the vast bulk of which is in the US.
    Regas trains are fairly complex bits of kit - you want a controlled expansion of the LNG. If nothing else the different fractions have different boiling points. Slugs of gas in liquid and visa versa can be fun fun fun. If you like bangs.
    Have you looked at floating LNG regas? I always thought that was a terrific idea.
    The lead process engineer on one of the UK's LNG import terminals says "Hello!"
  • BurgessianBurgessian Posts: 2,664
    MattW said:

    Quite an interesting in the Speccy on the position of Turkey in all of this.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/could-turkey-rejoin-the-west-

    However I was struck by this:

    "For now, Turkey is proving one of Nato’s biggest assets. Ankara has sent multiple shipments of its sophisticated Bayraktar attack drone to Kiev, effectively handing over the capability to destroy Russian armour from the air. In the Armenian conflict, the unmanned aerial vehicle swung the fighting in favour of Turkey’s close ally, Azerbaijan, and was responsible for devastating Armenia’s armed forces."

    Is it really the case that Turkey has unique ownership of this tank-busting wonder weapon? No equivalents anywhere? Does the UK possess drones like these?

    They deliver somewhat less performance than the first line version from 'premier' countries, but at a considerably lower cost.

    I think we've had US drones that do a better job, but at 3 (?) times the cost - 5m vs 15-20m. Not sure if we have developed any of our own yet.
    Thanks, interesting. There's always someone on PB who has an insight, no matter the subject!
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,275
    Nigelb said:

    Nigelb said:

    Labour's @AnnelieseDodds slams Foreign Secretary Liz Truss for twice incorrectly claiming that she sought to slow down the UK government's ability to sanction individuals.
    This comes a day after Truss incorrectly claimed the same about
    @RhonddaBryant and was forced to apologise.

    https://twitter.com/AdamJSchwarz/status/1501195997866831877

    Fizzy Lizzy is furious with Labour for their failure to sanction Russian Conservative Party donors? You'll need to explain that one to me in simple language I can understand. A tall order I know.
    When you're pwned by Anneliese Dodds, it's time to recognise the faux Thatcher act is over.
    Was appointing Liz Truss to as Foreign Secretary is the Prime Ministers way of demonstrating that he was NOT the most pathetic holder of that high office under a Conservative government?
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 51,742

    biggles said:

    In the first two months of this year, we generate 7.5 pp more of our energy usage from renewables. I believe that last year was a bad year for wind, but even so, I will never not be amazed at the rate of change.

    I checked our solar energy generation yesterday for the year to March 22 and the previous year and it was only marginally higher for this year
    In February 2021, 1.85% of demand was met by solar, was 2.2% a year later, i.e. a big percent but not much change to the big picture.

    Compare wind:

    25.9% in February 2021 and 39.7% this year.
    I have recently concluded that everything I thought I knew about energy generation is now completely old hat (solid nuclear supply for the core load and then coal/gas to switch on and off, with wind unreliable because you can’t either control or rely on it). Energy storage, dynamic grid management at supplier level, and the efficiency of some of the renewables is just game changing. Though I am a still a big fan of nuclear, but I increasingly find the small, modular reactors the most compelling.
    This is the future

    https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/rolls-royce-begins-search-for-small-nuclear-reactor-sites-17-02-2022/
    When it comes to NIMBYism, the Conservative MPs are going to leave the LibDems in their wake when it comes to having one in their constituency....
    Are you planning on resurrecting your Swansea Bay Barrage/ Tidal Lagoon scheme? Canning it on the basis of poor "value for money" was a shameful decision by Greg Clark.
    It's all there, ready to go.

    Just needs Boris to deliver on his words in the leadership hustings in Wales that he was a big fan.

    Yeah, right.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 48,429

    Aslan said:
    Bastards.
    No way you could mistake that car for anything other than a civilian vehicle.
    During the German invasion of Belgium in WWI, civilians were often massacred as a result of panicked troops believing that everyone was a secret sniper (franc-tireur). German troop started by shooting at everything they met....
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 51,103
    Is it just me, or are the Russians all of a sudden making big gains in Lugansk Region in the Donbass?

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/2022_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine.svg
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 61,481
    Leon said:

    More unspeakable horror in Ukraine today

    And I fear Russia is now advancing swiftly in the south, meaning they can take the whole Black Sea coast, and largely win the war that way

    Not sure how that "wins" the war?
  • BurgessianBurgessian Posts: 2,664
    Scott_xP said:

    BREAKING: Former Conservative MP Richard Harrington has been given a peerage and appointed Minister for Refugees across the Home Office and DLUHC.

    He was previously minister for Syrian refugees under David Cameron and Theresa May

    https://twitter.com/hzeffman/status/1501231041667006464

    That sounds like hopeful news. I believe Harrington had a reputation as an effective minister. Had whip withdrawn over Brexit, so shows Boris capable of reaching out to bring in talent. Let's hope so, anyway.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 61,481
    Biden now speaking on RU oil ban.

  • tlg86tlg86 Posts: 26,018

    Former Commons Speaker calls bullying inquiry a 'kangaroo court'

    The former Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow has described the inquiry which found him guilty of bullying a 'kangaroo court'. He said it was 'unjust' and 'hyperbolic' which relied on 'hearsay'.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV5OcXmnNKs

    Total car crash....no no no....no...no....no....

    If he wanted to come across as the opposite of a nasty piece of work, he couldn't have done a worse job.

    John Bercow and Owen Paterson were separated at birth, it can be the only explanation.
    I hate to break it to you, but you're the second person to have made that comment today.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,161
    rcs1000 said:

    MaxPB said:

    TOPPING said:

    BigRich said:

    MattW said:
    looking at that headline - If its possible to cut imports this year by 80% then how does it take another 8 years to cut the remaining 20% ?

    I would have thought it would be very easy (if expensive) to cut gas imports in 4-5 years though a combination of LNG terminals, Fracking, new Pipes, green energy, insulation, and so on. but the problem was/is that very little of that would come on stream before next winter.
    I think it will depend on which countries. I was interested to see yesterday that whilst Germany takes some 50% of its gas from Russia, for some of he smaller Eastern European countries that is 100% . They may struggle to get the necessary infrastructure in place in a short time.
    IMV this is a message, more than a belief it will happen. Basically, the EU are saying: "Dear Russia, you can try cutting off our gas supply, but it will hurt you more than it hurts us. If you want those lovely petrochemical dollars flowing into your country, how about ending your stupid little war and getting rid of the person who started it?"
    Except that's wrong. It will hurt EU consumers massively. Russia might suffer by selling to China instead but it will manage. EU consumers meanwhile will pay more and likely be subject to shortages and possible rationing.
    Which pipeline will Russia use to sell to China? Aiui most are still in the early phases of construction.
    There is one - relatively small - gas pipeline between China and Russia. There are plans for another, but I don't think it's going to be ready until well into the second half of this decade.
    Which was my point, there's no way for Russia to sell China the gas in enough quantity to make up for turning off NS1.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,273

    United Nations bans staff from using ‘war’ or ‘invasion’ regarding Ukraine

    Email on communications policy reminds staff of their responsibility to ‘be impartial’


    https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/united-nations-bans-staff-from-using-war-or-invasion-regarding-ukraine-1.4821438

    WTF?
    It's fake news.
    UN denies it. No staff have received such an email.
    Quite how it got past the Irish Times I dunno.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 50,611

    Ragıp Soylu
    @ragipsoylu
    ·
    5h
    China says China, Germany and France should jointly support peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, per Jinping’s statement to Chinese state media

    https://twitter.com/ragipsoylu

    It's interesting that China is trying to divide the West.
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,275
    MISTY said:

    Sean_F said:

    HYUFD said:

    kyf_100 said:

    OK, a crazy idea. But not much crazier than the Boris Bridge or Boris Island, or any of Boris's other pet projects.

    We offer to take 500k Ukrainian refugees... and we build a city to house them. Let's call it New Kyiv, and let's put it somewhere in the red wall. Tons of new construction work, infrastructure, jobs. Levelling up. We have built "new towns" before so a completely planned new town (or two) isn't beyond the realms of possibilities. Starting with tents tomorrow, prefabs next month and real bricks and mortar by next year.

    A shining example of our solidarity with our Ukrainian brothers and sisters, and even if the damn thing never gets built, it's a headline grabber for Big Dog.

    Fine, just build it in the middle of central belt Scotland where Sturgeon says they love mass immigration, not the redwall
    I'd build it in Surrey.
    Nah Hampstead.
    Epping! With HYFUD as head of the Welcoming Committee.

    Would LOVE to be there, when he explains to Ukrainian refugees that the war is THEIR fault! Rather doubt his renowned skill at repetitive "rebuttal" would be of much (read any) utility.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,273
    Scott_xP said:

    BREAKING: Former Conservative MP Richard Harrington has been given a peerage and appointed Minister for Refugees across the Home Office and DLUHC.

    He was previously minister for Syrian refugees under David Cameron and Theresa May

    https://twitter.com/hzeffman/status/1501231041667006464

    Well.
    At least they didn't give the job to Sir Gavin.
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,157
    tlg86 said:

    Former Commons Speaker calls bullying inquiry a 'kangaroo court'

    The former Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow has described the inquiry which found him guilty of bullying a 'kangaroo court'. He said it was 'unjust' and 'hyperbolic' which relied on 'hearsay'.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV5OcXmnNKs

    Total car crash....no no no....no...no....no....

    If he wanted to come across as the opposite of a nasty piece of work, he couldn't have done a worse job.

    John Bercow and Owen Paterson were separated at birth, it can be the only explanation.
    I hate to break it to you, but you're the second person to have made that comment today.
    Was it the person he was separated at birth from perhaps?
  • NorthofStokeNorthofStoke Posts: 1,758

    Sky breaking

    No.. it is just the weather. The sky will be fine.....
    With all these fossil fuel projects BigG. is resurrecting I am not so sure.

    More renewable technologies please!
    Transition becomes essential to addressing the cost of living and energy crisis in the coming years

    Otherwise we import from Russia and elsewhere rather than being self sufficient
    I completely agree. Unfortunately many are far too optimistic about renewables. We also need some flexibility if (when) Net Zero falters. Very few (any?) innovative large scale engineering projects are completed on schedule and to estimated costs. Net Zero is dozens of them with interconnections and dependencies. People who should know better are ignoring their own experience and education to promote reckless optimistic scenarios.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 48,429

    MattW said:

    Quite an interesting in the Speccy on the position of Turkey in all of this.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/could-turkey-rejoin-the-west-

    However I was struck by this:

    "For now, Turkey is proving one of Nato’s biggest assets. Ankara has sent multiple shipments of its sophisticated Bayraktar attack drone to Kiev, effectively handing over the capability to destroy Russian armour from the air. In the Armenian conflict, the unmanned aerial vehicle swung the fighting in favour of Turkey’s close ally, Azerbaijan, and was responsible for devastating Armenia’s armed forces."

    Is it really the case that Turkey has unique ownership of this tank-busting wonder weapon? No equivalents anywhere? Does the UK possess drones like these?

    They deliver somewhat less performance than the first line version from 'premier' countries, but at a considerably lower cost.

    I think we've had US drones that do a better job, but at 3 (?) times the cost - 5m vs 15-20m. Not sure if we have developed any of our own yet.
    Thanks, interesting. There's always someone on PB who has an insight, no matter the subject!
    Even more interesting, perhaps, are the claims associated with mini-drones.

    https://uadynamics.com

    These things are essentially largish model aircraft, dropping payloads of 3Kg - few grenades worth.

    There are claims that they have been successfully attacking fuel trains etc at a range of 15 miles+

    The chaps at your local remote control flying club could build one....

    image

    I've no idea of the truth of these claims....
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,161

    Ragıp Soylu
    @ragipsoylu
    ·
    5h
    China says China, Germany and France should jointly support peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, per Jinping’s statement to Chinese state media

    https://twitter.com/ragipsoylu

    It's interesting that China is trying to divide the West.
    They see Macron and Scholz as not having the resolve to see it through, IMO. Macron specifically seems to have been sounding Putin out with various peace deals that go way further than the settled NATO position of full withdrawal.
  • Biden can't say "united"

    He says "unined"
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,275

    Nigelb said:

    We’re outside the UK visa application centre in Rzezsow, Poland.

    It’s -3 degrees. People have been waiting in this queue for 3 hours.

    There are children here. An 84 year old woman.

    And plenty of room inside, but they won’t open the door.

    https://twitter.com/mattuthompson/status/1501175179329916930

    Surely this can NOT be true, Shirley? Not from "world-beating" Britain.
    We elected a govt on the basis of "Keep Forriners Out". Look at the Home Secretary' attempts to have migrants and refugees turned back out to sea in violation of International Law.

    The govt are doing what they were elected to do
    And lying about what they are doing, and why.
  • MaxPB said:

    Ragıp Soylu
    @ragipsoylu
    ·
    5h
    China says China, Germany and France should jointly support peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, per Jinping’s statement to Chinese state media

    https://twitter.com/ragipsoylu

    It's interesting that China is trying to divide the West.
    They see Macron and Scholz as not having the resolve to see it through, IMO. Macron specifically seems to have been sounding Putin out with various peace deals that go way further than the settled NATO position of full withdrawal.
    Putin is losing this war and must be seen to lose it.

    No peace without full withdrawal, including from the Donbass and potentially Crimea, and reparations.

    No face saving or partial victory for Biden. He must be seen to be humiliated so nobody does this again.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,271

    Biden can't say "united"

    He says "unined"

    Fascinating.
  • Stark_DawningStark_Dawning Posts: 9,599
    dixiedean said:

    United Nations bans staff from using ‘war’ or ‘invasion’ regarding Ukraine

    Email on communications policy reminds staff of their responsibility to ‘be impartial’


    https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/united-nations-bans-staff-from-using-war-or-invasion-regarding-ukraine-1.4821438

    WTF?
    It's fake news.
    UN denies it. No staff have received such an email.
    Quite how it got past the Irish Times I dunno.
    Taken in by some spoofery on social media I imagine.
  • Biden can't say "united"

    He says "unined"

    Fascinating.
    He's President of the Unined States.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 41,261

    Whilst UK Conservatives are nowhere near as loony as US / Canadian Conservatives, it is getting to the point that I am starting to block people self-described as Conservatives on my social media accounts.

    I have had all I can take of bigots, xenophobes, apologists, people obsessed with labelling everything "woke", Qanon, lizard people, Trudeau, Biden, Boris, conspiracies, mask freedom, vaccine freedom, etc, etc, etc....

    I mean WTF is going on in these people's heads?

    I'm sick and tired of hearing things from alt-right, blockheaded, gaslighting, keyboard soldiers ... wtf won't they stop, man? ... oh wtf won't they stop?
This discussion has been closed.