Another very bad set of local election results for the Tories this week? Lancaster Warton massive swing to Greens, looks like the anti Con vote again found one voice.
Hence the need for the tax on extraction to be local. Give the residents a big cheque, and watch the opposition disappear.
What was discovered in Lancashire was that even a very big cheque only satisified a few people and even fewer once the earthquakes kicked off.
The local jokes that separating Blackpool was both a good idea and the original plan may not have helped.
The reality is however that Fracking in the UK is another fools errand - it doesn't seem to exist in economic quantities and everywhere where it's been attempted the actual amount accessible gas has been significantly smaller - 10-25% than the amount expected.
On topic, the way we ‘deal with’ fracking is easy - we allow the taxes on it to be raised locally, so everyone in the district gets a cheque instead of a council tax bill.
I think locals to fracking sites will get reduced gas bills, which they will no doubt be delighted with.
To answer the thread, Truss's plans will of course continue unaffected - this is an energy crisis. The King (have to get used to that!) will not pick a fight whereby his wealth, privilege and power is used to stamp on something that could reduce ordinary peoples' fuel bills.
Sure, reduced gas bills are a really great help if there is a connector every few hundred metres for miles, and cracks in the walls and zero equity. And UK land fracking is bloody useless anyway compared to the other options. I can't understand the rightwingers' obsession - it's the energy equivalent of slavetrader statues.
What utter nonsense. In what world is lifting a ban on a commercial activity 'an obsession' with it? Accessible gas cannot be conjoured into existence. Either it will work, or it won't. Let the geology decide.
The geology has already decided. Unless you know more than our oil geologists and economists and anyone with some common sense?
Then nobody will want to do any fracking will they? Problem solved.
The people banging on the loudest about how fracking won't work don't seem really worried that it won't work, they seem worried that given the chance that it will.
They're worried because it won't work and we've meantime wasted a great deal of time and energy getting nowhere with a proper energy strategy. You wouldn't include cold fusion or perpetual motion machines, would you?
'We' will have not wasted anything; the Government is not proposing to subsidise fracking. Companies will take the risk and earn any potential reward. Your position on this is wholly absurd.
Companies won't necessarily take all the risk. There are many externalities, from earthquakes to pollution of the water table, and it's the local region who have to take those risks.
PB Tories are desperate for Truss to have a bounce
Sounds like you could be worried she may well get a bounce, and indeed why should any conservative not hope to see an improvement in their standing, just as you want to see the same for labour
It is simply politics
with the Queen's death destroying the energy cap news - it's perfectly plausible that Truss and the Tories won't see the benefit in the polls from that cap....
Another very bad set of local election results for the Tories this week? Lancaster Warton massive swing to Greens, looks like the anti Con vote again found one voice.
I'm looking at the Next LP Leader markets - working on the assumption that Starmer will remain for a few years and trying to find a long-shot analogous to 100/1 Truss.
Unbelievably Burnham is still a pretty strong favourite at 5.7 (BF). Then Reeves 8.4, Rayner 8.8, Streeting 10.
Anyone spot a lesser-known possibility way back in the field worthy of a long-term punt. Lucy Powell?
I guess (other than being hit by a bus) he either becomes PM in 2024 and is in for some years or he gets replaced that year. Both possibilities exclude Burnham, as you say, and one would think there’s going to be a generation shift. I’d be looking for a 2015 vintage MP and very likely a woman. Powell seems a fair shout but is there anyone in the economic team who might get a profile off the back of the current issues?
I personally don’t think that what a politician’s family member does should have any bearing on how the politician is viewed but I’m sure it would have been a nightmare.
Think Liz T had an eventful first week - just think if Penny had been chosen.
It seems to be a common theme for many politicians - the close family member who is somewhere on the FromExtremeEmbarrassmentToCriminal scale.
The King has an awkward decision to make in that regard.
If Trump attends the funeral, maybe sit Andrew next to him? After all, they were both very close friends of a certain financier...
Can't we are arrest Trump if he does set foot on the shores? He must've done something dodgy with those golf courses in Scotland!
The new monarch is likely to put one of his own officials onto the senior staff at No10 or the Cabinet Office if he hasn't already done so.
I was thinking this morning, how the political media and commentariat keep to the lie that the monarch acts only on ministerial advice where withholding of their "consent" to government bills is concerned.
What is the point in the government drafting and writing a bill and then advising the monarch to block its introduction to parliament unless certain clauses are amended or removed? Think that's ludicrous? Well that's what we're supposed to believe has happened many times.
That's a relief. Yesterday's weather will have just reinforced the incorrect stereotype of the British climate to all the foreign press. We need them to see London in the sunshine for the funeral.
Big events work to reinforce or negate stereotypes. The G7 meeting in Carbis Bay definitely did - a Swiss client made a comment the other day about the beautiful white sand beaches we have in Cornwall that he'd like to visit some day.
PB Tories are desperate for Truss to have a bounce
Sounds like you could be worried she may well get a bounce, and indeed why should any conservative not hope to see an improvement in their standing, just as you want to see the same for labour
It is simply politics
with the Queen's death destroying the energy cap news - it's perfectly plausible that Truss and the Tories won't see the benefit in the polls from that cap....
Or that the Queen's death has prevented Labour from going on the attack about the lack of windfall tax. So only the good news ("your bills are coming down") got through.
My bills will sadly remain extremely high as I stupidly fixed a rate of 13p per KwH a few months ago, not realising I had the choice of falling back on the variable tariff.
PB Tories are desperate for Truss to have a bounce
Sounds like you could be worried she may well get a bounce, and indeed why should any conservative not hope to see an improvement in their standing, just as you want to see the same for labour
It is simply politics
with the Queen's death destroying the energy cap news - it's perfectly plausible that Truss and the Tories won't see the benefit in the polls from that cap....
I have said I am not expecting an improvement in the polls for some time but immediately the HOC returns we have the COE emergency budget which will draw together the energy cap and a whole lot more
Can I just say, I know we were all alarmed by the extraordinarily frightening and saddening news yesterday, the dark dark news which flashed around the world like a wolf-howl at light speed, but it turns out I’m fine. My day of suffering on a Portuguese cliff with just warm white wine for company has left me feeling remarkably perky. No signs of the promised dehydration. I slept like a medieval effigy in a forgotten church and now I’m on my hotel terrace nibbling raspberries and figs
So I don’t see why there is this continued, pervasive sense of gloom on PB - and elsewhere. It’s a ridiculous overreaction. I’m OK, and off for a stroll to the Isle of Peaches
On topic, the way we ‘deal with’ fracking is easy - we allow the taxes on it to be raised locally, so everyone in the district gets a cheque instead of a council tax bill.
I think locals to fracking sites will get reduced gas bills, which they will no doubt be delighted with.
To answer the thread, Truss's plans will of course continue unaffected - this is an energy crisis. The King (have to get used to that!) will not pick a fight whereby his wealth, privilege and power is used to stamp on something that could reduce ordinary peoples' fuel bills.
Sure, reduced gas bills are a really great help if there is a connector every few hundred metres for miles, and cracks in the walls and zero equity. And UK land fracking is bloody useless anyway compared to the other options. I can't understand the rightwingers' obsession - it's the energy equivalent of slavetrader statues.
What utter nonsense. In what world is lifting a ban on a commercial activity 'an obsession' with it? Accessible gas cannot be conjoured into existence. Either it will work, or it won't. Let the geology decide.
The geology has already decided. Unless you know more than our oil geologists and economists and anyone with some common sense?
Then nobody will want to do any fracking will they? Problem solved.
The people banging on the loudest about how fracking won't work don't seem really worried that it won't work, they seem worried that given the chance that it will.
They're worried because it won't work and we've meantime wasted a great deal of time and energy getting nowhere with a proper energy strategy. You wouldn't include cold fusion or perpetual motion machines, would you?
'We' will have not wasted anything; the Government is not proposing to subsidise fracking. Companies will take the risk and earn any potential reward. Your position on this is wholly absurd.
Companies won't necessarily take all the risk. There are many externalities, from earthquakes to pollution of the water table, and it's the local region who have to take those risks.
Of course but some of our libertarian friends have quite a limited understanding of economics which basically amounts to 'let companies / people do what the hell they want, free market innit'.
On topic, the way we ‘deal with’ fracking is easy - we allow the taxes on it to be raised locally, so everyone in the district gets a cheque instead of a council tax bill.
I think locals to fracking sites will get reduced gas bills, which they will no doubt be delighted with.
To answer the thread, Truss's plans will of course continue unaffected - this is an energy crisis. The King (have to get used to that!) will not pick a fight whereby his wealth, privilege and power is used to stamp on something that could reduce ordinary peoples' fuel bills.
Sure, reduced gas bills are a really great help if there is a connector every few hundred metres for miles, and cracks in the walls and zero equity. And UK land fracking is bloody useless anyway compared to the other options. I can't understand the rightwingers' obsession - it's the energy equivalent of slavetrader statues.
What utter nonsense. In what world is lifting a ban on a commercial activity 'an obsession' with it? Accessible gas cannot be conjoured into existence. Either it will work, or it won't. Let the geology decide.
The geology has already decided. Unless you know more than our oil geologists and economists and anyone with some common sense?
Then nobody will want to do any fracking will they? Problem solved.
The people banging on the loudest about how fracking won't work don't seem really worried that it won't work, they seem worried that given the chance that it will.
They're worried because it won't work and we've meantime wasted a great deal of time and energy getting nowhere with a proper energy strategy. You wouldn't include cold fusion or perpetual motion machines, would you?
I’ve just realised that UK fracking is the homeopathy of energy policies. If we just believe enough..
If homeopathy was banned, some people didn't see the harm in doing it, and those furious at the ban being lifted were all - 'why are you so OBSESSED with homeopathy??', there might be slightly more validity to the comparison.
Will any politician be very visible between now and the funeral? This isn’t like Diana’s death when it was all being made up on the hoof and there was major controversy. It’s all been planned in minute detail and there will be very little public room for the PM or any other politician - unless one makes a major gaffe.
This delays us getting to know Truss. Politically, it also means the price freeze just slips into the everyday with the only thing most people will know about it in any detail being that it does not involve a windfall tax.
I expect Truss will be visible and not least once dignitaries start arriving for the funeral
Indeed I believe she is leading the nation today in a service of remembrance later as well as opening the tributes in the HOC
The BBC have confirmed that while parliament is effectively closed time for the legislation for the energy cap will be made and it will be passed
Also Monday 19th will be a Bank Holiday as a day of mourning
we have an energy price freeze not funded by a windfall tax
What would you increase the current 65% rate to? If you increased it to 100% you’d raise £27bn so an increased windfall tax was never going to fund a meaningful price freeze.
I personally don’t think that what a politician’s family member does should have any bearing on how the politician is viewed but I’m sure it would have been a nightmare.
Think Liz T had an eventful first week - just think if Penny had been chosen.
I just don't think that's as big a story, had Mordaunt been PM now, as you think.
Firstly, it's a very sad story for her and other family members, but basically nobody is going to be blaming her for her brother's proclivities - certainly not the right-wing press, nor even the (smaller) left-leaning press.
Secondly, as it happens, the story would have been completely forgotten almost immediately because the timing coincided with vastly bigger news.
I know it’s going to be a controversial opinion, but reading that article about his offences they appear to be a clear case of entrapment. This guy has had a decent middle-class career totally ruined for posting things in a chat room, not to a child but to a police officer. There was no harm to any children as a result of his behaviour.
The only comment I would make is that there are other similar cases which are similar, where people get quite significant prison sentences - there was a case locally where someone got sent to prison for about 8 years for a similar situation of entrapment.
Not entrapment because the police officer is initially entirely passive.
Unfortunate wording ...
He thought he was talking to a child. He had the mens rea for the offence. I have absolutely no problem with people with that intent being locked up for extended periods of time.
The story does explain why Mordaunt looked so downcast and distracted during the hustings. And hence her defeat when she seemed set for victory
Also it sadly means its better she lost. What a nightmare for all if she was now PM
Isn’t her Wokeness partly due to her unusual family? You can see how it might have played out
It is very unfortunate for her but probably a lucky escape for us. She seemed to me to put the vacuum into vacuous, as delusional and deluded as Boris but without the intellect or the judgment. Truss is a long way from ideal as PM but she is a significant cut above Penny.
Looks like the King wants mourning to continue for 7 days after the funeral !!!!! Sebastian Payne @SebastianEPayne
New from Buckingham Palace:
- Kings Charles III has instructed a period of royal mourning from now until seven days after Elizabeth II's funeral - date to be confirmed.
- Flags at all royal residences will remain at half mast until 8am the day after mourning
Yes. Apparently that's the period of Court mourning, as opposed to national mourning. In the draft plans that period would have been a month, so this announcement shows KCIII dialing things down a bit, though misunderstood and presented contrarywise.
On topic, the way we ‘deal with’ fracking is easy - we allow the taxes on it to be raised locally, so everyone in the district gets a cheque instead of a council tax bill.
I think locals to fracking sites will get reduced gas bills, which they will no doubt be delighted with.
To answer the thread, Truss's plans will of course continue unaffected - this is an energy crisis. The King (have to get used to that!) will not pick a fight whereby his wealth, privilege and power is used to stamp on something that could reduce ordinary peoples' fuel bills.
Sure, reduced gas bills are a really great help if there is a connector every few hundred metres for miles, and cracks in the walls and zero equity. And UK land fracking is bloody useless anyway compared to the other options. I can't understand the rightwingers' obsession - it's the energy equivalent of slavetrader statues.
What utter nonsense. In what world is lifting a ban on a commercial activity 'an obsession' with it? Accessible gas cannot be conjoured into existence. Either it will work, or it won't. Let the geology decide.
The geology has already decided. Unless you know more than our oil geologists and economists and anyone with some common sense?
Then nobody will want to do any fracking will they? Problem solved.
The people banging on the loudest about how fracking won't work don't seem really worried that it won't work, they seem worried that given the chance that it will.
They're worried because it won't work and we've meantime wasted a great deal of time and energy getting nowhere with a proper energy strategy. You wouldn't include cold fusion or perpetual motion machines, would you?
I’ve just realised that UK fracking is the homeopathy of energy policies. If we just believe enough..
If homeopathy was banned, some people didn't see the harm in doing it, and those furious at the ban being lifted were all - 'why are you so OBSESSED with homeopathy??', there might be slightly more validity to the comparison.
If a new PM at the start of Covid made a big announcement one of the centrepieces of which was a lifting of the ban on homeopathy, we might well wonder at their sense of priorities.
I personally don’t think that what a politician’s family member does should have any bearing on how the politician is viewed but I’m sure it would have been a nightmare.
Think Liz T had an eventful first week - just think if Penny had been chosen.
I just don't think that's as big a story, had Mordaunt been PM now, as you think.
Firstly, it's a very sad story for her and other family members, but basically nobody is going to be blaming her for her brother's proclivities - certainly not the right-wing press, nor even the (smaller) left-leaning press.
Secondly, as it happens, the story would have been completely forgotten almost immediately because the timing coincided with vastly bigger news.
I know it’s going to be a controversial opinion, but reading that article about his offences they appear to be a clear case of entrapment. This guy has had a decent middle-class career totally ruined for posting things in a chat room, not to a child but to a police officer. There was no harm to any children as a result of his behaviour.
What's "middle class career" got to do with it? If he was on the dole then, fuck it, bang him up?
Explosions reported in Sevastopol, Crimea this morning. Lots of good news out of Ukraine in the last couple of days.
It's starting to have 100 Days Offensive vibe, doesn't it?
Make gains, see them locked in when the weather changes, and try and damage the Russian logistics tail I guess? Lots of very cold Russian conscripts this winter I expect.
PB Tories are desperate for Truss to have a bounce
Sounds like you could be worried she may well get a bounce, and indeed why should any conservative not hope to see an improvement in their standing, just as you want to see the same for labour
It is simply politics
with the Queen's death destroying the energy cap news - it's perfectly plausible that Truss and the Tories won't see the benefit in the polls from that cap....
Or that the Queen's death has prevented Labour from going on the attack about the lack of windfall tax. So only the good news ("your bills are coming down") got through.
My bills will sadly remain extremely high as I stupidly fixed a rate of 13p per KwH a few months ago, not realising I had the choice of falling back on the variable tariff.
I understand you may be able to request a change from that fixed rate under these proposals
However, I may be mistaken but it is worth asking your supplier to change
On topic, I think he'll shut up, carefully saying "My Government believes..." and "My Government will...". Otherwise he'll get monstered by the Tory media and republicans alike. However, he'll compensate by being notably environmental in less contriversial areas. For example, the Palace presumably has a fleet of cars. It would be easy for him to announce that they will all be replaced by electric cars in the next few years. How is the Palace heated? What about puting in heat pumps?
A wind farm in one of his estates would be fun too.
It's been quite a time since I was there, but having seen some of the staff quarters and back rooms I'd say Buck House could be as difficult to renovate as the House of Commons - apart from having less complex decoration and less control-freaky occupants .
BP is about 77k sqm of floorspace (just under 8 Hectares and about 1/3 smaller than the Palace of Westminster). They are just doing a £400m renovation project on it running until 2027, for which sustainability is an element.
But being Duke of Cornwall, and having Highgrove and so on, I think King Charles knows all about the problems, and is quite likely to have been driving whatever they are doing for decades anyway.
King Charles was early on greenery as we know, and has always experimented with his own property / resources. He has had solar panels on Clarence House since 2010, and I think Buck House will get them now. Plus BH has had a CHP (Combined Heat and Power) plant for nearly 30 years. Brief article here from 2016, when they were doing things like trialling LED lighting: https://www.energymatters.com.au/renewable-news/solar-buckingham-palace-em5781/
Heat pumps are not very suitable for inefficient buildings, which is Buck House in spades until heavily renovated. Like a lot of us they will need to rely on emissions-free power.
Factoid: the first Royal Electric car was bought in 1901.
It was renovated a year or two back for a few billion. Unlike the prima donnas in Parliament Her Majesty grasped the need to move the operation out to enable it.
AFAICS the published number is £500m, most of which was done in advance of the Platinum Jubilee, and it is due to finish in 2027. I have not checked in huge detail, though.
PB Tories are desperate for Truss to have a bounce
Sounds like you could be worried she may well get a bounce, and indeed why should any conservative not hope to see an improvement in their standing, just as you want to see the same for labour
It is simply politics
with the Queen's death destroying the energy cap news - it's perfectly plausible that Truss and the Tories won't see the benefit in the polls from that cap....
Or that the Queen's death has prevented Labour from going on the attack about the lack of windfall tax. So only the good news ("your bills are coming down") got through.
My bills will sadly remain extremely high as I stupidly fixed a rate of 13p per KwH a few months ago, not realising I had the choice of falling back on the variable tariff.
Can't you pay a penalty and leave that fixed rate deal?
PB Tories are desperate for Truss to have a bounce
Sounds like you could be worried she may well get a bounce, and indeed why should any conservative not hope to see an improvement in their standing, just as you want to see the same for labour
It is simply politics
with the Queen's death destroying the energy cap news - it's perfectly plausible that Truss and the Tories won't see the benefit in the polls from that cap....
I have said I am not expecting an improvement in the polls for some time but immediately the HOC returns we have the COE emergency budget which will draw together the energy cap and a whole lot more
Politics will then resume
Indeed a better assessment of the situation may be made in the Spring once we have got through Winter.
The Special Financial Statement will implement the new energy cap from Oct but it is unlikely that NI will return to the previous level until April. April will also see the state pension and welfare uplift based on Sept 2022 CPI, it will not happen before then.
Also an outside bet, restoration of indexation of Income tax bands for 20% and 40% thresholds again based on Sept 2022 CPI.
In April I was listening to Abbey Road with friends. The last track, not listed on the album cover, is a very short ditty from Paul called Her Majesty. I commented to the others at the time, I found it unbelievabe that the song is about the Queen, the same Queen, and she'd been Queen for the whole time, even though the song was written 53 years ago. The song was, in its own odd way, still relevant for all that time. Still saying something in the present.
Truss isn't opposed to renewables at such, just not putting solar panels all over farmers' fields. Charles may personally be not keen on fracking but as the new King he has made clear it is different from being Prince of Wales and he will make his personal views less public.
Even if ideologically Charles if he could vote would probably be less conservative and pro Brexit than his mother would probably have been. Indeed politically Charles would probably be a very wet Remainer Tory or LD or even Starmer Labour (Labour and the LDs also opposed to fracking of course)
In the past Charles has been opposed to onshore wind, but that may not be relevant any more as it was back in 2012 or so. He has also been lambasted for receiving revenue from the Crown Estate under the current '15% of receipts' settlement to fund the Civil List, which has licensed wind farms.
I personally don’t think that what a politician’s family member does should have any bearing on how the politician is viewed but I’m sure it would have been a nightmare.
Think Liz T had an eventful first week - just think if Penny had been chosen.
I just don't think that's as big a story, had Mordaunt been PM now, as you think.
Firstly, it's a very sad story for her and other family members, but basically nobody is going to be blaming her for her brother's proclivities - certainly not the right-wing press, nor even the (smaller) left-leaning press.
Secondly, as it happens, the story would have been completely forgotten almost immediately because the timing coincided with vastly bigger news.
I know it’s going to be a controversial opinion, but reading that article about his offences they appear to be a clear case of entrapment. This guy has had a decent middle-class career totally ruined for posting things in a chat room, not to a child but to a police officer. There was no harm to any children as a result of his behaviour.
The only comment I would make is that there are other similar cases which are similar, where people get quite significant prison sentences - there was a case locally where someone got sent to prison for about 8 years for a similar situation of entrapment.
Not entrapment because the police officer is initially entirely passive.
Unfortunate wording ...
He thought he was talking to a child. He had the mens rea for the offence. I have absolutely no problem with people with that intent being locked up for extended periods of time.
The story does explain why Mordaunt looked so downcast and distracted during the hustings. And hence her defeat when she seemed set for victory
Also it sadly means its better she lost. What a nightmare for all if she was now PM
Isn’t her Wokeness partly due to her unusual family? You can see how it might have played out
It is very unfortunate for her but probably a lucky escape for us. She seemed to me to put the vacuum into vacuous, as delusional and deluded as Boris but without the intellect or the judgment. Truss is a long way from ideal as PM but she is a significant cut above Penny.
If nothing else, Mordaunt was a wrong 'un because she promoted herself to Captain at the MoD after 27 days of reserve service. A move which did not greatly endear her to those that put in 20+ years of hard work and sacrifice to get their three rings.
Can I just say, I know we were all alarmed by the extraordinarily frightening and saddening news yesterday, the dark dark news which flashed around the world like a wolf-howl at light speed, but it turns out I’m fine. My day of suffering on a Portuguese cliff with just warm white wine for company has left me feeling remarkably perky. No signs of the promised dehydration. I slept like a medieval effigy in a forgotten church and now I’m on my hotel terrace nibbling raspberries and figs
So I don’t see why there is this continued, pervasive sense of gloom on PB - and elsewhere. It’s a ridiculous overreaction. I’m OK, and off for a stroll to the Isle of Peaches
I don't have a sense of gloom.
I feel like I did when my 94 year old mother died. Content in a funny kind of way. A life well lived. A good death. A kind release. RIP.
Labour gain in Cannock Chase. Another Midlands council by-election success.
Last night's by-election results: Hartlepool, Foggy Furze: Lab gain from Ind Lancaster, Warton: Grn gain from C Hednesford N: Lab gain from C W Sussex, Felpham: Ind (Wild) gain from C Arun, Barnham: Grn gain from C
Explosions reported in Sevastopol, Crimea this morning. Lots of good news out of Ukraine in the last couple of days.
It's starting to have 100 Days Offensive vibe, doesn't it?
Make gains, see them locked in when the weather changes, and try and damage the Russian logistics tail I guess? Lots of very cold Russian conscripts this winter I expect.
A close Russian relative (very anti-Putin) has a number of pro-Putinists in the family. They keep sending her links to pro-Invasion social media.
In these pro-Invasion videos, a common theme is that the Russian soldiers are badly dressed, often not very "uniform", milling around kind of aimlessly.... Some are living like tramps - "nests" of cardboard in dugouts and APCs....
Either the Ukrainians have a staggering comms control operation, or they are simply better clothed and organised.
On topic, I think he'll shut up, carefully saying "My Government believes..." and "My Government will...". Otherwise he'll get monstered by the Tory media and republicans alike. However, he'll compensate by being notably environmental in less contriversial areas. For example, the Palace presumably has a fleet of cars. It would be easy for him to announce that they will all be replaced by electric cars in the next few years. How is the Palace heated? What about puting in heat pumps?
A wind farm in one of his estates would be fun too.
It's been quite a time since I was there, but having seen some of the staff quarters and back rooms I'd say Buck House could be as difficult to renovate as the House of Commons - apart from having less complex decoration and less control-freaky occupants .
BP is about 77k sqm of floorspace (just under 8 Hectares and about 1/3 smaller than the Palace of Westminster). They are just doing a £400m renovation project on it running until 2027, for which sustainability is an element.
But being Duke of Cornwall, and having Highgrove and so on, I think King Charles knows all about the problems, and is quite likely to have been driving whatever they are doing for decades anyway.
King Charles was early on greenery as we know, and has always experimented with his own property / resources. He has had solar panels on Clarence House since 2010, and I think Buck House will get them now. Plus BH has had a CHP (Combined Heat and Power) plant for nearly 30 years. Brief article here from 2016, when they were doing things like trialling LED lighting: https://www.energymatters.com.au/renewable-news/solar-buckingham-palace-em5781/
Heat pumps are not very suitable for inefficient buildings, which is Buck House in spades until heavily renovated. Like a lot of us they will need to rely on emissions-free power.
Factoid: the first Royal Electric car was bought in 1901.
It was renovated a year or two back for a few billion. Unlike the prima donnas in Parliament Her Majesty grasped the need to move the operation out to enable it.
AFAICS the published number is £500m, most of which was done in advance of the Platinum Jubilee, and it is due to finish in 2027. I have not checked in huge detail, though.
PB Tories are desperate for Truss to have a bounce
Sounds like you could be worried she may well get a bounce, and indeed why should any conservative not hope to see an improvement in their standing, just as you want to see the same for labour
It is simply politics
with the Queen's death destroying the energy cap news - it's perfectly plausible that Truss and the Tories won't see the benefit in the polls from that cap....
Or that the Queen's death has prevented Labour from going on the attack about the lack of windfall tax. So only the good news ("your bills are coming down") got through.
My bills will sadly remain extremely high as I stupidly fixed a rate of 13p per KwH a few months ago, not realising I had the choice of falling back on the variable tariff.
Can't you pay a penalty and leave that fixed rate deal?
Wait and see!! You might be alright regardless.
From moneysavingexpert:
"Since the announcement, I have heard the discount that is being applied to the price-capped tariffs is likely to be applied to all tariffs, including fixes (the new 'price guarantee' will effectively work as a per pound discount off the unit rates of the pre-planned 1 October price cap rate). If this is correct, many fixes that currently look costlier than the price guarantee will end up cheaper. Earlier, the information I was told by the Government was that "all can get out of a fixed tariff without exit penalties". This may have changed, so that it is left up to firms. I will confirm when I know, but be careful acting on any of this before it is cast iron."
I personally don’t think that what a politician’s family member does should have any bearing on how the politician is viewed but I’m sure it would have been a nightmare.
Think Liz T had an eventful first week - just think if Penny had been chosen.
I just don't think that's as big a story, had Mordaunt been PM now, as you think.
Firstly, it's a very sad story for her and other family members, but basically nobody is going to be blaming her for her brother's proclivities - certainly not the right-wing press, nor even the (smaller) left-leaning press.
Secondly, as it happens, the story would have been completely forgotten almost immediately because the timing coincided with vastly bigger news.
I know it’s going to be a controversial opinion, but reading that article about his offences they appear to be a clear case of entrapment. This guy has had a decent middle-class career totally ruined for posting things in a chat room, not to a child but to a police officer. There was no harm to any children as a result of his behaviour.
The only comment I would make is that there are other similar cases which are similar, where people get quite significant prison sentences - there was a case locally where someone got sent to prison for about 8 years for a similar situation of entrapment.
Not entrapment because the police officer is initially entirely passive.
Unfortunate wording ...
He thought he was talking to a child. He had the mens rea for the offence. I have absolutely no problem with people with that intent being locked up for extended periods of time.
The story does explain why Mordaunt looked so downcast and distracted during the hustings. And hence her defeat when she seemed set for victory
Also it sadly means its better she lost. What a nightmare for all if she was now PM
Isn’t her Wokeness partly due to her unusual family? You can see how it might have played out
It is very unfortunate for her but probably a lucky escape for us. She seemed to me to put the vacuum into vacuous, as delusional and deluded as Boris but without the intellect or the judgment. Truss is a long way from ideal as PM but she is a significant cut above Penny.
If nothing else, Mordaunt was a wrong 'un because she promoted herself to Captain at the MoD after 27 days of reserve service. A move which did not greatly endear her to those that put in 20+ years of hard work and sacrifice to get their three rings.
Personally I think the Army (not sure the Navy ever did it) should go back to the practice of the purchase of commissions. Bring in some extra cash, and we'll see the wonders of the free market at work. I might even stump up for one myself.
PB Tories are desperate for Truss to have a bounce
Sounds like you could be worried she may well get a bounce, and indeed why should any conservative not hope to see an improvement in their standing, just as you want to see the same for labour
It is simply politics
with the Queen's death destroying the energy cap news - it's perfectly plausible that Truss and the Tories won't see the benefit in the polls from that cap....
Or that the Queen's death has prevented Labour from going on the attack about the lack of windfall tax. So only the good news ("your bills are coming down") got through.
My bills will sadly remain extremely high as I stupidly fixed a rate of 13p per KwH a few months ago, not realising I had the choice of falling back on the variable tariff.
Truss isn't opposed to renewables at such, just not putting solar panels all over farmers' fields. Charles may personally be not keen on fracking but as the new King he has made clear it is different from being Prince of Wales and he will make his personal views less public.
Even if ideologically Charles if he could vote would probably be less conservative and pro Brexit than his mother would probably have been. Indeed politically Charles would probably be a very wet Remainer Tory or LD or even Starmer Labour (Labour and the LDs also opposed to fracking of course)
In the past Charles has been opposed to onshore wind, but that may not be relevant any more as it was back in 2012 or so. He has also been lambasted for receiving revenue from the Crown Estate under the current '15% of receipts' settlement to fund the Civil List, which has licensed wind farms.
Wasn't the opposition to the wind farms in particular down to the construction of massive roads through areas of pristine countryside? - something which is a real concern.
Can I just say, I know we were all alarmed by the extraordinarily frightening and saddening news yesterday, the dark dark news which flashed around the world like a wolf-howl at light speed, but it turns out I’m fine. My day of suffering on a Portuguese cliff with just warm white wine for company has left me feeling remarkably perky. No signs of the promised dehydration. I slept like a medieval effigy in a forgotten church and now I’m on my hotel terrace nibbling raspberries and figs
So I don’t see why there is this continued, pervasive sense of gloom on PB - and elsewhere. It’s a ridiculous overreaction. I’m OK, and off for a stroll to the Isle of Peaches
I am sure I speak for the nation when I say that your hangover update has releived us enormously. I, for one, even with my limited mental capacity, have been fretting about the hydration of the Mentat of Primrose Hill.
Truss isn't opposed to renewables at such, just not putting solar panels all over farmers' fields. Charles may personally be not keen on fracking but as the new King he has made clear it is different from being Prince of Wales and he will make his personal views less public.
Even if ideologically Charles if he could vote would probably be less conservative and pro Brexit than his mother would probably have been. Indeed politically Charles would probably be a very wet Remainer Tory or LD or even Starmer Labour (Labour and the LDs also opposed to fracking of course)
In the past Charles has been opposed to onshore wind, but that may not be relevant any more as it was back in 2012 or so. He has also been lambasted for receiving revenue from the Crown Estate under the current '15% of receipts' settlement to fund the Civil List, which has licensed wind farms.
Well if the Crown Estate has licensed windfarms then Charles clearly is likely no longer opposed to it.
Charles was also warning about climate change before it was fashionable. He will be our first Eco organic monarch
Will any politician be very visible between now and the funeral? This isn’t like Diana’s death when it was all being made up on the hoof and there was major controversy. It’s all been planned in minute detail and there will be very little public room for the PM or any other politician - unless one makes a major gaffe.
This delays us getting to know Truss. Politically, it also means the price freeze just slips into the everyday with the only thing most people will know about it in any detail being that it does not involve a windfall tax.
I expect Truss will be visible and not least once dignitaries start arriving for the funeral
Indeed I believe she is leading the nation today in a service of remembrance later as well as opening the tributes in the HOC
The BBC have confirmed that while parliament is effectively closed time for the legislation for the energy cap will be made and it will be passed
Also Monday 19th will be a Bank Holiday as a day of mourning
we have an energy price freeze not funded by a windfall tax
What would you increase the current 65% rate to? If you increased it to 100% you’d raise £27bn so an increased windfall tax was never going to fund a meaningful price freeze.
This was raised by Mark Harper in a question to Starmer in yesterdays debate, and Starmer seemed genuinely wrong footed and said he rejected the comments but asked for the COE to comment
I would be very surprised if Kwarteng does not address this issue directly in his statement on the 21st
Apparently the world wide earnings are 170 billion but these are outside UK control, but 40 billion is though as you say it is taxed at 65%
It is not difficult to see the myth that a windfall tax will pay the cost of this energy price freeze
On topic, I think he'll shut up, carefully saying "My Government believes..." and "My Government will...". Otherwise he'll get monstered by the Tory media and republicans alike. However, he'll compensate by being notably environmental in less contriversial areas. For example, the Palace presumably has a fleet of cars. It would be easy for him to announce that they will all be replaced by electric cars in the next few years. How is the Palace heated? What about puting in heat pumps?
A wind farm in one of his estates would be fun too.
It's been quite a time since I was there, but having seen some of the staff quarters and back rooms I'd say Buck House could be as difficult to renovate as the House of Commons - apart from having less complex decoration and less control-freaky occupants .
BP is about 77k sqm of floorspace (just under 8 Hectares and about 1/3 smaller than the Palace of Westminster). They are just doing a £400m renovation project on it running until 2027, for which sustainability is an element.
But being Duke of Cornwall, and having Highgrove and so on, I think King Charles knows all about the problems, and is quite likely to have been driving whatever they are doing for decades anyway.
King Charles was early on greenery as we know, and has always experimented with his own property / resources. He has had solar panels on Clarence House since 2010, and I think Buck House will get them now. Plus BH has had a CHP (Combined Heat and Power) plant for nearly 30 years. Brief article here from 2016, when they were doing things like trialling LED lighting: https://www.energymatters.com.au/renewable-news/solar-buckingham-palace-em5781/
Heat pumps are not very suitable for inefficient buildings, which is Buck House in spades until heavily renovated. Like a lot of us they will need to rely on emissions-free power.
Factoid: the first Royal Electric car was bought in 1901.
It was renovated a year or two back for a few billion. Unlike the prima donnas in Parliament Her Majesty grasped the need to move the operation out to enable it.
AFAICS the published number is £500m, most of which was done in advance of the Platinum Jubilee, and it is due to finish in 2027. I have not checked in huge detail, though.
On topic, I think he'll shut up, carefully saying "My Government believes..." and "My Government will...". Otherwise he'll get monstered by the Tory media and republicans alike. However, he'll compensate by being notably environmental in less contriversial areas. For example, the Palace presumably has a fleet of cars. It would be easy for him to announce that they will all be replaced by electric cars in the next few years. How is the Palace heated? What about puting in heat pumps?
A wind farm in one of his estates would be fun too.
It's been quite a time since I was there, but having seen some of the staff quarters and back rooms I'd say Buck House could be as difficult to renovate as the House of Commons - apart from having less complex decoration and less control-freaky occupants .
BP is about 77k sqm of floorspace (just under 8 Hectares and about 1/3 smaller than the Palace of Westminster). They are just doing a £400m renovation project on it running until 2027, for which sustainability is an element.
But being Duke of Cornwall, and having Highgrove and so on, I think King Charles knows all about the problems, and is quite likely to have been driving whatever they are doing for decades anyway.
King Charles was early on greenery as we know, and has always experimented with his own property / resources. He has had solar panels on Clarence House since 2010, and I think Buck House will get them now. Plus BH has had a CHP (Combined Heat and Power) plant for nearly 30 years. Brief article here from 2016, when they were doing things like trialling LED lighting: https://www.energymatters.com.au/renewable-news/solar-buckingham-palace-em5781/
Heat pumps are not very suitable for inefficient buildings, which is Buck House in spades until heavily renovated. Like a lot of us they will need to rely on emissions-free power.
Factoid: the first Royal Electric car was bought in 1901.
It was renovated a year or two back for a few billion. Unlike the prima donnas in Parliament Her Majesty grasped the need to move the operation out to enable it.
AFAICS the published number is £500m, most of which was done in advance of the Platinum Jubilee, and it is due to finish in 2027. I have not checked in huge detail, though.
On topic, I think he'll shut up, carefully saying "My Government believes..." and "My Government will...". Otherwise he'll get monstered by the Tory media and republicans alike. However, he'll compensate by being notably environmental in less contriversial areas. For example, the Palace presumably has a fleet of cars. It would be easy for him to announce that they will all be replaced by electric cars in the next few years. How is the Palace heated? What about puting in heat pumps?
A wind farm in one of his estates would be fun too.
It's been quite a time since I was there, but having seen some of the staff quarters and back rooms I'd say Buck House could be as difficult to renovate as the House of Commons - apart from having less complex decoration and less control-freaky occupants .
BP is about 77k sqm of floorspace (just under 8 Hectares and about 1/3 smaller than the Palace of Westminster). They are just doing a £400m renovation project on it running until 2027, for which sustainability is an element.
But being Duke of Cornwall, and having Highgrove and so on, I think King Charles knows all about the problems, and is quite likely to have been driving whatever they are doing for decades anyway.
King Charles was early on greenery as we know, and has always experimented with his own property / resources. He has had solar panels on Clarence House since 2010, and I think Buck House will get them now. Plus BH has had a CHP (Combined Heat and Power) plant for nearly 30 years. Brief article here from 2016, when they were doing things like trialling LED lighting: https://www.energymatters.com.au/renewable-news/solar-buckingham-palace-em5781/
Heat pumps are not very suitable for inefficient buildings, which is Buck House in spades until heavily renovated. Like a lot of us they will need to rely on emissions-free power.
Factoid: the first Royal Electric car was bought in 1901.
It was renovated a year or two back for a few billion. Unlike the prima donnas in Parliament Her Majesty grasped the need to move the operation out to enable it.
AFAICS the published number is £500m, most of which was done in advance of the Platinum Jubilee, and it is due to finish in 2027. I have not checked in huge detail, though.
Explosions reported in Sevastopol, Crimea this morning. Lots of good news out of Ukraine in the last couple of days.
It's starting to have 100 Days Offensive vibe, doesn't it?
Let’s hope so. Summer is now slowly turning to autumn, and we’re only a couple of months away from the first freeze of winter. The defenders will want to have the momentum as the seasons change - both to demoralise the enemy, and to allow them to resist calls for ‘negotiating peace’ from Germany and France.
I personally don’t think that what a politician’s family member does should have any bearing on how the politician is viewed but I’m sure it would have been a nightmare.
Think Liz T had an eventful first week - just think if Penny had been chosen.
I just don't think that's as big a story, had Mordaunt been PM now, as you think.
Firstly, it's a very sad story for her and other family members, but basically nobody is going to be blaming her for her brother's proclivities - certainly not the right-wing press, nor even the (smaller) left-leaning press.
Secondly, as it happens, the story would have been completely forgotten almost immediately because the timing coincided with vastly bigger news.
I know it’s going to be a controversial opinion, but reading that article about his offences they appear to be a clear case of entrapment. This guy has had a decent middle-class career totally ruined for posting things in a chat room, not to a child but to a police officer. There was no harm to any children as a result of his behaviour.
The only comment I would make is that there are other similar cases which are similar, where people get quite significant prison sentences - there was a case locally where someone got sent to prison for about 8 years for a similar situation of entrapment.
Not entrapment because the police officer is initially entirely passive.
Unfortunate wording ...
He thought he was talking to a child. He had the mens rea for the offence. I have absolutely no problem with people with that intent being locked up for extended periods of time.
The story does explain why Mordaunt looked so downcast and distracted during the hustings. And hence her defeat when she seemed set for victory
Also it sadly means its better she lost. What a nightmare for all if she was now PM
Isn’t her Wokeness partly due to her unusual family? You can see how it might have played out
It is very unfortunate for her but probably a lucky escape for us. She seemed to me to put the vacuum into vacuous, as delusional and deluded as Boris but without the intellect or the judgment. Truss is a long way from ideal as PM but she is a significant cut above Penny.
If nothing else, Mordaunt was a wrong 'un because she promoted herself to Captain at the MoD after 27 days of reserve service. A move which did not greatly endear her to those that put in 20+ years of hard work and sacrifice to get their three rings.
Personally I think the Army (not sure the Navy ever did it) should go back to the practice of the purchase of commissions. Bring in some extra cash, and we'll see the wonders of the free market at work. I might even stump up for one myself.
It worked once or twice. One chap shagged the King's mistress to get a regiment - turned out fairly well. Another chap, violin playing salon ranger, bought a commission just to show his mother he wasn't a complete wastrel. He did OK, in the end.
Twitter content moderation is obviously utterly overwhelmed. I'm spewing all kinds of spiteful bile over it which would normally get me my customary 24 hour ban but today... nothing. I've had two flag shaggers offer to come round and fight me and it's still very early in the day.
Shame you weren't here last night, Dura. The royalists' emotions were flying about all over the place.
Monarchists should be careful today if driving or if operating heavy machinery. They should recognise that they are emotionally similar to 12yo girls watching a boy band, with an added streak of sadistic Tory unpleasantness if they think anybody is trying to hold up a mirror to them.
Imagine being a monarchist who looks down on Daily Express readers when his own ability to think for himself is on the same level as a Daily Express reader's, if it isn't even lower.
Can I just say, I know we were all alarmed by the extraordinarily frightening and saddening news yesterday, the dark dark news which flashed around the world like a wolf-howl at light speed, but it turns out I’m fine. My day of suffering on a Portuguese cliff with just warm white wine for company has left me feeling remarkably perky. No signs of the promised dehydration. I slept like a medieval effigy in a forgotten church and now I’m on my hotel terrace nibbling raspberries and figs
So I don’t see why there is this continued, pervasive sense of gloom on PB - and elsewhere. It’s a ridiculous overreaction. I’m OK, and off for a stroll to the Isle of Peaches
I don't have a sense of gloom.
I feel like I did when my 94 year old mother died. Content in a funny kind of way. A life well lived. A good death. A kind release. RIP.
Normally when very old people die I feel like that. And for the Queen herself, inasmuch as I feel anything about her, that's how I feel. I was pretty pro-Liz Windsor. How I admired her pleasant aloofness, her remoteness, her absolute refusal to emote, her suppression of her own ego, her dedication. The world is poorer for the loss of her, and for the loss of that approach. But a 96 year old lady dying is just the way the world works. But normally when very old people die they've long since passed on any important jobs they were doing to someone else perfectly competent to take on the role. I'm slightly worried about what a hole she's leaving and what will fill it.
PB Tories are desperate for Truss to have a bounce
Sounds like you could be worried she may well get a bounce, and indeed why should any conservative not hope to see an improvement in their standing, just as you want to see the same for labour
It is simply politics
with the Queen's death destroying the energy cap news - it's perfectly plausible that Truss and the Tories won't see the benefit in the polls from that cap....
Or that the Queen's death has prevented Labour from going on the attack about the lack of windfall tax. So only the good news ("your bills are coming down") got through.
My bills will sadly remain extremely high as I stupidly fixed a rate of 13p per KwH a few months ago, not realising I had the choice of falling back on the variable tariff.
I understand you may be able to request a change from that fixed rate under these proposals
However, I may be mistaken but it is worth asking your supplier to change
Labour gain in Cannock Chase. Another Midlands council by-election success.
Last night's by-election results: Hartlepool, Foggy Furze: Lab gain from Ind Lancaster, Warton: Grn gain from C Hednesford N: Lab gain from C W Sussex, Felpham: Ind (Wild) gain from C Arun, Barnham: Grn gain from C
Hednesford North is a Labour bastion, and the incumbent was a fool. The surprise is not that they’ve taken it back but that they ever lost it.
PB Tories are desperate for Truss to have a bounce
Sounds like you could be worried she may well get a bounce, and indeed why should any conservative not hope to see an improvement in their standing, just as you want to see the same for labour
It is simply politics
with the Queen's death destroying the energy cap news - it's perfectly plausible that Truss and the Tories won't see the benefit in the polls from that cap....
Or that the Queen's death has prevented Labour from going on the attack about the lack of windfall tax. So only the good news ("your bills are coming down") got through.
My bills will sadly remain extremely high as I stupidly fixed a rate of 13p per KwH a few months ago, not realising I had the choice of falling back on the variable tariff.
Can't you pay a penalty and leave that fixed rate deal?
Wait and see!! You might be alright regardless.
From moneysavingexpert:
"Since the announcement, I have heard the discount that is being applied to the price-capped tariffs is likely to be applied to all tariffs, including fixes (the new 'price guarantee' will effectively work as a per pound discount off the unit rates of the pre-planned 1 October price cap rate). If this is correct, many fixes that currently look costlier than the price guarantee will end up cheaper. Earlier, the information I was told by the Government was that "all can get out of a fixed tariff without exit penalties". This may have changed, so that it is left up to firms. I will confirm when I know, but be careful acting on any of this before it is cast iron."
That's what I'm hoping for; I signed up for quite expensive deal on gas which looked as though it was still going to be good value, but now looks unnecessarily expensive. I'm just hoping that by February I'll be well in credit.
Truss isn't opposed to renewables at such, just not putting solar panels all over farmers' fields. Charles may personally be not keen on fracking but as the new King he has made clear it is different from being Prince of Wales and he will make his personal views less public.
Even if ideologically Charles if he could vote would probably be less conservative and pro Brexit than his mother would probably have been. Indeed politically Charles would probably be a very wet Remainer Tory or LD or even Starmer Labour (Labour and the LDs also opposed to fracking of course)
In the past Charles has been opposed to onshore wind, but that may not be relevant any more as it was back in 2012 or so. He has also been lambasted for receiving revenue from the Crown Estate under the current '15% of receipts' settlement to fund the Civil List, which has licensed wind farms.
Well if the Crown Estate has licensed windfarms then Charles clearly is likely no longer opposed to it.
Charles was also warning about climate change before it was fashionable. He will be our first Eco organic monarch
Thought George III probably beat him on being an eco monarch?
While I obviously support the removal of the restrictions on fracking, I will personally be using this opportunity to short the shares of iGas.
Why do you support the removal when fracking damages the environment and people's health?
How does fracking damage people's health?
I guess there are quite a few potential mechanisms, the air pollution. But the most negative is probably going to be the pumping of poisonous substances into the ground which then gets into the water supply.
I used to mumble my way through God Save The Queen but nope, God Save The King ain't happening.
Me too. I'm a lot wishy-washier than you on the republican-royalist spectrum, but I can barely bring myself to utter the words 'the king'. The Queen was always part of the landscape. Anachronistic, but unthreatening because she had always been there. I don't mind an anachronism. But 'The King' sounds weirdly medieval and Gormenghastly.
Seems a small thing to be bothered about to me. We'll get used to it after a while and in time reflect how odd 'the queen' sounds.
It will take some time to get used to the idea of KC rather than QC again. I wonder how many updated their websites.
I once dealt with a lawyer in Switzerland who had the charming misapprehension that "QC" was a postnominal bestowed on all qualified British lawyers, whether solicitors, barristers or advocates, like "MD" for US doctors I guess, and addressed his correspondence accordingly. I quite enjoyed the upgrade and never corrected him.
On topic, I think he'll shut up, carefully saying "My Government believes..." and "My Government will...". Otherwise he'll get monstered by the Tory media and republicans alike. However, he'll compensate by being notably environmental in less contriversial areas. For example, the Palace presumably has a fleet of cars. It would be easy for him to announce that they will all be replaced by electric cars in the next few years. How is the Palace heated? What about puting in heat pumps?
A wind farm in one of his estates would be fun too.
It's been quite a time since I was there, but having seen some of the staff quarters and back rooms I'd say Buck House could be as difficult to renovate as the House of Commons - apart from having less complex decoration and less control-freaky occupants .
BP is about 77k sqm of floorspace (just under 8 Hectares and about 1/3 smaller than the Palace of Westminster). They are just doing a £400m renovation project on it running until 2027, for which sustainability is an element.
But being Duke of Cornwall, and having Highgrove and so on, I think King Charles knows all about the problems, and is quite likely to have been driving whatever they are doing for decades anyway.
King Charles was early on greenery as we know, and has always experimented with his own property / resources. He has had solar panels on Clarence House since 2010, and I think Buck House will get them now. Plus BH has had a CHP (Combined Heat and Power) plant for nearly 30 years. Brief article here from 2016, when they were doing things like trialling LED lighting: https://www.energymatters.com.au/renewable-news/solar-buckingham-palace-em5781/
Heat pumps are not very suitable for inefficient buildings, which is Buck House in spades until heavily renovated. Like a lot of us they will need to rely on emissions-free power.
Factoid: the first Royal Electric car was bought in 1901.
It was renovated a year or two back for a few billion. Unlike the prima donnas in Parliament Her Majesty grasped the need to move the operation out to enable it.
AFAICS the published number is £500m, most of which was done in advance of the Platinum Jubilee, and it is due to finish in 2027. I have not checked in huge detail, though.
On topic, I think he'll shut up, carefully saying "My Government believes..." and "My Government will...". Otherwise he'll get monstered by the Tory media and republicans alike. However, he'll compensate by being notably environmental in less contriversial areas. For example, the Palace presumably has a fleet of cars. It would be easy for him to announce that they will all be replaced by electric cars in the next few years. How is the Palace heated? What about puting in heat pumps?
A wind farm in one of his estates would be fun too.
It's been quite a time since I was there, but having seen some of the staff quarters and back rooms I'd say Buck House could be as difficult to renovate as the House of Commons - apart from having less complex decoration and less control-freaky occupants .
BP is about 77k sqm of floorspace (just under 8 Hectares and about 1/3 smaller than the Palace of Westminster). They are just doing a £400m renovation project on it running until 2027, for which sustainability is an element.
But being Duke of Cornwall, and having Highgrove and so on, I think King Charles knows all about the problems, and is quite likely to have been driving whatever they are doing for decades anyway.
King Charles was early on greenery as we know, and has always experimented with his own property / resources. He has had solar panels on Clarence House since 2010, and I think Buck House will get them now. Plus BH has had a CHP (Combined Heat and Power) plant for nearly 30 years. Brief article here from 2016, when they were doing things like trialling LED lighting: https://www.energymatters.com.au/renewable-news/solar-buckingham-palace-em5781/
Heat pumps are not very suitable for inefficient buildings, which is Buck House in spades until heavily renovated. Like a lot of us they will need to rely on emissions-free power.
Factoid: the first Royal Electric car was bought in 1901.
It was renovated a year or two back for a few billion. Unlike the prima donnas in Parliament Her Majesty grasped the need to move the operation out to enable it.
AFAICS the published number is £500m, most of which was done in advance of the Platinum Jubilee, and it is due to finish in 2027. I have not checked in huge detail, though.
I must be utterly wrong then. That can’t be a full refurb. Or if it is then those contractors need to have a look at Parliament…
When Portcullis House was built, a relative in the building industry noticed that the offices had acres of mahogany cabinet work.
At a time when, due to concerns about logging in rainforests and international agreements, it was almost impossible to get large pieces of mahogany.
I'm sure that cost a bit...
Mahogany coloured paint/varnish is the way to go.
It had the stink of B&O TVs about it.
For those who don't know - in the expenses scandal, it came out that a number of MPs had tried to buy B&O TVs on expenses. They were the most expensive TVs on the market - thousands of pounds. And since they were just plasma screens, not noticeably better than your average Samsung.
On topic, the way we ‘deal with’ fracking is easy - we allow the taxes on it to be raised locally, so everyone in the district gets a cheque instead of a council tax bill.
I think locals to fracking sites will get reduced gas bills, which they will no doubt be delighted with.
To answer the thread, Truss's plans will of course continue unaffected - this is an energy crisis. The King (have to get used to that!) will not pick a fight whereby his wealth, privilege and power is used to stamp on something that could reduce ordinary peoples' fuel bills.
Sure, reduced gas bills are a really great help if there is a connector every few hundred metres for miles, and cracks in the walls and zero equity. And UK land fracking is bloody useless anyway compared to the other options. I can't understand the rightwingers' obsession - it's the energy equivalent of slavetrader statues.
What utter nonsense. In what world is lifting a ban on a commercial activity 'an obsession' with it? Accessible gas cannot be conjoured into existence. Either it will work, or it won't. Let the geology decide.
The geology has already decided. Unless you know more than our oil geologists and economists and anyone with some common sense?
Then nobody will want to do any fracking will they? Problem solved.
The people banging on the loudest about how fracking won't work don't seem really worried that it won't work, they seem worried that given the chance that it will.
They're worried because it won't work and we've meantime wasted a great deal of time and energy getting nowhere with a proper energy strategy. You wouldn't include cold fusion or perpetual motion machines, would you?
I’ve just realised that UK fracking is the homeopathy of energy policies. If we just believe enough..
Good one, but for me fracking is more of a 'red meat and claret, no veg' type of thing.
By which I mean that for some reason the more reactionary parts of the Right - which include the UK government unfortunately - view renewables as namby pamby lefty nonsense and fossil fuels as the proper trad way of doing energy.
As with so much in politics these days it's not about facts and figures, it's about urges and instincts and brain chemistries.
The US was Diana land and Charles and Camilla have still not been forgiven for that. Trumpers will also be less keen on his net zero views.
However do we really care what Americans think about our new King? Americans don't care what we think of their Presidents as was seen under President Bush Jnr and Trump, both of whom were hated here
Twitter content moderation is obviously utterly overwhelmed. I'm spewing all kinds of spiteful bile over it which would normally get me my customary 24 hour ban but today... nothing. I've had two flag shaggers offer to come round and fight me and it's still very early in the day.
Shame you weren't here last night, Dura. The royalists' emotions were flying about all over the place.
Monarchists should be careful today if driving or if operating heavy machinery. They should recognise that they are emotionally similar to 12yo girls watching a boy band, with an added streak of sadistic Tory unpleasantness if they think anybody is trying to hold up a mirror to them.
Imagine being a monarchist who looks down on Daily Express readers when his own ability to think for himself is on the same level as a Daily Express reader's, if it isn't even lower.
I think people are just treating you with a bit of contempt and not worth reacting to your me me me remarks
Parts of America are under this strange illusion that they share the monarchy, in negative and positive ways. I guess they could claim that with Meghan they have a vested interest, but that was true of Wallis Simpson too
This tendency to co-opt the British monarchy seems to have increased since the advent of social media, not the opposite
Labour gain in Cannock Chase. Another Midlands council by-election success.
Last night's by-election results: Hartlepool, Foggy Furze: Lab gain from Ind Lancaster, Warton: Grn gain from C Hednesford N: Lab gain from C W Sussex, Felpham: Ind (Wild) gain from C Arun, Barnham: Grn gain from C
Hednesford North is a Labour bastion, and the incumbent was a fool. The surprise is not that they’ve taken it back but that they ever lost it.
PB Tories are desperate for Truss to have a bounce
Sounds like you could be worried she may well get a bounce, and indeed why should any conservative not hope to see an improvement in their standing, just as you want to see the same for labour
It is simply politics
with the Queen's death destroying the energy cap news - it's perfectly plausible that Truss and the Tories won't see the benefit in the polls from that cap....
Or that the Queen's death has prevented Labour from going on the attack about the lack of windfall tax. So only the good news ("your bills are coming down") got through.
My bills will sadly remain extremely high as I stupidly fixed a rate of 13p per KwH a few months ago, not realising I had the choice of falling back on the variable tariff.
Can't you pay a penalty and leave that fixed rate deal?
Wait and see!! You might be alright regardless.
From moneysavingexpert:
"Since the announcement, I have heard the discount that is being applied to the price-capped tariffs is likely to be applied to all tariffs, including fixes (the new 'price guarantee' will effectively work as a per pound discount off the unit rates of the pre-planned 1 October price cap rate). If this is correct, many fixes that currently look costlier than the price guarantee will end up cheaper. Earlier, the information I was told by the Government was that "all can get out of a fixed tariff without exit penalties". This may have changed, so that it is left up to firms. I will confirm when I know, but be careful acting on any of this before it is cast iron."
Can I just say, I know we were all alarmed by the extraordinarily frightening and saddening news yesterday, the dark dark news which flashed around the world like a wolf-howl at light speed, but it turns out I’m fine. My day of suffering on a Portuguese cliff with just warm white wine for company has left me feeling remarkably perky. No signs of the promised dehydration. I slept like a medieval effigy in a forgotten church and now I’m on my hotel terrace nibbling raspberries and figs
So I don’t see why there is this continued, pervasive sense of gloom on PB - and elsewhere. It’s a ridiculous overreaction. I’m OK, and off for a stroll to the Isle of Peaches
I don't have a sense of gloom.
You may start to get one at the time of the king's first mega-tantrum, which can't be far away.
I do hope we aren’t going to start randomly cancelling stuff. We have spent the best of two and a half years shutting stuff down willy nilly.
Let people make their own decisions. Why is the cricket cancelled today?
You’ll be pleased to hear that the F1 hasn’t been cancelled this weekend. They are at Monza, Italy, and Sky has full coverage of the meeting. F2 practice has just finished, and F1 practice is in 45 minutes’ time.
Very peculiar email from work on the subject: - "speak to your line manager if it [the death of the queen] is impacting you particularly to ensure we can put in the right steps for you."
I'm fairly sure there are no members of the royal family work at our place.
This is exactly what I was lamenting earlier passing with the queen - the inability to just get on with things without emoting all over the place.
(And yes he really did put it himself on TikTok it seems, blue ticked)
It has all the warmth and emotion of: Oh dear. How sad. Nevermind.
The guy knows his market, I guess, but his approach on this has sat badly with me (not, it must be said, his target market!)
The "but we now have a King!" at the end hits the ear very oddly. Doubtless unintentional, but it did slightly have a tone of, "at long bloody last we have a KING - a proper monarch rather than this woke, snowflake 'Queen' nonsense we had to put up with for years due to the metropolitan establishment, liberal-left".
I assume Charles first visit will be to Canada to halt his first Minister there from fracking with his 200,000 Wells there.
In Canada the Governor General signs legislation into law not the Monarch (though in theory it is in the monarch's name). Trudeau is relatively pro fracking and has been criticised by the Greens and NDP and even some of his own party for that but still wants to cut emissions overall
I do hope we aren’t going to start randomly cancelling stuff. We have spent the best of two and a half years shutting stuff down willy nilly.
Let people make their own decisions. Why is the cricket cancelled today?
Policing is a good reason why some stuff is being cancelled. Due to the death of the Queen a lot of extra police have been called into working on that, modern sport requires a lot of policing, and people who may have been scheduled to work policing that might now be unavailable.
At such short notice it is probably cleaner and easier to clean the slate of events for today at least until it gets figured out what can and can't go ahead.
PB Tories are desperate for Truss to have a bounce
Sounds like you could be worried she may well get a bounce, and indeed why should any conservative not hope to see an improvement in their standing, just as you want to see the same for labour
It is simply politics
with the Queen's death destroying the energy cap news - it's perfectly plausible that Truss and the Tories won't see the benefit in the polls from that cap....
Or that the Queen's death has prevented Labour from going on the attack about the lack of windfall tax. So only the good news ("your bills are coming down") got through.
My bills will sadly remain extremely high as I stupidly fixed a rate of 13p per KwH a few months ago, not realising I had the choice of falling back on the variable tariff.
I understand you may be able to request a change from that fixed rate under these proposals
However, I may be mistaken but it is worth asking your supplier to change
I personally don’t think that what a politician’s family member does should have any bearing on how the politician is viewed but I’m sure it would have been a nightmare.
Think Liz T had an eventful first week - just think if Penny had been chosen.
Wow. Bullet dodged. Poor Penny. No wonder she looked absent throughout the process.
Yes - it probably explains a lot - I seem to recall that people were commenting that she looked distant and emotional a lot in the early stages.
But if it cost her just five votes that went to Liz then it’s quite amazing how history could have been different.
It just shows the stunning ineptitude of Sunak. Anyone one quarter competent, one per cent competent, would have known this, lent votes to get her into the final, and leaked it to the Con electorate.
I’m getting the feeling that Liz Truss is a very lucky general - which hopefully will be good for the country.
She was up against Sunak who whilst bright wasn’t politically savvy.
She might well have lucked out in penultimate round where Penny voters switched worried about that story.
The country has taken its eye off the huge CoL/Energy crisis which would have dominated her first weeks for a bit giving her time to nail her solutions and arguments.
She’s going to be majorly in the history books now where as if she had bumbled along and lost the next election she would have just been another short term undistinguished PM.
She has an opportunity to massively boost her standing with the public if she plays the next ten days well and becomes a cypher for the grief but resilience of the “Great British Public”.
All she needs now is for JRM to join a cult and quit politics so she can get rid without his supporters getting angry with her.
I don't think Truss will be a cipher for grief. Too robotic and lacking in the human touch. I thought her speech yesterday was poor really. She needs better speechwriters. Perhaps she could ask Boris. His statement was actually pretty good.
I personally don’t think that what a politician’s family member does should have any bearing on how the politician is viewed but I’m sure it would have been a nightmare.
Think Liz T had an eventful first week - just think if Penny had been chosen.
I just don't think that's as big a story, had Mordaunt been PM now, as you think.
Firstly, it's a very sad story for her and other family members, but basically nobody is going to be blaming her for her brother's proclivities - certainly not the right-wing press, nor even the (smaller) left-leaning press.
Secondly, as it happens, the story would have been completely forgotten almost immediately because the timing coincided with vastly bigger news.
I know it’s going to be a controversial opinion, but reading that article about his offences they appear to be a clear case of entrapment. This guy has had a decent middle-class career totally ruined for posting things in a chat room, not to a child but to a police officer. There was no harm to any children as a result of his behaviour.
You are assuming this was the only time he had done such a thing. And he intended his message to go to a child. So he is a risk.
Looks like the King wants mourning to continue for 7 days after the funeral !!!!! Sebastian Payne @SebastianEPayne
New from Buckingham Palace:
- Kings Charles III has instructed a period of royal mourning from now until seven days after Elizabeth II's funeral - date to be confirmed.
- Flags at all royal residences will remain at half mast until 8am the day after mourning
I think 'royal mourning' is for the royal family, the household, assorted hangers-on. Not the likes of us.
I will certainly be mourning for ten days, royal or not
I’m going to be like the Thais after Bumibhol, and wear black for a WHOLE YEAR
To be fair he was their version of The Queen. I imagine when the present Thai king dies, surrounded by his hookers in Bavaria, Thais will maybe wear a grey-ish tee shirt for an afternoon, then move on
On topic, the way we ‘deal with’ fracking is easy - we allow the taxes on it to be raised locally, so everyone in the district gets a cheque instead of a council tax bill.
I think locals to fracking sites will get reduced gas bills, which they will no doubt be delighted with.
To answer the thread, Truss's plans will of course continue unaffected - this is an energy crisis. The King (have to get used to that!) will not pick a fight whereby his wealth, privilege and power is used to stamp on something that could reduce ordinary peoples' fuel bills.
Sure, reduced gas bills are a really great help if there is a connector every few hundred metres for miles, and cracks in the walls and zero equity. And UK land fracking is bloody useless anyway compared to the other options. I can't understand the rightwingers' obsession - it's the energy equivalent of slavetrader statues.
What utter nonsense. In what world is lifting a ban on a commercial activity 'an obsession' with it? Accessible gas cannot be conjoured into existence. Either it will work, or it won't. Let the geology decide.
The geology has already decided. Unless you know more than our oil geologists and economists and anyone with some common sense?
Then nobody will want to do any fracking will they? Problem solved.
The people banging on the loudest about how fracking won't work don't seem really worried that it won't work, they seem worried that given the chance that it will.
They're worried because it won't work and we've meantime wasted a great deal of time and energy getting nowhere with a proper energy strategy. You wouldn't include cold fusion or perpetual motion machines, would you?
I’ve just realised that UK fracking is the homeopathy of energy policies. If we just believe enough..
Good one, but for me fracking is more of a 'red meat and claret, no veg' type of thing.
By which I mean that for some reason the more reactionary parts of the Right - which include the UK government unfortunately - view renewables as namby pamby lefty nonsense and fossil fuels as the proper trad way of doing energy.
As with so much in politics these days it's not about facts and figures, it's about urges and instincts and brain chemistries.
Can we condense opposition to fracking to these three points?:
1) Fracking is not environmentally friendly because it is a continuance of our use/reliance on fossil fuels over and above cleaner sources 2) Fracking is not environmentally friendly because it defaces a local area and there are safety concerns 3) Fracking does not represent an efficient fuel policy because of the quantities involved
For these reasons I wonder whether the allowance of fracking will end up being merely theoretical.
Comments
The local jokes that separating Blackpool was both a good idea and the original plan may not have helped.
The reality is however that Fracking in the UK is another fools errand - it doesn't seem to exist in economic quantities and everywhere where it's been attempted the actual amount accessible gas has been significantly smaller - 10-25% than the amount expected.
Can't see that turning out as wildly popular.
I was thinking this morning, how the political media and commentariat keep to the lie that the monarch acts only on ministerial advice where withholding of their "consent" to government bills is concerned.
What is the point in the government drafting and writing a bill and then advising the monarch to block its introduction to parliament unless certain clauses are amended or removed? Think that's ludicrous? Well that's what we're supposed to believe has happened many times.
Big events work to reinforce or negate stereotypes. The G7 meeting in Carbis Bay definitely did - a Swiss client made a comment the other day about the beautiful white sand beaches we have in Cornwall that he'd like to visit some day.
So on Wednesday it moved from the 15th to Monday September 19th .....
https://www.expressandstar.com/news/2016/01/22/3000-people-dont-want-cannock-chase-fracking/
And presumably not coincidentally:
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/25350/amanda_milling/cannock_chase/divisions?policy=6741
King Charles is Too Political for the USA
Queen Elizabeth II was much beloved for her apolitical marshmallow diplomacy. Her very outspoken son will have his work cut out for him.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/09/08/king-charles-activist-unpopular-america-00055757
My bills will sadly remain extremely high as I stupidly fixed a rate of 13p per KwH a few months ago, not realising I had the choice of falling back on the variable tariff.
Politics will then resume
So I don’t see why there is this continued, pervasive sense of gloom on PB - and elsewhere. It’s a ridiculous overreaction. I’m OK, and off for a stroll to the Isle of Peaches
However, I may be mistaken but it is worth asking your supplier to change
At a time when, due to concerns about logging in rainforests and international agreements, it was almost impossible to get large pieces of mahogany.
I'm sure that cost a bit...
The Special Financial Statement will implement the new energy cap from Oct but it is unlikely that NI will return to the previous level until April. April will also see the state pension and welfare uplift based on Sept 2022 CPI, it will not happen before then.
Also an outside bet, restoration of indexation of Income tax bands for 20% and 40% thresholds again based on Sept 2022 CPI.
I feel like I did when my 94 year old mother died. Content in a funny kind of way. A life well lived. A good death. A kind release. RIP.
Hartlepool, Foggy Furze: Lab gain from Ind
Lancaster, Warton: Grn gain from C
Hednesford N: Lab gain from C
W Sussex, Felpham: Ind (Wild) gain from C
Arun, Barnham: Grn gain from C
In these pro-Invasion videos, a common theme is that the Russian soldiers are badly dressed, often not very "uniform", milling around kind of aimlessly.... Some are living like tramps - "nests" of cardboard in dugouts and APCs....
Either the Ukrainians have a staggering comms control operation, or they are simply better clothed and organised.
From moneysavingexpert:
"Since the announcement, I have heard the discount that is being applied to the price-capped tariffs is likely to be applied to all tariffs, including fixes (the new 'price guarantee' will effectively work as a per pound discount off the unit rates of the pre-planned 1 October price cap rate). If this is correct, many fixes that currently look costlier than the price guarantee will end up cheaper. Earlier, the information I was told by the Government was that "all can get out of a fixed tariff without exit penalties". This may have changed, so that it is left up to firms. I will confirm when I know, but be careful acting on any of this before it is cast iron."
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/09/energy-bills-price-freeze-cost-of-living-government-liz-truss-/
Charles was also warning about climate change before it was fashionable. He will be our first Eco organic monarch
I would be very surprised if Kwarteng does not address this issue directly in his statement on the 21st
Apparently the world wide earnings are 170 billion but these are outside UK control, but 40 billion is though as you say it is taxed at 65%
It is not difficult to see the myth that a windfall tax will pay the cost of this energy price freeze
It may also not be so full of asbestos, which is everywhere in the Palace of Westminster.
But this one from Nigel Farage is just ... Odd.
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMNE1hqdP/
(And yes he really did put it himself on TikTok it seems, blue ticked)
It has all the warmth and emotion of: Oh dear. How sad. Nevermind.
Shame you weren't here last night, Dura. The royalists' emotions were flying about all over the place.
Monarchists should be careful today if driving or if operating heavy machinery. They should recognise that they are emotionally similar to 12yo girls watching a boy band, with an added streak of sadistic Tory unpleasantness if they think anybody is trying to hold up a mirror to them.
Imagine being a monarchist who looks down on Daily Express readers when his own ability to think for himself is on the same level as a Daily Express reader's, if it isn't even lower.
But normally when very old people die they've long since passed on any important jobs they were doing to someone else perfectly competent to take on the role. I'm slightly worried about what a hole she's leaving and what will fill it.
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/what-are-the-price-cap-unit-rates-/
For those who don't know - in the expenses scandal, it came out that a number of MPs had tried to buy B&O TVs on expenses. They were the most expensive TVs on the market - thousands of pounds. And since they were just plasma screens, not noticeably better than your average Samsung.
- Tomorrow the Accession Council meets to proclaim Charles King
- He is already King in title but this is a constitutional formality to recognise his sovereignty
- Most of us have never seen a proclamation before. So what happens? 🧵…
https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1568144737684578305
Let people make their own decisions. Why is the cricket cancelled today?
By which I mean that for some reason the more reactionary parts of the Right - which include the UK government unfortunately - view renewables as namby pamby lefty nonsense and fossil fuels as the proper trad way of doing energy.
As with so much in politics these days it's not about facts and figures, it's about urges and instincts and brain chemistries.
However do we really care what Americans think about our new King? Americans don't care what we think of their Presidents as was seen under President Bush Jnr and Trump, both of whom were hated here
Parts of America are under this strange illusion that they share the monarchy, in negative and positive ways. I guess they could claim that with Meghan they have a vested interest, but that was true of Wallis Simpson too
This tendency to co-opt the British monarchy seems to have increased since the advent of social media, not the opposite
Good move by the government if so
I'm fairly sure there are no members of the royal family work at our place.
This is exactly what I was lamenting earlier passing with the queen - the inability to just get on with things without emoting all over the place.
The "but we now have a King!" at the end hits the ear very oddly. Doubtless unintentional, but it did slightly have a tone of, "at long bloody last we have a KING - a proper monarch rather than this woke, snowflake 'Queen' nonsense we had to put up with for years due to the metropolitan establishment, liberal-left".
https://www.mailplus.co.uk/edition/news/royals/queen/220878/the-queen-was-the-glue-that-held-our-nation-together.-now-i-fear-for-the-union
And excellent obit in The Times
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/queen-elizabeth-ii-obituary-d9x0z05fk
At such short notice it is probably cleaner and easier to clean the slate of events for today at least until it gets figured out what can and can't go ahead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfg14tX--ZE
To be fair he was their version of The Queen. I imagine when the present Thai king dies, surrounded by his hookers in Bavaria, Thais will maybe wear a grey-ish tee shirt for an afternoon, then move on
1) Fracking is not environmentally friendly because it is a continuance of our use/reliance on fossil fuels over and above cleaner sources
2) Fracking is not environmentally friendly because it defaces a local area and there are safety concerns
3) Fracking does not represent an efficient fuel policy because of the quantities involved
For these reasons I wonder whether the allowance of fracking will end up being merely theoretical.