We all know that Labour were given a hospital pass by the Tories. The economy in bits, public services an underfunded shambles and local government on the brink of collapse.
We should not allow the Tories to get away from the grotesque mess they made.
But - and its a big but - Labour have shown themselves to lacking in ideas and now trapped by treasury orthodoxy which insists that the way to restart an economy on its knees is cut some more, to fix public services is to break them harder, the way to restore confidence is make everyone depressed.
This is stupid. You cannot cut your way to growth. We need to invest.
No, we need to facilitate private sector investment and growth.
Government is brilliant at investing in crap - politically dictated projects that make no economic sense, from Concorde to HS2 to ...
On energy it should be encouraging, not preventing, the private sector to exploit our hydrocarbon reserves.
On transportation, it should be building the projects that will boost the economy the most, which are generally roads in and around London, rather than the dismal disaster of HS2.
On housing, the government should be facilitating private sector self-build.
It should be cutting business regulation and taxes, and if necessary increasing taxes like VAT which harm economic growth much less, as Mrs Thatcher did in her first term.
Etc etc.
Oh I agree - private sector investment. But that only happens when the strategic framework is done by the state.
My two biggies are Housing and Energy.
Housing? The private sector is fast at buying land and slow at building houses. And what it does build are the wrong types of homes sold at daft prices. We need to demolish and rebuild broken towns and with the greatest respect I don't see Taylor Wimpey going to shareholders like my mum asking her to invest in building affordable homes in Mansfield. It'll need to be government and local authorities setting development zones and then directing what types of homes to build for the LHA. At which point Taylor Wimpey etc can bid for the contract.
Energy? I agree that we should keep drilling oil and gas - its nonsensical to stop doing so and then import it. We also need to supercharge clean energy industry - don't settle for imported equipment we should be designing, building and exporting. Which needs a stable policy and government tax bungs to get started. We're all talking about SMRs but again that needs government to say they actually want them and to slash the timetable to actually build them quickly.
Transport? Can't all be London because then you don't have an economy. All of our competitors in Europe connect up towns and cities - we have to do the same.
Business? Needs to invest in skills and facilities. I have a much longer list of ideas, but the starting place should be Corporation Tax cuts only for companies who invest in skills and infrastructure. When we cut their taxes and ask for nothing in return we get nothing in return. Productivity is so low in this country because we have largely unskilled unmotivated workers left ignored by their employers.
Global fossil fuel usage is still climbing. A crime against future generations .
10% council tax on unbuilt homes would bring more housing to market than any sad yet comic cry for growth and a pointing finger.
As for Labour. Shakes head. A hard stop on selling council houses would have been an easy win. WFA needed to be stopped. End of 2026 allowing time to get your house draught proofed would have less dumb.
I’m not surprised Casino is considering joining.
Globally, yes. And we're doing very well in the UK with our transition away from fossil fuels. EV use is growing and fuel cars getting more efficient through hybrid drivetrains. We burn no coal and little gas to generate power. People like me still burn oil for home heating but we're in decline.
We need to go further and faster on clean energy - it's the future of energy independence and will be a brilliant way for the UK to make money. But we can't just stop drilling the oil and gas still in our waters. With the best will in the world we still need the stuff - oil especially. If we stop digging our own we have to import it. How does that make any sense?
If every country with oil and/or gas reserves applies the same logic, then the Earth is fucked. We need need to stop digging our own and stop importing. Not for purposes other than burning, and not immediately, of course, but as ASAP.
The question becomes when the 'possible' in ASAP is. And it is probably further away then you or I would like. And in the meantime, unless you want to fuck the country up, we need to ensure we get the power we need. In terms of electricity, possibly lots more as we get more electric cars and electric boilers.
Tidal. A proper investment. The oldest tidal scheme is in northern France. It’s been generating since about 1890. Only minimal maintenance has been required.
Cornwall and Scapa Flow between them would provide 24 hr power for a millennium and cost less than the latest EDF nuclear jobby.
The lack of tidal is one of those head scratchers, like why don’t all volcanic countries have 100% geothermal power like Iceland, given how cheap it is.
Usually when I’m wondering “how hard can it be” I do a bit of internet research and find out that actually it is very hard and/or expensive, but the internet is a little lacking in tidal myth busting. The Wikipedia page lists several issues but none seem particularly major.
I had a go at this on PB a few months ago. In summary - tidal doesn't solve any of our problems or fill any niches. It's surprisingly intermittent, it doesn't store much energy, it doesn't generate much power anyway relative to chucking up more turbines.
Tidal power also has environmental consequences - it slows the rotation of the Earth and lengthens the day. An Earth day used to be less than 20 hours once, it could increase to 60+ hours in the future.
We all know that Labour were given a hospital pass by the Tories. The economy in bits, public services an underfunded shambles and local government on the brink of collapse.
We should not allow the Tories to get away from the grotesque mess they made.
But - and its a big but - Labour have shown themselves to lacking in ideas and now trapped by treasury orthodoxy which insists that the way to restart an economy on its knees is cut some more, to fix public services is to break them harder, the way to restore confidence is make everyone depressed.
This is stupid. You cannot cut your way to growth. We need to invest.
No, we need to facilitate private sector investment and growth.
Government is brilliant at investing in crap - politically dictated projects that make no economic sense, from Concorde to HS2 to ...
On energy it should be encouraging, not preventing, the private sector to exploit our hydrocarbon reserves.
On transportation, it should be building the projects that will boost the economy the most, which are generally roads in and around London, rather than the dismal disaster of HS2.
On housing, the government should be facilitating private sector self-build.
It should be cutting business regulation and taxes, and if necessary increasing taxes like VAT which harm economic growth much less, as Mrs Thatcher did in her first term.
Etc etc.
Oh I agree - private sector investment. But that only happens when the strategic framework is done by the state.
My two biggies are Housing and Energy.
Housing? The private sector is fast at buying land and slow at building houses. And what it does build are the wrong types of homes sold at daft prices. We need to demolish and rebuild broken towns and with the greatest respect I don't see Taylor Wimpey going to shareholders like my mum asking her to invest in building affordable homes in Mansfield. It'll need to be government and local authorities setting development zones and then directing what types of homes to build for the LHA. At which point Taylor Wimpey etc can bid for the contract.
Energy? I agree that we should keep drilling oil and gas - its nonsensical to stop doing so and then import it. We also need to supercharge clean energy industry - don't settle for imported equipment we should be designing, building and exporting. Which needs a stable policy and government tax bungs to get started. We're all talking about SMRs but again that needs government to say they actually want them and to slash the timetable to actually build them quickly.
Transport? Can't all be London because then you don't have an economy. All of our competitors in Europe connect up towns and cities - we have to do the same.
Business? Needs to invest in skills and facilities. I have a much longer list of ideas, but the starting place should be Corporation Tax cuts only for companies who invest in skills and infrastructure. When we cut their taxes and ask for nothing in return we get nothing in return. Productivity is so low in this country because we have largely unskilled unmotivated workers left ignored by their employers.
Global fossil fuel usage is still climbing. A crime against future generations .
10% council tax on unbuilt homes would bring more housing to market than any sad yet comic cry for growth and a pointing finger.
As for Labour. Shakes head. A hard stop on selling council houses would have been an easy win. WFA needed to be stopped. End of 2026 allowing time to get your house draught proofed would have less dumb.
I’m not surprised Casino is considering joining.
Globally, yes. And we're doing very well in the UK with our transition away from fossil fuels. EV use is growing and fuel cars getting more efficient through hybrid drivetrains. We burn no coal and little gas to generate power. People like me still burn oil for home heating but we're in decline.
We need to go further and faster on clean energy - it's the future of energy independence and will be a brilliant way for the UK to make money. But we can't just stop drilling the oil and gas still in our waters. With the best will in the world we still need the stuff - oil especially. If we stop digging our own we have to import it. How does that make any sense?
If every country with oil and/or gas reserves applies the same logic, then the Earth is fucked. We need need to stop digging our own and stop importing. Not for purposes other than burning, and not immediately, of course, but as ASAP.
The question becomes when the 'possible' in ASAP is. And it is probably further away then you or I would like. And in the meantime, unless you want to fuck the country up, we need to ensure we get the power we need. In terms of electricity, possibly lots more as we get more electric cars and electric boilers.
Tidal. A proper investment. The oldest tidal scheme is in northern France. It’s been generating since about 1890. Only minimal maintenance has been required.
Cornwall and Scapa Flow between them would provide 24 hr power for a millennium and cost less than the latest EDF nuclear jobby.
The lack of tidal is one of those head scratchers, like why don’t all volcanic countries have 100% geothermal power like Iceland, given how cheap it is.
Usually when I’m wondering “how hard can it be” I do a bit of internet research and find out that actually it is very hard and/or expensive, but the internet is a little lacking in tidal myth busting. The Wikipedia page lists several issues but none seem particularly major.
I had a go at this on PB a few months ago. In summary - tidal doesn't solve any of our problems or fill any niches. It's surprisingly intermittent, it doesn't store much energy, it doesn't generate much power anyway relative to chucking up more turbines.
Depends on the scale of the schemes. The bid tidal pond schemes are mega power station sized.
As to energy storage - what is predictable is tidal lag round the country. The tide at location X is very consistently Z hours off the tide at Y.
Which means by siting the schemes appropriately and using tidal ponds to stretch the generating period, you can get predictably 24/7 power.
Except it's the monthly variation that's the problem.
We all know that Labour were given a hospital pass by the Tories. The economy in bits, public services an underfunded shambles and local government on the brink of collapse.
We should not allow the Tories to get away from the grotesque mess they made.
But - and its a big but - Labour have shown themselves to lacking in ideas and now trapped by treasury orthodoxy which insists that the way to restart an economy on its knees is cut some more, to fix public services is to break them harder, the way to restore confidence is make everyone depressed.
This is stupid. You cannot cut your way to growth. We need to invest.
No, we need to facilitate private sector investment and growth.
Government is brilliant at investing in crap - politically dictated projects that make no economic sense, from Concorde to HS2 to ...
On energy it should be encouraging, not preventing, the private sector to exploit our hydrocarbon reserves.
On transportation, it should be building the projects that will boost the economy the most, which are generally roads in and around London, rather than the dismal disaster of HS2.
On housing, the government should be facilitating private sector self-build.
It should be cutting business regulation and taxes, and if necessary increasing taxes like VAT which harm economic growth much less, as Mrs Thatcher did in her first term.
Etc etc.
Oh I agree - private sector investment. But that only happens when the strategic framework is done by the state.
My two biggies are Housing and Energy.
Housing? The private sector is fast at buying land and slow at building houses. And what it does build are the wrong types of homes sold at daft prices. We need to demolish and rebuild broken towns and with the greatest respect I don't see Taylor Wimpey going to shareholders like my mum asking her to invest in building affordable homes in Mansfield. It'll need to be government and local authorities setting development zones and then directing what types of homes to build for the LHA. At which point Taylor Wimpey etc can bid for the contract.
Energy? I agree that we should keep drilling oil and gas - its nonsensical to stop doing so and then import it. We also need to supercharge clean energy industry - don't settle for imported equipment we should be designing, building and exporting. Which needs a stable policy and government tax bungs to get started. We're all talking about SMRs but again that needs government to say they actually want them and to slash the timetable to actually build them quickly.
Transport? Can't all be London because then you don't have an economy. All of our competitors in Europe connect up towns and cities - we have to do the same.
Business? Needs to invest in skills and facilities. I have a much longer list of ideas, but the starting place should be Corporation Tax cuts only for companies who invest in skills and infrastructure. When we cut their taxes and ask for nothing in return we get nothing in return. Productivity is so low in this country because we have largely unskilled unmotivated workers left ignored by their employers.
Global fossil fuel usage is still climbing. A crime against future generations .
10% council tax on unbuilt homes would bring more housing to market than any sad yet comic cry for growth and a pointing finger.
As for Labour. Shakes head. A hard stop on selling council houses would have been an easy win. WFA needed to be stopped. End of 2026 allowing time to get your house draught proofed would have less dumb.
I’m not surprised Casino is considering joining.
Globally, yes. And we're doing very well in the UK with our transition away from fossil fuels. EV use is growing and fuel cars getting more efficient through hybrid drivetrains. We burn no coal and little gas to generate power. People like me still burn oil for home heating but we're in decline.
We need to go further and faster on clean energy - it's the future of energy independence and will be a brilliant way for the UK to make money. But we can't just stop drilling the oil and gas still in our waters. With the best will in the world we still need the stuff - oil especially. If we stop digging our own we have to import it. How does that make any sense?
If every country with oil and/or gas reserves applies the same logic, then the Earth is fucked. We need need to stop digging our own and stop importing. Not for purposes other than burning, and not immediately, of course, but as ASAP.
The question becomes when the 'possible' in ASAP is. And it is probably further away then you or I would like. And in the meantime, unless you want to fuck the country up, we need to ensure we get the power we need. In terms of electricity, possibly lots more as we get more electric cars and electric boilers.
Tidal. A proper investment. The oldest tidal scheme is in northern France. It’s been generating since about 1890. Only minimal maintenance has been required.
Cornwall and Scapa Flow between them would provide 24 hr power for a millennium and cost less than the latest EDF nuclear jobby.
The lack of tidal is one of those head scratchers, like why don’t all volcanic countries have 100% geothermal power like Iceland, given how cheap it is.
Usually when I’m wondering “how hard can it be” I do a bit of internet research and find out that actually it is very hard and/or expensive, but the internet is a little lacking in tidal myth busting. The Wikipedia page lists several issues but none seem particularly major.
I had a go at this on PB a few months ago. In summary - tidal doesn't solve any of our problems or fill any niches. It's surprisingly intermittent, it doesn't store much energy, it doesn't generate much power anyway relative to chucking up more turbines.
Interested to see this if you/others have a link to it. I missed it at the time.
We all know that Labour were given a hospital pass by the Tories. The economy in bits, public services an underfunded shambles and local government on the brink of collapse.
We should not allow the Tories to get away from the grotesque mess they made.
But - and its a big but - Labour have shown themselves to lacking in ideas and now trapped by treasury orthodoxy which insists that the way to restart an economy on its knees is cut some more, to fix public services is to break them harder, the way to restore confidence is make everyone depressed.
This is stupid. You cannot cut your way to growth. We need to invest.
No, we need to facilitate private sector investment and growth.
Government is brilliant at investing in crap - politically dictated projects that make no economic sense, from Concorde to HS2 to ...
On energy it should be encouraging, not preventing, the private sector to exploit our hydrocarbon reserves.
On transportation, it should be building the projects that will boost the economy the most, which are generally roads in and around London, rather than the dismal disaster of HS2.
On housing, the government should be facilitating private sector self-build.
It should be cutting business regulation and taxes, and if necessary increasing taxes like VAT which harm economic growth much less, as Mrs Thatcher did in her first term.
Etc etc.
Oh I agree - private sector investment. But that only happens when the strategic framework is done by the state.
My two biggies are Housing and Energy.
Housing? The private sector is fast at buying land and slow at building houses. And what it does build are the wrong types of homes sold at daft prices. We need to demolish and rebuild broken towns and with the greatest respect I don't see Taylor Wimpey going to shareholders like my mum asking her to invest in building affordable homes in Mansfield. It'll need to be government and local authorities setting development zones and then directing what types of homes to build for the LHA. At which point Taylor Wimpey etc can bid for the contract.
Energy? I agree that we should keep drilling oil and gas - its nonsensical to stop doing so and then import it. We also need to supercharge clean energy industry - don't settle for imported equipment we should be designing, building and exporting. Which needs a stable policy and government tax bungs to get started. We're all talking about SMRs but again that needs government to say they actually want them and to slash the timetable to actually build them quickly.
Transport? Can't all be London because then you don't have an economy. All of our competitors in Europe connect up towns and cities - we have to do the same.
Business? Needs to invest in skills and facilities. I have a much longer list of ideas, but the starting place should be Corporation Tax cuts only for companies who invest in skills and infrastructure. When we cut their taxes and ask for nothing in return we get nothing in return. Productivity is so low in this country because we have largely unskilled unmotivated workers left ignored by their employers.
Global fossil fuel usage is still climbing. A crime against future generations .
10% council tax on unbuilt homes would bring more housing to market than any sad yet comic cry for growth and a pointing finger.
As for Labour. Shakes head. A hard stop on selling council houses would have been an easy win. WFA needed to be stopped. End of 2026 allowing time to get your house draught proofed would have less dumb.
I’m not surprised Casino is considering joining.
Globally, yes. And we're doing very well in the UK with our transition away from fossil fuels. EV use is growing and fuel cars getting more efficient through hybrid drivetrains. We burn no coal and little gas to generate power. People like me still burn oil for home heating but we're in decline.
We need to go further and faster on clean energy - it's the future of energy independence and will be a brilliant way for the UK to make money. But we can't just stop drilling the oil and gas still in our waters. With the best will in the world we still need the stuff - oil especially. If we stop digging our own we have to import it. How does that make any sense?
If every country with oil and/or gas reserves applies the same logic, then the Earth is fucked. We need need to stop digging our own and stop importing. Not for purposes other than burning, and not immediately, of course, but as ASAP.
The question becomes when the 'possible' in ASAP is. And it is probably further away then you or I would like. And in the meantime, unless you want to fuck the country up, we need to ensure we get the power we need. In terms of electricity, possibly lots more as we get more electric cars and electric boilers.
Tidal. A proper investment. The oldest tidal scheme is in northern France. It’s been generating since about 1890. Only minimal maintenance has been required.
Cornwall and Scapa Flow between them would provide 24 hr power for a millennium and cost less than the latest EDF nuclear jobby.
The lack of tidal is one of those head scratchers, like why don’t all volcanic countries have 100% geothermal power like Iceland, given how cheap it is.
Usually when I’m wondering “how hard can it be” I do a bit of internet research and find out that actually it is very hard and/or expensive, but the internet is a little lacking in tidal myth busting. The Wikipedia page lists several issues but none seem particularly major.
I had a go at this on PB a few months ago. In summary - tidal doesn't solve any of our problems or fill any niches. It's surprisingly intermittent, it doesn't store much energy, it doesn't generate much power anyway relative to chucking up more turbines.
Tidal power also has environmental consequences - it slows the rotation of the Earth and lengthens the day. An Earth day used to be less than 20 hours once, it could increase to 60+ hours in the future.
How many yottawatts of power are you planning to produce ?!?
We all know that Labour were given a hospital pass by the Tories. The economy in bits, public services an underfunded shambles and local government on the brink of collapse.
We should not allow the Tories to get away from the grotesque mess they made.
But - and its a big but - Labour have shown themselves to lacking in ideas and now trapped by treasury orthodoxy which insists that the way to restart an economy on its knees is cut some more, to fix public services is to break them harder, the way to restore confidence is make everyone depressed.
This is stupid. You cannot cut your way to growth. We need to invest.
No, we need to facilitate private sector investment and growth.
Government is brilliant at investing in crap - politically dictated projects that make no economic sense, from Concorde to HS2 to ...
On energy it should be encouraging, not preventing, the private sector to exploit our hydrocarbon reserves.
On transportation, it should be building the projects that will boost the economy the most, which are generally roads in and around London, rather than the dismal disaster of HS2.
On housing, the government should be facilitating private sector self-build.
It should be cutting business regulation and taxes, and if necessary increasing taxes like VAT which harm economic growth much less, as Mrs Thatcher did in her first term.
Etc etc.
Oh I agree - private sector investment. But that only happens when the strategic framework is done by the state.
My two biggies are Housing and Energy.
Housing? The private sector is fast at buying land and slow at building houses. And what it does build are the wrong types of homes sold at daft prices. We need to demolish and rebuild broken towns and with the greatest respect I don't see Taylor Wimpey going to shareholders like my mum asking her to invest in building affordable homes in Mansfield. It'll need to be government and local authorities setting development zones and then directing what types of homes to build for the LHA. At which point Taylor Wimpey etc can bid for the contract.
Energy? I agree that we should keep drilling oil and gas - its nonsensical to stop doing so and then import it. We also need to supercharge clean energy industry - don't settle for imported equipment we should be designing, building and exporting. Which needs a stable policy and government tax bungs to get started. We're all talking about SMRs but again that needs government to say they actually want them and to slash the timetable to actually build them quickly.
Transport? Can't all be London because then you don't have an economy. All of our competitors in Europe connect up towns and cities - we have to do the same.
Business? Needs to invest in skills and facilities. I have a much longer list of ideas, but the starting place should be Corporation Tax cuts only for companies who invest in skills and infrastructure. When we cut their taxes and ask for nothing in return we get nothing in return. Productivity is so low in this country because we have largely unskilled unmotivated workers left ignored by their employers.
Global fossil fuel usage is still climbing. A crime against future generations .
10% council tax on unbuilt homes would bring more housing to market than any sad yet comic cry for growth and a pointing finger.
As for Labour. Shakes head. A hard stop on selling council houses would have been an easy win. WFA needed to be stopped. End of 2026 allowing time to get your house draught proofed would have less dumb.
I’m not surprised Casino is considering joining.
Globally, yes. And we're doing very well in the UK with our transition away from fossil fuels. EV use is growing and fuel cars getting more efficient through hybrid drivetrains. We burn no coal and little gas to generate power. People like me still burn oil for home heating but we're in decline.
We need to go further and faster on clean energy - it's the future of energy independence and will be a brilliant way for the UK to make money. But we can't just stop drilling the oil and gas still in our waters. With the best will in the world we still need the stuff - oil especially. If we stop digging our own we have to import it. How does that make any sense?
If every country with oil and/or gas reserves applies the same logic, then the Earth is fucked. We need need to stop digging our own and stop importing. Not for purposes other than burning, and not immediately, of course, but as ASAP.
The question becomes when the 'possible' in ASAP is. And it is probably further away then you or I would like. And in the meantime, unless you want to fuck the country up, we need to ensure we get the power we need. In terms of electricity, possibly lots more as we get more electric cars and electric boilers.
Tidal. A proper investment. The oldest tidal scheme is in northern France. It’s been generating since about 1890. Only minimal maintenance has been required.
Cornwall and Scapa Flow between them would provide 24 hr power for a millennium and cost less than the latest EDF nuclear jobby.
The lack of tidal is one of those head scratchers, like why don’t all volcanic countries have 100% geothermal power like Iceland, given how cheap it is.
Usually when I’m wondering “how hard can it be” I do a bit of internet research and find out that actually it is very hard and/or expensive, but the internet is a little lacking in tidal myth busting. The Wikipedia page lists several issues but none seem particularly major.
I had a go at this on PB a few months ago. In summary - tidal doesn't solve any of our problems or fill any niches. It's surprisingly intermittent, it doesn't store much energy, it doesn't generate much power anyway relative to chucking up more turbines.
Tidal power also has environmental consequences - it slows the rotation of the Earth and lengthens the day. An Earth day used to be less than 20 hours once, it could increase to 60+ hours in the future.
This was a scare story from a while back and widely debunked, I think. In theory extracting tidal power would ultimately lead to longer days, but the calculated timescales and amounts were hokey in the 'paper' on this.
Having admitted they've renditioned him in error...
Trump's lawyers are arguing that because they've dumped this guy in a Salvadoran prison, he can't file a habeas corpus petition, because he's no longer in American custody. They're arguing that once you get to sent to El Salvador, no court can order the govt to bring you back. https://x.com/JamesSurowiecki/status/1906903088461656383
Surely the courts can order the government to take all necessary steps to persuade El Salvador to release him.
Meaning what? And enforceable how?
In theory, I'd assume the logal system could hold the officials responsible accountable for human trafficking and no doubt other crimes, but bringing a case will be practically difficult and obviously the Trump state won't bring one against itself.
You issue a court order instructing the US government to do whatever it takes. That gives all the negotiating leverage to Rl Salvador. Add in a fine of, say, $10m per day u til he is returned
And you hold the us lawyers criminally liable
"Whatever it takes" is a dangerously open but meaningless phrase (which I'd hope no court would go anywhere near). That's an open door to military action - which would be an obvious invite to the Trump adminstration to start deportations to Greenland.
You can hold people liable for the decision to abduct and deport someone illegally; I don't see how you can hold them accountable for failing to bring them back when they have no authority to do so and can only work on best endeavours. Surely no lawyer would go near a case if operating under those conditions?
But it's all irrelevant. The administration would ignore the court order anyway and challenge it on appeal.
The administration argues that it correctly used the provisions of the Alien Enemies Act to detain and deport these individuals.
Unless the court rules that the administration was acting outside the terms of the act, then the matter ends there, as far as the US legal system is concerned.
Of course that would mean Trump could disappear anyone, citizens included, in such a manner. And once those individuals were outside of the US, they'd be disappeared to the US legal system, too.
No habeus corpus applies to those in El Salvador.
Does it ? See Al Maqaleh v Gates
And that involved individuals inder the direct control of the US government.
We all know that Labour were given a hospital pass by the Tories. The economy in bits, public services an underfunded shambles and local government on the brink of collapse.
We should not allow the Tories to get away from the grotesque mess they made.
But - and its a big but - Labour have shown themselves to lacking in ideas and now trapped by treasury orthodoxy which insists that the way to restart an economy on its knees is cut some more, to fix public services is to break them harder, the way to restore confidence is make everyone depressed.
This is stupid. You cannot cut your way to growth. We need to invest.
No, we need to facilitate private sector investment and growth.
Government is brilliant at investing in crap - politically dictated projects that make no economic sense, from Concorde to HS2 to ...
On energy it should be encouraging, not preventing, the private sector to exploit our hydrocarbon reserves.
On transportation, it should be building the projects that will boost the economy the most, which are generally roads in and around London, rather than the dismal disaster of HS2.
On housing, the government should be facilitating private sector self-build.
It should be cutting business regulation and taxes, and if necessary increasing taxes like VAT which harm economic growth much less, as Mrs Thatcher did in her first term.
Etc etc.
Oh I agree - private sector investment. But that only happens when the strategic framework is done by the state.
My two biggies are Housing and Energy.
Housing? The private sector is fast at buying land and slow at building houses. And what it does build are the wrong types of homes sold at daft prices. We need to demolish and rebuild broken towns and with the greatest respect I don't see Taylor Wimpey going to shareholders like my mum asking her to invest in building affordable homes in Mansfield. It'll need to be government and local authorities setting development zones and then directing what types of homes to build for the LHA. At which point Taylor Wimpey etc can bid for the contract.
Energy? I agree that we should keep drilling oil and gas - its nonsensical to stop doing so and then import it. We also need to supercharge clean energy industry - don't settle for imported equipment we should be designing, building and exporting. Which needs a stable policy and government tax bungs to get started. We're all talking about SMRs but again that needs government to say they actually want them and to slash the timetable to actually build them quickly.
Transport? Can't all be London because then you don't have an economy. All of our competitors in Europe connect up towns and cities - we have to do the same.
Business? Needs to invest in skills and facilities. I have a much longer list of ideas, but the starting place should be Corporation Tax cuts only for companies who invest in skills and infrastructure. When we cut their taxes and ask for nothing in return we get nothing in return. Productivity is so low in this country because we have largely unskilled unmotivated workers left ignored by their employers.
Global fossil fuel usage is still climbing. A crime against future generations .
10% council tax on unbuilt homes would bring more housing to market than any sad yet comic cry for growth and a pointing finger.
As for Labour. Shakes head. A hard stop on selling council houses would have been an easy win. WFA needed to be stopped. End of 2026 allowing time to get your house draught proofed would have less dumb.
I’m not surprised Casino is considering joining.
Globally, yes. And we're doing very well in the UK with our transition away from fossil fuels. EV use is growing and fuel cars getting more efficient through hybrid drivetrains. We burn no coal and little gas to generate power. People like me still burn oil for home heating but we're in decline.
We need to go further and faster on clean energy - it's the future of energy independence and will be a brilliant way for the UK to make money. But we can't just stop drilling the oil and gas still in our waters. With the best will in the world we still need the stuff - oil especially. If we stop digging our own we have to import it. How does that make any sense?
If every country with oil and/or gas reserves applies the same logic, then the Earth is fucked. We need need to stop digging our own and stop importing. Not for purposes other than burning, and not immediately, of course, but as ASAP.
The question becomes when the 'possible' in ASAP is. And it is probably further away then you or I would like. And in the meantime, unless you want to fuck the country up, we need to ensure we get the power we need. In terms of electricity, possibly lots more as we get more electric cars and electric boilers.
Tidal. A proper investment. The oldest tidal scheme is in northern France. It’s been generating since about 1890. Only minimal maintenance has been required.
Cornwall and Scapa Flow between them would provide 24 hr power for a millennium and cost less than the latest EDF nuclear jobby.
The lack of tidal is one of those head scratchers, like why don’t all volcanic countries have 100% geothermal power like Iceland, given how cheap it is.
Usually when I’m wondering “how hard can it be” I do a bit of internet research and find out that actually it is very hard and/or expensive, but the internet is a little lacking in tidal myth busting. The Wikipedia page lists several issues but none seem particularly major.
I had a go at this on PB a few months ago. In summary - tidal doesn't solve any of our problems or fill any niches. It's surprisingly intermittent, it doesn't store much energy, it doesn't generate much power anyway relative to chucking up more turbines.
Tidal power also has environmental consequences - it slows the rotation of the Earth and lengthens the day. An Earth day used to be less than 20 hours once, it could increase to 60+ hours in the future.
Do you have any calculations on that on scale of the impact of many major schemes?
When I were a lad I had a book about the St Malo scheme - complete IIRC with its two way turbines - which went in in the year England won the world cup. It was noted that it would slow the earth's rotation, but infinitesimally.
Don't anyone tell Farage, or it will become a Reform UK talking point, and I'd have the Leeanderthal Man dog-whistling it all over twitter. It would be double bubble for him - because its French.
I'm very much on-board with this. The night we (Arsenal) played Man City in February 2023, it was absolute carnage with tailgaters trying to run through the crowds in the concourse.
The Football Association has stepped up its lobbying of the government to make forced entry into football stadiums, so-called “tailgating”, a criminal offence before the United Kingdom and Ireland host the 2028 men’s European Championship.
The policing minister Dame Diana Johnson was a guest of the FA at Wembley for last month’s Carabao Cup final, where 68 of the 91 arrests made were for attempting to enter the ground without a ticket.
Tailgating at turnstiles is not a criminal offence, however, with the Metropolitan police forced to make those 68 arrests on the grounds of suspicion of fraud. The Guardian has learned that no charges have been issued owing to very low conviction rates for tailgating, which has become a major issue for the FA and some Premier League clubs.
We all know that Labour were given a hospital pass by the Tories. The economy in bits, public services an underfunded shambles and local government on the brink of collapse.
We should not allow the Tories to get away from the grotesque mess they made.
But - and its a big but - Labour have shown themselves to lacking in ideas and now trapped by treasury orthodoxy which insists that the way to restart an economy on its knees is cut some more, to fix public services is to break them harder, the way to restore confidence is make everyone depressed.
This is stupid. You cannot cut your way to growth. We need to invest.
No, we need to facilitate private sector investment and growth.
Government is brilliant at investing in crap - politically dictated projects that make no economic sense, from Concorde to HS2 to ...
On energy it should be encouraging, not preventing, the private sector to exploit our hydrocarbon reserves.
On transportation, it should be building the projects that will boost the economy the most, which are generally roads in and around London, rather than the dismal disaster of HS2.
On housing, the government should be facilitating private sector self-build.
It should be cutting business regulation and taxes, and if necessary increasing taxes like VAT which harm economic growth much less, as Mrs Thatcher did in her first term.
Etc etc.
Oh I agree - private sector investment. But that only happens when the strategic framework is done by the state.
My two biggies are Housing and Energy.
Housing? The private sector is fast at buying land and slow at building houses. And what it does build are the wrong types of homes sold at daft prices. We need to demolish and rebuild broken towns and with the greatest respect I don't see Taylor Wimpey going to shareholders like my mum asking her to invest in building affordable homes in Mansfield. It'll need to be government and local authorities setting development zones and then directing what types of homes to build for the LHA. At which point Taylor Wimpey etc can bid for the contract.
Energy? I agree that we should keep drilling oil and gas - its nonsensical to stop doing so and then import it. We also need to supercharge clean energy industry - don't settle for imported equipment we should be designing, building and exporting. Which needs a stable policy and government tax bungs to get started. We're all talking about SMRs but again that needs government to say they actually want them and to slash the timetable to actually build them quickly.
Transport? Can't all be London because then you don't have an economy. All of our competitors in Europe connect up towns and cities - we have to do the same.
Business? Needs to invest in skills and facilities. I have a much longer list of ideas, but the starting place should be Corporation Tax cuts only for companies who invest in skills and infrastructure. When we cut their taxes and ask for nothing in return we get nothing in return. Productivity is so low in this country because we have largely unskilled unmotivated workers left ignored by their employers.
Global fossil fuel usage is still climbing. A crime against future generations .
10% council tax on unbuilt homes would bring more housing to market than any sad yet comic cry for growth and a pointing finger.
As for Labour. Shakes head. A hard stop on selling council houses would have been an easy win. WFA needed to be stopped. End of 2026 allowing time to get your house draught proofed would have less dumb.
I’m not surprised Casino is considering joining.
Globally, yes. And we're doing very well in the UK with our transition away from fossil fuels. EV use is growing and fuel cars getting more efficient through hybrid drivetrains. We burn no coal and little gas to generate power. People like me still burn oil for home heating but we're in decline.
We need to go further and faster on clean energy - it's the future of energy independence and will be a brilliant way for the UK to make money. But we can't just stop drilling the oil and gas still in our waters. With the best will in the world we still need the stuff - oil especially. If we stop digging our own we have to import it. How does that make any sense?
If every country with oil and/or gas reserves applies the same logic, then the Earth is fucked. We need need to stop digging our own and stop importing. Not for purposes other than burning, and not immediately, of course, but as ASAP.
The question becomes when the 'possible' in ASAP is. And it is probably further away then you or I would like. And in the meantime, unless you want to fuck the country up, we need to ensure we get the power we need. In terms of electricity, possibly lots more as we get more electric cars and electric boilers.
Tidal. A proper investment. The oldest tidal scheme is in northern France. It’s been generating since about 1890. Only minimal maintenance has been required.
Cornwall and Scapa Flow between them would provide 24 hr power for a millennium and cost less than the latest EDF nuclear jobby.
The lack of tidal is one of those head scratchers, like why don’t all volcanic countries have 100% geothermal power like Iceland, given how cheap it is.
Usually when I’m wondering “how hard can it be” I do a bit of internet research and find out that actually it is very hard and/or expensive, but the internet is a little lacking in tidal myth busting. The Wikipedia page lists several issues but none seem particularly major.
I had a go at this on PB a few months ago. In summary - tidal doesn't solve any of our problems or fill any niches. It's surprisingly intermittent, it doesn't store much energy, it doesn't generate much power anyway relative to chucking up more turbines.
Depends on the scale of the schemes. The bid tidal pond schemes are mega power station sized.
As to energy storage - what is predictable is tidal lag round the country. The tide at location X is very consistently Z hours off the tide at Y.
Which means by siting the schemes appropriately and using tidal ponds to stretch the generating period, you can get predictably 24/7 power.
Except it's the monthly variation that's the problem.
The point being that the tides around the country change their time of day. All of them. Together.
So if you site your tidal power facilities such that their generating periods overlap and cover the full 24 hour period, you will have continuous generation. Guaranteed.
"The Home Guard was set up in May 1940 as Britain's 'last line of defence' against German invasion. Members of this 'Dad's Army' were usually men above or below the age of conscription and those unfit or ineligible for front line military service."
Why is there only one Dad involved and who was he?
We all know that Labour were given a hospital pass by the Tories. The economy in bits, public services an underfunded shambles and local government on the brink of collapse.
We should not allow the Tories to get away from the grotesque mess they made.
But - and its a big but - Labour have shown themselves to lacking in ideas and now trapped by treasury orthodoxy which insists that the way to restart an economy on its knees is cut some more, to fix public services is to break them harder, the way to restore confidence is make everyone depressed.
This is stupid. You cannot cut your way to growth. We need to invest.
No, we need to facilitate private sector investment and growth.
Government is brilliant at investing in crap - politically dictated projects that make no economic sense, from Concorde to HS2 to ...
On energy it should be encouraging, not preventing, the private sector to exploit our hydrocarbon reserves.
On transportation, it should be building the projects that will boost the economy the most, which are generally roads in and around London, rather than the dismal disaster of HS2.
On housing, the government should be facilitating private sector self-build.
It should be cutting business regulation and taxes, and if necessary increasing taxes like VAT which harm economic growth much less, as Mrs Thatcher did in her first term.
Etc etc.
Oh I agree - private sector investment. But that only happens when the strategic framework is done by the state.
My two biggies are Housing and Energy.
Housing? The private sector is fast at buying land and slow at building houses. And what it does build are the wrong types of homes sold at daft prices. We need to demolish and rebuild broken towns and with the greatest respect I don't see Taylor Wimpey going to shareholders like my mum asking her to invest in building affordable homes in Mansfield. It'll need to be government and local authorities setting development zones and then directing what types of homes to build for the LHA. At which point Taylor Wimpey etc can bid for the contract.
Energy? I agree that we should keep drilling oil and gas - its nonsensical to stop doing so and then import it. We also need to supercharge clean energy industry - don't settle for imported equipment we should be designing, building and exporting. Which needs a stable policy and government tax bungs to get started. We're all talking about SMRs but again that needs government to say they actually want them and to slash the timetable to actually build them quickly.
Transport? Can't all be London because then you don't have an economy. All of our competitors in Europe connect up towns and cities - we have to do the same.
Business? Needs to invest in skills and facilities. I have a much longer list of ideas, but the starting place should be Corporation Tax cuts only for companies who invest in skills and infrastructure. When we cut their taxes and ask for nothing in return we get nothing in return. Productivity is so low in this country because we have largely unskilled unmotivated workers left ignored by their employers.
Global fossil fuel usage is still climbing. A crime against future generations .
10% council tax on unbuilt homes would bring more housing to market than any sad yet comic cry for growth and a pointing finger.
As for Labour. Shakes head. A hard stop on selling council houses would have been an easy win. WFA needed to be stopped. End of 2026 allowing time to get your house draught proofed would have less dumb.
I’m not surprised Casino is considering joining.
Globally, yes. And we're doing very well in the UK with our transition away from fossil fuels. EV use is growing and fuel cars getting more efficient through hybrid drivetrains. We burn no coal and little gas to generate power. People like me still burn oil for home heating but we're in decline.
We need to go further and faster on clean energy - it's the future of energy independence and will be a brilliant way for the UK to make money. But we can't just stop drilling the oil and gas still in our waters. With the best will in the world we still need the stuff - oil especially. If we stop digging our own we have to import it. How does that make any sense?
If every country with oil and/or gas reserves applies the same logic, then the Earth is fucked. We need need to stop digging our own and stop importing. Not for purposes other than burning, and not immediately, of course, but as ASAP.
The question becomes when the 'possible' in ASAP is. And it is probably further away then you or I would like. And in the meantime, unless you want to fuck the country up, we need to ensure we get the power we need. In terms of electricity, possibly lots more as we get more electric cars and electric boilers.
Tidal. A proper investment. The oldest tidal scheme is in northern France. It’s been generating since about 1890. Only minimal maintenance has been required.
Cornwall and Scapa Flow between them would provide 24 hr power for a millennium and cost less than the latest EDF nuclear jobby.
The lack of tidal is one of those head scratchers, like why don’t all volcanic countries have 100% geothermal power like Iceland, given how cheap it is.
Usually when I’m wondering “how hard can it be” I do a bit of internet research and find out that actually it is very hard and/or expensive, but the internet is a little lacking in tidal myth busting. The Wikipedia page lists several issues but none seem particularly major.
I had a go at this on PB a few months ago. In summary - tidal doesn't solve any of our problems or fill any niches. It's surprisingly intermittent, it doesn't store much energy, it doesn't generate much power anyway relative to chucking up more turbines.
Tidal power also has environmental consequences - it slows the rotation of the Earth and lengthens the day. An Earth day used to be less than 20 hours once, it could increase to 60+ hours in the future.
Do you have any calculations on that on scale of the impact of many major schemes?
When I were a lad I had a book about the St Malo scheme - complete IIRC with its two way turbines - which went in in the year England won the world cup. It was noted that it would slow the earth's rotation, but infinitesimally.
Don't anyone tell Farage, or it will become a Reform UK talking point, and I'd have the Leeanderthal Man dog-whistling it all over twitter. It would be double bubble for him - because its French.
It would be overwhelmed by noise in the Earth’s rotation from things like earthquakes. Undetectable.
Having admitted they've renditioned him in error...
Trump's lawyers are arguing that because they've dumped this guy in a Salvadoran prison, he can't file a habeas corpus petition, because he's no longer in American custody. They're arguing that once you get to sent to El Salvador, no court can order the govt to bring you back. https://x.com/JamesSurowiecki/status/1906903088461656383
Surely the courts can order the government to take all necessary steps to persuade El Salvador to release him.
Meaning what? And enforceable how?
In theory, I'd assume the logal system could hold the officials responsible accountable for human trafficking and no doubt other crimes, but bringing a case will be practically difficult and obviously the Trump state won't bring one against itself.
You issue a court order instructing the US government to do whatever it takes. That gives all the negotiating leverage to Rl Salvador. Add in a fine of, say, $10m per day u til he is returned
And you hold the us lawyers criminally liable
"Whatever it takes" is a dangerously open but meaningless phrase (which I'd hope no court would go anywhere near). That's an open door to military action - which would be an obvious invite to the Trump adminstration to start deportations to Greenland.
You can hold people liable for the decision to abduct and deport someone illegally; I don't see how you can hold them accountable for failing to bring them back when they have no authority to do so and can only work on best endeavours. Surely no lawyer would go near a case if operating under those conditions?
But it's all irrelevant. The administration would ignore the court order anyway and challenge it on appeal.
The administration argues that it correctly used the provisions of the Alien Enemies Act to detain and deport these individuals.
Unless the court rules that the administration was acting outside the terms of the act, then the matter ends there, as far as the US legal system is concerned.
Of course that would mean Trump could disappear anyone, citizens included, in such a manner. And once those individuals were outside of the US, they'd be disappeared to the US legal system, too.
No habeus corpus applies to those in El Salvador.
Does it ? See Al Maqaleh v Gates
And that involved individuals under the direct control of the US government.
Judge Boasberg noted, at some point, that he did not have power beyond ordering the Govt to STOP, and would not be able to reverse the facts on the ground if the rendered prisoners were out of US Govt control - which at the time of his ruling they weren't.
Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 13m 10 years ago, one in five workers received less than 2/3 the median hourly wage. Now only about one in thirty do. Just amazing.
Having admitted they've renditioned him in error...
Trump's lawyers are arguing that because they've dumped this guy in a Salvadoran prison, he can't file a habeas corpus petition, because he's no longer in American custody. They're arguing that once you get to sent to El Salvador, no court can order the govt to bring you back. https://x.com/JamesSurowiecki/status/1906903088461656383
Surely the courts can order the government to take all necessary steps to persuade El Salvador to release him.
Meaning what? And enforceable how?
In theory, I'd assume the logal system could hold the officials responsible accountable for human trafficking and no doubt other crimes, but bringing a case will be practically difficult and obviously the Trump state won't bring one against itself.
You issue a court order instructing the US government to do whatever it takes. That gives all the negotiating leverage to Rl Salvador. Add in a fine of, say, $10m per day u til he is returned
And you hold the us lawyers criminally liable
"Whatever it takes" is a dangerously open but meaningless phrase (which I'd hope no court would go anywhere near). That's an open door to military action - which would be an obvious invite to the Trump adminstration to start deportations to Greenland.
You can hold people liable for the decision to abduct and deport someone illegally; I don't see how you can hold them accountable for failing to bring them back when they have no authority to do so and can only work on best endeavours. Surely no lawyer would go near a case if operating under those conditions?
But it's all irrelevant. The administration would ignore the court order anyway and challenge it on appeal.
The administration argues that it correctly used the provisions of the Alien Enemies Act to detain and deport these individuals.
Unless the court rules that the administration was acting outside the terms of the act, then the matter ends there, as far as the US legal system is concerned.
Of course that would mean Trump could disappear anyone, citizens included, in such a manner. And once those individuals were outside of the US, they'd be disappeared to the US legal system, too.
No habeus corpus applies to those in El Salvador.
Does it ? See Al Maqaleh v Gates
And that involved individuals inder the direct control of the US government.
There's absolutely no certainty that habeas applies.
The only truly reliable remedy would be for Congress to repeal the Alien Enemies Act. But the current Congress is far more inclined to abdicate its powers to the President.
We all know that Labour were given a hospital pass by the Tories. The economy in bits, public services an underfunded shambles and local government on the brink of collapse.
We should not allow the Tories to get away from the grotesque mess they made.
But - and its a big but - Labour have shown themselves to lacking in ideas and now trapped by treasury orthodoxy which insists that the way to restart an economy on its knees is cut some more, to fix public services is to break them harder, the way to restore confidence is make everyone depressed.
This is stupid. You cannot cut your way to growth. We need to invest.
No, we need to facilitate private sector investment and growth.
Government is brilliant at investing in crap - politically dictated projects that make no economic sense, from Concorde to HS2 to ...
On energy it should be encouraging, not preventing, the private sector to exploit our hydrocarbon reserves.
On transportation, it should be building the projects that will boost the economy the most, which are generally roads in and around London, rather than the dismal disaster of HS2.
On housing, the government should be facilitating private sector self-build.
It should be cutting business regulation and taxes, and if necessary increasing taxes like VAT which harm economic growth much less, as Mrs Thatcher did in her first term.
Etc etc.
Oh I agree - private sector investment. But that only happens when the strategic framework is done by the state.
My two biggies are Housing and Energy.
Housing? The private sector is fast at buying land and slow at building houses. And what it does build are the wrong types of homes sold at daft prices. We need to demolish and rebuild broken towns and with the greatest respect I don't see Taylor Wimpey going to shareholders like my mum asking her to invest in building affordable homes in Mansfield. It'll need to be government and local authorities setting development zones and then directing what types of homes to build for the LHA. At which point Taylor Wimpey etc can bid for the contract.
Energy? I agree that we should keep drilling oil and gas - its nonsensical to stop doing so and then import it. We also need to supercharge clean energy industry - don't settle for imported equipment we should be designing, building and exporting. Which needs a stable policy and government tax bungs to get started. We're all talking about SMRs but again that needs government to say they actually want them and to slash the timetable to actually build them quickly.
Transport? Can't all be London because then you don't have an economy. All of our competitors in Europe connect up towns and cities - we have to do the same.
Business? Needs to invest in skills and facilities. I have a much longer list of ideas, but the starting place should be Corporation Tax cuts only for companies who invest in skills and infrastructure. When we cut their taxes and ask for nothing in return we get nothing in return. Productivity is so low in this country because we have largely unskilled unmotivated workers left ignored by their employers.
Global fossil fuel usage is still climbing. A crime against future generations .
10% council tax on unbuilt homes would bring more housing to market than any sad yet comic cry for growth and a pointing finger.
As for Labour. Shakes head. A hard stop on selling council houses would have been an easy win. WFA needed to be stopped. End of 2026 allowing time to get your house draught proofed would have less dumb.
I’m not surprised Casino is considering joining.
Globally, yes. And we're doing very well in the UK with our transition away from fossil fuels. EV use is growing and fuel cars getting more efficient through hybrid drivetrains. We burn no coal and little gas to generate power. People like me still burn oil for home heating but we're in decline.
We need to go further and faster on clean energy - it's the future of energy independence and will be a brilliant way for the UK to make money. But we can't just stop drilling the oil and gas still in our waters. With the best will in the world we still need the stuff - oil especially. If we stop digging our own we have to import it. How does that make any sense?
If every country with oil and/or gas reserves applies the same logic, then the Earth is fucked. We need need to stop digging our own and stop importing. Not for purposes other than burning, and not immediately, of course, but as ASAP.
The question becomes when the 'possible' in ASAP is. And it is probably further away then you or I would like. And in the meantime, unless you want to fuck the country up, we need to ensure we get the power we need. In terms of electricity, possibly lots more as we get more electric cars and electric boilers.
I've nothing against getting the electric power we need. We should be building solar, wind and nuclear as quickly as feasibly possible as well as upgrading the grid and electrifying everything. Absolutely. But our use of oil and gas should be restricted to the production of chemicals and fertilizers as soon as we can manage. It's a crime and a waste to be buring the stuff.
I not only drive an EV, I'm doing my bit to try and promote their adoption. And going off how many people (scores) have bought a car with my referral code I've helped many in their own EV journey.
But we can't just switch off North Sea oil. Even if we transition to new EVs only by 2030 there will be millions of vehicles on the road that need fuel. It will take a decade and more to run those down. So why would we want to rely on imported oil for all that time when we can dig our own?
I want the UK to become leading edge on green energy. But it would be bonkers to switch to imported oil as we do so.
Why would we want to rely on imported oil for all that time when we can dig our own? Because it will be cheaper and more efficient to import probably. If the world is serious about net zero, there will be plenty of existing production and it will be cheap. We won't need to do new digging or drilling.
Just so we're clear. The proposal is that extracting oil from someone else's well, paying them a premium for it and shipping it to the UK will be cheaper than extracting oil from our existing wells?
Quote possibly if it's N Sea oil vs Saudi or US onshore production.
Why should be importing oil from a set of totalitarian despots? Or from Saudi Arabia?
We all know that Labour were given a hospital pass by the Tories. The economy in bits, public services an underfunded shambles and local government on the brink of collapse.
We should not allow the Tories to get away from the grotesque mess they made.
But - and its a big but - Labour have shown themselves to lacking in ideas and now trapped by treasury orthodoxy which insists that the way to restart an economy on its knees is cut some more, to fix public services is to break them harder, the way to restore confidence is make everyone depressed.
This is stupid. You cannot cut your way to growth. We need to invest.
No, we need to facilitate private sector investment and growth.
Government is brilliant at investing in crap - politically dictated projects that make no economic sense, from Concorde to HS2 to ...
On energy it should be encouraging, not preventing, the private sector to exploit our hydrocarbon reserves.
On transportation, it should be building the projects that will boost the economy the most, which are generally roads in and around London, rather than the dismal disaster of HS2.
On housing, the government should be facilitating private sector self-build.
It should be cutting business regulation and taxes, and if necessary increasing taxes like VAT which harm economic growth much less, as Mrs Thatcher did in her first term.
Etc etc.
Oh I agree - private sector investment. But that only happens when the strategic framework is done by the state.
My two biggies are Housing and Energy.
Housing? The private sector is fast at buying land and slow at building houses. And what it does build are the wrong types of homes sold at daft prices. We need to demolish and rebuild broken towns and with the greatest respect I don't see Taylor Wimpey going to shareholders like my mum asking her to invest in building affordable homes in Mansfield. It'll need to be government and local authorities setting development zones and then directing what types of homes to build for the LHA. At which point Taylor Wimpey etc can bid for the contract.
Energy? I agree that we should keep drilling oil and gas - its nonsensical to stop doing so and then import it. We also need to supercharge clean energy industry - don't settle for imported equipment we should be designing, building and exporting. Which needs a stable policy and government tax bungs to get started. We're all talking about SMRs but again that needs government to say they actually want them and to slash the timetable to actually build them quickly.
Transport? Can't all be London because then you don't have an economy. All of our competitors in Europe connect up towns and cities - we have to do the same.
Business? Needs to invest in skills and facilities. I have a much longer list of ideas, but the starting place should be Corporation Tax cuts only for companies who invest in skills and infrastructure. When we cut their taxes and ask for nothing in return we get nothing in return. Productivity is so low in this country because we have largely unskilled unmotivated workers left ignored by their employers.
Global fossil fuel usage is still climbing. A crime against future generations .
10% council tax on unbuilt homes would bring more housing to market than any sad yet comic cry for growth and a pointing finger.
As for Labour. Shakes head. A hard stop on selling council houses would have been an easy win. WFA needed to be stopped. End of 2026 allowing time to get your house draught proofed would have less dumb.
I’m not surprised Casino is considering joining.
Globally, yes. And we're doing very well in the UK with our transition away from fossil fuels. EV use is growing and fuel cars getting more efficient through hybrid drivetrains. We burn no coal and little gas to generate power. People like me still burn oil for home heating but we're in decline.
We need to go further and faster on clean energy - it's the future of energy independence and will be a brilliant way for the UK to make money. But we can't just stop drilling the oil and gas still in our waters. With the best will in the world we still need the stuff - oil especially. If we stop digging our own we have to import it. How does that make any sense?
If every country with oil and/or gas reserves applies the same logic, then the Earth is fucked. We need need to stop digging our own and stop importing. Not for purposes other than burning, and not immediately, of course, but as ASAP.
The question becomes when the 'possible' in ASAP is. And it is probably further away then you or I would like. And in the meantime, unless you want to fuck the country up, we need to ensure we get the power we need. In terms of electricity, possibly lots more as we get more electric cars and electric boilers.
Tidal. A proper investment. The oldest tidal scheme is in northern France. It’s been generating since about 1890. Only minimal maintenance has been required.
Cornwall and Scapa Flow between them would provide 24 hr power for a millennium and cost less than the latest EDF nuclear jobby.
The lack of tidal is one of those head scratchers, like why don’t all volcanic countries have 100% geothermal power like Iceland, given how cheap it is.
Usually when I’m wondering “how hard can it be” I do a bit of internet research and find out that actually it is very hard and/or expensive, but the internet is a little lacking in tidal myth busting. The Wikipedia page lists several issues but none seem particularly major.
I had a go at this on PB a few months ago. In summary - tidal doesn't solve any of our problems or fill any niches. It's surprisingly intermittent, it doesn't store much energy, it doesn't generate much power anyway relative to chucking up more turbines.
Depends on the scale of the schemes. The bid tidal pond schemes are mega power station sized.
As to energy storage - what is predictable is tidal lag round the country. The tide at location X is very consistently Z hours off the tide at Y.
Which means by siting the schemes appropriately and using tidal ponds to stretch the generating period, you can get predictably 24/7 power.
Except it's the monthly variation that's the problem.
The point being that the tides around the country change their time of day. All of them. Together.
So if you site your tidal power facilities such that their generating periods overlap and cover the full 24 hour period, you will have continuous generation. Guaranteed.
That's got nothing to do with the neap-spring power variation though.
Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 13m 10 years ago, one in five workers received less than 2/3 the median hourly wage. Now only about one in thirty do. Just amazing.
"The Home Guard was set up in May 1940 as Britain's 'last line of defence' against German invasion. Members of this 'Dad's Army' were usually men above or below the age of conscription and those unfit or ineligible for front line military service."
Why is there only one Dad involved and who was he?
We all know that Labour were given a hospital pass by the Tories. The economy in bits, public services an underfunded shambles and local government on the brink of collapse.
We should not allow the Tories to get away from the grotesque mess they made.
But - and its a big but - Labour have shown themselves to lacking in ideas and now trapped by treasury orthodoxy which insists that the way to restart an economy on its knees is cut some more, to fix public services is to break them harder, the way to restore confidence is make everyone depressed.
This is stupid. You cannot cut your way to growth. We need to invest.
No, we need to facilitate private sector investment and growth.
Government is brilliant at investing in crap - politically dictated projects that make no economic sense, from Concorde to HS2 to ...
On energy it should be encouraging, not preventing, the private sector to exploit our hydrocarbon reserves.
On transportation, it should be building the projects that will boost the economy the most, which are generally roads in and around London, rather than the dismal disaster of HS2.
On housing, the government should be facilitating private sector self-build.
It should be cutting business regulation and taxes, and if necessary increasing taxes like VAT which harm economic growth much less, as Mrs Thatcher did in her first term.
Etc etc.
Oh I agree - private sector investment. But that only happens when the strategic framework is done by the state.
My two biggies are Housing and Energy.
Housing? The private sector is fast at buying land and slow at building houses. And what it does build are the wrong types of homes sold at daft prices. We need to demolish and rebuild broken towns and with the greatest respect I don't see Taylor Wimpey going to shareholders like my mum asking her to invest in building affordable homes in Mansfield. It'll need to be government and local authorities setting development zones and then directing what types of homes to build for the LHA. At which point Taylor Wimpey etc can bid for the contract.
Energy? I agree that we should keep drilling oil and gas - its nonsensical to stop doing so and then import it. We also need to supercharge clean energy industry - don't settle for imported equipment we should be designing, building and exporting. Which needs a stable policy and government tax bungs to get started. We're all talking about SMRs but again that needs government to say they actually want them and to slash the timetable to actually build them quickly.
Transport? Can't all be London because then you don't have an economy. All of our competitors in Europe connect up towns and cities - we have to do the same.
Business? Needs to invest in skills and facilities. I have a much longer list of ideas, but the starting place should be Corporation Tax cuts only for companies who invest in skills and infrastructure. When we cut their taxes and ask for nothing in return we get nothing in return. Productivity is so low in this country because we have largely unskilled unmotivated workers left ignored by their employers.
Global fossil fuel usage is still climbing. A crime against future generations .
10% council tax on unbuilt homes would bring more housing to market than any sad yet comic cry for growth and a pointing finger.
As for Labour. Shakes head. A hard stop on selling council houses would have been an easy win. WFA needed to be stopped. End of 2026 allowing time to get your house draught proofed would have less dumb.
I’m not surprised Casino is considering joining.
Globally, yes. And we're doing very well in the UK with our transition away from fossil fuels. EV use is growing and fuel cars getting more efficient through hybrid drivetrains. We burn no coal and little gas to generate power. People like me still burn oil for home heating but we're in decline.
We need to go further and faster on clean energy - it's the future of energy independence and will be a brilliant way for the UK to make money. But we can't just stop drilling the oil and gas still in our waters. With the best will in the world we still need the stuff - oil especially. If we stop digging our own we have to import it. How does that make any sense?
If every country with oil and/or gas reserves applies the same logic, then the Earth is fucked. We need need to stop digging our own and stop importing. Not for purposes other than burning, and not immediately, of course, but as ASAP.
The question becomes when the 'possible' in ASAP is. And it is probably further away then you or I would like. And in the meantime, unless you want to fuck the country up, we need to ensure we get the power we need. In terms of electricity, possibly lots more as we get more electric cars and electric boilers.
I've nothing against getting the electric power we need. We should be building solar, wind and nuclear as quickly as feasibly possible as well as upgrading the grid and electrifying everything. Absolutely. But our use of oil and gas should be restricted to the production of chemicals and fertilizers as soon as we can manage. It's a crime and a waste to be buring the stuff.
I not only drive an EV, I'm doing my bit to try and promote their adoption. And going off how many people (scores) have bought a car with my referral code I've helped many in their own EV journey.
But we can't just switch off North Sea oil. Even if we transition to new EVs only by 2030 there will be millions of vehicles on the road that need fuel. It will take a decade and more to run those down. So why would we want to rely on imported oil for all that time when we can dig our own?
I want the UK to become leading edge on green energy. But it would be bonkers to switch to imported oil as we do so.
Why would we want to rely on imported oil for all that time when we can dig our own? Because it will be cheaper and more efficient to import probably. If the world is serious about net zero, there will be plenty of existing production and it will be cheap. We won't need to do new digging or drilling.
Free market forces would solve this just fine. If world oil usage drops, the price will fall, and the oil companies being (for the most part) rational capitalists will stop mucking around in the North Sea if the world can be comfortably be supplied by the Saudis at half the cost.
The reality, of course, is that the world isn't serious about net zero, oil and coal usage is still going up, and we're just impoverishing ourselves without making any meaningful difference to any climate change outcomes at-all.
If we actually wanted to make a difference, we'd do better to use the trillions we're spending on net zero to move the third world from coal to ccgt for its primary baseload generation, but I'm not holding my breath.
Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 13m 10 years ago, one in five workers received less than 2/3 the median hourly wage. Now only about one in thirty do. Just amazing.
We all know that Labour were given a hospital pass by the Tories. The economy in bits, public services an underfunded shambles and local government on the brink of collapse.
We should not allow the Tories to get away from the grotesque mess they made.
But - and its a big but - Labour have shown themselves to lacking in ideas and now trapped by treasury orthodoxy which insists that the way to restart an economy on its knees is cut some more, to fix public services is to break them harder, the way to restore confidence is make everyone depressed.
This is stupid. You cannot cut your way to growth. We need to invest.
No, we need to facilitate private sector investment and growth.
Government is brilliant at investing in crap - politically dictated projects that make no economic sense, from Concorde to HS2 to ...
On energy it should be encouraging, not preventing, the private sector to exploit our hydrocarbon reserves.
On transportation, it should be building the projects that will boost the economy the most, which are generally roads in and around London, rather than the dismal disaster of HS2.
On housing, the government should be facilitating private sector self-build.
It should be cutting business regulation and taxes, and if necessary increasing taxes like VAT which harm economic growth much less, as Mrs Thatcher did in her first term.
Etc etc.
Oh I agree - private sector investment. But that only happens when the strategic framework is done by the state.
My two biggies are Housing and Energy.
Housing? The private sector is fast at buying land and slow at building houses. And what it does build are the wrong types of homes sold at daft prices. We need to demolish and rebuild broken towns and with the greatest respect I don't see Taylor Wimpey going to shareholders like my mum asking her to invest in building affordable homes in Mansfield. It'll need to be government and local authorities setting development zones and then directing what types of homes to build for the LHA. At which point Taylor Wimpey etc can bid for the contract.
Energy? I agree that we should keep drilling oil and gas - its nonsensical to stop doing so and then import it. We also need to supercharge clean energy industry - don't settle for imported equipment we should be designing, building and exporting. Which needs a stable policy and government tax bungs to get started. We're all talking about SMRs but again that needs government to say they actually want them and to slash the timetable to actually build them quickly.
Transport? Can't all be London because then you don't have an economy. All of our competitors in Europe connect up towns and cities - we have to do the same.
Business? Needs to invest in skills and facilities. I have a much longer list of ideas, but the starting place should be Corporation Tax cuts only for companies who invest in skills and infrastructure. When we cut their taxes and ask for nothing in return we get nothing in return. Productivity is so low in this country because we have largely unskilled unmotivated workers left ignored by their employers.
Global fossil fuel usage is still climbing. A crime against future generations .
10% council tax on unbuilt homes would bring more housing to market than any sad yet comic cry for growth and a pointing finger.
As for Labour. Shakes head. A hard stop on selling council houses would have been an easy win. WFA needed to be stopped. End of 2026 allowing time to get your house draught proofed would have less dumb.
I’m not surprised Casino is considering joining.
Globally, yes. And we're doing very well in the UK with our transition away from fossil fuels. EV use is growing and fuel cars getting more efficient through hybrid drivetrains. We burn no coal and little gas to generate power. People like me still burn oil for home heating but we're in decline.
We need to go further and faster on clean energy - it's the future of energy independence and will be a brilliant way for the UK to make money. But we can't just stop drilling the oil and gas still in our waters. With the best will in the world we still need the stuff - oil especially. If we stop digging our own we have to import it. How does that make any sense?
If every country with oil and/or gas reserves applies the same logic, then the Earth is fucked. We need need to stop digging our own and stop importing. Not for purposes other than burning, and not immediately, of course, but as ASAP.
The question becomes when the 'possible' in ASAP is. And it is probably further away then you or I would like. And in the meantime, unless you want to fuck the country up, we need to ensure we get the power we need. In terms of electricity, possibly lots more as we get more electric cars and electric boilers.
Tidal. A proper investment. The oldest tidal scheme is in northern France. It’s been generating since about 1890. Only minimal maintenance has been required.
Cornwall and Scapa Flow between them would provide 24 hr power for a millennium and cost less than the latest EDF nuclear jobby.
The lack of tidal is one of those head scratchers, like why don’t all volcanic countries have 100% geothermal power like Iceland, given how cheap it is.
Usually when I’m wondering “how hard can it be” I do a bit of internet research and find out that actually it is very hard and/or expensive, but the internet is a little lacking in tidal myth busting. The Wikipedia page lists several issues but none seem particularly major.
I had a go at this on PB a few months ago. In summary - tidal doesn't solve any of our problems or fill any niches. It's surprisingly intermittent, it doesn't store much energy, it doesn't generate much power anyway relative to chucking up more turbines.
Tidal power also has environmental consequences - it slows the rotation of the Earth and lengthens the day. An Earth day used to be less than 20 hours once, it could increase to 60+ hours in the future.
Do you have any calculations on that on scale of the impact of many major schemes?
When I were a lad I had a book about the St Malo scheme - complete IIRC with its two way turbines - which went in in the year England won the world cup. It was noted that it would slow the earth's rotation, but infinitesimally.
Don't anyone tell Farage, or it will become a Reform UK talking point, and I'd have the Leeanderthal Man dog-whistling it all over twitter. It would be double bubble for him - because its French.
We all know that Labour were given a hospital pass by the Tories. The economy in bits, public services an underfunded shambles and local government on the brink of collapse.
We should not allow the Tories to get away from the grotesque mess they made.
But - and its a big but - Labour have shown themselves to lacking in ideas and now trapped by treasury orthodoxy which insists that the way to restart an economy on its knees is cut some more, to fix public services is to break them harder, the way to restore confidence is make everyone depressed.
This is stupid. You cannot cut your way to growth. We need to invest.
No, we need to facilitate private sector investment and growth.
Government is brilliant at investing in crap - politically dictated projects that make no economic sense, from Concorde to HS2 to ...
On energy it should be encouraging, not preventing, the private sector to exploit our hydrocarbon reserves.
On transportation, it should be building the projects that will boost the economy the most, which are generally roads in and around London, rather than the dismal disaster of HS2.
On housing, the government should be facilitating private sector self-build.
It should be cutting business regulation and taxes, and if necessary increasing taxes like VAT which harm economic growth much less, as Mrs Thatcher did in her first term.
Etc etc.
Oh I agree - private sector investment. But that only happens when the strategic framework is done by the state.
My two biggies are Housing and Energy.
Housing? The private sector is fast at buying land and slow at building houses. And what it does build are the wrong types of homes sold at daft prices. We need to demolish and rebuild broken towns and with the greatest respect I don't see Taylor Wimpey going to shareholders like my mum asking her to invest in building affordable homes in Mansfield. It'll need to be government and local authorities setting development zones and then directing what types of homes to build for the LHA. At which point Taylor Wimpey etc can bid for the contract.
Energy? I agree that we should keep drilling oil and gas - its nonsensical to stop doing so and then import it. We also need to supercharge clean energy industry - don't settle for imported equipment we should be designing, building and exporting. Which needs a stable policy and government tax bungs to get started. We're all talking about SMRs but again that needs government to say they actually want them and to slash the timetable to actually build them quickly.
Transport? Can't all be London because then you don't have an economy. All of our competitors in Europe connect up towns and cities - we have to do the same.
Business? Needs to invest in skills and facilities. I have a much longer list of ideas, but the starting place should be Corporation Tax cuts only for companies who invest in skills and infrastructure. When we cut their taxes and ask for nothing in return we get nothing in return. Productivity is so low in this country because we have largely unskilled unmotivated workers left ignored by their employers.
Global fossil fuel usage is still climbing. A crime against future generations .
10% council tax on unbuilt homes would bring more housing to market than any sad yet comic cry for growth and a pointing finger.
As for Labour. Shakes head. A hard stop on selling council houses would have been an easy win. WFA needed to be stopped. End of 2026 allowing time to get your house draught proofed would have less dumb.
I’m not surprised Casino is considering joining.
Globally, yes. And we're doing very well in the UK with our transition away from fossil fuels. EV use is growing and fuel cars getting more efficient through hybrid drivetrains. We burn no coal and little gas to generate power. People like me still burn oil for home heating but we're in decline.
We need to go further and faster on clean energy - it's the future of energy independence and will be a brilliant way for the UK to make money. But we can't just stop drilling the oil and gas still in our waters. With the best will in the world we still need the stuff - oil especially. If we stop digging our own we have to import it. How does that make any sense?
If every country with oil and/or gas reserves applies the same logic, then the Earth is fucked. We need need to stop digging our own and stop importing. Not for purposes other than burning, and not immediately, of course, but as ASAP.
The question becomes when the 'possible' in ASAP is. And it is probably further away then you or I would like. And in the meantime, unless you want to fuck the country up, we need to ensure we get the power we need. In terms of electricity, possibly lots more as we get more electric cars and electric boilers.
Tidal. A proper investment. The oldest tidal scheme is in northern France. It’s been generating since about 1890. Only minimal maintenance has been required.
Cornwall and Scapa Flow between them would provide 24 hr power for a millennium and cost less than the latest EDF nuclear jobby.
The lack of tidal is one of those head scratchers, like why don’t all volcanic countries have 100% geothermal power like Iceland, given how cheap it is.
Usually when I’m wondering “how hard can it be” I do a bit of internet research and find out that actually it is very hard and/or expensive, but the internet is a little lacking in tidal myth busting. The Wikipedia page lists several issues but none seem particularly major.
I had a go at this on PB a few months ago. In summary - tidal doesn't solve any of our problems or fill any niches. It's surprisingly intermittent, it doesn't store much energy, it doesn't generate much power anyway relative to chucking up more turbines.
Depends on the scale of the schemes. The bid tidal pond schemes are mega power station sized.
As to energy storage - what is predictable is tidal lag round the country. The tide at location X is very consistently Z hours off the tide at Y.
Which means by siting the schemes appropriately and using tidal ponds to stretch the generating period, you can get predictably 24/7 power.
Except it's the monthly variation that's the problem.
The point being that the tides around the country change their time of day. All of them. Together.
So if you site your tidal power facilities such that their generating periods overlap and cover the full 24 hour period, you will have continuous generation. Guaranteed.
The other point being that the power generated varies considerably over the longer spring/neap cycle. So your 'continuous' generation isn't continuous.
Plans to extend Great Western electrification may be announced today.
Railnews understands that projects in both CP7 and CP8 are set to extend electrification from Newbury to Somerset, Devon and Cornwall in a series of related upgrades, and that a ‘launch budget’ of £104 million has been set aside to pay for scoping work.
If you believe that, the white cliffs of Dover are now called cliffs.
We all know that Labour were given a hospital pass by the Tories. The economy in bits, public services an underfunded shambles and local government on the brink of collapse.
We should not allow the Tories to get away from the grotesque mess they made.
But - and its a big but - Labour have shown themselves to lacking in ideas and now trapped by treasury orthodoxy which insists that the way to restart an economy on its knees is cut some more, to fix public services is to break them harder, the way to restore confidence is make everyone depressed.
This is stupid. You cannot cut your way to growth. We need to invest.
No, we need to facilitate private sector investment and growth.
Government is brilliant at investing in crap - politically dictated projects that make no economic sense, from Concorde to HS2 to ...
On energy it should be encouraging, not preventing, the private sector to exploit our hydrocarbon reserves.
On transportation, it should be building the projects that will boost the economy the most, which are generally roads in and around London, rather than the dismal disaster of HS2.
On housing, the government should be facilitating private sector self-build.
It should be cutting business regulation and taxes, and if necessary increasing taxes like VAT which harm economic growth much less, as Mrs Thatcher did in her first term.
Etc etc.
Oh I agree - private sector investment. But that only happens when the strategic framework is done by the state.
My two biggies are Housing and Energy.
Housing? The private sector is fast at buying land and slow at building houses. And what it does build are the wrong types of homes sold at daft prices. We need to demolish and rebuild broken towns and with the greatest respect I don't see Taylor Wimpey going to shareholders like my mum asking her to invest in building affordable homes in Mansfield. It'll need to be government and local authorities setting development zones and then directing what types of homes to build for the LHA. At which point Taylor Wimpey etc can bid for the contract.
Energy? I agree that we should keep drilling oil and gas - its nonsensical to stop doing so and then import it. We also need to supercharge clean energy industry - don't settle for imported equipment we should be designing, building and exporting. Which needs a stable policy and government tax bungs to get started. We're all talking about SMRs but again that needs government to say they actually want them and to slash the timetable to actually build them quickly.
Transport? Can't all be London because then you don't have an economy. All of our competitors in Europe connect up towns and cities - we have to do the same.
Business? Needs to invest in skills and facilities. I have a much longer list of ideas, but the starting place should be Corporation Tax cuts only for companies who invest in skills and infrastructure. When we cut their taxes and ask for nothing in return we get nothing in return. Productivity is so low in this country because we have largely unskilled unmotivated workers left ignored by their employers.
Global fossil fuel usage is still climbing. A crime against future generations .
10% council tax on unbuilt homes would bring more housing to market than any sad yet comic cry for growth and a pointing finger.
As for Labour. Shakes head. A hard stop on selling council houses would have been an easy win. WFA needed to be stopped. End of 2026 allowing time to get your house draught proofed would have less dumb.
I’m not surprised Casino is considering joining.
Globally, yes. And we're doing very well in the UK with our transition away from fossil fuels. EV use is growing and fuel cars getting more efficient through hybrid drivetrains. We burn no coal and little gas to generate power. People like me still burn oil for home heating but we're in decline.
We need to go further and faster on clean energy - it's the future of energy independence and will be a brilliant way for the UK to make money. But we can't just stop drilling the oil and gas still in our waters. With the best will in the world we still need the stuff - oil especially. If we stop digging our own we have to import it. How does that make any sense?
If every country with oil and/or gas reserves applies the same logic, then the Earth is fucked. We need need to stop digging our own and stop importing. Not for purposes other than burning, and not immediately, of course, but as ASAP.
The question becomes when the 'possible' in ASAP is. And it is probably further away then you or I would like. And in the meantime, unless you want to fuck the country up, we need to ensure we get the power we need. In terms of electricity, possibly lots more as we get more electric cars and electric boilers.
I've nothing against getting the electric power we need. We should be building solar, wind and nuclear as quickly as feasibly possible as well as upgrading the grid and electrifying everything. Absolutely. But our use of oil and gas should be restricted to the production of chemicals and fertilizers as soon as we can manage. It's a crime and a waste to be buring the stuff.
I not only drive an EV, I'm doing my bit to try and promote their adoption. And going off how many people (scores) have bought a car with my referral code I've helped many in their own EV journey.
But we can't just switch off North Sea oil. Even if we transition to new EVs only by 2030 there will be millions of vehicles on the road that need fuel. It will take a decade and more to run those down. So why would we want to rely on imported oil for all that time when we can dig our own?
I want the UK to become leading edge on green energy. But it would be bonkers to switch to imported oil as we do so.
Why would we want to rely on imported oil for all that time when we can dig our own? Because it will be cheaper and more efficient to import probably. If the world is serious about net zero, there will be plenty of existing production and it will be cheap. We won't need to do new digging or drilling.
Just so we're clear. The proposal is that extracting oil from someone else's well, paying them a premium for it and shipping it to the UK will be cheaper than extracting oil from our existing wells?
Quote possibly if it's N Sea oil vs Saudi or US onshore production.
Why should be importing oil from a set of totalitarian despots? Or from Saudi Arabia?
I'm not arguing either way. Just pointing out that the actual cost/benefits need assessing. The balance of payments argument is a stronger one.
Having admitted they've renditioned him in error...
Trump's lawyers are arguing that because they've dumped this guy in a Salvadoran prison, he can't file a habeas corpus petition, because he's no longer in American custody. They're arguing that once you get to sent to El Salvador, no court can order the govt to bring you back. https://x.com/JamesSurowiecki/status/1906903088461656383
What's El Salvador getting out of this?
I would assume lots of money.
Much of which will end up in the personal bank accounts of prominent people at both ends.
You've misspelt "All" at the start of your second sentence.
"The Home Guard was set up in May 1940 as Britain's 'last line of defence' against German invasion. Members of this 'Dad's Army' were usually men above or below the age of conscription and those unfit or ineligible for front line military service."
Why is there only one Dad involved and who was he?
See also Mother’s Day, Father’s Day.
That one is quite correct.
Mother's Day is a day belonging to mother. Father's Day is a day belonging to father.
"The Home Guard was set up in May 1940 as Britain's 'last line of defence' against German invasion. Members of this 'Dad's Army' were usually men above or below the age of conscription and those unfit or ineligible for front line military service."
Why is there only one Dad involved and who was he?
See also Mother’s Day, Father’s Day.
That one is quite correct.
Mother's Day is a day belonging to mother. Father's Day is a day belonging to father.
Some people have more than one mother or more than one father.
"The Home Guard was set up in May 1940 as Britain's 'last line of defence' against German invasion. Members of this 'Dad's Army' were usually men above or below the age of conscription and those unfit or ineligible for front line military service."
Why is there only one Dad involved and who was he?
See also Mother’s Day, Father’s Day.
That one is quite correct.
Mother's Day is a day belonging to mother. Father's Day is a day belonging to father.
Some people have more than one mother or more than one father.
We all know that Labour were given a hospital pass by the Tories. The economy in bits, public services an underfunded shambles and local government on the brink of collapse.
We should not allow the Tories to get away from the grotesque mess they made.
But - and its a big but - Labour have shown themselves to lacking in ideas and now trapped by treasury orthodoxy which insists that the way to restart an economy on its knees is cut some more, to fix public services is to break them harder, the way to restore confidence is make everyone depressed.
This is stupid. You cannot cut your way to growth. We need to invest.
No, we need to facilitate private sector investment and growth.
Government is brilliant at investing in crap - politically dictated projects that make no economic sense, from Concorde to HS2 to ...
On energy it should be encouraging, not preventing, the private sector to exploit our hydrocarbon reserves.
On transportation, it should be building the projects that will boost the economy the most, which are generally roads in and around London, rather than the dismal disaster of HS2.
On housing, the government should be facilitating private sector self-build.
It should be cutting business regulation and taxes, and if necessary increasing taxes like VAT which harm economic growth much less, as Mrs Thatcher did in her first term.
Etc etc.
Oh I agree - private sector investment. But that only happens when the strategic framework is done by the state.
My two biggies are Housing and Energy.
Housing? The private sector is fast at buying land and slow at building houses. And what it does build are the wrong types of homes sold at daft prices. We need to demolish and rebuild broken towns and with the greatest respect I don't see Taylor Wimpey going to shareholders like my mum asking her to invest in building affordable homes in Mansfield. It'll need to be government and local authorities setting development zones and then directing what types of homes to build for the LHA. At which point Taylor Wimpey etc can bid for the contract.
Energy? I agree that we should keep drilling oil and gas - its nonsensical to stop doing so and then import it. We also need to supercharge clean energy industry - don't settle for imported equipment we should be designing, building and exporting. Which needs a stable policy and government tax bungs to get started. We're all talking about SMRs but again that needs government to say they actually want them and to slash the timetable to actually build them quickly.
Transport? Can't all be London because then you don't have an economy. All of our competitors in Europe connect up towns and cities - we have to do the same.
Business? Needs to invest in skills and facilities. I have a much longer list of ideas, but the starting place should be Corporation Tax cuts only for companies who invest in skills and infrastructure. When we cut their taxes and ask for nothing in return we get nothing in return. Productivity is so low in this country because we have largely unskilled unmotivated workers left ignored by their employers.
Global fossil fuel usage is still climbing. A crime against future generations .
10% council tax on unbuilt homes would bring more housing to market than any sad yet comic cry for growth and a pointing finger.
As for Labour. Shakes head. A hard stop on selling council houses would have been an easy win. WFA needed to be stopped. End of 2026 allowing time to get your house draught proofed would have less dumb.
I’m not surprised Casino is considering joining.
Globally, yes. And we're doing very well in the UK with our transition away from fossil fuels. EV use is growing and fuel cars getting more efficient through hybrid drivetrains. We burn no coal and little gas to generate power. People like me still burn oil for home heating but we're in decline.
We need to go further and faster on clean energy - it's the future of energy independence and will be a brilliant way for the UK to make money. But we can't just stop drilling the oil and gas still in our waters. With the best will in the world we still need the stuff - oil especially. If we stop digging our own we have to import it. How does that make any sense?
If every country with oil and/or gas reserves applies the same logic, then the Earth is fucked. We need need to stop digging our own and stop importing. Not for purposes other than burning, and not immediately, of course, but as ASAP.
The question becomes when the 'possible' in ASAP is. And it is probably further away then you or I would like. And in the meantime, unless you want to fuck the country up, we need to ensure we get the power we need. In terms of electricity, possibly lots more as we get more electric cars and electric boilers.
Tidal. A proper investment. The oldest tidal scheme is in northern France. It’s been generating since about 1890. Only minimal maintenance has been required.
Cornwall and Scapa Flow between them would provide 24 hr power for a millennium and cost less than the latest EDF nuclear jobby.
The lack of tidal is one of those head scratchers, like why don’t all volcanic countries have 100% geothermal power like Iceland, given how cheap it is.
Usually when I’m wondering “how hard can it be” I do a bit of internet research and find out that actually it is very hard and/or expensive, but the internet is a little lacking in tidal myth busting. The Wikipedia page lists several issues but none seem particularly major.
I had a go at this on PB a few months ago. In summary - tidal doesn't solve any of our problems or fill any niches. It's surprisingly intermittent, it doesn't store much energy, it doesn't generate much power anyway relative to chucking up more turbines.
Tidal power also has environmental consequences - it slows the rotation of the Earth and lengthens the day. An Earth day used to be less than 20 hours once, it could increase to 60+ hours in the future.
Do you have any calculations on that on scale of the impact of many major schemes?
When I were a lad I had a book about the St Malo scheme - complete IIRC with its two way turbines - which went in in the year England won the world cup. It was noted that it would slow the earth's rotation, but infinitesimally.
Don't anyone tell Farage, or it will become a Reform UK talking point, and I'd have the Leeanderthal Man dog-whistling it all over twitter. It would be double bubble for him - because its French.
According to Wiki, tidal range resource could generate about 12% of the UKs current electricity demand, and tidal stream resource about 11%. I don't know if both could be fully exploitable simultaneously.
So tidal power could theoretically make a significant contribution to the UK's electricity generating capacity but is by no means a solution by itself. I don't know how the economics stack up, or how significant the environmental effects on tidal wetlands, etc. would be.
We all know that Labour were given a hospital pass by the Tories. The economy in bits, public services an underfunded shambles and local government on the brink of collapse.
We should not allow the Tories to get away from the grotesque mess they made.
But - and its a big but - Labour have shown themselves to lacking in ideas and now trapped by treasury orthodoxy which insists that the way to restart an economy on its knees is cut some more, to fix public services is to break them harder, the way to restore confidence is make everyone depressed.
This is stupid. You cannot cut your way to growth. We need to invest.
No, we need to facilitate private sector investment and growth.
Government is brilliant at investing in crap - politically dictated projects that make no economic sense, from Concorde to HS2 to ...
On energy it should be encouraging, not preventing, the private sector to exploit our hydrocarbon reserves.
On transportation, it should be building the projects that will boost the economy the most, which are generally roads in and around London, rather than the dismal disaster of HS2.
On housing, the government should be facilitating private sector self-build.
It should be cutting business regulation and taxes, and if necessary increasing taxes like VAT which harm economic growth much less, as Mrs Thatcher did in her first term.
Etc etc.
Oh I agree - private sector investment. But that only happens when the strategic framework is done by the state.
My two biggies are Housing and Energy.
Housing? The private sector is fast at buying land and slow at building houses. And what it does build are the wrong types of homes sold at daft prices. We need to demolish and rebuild broken towns and with the greatest respect I don't see Taylor Wimpey going to shareholders like my mum asking her to invest in building affordable homes in Mansfield. It'll need to be government and local authorities setting development zones and then directing what types of homes to build for the LHA. At which point Taylor Wimpey etc can bid for the contract.
Energy? I agree that we should keep drilling oil and gas - its nonsensical to stop doing so and then import it. We also need to supercharge clean energy industry - don't settle for imported equipment we should be designing, building and exporting. Which needs a stable policy and government tax bungs to get started. We're all talking about SMRs but again that needs government to say they actually want them and to slash the timetable to actually build them quickly.
Transport? Can't all be London because then you don't have an economy. All of our competitors in Europe connect up towns and cities - we have to do the same.
Business? Needs to invest in skills and facilities. I have a much longer list of ideas, but the starting place should be Corporation Tax cuts only for companies who invest in skills and infrastructure. When we cut their taxes and ask for nothing in return we get nothing in return. Productivity is so low in this country because we have largely unskilled unmotivated workers left ignored by their employers.
Global fossil fuel usage is still climbing. A crime against future generations .
10% council tax on unbuilt homes would bring more housing to market than any sad yet comic cry for growth and a pointing finger.
As for Labour. Shakes head. A hard stop on selling council houses would have been an easy win. WFA needed to be stopped. End of 2026 allowing time to get your house draught proofed would have less dumb.
I’m not surprised Casino is considering joining.
Globally, yes. And we're doing very well in the UK with our transition away from fossil fuels. EV use is growing and fuel cars getting more efficient through hybrid drivetrains. We burn no coal and little gas to generate power. People like me still burn oil for home heating but we're in decline.
We need to go further and faster on clean energy - it's the future of energy independence and will be a brilliant way for the UK to make money. But we can't just stop drilling the oil and gas still in our waters. With the best will in the world we still need the stuff - oil especially. If we stop digging our own we have to import it. How does that make any sense?
If every country with oil and/or gas reserves applies the same logic, then the Earth is fucked. We need need to stop digging our own and stop importing. Not for purposes other than burning, and not immediately, of course, but as ASAP.
The question becomes when the 'possible' in ASAP is. And it is probably further away then you or I would like. And in the meantime, unless you want to fuck the country up, we need to ensure we get the power we need. In terms of electricity, possibly lots more as we get more electric cars and electric boilers.
Tidal. A proper investment. The oldest tidal scheme is in northern France. It’s been generating since about 1890. Only minimal maintenance has been required.
Cornwall and Scapa Flow between them would provide 24 hr power for a millennium and cost less than the latest EDF nuclear jobby.
The lack of tidal is one of those head scratchers, like why don’t all volcanic countries have 100% geothermal power like Iceland, given how cheap it is.
Usually when I’m wondering “how hard can it be” I do a bit of internet research and find out that actually it is very hard and/or expensive, but the internet is a little lacking in tidal myth busting. The Wikipedia page lists several issues but none seem particularly major.
I had a go at this on PB a few months ago. In summary - tidal doesn't solve any of our problems or fill any niches. It's surprisingly intermittent, it doesn't store much energy, it doesn't generate much power anyway relative to chucking up more turbines.
Interested to see this if you/others have a link to it. I missed it at the time.
The proposed scheme off the south end of the island is close to collapse, appearing to have failed to get either government backing or significant financial support https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c80vp28vdx5o
"President Vladimir Putin has called up 160,000 men aged 18-30, Russia's highest number of conscripts since 2011, as the country moves to expand the size of its military."
and:
"Vice Adm Vladimir Tsimlyansky said the new conscripts would not be sent to fight in Ukraine for what Russia calls its "special military operation"."
@malcolmg thanks for,your comment last night. I looked up respective fees and as I tend to buy trackers for the long term I’d be about 450 quid a year better off moving to iii.
I’m going to open an iii account today.
@Taz HL is actually reasonably priced if you buy & hold ETFs (because the fees are capped for shareholdings, whereas they are uncapped for mutual funds). But I think III still comes out ahead if you have a SIPP & don’t need/want other bits of the HL offering
Thanks Phil,
I’m really just looking at basic funds. I’ll do some more digging but I put it into AI and it said it’s a better bet based on what I’m after.
I do hold a few ETFs in a freetrade account but am looking at funds for the SIPP as I will move to income funds.
"The Home Guard was set up in May 1940 as Britain's 'last line of defence' against German invasion. Members of this 'Dad's Army' were usually men above or below the age of conscription and those unfit or ineligible for front line military service."
Why is there only one Dad involved and who was he?
See also Mother’s Day, Father’s Day.
That one is quite correct.
Mother's Day is a day belonging to mother. Father's Day is a day belonging to father.
Some people have more than one mother or more than one father.
Yes, some people have stepmoms.
Some people even have stepmoms who are (a) attractive and (b) sexually frustrated.
@malcolmg thanks for,your comment last night. I looked up respective fees and as I tend to buy trackers for the long term I’d be about 450 quid a year better off moving to iii.
I’m going to open an iii account today.
@Taz HL is actually reasonably priced if you buy & hold ETFs (because the fees are capped for shareholdings, whereas they are uncapped for mutual funds). But I think III still comes out ahead if you have a SIPP & don’t need/want other bits of the HL offering
Thanks Phil,
I’m really just looking at basic funds. I’ll do some more digging but I put it into AI and it said it’s a better bet based on what I’m after.
I do hold a few ETFs in a freetrade account but am looking at funds for the SIPP as I will move to income funds.
Look into iWeb too. I found it to be the cheapest platform
@malcolmg thanks for,your comment last night. I looked up respective fees and as I tend to buy trackers for the long term I’d be about 450 quid a year better off moving to iii.
I’m going to open an iii account today.
@Taz HL is actually reasonably priced if you buy & hold ETFs (because the fees are capped for shareholdings, whereas they are uncapped for mutual funds). But I think III still comes out ahead if you have a SIPP & don’t need/want other bits of the HL offering
Thanks Phil,
I’m really just looking at basic funds. I’ll do some more digging but I put it into AI and it said it’s a better bet based on what I’m after.
I do hold a few ETFs in a freetrade account but am looking at funds for the SIPP as I will move to income funds.
Look into iWeb too. I found it to be the cheapest platform
Will Geoff, thanks. Retired life is busy than working life !
"The Home Guard was set up in May 1940 as Britain's 'last line of defence' against German invasion. Members of this 'Dad's Army' were usually men above or below the age of conscription and those unfit or ineligible for front line military service."
Why is there only one Dad involved and who was he?
See also Mother’s Day, Father’s Day.
That one is quite correct.
Mother's Day is a day belonging to mother. Father's Day is a day belonging to father.
Some people have more than one mother or more than one father.
Yes, some people have stepmoms.
Some people even have stepmoms who are (a) attractive and (b) sexually frustrated.
"President Vladimir Putin has called up 160,000 men aged 18-30, Russia's highest number of conscripts since 2011, as the country moves to expand the size of its military."
and:
"Vice Adm Vladimir Tsimlyansky said the new conscripts would not be sent to fight in Ukraine for what Russia calls its "special military operation"."
'Russia has issued a stark warning over US threats to strike Iran's nuclear facilities, saying such an attack could have 'catastrophic' consequences for the region.
The Kremlin's concerns come after Donald Trump vowed to bomb Iran unless it agrees to a new nuclear deal with Washington.'
Team Donald have made Farage look a bit of a chump again. The poor man swore blind that Donald was appalled by Sir Keir's deal and that he, Farage, knew Pete Hegseth 'very well'. I wonder if Sir Keir and Donald really have hit it off, Sir Keir has explained how Reform are his major electoral threat and thus Donald has vowed to screw over Farage as a favour.
"The Home Guard was set up in May 1940 as Britain's 'last line of defence' against German invasion. Members of this 'Dad's Army' were usually men above or below the age of conscription and those unfit or ineligible for front line military service."
Why is there only one Dad involved and who was he?
See also Mother’s Day, Father’s Day.
That one is quite correct.
Mother's Day is a day belonging to mother. Father's Day is a day belonging to father.
Some people have more than one mother or more than one father.
Yes, some people have stepmoms.
Some people even have stepmoms who are (a) attractive and (b) sexually frustrated.
...and in your area?
This is doing the rounds at the moment but self evidently those taking the pee are misunderstanding the name. It is "Dad's Army", the army of which our dad, and yes, my dad was a member. So it is correct, "Dad's Army". My own dad's memories, not all happy of the Home Guard would have made an episode of the comedy drama in their own right with a real life Captain Square if not a Captain Mainwaring who my own dad wished had been his captain.
@malcolmg thanks for,your comment last night. I looked up respective fees and as I tend to buy trackers for the long term I’d be about 450 quid a year better off moving to iii.
I’m going to open an iii account today.
@Taz HL is actually reasonably priced if you buy & hold ETFs (because the fees are capped for shareholdings, whereas they are uncapped for mutual funds). But I think III still comes out ahead if you have a SIPP & don’t need/want other bits of the HL offering
Thanks Phil,
I’m really just looking at basic funds. I’ll do some more digging but I put it into AI and it said it’s a better bet based on what I’m after.
I do hold a few ETFs in a freetrade account but am looking at funds for the SIPP as I will move to income funds.
Look into iWeb too. I found it to be the cheapest platform
Team Donald have made Farage look a bit of a chump again. The poor man swore blind that Donald was appalled by Sir Keir's deal and that he, Farage, knew Pete Hegseth 'very well'. I wonder if Sir Keir and Donald really have hit it off, Sir Keir has explained how Reform are his major electoral threat and thus Donald has vowed to screw over Farage as a favour.
The US gets its base for free for the next 140 years locked in I think whereas we're paying billions..
And the UK gets a discount on Trident's maintenance, supposedly. But is that written anywhere, or is/was it a "good chaps" understanding that Trump will definitely keep up going forward ?
.....It might not make an instant difference but it'll make people feel better about things
....and for those it doesn't it'll give them something else on which to concentate their ire
European nations don't want us back.
If not now never but I'm not sure they won't. Anyone can see that the UK's best chance is as part of a united Europe and having the 8th wealthiest country inside has to be a benefit to the other Europeans.
The alternative of being a theme park between Scandinavia and mainland Europe isn't really sustainable unless we get some decent rides.
Most in the UK don't want to be a state of a Federal EU, many who voted Remain like me would have voted Leave had the Euro been a requirement of staying.
At most we may return to EFTA ultimately that is it
Interestingly and anecdotally as the Brexit generation move on people are getting much more used to the Euro. It's being increasingly used in stores and for travel and and it seems to be popular. A bit like decimilisation it's an easy currency to understand and is much more widely accepted internationally than sterling.
How is the Euro any easier than any other currency to understand?
Closer to the dollar and slightly less than the pound. People use 50's a lot. Few use or will take £50 notes for a coffee and croissant.
In principle, Small Modular Reactors could reduce costs, thanks to learning curves; as each new one comes off the assembly line, the cost decreases, as the organization learns more about how to build them. In principle.
They could also reduce costs -- in some areas -- by being built closer to where the power is needed, so less electricity is lost in transmission, and fewer transmission lines have to be built. In principle.
(Correct me if I am wrong about this, but I believe the South Koreans have actually shown that learning curves can operate, even with larger reactors.)
@malcolmg thanks for,your comment last night. I looked up respective fees and as I tend to buy trackers for the long term I’d be about 450 quid a year better off moving to iii.
I’m going to open an iii account today.
@Taz HL is actually reasonably priced if you buy & hold ETFs (because the fees are capped for shareholdings, whereas they are uncapped for mutual funds). But I think III still comes out ahead if you have a SIPP & don’t need/want other bits of the HL offering
Thanks Phil,
I’m really just looking at basic funds. I’ll do some more digging but I put it into AI and it said it’s a better bet based on what I’m after.
I do hold a few ETFs in a freetrade account but am looking at funds for the SIPP as I will move to income funds.
Look into iWeb too. I found it to be the cheapest platform
Will Geoff, thanks. Retired life is busy than working life !
@malcolmg thanks for,your comment last night. I looked up respective fees and as I tend to buy trackers for the long term I’d be about 450 quid a year better off moving to iii.
I’m going to open an iii account today.
@Taz HL is actually reasonably priced if you buy & hold ETFs (because the fees are capped for shareholdings, whereas they are uncapped for mutual funds). But I think III still comes out ahead if you have a SIPP & don’t need/want other bits of the HL offering
Thanks Phil,
I’m really just looking at basic funds. I’ll do some more digging but I put it into AI and it said it’s a better bet based on what I’m after.
I do hold a few ETFs in a freetrade account but am looking at funds for the SIPP as I will move to income funds.
Look into iWeb too. I found it to be the cheapest platform
iWeb not accepting new SIPP accounts.
Pity - we made a considerable saving when we switched from Fidelity and III, but we don't have SIPPs
@malcolmg thanks for,your comment last night. I looked up respective fees and as I tend to buy trackers for the long term I’d be about 450 quid a year better off moving to iii.
I’m going to open an iii account today.
@Taz HL is actually reasonably priced if you buy & hold ETFs (because the fees are capped for shareholdings, whereas they are uncapped for mutual funds). But I think III still comes out ahead if you have a SIPP & don’t need/want other bits of the HL offering
Thanks Phil,
I’m really just looking at basic funds. I’ll do some more digging but I put it into AI and it said it’s a better bet based on what I’m after.
I do hold a few ETFs in a freetrade account but am looking at funds for the SIPP as I will move to income funds.
Look into iWeb too. I found it to be the cheapest platform
Will Geoff, thanks. Retired life is busy than working life !
@malcolmg thanks for,your comment last night. I looked up respective fees and as I tend to buy trackers for the long term I’d be about 450 quid a year better off moving to iii.
I’m going to open an iii account today.
@Taz HL is actually reasonably priced if you buy & hold ETFs (because the fees are capped for shareholdings, whereas they are uncapped for mutual funds). But I think III still comes out ahead if you have a SIPP & don’t need/want other bits of the HL offering
Thanks Phil,
I’m really just looking at basic funds. I’ll do some more digging but I put it into AI and it said it’s a better bet based on what I’m after.
I do hold a few ETFs in a freetrade account but am looking at funds for the SIPP as I will move to income funds.
Look into iWeb too. I found it to be the cheapest platform
iWeb not accepting new SIPP accounts.
Pity - we made a considerable saving when we switched from Fidelity and III, but we don't have SIPPs
My work one was fidelity. Not very good. I switched as soon as I could.
You have taken Ferrari's assertion out of context. Don't forget Ferrari is a massive cheerleader for the Conservatives, although perhaps he would prefer someone other than Kemi leading the party.
If you listen to Kemi she manages to repeat the right wing theme that "Adolescence" is a disingenuous depiction of a real event (an event where the perpetrator isn't white) and Adolescence doesn't address Islamic radicalisation.
I haven't seen it either, but then I am not the Prime Minister in waiting.
.....It might not make an instant difference but it'll make people feel better about things
....and for those it doesn't it'll give them something else on which to concentate their ire
European nations don't want us back.
If not now never but I'm not sure they won't. Anyone can see that the UK's best chance is as part of a united Europe and having the 8th wealthiest country inside has to be a benefit to the other Europeans.
The alternative of being a theme park between Scandinavia and mainland Europe isn't really sustainable unless we get some decent rides.
Most in the UK don't want to be a state of a Federal EU, many who voted Remain like me would have voted Leave had the Euro been a requirement of staying.
At most we may return to EFTA ultimately that is it
Interestingly and anecdotally as the Brexit generation move on people are getting much more used to the Euro. It's being increasingly used in stores and for travel and and it seems to be popular. A bit like decimilisation it's an easy currency to understand and is much more widely accepted internationally than sterling.
How is the Euro any easier than any other currency to understand?
Closer to the dollar and slightly less than the pound. People use 50's a lot. Few use or will take £50 notes for a coffee and croissant.
I thought it might be because we no longer teach the times tables up to twelve at primary school
Team Donald have made Farage look a bit of a chump again. The poor man swore blind that Donald was appalled by Sir Keir's deal and that he, Farage, knew Pete Hegseth 'very well'. I wonder if Sir Keir and Donald really have hit it off, Sir Keir has explained how Reform are his major electoral threat and thus Donald has vowed to screw over Farage as a favour.
Maybe even Trump's government have realised there are only so many policy plates you can keep spinning at the same time, and catching one and putting it away on the shelf makes it easier for the rest to keep spinning.
You have taken Ferrari's assertion out of context. Don't forget Ferrari is a massive cheerleader for the Conservatives, although perhaps he would prefer someone other than Kemi leading the party.
If you listen to Kemi she manages to repeat the right wing theme that "Adolescence" is a disingenuous depiction of a real event (an event where the perpetrator isn't white) and Adolescence doesn't address Islamic radicalisation.
I haven't seen it either, but then I am not the Prime Minister in waiting.
She should watch it and then grill the PM on the details of the programme at PMQs.
Drachinifel has finally got around to doing the 100-year long service life of the Great Eastern. Passenger ship, battleship, aircraft carrier, store ship and finally museum ship.
We all know that Labour were given a hospital pass by the Tories. The economy in bits, public services an underfunded shambles and local government on the brink of collapse.
We should not allow the Tories to get away from the grotesque mess they made.
But - and its a big but - Labour have shown themselves to lacking in ideas and now trapped by treasury orthodoxy which insists that the way to restart an economy on its knees is cut some more, to fix public services is to break them harder, the way to restore confidence is make everyone depressed.
This is stupid. You cannot cut your way to growth. We need to invest.
No, we need to facilitate private sector investment and growth.
Government is brilliant at investing in crap - politically dictated projects that make no economic sense, from Concorde to HS2 to ...
On energy it should be encouraging, not preventing, the private sector to exploit our hydrocarbon reserves.
On transportation, it should be building the projects that will boost the economy the most, which are generally roads in and around London, rather than the dismal disaster of HS2.
On housing, the government should be facilitating private sector self-build.
It should be cutting business regulation and taxes, and if necessary increasing taxes like VAT which harm economic growth much less, as Mrs Thatcher did in her first term.
Etc etc.
Oh I agree - private sector investment. But that only happens when the strategic framework is done by the state.
My two biggies are Housing and Energy.
Housing? The private sector is fast at buying land and slow at building houses. And what it does build are the wrong types of homes sold at daft prices. We need to demolish and rebuild broken towns and with the greatest respect I don't see Taylor Wimpey going to shareholders like my mum asking her to invest in building affordable homes in Mansfield. It'll need to be government and local authorities setting development zones and then directing what types of homes to build for the LHA. At which point Taylor Wimpey etc can bid for the contract.
Energy? I agree that we should keep drilling oil and gas - its nonsensical to stop doing so and then import it. We also need to supercharge clean energy industry - don't settle for imported equipment we should be designing, building and exporting. Which needs a stable policy and government tax bungs to get started. We're all talking about SMRs but again that needs government to say they actually want them and to slash the timetable to actually build them quickly.
Transport? Can't all be London because then you don't have an economy. All of our competitors in Europe connect up towns and cities - we have to do the same.
Business? Needs to invest in skills and facilities. I have a much longer list of ideas, but the starting place should be Corporation Tax cuts only for companies who invest in skills and infrastructure. When we cut their taxes and ask for nothing in return we get nothing in return. Productivity is so low in this country because we have largely unskilled unmotivated workers left ignored by their employers.
Global fossil fuel usage is still climbing. A crime against future generations .
10% council tax on unbuilt homes would bring more housing to market than any sad yet comic cry for growth and a pointing finger.
As for Labour. Shakes head. A hard stop on selling council houses would have been an easy win. WFA needed to be stopped. End of 2026 allowing time to get your house draught proofed would have less dumb.
I’m not surprised Casino is considering joining.
Globally, yes. And we're doing very well in the UK with our transition away from fossil fuels. EV use is growing and fuel cars getting more efficient through hybrid drivetrains. We burn no coal and little gas to generate power. People like me still burn oil for home heating but we're in decline.
We need to go further and faster on clean energy - it's the future of energy independence and will be a brilliant way for the UK to make money. But we can't just stop drilling the oil and gas still in our waters. With the best will in the world we still need the stuff - oil especially. If we stop digging our own we have to import it. How does that make any sense?
If every country with oil and/or gas reserves applies the same logic, then the Earth is fucked. We need need to stop digging our own and stop importing. Not for purposes other than burning, and not immediately, of course, but as ASAP.
The question becomes when the 'possible' in ASAP is. And it is probably further away then you or I would like. And in the meantime, unless you want to fuck the country up, we need to ensure we get the power we need. In terms of electricity, possibly lots more as we get more electric cars and electric boilers.
Tidal. A proper investment. The oldest tidal scheme is in northern France. It’s been generating since about 1890. Only minimal maintenance has been required.
Cornwall and Scapa Flow between them would provide 24 hr power for a millennium and cost less than the latest EDF nuclear jobby.
The lack of tidal is one of those head scratchers, like why don’t all volcanic countries have 100% geothermal power like Iceland, given how cheap it is.
Usually when I’m wondering “how hard can it be” I do a bit of internet research and find out that actually it is very hard and/or expensive, but the internet is a little lacking in tidal myth busting. The Wikipedia page lists several issues but none seem particularly major.
I had a go at this on PB a few months ago. In summary - tidal doesn't solve any of our problems or fill any niches. It's surprisingly intermittent, it doesn't store much energy, it doesn't generate much power anyway relative to chucking up more turbines.
Depends on the scale of the schemes. The bid tidal pond schemes are mega power station sized.
As to energy storage - what is predictable is tidal lag round the country. The tide at location X is very consistently Z hours off the tide at Y.
Which means by siting the schemes appropriately and using tidal ponds to stretch the generating period, you can get predictably 24/7 power.
I don't think there's anything wrong with tidal power, it's just getting crowded out by wind - a proven technology with a settled supply chain. Funnily enough, that's what's happening to O&G too, with offshore supply ships etc getting snapped up by all the new offshore developments.
It's proven to be shit.
And the reason it's 'crowding out' wind is because the inherent wastefulness of the wind system allows companies to make out like banditos, whereas tidal would provide less of those types of opportunities.
"The Home Guard was set up in May 1940 as Britain's 'last line of defence' against German invasion. Members of this 'Dad's Army' were usually men above or below the age of conscription and those unfit or ineligible for front line military service."
Why is there only one Dad involved and who was he?
See also Mother’s Day, Father’s Day.
That one is quite correct.
Mother's Day is a day belonging to mother. Father's Day is a day belonging to father.
Some people have more than one mother or more than one father.
Yes, some people have stepmoms.
Some people even have stepmoms who are (a) attractive and (b) sexually frustrated.
...and in your area?
This is doing the rounds at the moment but self evidently those taking the pee are misunderstanding the name. It is "Dad's Army", the army of which our dad, and yes, my dad was a member. So it is correct, "Dad's Army". My own dad's memories, not all happy of the Home Guard would have made an episode of the comedy drama in their own right with a real life Captain Square if not a Captain Mainwaring who my own dad wished had been his captain.
My grandfather was in the Wigan Home Guard. The unit was mostly of coal miners exempt from conscription as essential workers. Many were WW1 veterans too and as hard as nails. Lightly equipped maybe but a far tougher prospect than the Walmington on Sea branch.
My Grandfather was always fond miners afterwards. They had a mentality and comradeship that is rare to find.
.....It might not make an instant difference but it'll make people feel better about things
....and for those it doesn't it'll give them something else on which to concentate their ire
European nations don't want us back.
If not now never but I'm not sure they won't. Anyone can see that the UK's best chance is as part of a united Europe and having the 8th wealthiest country inside has to be a benefit to the other Europeans.
The alternative of being a theme park between Scandinavia and mainland Europe isn't really sustainable unless we get some decent rides.
Most in the UK don't want to be a state of a Federal EU, many who voted Remain like me would have voted Leave had the Euro been a requirement of staying.
At most we may return to EFTA ultimately that is it
Interestingly and anecdotally as the Brexit generation move on people are getting much more used to the Euro. It's being increasingly used in stores and for travel and and it seems to be popular. A bit like decimilisation it's an easy currency to understand and is much more widely accepted internationally than sterling.
How is the Euro any easier than any other currency to understand?
Closer to the dollar and slightly less than the pound. People use 50's a lot. Few use or will take £50 notes for a coffee and croissant.
Hmmm. The only times I've used 50 pound notes is when I've wanted to carry large sums of cash on my person (several grand in 20s is quite chunky), or for changing money on the black market. I'm not sure how it's much of an advantage to a customer to pay for a coffee and croissant with a 50 pound note.
If cash machines gave out 50 pound notes, people would use them. So what?
.....It might not make an instant difference but it'll make people feel better about things
....and for those it doesn't it'll give them something else on which to concentate their ire
European nations don't want us back.
If not now never but I'm not sure they won't. Anyone can see that the UK's best chance is as part of a united Europe and having the 8th wealthiest country inside has to be a benefit to the other Europeans.
The alternative of being a theme park between Scandinavia and mainland Europe isn't really sustainable unless we get some decent rides.
Most in the UK don't want to be a state of a Federal EU, many who voted Remain like me would have voted Leave had the Euro been a requirement of staying.
At most we may return to EFTA ultimately that is it
Interestingly and anecdotally as the Brexit generation move on people are getting much more used to the Euro. It's being increasingly used in stores and for travel and and it seems to be popular. A bit like decimilisation it's an easy currency to understand and is much more widely accepted internationally than sterling.
How is the Euro any easier than any other currency to understand?
Closer to the dollar and slightly less than the pound. People use 50's a lot. Few use or will take £50 notes for a coffee and croissant.
.....It might not make an instant difference but it'll make people feel better about things
....and for those it doesn't it'll give them something else on which to concentate their ire
European nations don't want us back.
If not now never but I'm not sure they won't. Anyone can see that the UK's best chance is as part of a united Europe and having the 8th wealthiest country inside has to be a benefit to the other Europeans.
The alternative of being a theme park between Scandinavia and mainland Europe isn't really sustainable unless we get some decent rides.
Most in the UK don't want to be a state of a Federal EU, many who voted Remain like me would have voted Leave had the Euro been a requirement of staying.
At most we may return to EFTA ultimately that is it
Interestingly and anecdotally as the Brexit generation move on people are getting much more used to the Euro. It's being increasingly used in stores and for travel and and it seems to be popular. A bit like decimilisation it's an easy currency to understand and is much more widely accepted internationally than sterling.
How is the Euro any easier than any other currency to understand?
Closer to the dollar and slightly less than the pound. People use 50's a lot. Few use or will take £50 notes for a coffee and croissant.
Hmmm. The only times I've used 50 pound notes is when I've wanted to carry large sums of cash on my person (several grand in 20s is quite chunky), or for changing money on the black market. I'm not sure how it's much of an advantage to a customer to pay for a coffee and croissant with a 50 pound note.
If cash machines gave out 50 pound notes, people would use them. So what?
If cash machines gave out £50 notes then most people would still buy their coffee with their cards.
.....It might not make an instant difference but it'll make people feel better about things
....and for those it doesn't it'll give them something else on which to concentate their ire
European nations don't want us back.
If not now never but I'm not sure they won't. Anyone can see that the UK's best chance is as part of a united Europe and having the 8th wealthiest country inside has to be a benefit to the other Europeans.
The alternative of being a theme park between Scandinavia and mainland Europe isn't really sustainable unless we get some decent rides.
Most in the UK don't want to be a state of a Federal EU, many who voted Remain like me would have voted Leave had the Euro been a requirement of staying.
At most we may return to EFTA ultimately that is it
Interestingly and anecdotally as the Brexit generation move on people are getting much more used to the Euro. It's being increasingly used in stores and for travel and and it seems to be popular. A bit like decimilisation it's an easy currency to understand and is much more widely accepted internationally than sterling.
How is the Euro any easier than any other currency to understand?
Closer to the dollar and slightly less than the pound. People use 50's a lot. Few use or will take £50 notes for a coffee and croissant.
Hmmm. The only times I've used 50 pound notes is when I've wanted to carry large sums of cash on my person (several grand in 20s is quite chunky), or for changing money on the black market. I'm not sure how it's much of an advantage to a customer to pay for a coffee and croissant with a 50 pound note.
If cash machines gave out 50 pound notes, people would use them. So what?
If cash machines gave out £50 notes then most people would still buy their coffee with their cards.
"The Home Guard was set up in May 1940 as Britain's 'last line of defence' against German invasion. Members of this 'Dad's Army' were usually men above or below the age of conscription and those unfit or ineligible for front line military service."
Why is there only one Dad involved and who was he?
See also Mother’s Day, Father’s Day.
That one is quite correct.
Mother's Day is a day belonging to mother. Father's Day is a day belonging to father.
Some people have more than one mother or more than one father.
Yes, some people have stepmoms.
Some people even have stepmoms who are (a) attractive and (b) sexually frustrated.
...and in your area?
This is doing the rounds at the moment but self evidently those taking the pee are misunderstanding the name. It is "Dad's Army", the army of which our dad, and yes, my dad was a member. So it is correct, "Dad's Army". My own dad's memories, not all happy of the Home Guard would have made an episode of the comedy drama in their own right with a real life Captain Square if not a Captain Mainwaring who my own dad wished had been his captain.
My grandfather was in the Wigan Home Guard. The unit was mostly of coal miners exempt from conscription as essential workers. Many were WW1 veterans too and as hard as nails. Lightly equipped maybe but a far tougher prospect than the Walmington on Sea branch.
My Grandfather was always fond miners afterwards. They had a mentality and comradeship that is rare to find.
Both my Grandfathers were in the Burry Port and Pembrey Home Guard. My paternal Grandfather, a miner hated it, the other who owned a painting and decorating shop loved it. He also supplied the broom handles for square bashing.
Comments
See Al Maqaleh v Gates
And that involved individuals inder the direct control of the US government.
When I were a lad I had a book about the St Malo scheme - complete IIRC with its two way turbines - which went in in the year England won the world cup. It was noted that it would slow the earth's rotation, but infinitesimally.
Don't anyone tell Farage, or it will become a Reform UK talking point, and I'd have the Leeanderthal Man dog-whistling it all over twitter. It would be double bubble for him - because its French.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/apr/01/fa-lobbies-uk-government-make-tailgating-turnstiles-criminal-offence-euro-2028
The Football Association has stepped up its lobbying of the government to make forced entry into football stadiums, so-called “tailgating”, a criminal offence before the United Kingdom and Ireland host the 2028 men’s European Championship.
The policing minister Dame Diana Johnson was a guest of the FA at Wembley for last month’s Carabao Cup final, where 68 of the 91 arrests made were for attempting to enter the ground without a ticket.
Tailgating at turnstiles is not a criminal offence, however, with the Metropolitan police forced to make those 68 arrests on the grounds of suspicion of fraud. The Guardian has learned that no charges have been issued owing to very low conviction rates for tailgating, which has become a major issue for the FA and some Premier League clubs.
So if you site your tidal power facilities such that their generating periods overlap and cover the full 24 hour period, you will have continuous generation. Guaranteed.
Has the minimum wage gone far enough now?
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/jurisdiction-and-remedy-in-j.g.g.-v.-trump
There's absolutely no certainty that habeas applies.
The only truly reliable remedy would be for Congress to repeal the Alien Enemies Act.
But the current Congress is far more inclined to abdicate its powers to the President.
The reality, of course, is that the world isn't serious about net zero, oil and coal usage is still going up, and we're just impoverishing ourselves without making any meaningful difference to any climate change outcomes at-all.
If we actually wanted to make a difference, we'd do better to use the trillions we're spending on net zero to move the third world from coal to ccgt for its primary baseload generation, but I'm not holding my breath.
Its not a thing that Starmer could do or Farage would want to do.
And a nice bit of economic patriotism might go down well with potential voters.
Generates for 62-66% of the tide cycle.
Anecdotally, from an engineer who worked on them, the freestanding tidal turbines in Strangford Lough only pause at high and low water.
It seems further projects were ditched by EDF in favour of nuclear.
So your 'continuous' generation isn't continuous.
Just pointing out that the actual cost/benefits need assessing. The balance of payments argument is a stronger one.
Mother's Day is a day belonging to mother. Father's Day is a day belonging to father.
And definitely spellings.
So tidal power could theoretically make a significant contribution to the UK's electricity generating capacity but is by no means a solution by itself. I don't know how the economics stack up, or how significant the environmental effects on tidal wetlands, etc. would be.
UZBEKISTAN has HIGH SPEED TRAINS - and we do not
No 10 says details of agreement with Mauritian government are being finalised after approval by US president
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/04/01/donald-trump-signs-off-keir-starmer-chagos-deal/
and:
"Vice Adm Vladimir Tsimlyansky said the new conscripts would not be sent to fight in Ukraine for what Russia calls its "special military operation"."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c36718p52eyo
@paulhutcheon
11% of folk cut a pizza with scissors
https://x.com/paulhutcheon/status/1907051744757944346
I’m really just looking at basic funds. I’ll do some more digging but I put it into AI and it said it’s a better bet based on what I’m after.
I do hold a few ETFs in a freetrade account but am looking at funds for the SIPP as I will move to income funds.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/01/hooters-restaurant-bankruptcy
Following the Spring Statement, government approval falls to its joint lowest level since Labour were elected
Approve: 14% (-5 from 22-24 Mar)
Disapprove: 68% (+8)
Net: -54 (-13)
If only there was one more year.
I then get bollocked by Wor Lass for this.
I then get bollocked again when I eat the bits of cheese from the blades of the scissors.
Lab: 24% (+1 from 23-24 Mar)
Ref: 23% (+1)
Con: 21% (-1)
Lib Dem: 14% (-2)
Green: 11% (+1)
SNP: 3% (=)
https://x.com/yougov/status/1907064643316498837?s=61&t=c6bcp0cjChLfQN5Tc8A_6g
St Pancras to Ashford DOMESTIC trains do 140 MPH.
The Kremlin's concerns come after Donald Trump vowed to bomb Iran unless it agrees to a new nuclear deal with Washington.'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14558829/Russia-issues-chilling-warning-Trump-catastrophic-consequences-carries-threat-strike-Irans-nuclear-facilities.html
https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/usercode.py?scotcontrol=N&CON=21&LAB=24&LIB=14&Reform=23&Green=11&UKIP=&TVCON=&TVLAB=&TVLIB=&TVReform=&TVGreen=&TVUKIP=&SCOTCON=&SCOTLAB=&SCOTLIB=&SCOTReform=&SCOTGreen=&SCOTUKIP=&SCOTNAT=&display=AllChanged&regorseat=(none)&boundary=2024base
Tractor crashes into houses causing front walls to crumble
Two houses were damaged after the farm vehicle towing a trailer of manure lost control
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/01/tractor-crash-demolishes-homes-a51-in-chester/
I suspect they’ll be back after having rejigged their debts
Like TGI Fridays, a relic of the past really.
And the UK gets a discount on Trident's maintenance, supposedly. But is that written anywhere, or is/was it a "good chaps" understanding that Trump will definitely keep up going forward ?
These people are barking.
https://x.com/lbc/status/1907010846141579634?s=61
Desperation, Pacification, Expectation, Acclamation, and Realisation ?
They could also reduce costs -- in some areas -- by being built closer to where the power is needed, so less electricity is lost in transmission, and fewer transmission lines have to be built. In principle.
(Correct me if I am wrong about this, but I believe the South Koreans have actually shown that learning curves can operate, even with larger reactors.)
"The fact that she hasn't even watched it - I think - is potentially huge."
If you listen to Kemi she manages to repeat the right wing theme that "Adolescence" is a disingenuous depiction of a real event (an event where the perpetrator isn't white) and Adolescence doesn't address Islamic radicalisation.
I haven't seen it either, but then I am not the Prime Minister in waiting.
https://x.com/lbc/status/1907033498986139871
Drachinifel has finally got around to doing the 100-year long service life of the Great Eastern. Passenger ship, battleship, aircraft carrier, store ship and finally museum ship.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tp6W0DvSHMY
I find it utterly shocking that its history is so poorly known, given its dominating presence in the Pool of London...
And the reason it's 'crowding out' wind is because the inherent wastefulness of the wind system allows companies to make out like banditos, whereas tidal would provide less of those types of opportunities.
My Grandfather was always fond miners afterwards. They had a mentality and comradeship that is rare to find.
If cash machines gave out 50 pound notes, people would use them. So what?