Quick question. Brother who is a long time resident of Australia refers to Trump as a Sentinel. Not a phrase I have come across and assume it is a positive view.
Translation please
Sentinel (Marvel comics).
Large humanoid robot designed to hunt down and kill mutants.
(It's my impression that -- for now-- the pro-strike folks outnumber the anti-strike folks, even in this relatively leftist area.)
In principle going after the Mullahs is a great idea. I am not so sure it will be as collateral free as the hawks on here are suggesting. I hope they are correct.
Who has suggested it will be collateral free?
There will be collateral damage, of course there is, there always is.
Inaction is not damage free though.
The benefits outweigh the costs.
As ever that remains to be seen.
Apparently the Shah's grandson who lives in DC is a somewhat surprised he hasn't been approached...
Quick question. Brother who is a long time resident of Australia refers to Trump as a Sentinel. Not a phrase I have come across and assume it is a positive view.
Translation please
Sentinel (Marvel comics).
Large humanoid robot designed to hunt down and kill mutants.
"We have, before this began, been very clear about not having our territories be used to attack Iran. We have always encouraged dialogue and we have wanted to make sure that it doesn't amount to this because our region doesn't need another war."
"By the same token, if it needs to come to that, it will come to that. And really the ball is in Iran's court right now about how they want to deal with a neighborhood and a neighbor that has traditionally been a very fair and good neighbor to them."
"We're not going to sit idly by as we continue to be recipients of such a barrage of attacks that are unlawful and unjustified."
Other passive beneficiaries of UAE’s troubles this week: Singapore and Switzerland.
And London
Dubai really is in a pickle. Their whole shtick is “oasis of safety and stability” and sure, you can leave your phone on a table and it won’t be nicked, but people are super sensitive and averse to the possibility of being randomly bombed
If the war ends tomorrow it would still take a while for them to repair the reputational damage. But it seems unlikely the war will end tomorrow
1. The Iranians are going for the Samson Option - tear down the world - especially the Gulf States (not least because they can’t attack the USA directly, so the UAE etc is the next best thing)
2. If we get regime change then that will still be months or years of instability - right next to Dubai
3. If we don’t get regime change then a newly angry hostile Iran will make Dubai very uncomfortable
So I don’t see how the UAE, Qatar, etc, avoid serious damage of various kinds
Do we want all those Dubai ex-pats back?
The picture for the Gulf nations is clear - don't piss off the US, but they really have no security from their friendship with the Great Oaf. It's going to be increasingly attractive for them to build better relations with China. US diplomats are going to have to work very hard in the region.
Tax on re-entry, I'd suggest.
Entry via the HMRC office in East Kilbride. It was always inevitable this was going to happen, and no-one likes a freeloader.
You can build a modular battery storage system (BESS) for say 400 MW capacity on an area half the size of a football field. It needs to be near to an existing grid substation, for ease of connection to grid, and there are plenty of suitable brownfield sites around to facilitate planning permission.
You dont need more Dinorwics (1,800 MW each ) - you need a distributed network of BESS sites - more network resilience and security that way.
I rather think destroying Iran's ability to close the straits should have been number one on the agenda.
This is great news for oil producing countries - Putin's Russia included.
And yet another reason to get fracking.
And exploit our oil in the north sea
This is insane. The damage an oil shock will do to the UK economy is many multiples the potential gains to our domestic oil industry. That's the the case in the US, where oil production is about 30x times higher than it is here. We are not Russia or Saudi Arabia, even if we maxxed out development and production.
Thankfully, our domestic renewables are on fixed price contracts and are invulnerable to Iranian drone strikes . It's mad that we could live through a gas shock (Ukraine) and an oIl shock (Iran) and you'll still be banging on about fossil fuels.
It’s not ‘insane’ you just disagree.
More supply would help when there’s a constraint somewhere
Crank up the solar Crank up the wind turbines Crank up the tidal buoys Build another 5 electric hydro mountain like Llanberis
Renewable Renewable Renewable
Ed knows!
It's not either/or. People are going to be needing oil for at least the next 50-100 years, not maxing out the North Sea but instead paying the Russians/Iranians/Saudis etc for oil we could help ourselves to is completely barmy.
The North Sea won't have any significant effect on the oil price, but that doesn't matter - the point of drilling for our oil is that HMG will get lots of lovely oil revenue, and the oil companies will create lots of well paid jobs in places like Aberdeen, both of which would do our economic situation a world of good.
Also, you do realise that building 5 more Dinorwic's will be 30 years and several billion just for the planning process?
I agree re Llanberis
Been down there several times.
Fascinating
Should have ordered 4 more at the time. I was told on a visit that sites had been identified
I went down in 1992 and none of the turbines were running. The only time more than one had run was when Ken had found out that Mike Baldwin had been shagging Deirdre. It was emergency contingency
Last time I went down in 2016 mid June all were running the chamber was shaking, they said at that time almost always on.
People do seem to misunderstand Dinorwic. It is not actually generating new power. It is simply storing it for peak usage. It uses the grid to pump water up to the top of the mountain when demand is low then drops it down through the turbines when demand is high. It is not a replacement for renewable, hydrocarbons or nuclear.
"We have, before this began, been very clear about not having our territories be used to attack Iran. We have always encouraged dialogue and we have wanted to make sure that it doesn't amount to this because our region doesn't need another war."
"By the same token, if it needs to come to that, it will come to that. And really the ball is in Iran's court right now about how they want to deal with a neighborhood and a neighbor that has traditionally been a very fair and good neighbor to them."
"We're not going to sit idly by as we continue to be recipients of such a barrage of attacks that are unlawful and unjustified."
Other passive beneficiaries of UAE’s troubles this week: Singapore and Switzerland.
And London
Dubai really is in a pickle. Their whole shtick is “oasis of safety and stability” and sure, you can leave your phone on a table and it won’t be nicked, but people are super sensitive and averse to the possibility of being randomly bombed
If the war ends tomorrow it would still take a while for them to repair the reputational damage. But it seems unlikely the war will end tomorrow
1. The Iranians are going for the Samson Option - tear down the world - especially the Gulf States (not least because they can’t attack the USA directly, so the UAE etc is the next best thing)
2. If we get regime change then that will still be months or years of instability - right next to Dubai
3. If we don’t get regime change then a newly angry hostile Iran will make Dubai very uncomfortable
So I don’t see how the UAE, Qatar, etc, avoid serious damage of various kinds
Do we want all those Dubai ex-pats back?
The picture for the Gulf nations is clear - don't piss off the US, but they really have no security from their friendship with the Great Oaf. It's going to be increasingly attractive for them to build better relations with China. US diplomats are going to have to work very hard in the region.
Tax on re-entry, I'd suggest.
Entry via the HMRC office in East Kilbride. It was always inevitable this was going to happen, and no-one likes a freeloader.
Shipley, surely. Cumbernauld at a stretch.
Cumbernauld is of course defined in Liff as the feeling that you get when you stretch and are too old for it.
Edits: (or should be)
And Shipley - 'The sort of girl sailors find attractive'
Quick question. Brother who is a long time resident of Australia refers to Trump as a Sentinel. Not a phrase I have come across and assume it is a positive view.
Translation please
Sentinel (Marvel comics).
Large humanoid robot designed to hunt down and kill mutants.
I rather think destroying Iran's ability to close the straits should have been number one on the agenda.
This is great news for oil producing countries - Putin's Russia included.
And yet another reason to get fracking.
And exploit our oil in the north sea
This is insane. The damage an oil shock will do to the UK economy is many multiples the potential gains to our domestic oil industry. That's the the case in the US, where oil production is about 30x times higher than it is here. We are not Russia or Saudi Arabia, even if we maxxed out development and production.
Thankfully, our domestic renewables are on fixed price contracts and are invulnerable to Iranian drone strikes . It's mad that we could live through a gas shock (Ukraine) and an oIl shock (Iran) and you'll still be banging on about fossil fuels.
It’s not ‘insane’ you just disagree.
More supply would help when there’s a constraint somewhere
Crank up the solar Crank up the wind turbines Crank up the tidal buoys Build another 5 electric hydro mountain like Llanberis
Renewable Renewable Renewable
Ed knows!
It's not either/or. People are going to be needing oil for at least the next 50-100 years, not maxing out the North Sea but instead paying the Russians/Iranians/Saudis etc for oil we could help ourselves to is completely barmy.
The North Sea won't have any significant effect on the oil price, but that doesn't matter - the point of drilling for our oil is that HMG will get lots of lovely oil revenue, and the oil companies will create lots of well paid jobs in places like Aberdeen, both of which would do our economic situation a world of good.
Also, you do realise that building 5 more Dinorwic's will be 30 years and several billion just for the planning process?
It would actually be cheaper to build a couple of battery factories and make 5 more Dinoric's out of batteries. The numbers crossed over some years ago.
In addition, you wouldn't site them all in one place. And you don't need a decade long planning enquiry for a few shipping containers of batteries - the Greens got very upset, IIRC, because the previous Conservative government put in an exception for power storage projects below 30 MWh - they aren't considered a power station. That would be about 10 ISO containers.
It's quite extraordinary how upset people get about batteries. They can be hidden away quite easily - it's not like chucking lots of pylons up, or turbines, or a nuclear power station.
I agree. Though I think much of the concern comes from the fire hazard.
Mind you I am probably in the minority as I think we should have a far more dispersed power generation system with mini nukes on the outskirts of every town. Pretty sure I am never going to get majority support for that one.
The massive Gasoneters on the M6 raised carriageway right near Sphaghetti Junction used to freak me out. Now Star City Area
You could almost touch them from the hard shoulder. .
If the IRA had put a bomb under the carriageway there, Birmingham and the Black Country would have resembled Hiroshima.
Mini nuclear is far safer.
Don't be daft. Low pressure gas holders don't make much of a bang when they go off.
The IRA bombed one about a mile from where I was brought up. Made a hole and the gas escaped.
I rather think destroying Iran's ability to close the straits should have been number one on the agenda.
This is great news for oil producing countries - Putin's Russia included.
And yet another reason to get fracking.
And exploit our oil in the north sea
This is insane. The damage an oil shock will do to the UK economy is many multiples the potential gains to our domestic oil industry. That's the the case in the US, where oil production is about 30x times higher than it is here. We are not Russia or Saudi Arabia, even if we maxxed out development and production.
Thankfully, our domestic renewables are on fixed price contracts and are invulnerable to Iranian drone strikes . It's mad that we could live through a gas shock (Ukraine) and an oIl shock (Iran) and you'll still be banging on about fossil fuels.
It’s not ‘insane’ you just disagree.
More supply would help when there’s a constraint somewhere
Crank up the solar Crank up the wind turbines Crank up the tidal buoys Build another 5 electric hydro mountain like Llanberis
Renewable Renewable Renewable
Ed knows!
It's not either/or. People are going to be needing oil for at least the next 50-100 years, not maxing out the North Sea but instead paying the Russians/Iranians/Saudis etc for oil we could help ourselves to is completely barmy.
The North Sea won't have any significant effect on the oil price, but that doesn't matter - the point of drilling for our oil is that HMG will get lots of lovely oil revenue, and the oil companies will create lots of well paid jobs in places like Aberdeen, both of which would do our economic situation a world of good.
Also, you do realise that building 5 more Dinorwic's will be 30 years and several billion just for the planning process?
I agree re Llanberis
Been down there several times.
Fascinating
Should have ordered 4 more at the time. I was told on a visit that sites had been identified
I went down in 1992 and none of the turbines were running. The only time more than one had run was when Ken had found out that Mike Baldwin had been shagging Deirdre. It was emergency contingency
Last time I went down in 2016 mid June all were running the chamber was shaking, they said at that time almost always on.
People do seem to misunderstand Dinorwic. It is not actually generating new power. It is simply storing it for peak usage. It uses the grid to pump water up to the top of the mountain when demand is low then drops it down through the turbines when demand is high. It is not a replacement for renewable, hydrocarbons or nuclear.
I rather think destroying Iran's ability to close the straits should have been number one on the agenda.
This is great news for oil producing countries - Putin's Russia included.
And yet another reason to get fracking.
And exploit our oil in the north sea
This is insane. The damage an oil shock will do to the UK economy is many multiples the potential gains to our domestic oil industry. That's the the case in the US, where oil production is about 30x times higher than it is here. We are not Russia or Saudi Arabia, even if we maxxed out development and production.
Thankfully, our domestic renewables are on fixed price contracts and are invulnerable to Iranian drone strikes . It's mad that we could live through a gas shock (Ukraine) and an oIl shock (Iran) and you'll still be banging on about fossil fuels.
It’s not ‘insane’ you just disagree.
More supply would help when there’s a constraint somewhere
Crank up the solar Crank up the wind turbines Crank up the tidal buoys Build another 5 electric hydro mountain like Llanberis
Renewable Renewable Renewable
Ed knows!
It's not either/or. People are going to be needing oil for at least the next 50-100 years, not maxing out the North Sea but instead paying the Russians/Iranians/Saudis etc for oil we could help ourselves to is completely barmy.
The North Sea won't have any significant effect on the oil price, but that doesn't matter - the point of drilling for our oil is that HMG will get lots of lovely oil revenue, and the oil companies will create lots of well paid jobs in places like Aberdeen, both of which would do our economic situation a world of good.
Also, you do realise that building 5 more Dinorwic's will be 30 years and several billion just for the planning process?
I agree re Llanberis
Been down there several times.
Fascinating
Should have ordered 4 more at the time. I was told on a visit that sites had been identified
I went down in 1992 and none of the turbines were running. The only time more than one had run was when Ken had found out that Mike Baldwin had been shagging Deirdre. It was emergency contingency
Last time I went down in 2016 mid June all were running the chamber was shaking, they said at that time almost always on.
People do seem to misunderstand Dinorwic. It is not actually generating new power. It is simply storing it for peak usage. It uses the grid to pump water up to the top of the mountain when demand is low then drops it down through the turbines when demand is high. It is not a replacement for renewable, hydrocarbons or nuclear.
The other thing is that, whilst Llanberis is a wonder and a marvel and does what it does very well, it's also pretty much obsolete as a technology. Battery chemistry stores energy better than lifting water against gravity does, and doesn't need a mountain you can drill a hole through.
Quick question. Brother who is a long time resident of Australia refers to Trump as a Sentinel. Not a phrase I have come across and assume it is a positive view.
Translation please
Sentinel (Marvel comics).
Large humanoid robot designed to hunt down and kill mutants.
"We have, before this began, been very clear about not having our territories be used to attack Iran. We have always encouraged dialogue and we have wanted to make sure that it doesn't amount to this because our region doesn't need another war."
"By the same token, if it needs to come to that, it will come to that. And really the ball is in Iran's court right now about how they want to deal with a neighborhood and a neighbor that has traditionally been a very fair and good neighbor to them."
"We're not going to sit idly by as we continue to be recipients of such a barrage of attacks that are unlawful and unjustified."
Other passive beneficiaries of UAE’s troubles this week: Singapore and Switzerland.
And London
Dubai really is in a pickle. Their whole shtick is “oasis of safety and stability” and sure, you can leave your phone on a table and it won’t be nicked, but people are super sensitive and averse to the possibility of being randomly bombed
If the war ends tomorrow it would still take a while for them to repair the reputational damage. But it seems unlikely the war will end tomorrow
1. The Iranians are going for the Samson Option - tear down the world - especially the Gulf States (not least because they can’t attack the USA directly, so the UAE etc is the next best thing)
2. If we get regime change then that will still be months or years of instability - right next to Dubai
3. If we don’t get regime change then a newly angry hostile Iran will make Dubai very uncomfortable
So I don’t see how the UAE, Qatar, etc, avoid serious damage of various kinds
Do we want all those Dubai ex-pats back?
The picture for the Gulf nations is clear - don't piss off the US, but they really have no security from their friendship with the Great Oaf. It's going to be increasingly attractive for them to build better relations with China. US diplomats are going to have to work very hard in the region.
"We have, before this began, been very clear about not having our territories be used to attack Iran. We have always encouraged dialogue and we have wanted to make sure that it doesn't amount to this because our region doesn't need another war."
"By the same token, if it needs to come to that, it will come to that. And really the ball is in Iran's court right now about how they want to deal with a neighborhood and a neighbor that has traditionally been a very fair and good neighbor to them."
"We're not going to sit idly by as we continue to be recipients of such a barrage of attacks that are unlawful and unjustified."
Other passive beneficiaries of UAE’s troubles this week: Singapore and Switzerland.
And London
Dubai really is in a pickle. Their whole shtick is “oasis of safety and stability” and sure, you can leave your phone on a table and it won’t be nicked, but people are super sensitive and averse to the possibility of being randomly bombed
If the war ends tomorrow it would still take a while for them to repair the reputational damage. But it seems unlikely the war will end tomorrow
1. The Iranians are going for the Samson Option - tear down the world - especially the Gulf States (not least because they can’t attack the USA directly, so the UAE etc is the next best thing)
2. If we get regime change then that will still be months or years of instability - right next to Dubai
3. If we don’t get regime change then a newly angry hostile Iran will make Dubai very uncomfortable
So I don’t see how the UAE, Qatar, etc, avoid serious damage of various kinds
Do we want all those Dubai ex-pats back?
The picture for the Gulf nations is clear - don't piss off the US, but they really have no security from their friendship with the Great Oaf. It's going to be increasingly attractive for them to build better relations with China. US diplomats are going to have to work very hard in the region.
We want their taxes.
Well make sure that jobs are created, and that entrepreneurs are encouraged.
You can build a modular battery storage system (BESS) for say 400 MW capacity on an area half the size of a football field. It needs to be near to an existing grid substation, for ease of connection to grid, and there are plenty of suitable brownfield sites around to facilitate planning permission.
You dont need more Dinorwics (1,800 MW each ) - you need a distributed network of BESS sites - more network resilience and security that way.
This sort of facility is being built on some of the former coal fired power station sites where HV connections are in place
But Operation Epic Fury differs from Operation Iraqi Freedom. The goal is not to march into Iran and confer, much less impose, freedom on the Iranians. It is to decapitate the Islamic Republic’s political structure and leave the Iranians to take their freedom. 4/9
You can build a modular battery storage system (BESS) for say 400 MW capacity on an area half the size of a football field. It needs to be near to an existing grid substation, for ease of connection to grid, and there are plenty of suitable brownfield sites around to facilitate planning permission.
You dont need more Dinorwics (1,800 MW each ) - you need a distributed network of BESS sites - more network resilience and security that way.
This sort of facility is being built on some of the former coal fired power station sites where HV connections are in place
Yes, there's one being built here in the Flatlands on the site of an old power station. Seems to be slow progress though.
There was talk of there being a data centre next to it but I doubt that part will ever happen.
Just had my local Lib Dem councillor knocking on the door asking if we had any local issues. Funny that happening just after the elections for this year have been un-cancelled.
Said yes, actually, and had a good conversation with him about the state of the roads and a speed bump near by in particular that is problematic.
There is about a dozen speed bumps between our house and the main road, and all but one of them are ok. One is like driving into a brick wall when you hit it, even at low speeds.
We have already told our Armed Forces to be careful about the targets they choose.
Our military units are now, in fact, independent and somewhat isolated, and they are acting based on general instructions given to them in advance.
Afternoon, all.
This almost sounds like admission of a regime split, or a coded attempt to place himself on the more conciliatory side of it. He also seemed to be dropping hints like this last year, too. A complex situation at the moment.
Just had my local Lib Dem councillor knocking on the door asking if we had any local issues. Funny that happening just after the elections for this year have been un-cancelled.
Said yes, actually, and had a good conversation with him about the state of the roads and a speed bump near by in particular that is problematic.
There is about a dozen speed bumps between our house and the main road, and all but one of them are ok. One is like driving into a brick wall when you hit it, even at low speeds.
That's the kind of detail issue local LibDems are good at. Unless you come across the anti-car sub-tribe of the LibDems.
"We have, before this began, been very clear about not having our territories be used to attack Iran. We have always encouraged dialogue and we have wanted to make sure that it doesn't amount to this because our region doesn't need another war."
"By the same token, if it needs to come to that, it will come to that. And really the ball is in Iran's court right now about how they want to deal with a neighborhood and a neighbor that has traditionally been a very fair and good neighbor to them."
"We're not going to sit idly by as we continue to be recipients of such a barrage of attacks that are unlawful and unjustified."
Other passive beneficiaries of UAE’s troubles this week: Singapore and Switzerland.
And London
Dubai really is in a pickle. Their whole shtick is “oasis of safety and stability” and sure, you can leave your phone on a table and it won’t be nicked, but people are super sensitive and averse to the possibility of being randomly bombed
If the war ends tomorrow it would still take a while for them to repair the reputational damage. But it seems unlikely the war will end tomorrow
1. The Iranians are going for the Samson Option - tear down the world - especially the Gulf States (not least because they can’t attack the USA directly, so the UAE etc is the next best thing)
2. If we get regime change then that will still be months or years of instability - right next to Dubai
3. If we don’t get regime change then a newly angry hostile Iran will make Dubai very uncomfortable
So I don’t see how the UAE, Qatar, etc, avoid serious damage of various kinds
Do we want all those Dubai ex-pats back?
The picture for the Gulf nations is clear - don't piss off the US, but they really have no security from their friendship with the Great Oaf. It's going to be increasingly attractive for them to build better relations with China. US diplomats are going to have to work very hard in the region.
We want their taxes.
Well make sure that jobs are created, and that entrepreneurs are encouraged.
I certainly encourage entrepreneurs to pay their taxes
Just had my local Lib Dem councillor knocking on the door asking if we had any local issues. Funny that happening just after the elections for this year have been un-cancelled.
Said yes, actually, and had a good conversation with him about the state of the roads and a speed bump near by in particular that is problematic.
There is about a dozen speed bumps between our house and the main road, and all but one of them are ok. One is like driving into a brick wall when you hit it, even at low speeds.
That's the kind of detail issue local LibDems are good at. Unless you come across the anti-car sub-tribe of the LibDems.
Indeed, he knew exactly which hump I was talking about and made sure to make it clear he wants it addressing too as he lives nearby, and brings it up (with the County Council whose responsibility is) regularly.
An anti-car individual would never get elected in my slice of suburbia.
I rather think destroying Iran's ability to close the straits should have been number one on the agenda.
This is great news for oil producing countries - Putin's Russia included.
And yet another reason to get fracking.
And exploit our oil in the north sea
This is insane. The damage an oil shock will do to the UK economy is many multiples the potential gains to our domestic oil industry. That's the the case in the US, where oil production is about 30x times higher than it is here. We are not Russia or Saudi Arabia, even if we maxxed out development and production.
Thankfully, our domestic renewables are on fixed price contracts and are invulnerable to Iranian drone strikes . It's mad that we could live through a gas shock (Ukraine) and an oIl shock (Iran) and you'll still be banging on about fossil fuels.
It’s not ‘insane’ you just disagree.
More supply would help when there’s a constraint somewhere
Crank up the solar Crank up the wind turbines Crank up the tidal buoys Build another 5 electric hydro mountain like Llanberis
Renewable Renewable Renewable
Ed knows!
It's not either/or. People are going to be needing oil for at least the next 50-100 years, not maxing out the North Sea but instead paying the Russians/Iranians/Saudis etc for oil we could help ourselves to is completely barmy.
The North Sea won't have any significant effect on the oil price, but that doesn't matter - the point of drilling for our oil is that HMG will get lots of lovely oil revenue, and the oil companies will create lots of well paid jobs in places like Aberdeen, both of which would do our economic situation a world of good.
Also, you do realise that building 5 more Dinorwic's will be 30 years and several billion just for the planning process?
I agree re Llanberis
Been down there several times.
Fascinating
Should have ordered 4 more at the time. I was told on a visit that sites had been identified
I went down in 1992 and none of the turbines were running. The only time more than one had run was when Ken had found out that Mike Baldwin had been shagging Deirdre. It was emergency contingency
Last time I went down in 2016 mid June all were running the chamber was shaking, they said at that time almost always on.
People do seem to misunderstand Dinorwic. It is not actually generating new power. It is simply storing it for peak usage. It uses the grid to pump water up to the top of the mountain when demand is low then drops it down through the turbines when demand is high. It is not a replacement for renewable, hydrocarbons or nuclear.
The other thing is that, whilst Llanberis is a wonder and a marvel and does what it does very well, it's also pretty much obsolete as a technology. Battery chemistry stores energy better than lifting water against gravity does, and doesn't need a mountain you can drill a hole through.
Just had my local Lib Dem councillor knocking on the door asking if we had any local issues. Funny that happening just after the elections for this year have been un-cancelled.
Said yes, actually, and had a good conversation with him about the state of the roads and a speed bump near by in particular that is problematic.
There is about a dozen speed bumps between our house and the main road, and all but one of them are ok. One is like driving into a brick wall when you hit it, even at low speeds.
That needs fixing asap by the sounds of it. A speed bump like that is worse than no speed bump at all.
I rather think destroying Iran's ability to close the straits should have been number one on the agenda.
This is great news for oil producing countries - Putin's Russia included.
And yet another reason to get fracking.
And exploit our oil in the north sea
This is insane. The damage an oil shock will do to the UK economy is many multiples the potential gains to our domestic oil industry. That's the the case in the US, where oil production is about 30x times higher than it is here. We are not Russia or Saudi Arabia, even if we maxxed out development and production.
Thankfully, our domestic renewables are on fixed price contracts and are invulnerable to Iranian drone strikes . It's mad that we could live through a gas shock (Ukraine) and an oIl shock (Iran) and you'll still be banging on about fossil fuels.
It’s not ‘insane’ you just disagree.
More supply would help when there’s a constraint somewhere
Crank up the solar Crank up the wind turbines Crank up the tidal buoys Build another 5 electric hydro mountain like Llanberis
Renewable Renewable Renewable
Ed knows!
It's not either/or. People are going to be needing oil for at least the next 50-100 years, not maxing out the North Sea but instead paying the Russians/Iranians/Saudis etc for oil we could help ourselves to is completely barmy.
The North Sea won't have any significant effect on the oil price, but that doesn't matter - the point of drilling for our oil is that HMG will get lots of lovely oil revenue, and the oil companies will create lots of well paid jobs in places like Aberdeen, both of which would do our economic situation a world of good.
Also, you do realise that building 5 more Dinorwic's will be 30 years and several billion just for the planning process?
I agree re Llanberis
Been down there several times.
Fascinating
Should have ordered 4 more at the time. I was told on a visit that sites had been identified
I went down in 1992 and none of the turbines were running. The only time more than one had run was when Ken had found out that Mike Baldwin had been shagging Deirdre. It was emergency contingency
Last time I went down in 2016 mid June all were running the chamber was shaking, they said at that time almost always on.
People do seem to misunderstand Dinorwic. It is not actually generating new power. It is simply storing it for peak usage. It uses the grid to pump water up to the top of the mountain when demand is low then drops it down through the turbines when demand is high. It is not a replacement for renewable, hydrocarbons or nuclear.
The other thing is that, whilst Llanberis is a wonder and a marvel and does what it does very well, it's also pretty much obsolete as a technology. Battery chemistry stores energy better than lifting water against gravity does, and doesn't need a mountain you can drill a hole through.
It's just so splendidly clever though.
I do wonder as you go in to that labrynth past closed off unmarked roads just what the hell else is down there.
Just had my local Lib Dem councillor knocking on the door asking if we had any local issues. Funny that happening just after the elections for this year have been un-cancelled.
Said yes, actually, and had a good conversation with him about the state of the roads and a speed bump near by in particular that is problematic.
There is about a dozen speed bumps between our house and the main road, and all but one of them are ok. One is like driving into a brick wall when you hit it, even at low speeds.
That's the kind of detail issue local LibDems are good at. Unless you come across the anti-car sub-tribe of the LibDems.
The Bath version is very anti car. Ludicrous restrictions on parking, 20 mph zones for no reason, the works.
Ooer, cat amongst artistic pigeons (a smallish flock I accept).
WALDEMAR JANUSZCZAK @JANUSZCZAK The National Gallery of Scotland has announced it is paying tribute to the Scottish painter Jack Vettriano with a big display of his self portraits. What a collapse of judgement! Here's a ghastly 'smoker's' portrait they're showing. And something I wrote about Jack in 2004.
It is a somewhat modern take that art must disturb and challenge to be regarded as art. Art used to be commissioned by wealthy patrons just to give pleasure. Vettriano's work does that. The disdain for beauty applied to architecture in the post-war era has left our cities scarred with monstrosities.
My own taste and such art that I make nowadays tends towards the figurative, the trouble is Vettriano’s work wasn’t very good even in those terms. If AI was given a little robotic hand and a palette.. It was sad that JV had massive commercial success but it went with a huge chip on his shoulder about lack of respect as a serious artist, bit like if Dan Brown moaned about not being up for the Booker. Take what positives fate and one’s talents provide I say and stop moaning.
Well, I don't think I can make an argument for their artistic merit, but I think his paintings are pleasing ephemera. Another artist who was criticised in her time for producing schlocky paintings with no soul was Tamara De Limpicka - she is still criticised to this day, yet her work has survived, people enjoy it, and it serves as a representation of her times.
I rather think destroying Iran's ability to close the straits should have been number one on the agenda.
This is great news for oil producing countries - Putin's Russia included.
And yet another reason to get fracking.
And exploit our oil in the north sea
This is insane. The damage an oil shock will do to the UK economy is many multiples the potential gains to our domestic oil industry. That's the the case in the US, where oil production is about 30x times higher than it is here. We are not Russia or Saudi Arabia, even if we maxxed out development and production.
Thankfully, our domestic renewables are on fixed price contracts and are invulnerable to Iranian drone strikes . It's mad that we could live through a gas shock (Ukraine) and an oIl shock (Iran) and you'll still be banging on about fossil fuels.
It’s not ‘insane’ you just disagree.
More supply would help when there’s a constraint somewhere
To what extent? We produce about 0.7% of the world's oil. If we exploited every possible reserve, included future discoveries, we could increase our production by perhaps 10-15% in the next 10 years, relative to a steeply declining baseline. This would have infinitesimally small impact on world oil prices.
I disagree with the restriction of new developments but I disagree even more with the bampot idea that reversing that decision would have any material impact on our energy costs.
We should be maximising production from our existing wells, not leaving the oil in the ground.
LOL. The NSTA are a bunch of idiots (I know, I have to deal with them almost every day). No one suspends viable wells which are still capable of production if it is economic. But it is only economic if you can add additional production from new wells. It is called maintaining the plateau and it needs new wells to be drilled to compensate for falling production on existing wells so that the platform remains economic.
I am currently involved in shutting down two of the largest North Sea oil fields. Abandoning hundreds of millions of barrels of recoverable oil. We are doing that for two important reasons. Firstly because the Government has banned new drilling so that the plateau can not be maintained and secondly because they have insisted on the electrification of all North Sea platforms by 2030. So platforms will no longer be able to power themselves by burning the gas they produce as a by-product from their wells. Instead they will have to link themselves to the national grid and be powered by electriicty rather than gas turbines or diesel. As a result loads of fields are no longer economic and are shutting down.
That is the most f*****g ridiculous thing I have ever heard. This Government is a bad actor.
I rather think destroying Iran's ability to close the straits should have been number one on the agenda.
This is great news for oil producing countries - Putin's Russia included.
And yet another reason to get fracking.
And exploit our oil in the north sea
This is insane. The damage an oil shock will do to the UK economy is many multiples the potential gains to our domestic oil industry. That's the the case in the US, where oil production is about 30x times higher than it is here. We are not Russia or Saudi Arabia, even if we maxxed out development and production.
Thankfully, our domestic renewables are on fixed price contracts and are invulnerable to Iranian drone strikes . It's mad that we could live through a gas shock (Ukraine) and an oIl shock (Iran) and you'll still be banging on about fossil fuels.
It’s not ‘insane’ you just disagree.
More supply would help when there’s a constraint somewhere
Crank up the solar Crank up the wind turbines Crank up the tidal buoys Build another 5 electric hydro mountain like Llanberis
Renewable Renewable Renewable
Ed knows!
It's not either/or. People are going to be needing oil for at least the next 50-100 years, not maxing out the North Sea but instead paying the Russians/Iranians/Saudis etc for oil we could help ourselves to is completely barmy.
The North Sea won't have any significant effect on the oil price, but that doesn't matter - the point of drilling for our oil is that HMG will get lots of lovely oil revenue, and the oil companies will create lots of well paid jobs in places like Aberdeen, both of which would do our economic situation a world of good.
Also, you do realise that building 5 more Dinorwic's will be 30 years and several billion just for the planning process?
It would actually be cheaper to build a couple of battery factories and make 5 more Dinoric's out of batteries. The numbers crossed over some years ago.
In addition, you wouldn't site them all in one place. And you don't need a decade long planning enquiry for a few shipping containers of batteries - the Greens got very upset, IIRC, because the previous Conservative government put in an exception for power storage projects below 30 MWh - they aren't considered a power station. That would be about 10 ISO containers.
It's quite extraordinary how upset people get about batteries. They can be hidden away quite easily - it's not like chucking lots of pylons up, or turbines, or a nuclear power station.
I agree. Though I think much of the concern comes from the fire hazard.
Mind you I am probably in the minority as I think we should have a far more dispersed power generation system with mini nukes on the outskirts of every town. Pretty sure I am never going to get majority support for that one.
It's faked up facebook version of concern about fire risk.
I think a good part of it comes from the idea that it's something that they can't control. The Green councillors who are prodding away at the chap I know, who is solar farming, seem really frightened by his idea to supply 'leecy direct to the small business centre (re-purposed stable block) he runs.
Comments
Apparently the Iranians have more munitions than the US has missiles to shoot them down with...
@slukemorgan.bsky.social
Incredible. Kalshi is not paying out "Khamenei out of power by [date]" contracts because he died.
https://bsky.app/profile/slukemorgan.bsky.social/post/3mfyzrihup22u
You dont need more Dinorwics (1,800 MW each ) - you need a distributed network of BESS sites - more network resilience and security that way.
Edits:
(or should be)
And Shipley - 'The sort of girl sailors find attractive'
The IRA bombed one about a mile from where I was brought up. Made a hole and the gas escaped.
https://x.com/clashreport/status/2028114624621474005
Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi:
What happened in Oman was not our choice.
We have already told our Armed Forces to be careful about the targets they choose.
Our military units are now, in fact, independent and somewhat isolated, and they are acting based on general instructions given to them in advance.
@nfergus
But Operation Epic Fury differs from Operation Iraqi Freedom. The goal is not to march into Iran and confer, much less impose, freedom on the Iranians. It is to decapitate the Islamic Republic’s political structure and leave the Iranians to take their freedom. 4/9
https://x.com/nfergus/status/2028133962330030451
There was talk of there being a data centre next to it but I doubt that part will ever happen.
Said yes, actually, and had a good conversation with him about the state of the roads and a speed bump near by in particular that is problematic.
There is about a dozen speed bumps between our house and the main road, and all but one of them are ok. One is like driving into a brick wall when you hit it, even at low speeds.
This almost sounds like admission of a regime split, or a coded attempt to place himself on the more conciliatory side of it. He also seemed to be dropping hints like this last year, too. A complex situation at the moment.
NEW THREAD
An anti-car individual would never get elected in my slice of suburbia.
Do you have a whereabouts?
Ta.