He's going to back down again, in the way he always does when he ramps up the rhetoric to hysterical levels. But the rhetoric is enough. This man is in charge of the world's largest nuclear arsenal, and he's clearly mentally unstable. What are US lawmakers actually waiting for.
That feeling of defeat when you read the news at lunch and find it impossible to concentrate on work afterwards. I don’t like handing away my attention for free, especially to people who operate with no wisdom, respect or dignity.
And yet you’re a PB regular?
Was a regular. I think this is my fourth post of the year. Politics is far too mad these days to healthily engage with. Was seduced in a moment of weakness by today’s events. It’s difficult.
At this point my loathing for all those Americans who voted for Trump is off the scale .
Your focus is wrong imo. It ought to be on the awfulness of the Iranian regime.
They're not the ones threatening to end a whole Civilisation!
Purely in a fit of pique when they won’t accede to his demands after he, and Bart’s lot, attacked them during a negotiation which was, according to the Omanis, going well.
Why wouldn’t the Iranians not want a Nuke after this ?
If they had one and the means to deliver this wouldn’t even be an issue.
How many nuclear powers are there already?
The five with vetos on the security council - US, Russia, Britain, France, China. The four we know, or think we know, about - North Korea, India, Pakistan, Israel. So that's nine in total.
Assuming the US/Israel fail to topple the Iranian regime and/or secure their enriched uranium, we can assume that Iran will then do so, followed by Saudi Arabia (+2).
Widely assumed that Taiwan, South Korea and Japan are on the brink and would go nuclear if the US stops being seen as a reliable ally (+3).
Any others?
Ukraine needs to be given back the one they gave up.
Putin is desparate that Ukraine lose control over all nuclear power plants in Ukraine.
Among other things, it turns out that experiments on making military grade plutonium were done at most of them. The resulting spent fuel went into the cooling ponds.
After 40 years that will be not too bad to reprocess….
Looks like the UK won't be too affected then, has lower imports of oil from the Gulf region than the US as well as Asia
Tankers are turning round. Now.
Which means that deliveries from other sources will start failing to come here.
Who has the most money, out of the U.K. and China?
Who has the most “pull”?
We should drill more in the North Sea again though
That isn't going to help much in the next few months and in the longer term irrelevant in terms of supply.
I am supportive of continued exploration and extraction in the North Sea as a form of import substitution, but the real need is renewables.
I would doubt you could get from lease to an exploration rig onsite in six months.
The North Sea from this point is about not throwing away tax yield in the medium/long term.
It's not even about tax yield, which is predicted to diminish to almost nothing in the next five years. Further exploration at tax-rebated rates won't change that significantly.
From what I can see five moderately useful reasons to open new oil fields:
1. Maintains an asset that would otherwise permanently disappear 2. Provides the UK with an exportable product 3. Continues employment 4. A degree of energy security 5. North Sea oil is extracted to higher environmental standards than elsewhere.
But if renewables and electrification weren't the absolute focus before, they should be now.
Why would failing to open new oil fields make them permanently disappear?
I get that it would be more difficult and expensive to open them in the future due to the need to rebuild expertise and retool, but they'll still be there. The oil's not going to evaporate or seep away. On the contrary, exploiting them is what will make them permanently disappear, and then we'll be completely dependent on foreign sources.
I'd have thought the best approach would be to carefully eke out our remaining resources, maintaining the minimum flow needed for technical reasons and to maintain expertise. That way we'll still have some left when we really need it in the future for applications that are difficult to replace with alternatives.
That requires planning - rather than rabid exploitation for maximum profit NOW, or closure.
Try Norway !
It seems absolutely crazy to me that in the face of accelerating global warming due to burning hydrocarbons and increasing scarcity of said hydrocarbons - which are essential inputs to a variety of industrial processes - the first reaction of so many to increasing prices is, "let's burn our remaining hydrocarbons as quickly as possible." Utter insanity.
The insanity is to be buying in hydrocarbons at an increased cost and with increased pollution and then claiming we are doing anything to help the environment rather than the reality which is that we are making it worse.
Deal with demand. Supply will then deal with itself. But don't pretend you are doing something good when actually you are polluting more and paying more for the privilege.
The notion that we can wean ourselves away from fossil fuels solely by dealing with demand seems naive to me. Demand is of course a function, though price, of supply, and it is extremely difficult to reduce demand without also reducing supply. As soon as the price of energy falls, more uses of energy become economical, energy use increases, and you're back to square one. It is notable, for example, that the recent large expansion in renewable energy supplies has had a negligible effect on the price and consumption of oil and gas.
Fossil fuels will not be priced out of the market anytime soon, and certainly not soon enough to avert environmental disaster. Those claiming otherwise are simply making excuses to continue with business as usual and damn the consequences.
I think you have a very strange understanding of human nature and of economics. As wwell as of the world oil economy.
With the exception of incidents like the current Middle East crisis - which are certainly not the norm - the rest of the world has been, is and will continue to be finding, producing and consuming vast amounts of hydrocarbons for as long as the demand is there. Such is the level of exploration and production that nothing we can do in this country, short of banning imports of hydrocarbons, is going to change the supply/demand relationship. We will continue to consume hydrocarbons until a cheaper, better and more reliable source comes along. If we refuse to feed that from our own reserves then it will be imported.
LNG is costing us £2 billion a year more than home produced gas. Gas from Norway is costing us £1.5 billion more than home produced gas. Transporting LNG from the US or Middle East is also far more polluting than home grown gas.
So you are supporting a policy that makes our energy substantially more expensive and which additionally is more polluting. It is lunacy.
Several of the petol stations on the A1 have been out of deisel since last Thursday but I suspect that is buying combined with the Easter weekend.
Most of the petrol stations in Dundee have been out of petrol over the weekend. Diesel a little more available. At the moment I think this is mainly panic buying but real shortages are not far away.
Gorgeous down here on the Wight today, and pleased to be here in our EV. Glad that I am not planning to fly anywhere until October. It is a good year for a domestic holiday.
Unfortunately, from our point of view, its about the third or fourth "good" year for a domestic holiday in a row and we really wanted a change. I think its fair to say that the election of Trump by the US has proven to be somewhat suboptimal.
We really should have had through routes to Scotland and the North on Eurostar by now, but our politicians have no vision.
HS2 doesn't even go to Leeds. Pretty sure Scotland has 'Here there be dragons' on the mental map of Westminster.
From where I'm sitting (on a Shinkansen travelling at 262kmh) our failure to build HS2 beyond Birmingham looks frankly ridiculous.
True. Though it's taken Japan 60 years and they're still not finished. And there have been plenty of problems. For example:
AIUI, the Shinkansen works because it's entirely separate to the regular rail network, a choice that had to be made because the gauge for the regular rail network was unsuitable for faster trains? Lots of money was spent on the infrastructure, but it was spent decades ago and Japan has been reaping the benefits since. There has been some tendency for local politicians to call for a Shinkansen line to their local area and not all of these have been commercially viable.
Still, whatever the reason, the Shinkansen is quicker, cheaper, more reliable, pleasanter, and more frequent than our trains. It is a delight. It's outcompeted short haul flights.
Some of the busiest flight routes in the world are Japanese domestic:
Can we note anything about these routes? Yes. They are all between different islands. Naha is in Okinawa. You can't build a train line there. Sapporo is on Hokkaido. The Shinkansen does now reach the bottom of Hokkaido, but there's no line to Sapporo (although one is being built). Fukuoka is the only one of those that is on the Shinkansen and that is one of the longest journeys.
So, Fukouka isn't outcompeted? At 4h45. And Sapporo won't be when it's reached. Ok.
(Slightly) more people go by train from Tokyo to Fukuoka/Hakata than fly. (You could note that more people also go by train from London to Edinburgh than fly, although that's only half the distance.)
The Japanese fly domestically a lot less than the US or Canada, although they do fly more than us in the UK.
The issue isn't distance, of course, but time and price. 4.15- 5 hours by train LKX to Edinburgh Waverley, 1 hour 20 minutes LHR-Edinburgh Airport. City centre to city centre its about an hour quicker by plane, but the planes leave earlier and come back later. As for price... planes are often cheaper, especially if booked well in advance.
I would never fly London-Edinburgh, unless I was connecting from another flight into London. Taking into account security and arriving early at the airport I don't really see how it's quicker, and the train in so much more pleasant. Since trips to Scotland are normally going home to Fife not Auld Reekie the train is a no brainer.
I've done London to Edinburgh by plane because the earliest arrival into London was earlier and the latest departure from London was later.
I've taken the train many more times, but the timetabling doesn't really help the train option at times.
It also depends where in London you are going from or to: if I'm starting in Ealing, I might as well go to Heathrow. Ok the other hand, if I'm Central, then no way am heading out to Heathrow without good reason.
A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!
I think we're overlooking the true victim here.
Donald J Trump. Forced to kill an entire civilization, even though he doesn't want that to happen.
Trump will TACO. He'll announce the Iranians have accepted his proposed peace deal and the war will now stop to allow this to be implemented. Iran says "what deal" and Trump posts this as proof he has won.
Not only is it 90% renewables, but the UK is (a) filling pumped storage, and (b) exporting electricity. We're slightly over 100% for wind+solar+nuclear, and a sub £50 spot electricity price is nothing to cry about either.
Farage is okay with UK bases allowing US planes to bomb Iranian infrastructure as long as Trump explains the end game!
Of course Farage would accept any old crap and give the go ahead !
..Endgame is an absurdist, tragicomic one-act play by the Irish playwright Samuel Beckett. First performed in London in 1957, it is about a blind, paralysed, domineering elderly man, his geriatric parents, and his servile companion in an abandoned house in a fictional post-apocalyptic wasteland, all of whom await an unspecified "end". Much of the play's content consists of terse, back and forth dialogue between the characters reminiscent of bantering, along with trivial stage actions...
Trump will TACO. He'll announce the Iranians have accepted his proposed peace deal and the war will now stop to allow this to be implemented. Iran says "what deal" and Trump posts this as proof he has won.
Or. he's Hitler and Stalin combined.
I’m ready to buy some shares and funds in the next few days.
At this point my loathing for all those Americans who voted for Trump is off the scale .
Your focus is wrong imo. It ought to be on the awfulness of the Iranian regime.
They're not the ones threatening to end a whole Civilisation!
Purely in a fit of pique when they won’t accede to his demands after he, and Bart’s lot, attacked them during a negotiation which was, according to the Omanis, going well.
Why wouldn’t the Iranians not want a Nuke after this ?
If they had one and the means to deliver this wouldn’t even be an issue.
How many nuclear powers are there already?
The five with vetos on the security council - US, Russia, Britain, France, China. The four we know, or think we know, about - North Korea, India, Pakistan, Israel. So that's nine in total.
Assuming the US/Israel fail to topple the Iranian regime and/or secure their enriched uranium, we can assume that Iran will then do so, followed by Saudi Arabia (+2).
Widely assumed that Taiwan, South Korea and Japan are on the brink and would go nuclear if the US stops being seen as a reliable ally (+3).
Any others?
South Africa had them but claims to have destroyed them all in 1991. Depends on whether you believe that to be the case or not.
BERMAN: The president is threatening a whole civilization will die tonight. You say he doesn't want to do it. Does being reluctant to end a civilization make it ok?
Trump will TACO. He'll announce the Iranians have accepted his proposed peace deal and the war will now stop to allow this to be implemented. Iran says "what deal" and Trump posts this as proof he has won.
Or. he's Hitler and Stalin combined.
I imagine his models are steppe conquerors, like Timur and Genghis Khan.
Farage is okay with UK bases allowing US planes to bomb Iranian infrastructure as long as Trump explains the end game!
Of course Farage would accept any old crap and give the go ahead !
The traitor party are a cancer on the UK .
I’ve seriously thought about supporting Reform.
IDGAF if people here think less of me for it either.
However their support for this insanity means I wouldn’t vote for them, or consider it.
I don't see that as a solid enough reason to abandon him. I would be really interested to know what you found so compelling about Farage or his Party that could have tempted you towards him and might have persuaded you to vote for him otherwise. I listened to Liam Burns new study on what makes a Reform voter and it's not really a box I'd have put you in.
Problem with that: Vance, as you will see from his nauseating performance in Hungary. Anti-Ukraine, anti-Europe, and, essentially, a fascist. Not a lunatic a la Trump, but extremely dangerous.
Not only is it 90% renewables, but the UK is (a) filling pumped storage, and (b) exporting electricity. We're slightly over 100% for wind+solar+nuclear, and a sub £50 spot electricity price is nothing to cry about either.
It is genuinely baffling to me that Reform are so anti renewables.
Not only is it 90% renewables, but the UK is (a) filling pumped storage, and (b) exporting electricity. We're slightly over 100% for wind+solar+nuclear, and a sub £50 spot electricity price is nothing to cry about either.
It is genuinely baffling to me that Reform are so anti renewables.
Not only is it 90% renewables, but the UK is (a) filling pumped storage, and (b) exporting electricity. We're slightly over 100% for wind+solar+nuclear, and a sub £50 spot electricity price is nothing to cry about either.
It is genuinely baffling to me that Reform are so anti renewables.
Not only is it 90% renewables, but the UK is (a) filling pumped storage, and (b) exporting electricity. We're slightly over 100% for wind+solar+nuclear, and a sub £50 spot electricity price is nothing to cry about either.
It is genuinely baffling to me that Reform are so anti renewables.
It would make us entirely beholden to Russia and America. Even more than we are. Thus makes complete sense.
Problem with that: Vance, as you will see from his nauseating performance in Hungary. Anti-Ukraine, anti-Europe, and, essentially, a fascist. Not a lunatic a la Trump, but extremely dangerous.
The sickness at the heart of the US and Hungary and Russia is their leaders think they are on a Christian crusade
Not only is it 90% renewables, but the UK is (a) filling pumped storage, and (b) exporting electricity. We're slightly over 100% for wind+solar+nuclear, and a sub £50 spot electricity price is nothing to cry about either.
It is genuinely baffling to me that Reform are so anti renewables.
On the other hand it’s genuinely baffling to me we have the highest electricity prices in Europe
Not only is it 90% renewables, but the UK is (a) filling pumped storage, and (b) exporting electricity. We're slightly over 100% for wind+solar+nuclear, and a sub £50 spot electricity price is nothing to cry about either.
It is genuinely baffling to me that Reform are so anti renewables.
On the other hand it’s genuinely baffling to me we have the highest electricity prices in Europe
Not if you remember it’s always shareholders first and consumers last.
Farage is okay with UK bases allowing US planes to bomb Iranian infrastructure as long as Trump explains the end game!
Of course Farage would accept any old crap and give the go ahead !
The traitor party are a cancer on the UK .
I’ve seriously thought about supporting Reform.
IDGAF if people here think less of me for it either.
However their support for this insanity means I wouldn’t vote for them, or consider it.
I don't see that as a solid enough reason to abandon him. I would be really interested to know what you found so compelling about Farage or his Party that could have tempted you towards him and might have persuaded you to vote for him otherwise. I listened to Liam Burns new study on what makes a Reform voter and it's not really a box I'd have put you in.
I’ve never voted for them. I did vote for an Indy councillor who defected to Reform. I was a little disappointed with him.
What has put me off Reform is a few things. Ex Tories like Suella who I really don’t like, Farage opposing praying in public. Who cares. It’s a civil liberties issue. Farage supporting Trump. Farage supporting the Triple lock.
Why I’d consider them. Like Brexit, a cry for help. Rochdale gets this. Former working class communities like mine are in decline and have been for years. The Labour Party did little for us as we always voted for them. The Tories did little for us for the same reason. The Lib Dem’s, in spite of being really strong locally in parts of Durham never broke through.
People in the south just telling the voters they are wrong goes in one ear and out the other.
So go NOTA to get some attention from the main parties and some investment. Look at how little is spent per head on transport in the North East compared to London.
Locally I’d vote Green for the same NOTA reason. I wouldn’t vote Paul Sexton as since he’s become Reform he’s become a bit of a dick. Doesn’t even say good morning anymore when I see him when I’m out for a run.
Not only is it 90% renewables, but the UK is (a) filling pumped storage, and (b) exporting electricity. We're slightly over 100% for wind+solar+nuclear, and a sub £50 spot electricity price is nothing to cry about either.
It is genuinely baffling to me that Reform are so anti renewables.
Not only is it 90% renewables, but the UK is (a) filling pumped storage, and (b) exporting electricity. We're slightly over 100% for wind+solar+nuclear, and a sub £50 spot electricity price is nothing to cry about either.
+ massive curtailment in Scotland, according to the Robin Hawkes map. Across just Seagreen and Moray West we’re losing 1.5GW. Infuriating.
Not only is it 90% renewables, but the UK is (a) filling pumped storage, and (b) exporting electricity. We're slightly over 100% for wind+solar+nuclear, and a sub £50 spot electricity price is nothing to cry about either.
It is genuinely baffling to me that Reform are so anti renewables.
Why? They want the 1950s back.
8x as much cycling as there is now. Got my vote.
I'd love to be able to cycle as much as I did in the '50's. Or even to be able to cycle at all!
"I hope they make the right response," says @VP on Iran.
"They've got to know, we've got tools in our toolkit that we so far haven't decided to use. @POTUS can decide to use them, and he will decide to use them if the Iranians don't change their course of conduct."
They all sound unhinged. I'm surprised neither Starmer nor Badenoch has used this opportunity to say as stridently as possible what 90% of the World believes
Yet another blow to free speech with Labour banning a rapper from the country for saying a few nasty words
Does anyone actually think Kanye West is a threat to this country ?
No wonder Labour has sunk to 4th place
I don't think he is a threat to the country as a whole but I do think he's a massive threat to the a significant proportion of the residents of Stamford Hill, which is about a mile and a half from where he was supposed to be playing.
Not only is it 90% renewables, but the UK is (a) filling pumped storage, and (b) exporting electricity. We're slightly over 100% for wind+solar+nuclear, and a sub £50 spot electricity price is nothing to cry about either.
It is genuinely baffling to me that Reform are so anti renewables.
Why? They want the 1950s back.
8x as much cycling as there is now. Got my vote.
I'd love to be able to cycle as much as I did in the '50's. Or even to be able to cycle at all!
Yet another blow to free speech with Labour banning a rapper from the country for saying a few nasty words
Does anyone actually think Kanye West is a threat to this country ?
No wonder Labour has sunk to 4th place
Actually I do think he's a threat. At least to some citizens of this country, whose parents snd grandparents turned out to defend this country.
I also think he's an idiot, and so is his manager, who should have known a damn' sight better.
More the promoter, who's now had to cancel the whole festival because they'd booked one headliner to fill all 3 days and had sponsors pulling out en masse.
If we now assume that Trump is going to drop a nuke or two, the question is: how many to get the Iranians to surrender and end the war?
One or tactical ones might be enough, quite possibly it will terrify Iran into submission. Alternatively, Trump may have to prove he's got the cullions to take out at least one big city, so the Iranians know they face potential apocaylpse. That would do it
Farage is okay with UK bases allowing US planes to bomb Iranian infrastructure as long as Trump explains the end game!
Of course Farage would accept any old crap and give the go ahead !
The traitor party are a cancer on the UK .
I’ve seriously thought about supporting Reform.
IDGAF if people here think less of me for it either.
However their support for this insanity means I wouldn’t vote for them, or consider it.
I don't see that as a solid enough reason to abandon him. I would be really interested to know what you found so compelling about Farage or his Party that could have tempted you towards him and might have persuaded you to vote for him otherwise. I listened to Liam Burns new study on what makes a Reform voter and it's not really a box I'd have put you in.
I’ve never voted for them. I did vote for an Indy councillor who defected to Reform. I was a little disappointed with him.
What has put me off Reform is a few things. Ex Tories like Suella who I really don’t like, Farage opposing praying in public. Who cares. It’s a civil liberties issue. Farage supporting Trump. Farage supporting the Triple lock.
Why I’d consider them. Like Brexit, a cry for help. Rochdale gets this. Former working class communities like mine are in decline and have been for years. The Labour Party did little for us as we always voted for them. The Tories did little for us for the same reason. The Lib Dem’s, in spite of being really strong locally in parts of Durham never broke through.
People in the south just telling the voters they are wrong goes in one ear and out the other.
So go NOTA to get some attention from the main parties and some investment. Look at how little is spent per head on transport in the North East compared to London.
Locally I’d vote Green for the same NOTA reason. I wouldn’t vote Paul Sexton as since he’s become Reform he’s become a bit of a dick. Doesn’t even say good morning anymore when I see him when I’m out for a run.
Very similar to my view although I would not support the Greens. I voted for and am still happy with Brexit but won't vote Reform for most of the reasons you mention plus immigration. Same goes for any of the Reform splinter groups.
Farage is okay with UK bases allowing US planes to bomb Iranian infrastructure as long as Trump explains the end game!
Of course Farage would accept any old crap and give the go ahead !
The traitor party are a cancer on the UK .
I’ve seriously thought about supporting Reform.
IDGAF if people here think less of me for it either.
However their support for this insanity means I wouldn’t vote for them, or consider it.
I don't see that as a solid enough reason to abandon him. I would be really interested to know what you found so compelling about Farage or his Party that could have tempted you towards him and might have persuaded you to vote for him otherwise. I listened to Liam Burns new study on what makes a Reform voter and it's not really a box I'd have put you in.
I’ve never voted for them. I did vote for an Indy councillor who defected to Reform. I was a little disappointed with him.
What has put me off Reform is a few things. Ex Tories like Suella who I really don’t like, Farage opposing praying in public. Who cares. It’s a civil liberties issue. Farage supporting Trump. Farage supporting the Triple lock.
Why I’d consider them. Like Brexit, a cry for help. Rochdale gets this. Former working class communities like mine are in decline and have been for years. The Labour Party did little for us as we always voted for them. The Tories did little for us for the same reason. The Lib Dem’s, in spite of being really strong locally in parts of Durham never broke through.
People in the south just telling the voters they are wrong goes in one ear and out the other.
So go NOTA to get some attention from the main parties and some investment. Look at how little is spent per head on transport in the North East compared to London.
Locally I’d vote Green for the same NOTA reason. I wouldn’t vote Paul Sexton as since he’s become Reform he’s become a bit of a dick. Doesn’t even say good morning anymore when I see him when I’m out for a run.
Very similar to my view although I would not support the Greens. I voted for and am still happy with Brexit but won't vote Reform for most of the reasons you mention plus immigration. Same goes for any of the Reform splinter groups.
I’d support the greens locally, possibly, general election I probably won’t vote.
Yet another blow to free speech with Labour banning a rapper from the country for saying a few nasty words
Does anyone actually think Kanye West is a threat to this country ?
No wonder Labour has sunk to 4th place
I don't think he is a threat to the country as a whole but I do think he's a massive threat to the a significant proportion of the residents of Stamford Hill, which is about a mile and a half from where he was supposed to be playing.
Ok so you agree with me about the ban and should be let into the country then ?
There’s groups everywhere by the nature of central London… no one is doing any thing on the politics of thr artist behind gold digger lol
Yet another blow to free speech with Labour banning a rapper from the country for saying a few nasty words
Does anyone actually think Kanye West is a threat to this country ?
No wonder Labour has sunk to 4th place
I don't think he is a threat to the country as a whole but I do think he's a massive threat to the a significant proportion of the residents of Stamford Hill, which is about a mile and a half from where he was supposed to be playing.
Ok so you agree with me about the ban and should be let into the country then ?
There’s groups everywhere by the nature of central London… no one is doing any thing on the politics of thr artist behind gold digger lol
The Nazis, by the way, attacked a whole range of minorities. Not just Jews.
Yet another blow to free speech with Labour banning a rapper from the country for saying a few nasty words
Does anyone actually think Kanye West is a threat to this country ?
No wonder Labour has sunk to 4th place
I don't think he is a threat to the country as a whole but I do think he's a massive threat to the a significant proportion of the residents of Stamford Hill, which is about a mile and a half from where he was supposed to be playing.
Ok so you agree with me about the ban and should be let into the country then ?
There’s groups everywhere by the nature of central London… no one is doing any thing on the politics of thr artist behind gold digger lol
The Nazis, by the way, attacked a whole range of minorities. Not just Jews.
It is amusing to think that Kanye would have been considered sub-human by the very people he is lauding.
Yet another blow to free speech with Labour banning a rapper from the country for saying a few nasty words
Does anyone actually think Kanye West is a threat to this country ?
No wonder Labour has sunk to 4th place
You're cool with him selling swastika merch?
Ther are lots of things I don”t like that shoudnt be banned. That’s free speech
I take it you think swastikas should be in britain then ?
Freedom of speech isn't a yes/no - it's a matter of degree. At one extreme any sentiment unsanctioned by the Authorities is prohibited. At the other you can spew out the grossest libel, the most vile abuse, the most bloodcurdling call to arms, and it’s just words so you’re fine. Every society lies between these points. We are far closer to the second. Close to it but not there. Which is the place to be.
Interesting that they expect US/Israeli authorities to be more concerned about Iranian people than the Iranian authorities are. I hope their hope is justified.
Not only is it 90% renewables, but the UK is (a) filling pumped storage, and (b) exporting electricity. We're slightly over 100% for wind+solar+nuclear, and a sub £50 spot electricity price is nothing to cry about either.
It is genuinely baffling to me that Reform are so anti renewables.
The problem is a simple one: if you were an ordinary, unbiased observer looking at the cost of new electricity production in 2006 (during the first renewable energy boom), then then you would have seen solar at GBP250/MWh (at least), and wind at GBP75/MWh, and baseload prices for electricity were GBP30. Now, sure, energy prices were skyrocketing due to the US energy boom not really having started yet, and China's (and other emerging markets) industrialisation was sucking up energy at quite a pace.
But unless you were *really* worried about global warming, then renewables didn't make a lot of sense.
Since then, the price of solar has absolutely collapsed - panels are down at least 90%, and now the biggest cost with getting them installed is labour. But unless you've updated your mental model, you will still think that solar is massively more expensive than other forms of energy generation.
Interesting that they expect US/Israeli authorities to be more concerned about Iranian people than the Iranian authorities are. I hope their hope is justified.
Comments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU3fEQ5khUs
@DPJHodges
He's going to back down again, in the way he always does when he ramps up the rhetoric to hysterical levels. But the rhetoric is enough. This man is in charge of the world's largest nuclear arsenal, and he's clearly mentally unstable. What are US lawmakers actually waiting for.
https://x.com/DPJHodges/status/2041515856438468704
Did anyone grab an image?
Among other things, it turns out that experiments on making military grade plutonium were done at most of them. The resulting spent fuel went into the cooling ponds.
After 40 years that will be not too bad to reprocess….
With the exception of incidents like the current Middle East crisis - which are certainly not the norm - the rest of the world has been, is and will continue to be finding, producing and consuming vast amounts of hydrocarbons for as long as the demand is there. Such is the level of exploration and production that nothing we can do in this country, short of banning imports of hydrocarbons, is going to change the supply/demand relationship. We will continue to consume hydrocarbons until a cheaper, better and more reliable source comes along. If we refuse to feed that from our own reserves then it will be imported.
LNG is costing us £2 billion a year more than home produced gas. Gas from Norway is costing us £1.5 billion more than home produced gas. Transporting LNG from the US or Middle East is also far more polluting than home grown gas.
So you are supporting a policy that makes our energy substantially more expensive and which additionally is more polluting. It is lunacy.
From meidasplus.com
Ron Filipkowski
@RonFilipkowski
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9m
Trump is taking a somewhat unique approach in his quest for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize.
https://grid.iamkate.com/
Of course Farage would accept any old crap and give the go ahead !
The traitor party are a cancer on the UK .
Donald J Trump. Forced to kill an entire civilization, even though he doesn't want that to happen.
Oxford, right?
Or. he's Hitler and Stalin combined.
IDGAF if people here think less of me for it either.
However their support for this insanity means I wouldn’t vote for them, or consider it.
Fairly prescient.
https://www.politico.eu/article/us-jd-vance-slams-eu-brussels-bureaucrats-meddling-hungary-before-election/
https://x.com/keir_starmer/status/2041515702855643347
Kanye West should never have been invited to headline Wireless.
This government stands firmly with the Jewish community, and we will not stop in our fight to confront and defeat the poison of antisemitism.
We will always take the action necessary to protect the public and uphold our values.
She doesn't seem to realize her iPhone has a built in flash.
That’s how I know it.
LAWLER: I don't think we're talking about ending a civilization--
https://x.com/atrupar/status/2041511522032136684
Many a prayer will be said for all the innocents slaughtered by deranged mad men
Where will this end ?
Anti-Ukraine, anti-Europe, and, essentially, a fascist.
Not a lunatic a la Trump, but extremely dangerous.
https://www.desmog.com/2024/06/04/nigel-farage-reform-uk-party-2-3-million-fossil-fuel-interests-climate-deniers-polluters-since-2019-election/
But Farage got this war completely wrong and that says a lot for his judgment.
Thus makes complete sense.
They are nothing more than blasphemous heathens
What has put me off Reform is a few things. Ex Tories like Suella who I really don’t like, Farage opposing praying in public. Who cares. It’s a civil liberties issue. Farage supporting Trump. Farage supporting the Triple lock.
Why I’d consider them. Like Brexit, a cry for help. Rochdale gets this. Former working class communities like mine are in decline and have been for years. The Labour Party did little for us as we always voted for them. The Tories did little for us for the same reason. The Lib Dem’s, in spite of being really strong locally in parts of Durham never broke through.
People in the south just telling the voters they are wrong goes in one ear and out the other.
So go NOTA to get some attention from the main parties and some investment. Look at how little is spent per head on transport in the North East compared to London.
Locally I’d vote Green for the same NOTA reason. I wouldn’t vote Paul Sexton as since he’s become Reform he’s become a bit of a dick. Doesn’t even say good morning anymore when I see him when I’m out for a run.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/articles/cn7866klrp2o
(Sunny with a chance of mushroom clouds.)
Does anyone actually think Kanye West is a threat to this country ?
No wonder Labour has sunk to 4th place
But strontium showers will be here and there
I also think he's an idiot, and so is his manager, who should have known a damn' sight better.
‘ Iranians form human shield at Kazeroun power plant ahead of Trump’s threatened strikes.’
They’ve never given a toss about civilians before
https://x.com/osint613/status/2041522032639103394?s=61
http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/
Choose wisley.
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/5818072-trump-vs-party-affiliation/
One or tactical ones might be enough, quite possibly it will terrify Iran into submission. Alternatively, Trump may have to prove he's got the cullions to take out at least one big city, so the Iranians know they face potential apocaylpse. That would do it
I take it you think swastikas should be in britain then ?
https://x.com/aryjeay/status/2041469958861840538?s=46&t=fJymV-V84rexmlQMLXHHJQ
There’s groups everywhere by the nature of central London… no one is doing any thing on the politics of thr artist behind gold digger lol
NEW THREAD
Only a bit of PR I suppose but nice to see that the Chairman of Iceland has offered a job to the bloke sacked by Waitrose for tackling a shoplifter.
But unless you were *really* worried about global warming, then renewables didn't make a lot of sense.
Since then, the price of solar has absolutely collapsed - panels are down at least 90%, and now the biggest cost with getting them installed is labour. But unless you've updated your mental model, you will still think that solar is massively more expensive than other forms of energy generation.