All the time we have a global system of national accounting for carbon dioxide production the UK will come out well from the numbers and China and India will come out badly. UK policy has driven a lot of heavy energy using industry out of our country to force us to rely on more imports. The imports from China mean more CO 2 produced in China and less in the UK. The UK has stopped most of its coal based electricity production and come to rely more on imported electricity. Given this is the approved system why don’t the green campaigners rejoice at the UK’s success in driving down its CO 2 output?
According to global figures China accounts for 30% of manmade CO 2 in the world and the UK under 1%. China’s increase in CO 2 output in a typical year exceeds total UK output for that year. These numbers do tell us a truth about CO 2 and should encourage the campaigners to pressurise China to do far more than she is doing. They could turn their attention to the Chinese Embassies if they do not fancy trying a protest in China itself. China and India do rely on coal much more than the advanced countries to generate their power. They are opening new coal power stations and mines.
One of the reasons many people who accept the climate change theory do not do more in their own lives to buy green products is their sense of futility given the way CO 2 worldwide continues to expand whatever action the UK government and consumers take. Despite all the COPs, law changes in advanced countries and the resolutions in world bodies world CO 2 output continues to expand as the tenth anniversary of the Paris Agreement draws near. So why do Green campaigners attack our own country instead of concentrating on the sources of so much CO 2 growth?
January 8, 2024
Good morning.
I very much agree. But as they say, if you really want to know what is going on behind all this, all you have to do is follow the money.
And as for those here that advocate our de-industrialisation ? I can only repeat the words, with some emphasis, of one Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov.
USEFUL IDIOTS !!
January 8, 2024
Very useful idiots. What are they going to do next when net zero makes not one iota of difference. They won’t be happy until our life span is back to 30 years and we live in caves. Not including the ruling elite of course.
January 8, 2024
+++
And historically, come the Revolution, arenât they the ones who are cut down first?
They know too much!
January 8, 2024
I believe the actual quote was “useful bourgeois idiots”.
Which puts the emphasis on a middle class type of person with enough money to have free time for largely uninformed politicking. Which sounds a good description of the kind of people involved in this.
And… why not just say “Lenin”?
January 9, 2024
That sounds like quite a good description of Lenin too!
January 8, 2024
Too many snouts in the trough at present for things to change.
January 8, 2024
@Mark B +1
Although Traitors would be a better word.
January 8, 2024
“There are” as Lenin very famously wrote,”decades where nothing happens;and there are weeks where decades happen.”
They are flying by-just watch them!It is said the old boy’s mummy has developed a smile!
It’s the hundredth anniversary of his death this month (21 January).
January 8, 2024
I donât really care about green campaigners.
Iâve got more time for the people that are destroying Sadiq Khanâs ULEZ cameras.
Reply ULEZ is a bad policy to be opposed by all legal means. Damaging public property is a crime.
January 8, 2024
Reply to reply
“One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws”. Martin Luther King Jr.
I can think of many other laws, especially relating to the scamdemic, where this quotation is appropriate. When a government refuses to act in the interests of the people, they must be opposed and when that government makes opposition impossible, then by any other means.
It will be interesting to see what happens in Germany today with the farmers protest.
January 8, 2024
Sir John,
As I recall, The 1968 Theft Act section 1 says… Theft is the dishonest appropriation of property belonging to another, with the intention to permanently deprive…. I would suggest that, Mayor Khan has been a tad dishonest when stating the reasons and aims for the ULEZ scheme.
January 8, 2024
To Reply….The legal means were denied people when Khan ran a shameful fraudulent consultation, and the councils who sought to appeal it were denied by the courts. What legal means are there when the law has been loaded against people?
January 8, 2024
ULEZ is the flagship of net-zero ….no one in this government or party is going to do anything
January 9, 2024
Correct. And it has no democratic mandate whatsoever. The electorate has never been given a choice about the Net Zero tyranny.
January 8, 2024
Reply to reply: and yet, when anti-oil protesters throw paint at buildings, sports equipment in public places etc, nothing is done.
What’s sauce for the goose etc. If they don’t start enforcing some kind of law and order soon, people will increasingly take the law into their own hands.
January 8, 2024
Well weâve seen a great deal of irreplaceable public property destroyed in recent years with very few reprisals.
And arenât there laws against spying on people, unlawfully detaining them and depriving them of their freedoms?
January 8, 2024
CRIME? A protest against restricting hard pressed workers being charged, and fined against driving on public roads they pay various taxes to maintain? What about all the protest marchers in recent years, paint spraying all sorts of things, blocking rightful passage of motorists and emergency services? Every single one should be considered for arrest, detention, court appearance, fine and/or prison.
January 8, 2024
Reply to reply.
Undoubtedly that is the right thing to say but when there is tyranny and no way of making legal representations what should people do? Lock down springs to mind when govt tyranny was rife evidence to substantiate it very low.
JR, tell us the double standards applied to post masters and MPs. In2008/09 over 300 MPs fiddled or were overpaid in expenses. That would require each MP Mai yep aiming their expense records sufficient for false accounting offence. Hundreds of post masters wrongly prosecuted, but only a token few MPs so outrageous in their claims given up to the police? Why? Some of these MPs ennobled, knighted and given public wards. Please explain to us laymen. All party leaders, one over paid for his wisteria bush being cut, another for kitchen utensils and the third for gardening. Allowed to pay ill gotten gains back! Post masters went to jail en mass.
What is alsoclear is the political establishment jobs for boys/girls given out to relatives or associates of politicians. PPE similar things happened as well. It strikes me all roads lead back to politicians.
Reply The few MPs who undertook false accounting or theft were rightly prosecuted. Most of the 300 were criticised for claiming items of spending they had incurred and properly accounted for which were legal under the rules, to be told retrospectively they should not have been approved.
January 8, 2024
British people demand that the British government do more to stop climate change because we can vote for our government, not for anyone elseâs. Telling us we should ask China to do more is irrelevant, we have no vote or say in China. Your post is really an appeal to do nothing. You should be honest, instead of trying to distract our attention from the urgent need for every country to do what it can
January 8, 2024
@ Karel – given the British government cannot stop climate change an appeal to do nothing might have some justification, if only to spare us from the hooliganism of Just Stop Oil and the like.
January 8, 2024
@Karel. British people had no vote in the USA or South Africa yet they demonstrated in the past against the Viet Nam war and against apartheid. World opinion did make a difference then and it might still now. Except that, outside the developed world, the net zero agenda is widely seen as a Western ploy to hold back the economic development of poorer nations. Climate activists pressure the British government to ‘stop climate change’ because British politicians’ guilt complex means their activism tends to work.
January 8, 2024
We are not be able to vote for Chinese politicians and neither are the Chinese people.
I am sure you will support not buying Chinese goods and services to reduce the amount of products and services created using polluting industry.
January 8, 2024
No the post is just highlighting that our efforts merely impoverish us while other countries pick up the slack. Campaigners protest other happenings in far off countries why not carbon?
January 8, 2024
So why do UK people go out marching for Israel to stop attacking Gaza? (as a topical current example, there will be loads more). Plenty of protests in the UK try to change the policies of other countries.
January 8, 2024
Given we are a country that relies on the burning of fossil fuels for winter warmth, one thing we can contribute is the refusal to accept immigrants from warm countries.
January 8, 2024
@Karel
I’m not sure that that the majority of “British people demand that the British government do more to stop climate change ….”
It seems to me that whether or not there is a CO2 problem depends on which expert I listen to.
Many people consider it surprising and perhaps disappointing that the current Government has inflicted the high costs of Net Zero on us without adequately explaining to us the reasons why certain experts are right whilst others are wrong.
January 8, 2024
You delude yourself if you think it is the Government who can wave their magic wand to ease your climate conscience. For climate fanatics it now comes down to you the eschew all forms of carbon consumption. Have you torn out your boiler? Have you ditched your car? Sorry EVs are not carbon neutral. Have you removed all plastics etc from your life? In fact if you care about the climate to such an extent you shouldn’t be on this website, for date storage has a bigger carbon foot print than the airline industry, so have you deleted all your data stored in the Cloud? Essentially if you care about the environment to such an extent I presume you are moving to live in a pre industrial society . I am sure you will find lots of ways to cook turnips , for imported food is out .
Fact is our carbon contribution is an irrelevance and you can have us sacrifice ourselves on the alter of your Net Zero god and it won’t matter one little bit .
PS I presume you are opposed to mass immigration, for that is pretty bad for any climate goals as more people means more consumption.
January 8, 2024
Developing China into the worldâs factory pays its workers to become heavy consumers.
Much of our money would be spent better buying locally from UK sources and consuming less.
January 8, 2024
@Karel But, why should the UK Citizen be forced by Conservative Government decree to buy from the Worlds largest polluters. That is the question, it doesn’t matter what the other 90% of the World is doing, it is what our Conservative Government is doing – they are forcing if there is a problem or proof of it as a problem more Pollution on the World. That make them out to be the hypocrites the destroyers of the UK.
January 8, 2024
I think you are rather missing the point.
January 8, 2024
As an English person, I call on all ‘British’ green loons to shut and go away.
January 8, 2024
I don’t see any point in much of the (virtue signalling) nonsense thart has come with Net Zero.
We refuse to use our own natural resources but continue (have no choice but to) import those same resources from elsewhere – only increasing the actual emissions. Freezing US fracked gas, shipping it across the Atlantic and thawing it out here would be a prime example of double think. Chopping up wood in the US and shipping it over for Drax to burn here would be another. Then we have the complete nonsense of ‘made here = carbon emmissions’ – ‘made elsewhere = no emissions’ …
As Sir John correctly states, folk would be a lot more supportive if much of this eco policy made practical sense in terms of reducing overall emissions or made peoples lives easier and/or more affordable. Currently they don’t do any of this, so don’t expect people to be very sympathetic to them.
January 8, 2024
First, you cannot prove climate CHANGE can be STOPPED! Especially by the methods advocated.
Get control of the Sun and the cooling/heating of the Earth’s core first.
January 8, 2024
King Canute shouted at the tide, couldnât King Sunak shout at the weather ….plan B
January 8, 2024
Karel
Some British people may be, others, but I suggest most, simply cannot afford to replace what they have got with the current Governments more expensive transport and heating suggestions, which have yet to proven in the field long term, to be more efficient than existing.
Add to the above the additional cost put onto to all other businesses through Net Zero regulation, and our businesses and products will not be competitive any more.
Thus more goods will be imported from the so called ‘Dirty” producers of this World.
Britain cannot stop Climate change when it produces less than 1% of the so called problem.
January 8, 2024
They attack our own country for a number of reasons. I’ll suggest three of them.
Some aren’t that bright, and haven’t thought logically about what they see as a CO2 problem.
Others may live in a Liberal-progressive bubble: to them net zero, Brexit, immigration, DEI, Covid restrictions etc are all part of the same issue. They loathe nationalism and this country, they want authoritarian global government to “protect” them. They fight the good fight, as they see it, starting with the UK.
Others realise they have more chance of getting some headline-grabbing victories of no value in terms of reducing global CO2 by pressurising an eco-friendly UK parliament and establishment. These help them recruit and retain support, and keep money flowing into their pockets via donations to the myriad NGOs and “charities” in this sector.
Whatever their thinking, the rest of us are being pulled down by their activities and we urgently need a political party in power that acts in the interests of Britain.
January 8, 2024
What’s most disturbing is that it would appear that our host has accepted the notion that CO2 produced by human activity is the cause of ‘The Problem’.
May I suggest Sir J that you look into the counter arguments for our so called existential Problem, is it real and if so are we looking at the correct cause. There’s plenty out there, just don’t expect pundits and politicians, or expensive world conventions to learn about it.
Reply I have said no such thing
January 9, 2024
What IS your view on CO2 as a cause of possible global warming then, please state clearly? Do you accept we are facing a national or international climate crisis? Is your government spending money wisely in their Net Zero policy?
Reply I have made my views clear. I am a critic of the EV, heat pump and energy policies being pursued.
January 8, 2024
They follow the cause with bigotry and dogmatism, just like proponents of any other false religion.
January 8, 2024
Wanderer – what you write is only too true – follow the politics and the money, the science is just a convenient cover story.
January 8, 2024
The Greens attack our country because they like the prescription for global warming. It is the same reason the left was keen on lockdowns. They want to control people and markets. The perceived threat of global warming gives them an excuse to do it.
Some market mechanisms are in place as a sop to the right, but the overall package is just screwing things up. The Marxists can then declare ‘market failure’ and impose even more controls over everyone.
January 8, 2024
Caroline Lucas is the only Green Party member allowed to vote in parliament, for Carry On Brighton.
Sid James, Hattie Jacques or Kenneth Williams would be more effective.
January 8, 2024
‘climate change theory’. At last, the truth. All theory ie lies, applied also to ethnicity, race, gender and sexuality not just environmental protection and public health
We are seeing pure bred Marxism. Invent a threat, identify the oppressor and the oppressed, weaponise the threat and then finally using various means take control to eliminate the threat. It’s the favoured method of despotic seizure of power over our very existence as implemented by Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Castro etc etc (All Socialists of very disguises)
It ain’t called ‘cultural Marxism’ for no reason
We’ve been here before, learn from history
January 8, 2024
DOM
You have nailed it today.
January 8, 2024
DOM, +++++++. and the meek shall inherit the . . . . . ????
January 9, 2024
It’s a Globalist policy, intended to “level down” western countries by crippling their economies and transferring ÂŁbillions to those countries considered to be deserving of it.
Those Globalists who support Socialism claim that it has always failed because it hasn’t been applied globally. Global Socialism is therefore being imposed.
January 8, 2024
Green campaigners attack this country not necessarily for ‘green’ issues, that just happens to be the new banner to march under. I’m sure everyone has heard the ‘green on the outside, red on the inside’ quote.
I see little reason to feel proud that this country has a higher ranking in the worlds CO2 cutting charts than China or India.
At what cost has this been achieved?
Less industry, therefore loss of the skills involved and the self-sufficiency. Oh, but we buy lots from China and no doubt plans to buy more from India.
We import most of our energy, so how does that impact on jobs, finances, skills etc. Not least how does that rank us in energy security ?
China seems to be benefiting an awful lot from the desire of those running the country to appear only in the top 10 of shooting yourself in the foot chart.
January 8, 2024
+ many
It is worse for the planet to import and transport goods rather than produce here same for energy. Govt has lost the plot.
January 8, 2024
+++
âShooting yourself in the footâ
Or finding your wallet a great deal fatter?
January 8, 2024
We get a gold star from the UN
January 8, 2024
Michelle – ‘At what cost has this been achieved?’ UK jobs and industry moved out of the UK to the Countries you mentions while at the same time increasing World CO2 emissions exponentially
The real achievement is our WEF Socialist Conservative Government supported by a similarly mainly treacherous Parliament are securing the destruction of the UK, its economy and its people. You could liken it to the PO scandal, a few at the top that refuse to manage, the criminals, will get awarded at the expense of the innocent
January 8, 2024
Well I accept that (if all the many other things that affect the climate are equal – and they are not) then a bit more CO2 will indeed cause little extra heating. But even a doubling of CO2 would cause very little and it is certainly not an emergency. On balance a little more warming and a little more CO2 plant tree and crop food is almost certainly a net benefit for humanity.
Anyway, as you point out, what the UK does is largely irrelevant and much of what it has done is just to export heavy industries, harm the economy, freeze pensioners, idiotically chop down trees in the US to burn at Drax and export CO2 production. A bonkers agenda leaving the country vulnerable even in defence terms and destroying living standards.
Also the things that government do push heat pumps, EVs, public transport, wind, solar, battery storage, hydrogen, walking, cyclingâŠdo not really save any (or any significant) CO2. They merely export it and the jobs with it.
January 8, 2024
But this is an agenda that 90%+ of MP seem to support. So why is this? Are they just ignorant and stupid, do they simply not think or have they been bought and corupted by vested interests on the make? Or do they wrongly think there are votes to be won pushing this obvious scientific con trick?
January 8, 2024
They’re scared of being labelled by the mainstream media as climate deniers.
January 8, 2024
@Lifelogic +1 The Conservative Government is fighting the people of the UK
January 8, 2024
Ignorant. A world leading expert recently admitted that âgreenâ energies, tide, wind, sun etc will be incapable of providing the power to keep economies working, transport, manufacturing etc.
There is also the egregious cost which we are already paying for. Why Mr/s Politician are we paying through the nose when it wonât scratch the surface.
If you want to see how dumb our politicos are just look at the rubbish they spout about the cost, suitability etc of heat pumps. And the fine boiler manufacturers for not selling an expensive product no one wants.
And in reply to Peter Woods and Sir JR. Yes affirmative action on Ulez cameras. Sir JR spouts the usual guff about legal means (normally I would agree) but when democracy is ignored by politicians relying on us to be supine, they have caused our anger and subsequent action. However, of course, never their fault.
Thatchers appalling Poll Tax a case in question.
January 8, 2024
Tim Stanley in the Telegraph today is surely correct.
âSkidmore was everything wrong with the Tories. Cameronâs disastrous reforms packed the party with MPs who, deep down, arenât conservative at all.â
Not just deep down, but even just on the surface.
January 8, 2024
+1 LL
January 8, 2024
@Lifelogic – ‘Skidmore’ is clearly an idiot not an ounce of intelligence behind his thinking. Then as a politician an MP whose Parliamentary seat is to disappear in the coming election, is he just jumping now in hope of finding a vacant position with 50 odd Conservative MPs stepping down. The duplicity of these creatures knows no bounds.
Why in all honesty from those involved is there even to be a by-election, just a waste of money for someone that will never take up parliamentary duties.
January 8, 2024
Scratch most MPs, especially the ones that ought to count – the Tories, and they bleed Green, which is a disguise for red, politically speaking.
January 8, 2024
Because itâs not really about climate change itâs about socialism. The straightforward honest arguments for socialism have collapsed in the face of overwhelming global evidence over a century. So, whilst many of these people may indeed have convinced themselves that the end of the world is nigh, climate change is a convenient justification for pushing for socialist measures without having to justify them on their own merits.
January 8, 2024
Indeed but largely pushed by people wishing to grant farm. To hose tax payers and bill payers cash into their or their mates private pockets.
Rather similar to the Covid vaccines in many ways.
January 8, 2024
@Richard1 +1 so very true
January 8, 2024
100% spot on Richard1
January 8, 2024
Oppenheimer was the big winner at the 81st Golden Globes I see. I do not watch many films nowadays but having a bit of spare time on day in London and a maths/physics/engineering background I bought a ticket. I had to walk out after about 20 mins as it was far too loud even with my hands over my ears and rather an irritating filming style with irritating loud background music too.
Are most people half deaf nowadays? It was marketed well though.
January 8, 2024
Why do they attack this country, Sir John? Because they are lobbyists and have the best of succeeding if they have the ear of those in power. Fortunately for them, there are lots of civil servants and Conservative high-ups who are basically favourable to the Green agenda. True, they have to be lobbied into taking decisions that will damage the country’s economy and standard of living, but they don’t actually need too much pushing. Having the likes of Chris Skidmore in the corridors of power meant that climate activists always had a good chance of success with their campaigns. Compare that with standing in the cold and the wet demonstrating outside the Chinese or Indian embassies, which those countries could afford to just ignore. Economic growth is what matters to them.
January 8, 2024
You successfully point out the dishonesty of the great unwashed as they litter our streets with their dubious marches. Most are not in search of factual argument, more a seeking of purpose in their bland lives, a day out with something to do. They seem to leave real subjects for political comment alone. The price of energy, the cost of living, the state of our roads and railways, post office management ars just a few opening subjects they could cut their teeth on, but the reality is likely their subsidised lives are not affected by living in a failed state.
I would suggest street marching protest has run its course. The participants are more likely to irritate the working public than gain their sympathy. Even worse are those foreign national groups who would replay their racist hatred on our streets, the streets that misguidedly offer them sanctuary.
January 8, 2024
As is customary when you try and discuss green issues, you bend the facts. The UK has not replaced coal generated electricity with imports, we have replaced it with renewables – at this time of year mostly wind electricity generated offshore
The reason that we import more electricity is that when Hunt and Sunak imposed the horrendous “windfall profits rax” on renewable electricity, they made it too expensive to produce and sell here. This has changed the price differential between renewable electricity and CCGG electricity in favour of gas – to the detriment of UK families who now have to pay substantially more for their energy
January 8, 2024
You also bend the facts SG
Coal, once a major energy source has diminished to single figures since the 1980.
Gas is the main way electricity is created.
January 9, 2024
Absolute nonsense. The windfall profits tax on renewables is targetted on a section of production. It does not apply to any projects getting Feed-in Tariffs, ROCs or operating a CFD. It only applies to a handful of wind farms that have used the flexibility in CFD contracts to opt for market prices instead of CFD strike prices since market prices have been significantly above their CFD strike price, while also hitting wind farms in construction. It’s virtually an attempt at retrospective re-writing of the contract they entered into. Meanwhile the rest of renewables enjoy a substantial premium to market prices via their various subsidies, and do not pay windfall taxes. While the oil and gas sector had paid ÂŁ5.34bn in windfall tax up to November, generators had only paid ÂŁ802m.
Gas prices have fallen due to the combination of demand destruction from high prices and to improved supply into Europe as other sources to replace Russian pipeline supply have been developed. Carbon UKA prices have fallen in response to lower coal usage and industrial closures. Our need for imports is driven by the lack of dispatchable capacity that follows on from coal and nuclear closures, leaving us reliant on gas and imports to keep the lights on when renewables fail.
January 9, 2024
Mark :
Correct.
To take one specific case, according to the Renewable Energy Foundation the Moray East windfarm has generated ÂŁ1bn in income since it began generating in June 2021 and up to July 2023 with an average of ÂŁ234/MWhr when the average price for gas generated electricity was ÂŁ168/MWhr. This was achieved by deferring their ÂŁ74.49 (2023 price) Allocation Round 2 CfD contract and instead taking the option of taking the much higher market prices caused by the war in Ukraine.
January 9, 2024
I see it reported that Germany’s chemical sector,it’s third largest industry,has seen production output decline by 23% over the past two years,substantially due to higher energy prices.
Meanwhile,Bloomberg reports that China has regained the title of world’s largest LNG importer (from Japan).China’s LNG imports are expected to increase by 20% to 84m tons by 2025-and reach 136m tons by 2030(source:Rystad).Mr Putin has a huge new Arctic LNG plant opening at the end of next year to help them out.
January 9, 2024
No, so-called renewable energy only supplies power intermittently. Solar power doesn’t provide any energy for about 12 hours of each 24 hour cycle because it’s dark. Wind energy doesn’t provide any energy for large periods because there is no wind or it’s too windy.
Do you think we just shut down our energy demand when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t providing any?
The FACT is we never used to import LPG from America, or wood pellets to burn in Drax. Now we do, because we are prevented from using our own coal, oil and gas resources and the intermittent renewable energy isn’t reliable.
January 9, 2024
What do we use Interconnectors for – receiving EU music down the line?
January 8, 2024
Yet in the face of that knowledge, your Gov. carries on with it’s mad ‘net zero’ policies. Crippling this country and many of our population.
Virtue signalling is all it is.
January 8, 2024
China is reducing itâs CO2 growth. China is the worldâs leader in electricity production from renewable energy sources, with over triple the generation of the second-ranking country, the United States. Chinaâs renewable energy sector is growing faster than both it’s fossil fuel and nuclear power capacity, and is expected to contribute 43 per cent of global renewable capacity growth by 2030. Source; Wikipedia
Chinaâs total renewable energy capacity exceeded 1,000 GW in 2021, accounting for 43.5% of the countryâs total power generation capacity – 10.2% higher than in 2015. The country aims to have 80 per cent of its total energy mix coming from non-fossil fuel sources by 2060 and will achieve a combined 1,200 GW of solar and wind capacity by 2030. Source; Wikipedia
India is worldâs 4th largest consumer of electricity and worldâs 3rd largest renewable energy producer with 40% of itâs energy capacity installed in the year 2022 (160 GW of the total of 400 GW) coming from renewable sources. Ernst & Youngâs 2021 Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index ranked India 3rd behind USA and China, replacing the UK. In FY 2023-24, India is planning to issue 50 GW of tenders for wind, solar and hybrid projects. India committed at COP28 to a goal of 500 GW renewable energy capacity by 2030. Source; Wikipedia
India and China are trying to achieve developed world prosperity levels while reducing the proportion of their energy mix that generates CO2 and CH3
January 9, 2024
SG :
Youâre confusing âcapacityâ with âgenerationâ. For instance our wind turbines have a âcapacityâ of 28GW but their average electricity âgenerationâ over the year is just 9 GW.
I expect China has 1000s of duff wind turbines and solar panels from their development of these products in order to sell them to us.
A quick Google and I found a Reuterâs report dated 15/11/2023 where they said China has 1000s of GWs of renewable âcapacityâ but at the end of the day 70% of its electricity comes from burning hydrocarbon fuels, mainly coal.
The transition away from hydrocarbon fuels will eventually not be to expensive, unreliable, weather dependent, resource intensive, chaotically intermittent renewables but to nuclear and for price rather than low CO2 reasons.
January 8, 2024
One word describes these climate campaigners âlemmingsâ
They really are a bunch of brainwashed walking slack jawed morons , if they want to protest go to the countries that are the highest polluters but they wonât do that because there governments wouldnât be so soft on them as ours , so the best thing they can do is go have a good wash and get a job
January 8, 2024
This weekend we learn that in addition to breaking up for spares 30 of our precious Typhoon jets, Grant Schrapps has decided to scrap HMS Bulwark and HMS Albion (the Royal Marines amphibious capability) to save money to pay for Sunak’s election tax giveaway
The MoD increased headcount in 2023 from 62,000 to 67,000 – yet the Royal Navy has recruited insufficient sailors to keep the fleet at sea. With a horrendous major European war raging in Ukraine involving the distinct possibility that WW3 may have started, these cuts are a major strategic mistake.
Schrapps has no military experience whatsoever, is universally disliked by the defence community and is intellectually incapable of understanding the complex issues involved. He has cocked-up every Cabinet appointment that he has ever had and he is now doing further damage to our military. He and Sunak should be told that the defence of the realm is the first priority of government and if they are unable to understand this, they should both resign
January 8, 2024
Your piece strongly mirrors my own attempted discussions with people convinced thereâs a climate emergency. They invariably donât want their views to be challenged, shut down the discussion and say Iâm in the minority – my response being Iâm a member of the silenced majority.
Breakthrough in terms of a public debate is vital in the UK now. The only way to achieve that would be to somehow shame the BBC into it, and to insist it is broadcast on live TV to prevent biased post-event editing. Perhaps you yourself Mr Redwood could liaise with say Steve Koonin and the CEO of Cuadrilla or one of the major oil companies, and write to the BBCâs senior management (and Justin Rowlatt) formally requesting such a debate and ensuring the request is published in the media. The proposal would be a live debate entitled âThe UKâs Future with Net Zeroâ. The other side could comprise say George Monbiot, Rowlatt and either a CEO of one of the wind farm developers, or Lord Sterne.
You do occasionally ask your readers for policy type ideas and recommendations, so why not?
January 8, 2024
“So why do Green campaigners attack our own country instead of concentrating on the sources of so much CO 2 growth?”
Because their true goal is to reintroduce the UK to the Stone Age, via adaptation of the worst features of regimes such as Cuba, Myanmar and Venezuela whereby quality of life for the middle and aspirational working classes is gradually destroyed. It is truly the Great Leap Backward.
Whether they sincerely hold the belief that Net Zero (more like Absolute Zero) is a worthy end in itself, or only that it is a worthy means to an end because they are sufficiently wealthy and well connected to escape its destructive outcome, is another question. In the latter case, is this really a world that a globalist elite would feel proud of creating?
January 8, 2024
âwhy do Green campaigners attack our own country?â
Perhaps because the âGreenâ campaign has little to do with CO2 and everything to do with moving wealth from Western democracies to the developing world, a grotesque transfer of funds their corrupt leaders havenât earned and donât deserve. The climate activists would be delighted to see a global Communist Government in place, thatâs all they want, China is a (huge) step in that direction.
January 8, 2024
John they do it because they can, protests are easy here with little penalty for disruption.
They also do it because they do not really understand the problem, air pollution is not confined to any one Country, it affects most Countries in the World one way or another, as wind, clouds, and tides circulate the World.
Remember Chernobyl when nuclear clouds entered Uk air space, nothing we could do to stop it, but we were not responsible in any way for that situation.
As you have outlined, purchase goods made outside of the UK, and you add all of the transportation emissions/pollution to the manufacturing emissions, but how many people have even thought about that situation.
The high cost of net Zero is does not appear to be a problem for the Liberal elite who seem to have the loudest voices.
January 8, 2024
Because it is all political thatâs why.
How many of these people do you see naked or clad only in leaves/grass/nettles?
That is what they would have to do to eschew âfossil fuelâ.
Coal is the enemy for bogus, dreamed-up and batty reasons. Nothing to do with even imagined pollution.
Donât they know that the controllers of flour made unscrupulous money out of wind and that woolen capitalists/industrialists managed fine on their profits from water power?
It is all total b*ll*cks!
That small fissure in Labour is apparently widening to Grand Canyon proportions.
January 8, 2024
The UK is very dependent on Gas. We were encouraged by governments and housebuilders who put the central heating systems in our new homes, and we were very grateful after having only one fire in the lounge all my childhood. Now if we are dual fuel we get double the standing charge capped at 53p per day for gas, 30p per day for electricity. So an extra ÂŁ189 pa if you have gas radiators.
These standing charges are supposed to have been used to upgrade and improve those services to our homes; how have they been spent since they were introduced? Have things improved?
January 8, 2024
If the net zero lunacy doesn’t stop the only green thing about the “transition” will be the weeds growing on our dead civilisation.
January 8, 2024
John, what public investment in green renewables has there been since 2010? People talk as though there was none. The money spent/invested in the first five years of the coalition government from 2010-2015 has there been any return on those green investments for the Country? I read about projects bankrupting councils who created solar banks and all sorts of green projects, what is the truth?
People i.e. Jung in the Guardian state, ‘there is evidence higher public investment boosts economic growth’. We have been paying for windmills solar and other renewable projects for several decades now. Can we see the ‘real growth figures’, the return on the investments made under the 13 Labour years, for example? Are they coming through yet? They are promising more investment (spending and borrowing more money) to meet climate targets ÂŁ28bn is being bandied around like we’re talking about buttons. Was Rishi’s promise when chancellor in 2020 – 3% of GDP of public investment what does that equate to?
January 8, 2024
Given that the UK produces less than 1% of the worldâs carbon emissions, why would anyone be so insane as to completely destroy an economy and impoverish an entire population in pursuit of an utterly futile objective? Especially, when, hypocritically, most of what we are achieving is merely to offshore our national CO2 output? I think the answer lies in the particular psychology of the climate protesters and zealots. They display all the attributes of the typical left-leaning busybody. They get their highs from interfering in and wielding power over other peoplesâ lives, from making those lives more disrupted and difficult, from expressing their disapproval of those lifestyles. With their inherently judgemental, envious and controlling frame of mind, they are getting their own back on people who have achieved material success through their own independent personal endeavours and hard work. Itâs payback, nothing more, nothing less.
January 8, 2024
Sir John
If this Conservative Government along with their fellow travelers in the HoC were just a little bit âhonestâ on the âNetZeroâ religious crusade, all consumption in the UK would be subject to the same Laws Rules and Regulations. By that I mean every import and every association with other Countries would demand the same overzealous criteria being placed on them as our Law makers place on us.
As it is the dishonesty from our Legislators knows no bounds, they are just substituting one reduction in emission levels with a greater and in most case more damaging levels of pollution. They are lying to themselves and the Country.
If we grant our Legislators an ounce of intelligence you could only come to the conclusion UK Laws Rules and Regulations are not about âNetZeroâ not saving the Planet from some unproven philosophy, but are 100% about destroying every fiber and fabric of the UK.
If there was one once of truth in our UKâs Legislators stance on this subject why is it that more than 90% of the World not involved, with 191 Countries not perusing the similar policies.
January 8, 2024
Boris Johnson and the Conservative Government in the last 14 years have had a single policy â destroy the UK, its very fabric. Punish the Citizens of the UK and any desire that have to improve the quality of life here.
All subterfuge dressed up to suggest something else when all the damming evidence suggest the complete opposite.
The cancelling of UK Jobs and Industry, the 70 year high on taxation, the spend, spend attitude – is a Conservative Government throwing the UK overboard? Only an idiot would blame it on Covid or the Ukraine it started 14 years ago, just now, the tempo has increased along with the irreversible damage to the UK, its economy, its wealth.
The we have something called the PM hitting the campaign trail over the weekend saying vote for me to get more of the same. The only offering is if I get back in power âI will promise you!â another promise to break. This is tempered with anyone else would be worse â would it? Wouldnât we just have removed the first of the blocks to a UK future? Wouldnât we have just cleared out the house so as to install what was promised a Conservative Government?
January 8, 2024
Those âProtestersâ (not Tory voters) have won out âŠ.this conservative government is too continue and advance all its net-zero policies âŠ.hip hip hooray weâre the world leaders in co2 reduction
January 8, 2024
âSo why do Green campaigners attack our own country instead of concentrating on the sources of so much CO2 growth?â
These people are paid activists. It has nothing to do with CO2 emissions and saving the planet and everything to do with damaging the British economy and controlling the people. Has anyone calculated the tax burden net zero is putting on the British people? This is the biggest fraud against this nation ever perpetrated by a government.
January 8, 2024
Youâd think that the green party would want more co2 to make the planet greener (well maybe the ones that are lizards âŠbut thatâs another debate)
January 8, 2024
I keep saying this. Atmospheric Carbon dioxide is NOT a problem. Current concentration is of the order of 400ppm.
It is a trace gas, most of which comes from natural sources.
It is essential for life. We need more.
Don’t fall for the LIES!
January 8, 2024
I suspect the answer is that those behind the propaganda are more interested in getting a political settlement more to their liking. It’s a political project rather than anything to do with the environment.
As to who is behind it…well who know? Could be China itself …and Russia?
January 8, 2024
John, I have worked in and around the energy industry, civil service of DECC, BEIS and now DESNZ and the climate research fraternity since the early 90s. The British people and most across the West are drowning in mis information from all quarters pushing the climate doom narrative and false and un-scientific premiss that CO2 controls weather and climate. It clearly does not. Our climate has warmed at the same rate since the bottom of the little ice age and global industrialisation has had NO impact on the rate of solar driven warm back up. Further extreme weather, deaths and damage has reduced in-spite of a growing global population and more human habitation being in harms way. Further much of the warming presented in charts is either (fake – being only in models and not reality) and from the measured 1/2 comes from urbanisation and heat-island-effects the other half from solar radiance increases and changes in earth albedo (reflectivity). We need energy security and affordability. Clearly global geopolitics means that it is getting difficult to get raw materials mined and refined or manufactured in non-Western countries. We cannot do the energy transition because of this alone, let alone the shear cost and ineffectiveness of the proposed wind, solar and battery design. What we need is a Western alliance with full-on transition back into securely sourced coal, oil and gas with massive expansion into various forms of nuclear energy – with expansion of Uranium and Thorium mining in friendly and securable areas. Economic & industrial development, food security and energy security are clearly not a strong suite of the government who themselves are obsessed with green oblivion as are all their advisors.
January 9, 2024
Spain has recently announced/confirmed that it will phase out its nuclear power fleet(comprising seven operational reactors,accounting for up to 20% of electricity supply) by 2035.
Spain was the leading EU importer of Russian LNG in Q3 2023.
January 8, 2024
âSo why do Green campaigners attack our own country instead of concentrating on the sources of so much CO 2 growth?â
Because they know that there is no CAGW caused by the burning of hydrocarbon fuels. Not only does the historical climate data show that CAGW is simply hysterical nonsense but also in addition the calculations of Happer & Wijngaarden on the real atmosphere, including water vapour, omitted In the IPCC models, have proved that doubling CO2 produces a negligible increase in the GHG effect (see the CO2 Coalition website for details).
The âsolutionâ to CAGW, Net Zero, initiated by the communists to bring down the West with expensive, chaotically intermittent and insecure renewable energy has now been taken up by energy grifters and useful idiots. In addition, electrification is designed to not only impoverish with inefficient and insecure devices, especially with no means for the storage of electricity making us dependent upon the weather, is designed to control both individuals and whole populations through the forced introduction of smart meters
January 8, 2024
Sir David Davis backs mass exoneration for Horizon IT scandal victims
Can it get Worse?
âIn 2017, 500 postmasters teamed up to launch a group litigation against the Post Office, which responded in turn in 2019 by hiring the attack-dog lawyers of blue-chip City firm Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) to fight its corner.
And this is where Davey makes his second appearance in the scandal. The Daily Mail can disclose that in the very same year the group action was launched, five years after Davey had behaved so shamefully as a minister, he was himself hired by HSF.
Davey was taken on as a ‘consultant on political issues and policy analysis’ in June 2017, a role for which he was paid a monthly retainer of ÂŁ5,000, for six hours’ work â a handsome ÂŁ833 an hour.â
The CPS would never have pursued this against the evidence presented and with the Government maintaining an âarms length relationshipâ they are out of control.
This Conservative Government 14 years of ineptitude and scandal still out to destroy the UK and its People
Reply Mr Davey is a Lib Dem and was Minister responsible for PO in a coalition govt.
January 9, 2024
reply to reply….coalition because the Tories lost so many seats. Perhaps this time that won’t be necessary. Labour might get a comfortable majority.
January 8, 2024
The no ideas, no ability all huff & Puff Man says today
“Labour government would take UK ‘back to square one’, claims Sunak
The Government is now in a position to start cutting taxes, Rishi Sunak said as he addressed a PM Connect event in Accrington this morning. ”
Back to Square one would be a relief, a massive advancement on the Sunak/HUnt malicious destruction of the UK, their massive uncontrolled spending resulting in exorbitant taxes and debts placed on everyone
January 8, 2024
Of course, the organisers of those protests know this, but they have an alternative agenda. The zero-carbon hogwash is but another tool for them to utilise and, along with the ‘useful idiots’, attempt to disrupt and ultimately bring down the elected government of this country. These people want control, just like communists, and they cannot take it through the ballot box, so they use subversion instead. Marx and Lenin planned similar “revolutions”.
To counter these efforts to destroy what democracy we have left, the government MUST introduce strong laws to criminalise protests which inhibit citizens from attending their daily business like shopping, leisure and working.
Damaging protests have become a regular occurrence in our country, as those involved seriously abuse the very democracy they seek to undermine, and it’s time they were stopped.
Never mind “Stop Oil”, how about “Stop all damaging protests”?
January 9, 2024
“War is when your government tells you who the enemy is;Revolution is when you figure it out for yourself”.
January 8, 2024
So, the Post Office Minister appointed by Government to oversea the PO on behalf of us gets hired by the Law firm attacking the PO Staff trying to defend themselves against malicious prosecution. (Sentence deleted as I think you are referring to a Lib Dem not a Conservative ex Minister ed)
I believe the Conservative Party and Conservatives generally are infinitely better than that, its not just those Governing in their name that needs to go but also those that have robbed us all of good Conservatives at CCHQ. There is something obscene about the way the Conservative Party is being destroyed from within.
January 8, 2024
Agree, their protests are ridiculous & should be treated as political protests. Disguised as climate change nonsense! While they are allowed to disrupt our lives these pad puppets will continue. They & others across the west would never protest in China or India. As they would be arrested & probably never see the light of day! Think the organisers of these political motivated protests need to pay reparations to the taxpayers for the negative impacts on them & the police force!
January 8, 2024
It is a sad comment on our education system that the Green protestors cannot think, research, analyse and establish the facts before their mindless protests. The Global Warming / Climate Change bubble will burst and show a lot of people in Government, a majority of MPs, some Judges, various Quangos and the Police as being utter fools for swallowing this nonsense whole.
The only question is how much damage will they have done to the UK before reality hits them.
January 8, 2024
Everything the p;iece says is correct, which is why I’ve always said that their actions betray their true intentions when looked at in this light.
This is not a climate crusade, it’s an excuse to create division and mayhem.
The activist types are genuinely daft enough to believe the climate guff, but they are the sort who just go where they’re told, with other people directing operations. None of them has the wit to say “Why don’t we go and spray the Chinese embassy instead?”. And if they did, they would rapidly be subjected to some form of “thought re-orientation”.
The russians choose carefully which of these groups to fund. It’s designed to divide our society and to pressure our government into spending money and trashing the economy. When we have 600+ out of 650 MPs behaving as “useful bourgeois idiots”, everything rather seems to be going according to plan for russia.
Did it ever occur to any of these people that that reason China and russia don’t worry about climate change is because they know something our politicians don’t? Their scientitific advisers won’t be telling their leaders that there’s a climate emergency, which is why they’re not acting as Western politicians expect.
January 8, 2024
In many cases, it is the Left’s hatred of capitalism and their desire to see our economy put into reverse.
Then there is their misguided view that the third world, including China, needs to be allowed to catch up and therefore be allowed to carry on increasing their emissions immensely.
In the meantime, they demand we ruin our economy by spending ludicrous amounts of money on green issues that will have no effect on the planet at all.
The problem is, almost all of our politicians from all parties have fallen for the rhetoric and can no longer see what they are doing to us.
January 8, 2024
We have been living in a dictatorship from the days of Heath onwards. So many decisions have been taken without the support of the electorate. Sunak is no different to the rest. His Windsor Framework agreement has ceded NI to the EU, without a by your leave. His Presidential rule has taken one step further with the penalty costs on the motor industry, if it doesnât meet his EV production targets. In my lifetime the motor industry has lead the market and produced vehicles which the customer wished to buy. The only previous intervention was advising that diesel vehicles were good for our health.
January 8, 2024
The problem is mainly the reduction in green CO2 absorbers….trees ..although scientists do say the increased CO2 levels are patchy.You can look at total levels and averages ,but high levels in China won’t be reduced much by UK action.
It depends on personal ethics versus necessity.
We know that murder is wrong,but because it is rife in other countries we don’t intentionally give up on this standard and join the more violent.
Then again : what do we call intelligence.Is it the recall of trivia ,the completion of remembered texts in universities culminating in old fashioned degrees or an ability to analyse, reason and think universally.
Many think they are clever but the people whose homes are flooded at present are not bothered about which university or level of degree arrogant individuals have.Sunak has to take action..so can he come up with his own solution and just carry on doing the same?I don’t think so.!
January 9, 2024
Like the Pro-Palestine protestors the Green Energy protesters know little. Their passionately held prejudices are untarnished by factual knowldge and logic. They are mostly young people who are products of the Marxist brainwashing schools and universities that pass for eductaional institutions in Britain today. They should be allowed to protest and then should be utterly ignored.
January 9, 2024
Protestors wanting a swifter green transition should live by the lights (or lack of them) they wish to impose on us. Preferably somewhere else, since it would rob them of the shirts off their back and even bicycle transport, most of their food, and leave them vulnerable to disease that has been eradicated in modern societies.
January 9, 2024
The so-called Eco Warriors are paid by a small number of American billionaires to carry out their campaigning. They are encouraged by the UN, Globalists in the WEF and their bought-and paid-for politicians … as well as useful idiots in the media.
The clue is that any serious scientists who oppose the nonsense are silenced and any funding is withdrawn.
The vast majority of British families simply can’t afford to pay for the lunacy. If you can’t afford it and don’t want to be forced into buying an inefficient heat pump or EV then DON’T VOTE FOR IT by endorsing the WEF’s Political Parties.
January 9, 2024
This is the level of Eco-Lunancy nonsense we’re being forced to pay for by the Westminster Uni-Party:
“The MV Hallaig, a hybrid electric ferry in Scotland, celebrated for reducing emissions, is now running on diesel due to a lengthy ÂŁ1.5 million battery replacement. The Daily Record has the story.
The MV Hallaig was the first in the world to use a system which cut carbon emissions by 20% when it was launched in 2012.
But the battery broke on the ÂŁ10 million vessel in September and bosses have admitted it could be April 2025 before itâs fixed because the replacement part is no longer available.
Itâs now the third problem ferry in Scotland after the controversy over the MV Glen Sannox and MV Glen Rosa which are six years overdue and ÂŁ260 million over budget.”
You can read the rest on The Daily Sceptic website.
January 9, 2024
ÂŁ1 billion a year invested in flood defences. ÂŁ8 billion a year squandered on the Net Zero lunacy.
I’m sure the good people of Tewkesbury are just delighted with the priorities of the Eco Nutters in the Climate Change Committee and the cowardly virtue-signallers in the Westminster Uni-Party.
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/1bn-a-year-invested-in-flood-defences-8bn-squandered-on-net-zero/