Why canât government Ministers in key departments see that their idea of decarbonisation  will not cut world CO 2 output but will export jobs and business from us to overseas?
This week  was a double win for the import boosting strategy. Shell announced it does not want to go ahead with a major new oil field off Scotland. This will mean importing  more energy, and making fewer things here that need plenty of energy so importing them as well.
The Business Department is the main driver of shutting down our oil, gas and high energy using businesses. Its wish to price fossil fuel energy out of the market means we struggle to keep steel, ceramics, glass, aluminium and other high energy manufacturing.
Over at Agriculture the Minister seems to regard growing food or rearing animals as bad for the environment. He wants to wild farms and grow wild flowers instead. Presumably  the idea is we should import more of our food.
Letâs have more policies to make and grow things at home which could produce more well paid and worthwhile jobs. The energy shortage this autumn should be a warning that you cannot rely on imports. It is a bad idea to import most things that need fossil fuels whilst stopping us making them at home with less fuel used in transport.
December 4, 2021
This may sound daft John but one could be forgiven for thinking this government wants to see the demise of this country. We could be so successful if only government would get out of the way. Here in Shropshire there are 4 farms in just my local area where they are giving up. It does doesn’t pay now. Scottish farmers are being given money to stop farming and rewild. What the hell are we going to eat? Large industries are struggling with energy costs and even I nearly passed out when I saw my electric bill this month on the new tariff. I am truly afraid to turn anything on. There is no need to be like this. We all know what needs to be done. We’ve discussed the options here for long enough. We need a change of government and pretty damn quick. Cheaper energy would really help everyone. Speaking with one of the engineers for the electricity network he said all the big wigs connected to the electric car industry haven’t a clue about basic cables even. They don’t understand how the network operates and that nearly every street in the UK would need bigger cables put in and that’s before they even think about the bigger picture of transmission. He’s got 34 years experience so does
know a bit. For God’s sake someone had better wake up out of this fairy tale and do something. We deserve more.
December 4, 2021
FUS +1
This government seems hell bent on a suicide pact for the UK. Maybe this is their way of making the UK less attractive to the illegal immigrants (sarc).
December 4, 2021
How dare you suggest that the government is capable of subtle, joined-up policy-making.
December 4, 2021
Civil Servants want us to be dependent on imports. Particularly from our nearest neighbours. There whole career has been with the U.K. within the EU: they regard that as normal. The current situation is an aberration. That needs to be corrected. They have no notion of the Commonwealth, global trading, self-sufficiency, or sovereignty.
The Government was elected to get us out. Not just sign pieces of paper and leaving everything else in the real world unchanged. Getting out includes changes in mindsets, and attitudes, as well as working practices and supply chains, not simply one legal relationship. Half the battle in transformations is overcoming mental roadblocks to change in the organisation. Government should learn from behavioural science how to improve the odds of success. Itâs more than a few speeches.
Brexit hasnât started yet, and people are getting impatient.
December 4, 2021
Their not there.
December 4, 2021
This was another failing of Javid. You might recall he flew all the way back from Australia to basically say he could not save our steel industry from high energy prices!! Everywhere he has been minister has spelt disaster or more taxes from the taxpayer, every ministerial post. Now he is at it wasting as much as he can without any improvement at the NHS, just like when he was community Secretary, chancellor, business!! Still Carrie likes him!
JR, what are you going to actually do about the problem you highlight- you raise these points many times over during the last 11.5 years and still your party marches left destroying our economy, culture and way of life.
December 8, 2021
Lord Lawsonâs article in the Spectator describes decarbonisation as an âunparalleled economic calamityâ. Added to which itâs pointless. COP26 was a complete failure with non-Wesr countries free to burn oil, coal and gas as much as they need for as long as they want. Good luck to them. Ever tried living without electricity? Count the number of batteries in your household . Thirty five here
December 4, 2021
+1
Not daft at all!!
Glaringly obvious.
I also get the creepy feeling that they KNOW car cables etc wonât work.
And they donât care because the true agenda IS our total demise.
Sans heat, sans foodâŠsans absolutely everything.
But presumably the perpetra(i)tors think they will be saved. ButâŠ
âUseful idiotsâ first for the chop after revolution.
They know too much!
December 4, 2021
Everhopeful
I think that sums it up rather well!
We know what the globalists want.
We know they are more rich and powerful than governments.
And governments are just doing their bidding!
The governments are now the âuseful idiotsâ. And youâre right they will be the first to âgoâ.
This is worse than 1930âs Germany – itâs all on a much vaster scale!
December 4, 2021
+1
Agree 100%.
December 4, 2021
Who are these âglobalistsâ? Could you name them and explain their agenda?
December 4, 2021
OK I’ll start with an easy one – The UN. There agenda, make everyone equal, and unfortunately it’s easier to make everyone poor rather than everyone rich.
December 4, 2021
Another is the World Economic Forum. Check out their website and their plans for US to “own nothing” ….. whilst they own everything.
December 4, 2021
JR has previously stated that he doesn’t want individual globalists named on this site.
December 4, 2021
We’ve just had our new electricity tariff, exactly double the previous. 30.4p per kilowatt.
How are people going to heat and eat next year I don’t know.
No coal from Cumbria, no oil from the North Sea and no locally produced gas.
Johnson and his partner must be removed quickly before it’s too late.
December 4, 2021
Ian
Looks like I’ve got a bargain then at 24 p, up from 14 pence, mind you the standing charge has doubled !
John, is Boris ACTUALLY AWARE of these sort of percentage increases.?
Still we have the triple lock as our safety net, oh wait a minute !
December 4, 2021
I’ve just changed supplier and got a better deal but it’s still 80% dearer.
I’m just in the process of getting a new gas boiler fitted. I asked for a quote on a heat pump and some performance figures.
I got the usual mealy mouthed reply that a survey was necessary. Insulation needs upgrading. Windows should be triple glazed. Us bigger radiators. Circa ÂŁ30k.
Gas boiler ÂŁ2,500 including vat.
No contest.
December 4, 2021
Ian
The estimate I got for a ground source heat pump was ÂŁ25,000 -ÂŁ35,000 without any other modifications at all.
Include larger radiators, larger pipe work and its over ÂŁ50,000 as all floors need to come up and then be replaced again, complete with new finishes.
Average life expectancy of a heat pump quoted to me as 15-20 years.
This is fantasy stuff, but the government believes its good value !
No wonder taxes have to go up if they believe this is good value, bit like HS2 and many other things they “purchase/order” with our money.
December 4, 2021
Ian Wragg :
Absolutely correct.
However the Government knows this and hence intends to increase the price of gas.
From P143 of the Governmentâs Net Zero Strategy :
âCurrently, on average heating a home with a heat pump costs more than with a gas boiler. This is, in part, due to policy and social costs charged on electricity bills. However, by addressing existing distortions between electricity and gas prices, we will ensure heat pumps will be no more expensive to run than gas boilers.â
December 4, 2021
Why would someone who earns ÂŁ190k and has grace and favour houses give a toss about how much you pay for your electricity. Let them eat cake.
December 4, 2021
Let them heat cake.
December 4, 2021
”the standing charge” the seconded biggest con of our age
December 4, 2021
We just need a proper Conservative government…. with low tax, energy security, food security, innovation and global trading.
Invisible as we spend time on this beneficial site…
December 4, 2021
Its madness not using the god given resources of this land, and not having an energy mix
December 4, 2021
It is already too late.
December 5, 2021
+1
Hence I’m happy for every single blunder this party makes and pray for a Christmas lockdown.
Destroy all the pubs and the restaurants.
So that people will never vote Tory again.
December 4, 2021
Ian and Allan I enjoy reading your views each day, however I am at a loss to know why anyone on this site votes for this dishonest party. Remember Johnson writing in the Telegraph to get fracking and get drilling for gas? This is not a global gas issue, May and Johnson has made it the case because they decided not to be gas self- sufficient. They slam Putin while buying 82% of his coal when there is a perfectly good supply in the UK available! It does not help the world it helps a tyrant, one who poisons citizens in this country without any regard and one which they oddly label enemy. EU now totally under his thumb for gas!!
If JR had any true intention in what he writes Johnson would be gone by now.
Come back Trump the world and UK needs you.
December 4, 2021
Hope
Voting
Yes it is real dilemma, I agree with many of JR’s views (not all), and in my view he is an excellent constituency MP, thus it could be a real problem if there was a viable alternative Party who could challenge the Conservatives, who in effect do not now seem to reflect any real Conservative polices or even values, but there is no real alternative at the moment.
Thus my only hope is that JR can in some way get his views across and influence/make a difference eventually.
I would agree that at the moment it seems unlikely, especially given the present incumbent at No 10 who seems to have many different views, as there are days in the week.
Thus I vote for the Man not the Party, and live in hope things will change !
December 5, 2021
Thanks Alan.
Three elections show your hope is in vain and JR pissing in the wind. He has also failed to address key issues he has raised many times over many years.
If he was thought to be an influence for good in his party he would be in govt. He is used as a meagre example of a conservative while his party is no where near any of his views from BBC, energy, economy, taxes, immigration, local councils etc. You name it his party is no where even close. JR is in the departure lounge along with a few others to con the public his party is different fromLabour. Reality is Johnsonâs govt and that of May is left of New Labour. Even Corbyn dragged them left!
December 4, 2021
Of course the Tory Government has made us more dependent on imports, and will continue to do so.
For instance, their central, flagship policy, brexit, will cause a significant part of farming to go out of business through a combination of factors, such as the discontinuation of subsidies, loss of their main market in Europe, and so on. So we will need to import more food.
Their loose regulation and oversight of of the privatised utilities means that there is insufficient gas storage, and so we have to pay spike prices, meaning that we spend more on that import, which amounts to the same thing.
On and on it goes.
December 4, 2021
NLH – how much less subsidies are the government paying out to farmers in relation to what we got back of our money from the EU?
What % of our farmers had their âmain marketâ in Europe? What % of them have lost that market? Where have you got your statements from?
How could the regulation be tightened up more than it is with the private utilities? Iâm interested in what the people you represent are offering.
December 4, 2021
Dear Fedup–On electric cars, is there an answer to the huge weight of the batteries meaning that they have to be slung so low for cornering that the car cannot be driven through the shallowest “splashes”, never mind fords, because not a drop of water can be allowed to interact with the likes of Lithium in the batteries? Remember School Chemistry with Sodium (in same Period of the Table) and water.
The weight of the batteries also means that a flat tyre is a heavy engineering project because it’s not just that the car is too heavy to be raised to allow a tyre change but the asymmetrric diagonal force would mean that the chassis would have to be much heavier, the upshot being that a normal jack won’t do and a special rectangular lifting crane is needed (whence?) which can lift from all four corners at once.
Of course electric cars look great when they’re going. And that’s just the car let alone the mind boggling pervasive infrastructure needed.
December 4, 2021
My Nissan Leaf weighs the same as a Nissan Qashqai
December 4, 2021
Dear dixie–Don’t know (frankly, not heard of either) but I’d venture a small bet that the range (of whichever is the electric) is low by reason of smaller batteries. For what worth, what I wrote I read in an authoritative sounding article a few months ago. Anyway, should one be confident that the Rare Earths (not so much rare, or indeed earths) and Lithium and Cobalt and other metals will, given that China is increasingly mopping up their source, be available in the amounts that will become necessary? I have no angle except that if anything I hate petrol-driven cars having once had one catch fire–petrol is ghastly stuff.
December 4, 2021
Leslie, a colleague is testing out an electric car at the moment, the most reasonably priced in the family range he required was a Kia e-Nero. He thought heâd miss his BMW. However, he is pleased with it, he has a recharge unit at home and says the charge lasts at least a week and sometimes nearly two weeks if he is only commuting to the office with no appointments. Itâs brand new and early days he likes that the heating kicks in straight away and likes the comfort and ride.
The biggest problem for me with electric cars is that it is going to put my family out of vehicles because a) they couldnât afford to buy one and b) a second hand one would require a replacement battery which they couldnât afford. They also couldnât afford to rent one because they buy second hand cars and keep cars for a decade or more and get the benefit of no monthly charges whilst still being mobile and free.
December 4, 2021
Induction motors don’t use rare earth materials though have a lower efficiency (about 5% lower) while non-Lithium traction batteries are under development. Note that these materials are recyclable where the battery isn’t repurposed first, eg as house or grid storage.
Cobalt will be removed from battery systems as the range of electrodes and efficient chemistries are developed – the early Nissan battery systems didn’t use it for example.
Someone will always try to restrict access to critical resources whether it is oil, Lithium or some other material.
What I find baffling though not surprising is the lack of any critical resources plan on the part of the UK government.
December 5, 2021
The Leaf is an EV, the Qashqai is a very popular petrol crossover.
December 4, 2021
According to ownersâ reviews I read on Honest John, the real world range is about 130 miles. Just not good enough.
December 4, 2021
Of a 40 kWh Leaf? In winter yes but that is good enough for my purposes. Other EVs have a longer range, the latest Kia and Hyundai are around 280 miles.
December 4, 2021
Here in the leafy Lib Dem constituency of Chesham & Amersham we have loads of electric cars. You really canât move for them.
We also have a Tory council which means our roads are in a dreadful state – so many potholes itâs like a developing country. This is because the Tories take our taxes and spend them on their disagreeable new friends in the north. Our roads are being levelled down.
Anyway this means we have loads of electric cars – and loads of massive puddles. I never see any electric cars stopped in any of these massive puddles as it turns out they can be driven through splashes after all. Who knew?
The ill-informed scaremongering from you lot about electric cars is genuinely staggering.
December 4, 2021
Andy
Agree electric cars should be more reliable (fewer moving parts) and less expensive, again fewer moving parts, should also have more internal space due to size of power units.
Should have no problem in wet weather, as you can get electric pumps operating whilst submerged in Garden ponds and wells.
The problem if you only have ONE car, is the variety of journeys driven, not a problem for a reasonable commute/journey if you home charge, which would seem sensible, its the occasional long journey that is the potential problem, From London to Cornwall, from London to the South of France etc
Yes of course you can stop on the way for comfort breaks and a refill if necessary, but in an ICE vehicle you have a vast choice with regards to time span and distances, with a choice on length of stop. With an EV that choice is very much more limited and depends upon how busy the recharging Centre is at the time of your need, if just two vehicles are in front of you then it could be a 4 hour stop out of necessity, do that 2 -3 times and what should be a reasonable days travelling to Cornwall can become a very, very long day indeed, and down to the South of France could be 2-3 days minimum.
Thus to go electric you perhaps do it with perhaps a smaller car first for local journeys if you can afford the original investment.
A hybrid whilst it sounds good as a compromise, adds another ÂŁ10,000 to the purchase price, and lowers the overall efficiency, given you then have the weight of two power and fuel systems, rather than just one.
When solid state batteries eventually become the norm, with less weight, less space, less cost, more range, and faster recharge times, then that may prove to be a game changer.
Then of course we need more generating power, and the grid perhaps may need upgrading to cope, and thats another story completely.
December 4, 2021
Electric cars, very heavy, cause potholes, especially with loads of them.
December 4, 2021
You should get your MP to ask for some leveling up funding for those potholes.
December 4, 2021
@Andy
The usual misleading and ill-informed nonsense. The practice of sending most of the council tax paid in the South to the North was instituted by the New Labour nutjobs. The current nutjobs continue to do it. The North has been levelled up for decades. I’d like my council tax spent in my area by my council.
December 4, 2021
Not according to two of my mates – one of whom lives in Amersham, the other in Chalfont St. Giles.
December 4, 2021
Dearest Andy–Don’t remember referring to “puddles” but even then how do you know what happened inside the battery overnight after they got home, that’s if they did? The impression I still very much have is that more than 6 inches and you are going to risk big expensive time-consuming problems. And how many punctures have you sorted?
December 4, 2021
Dearest Andy again–What with you being the perfect human being as you would have us believe, I am sure that if there were a ford across the upper reaches of the Chess no longer capable of being used by your muscae volitantes of EV’s, you would have told us.
My own local garage of 3o years has made no plans to train or have trained its small workforce so I wonder what that will mean when your new cars start to wear out. Changing batteries is a big deal never mind getting them delivered. Gantries presumably needed. Can’t just put them in the boot. Small garages will just have to shut down.
You have the knack of unintentional negative persuasion.. I was vaguely pro Electric but following your input I find myself changing my mind.
December 5, 2021
Amersham. Loads of 70k cars.
No wonder they were surprised when Brexit happened.
December 4, 2021
they being TESLA don’t look great – they look like a typical 8 year sketcch of a car…. smooth ultra-boring.
December 4, 2021
It’s madness.
December 4, 2021
I like EVs, the concept and the recent innovation.
They make great second cars, milk floats and folk-lifts
I hate the ban on ICE and our freedom of choice
December 4, 2021
Dear Glen–Yes indeed, and you don’t hear much about the decilne of Electric Milk Floats. I remember the Horse drawn Milk Floats, the trouble with which was where to keep the horses–up a long ramp to a higher floor as I remember. The Electric Floats weren’t all bad no more than EV’s will be– for the likes of women’s shopping cars. Salmon fishing in Scotland I think not–not any time soon anyway and by then there will be no salmon left.
December 4, 2021
But the eco zealotsâ aim, enabled by their followers in the Conservative government, is not to enable all ICE cars to be replaced by EVs but to reduce car usage overall. So thereâll never be âenoughâ charging points as weâll all be expected to spend most of our time locally. The Government literally doesnât care about the destruction of jobs in the manufacture of the kind of new cars people still want, and in wider manufacturing, all of which requires low cost energy to be sustainable.
December 4, 2021
Correct. This is the aim “A 15-Minute City is a residential urban concept in which most daily necessities can be accomplished by either walking or cycling from residents’ homes. … The concept has been described as a “return to a local way of life.”
The metropolitan “elite” don’t give a rats a..e about the millions of people who don’t live in a city; don’t have “facilities” within 15 minutes walking/cycling; and don’t have decent public transport which goes where they want to go, when they want to go there.
You’d think CONservative MPs in the Shires would be kicking off about the Government’s Eco lunatic, Metropolitan-centric policies which will negatively impact their Constituents, but they don’t seem to have joined the dots.
December 4, 2021
If you donât like where you live, move.
December 4, 2021
Chesham sounds an agreeable place, although I understand it is gridlocked with electric vehicles?
December 4, 2021
you haven’t – – pot, kettle, black !!
December 4, 2021
@Andy
You, clearly, don’t like where you live. Move to the EU would you? You’ll fit right in.
December 4, 2021
Spot On MPC – Most climate crusaders donât even realise why governments are banning ICE cars âŠapart from the propaganda that co2 from cars is killing the earth and your grandchildren
December 4, 2021
@MPC But BMW’s take on the evolution of transport, before the green madness set in with the UK government, was that with the trend to urbanisation and the increasing lack of space for parking there would be a shift to car pools and sharing – fewer cars but with greatly increased usage per vehicle. Instead of costly ownership it would become transport as a service which is where autonomous vehicles come in.
Not a universal solution obviously, but perhaps many might prefer it – public transport, car rental and Uber seem to work OK.
Would you class BMW as eco zealots? Perhaps they see the consequences of increased population densities and need to find ways to take their businesses to survive and prosper.
December 4, 2021
Total madness. A former conservative Party that is now a special kind of stupid. Smitten by the green religion with no proven evidence. A pointless collective exercise in virtue signalling. They should be made to account for their actions by a useless media.
December 4, 2021
Not Daft at all fedupsoutherner.
If we don’t all die this Winter from hypothermia the U.K. will eventually cease to exist in any recognisable form.
December 4, 2021
Control the food supply and you control the people. Our Government is following in the footsteps of Russia, North Korea, and China. Of course, like those three countries, it will end in disaster. Unfortunately, it will be the next generation who will pay the price.
December 4, 2021
Vehicle manufacturers make vehicles to address market demand and government regulation; they have no need to be concerned that people who demand electric cars are bats or that governments that try to encourage electric vehicle purchases to save the planet are battier, still less how the purchasers will be able to charge their vehicles when the wind isn’t blowing hard enough or there are not enough charging points or high capacity cabling in their street.
December 4, 2021
This policy is completely misguided as is the whole Green Crap Agenda.
Our balance of payments is a disaster and is responsible for the relentless fall in the value of our currency. The economic illiteracy across our whole government machine has to be tackled, and quickly.
December 4, 2021
Exactly.
December 4, 2021
Boris manifesto pledge and guarantee – 5. Controlling debt.
December 4, 2021
Shell pulled out of Cambo because neither Kwarteng’s BEIS nor Sturgeon would commit to the huge subsidy they wanted. As a result the project was uneconomic.
December 4, 2021
Perhaps you can provide details of this alleged subsidy? AFAIK there has no been recent change to the regime for North Sea taxation, nor is any proposed. I suspect they were strongly influenced by having the Jackdaw field turned down – it seems because the government seem to think that keeping oil and gas in the ground will save the planet, which it plainly will not, as the topic of today’s post points out.
December 5, 2021
@Mark
“Senior figures at Shell are understood to have become frustrated by the UK governmentâs unwillingness to give Cambo public support” – DT
December 5, 2021
I think that means that the government were unwilling to say that they thought it was a good idea to develop the field. Is that a subsidy? Rather, it is an indication that the government seem intent on destroying productive industry and damaging our balance of payments.
December 4, 2021
Good morning.
It’s called, “Digging your own grave.” And I do not mean that just for the UK but, for the Conservative Party as well.
Those that are happy to implement these self destructive policies do so in the knowledge that, when their time in politics is over, they will be looked after with directorships, consultancy fees and various speaking events.
Given the two party stranglehold that we have at the moment and the unlikelihood of a pro-UK government coming into view I see further decline ahead. The Left really has got the bit between its teeth and is very keen to help China and the CCP in the goal to be the worlds number one power. And the current crop of MP’s have done the usual thing and have given up.
More managed decline ahead.
December 4, 2021
+many
Never mindâŠthe Home Sec has finally had a huge coup.
No more harassing of women in the street. Very strict edict.
Does that even happen any more?
Did it ever happen?
December 4, 2021
Everhopeful. What with the harassment of women and Boris’s Christmas party last year the both main parties must be exhausted with all the work that entails! You ask if harassment ever happened. Yes it did but women of my age took it as a compliment. What harm the occasional wolf whistle? Unlike today where girls actually get sexually groomed. Seems to me much of that gets ignored due to accusations of racism.
December 4, 2021
+1
Exactly so.
Plus of course the âclash of culturesâ.
Good old Home Sec. and her boats
December 4, 2021
I when I was young, women always regarded a wolf whistle as a complement. The response was almost always a smile. These days, one can’t even complement a woman on a nice dress or hair do.
How has everything gone so wrong ???
December 4, 2021
Chris. It’s all pretty sad isn’t it?
December 4, 2021
It’s Woke innit?
December 5, 2021
Now we’re getting to it.
They hated it, but believe what you want.
December 4, 2021
nil desperandum, Mark B.
The Reform Party’s performance at the by election at Old Bexley and Sidcup is very encouraging. Incredible that, though formed less than a year ago, Reform UK beat the Lib Dems, and also managed to keep the deposit. Let’s see how they perform in North Shropshire on the 16th.
One of the appeals of Reform UK is that its members believe in our country. Much like Sir John.
Hopefully one day Sir John will consider joining the team at Reform UK. His experience, insights and common sense would find a happy home and be such an asset.
December 4, 2021
Only 1 in 45 electors in Old Bexley and Sidcup voted for Reform UK. Pathetic.
December 4, 2021
Only 2 in 45 had probably even heard of Reform UK, Dave. Don’t worry, that will change soon enough.
December 4, 2021
double the number who voted Green – just saying…
December 4, 2021
Ah, the old statistics ploy. They got 6.6% of the vote – which, means about 1 in 15 people WHO VOTED voted for them. But you thought you’d be clever and take the proportion of the whole electorate. You’ve been caught out, matey.
December 5, 2021
Which is why I’m voting Labour.
First time in my life.
The Tories were the problem all along. I can see that now.
December 4, 2021
It doesn’t matter which party you vote for,the real government remains in power.Unless you are prepared for violent insurrection to remove that real government-and you’re not-it’s a waste of time.This is the post-democratic age-as Mandelson told you years ago.And No-one seemed to blink an eye when he said it.
December 4, 2021
Mary M. I noticed that Reform UK did very well in Bexley and Sidcup. Even the B.B.C. couldn’t hide the fact that they were responsible for a massive drop in the CON Party’s majority!
Unfortunately it will take a very long time to destroy the main party’s strangle hold on our electoral system.
I think Sir John is potentially more useful working from within.
December 4, 2021
Seems so.
December 4, 2021
What sad but also frightening reading from your post today .
Further proof that these boys haven’t got a clue and that the lunatics have definitely taken over the asylum.
All our major importers must be kneeling giving thanks to their gods for the complete incompetence of this government.
December 4, 2021
+1
We should have been frightened 30 years ago when we were warned about all this.
It might have informed our voting somewhat!
December 4, 2021
Yes, so you admit that the problem is that you never bother to inform yourselves.
Rather, you wait to be spoon fed, by whomever you have, in your uninformed position, decided to trust.
It would appear that you – unsurprisingly – chose very unwisely, and that your subsequent choices have thereby been predictably equally dire.
December 4, 2021
NLH. Pray tell us who you would vote for seeing as you have all the answers. Starter is always encouraging Boris to go further and faster so that would be a bigger disaster. Same with the LibDims. It’s simply a race to the bottom and to hell with the consequences and the surfs who freeze and starve on the way.
December 4, 2021
Starmer not starter. Sorry.
December 4, 2021
So NHL, who should we vote for with alternative policies ?
Labour?
Lib Dems?
December 4, 2021
Its getting difficult to see any alternative policy between the parties in parliament â even the sleaze is the same
December 4, 2021
Peter 2
You have.not understood anything about the EU. Council and it’s importance
December 5, 2021
What a random comment bill.
Go off and troll someone else .
Or keep busy and post some love letters to the EU.
December 4, 2021
turbo
The sad thing is many of us outside of the political sphere can see it, JR being one of the few exceptions, but the majority want to just play tip for tap politics with each other, whilst the Country is going down the tubes.
At some stage there will need to be a big correction, to get back to the simple and more basic form sensible economic and financial management, and the longer no action is taken, and the longer we live on credit and subsidies as a Nation, the bigger the correction there will need to be, and that will very painful for many who presently rely upon the State to support themselves, and their businesses.
December 4, 2021
Hopefully Siccar will continue and possibly find another partner(s) ?
December 4, 2021
OT
If it is true that reported on Politics Live that charities will fight against the PM wish to scrap Human Rights and other laws hindering the removal of undesirables?
Then this would be a opportunity to take back all the tax concessions they receive and that would help the country no end. Who the hell is running this country?
December 4, 2021
Spot on Turbo.
December 4, 2021
Hmmm. When and where in history did supporters of a government party of the minority use the term âundesirablesâ and call for human rights to be scrapped?
1930s Germany.
How did that work out?
December 4, 2021
Or Rotherham 2020’s.
December 4, 2021
Well Germany recently invited several million immigrants from several countries further away – so you should applaud them !
December 4, 2021
What sort of a twisted mind wants to lose all their human rights?
Because that is what it would mean. There would be no cancellation of the centuries-old English legal principle that all are equal before the law, so if you want immigrants to lose theirs then you would have to lose yours too.
That’s the bit that I suspect you don’t get.
December 5, 2021
Let our courts decide NHL
Not foreign courts.
Do any other major independent democratic nations allow a foreign court to be supreme?
December 5, 2021
Within the ambit of Human Rights, forty-six countries including Russia and all twenty-seven of the European Union recognise the authority – of Churchill’s largely – ECHR.
December 5, 2021
Fine let then carry on if they wish.
USA?
Canada?
Australia?
New Zealand?
Brazil?
A court now hijacked by the left.
December 6, 2021
As I say, Aus, NZ and Canada – and others – have human rights acts near-identical to, and informed by, ours and ECHR, and no problems at all. They also keep an eye on ECHR precedents.
If only the US had had one too then there would have been no 2008 crash, because Foreclosure as a remedy would have been unfeasible, and so no one would have wanted to buy anyone’s risky mortgage as a result.
So, yeah, like, Brazil…
December 6, 2021
Free independent nations don’t need foreign courts supreme to their own.
You seem to love being ruled over by people and organisations you don’t get to vote for NHL
Perhaps this suits a socialist like you.
PS
You really think that a court of human rights would have stopped the 2008 financial crash?
And you think all of the current signatory nations don’t evict anyone from property when they fail to pay their loans.
Hilarious.
December 4, 2021
‘Boris’ is not in charge. He will appease them. He only makes announcements because he thinks it will get him popular support. As soon as he is pressured he gives in.
December 4, 2021
The Commons needs to debate Shell’s decision, this week, to withdraw from a major project in our waters. And the government needs to start showing some interest in our balance of payments. I have no confidence in Boris Johnson – or in his clique.
December 4, 2021
Let’s not forget Sturgeon is in with the Green party in Scotland now and they want 100% renewables. Oil is out of favour. Wind farms are the panacea to all our woes. I wonder how much influence she had over this decision?
December 4, 2021
Looking out my window today…….its cold and no wind. End of bulletin to the Business and energy Ministers. Total idiots under the Clowns leadership.
December 4, 2021
Itâs also very sunny. Solar power works too.
December 4, 2021
Nearly right young lad but Solar, overall, is only giving c 3%. Nuclear is c. 15%.
Wind @ c. 38% is excellent, thank you for your contribution.
December 4, 2021
That’s funny Andy because my solar doesn’t work anywhere near as well in the winter when we need it.
December 4, 2021
Amersham/Chesham must have an amazing micro-climate.
Build glasshouses for veg growing – you’ll make a killing.
December 4, 2021
It’s rather windy here too, as the weather chart says that it is over nearly the whole UK – typical November weather.
December 4, 2021
Martin, maybe you haven’t noticed but it is no longer November, I think if you were better informed you’d be aware it is now Decmber. Keep up!
December 4, 2021
I read that the Hunterston nuclear power station is closing in January, leaving Scotland with what is left of Torness nuclear power (itself more or less on its last legs), some hydro, and Peterhead CCGT as sources of dispatchable power. They will be entirely dependent on imports from England to keep them going when the wind drops. If the Western Link HVDC (recently fined ÂŁ158m for non-performance) runs into more problems they could face power rationing. Scots are discovering that extended power outages are no fun. Who will get the blame?
December 4, 2021
I canât see, with our current crop of in the HoC and our government, ever debating anything related to fossil fuels in fear of a woke backlash
December 4, 2021
Quite a long time ago I had a comment deleted ( probably deemed conspiracy).
One person owns a huge amount of land in the US.
It is being used (or will be) to grow various plants to manufacture fake meat.
They want to stop farming as we know it.
They want to stop the world as we know it.
And from the above article it looks as if they are getting away with it.
We donât need JR to advise them.
He needs to STOP them!
December 4, 2021
Judging by the comments here, the majority are switched on to what is planned.
December 4, 2021
not just on here – look at the turnout in BEXLEY.
December 4, 2021
You seem to be saying, SJR, that the government has been taken over by a globalist clique determined to work against this country’s best interests. That is a dire prospect for the nation, and a particularly uncomfortable one for Conservative MPs who perceive what is happening, but know they are not being listened to. What can be done about it, is surely the question that matters now.
Is there an electoral price to pay for Conservatives who continue to support the UN Green Left agenda? Can they be de-selected at constituency level? How long will Tory grass roots remain dormant?
December 4, 2021
+millions.
Yes!
Spot on!
December 4, 2021
Sir John’s recent commentaries on the actions of Government, and the dictator, all seem to pinpoint the regular errors and policy misjudgements being made. Yet when required to vote he abstains. If he really recognises the disaster his Party is continuing with it is about time he openly declared it, grasped Independence and started a new dawn for Conservative thinkers. Who knows, a phoenix may rise.
Reply I voted against the tax rise and against the pingdemic proposal
December 4, 2021
reply to reply …..but by abstaining you hand the inaction over to the massed sheep your Party has become.
‘just following orders’ was/is one of the most horrific defences imagined.
Will that be in yours, and hundreds of your party’s MPs memoirs?
December 4, 2021
We need about 20 Tory MPs to cross over to Reform UK, that would shake them up
Reply There is nothing to join and it is not going* to happen . we need change in Conservative policy.
December 4, 2021
These successive governments, coalition and Tory alike, are bonkers just like the Labour governments that preceded them.
December 4, 2021
Vegetarianism or degrees of it, is the new future , Surely we can feed ourselves without killing large animals. Fuel … well it’s a power game .. whilst countries are killing each other to gain pathetic power and pressing strange ideologies onto its survivors, others are deliberately denying a continuation of an objective power source to give themselves power.Yes we need to look after ourselves John , but the lazy, the thoughtless, the uninspired will always take what is available and rely on others to provide. We all rely on others to some extent , but we need to talk in British common terms .. like we should always have done.
December 4, 2021
The basis of our lives is a healthy soil, brimming with micro-organisms, bacteria, fungi etc. Go check the soil at your local arable farm and see how poor it is. To grow crops the farmer has to input everything they need, many being synthetic. Without organic matter to bind it together the remaining minerals are washed away by rain or blown away by wind. Not far from Wokingham is a farm where animal husbandry is skilfully merged into a productive landscape; the wildflower meadows which proliferate as a result of being grazed are astonishing. Taking animals out of agriculture is a short-sighted policy and is, in a way, anti-life.
December 4, 2021
+1
I have read that at the start of ( the very convenient crisis) WW2 Churchill in a Johnson-like knee jerk reaction had masses of cattle, sheep etc slaughtered on the pretext that they could not be fed.
As you sayâŠlater they discovered that the soil became very depleted.
I guarantee that vegetarianism has always been about a wider agendaâŠnot about love of animals.
More to do with getting rid of themâŠthe latest âexplanationâ being that they emit gases.
Maybe now a coup to control ALL food sources?
December 4, 2021
The Mongols,when they conquered the Empire of Jin(northern China)in the 13th century,wanted to exterminate all the human population to make way for additional grazing for the horses and stock animals by which they measured their wealth.
Fortunately for the Chinese,the Mongols Uigur advisers persuaded them that it would be more profitable to tax their new subjects.Interestingly the Uigurs of Central Asia,one of the Mongols early conquests,became their scribes,administrators and accountants of the empire,even providing the script/alphabet to render Mongol as a written language
December 4, 2021
Very much agree with you, David L., but if people want to see that landscape, they had probably better go there quickly if it’s where I think it is – before the University sells off the land and thousands of housing units are built all over it.
December 4, 2021
The farm I have in mind is near Beech Hill. I hope to God that’s not under threat of development.
December 4, 2021
I think not: We are animals and I didn’t advocate total vegetarianism, but degrees of it. It is short sighted to look at only one way of fertilising land . Why do we have fertile deltas and belts ? certainly not by herding cows through the banks of rivers etc.!
December 4, 2021
If you want to adopt a degree of vegetarianism, go ahead.
I don’t….. and I resent having other people’s choices imposed on me.
December 4, 2021
Agreed David L. The proposal to ban animal farming is extremely short sighted for many reasons.
1. Nature requires a balance of animals and plants. Animals feed the plants which feed the animals.
2. The sole use of artificial fertilisers destroys the structure of the soil, making it less productive.
3 Would the ban also exclude fishing? We have problems with some countries overfishing and those countries seem unable to control their fishermen from exceeding their quotas and destroying their own futures. How would they control the whole of their populations?
4. How boring would our lives be without farm animals and how would we then justify the saving of rare breeds which may well be needed in the future for more reasons than just food.
5. Human nature! Do you honestly think EVERYONE will be willing to give up meat? The lawless among us would give up nothing, and all wildlife would be decimated in a very short time (probably killed in the most horrific ways), and all pets and zoo animal would also be in great danger.
Nature knows best.
December 4, 2021
How do we set about explaining to all levels of creatures that ‘the food chain’ is despicable and they must stop forthwith !
December 4, 2021
Absolutely true David L. Vegans and vegetarians need to see what harm their idealistic and over emotional practises will do.
December 4, 2021
Margaret Brandreth.
What on earth are you talking about?
AGRICULTURE includes growing PLANTS as well as animals. Sir John has advocated U.K. growing more fruit and vegetables over and over.
How are YOU going to grow plant food on the top of Derbyshire’s hills for example, where sheep now graze?
Still that’s a bit beside the point.
If all our AGRICULTURAL land in covered with solar panels, wind turbines and housing, we will still be IMPORTING ELECTRICITY and IMPORTING FOOD as well.
December 4, 2021
Much of the terrain of these islands is unsuitable for growing crops, but can support a pastoral economy of cattle or sheep. The skills and infrastructure are very delicately balanced, and as with our fishing industry, once gone are extremely hard to get back. The dairy sector, which integrates with the beef and sheep sectors provides a huge part of our diet, and all three contribute to the fertility of arable soils through the eastward movement of livestock for finishing. Pigs and poultry, being none-ruminants, have to be mostly cereal fed, and therefore compete with us. My concern is that there seems to be a perverse and rather ignorant death-wish by some to destabilize our very precious and undervalued livestock farming industry, and destroy a way of life that’s already vulnerable. I also see a connection between the ownership of land and freedom, whereas collectivism (communism) leads to tyranny, bloodshed and famine.
PS: The Vikings settled Iceland during the Medieval Warm Period (c.950-1250), and grew cereals there – an impossibility today, despite some glacier melt. Not much MMCC in those days. ‘Strong delusion’ indeed.
December 4, 2021
Al comes from Johnson. He is the PM. His adviser is a Marxist-Leninist. Do not underestimate the damage these two can do together. Cambo cancellation is an act of evil politics not an environmental decision. This type of evil politics simply means less freedom, higher costs and greater power to the centre.
Tory MPs are to blame for what we are seeing. They could be bring this horror show to a halt tomorrow. They don’t want to. Far easier to remain silent.
I see the despots in Washington are holding a ‘Summit for Democracy’ next month. If you cannot see how sinister that is then you need to wake up. They’ll whip up the idea that democracy is under threat from the ‘far right’ and Trump, highlight a threat and then pass laws to neutralise that threat ie Trump. This is the burning of the Reichstag Parliament all over again. Socialists never change their spots.
December 4, 2021
+millions.
Socialists never do and neither does the âcollusion by sitting-on-hands-and-saying-nothingâ brigade.
Will silent party loyalty continue to outstrip love of country?
Pro patria mori.
Remember how they sent millions to their deaths using that?
Now REALLY proven to be an old LIE!
December 5, 2021
Shell not getting into Cambo is a business decision. One just has to read Shellâs Annual Report 2020 to see that Shell is more likely to generate profits from its oil and gas activities in Oman, Kazakhstan and Canada than by starting something from scratch in the UK 1000-m deep waters west of the Shetland Islands.
I wonder how many on this blog, given the usual tone of most of the comments, would really like to see the UK Government (i.e., the UK taxpayers) give Shell âincentivesâ to develop the Cambo field?
December 5, 2021
Yes I would hef.
Less of an environmental impact to produce energy here in the UK rather than import it.
We give hundreds of millions to just Drax every year.
And hundreds of millions for wind farms and solar fields.
Presumably that’s OK with you.
December 4, 2021
It’s the policies of the UN, WEF and assorted Globalists who want a One World Government, safe from any democratic control by “the peasants.”
Quite why a supposedly Conservative Government (and Conservative MPs) are going along with it, I don’t know Sir John, but they increasingly seem to hate the British people and want to see them suffer.
And I have to say, those sentiments are now returned in spades.
December 4, 2021
Coordinated govts around the world are literally at war with their people.
All part of the plan.
77th Brigade well deployed.
December 4, 2021
Here we go again. Sir John bleats on about how his party is doing damage to us but remains an ultra loyal Tory party member and MP and will not criticise ‘Boris’.
That is mainly where the problem lies. ‘Boris’ is a green fanatic and Sir John’s criticism is just swatted away.
As long as ‘Boris’ carries on like this as leader the country continues towards distruction.
And here’s a bit of an OT question on the issue of electrical power loss. How many trees fell on power lines? How many lines were destroyed by trees? Why are trees allowed so close – answer the green environmental lobby thinks trees are more important tban the protection of peoples lives and health. Sense would say cut them down if they are ckose enough to fall on lines. Same goes for trees overhanging rail tracks. Peoples lives are risked and lost as a result but we are ruled by the wrong people.
December 4, 2021
No, it’s because electricity supplies are not properly regulated or overseen.
There’s no law against cutting down trees within falling distance of essential infrastructure, and TPOs are not at all absolute..
December 5, 2021
Work can be done on TPOs – fill in the form, send in, get permission – do the job. Simple.
December 5, 2021
Prangwizard
Your last paragraph sums up exactly the problem, no common-sense !
Similar situation with railway lines and the risk of falling trees.
December 4, 2021
Most beef, dairy and lamb in the UK is grass fed, so is already relatively green. Most remaining methane emissions can be removed by feeding these ruminants seaweed. Better pasture management converts the fields into carbon sinks. All quick wins towards net zero.
By wilding farms, we end up importing non green meat and dairy.
Total madness.
December 4, 2021
So turning humans into bean eating fart machines is going to negate the extinction of cows in the fight against climate change.
December 4, 2021
Why on earth you want to drink the baby food of a cow is anyoneâs guess.
December 4, 2021
I hope you are right James Freeman, that most of our farmed animals are grass fed. What a contrast to the E.U.
Many Commonwealth countries and even the USA have plenty of land available for feeding meat animals basically on grass.
Another good and sensible agricultural policy for us, is MUCK SPREADING.
It does stink something rotten but it is far more effective with no bad side effects than chemical fertilizers.
December 4, 2021
We are currently living in an elective dictatorship which is moving relentlessly to authoritarian state control. It seems clear that an agenda has been set by the world’s puppet masters and the puppets in our government and others around the world are following their dictats. Most MPs are complicit, hence the elective dictatorship. Who would have thought that any government, least of all a Conservative government, would be so evil? Why has there been no outcry of opposition from MPs and the media to the treatment of people in Australia, Austria, Greece and Germany iun reklation to covid passports and vaccinations?
December 4, 2021
But you absolutely want an elected dictatorship, as long as it only does things that those whom you hate find troublesome and problematic.
Hence your support for the proroguing of Parliament to push through a dictatorial version of brexit.
The fact that you have an infantile attachment to your toys – cars that go brrm brrm in this case – is just hard luck.
December 4, 2021
our car doesn’t remotely go brmm brmm, but the whole wisdom of making, using a wonderful tool for individual choice and convenience transport has never been equalled since invention became mass-produced. And most of it is recycled…
So what do you suggest – replacement with bicycles? – all that energy and raw material to make tyres with rubber and oil, handgrips etc?
December 4, 2021
I doubt there are 9 million bicycles in Beijing any more.
December 4, 2021
Here you see the attitude of the left from NHL
We know best.
Do as you are told.
We don’t like cars so no one can have one.
Except the elite I presume.
PS
Brexit has happened
Time to get used to that fact.
December 5, 2021
My car isn’t a toy.
I really don’t want a car at all but the government after government made this a car oriented society and did things like the centralisation of health services and destroyed the high street in favour of out-of-town shopping.
They also caused the exodus of peace loving people away from cities.
December 4, 2021
Why no outcry? It’s because they won’t rule out doing the same thing.
There were two interviews on Talk Radio yesterday.
1. Oliver Dowden refused to give J H-B a commitment that the Government, on point of principle, would NEVER make “vaccination” compulsory. He said they didn’t want to; he hoped it would never happen blah blah blah. In other words, they might do it. And never mind the Nuremberg Conventions, our Human Rights or anything else ……
2. Richard Tice gave Mike Graham an unequivocal commitment that Reform UK would NEVER, as a matter of principle, make “vaccination” compulsory.
No-one who claims to respect Human Rights could possibly consider making “vaccination” compulsory, let alone with products which are still undergoing Stage 3 Trials. The conclusion from Dowden’s comments are that the CONservative Party has no respect for Human Rights.
December 4, 2021
Human rights? Oliver Dowden? Donna, he was the minister who last April was trying to get vaccine passports accepted in England, though not called ‘vaccine passports’ of course – just called a ‘way of proving you’re COVID-secure’, he said.
December 4, 2021
Precisely. Watch what they do.
But on this occasion, listening to what he said was also worth doing. Basically, he said mandatory “vaccination” with experimental products (with a very poor safety profile) was possible.
December 4, 2021
No you are being silly Donna. Don’t you know it’s on those arriving in dinghies that have human rights.
December 4, 2021
If Corona virus was as bad as the bubonic plague or the Black Death, would you be happy that your neighbours refused to be vaccinated? I wouldn’t. I would want them forcibly removed to an uninhabited island along with all the other nutters.
December 4, 2021
Sir John it would seem that you are as hacked of as the rest of us by this insanity
December 4, 2021
Ian. Surely he can’t be the only one? When are those with a loyal and honest heart going to say enough is enough and turn this government around?
December 4, 2021
Sir John is an intelligent and patriotic fellow so of course he is as hacked off as the rest of us, and I suspect there are a few other Tory backbenchers who feel the same. But the difference is that, unlike us, they could actually DO something about it. By organising some of their fellow patriots in the various groupings (ERG, NRG, CSG, etc) to rebel in the chamber and vote against ministers they could get them out and make the government sit up and take notice of their complaints. Their failure to do anything of the sort is very disappointing and distressing.
Reply The opposition supports the governments higher taxes, green agenda and lockdowns so when we vote against they win by a landslide.
December 4, 2021
Reply to reply: yes, sir John, I understand that, which is precisely why I have stated that you (and your fellow patriotic backbenchers) should specifically rebel against the MINISTER.
If just 40 of you were willing to declare ‘no confidence’ in a minister (Kwarteng, for instance) in an EDM, the opposition would leap at the opportunity and put forward a motion of no confidence in him, the motion would win and the minister would be gone. By getting rid of a minister this way you would show your power and would subsequently be listened to.
Reply EDMs are not debated or voted. The Opposition can move a motion against an individual Minister but have not done so. A backbencher cannot.
December 4, 2021
And in other news we see it being reported Sunak is going to reduce tax, VAT or Income, prior to the next election.
Nothing to do with a recent shocking performance at the ballot box and another bi election due in a couple of weeks.
Cynical or what?
December 4, 2021
Pre-election give-away budgets are what ALL chancellors engage in, so this was always on the cards, but his proposals are actually very stupid both politically and economically. They are stupid politically because they mainly benefit wealthier, southern voters who are the most likely to vote Conservative anyway, rather than the new, poorer, northern ‘Red Wall’ voters who are more likely to abstain or go back to Labour. The tax cuts which should be implemented are (i) raising the tax threshold to ÂŁ20,000 and (ii) reducing VAT. Also this should be done NOW, so as to help people with rising bills and show that it is not just a cynical election ploy.
Sunak’s proposals are also very stupid economically, because they do NOTHING to help businesses. He should be announcing that, far from increasing corporation tax, he will be CUTTING it to 15%. The cut itself can wait until nearer the election, as long as the announcement is made NOW, so that businesses can start planning for this.
December 4, 2021
Oh yes!!
What a great idea.
Get our cats chipped. FFS x a few billions.
Criminalise many more people. Police masks, passports and CATS!!!
When the country is sinking into oblivion.
December 4, 2021
‘First, they came for the cats’..
Normalising chipping.
December 4, 2021
+1
Ah yes!
Very good point!
Seen the chips in Sweden? ( in the hand).
My GodâŠit is where all the conspiracy theorists said we would end upâŠ
December 5, 2021
A reduction in cats is proposed. Result – more food available for the anticipated starving.
December 4, 2021
+1 and then some new law against wolf whistling!
JR correctly says – The Business Department is the main driver of shutting down our oil, gas and high energy using businesses. Its wish to price fossil fuel energy out of the market means we struggle to keep steel, ceramics, glass, aluminium and other high energy manufacturing.
More like Anti-Business Department + Carrie of course. Run by two history graduates who do not have a clue about business, energy, energy economics, physics or climate.
December 4, 2021
I believe it stands for
Business
Elimination and
Industrial
Suppression.
December 4, 2021
In the United Kingdom it is the law to have your dog microchipped and wear an identification tag when in a public space…….and who enforces this law, do the police carry microchip readers – I haven’t seen a policeman for years
There really is something wrong with this government, its party and its MPs
December 4, 2021
Yet they will have free time it seems now to chase cats and men who wolf whistle (or are lewd) at women yet no time to attend burglaries, shop liftings, muggings, thefts or deal with bank frauds and similar. Often rather hard to see who actually was the culprit whistler.
December 4, 2021
Current national threat level: SEVERE, https://www.mi5.gov.uk/
Any yet we allow a thousand illegal immigrants in every day
Once again the message isnât the same as reality
December 4, 2021
Which is level 4 on a scale of 5.
Interestingly looking at the site it can be seen that over the last 15 years, since 2006 when this info started to be made public, the threat level has always been at least level 3. Level 1 – low – and level 2 – moderate – have never been in use.
Which might be an indicator of why some people just go OTT most of the time, mightnât it?
December 4, 2021
Glen
While we send thousands of troops to help protect the Polish border from invaders.
December 4, 2021
But what about men who bully women and won’t allow them to leave the house unless accompanied by a male relative? What about them?
December 4, 2021
No joined up thinking there then, or are they being less obvious and more devious?
In the document commissioned and accepted by the government, as the way forward for net-zero, there are some pointers:
– airports will be closed down;
– imports by ship will be eventually eliminated, and one assumes this means exports as well, for without raw materials what have we to sell?
If we aren’t going to be able to produce things we need ourselves, and then imports are cut off at some time then what are our prospects as a nation?
By creating artificial shortages now, and only relying on imports, we will get used to ‘doing without’, so when we are finally isolated we will already have gotten used to living as they did in the pre-coal era.
December 4, 2021
I wonder if those who campaigned successfully against shale gas extraction are feeling so pleased with themselves now.
December 4, 2021
It was Mr Kwarteng’s decision. They only “advised”.
December 4, 2021
Advising…does that include lying down in the road and mounting blockades?
December 4, 2021
âI will lie down in front of those bulldozers and stop the building, stop the construction of that third runway at Heathrowâ. Do you remember, P2: 12 May 2015. Donât you think it is wonderful that some now put in practice the words of our beloved Boris?
December 5, 2021
I thought Boris was being ridiculous at the time and that people who take such action are breaking the law.
Pretty straightforward heffy.
All should be equal under the law.
December 4, 2021
+1
December 4, 2021
Of course they know that’s what will happen – that is the aim. Collapsing the UK (England especially) from within. It is patently obvious when you consider every aspect of our culture, traditions, economy, the behaviour of the civil service, the way our leaders say one thing yet do another. We have been delivered from the EU into the WEF’s waiting arms.
December 4, 2021
In what sense does the WEF have any arms?
December 4, 2021
Dear Mr. Redwood,
When people voted for Brexit they wanted the UK to make more things for ourselves, to grow more produce here in the UK, to make us less reliant on others and more self-sufficient.
Under Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party the strapline ‘take back control’ has become a sick joke – a bit like ‘build back better’ and ‘levelling-up’ – meaningless twaddle from a party that has lost its way.
Many on this blog have suggested that strategy and policy is being driven by some other occupant of No.10. One begins to wonder?
December 4, 2021
One of the consistent themes from surveys since the 2016 referendum is that there wasn’t in any way a coherent, detailed prospectus for what should follow a vote to Leave. I suspect that you’re making the same mistake. I’ve no doubt that when you cast your vote to Leave you intended that “the UK to make more things for ourselves, to grow more produce here in the UK, to make us less reliant on others and more self-sufficient”. But I doubt that you have any evidence that any other Leave voters felt the same way. Many of them were motivated by an entirely contradictory vision of a globally free-trading UK which removed tariffs from most goods as well as non-tariff procedural barriers so as to welcome imports from around the globe. My question to the Leavers is: which is it going to be? You actually have to decide now.
December 4, 2021
I trust you have got together with the Scottish Conservative MSP, Liam Kerr on this.
December 4, 2021
Agreed Sir John. I suspect that the only thing that will change matters is if the Reform Party starts eroding the Conservative Party’s support. I am sorry to say that I find Johnson’s Net Zero frenzy a personal vote loser. I suspect I’m not the only one with that viewpoint.
December 4, 2021
+10
December 4, 2021
âWhy canât government Ministers in key departments see that their idea of decarbonisation will not cut world CO 2 output but will export jobs and business from us to overseas?â
Of course they do but the Governmentâs top priority is to achieve net zero CO2 by 2050 whatever the economic and social costs and whether or not any other countries follow suit.
Itâs our punishment for starting the Industrial Revolution (PM speech to UN last September).
The Governmentâs Dec 2020 White Paper on Energy plans for the UK to more than halve its total energy use by 2050 despite an increase in population by legal immigration alone of 10m people and gives us a good clue as to how the Government expects our way of life to change.
Iâm not an economist but I do wonder what will happen to our balance of payments as we import more and more. But I suppose we can keep printing money and continue to sell off bits of the country?
December 4, 2021
OR – âpunishment for starting the industrial revolutionâ! What an absolute joke our PMâs statement is. Letâs follow this rhetoric and take the whole Country back to pre-industrial revolution when everyone was working for a pittance and remove all vestiges of industry, do these people truly want to take us back to the dark ages? Our children couldnât even survive a week without the internet. This is just bilge. Who just who do we vote for that will overturn this nonsense because it is certainly not the whipped Tory, Labour, Lib Dem, Green shower we have now. Iâve finally had enough of it all. Sir John needs to convince his colleagues not us.
December 4, 2021
Richard. Don’t concern yourself with net zero. The price of energy is going so high we’ll not be able to afford to use any soon. There, that’s fixed it.
December 4, 2021
Fedupsoutherner : âThe price of energy is going so high weâll not be able to afford to use any soon.â
Yes, and I was thinking that there would be a natural limit on the price of Government supplied energy when a mix of self-generated electricity from solar panels/home batteries together with the occasional use of Government supplied energy became cheaper than only using the Governmentâs supply.
But then I read on P31 of the Governmentâs 2020 White Paper on Energy that they will be charging higher prices for energy to anyone who self-generates any electricity.
I quote :
âWe are also mindful that, as we rightly encourage households to adopt new technologies such as roof-top solar and home energy storage, this change could affect how consumers pay for their energy in a way which is unfair to others. Households which self-generate electricity and store it, even sell it back to the grid, will be able to reduce how much they pay towards the fixed costs of the electricity system, while still relying on the system when they are not self-supplying. It could leave other consumers to pay a greater share, some of whom may not be able to take advantage of new technologies.â
This form of variable pricing depending upon personal circumstances is a new concept which no doubt our Government could introduce in many other areas. Smart meters and credit cards will make this possible.
December 4, 2021
The main problem is that our politicians, of every party, are less scared of messing up the running of the UK, than they are of the backlash they will get from the media and trolls of not being seen to be green enough.
It is the continuance of the bandwagon without brains.
December 4, 2021
Meanwhile in parts of Scotland and the NE of England (the cold bits at this time of year) hundreds of homes are without electricity after a week since the storm. So how is relying totally on electricity for heating supposed to work?
On a separate, but related point, some of those homes are uncontactable because they have been forced to go over to VOIP (which requires power) as the government plans to close down the PSTN!
Doing away with fallback positions will always give problems in the long term.
December 4, 2021
Peter. Yes bad enough no heating etc but no transport either when all electric. It’s all so utterly stupid I feel like I’m going to have a mental breakdown at times. Is it us or them that have no common sense?
December 4, 2021
+1
December 4, 2021
Ah, Peter from Leeds.
So that is why our land line phones will not work when the national grid is empty. I wondered about that.
December 4, 2021
I was at least able to call 105 on my landline to find out how much longer power restoration was being delayed. The local mobile phone tower was knocked out by the power cut. However, the exchange battery is only required to last 48 hours (our cut was 35 hours), and OFCOM were proposing to reduce that to 1 hour, including making that requirement for internet connections and mobile phone towers. Not sure where that proposal lies now, but it is plainly inadequate. A fallback slow speed connection – even the 1Mb/sec I regularly suffer while I wait for my 100Mb/sec FFTP – would be enough to run a phone and rudimentary internet, provided you had power to run your fibre modem e.g. from a battery bank. Not enough thought has been given to emergency situations, particularly where residents may not be able to get anywhere due to flooded or snowed in roads, fallen trees, etc.
December 4, 2021
Yes. And the Govt wants to make us more dependent on bicycles.
When Boris said I liked my car to go “Va va VROOOM !” he was wrong. But since Tories started out-of-towning all our shops, killing the high street and ‘centralising’ services and force families to flee gangstas imported into their home towns I have no choice but to have a car.
December 4, 2021
Going by your tweets today SirJ, Iâd say youâre a prime candidate for the Reform UK Party
December 4, 2021
There’s only one thing for it, down tools and head for the pub.
December 4, 2021
I despair of the current parties. The party of government has someone like John Redwood sitting on the back benches, unable to participate fully. Those in positions to influence things in the right direction are incapable of seeinig the obvious, even when it’s pointed out to them by those with more experience.
One has to wonder if they can really be that dense, I always ask myself “What’s in it for him?”.
Now that the EU gravy train is not stopping here for the time being, I can only see it as a result of lobbying. What else can it be? Surely they can’t all be that dense?
December 4, 2021
Re most of the comments here, the solution is simple. Just vote for something other than the main parties at the next election. This will probably mean Reform UK, if as I believe most here, are of a right of centre political outlook.
December 4, 2021
MWB. Correct. It’s the only party with Conservative values now.
December 4, 2021
@MWB – agreed, although Reform might be a bit too tame. I never understood from history why people were minded to vote for radical or even extreme political parties given it was usually clear enough how unpleasant they were bound to be. Now I can see that it might have been out of despair as the only means of forcing change promised but actually unavailable from more traditional parties.
December 4, 2021
And if you can’t vote for something other than the main parties, still go in person to the polling station, put a diagonal line through the list of candidates and write N.O.T.A. underneath the list.
Have a fibre tip pen in your pocket to do this.
That way it counts for something, not just discarded as spoiled. Or so I have heard.
December 4, 2021
On topic, over twenty years ago I heard of an unsuccessful attempt to get the government to support a project to explore the use of heat pumps to economically extend the growing season in horticultural tunnels, to which the answer was that there was little point in doing that when we could just import produce from Spain.
December 4, 2021
Off topic, surely we are well beyond the point where the UK government should have offered MPs a sensible, and therefore most likely unilateral, alternative to the Irish protocol?
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/significant-gaps-still-remain-after-eu-talks-uks-frost-says-2021-12-03/?rpc=401&
“LONDON, Dec 3 (Reuters) – Britain said on Friday there were still significant gaps between its position and the European Union over post-Brexit trade arrangements for Northern Ireland and it was ready to take unilateral action if needed.
“The gap between our positions is still significant and progress on many issues has been quite limited,” Britain’s Brexit minister David Frost said in a statement.
“Our position remains as before: that the threshold has been met to use Article 16 safeguards.”
How long is this going to continue? Into 2022, spring, summer, autumn, winter … ? Meanwhile:
https://ukandeu.ac.uk/new-survey-shows-only-one-in-four-labour-and-conservative-mps-think-the-protocol-is-good-for-northern-ireland/
“Only 23% of Conservative MPs and 25% of Labour MPs expressing an opinion think the Northern Ireland protocol is âa good thing for Northern Irelandâ a new representative survey of Members of Parliament, carried out by Ipsos MORI for the UK in a Changing Europe, has found.”
Which is a stark contrast with the view of the EU negotiator Maros Sefcovic, following the helpful lead given by Michael Gove and Brandon Lewis, that the benefits of the protocol are “immense”:
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2021/12/01/how-will-the-extra-cash-for-the-nhs-be-spent/#comment-1280382
It’s December 4 2021; here is a comment from December 4 2017, which is still valid now:
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2017/12/04/two-views-of-brexit/#comment-905136
This is the final paragraph:
“My own conclusion is that itâs pointless trying to negotiate about this with people who adopt such an absurd, extreme and intransigent position, and rather than faff around trying to find a form of words which everyone can accept but each can interpret in a different way, and which may well weaken our Union, Theresa May should just say now that the UK will no longer seek any âdeep and specialâ trade deal with the EU but will trade on WTO terms, and the Irish government can like it or lump it.”
December 4, 2021
Or, as in this other comment also from exactly four years ago:
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2017/12/04/two-views-of-brexit/#comment-905136
“As the Irish government is sufficiently crazy to rule out âanything that would imply a border on the island of Irelandâ, when it is self-evident and undeniable that there already is a border, and moreover an international border, for all kinds of agreed purposes, legal and practical, it really seems utterly pointless and a complete waste of time and energy to try to negotiate any kind of agreement with them.”
December 4, 2021
Correction, that other comment is at:
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2017/12/04/two-views-of-brexit/#comment-905007
December 4, 2021
@Denis Cooper – it is a great pity the U.K. approach from the outset was not “our border, their problem”.
The Northern Ireland Secretary should be encouraged to take a firm line, especially in the face of interference from the ailing President Joe – the cry then (allowing some childish mischief) should be “Let’s go Brandon!”.
December 4, 2021
Farage needs to have Richard Rice on Talking Pints on GB News. Now that would be a good watch.
December 4, 2021
Hmmm, Talking Pints doesn’t seem entirely on-brand for GB News. Is it a new format they’re devising? Will be important to get the position in the schedule right: seems unlikely to get much of an audience before lunchtime but it could be quite a draw at about 6.00pm.
December 4, 2021
You are 100% right here Sir John.
It’s all right blaming the Business Department and Agriculture ministry but let’s face it :-
The Buck stops with B.J.. (And/or his missus!)
Uranium is NOT a fossil fuel. (It is not the result of organic decay.)
A small amount produces a hell of a lot of energy.
Nuclear power does NOT produce the dreaded CO2!
Obvious isn’t it. Nuclear power is the way to keep U.K. powered long term.
But it does take TIME and investment. And we do also need to ensure we have supplies of uranium.
I don’t believe even B.J. is genuinely as stupid as he appears, so I can only believe he actually wants the U.K. to be dependent on imports from – where?
At the moment too much of our energy is IMPORTED from the E.U.
How strange since he was elected to free us from the E.U.!
December 4, 2021
Australia’s got some – and they’re not called Diggers for nuffink!
December 5, 2021
The Australians spent £8.6 bn over roughly 15 years to detain a grand total of ⊠3,127 migrants. Is that what you call value for money?
âAustraliaâs refugee policy: Not a model for the worldâ, J. Minns et al., 2018, Intern.Stud., 55, 1, 1-21.
December 6, 2021
It had the effect of stopping the invasion.
Cheap at the price.
The UK is heading for 300,000 net immigration and a similar additional number of illegals and asylum and refugees every year.
Two cities the size of Southampton or Coventry needed every year.
December 4, 2021
I agree nuclear makes sense. Not at all sure about EPRs though, with the latest news from the shutdown Taishan stations. I would be urgently seeking a different, proven technology to build at Sizewell, and probably adding in Moorside and Wylfa and Bradwell at least as well to build 5-8GW rapidly (8 would be needed if Hinkley Point is a disaster), simply to replace the capacity we are losing due to old age closures. We should be prepared to accept existing design certification (cut the role of ONR to the minimum, such as ensuring translation of manuals to English if needed and promoting training of nuclear station engineers), and concentrate on building several similar stations to lower costs, and on training people to run them. We can then fill in with SMRs later when they are available.
Current nuclear plans are utterly inadequate, even of they are being pushed as the public face of capacity expansion. The fact is that BEIS is still wedded to its silly ideas about offshore power that is never going to work when the wind drops.
December 4, 2021
Todayâs diary prompts me to inquire what if a person was now of prospective interest to this countryâs security services, having become radicalized over the past year by sustained exposure to the absurd antics of various Cabinet ministers and their colleagues? What then?
(Asking for a friend.)
December 4, 2021
Off topic, but I see that Omicron isn’t killing anybody. So I’ll expect a government that has just trashed the Christmas trade for the hospitality industry, and reduced air-travel demand, to start undoing some of the damage promptly on December 20th. For starters, it can remove the Day 2 PCR test requirement.
December 4, 2021
Yes Sea Warrior. The CON government IMPOSED Covid19 DICTATORSHIP, is still very much there – mandatory jabs – domestic vaccine passports, etc.
Mandatory face masks are already back.
December 4, 2021
+1
December 4, 2021
Well, that meeting you had with Kwarteng was a great success, wasn’t it ….?
Clearly ministers are failing to do their jobs properly, but so are you Conservative backbenchers! Your job is to hold ministers to account, but you aren’t doing this. Take Kwarteng. Why do you not put up an EDM stating that you have no confidence in him? It would only take 40 Tories to sign this and the opposition would table a motion of no confidence and, together, you could get him sacked. You can bet that the next minister will be much more willing to do what you ask of him!!! Of course, policy ultimately comes from the PM, but this is a way to force him to change policy without directly challenging him. It is the ONLY way to get ministers, the PM and the government as a whole to listen to you. Either you start rebelling seriously, or things which just get worse and worse and your complaints will achieve NOTHING.
December 4, 2021
Sir John it would be hard not to agree with your sentiments. The way this Government is acting you start to believe they have engaged in a destructive agenda. Export Jobs, then export the UK’s wealth.
Straight out of the Socialist playbook, to enhance control you first destroy the very fabric and capability of the people to improve and become self-reliant. This is no longer a proper functioning Democracy.
Its not that Government has to much power it is the majority in the HoC are just freeloaders and are looking for a quiet life. Yes you get petty snipping over next to nothing, but the majority show no interest in the UK, in their constituencies and the people they serve. Its no longer a calling, to serve, but a cushy number for those unable to find work elsewhere.
December 4, 2021
Can’t you do something John? We didn’t vote for this.
December 4, 2021
You absolutely did vote for it.
Most of the current difficulties facing the country are caused by your brexit, particularly the increased dependence on imports.
December 4, 2021
There is nothing in the Brexit agreements that prevents us from developing our own oil and gas resources, or that requires us to increase our imports. Indeed, our imports from the EU have fallen.
December 4, 2021
NLH – what do you mean âincreased dependence on importsâ what canât we make now for ourselves that we couldnât make before Brexit, your comment doesnât make sense?
December 5, 2021
The question – you as a Tory really should be ashamed – is can the UK make, grow, extract, or rear it more competitively than it can import it?
We’re not in CAP now, and for plenty of food the answer is no.
Our farmers go out of business, and in move the US chlorinated chicken guys for instance.
December 5, 2021
Hilarious nonsense NHL
In one sentence you want more imports and cheaper food in the other sentence you worry about UK farmers going out of business.
CAP is a disaster of a policy for the EU which keeps food prices artificially high, restricts competition from imports and hits the poorest consumers the most.
December 5, 2021
NLH – you just canât answer a simple question can you without trying to tell people they should be âashamedâ. Ashamed for what? I do not believe your statement that Brexit has caused an increased dependence on imports and I asked you for clarification which you didnât provide. Which imports and from where have replaced things that we the UK used to produce for ourselves before Brexit?
I donât see the danger in imported chicken it isnât killing millions of Americans, however, I would prefer to support British farms and farmers which I do as a conservative person.
December 5, 2021
remarkable Martin, you have managed to exceed the Boy Wonder in the number of ridiculous posts in recent days. But sometimes his are funny, yours are just nasty, sniping at attacks at anything British.
December 5, 2021
P2, tell me please. Do your comments apply to the 1957 CAP (Treaty of Rome), the 1968 one (Mansholt reform), the 1992 one (MacSharry revision), or the 2003 version of it (Ciolos Reform).
Can you enlighten us and tell us exactly what present aspects of the ongoing CAP âkeep food prices artificially high, restrict competition from imports and hit the poorest consumers the mostâ.
I expect a detailed answer, please.
December 5, 2021
Why don’t you form your own argument heffy
Why do you set questions like some retired grumpy academic?
“I expect a detailed answer”..who the hell do you think you are !
December 5, 2021
Somebody who shows how an empty vessel you are, P2. On practically every topic you donât seem to know much more than what your usual newspaper has recently written. Unable to bring any new element of discussion, yet you are the one calling for decent debate. What a laugh. Youâre really a good fun. (BTW, you can thank me for the compliment, I expect it!)
December 5, 2021
Usual abuse hef
I’m not your research student.
Go off and troll somebody else.
December 13, 2021
P2, a distinguished follower of ultracrepidarianism âŠ
December 4, 2021
Apparently a number of the Afghans allowed (legally) into the country are previous deportees or known terror threats. In response to an FOI request to disclose the number the Home Office replied that they knew the number but it was not in the ‘public interest’ to reveal it. Following the earlier arrogant dismissal of JR’s questions, a confusion between ‘public interest’ and self interest.
December 4, 2021
Surely we need to know whether the government is deploying adequate resources to defray the threat they pose?
December 4, 2021
Beresford. Thanks. That will ensure I sleep soundly in my bed.
December 5, 2021
Beresford : “Apparently a number of the Afghans allowed (legally) into the country are previous deportees or known terror threats.â
As demonstrated by recent terrorist events, that just because immigrants (legal or illegal) are coming to the UK âfor a better lifeâ and safety from tribal and religious/cultural intolerances back home, or from the law, does NOT mean they, or their offspring, wish to integrate into our society and are happy to accept our laws and culture.
December 5, 2021
âThe U.K. government aims to make us more dependent on imports.â
This doesnât just apply to manufactured goods, food and fuel/electricity.
It also applies to people, both unskilled and skilled.
Both keep wages low and in the case of skilled save money on training our own people.
The resulting increases in population, social and security costs are ignored.
December 7, 2021
Wildflowers !!!!! At least these could be ploughed and the land returned to growing food …. UNLIKE ALL THE HOUSES BEING BUILT ON VALUABLE GREEN LAND …