Continental Europe is very short of gas. It now needs to secure more of it. It has decided that gas is after all a green fuel. Natural gas is for the transition to net zero, and hydrogen gas is to follow down the pipes in due course.
The UK relies heavily on natural gas for heating homes and buildings, for powering heat processes in factories and for electricity generation. Successive UK governments this century have accelerated the decline of the North Sea and declined to find ways to extract onshore gas, preferring to make us import dependent on Norway and Qatar. It is good they have not committed us to too much continental gas. The overriding priority now must be to increase domestic gas production and to steer clear of links to a gas starved continent becoming increasingly dependent on Mr Putin.
The instability of the continental position has just got worse. Hungary has signed a new contract with Russia to import large quantities of Russian gas which will now be delivered through a pipeline that does not cross Ukraine. This replaces use of the Ukraine pipe system. Mr Putin is keen to reduce his dependence on the Ukraine pipe for export to the EU, as he wants no hostage to his policy freedom over Ukraine. He is keen to sign a deal with Germany to use Nord Stream 2, a new pipe from Russia to Germany across the Baltic, to replace the current flows through the Ukraine pipe. If he could eliminate Russian exports via Ukraine he would weaken Ukraine which has been enjoying substantial transit revenues from the gas.
The USA under Mr Trump warned Germany not to sign up to more Russian gas and not sign up to NordStream2, seeing it as a substantial strategic weakness. Mr Biden cancelled the Trump proposals for sanctions were the piped gas to go ahead, but has now had second thoughts and is unhappy about the impact NordStream 2 gas will have on the strategic balance with Russia.
Yesterday we read that the UK as part of the NATO effort was flying defensive anti tank weapons to Ukraine . The UK needs to strengthen our home position and not get drawn into disputes on the far side of the EU’s territory. The EU has to get smarter at handling Putin’s gas based diplomacy. It needs a workable plan for Ukraine. 7 years after Russia took Crimea the EUÂ still rules out a military solution, given the consequences of such an action. It needs a workable solution for the rest of Ukraine which also avoids a war.
January 19, 2022
I look forward with some trepidation to Germany’s relationship to Russia. Only 3 days ago, I read a report from Bloomberg, saying that Germany was heading for another recession, as it also is suffering from the “fastest inflation in 3 decades”. There was a contraction in their economy in the last quarter, and the Federal Statistics Office is predicting another contraction this quarter. Germany’s recovery from the pandemic apparently trails France, Italy and Spain. “Meanwhile, power and heating costs have soared and microchips and other factory input remains scarce.”
January 19, 2022
Good morning.
I am really not buying this ‘Mad bad Russian Bear’ narrative. Ever since the fall of the Soviet Union the West has been falling over themselves to get their hands on Russia’s wealth. They started off well under President Yeltsin but, under President Putin the Oligarchs have been put in their place
Ukraine lays next to the soft underbelly of Russian and the Russians are keen to secure this. They are using Nord Stream 2 (yes there is more than one gas pipeline from Russia to the EU under the Baltic) to further weaken Ukraine, both economically and politically and to draw it back under its sphere of influence.
I too do not want us involved in a country far away with which we have no historical, cultural, political or economic ties. So stop poking the Bear. OK !
January 19, 2022
Oh what now ?!?!?!
I took it on the chin my post about the BBC being in moderation but this is silly. Not long, no links, and on topic. Two named individuals, one dead the other often vilified both here and elsewhere.
So what is the reason this time ?
January 20, 2022
I would guess there is a lot going on elsewhere at the moment.
January 20, 2022
You can almost pinpoint the time when the West went mental over Russia – in 2009 Gordon Brown made his New World Order speech at the G20 summit. Around the same time Putin stood at an international assembly and stated Russia wanted not part of it.
January 20, 2022
Before 2014 in Ukraine (Color Revolution) what was the relationship between Russia and Ukraine? Quite OK or am wrong? If not then it would appear that the West is to blame for the present problem. Why would Russia expand its problems with an invasion of Ukraine and even the Baltic states? I think that the US arms manufactures want war as their profits have fallen with the Afghan war stopped (to some extent).
It’s the USA which wants war.
If Ukraine wants weapons on its soil then Cuba, Venezuela, and others in Latin America should have them too but as the US controls the world, including the UK, then they don’t think of that.
January 19, 2022
The politics of gas … of energy ..
Best not become dependent on Scotland for electricity then and I hope the UK Gov retains some control over the energy facilities we are all funding, such as the new H2 generation plant near Glasgow.
January 19, 2022
Dixie. I’ve been saying this for a long time. We are all paying for the offshore wind in Scotland and yet if they achieve independence they will hold us to ransome over energy. Same with oil. England in particular needs to be more self sufficient.
January 19, 2022
Like most western governments their focus is on subjugating and targeting their own people using Covid and progressive politics to do so. Putin’s an irrelevance for most ordinary people though I am sure they sometimes wonder who the real enemy actually is, China and Russia or those we elect to power
I know something. As a UK citizen I have never felt more threatened by the British government-State than I have today. It’s embrace of authoritarian imposition using all the weapons of war from the toolbox of woke bigotry
I bet Putin doesn’t stand by and watch Russian statues pulled down and Russian history smashed into the dirt
January 19, 2022
Its
January 19, 2022
The UK needs to strengthen our home position and not get drawn into disputes on the far side of the EUâs territory.
Let the EU draw up there own army to fight off Russia we should military stay out of it even if America gets involved , as for gas we should continue to use our own resources and restart drilling for shale stuff all this climate change rubbish I for one donât give a toss what the weather is going to be like in 30years time but saying that the weather bureauâs cannot even get next weeks predictions correct so they donât have a hope in hell of getting it right in 30years time
January 19, 2022
So … it looks as though the politics of the UK Government is going to cost me a lot of money.
What can I do about it ?
January 19, 2022
You have the May local council elections ? I’d suggest you use that to make your displeasure known.
January 20, 2022
@ Mark B
Thank you.
The May elections feel like a plan B …… whilst perhaps I am looking for a plan A.
January 19, 2022
What is so annoying and frustrating is the situation we currently find ourselves in has been predicted for decades, and the vast majority of politicians ignored the obvious as what would happen when the oil and gas ran out. This has been compounded by the green religious zealots who have and had no idea that to change our energy supplies it was imperative to have a business as usual approach during the transition stage.
Thousands of turbines splattered all over the countryside cannot replace central based conventional power generating sites with out massive investment in the distribution infrastructure.
The public have fought against pylon routes, fracking sites and replacement power stations. But as much as this is ignored by the politicians,planners and green zealots the inescapable fact is that wind and solar are not the panacea to our and the world’s energy and the worlds survival.
On the remaining off shore drilling rigs gas is still being flared off over the decades billions of cu ft have been wasted. Around the country small scale drilling operations are in use.
It is only when the lights go out or the death rates start to rise amongst the most vulnerable in society due to unaffordable energy bills and the stark choice of heat or eat. The high profile do gooders will want the tax payers (government) to pay more to address the situation. Some on this site will welcome the rise in pensioner’s deaths but it will also encapsulate the disabled and venerable young families.
The choice is grasp the nettle, start fracking, use our coal reserves, and licence more areas for oil and gas off shore exploration. It is criminal that this country finds itself in the position it does today.
January 19, 2022
You say – âNatural gas is for the transition to net zero, and hydrogen gas is to follow down the pipes in due courseâ so what exactly is the rational for this agenda? We have to hydrogen mines so it has to be manufactured and this is very expensive and energy wasteful process to manufacture, compress and store. It also produces loads of CO2 in the process anyway, usually rather more CO2 than just fracking or drilling for natural gas and using that.
The politics of gas in the UK is that very expensive gas is an economic and political disaster, particularly as it is the result of idiotic and irrational net zero policies and the deliberate devaluation of Stirling.
January 19, 2022
You would be talking about steam methane reforming, so called “blue” hydrogen, with involves steam and methane (natural gas). What would be the point of that rather than simply sending the natural gas down the pipes? And then what would you do if you run out of local natural gas, or it becomes to expensive to extract or Russia or Germany or France turns off the taps?
Green hydrogen is produced by electrolysis of water, no CO2 generated as will be used in the new hydrogen plants to be developed in Glasgow.
January 19, 2022
Green hydrogen is becoming easier and cheaper to manufacture with new technologies coming on stream – see here, for example: https://www.cityam.com/hydrogen-specialists-cph2-announce-plans-to-list-on-london-stock-exchange/
Given Boris’s absurd obsession with ever more wind turbines, using surplus energy produced at night to make green hydrogen would not be a bad idea. This will also be the case if and when we ever do build all the nuclear power stations that we need (preferably going down the road of RR’s SMRs), as these produce energy 24/7, so night time production can again be used to make green hydrogen.
Hydrogen is quite useful, as hydrogen-powered buses will reduce particulate and noxious gas pollution in cities, for instance. I am not opposed to cleaner fuels in principle, but these must be cost-competitive. Given time and British scientific resourcefulness I am sure we will get there. I do object, however, to arbitrary dates being set as targets rather than letting science and technology decide when we can achieve this.
January 20, 2022
I looked at the technical parameters claimed for their design to produce 451kg of hydrogen per day using a 1MW supply. At 33 kWh of energy content per kg of hydrogen that works out to 62% efficiency, less energy consumed in compression as necessary. That is basically the same as PEM electrolysers, so nothing truly ground breaking, although probably competitive with them. Both depend on essentially high cost electricity to produce even higher cost hydrogen, and are not competitive with steam methane reforming.
January 20, 2022
My understanding is they are using an approach that avoids the issues of PEM, eg degradation and associated maintenance, so ops costs may be lower.
Why would it be “high cost” electricity if it was used by wind farms to capture surplus energy rather than the taxpayer pay them not to generate despite available wind?
WRT steam reforming where would the methane come from?
What are the cost comparisons versus European gas the price of the latter goes astronomical as it did recently?
January 21, 2022
You have to invest in capacity to produce surpluses – not only wind capacity, but also transmission capacity. Surpluses are highly intermittent, and highly variable in extent. That means it is not economic to exploit all the surplus, because you build capacity (transmission, electrolysis) that gets used too rarely if you do. So you end up with surplus that earns no income, which means that the next tranche must earn the income to pay for both tranches, and you end up with low plant utilisation. Please see the following chart
https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/nZM72/1/
I do not advocate hydrogen because of the cost and intermittency issues, along with the difficulties of handling. Its use in industry and oil refining is where it should stay. There is a very low round trip efficiency in using it for storage to cover for renewables intermittency. That makes economic justification hard, and requires a substantial excess of generation to cover for the losses, as well as extremely large volumes of storage. Here are the results of calculation I did using 2021 hourly data on wind and demand: they are generous, in that I have imposed no penalty for the economics of very low utilisation. They show that to supply the demand averaging 32GW we would have needed over 150GW of wind and over 50TWh of storage as hydrogen (taking up the volume of 150TWh of methane storage), and the storage would need to have been already over half full at the start of the year. We could have got away with “just”4,200 Dinorwigs if we used pumped storage instead, or we could have used ÂŁ8.5 trillion worth of grid batteries.
https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ZmrQw/1/
If you make allowance for the capacity utilisation issue you need even more wind generation in order to provide more reliable duration of surpluses, but you will be discarding a high proportion of the marginal output, which means that the marginal cost gets extremely high, as only 10-20% of output is useful, so the cost is 5-10 times the number you first thought of. Of course, you could try and hide the truth in subsidies and non-market practices, but these are the realities.
January 20, 2022
We must all recognise that there is no climate emergency. CO2 has a minimal effect on the weather and Net Zero will bring an unparalleled economic calamity
January 19, 2022
The whole political class is responsible for scandal that is the UK’s energy policy. That scandal will become more and more obvious as more and more families face insurmountable energy bills. Then Johnson’s current troubles will look like a storm in a teacup
January 19, 2022
With all the problems rearing their ugly heads over gas supplies from Russia and the Ukraine border situation has this country learnt nothing?
We went to war over Polish guarantees and treaties. It is the UN and EU that have bought about this situation. How many other countries will be deploying their troops and equipment on the Russian Ukraine Borders?
The sobering thought is, thank goodness we as a country have not committed to Net Zero because those hundreds of Russian old style powered tanks would make short work of any electric versions put up against them. Just play catch me if you can and wait for the batteries to run out. This is where idiots are taking us with all this nonsense, will missles be battery powered? You cannot make it up.
January 19, 2022
Putin needs to feel a lot of pain if he invades Ukraine. I would suggest that the West comes together and makes it clear, through diplomatic channels, that, in the event of an invasion, no Russian will be allowed to travel to the West for any personal reasons (holiday, study, residence). Those here won’t be allowed to work here on completion of their degrees. Nor will they be allowed to purchase homes here. All naturalisation and visa requests will be sent to the waste-paper bin. And the same should go for a China confronting India, rattling sabres at Taiwan, and now, we learn, building villages inside Happy Bhutan, the most peaceable country in the world. Both Putin and Xi need a measure of popular support; it’s about time we chipped away at it. The CCP, in particular, will be most vulnerable to pressure of this kind.
January 19, 2022
Ukraine is none of our business, and UK should stay out and not interfere.
January 19, 2022
Should they have to sell the English football clubs they had bought? Chelsea FC, parts of Everton FC, Arsenal, Manchester City?
January 19, 2022
many good ideas here, if only some were to be implemented.
January 19, 2022
Here’s a thought on how to avoid a war. Stop advancing NATO up to Russian borders and then placing military bases with minutes of those borders. How would Washington feel about Chinese military bases in Mexico?
January 19, 2022
Nigel Farage had a Ukrainian diplomat on his show last night, who described how Ukraine had handed over their nuclear weapons because the west had promised they could join NATO..
No one seems to consider Ukraine in all of this!
January 19, 2022
Or Cuba?
January 19, 2022
Please identify NATO’s bases in Ukraine.
January 19, 2022
The US has invested a lot in upgrading NATO facilities in Poland, Estonia and Latvia, NATO members bordering Russia, as well as in Hungary and Slovakia, not far away. Not to mention USAF bases in Norway and Turkey. Russians remember the horrors of being invaded in 1941. I can’t see they have any reason to invade anyone in Europe, unless provoked by the direct threat of a NATO attack from that ring of bases. They have every interest in trading in energy with Europe. Who would want to stop that?
January 20, 2022
Your implication is rather robust.
January 19, 2022
I think he means the clapped out Jeeps parked in the lanes near the border, with 303 rifles to defend the country.
January 19, 2022
+1 And what could have been a critical NATO ally is now a Chinese one.
The next general election is going to have to be fought against a miserable background of fuel poverty.
On many things President Trump was obviously right and the World didn’t feel this unstable on his watch. In fact fewer American conflicts took place under Trump than under Obama (who had his own fair share of civil unrest too.)
January 19, 2022
And an Iranian one.The new Iranian President and his FM are travelling to Moscow today or tomorrow with a shopping list.
The successful Houthi attack on Abu Dhabi this week- like that attack on the Saudi oil facilities a few years ago- is indicative of a power shift which will prove increasingly magnetic.
January 19, 2022
Right on cue… I tune into R1 instead of R2 because I’m sick of the political bias (the music is much the same now anyway) and the first thing I hear is “Michelle and Barak Obama – oh weren’t those days bliss ???”
January 19, 2022
America wasn’t happy when it looked like Russian missiles were going to be installed in Cuba.
January 19, 2022
No, they threatened to end the world over it.
January 19, 2022
And Russia was unhappy about US missles in Turkey. It was a mutual agreement to stand down advanced missile bases that ended the immediate crisis, but also propelled Castro to being a key Soviet ally.
January 19, 2022
There are no formed NATO troops or weapon systems on the ground in the Ukraine
Various individual countries have supported the Ukraine with technological, training and military hardware support outside the scope of any NATO mission
NATO does however have a memorandum with Ukraine to support and introduce modern information technologies and services into the command and control of Ukraine systems
But no boots on the ground
January 19, 2022
Don’t forget the overtures made by the EU since 2014.
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/de/MEMO_15_5035
January 19, 2022
NATO is not advancing thats a russian lie
January 19, 2022
Mr Putin knows that for the EU a war is unthinkable and unwinable. The EU will have to look elsewhere for gas and that will be South, perhaps even Israel and the Emirates, politically painful for them!
It is doubtful that Putin’s ambition stretches beyond Eastern Ukraine so it is likely if this is achieved then it would round off the annexation of Crimea.
The UK had better get fracking and pumping domestic supplies, and mining King Coal or we are in trouble.
January 19, 2022
To reduce our energy use there is a brilliant idea on FB today.
Round up all the dingy channel crossers and put them on buses and take them to Folkestone and put them on a shuttle and send them back to France. All in one day especially those with no forms of legal identification. It would become known as the dingy shuttle. Got to be cheaper all round then putting them up and all that goes with it. The hotels would not have their heating going 24/7 and cooking all these thousands of meals. Ironic our people will have to make a choice about eat and heat and the dingy Crossers get it all at taxpayers expense.
Something ain’t quite right here.
January 19, 2022
None of this is going to happen whilst Carrie Antoinette is controlling Boris.
He is increasingly becoming a liability and undermining our health and wellbeing.
We need a proper Conservative at the helm but I don’t see any real candidates.
January 19, 2022
Ian, Try David Frost. Remember Lord Hume?
January 19, 2022
Steve Baker is one of the few talking any sense but he has no real chance at 100/1 the others are worse than Boris.
January 19, 2022
He is too highly strung to be PM.
January 20, 2022
Yes, that’s one way of putting it, Rose.
January 19, 2022
Succinct first 2 paragraphs concluding with the supposed never ending threat from Russia. Then three paragraphs on how USA, EU and Ukraine create a log jam of distraction from the real issue buried in the middle.
The UK has massive potential natural gas capacity, the UK needs this transition source and will always need a reserve source.
Once again our Energy Security problem is shrouded in a haze of other peoples problems. The real issue is not even on the Government’s for “discussion” list as you have recently proven by way of Ministerial reply to your question on energy security.
Our Government and Parliament is yet again dancing around a burning fire stoked by a cabal of I’m all right Jacks.
When can we witness the ultimate madness of BYOB Johnson celebrating in Scottish fashion the blowing up of our remaining power stations?
Heat or Eat will not go away.
January 19, 2022
I fear that the argument in Europe has been lost because they have little option other than to buy gas from Russia as the Nord 2 pipeline is built and ready to go. We will see his political influence grow as a result.
Our situation is very different but we will not be able to take advantage of our own natural resources ( and I include a small but strategic amout of coal here ), because, while Boris Johnson remains Prime Minister, his extreme Green Crap agenda will both prevent us from doing so while, at the same time, impoverishing the country because of the needlessly hasty switch to Heat Pumps and electric cars, both of which require very expensive infrastructure investment which government will have to fund and massive bills for households to implement. All in the midst of a massive increase in energy costs. This is a scenario that you couldn’t make up.
It seems unlikely that the current PM will be leading the Conservative party into the next election. I only hope that a candidate emerges who will adopt an entirely pragmatic and UK-centric policy on green issues. He or she will win overwhelming support at the next election as there will be clear blue water between the Conservatives and every other party.
January 19, 2022
I don’t have a vote in that contest – I nearly wrote “forthcoming contest” – but if I did then I would look for a candidate who was genuinely committed to the unity of the United Kingdom – the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – rather than just paying lip service to that idea. As for Boris Johnson, he may now be a dead man walking but post mortem he could still perform a valuable service in that regard, if Carrie would patriotically allow his corpse to be strapped to his horse to lead the charge to free the Irish part of our national territory from EU dominion.
January 19, 2022
On which theme, this has just come my way, from the Welsh government:
https://gov.wales/written-statement-update-border-controls-infrastructure
and it includes this paragraph:
“The Welsh Government inherited the UK Governmentâs policy commitment to develop inland Border Control Posts (BCP) where ports could not accommodate them.”
It seems that UK policy commitment to Border Control Posts sited away from the actual border is restricted to sites in Great Britain, but of course there is no reason why the same solution should not be applied in Northern Ireland with respect to the land border, apart from the fact that the Irish government objected and because they could have effectively vetoed his much-vaunted trade deal Boris Johnson caved in.
January 19, 2022
And a little later:
https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/brexit/mands-renews-calls-for-end-to-all-northern-ireland-border-checks/663650.article
“M&S renews calls for end to all Northern Ireland border checks”
January 19, 2022
https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2022/01/ms-urges-government-to-end-northern-ireland-border-checks-and-help-solve-labour-shortage/
âWe also strongly believe that with similar technology and common sense we can make any border frictionless with no material detriment to customs controls or food safety.â
January 19, 2022
The Green Solution â Carrie will advise Boris to bury his head in the sand and to buy as many wind-turbines as possible before anyone notices the real cost
January 19, 2022
You’d think the EU would be encouraging Norway and the UK to develop North Sea gas fields rather than turning to Russia – a communist state, historic enemy and unreliable partner.
I have a suspicion the EU favours the Russia solution as the UK and Norway are not good little Europeans who will follow all of Brussels’ dictats.
January 19, 2022
Russia is absolutely not a communist state under Putin.
He is a right wing nationalist populist, admired by the likes of Farage, and chummy with Orban it seems.
The commies are now the downtrodden opposition there.
January 19, 2022
The Germans -and others- regard Russia as a very reliable partner.And France has consistently said it will not have it’s foreign policy dictated by NATO.
As for “communist state”….Rip Van Winkel time to wake up!
January 19, 2022
PeteB : âI have a suspicion the EU favours the Russia solution as the UK and Norway are not good little Europeans who will follow all of Brusselsâ dictats.â
I think youâre right.
The EUâs destination is to become the EU equivalent of the USSR and Merkel (Russian speaking, ex senior member of the Russian propaganda organisation, Agitprop, when living in East Germany) has made the EU (“gas is now green”) dependent upon Russian gas.
Inevitable when nuclear reactors are closed down prematurely and renewables are incapable of ever providing a reliable source of power.
January 19, 2022
a typo … you meant Germany favours the Russia solution.
Didn’t you!
January 19, 2022
Not sure why we’re getting involved in Ukraine. What’s our strategic interest there ? Germany is notably doing nothing at all to support them so why should we ?
January 19, 2022
Germany can’t do anything if it wants to keep gas flowing from Russia. Germany is now a vassal of Moscow. That’s what you get after having a pseudo communist Chancellor for 20 years
January 19, 2022
Ian
The German’s, as always, are looking after their interests. In this case they need a constant, reliable and cheap source of energy, Russia is prepared to supply this. I personally have no problems with this. I just wish we had politicians that did the same.
January 19, 2022
Baerbock was surprisingly pugnacious during her trip to Moscow. But perhaps she is willing to sacrifice German energy security.
January 20, 2022
In front of the cameras!
January 19, 2022
Because war in Europe will affect us.
January 19, 2022
No ! only is we are stupid enough to get involved. Switzerland managed to avoid the two most destructive wars in human history, despite being at the epicentre. You just need to learn to mind your own business.
January 19, 2022
And this time we should just watch.
January 19, 2022
Think energy supplies of gas and then you have Germany’s position. Hence Trump had strategic vision and our lot………………….don’t think.
January 19, 2022
Our lots strategic mission is to enrich themselves and their friends.
January 19, 2022
100%
January 19, 2022
The UK is trying to assemble an empire of influence to justify the retention of an imperial class we didn’t close down when we lost the real empire.
Trouble is there’s not much left to go for.Hence subsidy junkies like the Baltic statelets,failed states like Ukraine and the odd banana republic.Take this article from The Times last week:
“Britain’s newest ally in the battle against Xi and Putin?Albania.”
Is that loud noise I hear the scrapping of the bottom of barrels?
January 19, 2022
Germany blocked British planes from flying over their airspace with equipment for Ukrane and have also threatened to veto sanctions on Russia if they invade Ukraine.
Germany is now dependent on Russia for its future energy needs and is defacto no longer a NATO member.
This has huge geopolitical implications for Western Europe. Principally Eastern Europe, which now includes Germany, will become dependent on Russia and this will drive EU policy.
January 19, 2022
We have long been predicting an axis of China-Russia-Germany.Eurasia complete!And a good thing it will be too for peace and security.They will not be going round the world wrecking countries and building military bases everywhere.
If you are not onboard the Eurasia Express you’ll be left in the sidings waiting for the slow train to nowheresville!
January 19, 2022
Once the infrastructure is built wind energy is essentially free. It canât be controlled by Mr Putin.
Once the infrastructure is built solar energy is essentially free. So is hydro. And geothermal. And wave power. And tidal power.
These vast natural resources produce more than enough energy to power all of our needs – the fuel itself is essentially free and it canât be controlled by a dictator. It is mind boggling that you all refuse to embrace the future.
Reply Plenty of maintenance and replacement needed. On the same argument once you’ve drilled wells and put in a pipe gas is free.
January 19, 2022
Of course maintenance is required. But not much of it. I really donât understand why, as penny pinching Conservatives, you are not going all out for essentially free energy.
You have to pay nobody for the Sun to rise, or the wind to blow, or the tides to ebb and flow. These things just happen.
Why are you all not embracing it? Itâs weird.
January 19, 2022
Andy,
Renewables are not free, in fact they are the most expensive of all fuel options.
In addition, because of their intermittency/variability, the more renewables which are connected to the grid the more unstable the grid becomes and the more fossil fuel generators are needed running âhotâ on standby or to be ready for long-term back-up. Or the more âdemand managementâ (rolling blackouts) are required to balance the grid.
There are no non-fossil fuel solutions to grid stability or for long-term backup which are not hideously expensive.
So in fact as the proportion of renewables increases so does the unreliability and cost of our electricity.
But of course you, and Sakara Gold, know all of this and also why you do not mention nuclear as a solution.
January 19, 2022
There has been a great spate of problems with undersea cables fro windfarms. I believe the Navy is very concerned about the vulnerability of cables of all kinds to unmanned ROVs that seem to be a new Russian speciality.
January 19, 2022
If natural resources are so plentiful how come wind was generating only 1.3% of demand last week.
You talk absolute nonsense.
January 19, 2022
Once the infrastructure is built ALL local energy is free.
January 19, 2022
You forgot about gas, oil and coal… oh and we’ll need pedal power after those three are banned.
January 19, 2022
They once said nuclear power would be too cheap to meter. That never happened either.
January 19, 2022
And when the wind stops blowing at night we will all freeze to death. Bwilliant plan Rodders.
January 19, 2022
Since the UK left the EU, the EU hasn’t got anyone to fight for them. The EU will not do anything other than sanctions. The UK should stay well out ,it’s an EU problem.
January 19, 2022
The French are the only real military power in mainline Europe – and for many years resisted being a member of NATO. As Donald (quite rightly) pointed out, the EU countries have been happy to live under the protective umbrella of the US military, whilst not spending anything like the 2% GDP cost of defence that they’d signed up to.
It is becoming increasingly apparent that Germany is now dependent on Russian gas supplies to the extent that they can no longer be relied upon as a NATO ally. This should deeply worry Europeans (the people – not the EU) as well as us. The German people should wake up and realise that ‘Mutty’ has steered them into a deep strategic hole.
Having said all that – here in UK the media is consumed with Partygate. Personally, I wouldn’t care if videos of dancing girls and champagne fountains in the No 10 garden appeared if ( IF! ) we had a coherent energy policy, were actively looking to find ways to encourage/force the French to take back illegals (immediate return being the only practical solution) and sorted the NI issues. Without some sense of meaningful policy (e.g ones that stand up to a few seconds thought) then frankly I will not be mourning Mr Johnsons departure. Whether the Conservative Party can find anyone with better policies (e.g. ones that work) remains to be seen. I’m not holding my breath.
January 19, 2022
Unfortunately this is not true. The stupid traitor Boris Johnson is sending troops to the Baltic countries, to support them against Russian threats and aggression. This is the very OPPOSITE of what we should be doing! We should say to the EU that as they have decided, regrettably, to be our ENEMIES, we will no longer offer them ANY military or security support, either unilaterally or even through NATO. We should not be going out of our way to help countries that hate us!
January 19, 2022
Afraid we are only at the start of finding out the real untended consequences of a zero emissions policy.
It was clear to most of us a long time ago that it was a step too far, too fast, with few alternatives having been developed/proven and available.
This whole fiasco has been bought upon ourselves, not just in the UK, but in other Countries with a similar policy as well.
Time for a rethink, especially about the timescale.
January 19, 2022
+1
January 19, 2022
I hope Boris sees sense for once, and does NOT send troops to Ukraine. Let the EU deal with it. They keep telling us it’s the EU that keeps the peace in Europe, not NATO, so keep NATO out of it too.
January 19, 2022
Nato is 30 countries and they are all obliged to think about it. Putin will go after the Baltic states and the rest of Eastern Europe. He has already sent migrants into Poland via Belarus.
January 19, 2022
Russia has disinvested from the Baltic states,is redirecting all it’s trade(and Belarus’s) through it’s own Baltic ports like Kaliningrad(transit volumes have trebled over the past two years),port of St Petersburg (which is described as “hot” by RailFreight.com) and the newish port of Ust-Luga(already Russia’s second largest port).All are linked to China’s New Silk Road with connections onward to Germany’s major Baltic ports,Scandinavia and even the UK,bypassing Poland.
In fact Russia is turning itself into a vast logistics hub for Eurasia.
The Baltics are now totally free!
January 19, 2022
+ 1
January 19, 2022
I completely agree with you Shirley. And let the EU countries stump up their full contributions to NATO while they’re at it. I do not support the UK’s involvement in this war when we cannot even enforce our own borders.
January 19, 2022
On the subject of Ukraine, how united is that country? Would our support help secure the country, or is it another can of worms like Afghanistan? How many of its population would actually prefer Russian over Western European influence?
January 19, 2022
It sounds very much that Donbass and Crimea are affiliated to Russia of their own volition. Obviously Ukraine would view that in the same way as we could see parts of the UK seceding to the EU. However, surely what the people want should be the primary driver?
Taking sides against Russia makes us vulnerable and it is not our fight.
January 19, 2022
Very good questions.
It varies from place to place. There are many Russians living there.
January 19, 2022
A poll was undertaken after Vladimir Putin published his essay last year proclaiming Russians and Ukrainians one people.A majority agreed with him in the East and South -and even a quarter in the extreme nationalist West.
January 19, 2022
it’s about 50/50, and largely geographically divided, as maps of previous election results reveal.
January 20, 2022
I reckon it’s probably 52:48.
January 19, 2022
Lots and lots of Scots speak English – well sort of, as do many Ukrainians speak Russian.
Many Scots hate England, as do Ukrainians hate Russia.
January 21, 2022
Is it that the Scots hate England and/or the English or just being governed from Westminster … even if that governing is done by Scots in Westminster … it is so conflicted and confusing.
January 19, 2022
Putin neatly tying up EU basic prosperity linked to the gas pipelines.
With German industrial might reliant on low cost energy, and the adjacent countries to Russia under threat, he weakens their resistance forcing Nato & USA to be engaged.
January 19, 2022
For the last +100 years many, but not all, of the wars Russia has had to fight have come from its Western borders. They have expended much blood and treasure and clearly feel threatened.
January 19, 2022
Having checked just now, there are currently 39 LNG cargoes on the high seas destination UK/Europe, including 10 that have been diverted from Asia. Apparently there is no “shortage” of gas any more than there is a “shortage” of wind (this morning wind is generating 12GW again)
The fossil fuel industry wants to recover their lockdown losses and to demonstrate their power in the face of the existential threat to their business model by the renewables industry. Hence the tremendous coordinated price rise
January 19, 2022
Are these imported energy supplies greener than our own sources of the same resources? I just cannot see the sense of importing fuels that we already possess…
January 19, 2022
You do suffer from fantasies. The market price is being set by what buyers are prepared to pay to secure supply. Effectively it is being determined by industries that choose to shut down rather than pay any more. Prices remain very volatile, with low demand and mild weather over the new year seeing a temporary sharp turndown. Supply from some sources has increased in response to high demand – particularly the US. Supply from Russia remains constrained by politics. 39 cargoes may sound like a lot of gas, but if we allow for an average of two weeks’ voltage time it’s only about 3 cargoes a day, which is not much in the context of European demand. The risk of stocks running out before Spring is still considerable, and prices are not likely to drop before that risk is history. Indeed, there is risk of further sharp spikes, particularly if Russia cuts further supplies, or if we get more windless cold snaps.
January 19, 2022
Bit of topic but ⊠please with a cherry on top give strong consideration to running as a candidate to replace Boris Johnson. Why? In the battle of ideas you are clearly ahead of the field. Unlike Jeremy Hunt, you have the innate skills to build a strong UK economy. Inter alia, you are a solid Brexiteer and if elected to office would scrub VAT immediately from UK energy bills. You are literally opposed to the ‘environMENTAL levy’ of around 23.5% added to electricity bills that together with VAT is a monstrous burden on British families. You are against the forthcoming national insurance and tax hikes. You are for decriminalising non-payment of the BBC licence fee. What more is there to say, throw your name in the hat!
January 19, 2022
I would live to see Sir John in the cabinet, if not being first among equals.
January 19, 2022
Christopher Wood
+1
January 19, 2022
For our kind host to be Conservative Leader he has to be part of a political party that shares his conservative views. If you look at all the conservative leaders since 1997 only IDS came close to being that, and they stabbed him in the back.
My so called Conservative MP has never worked in the private sector. NHS. Local Council. SpAd. That is the ‘Modern’ Conservative Party for you.
January 19, 2022
+10
January 19, 2022
Sir John can also speak. None of the ones being touted by the media can speak; they can only read which is not compelling for the audience.
January 19, 2022
Unfortunately the MPs who vote for the new leader won’t vote for a “proper” conservative.
If ever there was a time “Not to go wobbly” this is it. Unfortunately many of the current Conservative MPs are exactly that.
January 19, 2022
We see plainly the downside lessons of fuel dependency. The UK has no need to put itself in such a position. We can be self sufficient in gas if only we would end political timidity. When it is practical we should aim to change to manufactured green hydrogen. Unreliable wind or solar energy can be used to produce that hydrogen. The green levy should be cancelled as it is the only way to get a sizeable reduction in the looming fuel cost hike. If the arguement is that the green levy is critical in producing green electricity then it confirms that wind and solar are not viable. They are the HS2 of energy.
None polluting electricity production should be SMR atomic units in the reachable future. Long term the aim should be fusion energy.
Immediate need for coal in electricity or steel production should be from UK mines.
Russian gas, Middle Eastern gas, and electricity via interconnectors are bad strategically in that they supply political leverage to offshore interests.
I look to the ERG, the Spartans, and the Red Wall MPs to push for all the above or come up with something better. COP26 and the Green Religon are virtue signalling. I am all for cleaning up first the UK and then the Planet but systems must be practical and realisable.
January 19, 2022
Is any other European country besides the UK getting drawn into this Ukraine situation?
NATO sending materiel looks like deliberate provocation to me.
January 19, 2022
NATO hasnât sent any weapons, the UK have
Since 2015 NATO and the Ukraine have had a memorandum to develop its command & control systems but no hot hardware systems
Be careful when assigning the term ”NATO”
January 19, 2022
Quite, but I assumed that the UK did this as a NATO member – apologies for the lack of clarity and/or inaccuracy.
January 19, 2022
All of NATO thanks. Defensive weapons is no risk to Russian tanks if they stay in Russia,
January 19, 2022
What can EU countries do to protect from invasion?
January 19, 2022
Well moving 100,000 Russian troops and armour up to the Ukranian border looks just a little provocative too.
January 19, 2022
Why does NATO exist – why else but to protect the innocent from aggression, including the threat of military attack.
January 20, 2022
NLS.
I could be wrong, but I do not think Putin is stupid enough to destroy his own business by invading Ukraine. You may not know it but like all mafia bosses before him he skims off his personal percentage from just about every major industry in Russia. This started for him and KGB colleagues when he took over from Yeltsin.
Having said that, can I suggest that small nations do not provoke world powers. Bullying works the other way around. If the UK chooses to aid the bullied it helps rebalance matters, unless of course you afe arguing that such help enables Ukraine to invade Russia.
January 19, 2022
If there is any heavy lifting to do regarding the Ukraine I do hope our politicians will have the sense to leave the Germans French Italians Dutch and Spanish to do it.
January 19, 2022
Or send their own offspring to be slaughtered.
January 19, 2022
You won’t get run over in the rush.
January 19, 2022
Frack. Stuff with gold the pockets of those whose quiet lives are disturbed by tremors, and in the unlikely event of any property damage pay triple recompense.
Is CO2 reduction necessary? Urgent? If so frack as an emergency measure with the aim of replacing oil for home and industrial heating, extending the gas grid. Encourage the development of CNG for HGVs, shipping and larger cars. This will greatly reduce the UK’s carbon footprint.
Export gas across the North Sea, cleaning up Germany’s lignite pollution. The resultant improvement in the EU’s strategic position as we allow gas to flow to them is obvious.
JF
Sir John, hydrogen is a dangerous distraction and, more to the point, is a store of energy rather than a source. Those proposing it either have forgotten their O level physics or are seeking a use for otherwise uneconomic wind turbines.
January 19, 2022
Oil and gas are as much a store of energy as hydrogen – the energy was stored in the oil and gas you wish to depend on a long time ago over a long period of time. Once you have burned up the oil & gas are you going to wait around for more plants to die, decompose and be cooked over thousands of years?
How economic will your oil wells be then, assuming you are able to access them or the owners are willing to sell the output to you.
Or will you generate hydrogen from water as fuel?
Placing H2 electrolysis with intermittent wind/solar/tidal generation provides a means to buffer the energy and use it in turbines to make it dispatchable, more predictable and less dependent on other countries for our energy.
January 20, 2022
That’s also an extremely expensive thing to do. Only contemplated by those who have no understanding of energy economics.
January 20, 2022
… or little to no choices.
Are you telling me that wells never run dry that the gas never runs out, that we will always be able to access and afford the gas & oil we need regardless of where it is, who controls it and who wants it?
I would like to see a thorough comparison of the different sourcing and generating approaches which incorporates all the true costs – esp all the actual subsidies for oil & gas.
I am not sure how the blood part is costed but there should be proper accounting info available for most of the treasure part, barring the manila envelopes.
But such an objective assessment is highly unlikely – who would everyone believe considering the politicisation and corruption of some scientists.
January 21, 2022
With the exception of some subsidised supply for the poor in a few countries you will find that oil and gas are a large source of taxes. That’s certainly true in the UKCS, where most fields are paying 62% on a ring fenced basis.
Of course in the longer run we will need to move to vastly greater reliance on nuclear power, some of which will be used to make fossil fuels for those applications where they are particularly hard to replace effectively, such as aviation. But whereas in 1980 there were supposedly only 29 years of oil left, over 40 years later we have around 50 years of identified supply. We would have a lot more if exploration weren’t being prevented.
January 19, 2022
Julian Flood :
I agree with all your points.
In fact methane gas should be used for all vehicles as it has lower emissions than petrol and diesel and all existing ic engines can be converted to its use.
A far cheaper solution than evs until the technology for evs improves and we have a method to produce non-fossil fuel electricity cheaply and reliably.
January 19, 2022
+1
January 19, 2022
Hydrogen is a big energy consumer. It is only made for its chemical uses, mainly desulphurisation in refineries and for fertilisers. If you want to generate electricity from green hydrogen you must use nearly three times the energy that provides to make it.
January 19, 2022
I’m not sure we’ve got enough to send to Germany but we have enough for ourselves.
January 19, 2022
Western diplomacy, as far as Russia is concerned, is often pointless, bordering on the childish.
Russia is used as THE evil scapegoat when it is quite often the target of Western aspirations.
Just what has Russia done to earn such derision – Exactly what is it guilty of?
Putin has done far more for his country than most Western leaders have for theirs, and his country is relatively stable. Will the West only be happy when Russia has its own internal problems that affect its survival?
Who can blame Russia for getting more friendly with China, for it seems to have few friends in the West, and why shouldn’t it take some advantages for the resources it holds?
Wars have always been a useful tool for those in power to distract from home grown problems. It appears that Russia is now being used here to distract from oppression at home.
Do please lets start being honest about Russia and the machinations of the West.
January 19, 2022
Talking about gas. Here we go again. You donât need an opposition to explode the Tory party. They seem to self destruct all by themselves. Just like with Mrs Thatcher. Backbiting and backstabbing will send the party to the wilderness again. Oh how remainers must be rubbing there hands with glee. I expect they will hope for a Hesletine comeback, completely forgetting why they got their 80 seat majority.
January 19, 2022
@BW; Wrong, ousting Thatcher in 1990 allowed the party to reformulate stale or unpopular polices and win the 1992 general election. It wasn’t backbiting and backstabbing that lost the 1997 election but sleaze, although it was the backbiting and backstabbing by the then Thatcherite fringe who kept the party in opposition for 13 years.
I see some of the right-wing press are bleating again, complaining ungrateful “Red Wall” Conservative MP’s are plotting against the man who got them into parliament, indeed they might well be, given the same man looks like getting these people the sack come the next election. The lame excuses have to stop, ignorance of the law has never been a defense [1], oh sorry Officer, I honestly believed the speed limit was 70mph, not 30!, the only thing such bleating will likely bring is an additional charge of driving without due care and attention…
[1] even more so when the man himself announced the said laws at a, err, 10 Downing Street press conference
January 19, 2022
This is because the Conservative Party is really two parties into one. Wet’s and and Dry’s. And they hate each, but neither will leave and form another party.
Currently the Wets are in ascendance.
January 19, 2022
Sending troops sounds a bit like âbeing in the EUâ to me.
Or like being in an EU army!
January 19, 2022
@EH; It sounds a bit like being a member of NATO to me…
January 19, 2022
No, Jerry, Ukraine is not a NATO country, so Britain has no business being there, whether Ukraine was attacked or not. Which it won’t be anyway, except in the fantasyland wargames of the neocon hawks. This is simply an exercise in screwing up the tension with Russia, so as distract attention from the Covid vaccination fiasco and Johnson’s current troubles.
January 19, 2022
We’ve had a small team of military advisors in the region since 2015
January 20, 2022
After the French left Indochina in 1954 the Americans had âa small team of military advisorsâ in Saigon âŠ
January 20, 2022
Hefner â government(s) are terrible at learning the lessons of history
January 20, 2022
@Hat man; The Ukraine has been a NATO accession country (wishing to join, in principle accepted) since 2008, although relations go back to 1994 when they joined the “Partnership for Peace Framework” https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_82584.htm
As for your deluded comment about a grand multi-national conspiracy theory somehow involving CV19 vaccines and “Partygate”, how does the 2014 invasion of Crimea by Russia fit in?
January 19, 2022
Itâs the EUâs mess.
Or as Boris said âIf you want an example of EU foreign policy making on the hoof, and the EUâs pretensions to be running a defence policy, that have caused real trouble, then look at what has happened in Ukraine.â
January 19, 2022
+1
January 19, 2022
Everhopeful, I fear Boris is still kowtowing to the EU and appeasing them with more fishing licences, etc. The UK will likely end up doing all the donkey work in Ukraine with loss of our troops and the vast expense, and the EU will still treat us badly, even more so when the UK constantly demeans itself to pacify the EU.
January 19, 2022
What is the reason for our military presence in Ukraine?
Preparing for another airlift of refugees to the UK?
January 19, 2022
We dont have any apart from people showing them how to work anti tank weapons.
January 19, 2022
gov.uk âHundreds of UK troops parachute into Ukraine for joint exercisesâ, 16/09/2020. 250 soldiers from 16 Air Assault Brigade for Exercise Joint Endeavour.
Exercise with 10,000 NATO soldiers (4,000 from the USA and others from UK, Canada, Sweden, Ukraine) in Ukraine in July 2021 âUkraine-British joint exercise Cossack Mace concludes todayâ, 24/07/2021, foreignbrief.com
dailymail.co.uk, 17/01/2022 âBritish troops are sent to Ukraine âŠâ
express.co.uk, 18/01/2022 âBritish are unstoppable! âŠâ
âshowing them how to work anti tank weaponsâ, yeah right, if you say so.
January 19, 2022
New York Times, 13/01/2022, âNATO wonât let Ukraine join soon. Hereâs whyâ.
January 19, 2022
Correct – Reconnaissance, scouting and observation under the guise of army exerciseâŠ.they all do it
January 19, 2022
Is this a dagger that I see before me? Non, monsieur, c’est une chaise! Said the EU Comissioner just before he was stabbed through the heart…
I’ve always wondered what the modern phrase “It is what it is” means and here we have a perfect example.
Gas is not a “green” fuel and calling it “green” just tells you all you need to know about the “science” of Global Warming.
Its all fun and games. Look at the consequences of the points you raise. COP26 commitments lasted until they became inconvenient. Anything the Biden administrations does is random because the poor old boy is bonkers. And we all know about Boris.
Please can we have some common sense in our government.
January 19, 2022
Gas is green when the Germans say it is ! Oil and coal will be also green if that too is needed.
January 19, 2022
Thereâs nothing defensive about an anti-tank missileâŠ..only inasmuch as a man on foot is never going to be attacking a manoeuvring tank.
January 19, 2022
Ever spent time serving in the Infantry Dave? Because it certainly doesn’t sound like it.
Anti-tank weapons are weapons generally fired from defensive positions against advancing armour – not the other way around.
January 19, 2022
Wrong – the local force have been preparing for invasion for months/years even.
A man on the ground with an anti-tank missile is a good match for the aggressor.
January 19, 2022
When will the EU decide that coal is greener than grass?
Greener than envy, greener than emeralds?
When enough people have died of cold?
Why do we still listen to the destructive EU?
January 19, 2022
When Germany says so !
January 19, 2022
Maybe because this government and our civil service still looks to the EU as the exemplar, the best practise, the new green utopia âŠ.or maybe we havenât left
January 19, 2022
Sir John with Russia threatening peace in Europe on a number of fronts now is not the time for a change of leader. Putin must be grinning at the constant (and absurd ) attacks on number 10. I dont understand how MPs can be so lacking in awareness even if the press are.
January 19, 2022
They did it to Mrs T just when Kuwait was invaded.
January 20, 2022
And was there a cause and effects link?
January 19, 2022
The Remoaners say the UK is an insignificant little island off the mighty EU who have all the influence in the world whilst no-one takes any notice of us. Why then is the UK left to pull EU irons out of the fire when we have nothing to gain? With their mighty presence on the world stage, where is the EU and what are they doing, other than wait for the UK to do something, as usual. Keep out of things which don’t directly concern us, we don’t have the forces (the Ukrainian army is 3 times the size of ours), or the money to make any intervention a success. Yes I know our troops are supposed to be there training, but that is how it all starts. Have we not had enough of having our butt kicked in foreign affairs and making the world worse?
January 19, 2022
I want to see the end to this harassing of the PM over the ‘parties’ especially from hypocritical broadcast journalists and others, but if ‘Boris’ sticks fanatically to his ultra green and ‘net zero’ policies we are lost. What we must have urgently is a reversal and the opening up and increasing of domestic gas and oil extraction. Reserves must then be built up here in addition to domestic supply. I also want to see the correction of Brexit’s inadequacies and full restoration of our sovereignty and identity.
By the way I have still not heard anything from my MP, the Wantage constituency, about the Cambo oil field and what he thinks of Shell withdrawing their interest in it because of government policy. I presume he doesn’t care much about the matter.
January 19, 2022
Displacement !
When you fill you news pages with nonsense it leaves little space for the important issues . The Left do not what you to know that their Green Policies are going to leave cold and hungry. So better you talk about Parties and Strictly etc.
January 19, 2022
Mr Putin is, quite understandably, concerned that NATO could end up on his very border if The Ukraine becomes a member.
He seems to be threatening to annexe The Ukraine to prevent this happening.
Poland will then be his new border.
Poland is a member of NATO
Is this forming a pattern?
January 19, 2022
Poland already borders Russia-Kaliningrad
January 19, 2022
But NATO is already on his very border, Estonia and Latvia being members.
January 19, 2022
It is already on the border in Estonia and Norway, and arguably across the Bering Strait.
January 20, 2022
Around 3 miles (and 21 hours)separate Big Diomede island(Russian,of course!) and Little Diomede island (US)in the Bering Strait.
January 19, 2022
Kissinger warned against this very situation, advising us to leave a buffer. Humiliation is a dangerous thing in the long term.
January 19, 2022
“The overriding priority now must be to increase domestic gas production …” – clearly, and we can bet this government will, Dorries-like, “be keeping that under review” while we all shiver and freeze instead of actually taking sufficient action.
Oh for a government that recognized the need for and could deliver energy and food security now. Instead we have a BEIS Secretary who fondly and naively supposes the answer is nuclear in decades time and a DEFRA that harmfully promotes re-wilding and reliance upon uncertain imports.
January 19, 2022
It seems more and more to me that the only conceivable use the Tory Ministers might be to the nation, is to keep the government benches warm for when Labour take over.
And judging by both of them behave on various policies, I’d doubt that anyone would notice !
January 19, 2022
Present day Ukraine is a Bolshevik construct, not a people. Parts that were taken from Poland and present day Slovakia and added from Russia might be happier to return to their previous designations like the people of Crimea. The Neocon warmongers sitting on the other side of the Atlantic unaffected by their global meddling need to keep well out and take their British poodle with them because the British people do not want to be drawn into yet another foreign adventure which does not affect any possible strategic interest as unlike the
the USA, we do not have spare natural gas to sell having decided to leave ours in the ground to save the planet from the global warming hoax.
January 20, 2022
All very valid points, Forthurst.
Referendums – but not recognised by NATO – support what you say too.
January 19, 2022
It is simple: We need our own gas from the North Sea.
January 19, 2022
The only reason that countries which are bordering Russia are considering joining NATO is the threat from Russia itself. If there was no threat then no need to join NATO.
January 20, 2022
For some time it has been the case that aspiring entrant states to the EU are obliged to join NATO.
January 19, 2022
Why should we be embroiled in a “quarrel in a far away country, between people of whom we know nothing”.
In 2010 Viktor Yanukovych was elected President of Ukraine in a vote that was judged fair by international observers. There were extensive discussions with the EU about a “deal” leading to Ukraine potentially joining the EU. In 2013 he decided not not accept the pending EU Association Agreement and go for a “no deal” instead. The result of rejecting this treaty led to the fracturing of the country and the infamous “Euromaidan” protests by those keen to align with the EU. The resulting “revolution” put in place a government which signed the EU Association Agreement in March 2014 (which was used as the blueprint for the UK-EU trade treaty). This then led to the civil war and Russia re-annexing Crimea.
Historians no doubt will study how much influence the EU had on events in the eventual effective partition of Ukraine. East-West geopolitics has always been a cause for tension in these “buffer” states and despite being on the other end of the continent the UK has always had cause for some involvement.
January 19, 2022
Sir John,
Fossil fuels are, almost by definition, a finite resource. Apart from policies which try to look at more methods to produce it we, perhaps, should consider looking for more methods to reduce our dependence on it.
I note with interest that the EU are considering banning mining of cryptocurrencies that use “Proof of Work” algorithms as these are using vast amounts of electrical energy. These distributed block chain systems are parisites that are effectively pushing up energy costs for us all and IMHO should be the subject of government control.
January 20, 2022
There are many good reasons for the suppression of cryptocurrencies, and environmental concerns are but one.
If countries as different as China and India have banned their ownership, then perhaps other countries should examine their reasoning and consider their own laws in this regard.
January 19, 2022
As a child I never understood why, having won the war, voters put Churchill out of office by a landslide. But then voters were tired of years of restrictions on their freedoms and being asked to keep calm and carry on when around 70 thousand civilians had died from bombs being dropped on them. Not to mention the sacrifices of those families who lost loved ones who were on the front line.
Perhaps, all these years later I can now see how a leader, who at the end of the day is just a fallible human, can be judged more by his failings than his success just after the battles have been won and knowing there is a long road ahead in full recovery.
January 20, 2022
PfL, +1+1+1
January 19, 2022
It seems that a Conservative MP has defected, bizarrely to Labour rather than to one of the new ‘real conservative’ parties. Shouldn’t this sort of thing trigger a by-election, rather than disenfranchising an entire constituency?
January 19, 2022
Sir John,
Some of the rhetoric currently coming from the United States, particularly from the White House press secretary, is reminiscent of what we were hearing nineteen years ago. People seem to have short memories. I’m still waiting for those weapons of mass destruction which we were assured were ready to launch and only forty-five minutes away.
I notice you have a new commenter pushing the pro NATO/anti Russia line, as if the cold war never ended.
January 19, 2022
O/t but it is being reported in the Mirror today that Covid fraudsters have cost the country c.ÂŁ4.3 billion – none of which is likely to be recovered. What a shambles.
January 19, 2022
“Yesterday we read that the UK as part of the NATO effort was flying defensive anti tank weapons to Ukraine”.
This is madness. If Ukraine wished to BUY defence equipment from us then great, let’s sell this to them, but WE ARE NOT A CHARITY – we should not be just giving this to them for nothing. Or are we so rich that we can now afford to just give stuff away to all countries of the world? If so, why can’t we afford to cut VAT ffom our fuel bills???
January 19, 2022
“The overriding priority now must be to increase domestic gas production”. Yes, this is undoubtredly true, but you have been saying this for ages and the government does not agree and will never do this. The only way to change the government’s policy is to change the prime minister. So have you sent yourletter to Graham Brady?
January 19, 2022
Worldâs largest floating wind farm is to be built off coast of England and Wales
WHO IS PAYING FOR THIS ?
https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/01/18/blue-wind-this-colossal-floating-wind-farm-will-power-almost-a-million-uk-homes?fbclid=IwAR3USZaMv0ERrlLXVP3nQ_ikMbN6lRXpvQIfWCfypDfuCl7tQ6yuP6WgKuE
January 20, 2022
EDF Renewables and the Irish DP Energy? Their LON:EDF and Maureen & Simon De Pietro shareholders? In fine the UK consumers?
January 21, 2022
But are UK consumers shareholders of EDF and Irish DP and don’t forget the ÂŁ200m in subsidies for offshore wind from the predominantly English taxpayer.
January 22, 2022
From what I read about the Gwynt Glas project, $1.4 bn is coming from the two developers. Are the ÂŁ200 m subsidies from UK taxpayers dedicated to that particular project?
January 19, 2022
Breaking news … Here is the latest deliberate government betrayal when it comes to energy prices. According to Reuters today: “Britain’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) Authority has again decided it will not intervene in the country’s carbon market, even though prices were high enough to trigger a so-called cost containment mechanism (CCM) in January”.
So there you have it. Boris is DELIBERATELY and ARTIFICIALLY raising energy prices. A traitor, a moron, or what? Just get rid of this appalling man now.
January 20, 2022
Indeed. These carbon taxes apply not only to generators but also to much of industry, including oil refining and aviation (domestic and European destinations). They disadvantage industry internationally.
The amount raised from electricity generation is only a portion of the overall tax yield. Yet the cost to CCGT generators forces up the price for electricity whenever they are the marginal generators in the market, which is much of the time, and it raises the cost of balancing and ancillary services when wind curtailment sets market prices. The result is a wholly disproportionate increase in electricity bills that is not far short of the effect of increasing VAT from 5% to 20% would be.
January 19, 2022
Politics of the great reset and stealing of russian gas in Ukraine.
January 19, 2022
Basically the U.K. should not involve itself in the dispute between Putin and Ukraine.
Under NATO rules we do NOT have to be involved.
If Boris has allowed further involvement, that is yet another example of how, for whatever reason, he is working AGAINST the interests of the United Kingdom.
You must work on getting a majority of CON MPs to vote ‘no confidence’. Surely with the multitude of bad policies, lies, etc., the time is getting near.
And then, of course, you need to elect someone much better.
January 19, 2022
Boris at PMQs ââplatitudes are good, platitudes are right, platitudes workââ
January 19, 2022
Short term: The first thing we should do – and can do tomorrow – is reprieve the last two coal power stations that are due to close shortly, perhaps give them a five year extension to help fill the short term gap.
Medium term: As you say, start to increase the exploitation of our natural gas reserves whilst simultaneously scrapping the dumb idea of replacing gas boilers with electric heat pumps in order to better manage electricity demand. Also, defer the banning of sales of internal combustion engine cars by another ten years to again slow down the demand growth for electricity and instead focus on positive taxation to continue the huge strides that have been made in engine efficiency.
Long term: Build a couple of nuclear power stations.
January 20, 2022
We’ll need more than a couple and there also needs to be an increase in UK funded and owned R&D on alternative pathways, eg Thorium as well as energy, generation, capture and fuel production regardless of whether North Sea and fracking development proceed.
January 20, 2022
The politics of gas :
EU(SSR) : âBecause of climate change we must close down all our own oil and gas exploration, close down our fossil fuel generators and use (unworkable, expensive, unreliable) renewable energyâ.
Merkel (ex senior member of Russian propaganda organisation, Agitprop) : âWeâll close down our nuclear plants early and build a large new gas pipeline from Russia”.
EU(SSR) : â Gas is greenâ.
January 20, 2022
I do wish Sir John that you would not completely follow the Western Media faith like logic that Russia must be our military enemy. They maybe our commercial enemy and as a capitalist you can’t complain about market forces. Don’t forget the French threatened to cut the Gas to the channel Isles. A member of NATO too.
Strictly speaking Russia took back Crimea from Ukraine. The USSR took Crimea from Russia and gave to Ukraine. This always needs to be the starting point for any fair discussion of the issue and its rights and wrongs.
The UK should use what ever influence it still has to try and reduce tensions between Russia and America ( which has lost it’s way as no longer the economic king pin of the world, and not really now a good example of Democracy which is not the simple definition of one person one vote). Supplying weapons to a right wing âŠâŠâŠâŠ influenced Kiev Government who can’t win the support of the East of the Country without military force can’t help matters.
It appears OK for the West to support illegal changes of legitimately elected Governments in the name of democracy.
The situation in Ukraine is like Scotland breaking away from the UK and England using military means to keep it. The British should by now know from past experience this never works. Ireland is a good example on our doorstep, even in house.
Kiev has restricted the use of the Russian language for general usage. Not an inclusive approach to unify the country. In the UK all official documents are printed in Welsh and English. Why can’t Kiev do the same for the languages of the Ukraine. But extreme right-wing government does not like diversity in a country under it’s control.
Reply I suggest you re read what I wrote. It is not as you describe.
January 21, 2022
Dear Sir John
This is what you wrote : 7 years after Russia took Crimea
It is very clear how the word took has been used. Took back, as I pointed out is recovering something which was previously yours.
The West is blind to History when it suits them. This is a very dangerous situation and the UK should be doing its best to get Kiev to be more democratic (in regard to the east of Ukraine) not help it to provoke a war with Russia. The Kiev Government is basically anti-Russian speaking people/ethnic Russians. The people in the East know this hence the armed conflict.
January 20, 2022
Since Thatcher, UK government has been a masterclass in muppetry.
When will they wake up and learn that some actors will never be your friend? We keep electing naive bleeding-hearted politicians anyone remember Clinton’s lot taking that daft red “reset button” to Russia, who played along – and then played us for fools?
Having a crew of woke twits in the civil service doesn’t help, when we need people who can do the job of hard-nosed Statecraft.
January 20, 2022
â The UK needs to strengthen our home position and not get drawn into disputes on the far side of the EUâs territory.â
Hear, hear! Well said our host. Military entanglements in Eastern Europe will benefit neither our economy nor our soldiers.