When in China the PM is well placed to do something about the big increase in world CO 2 as a third of the CO 2 and much of the growth in CO 2 comes from China. He should ask to see one of the new coal power stations and ask when China is going to follow the UK example of closing all coal stations and blowing them up.
He should say the UK is not going to carry on importing manufactures from China that depend on coal power. It does not help world CO 2 for the UK to shut its car plants to import cars from China where more CO 2 is generated in their manufacture. He should remind the Chinese of the forthcoming carbon tariffs on China products the UK is bringing in.
He should ask to visit a big naval port to see the expansion of modern ships. He should ask why China needs such huge forces.
He should point out that China runs a huge trade surplus with the UK and ask what UK goods China would consider buying. Our exports to China are only 18% of our exports to the USA. Why?
He should worry about coming home empty handed.A 10% increase in our exports to China would only add 0.1% to GDP assuming no increase in imports to offset.Even that looks very unlikely.
There is no growth in UK GDP to be had in China. The UK needs to become a more demanding customer instead of a pathetic pushover.
79 Comments
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January 28, 2026
China doesn’t owe us any favours , they don’t have to bend to past colonists. They”ll just nod their head and send us on our way.
January 28, 2026
Correct. China is probably laughing all the way to the bank flooding the world with solar panels
Here in the UK they have a capacity factor of about 12%. So when developers put planning in for say 50mw to power X number if himes the planners should be made aware that output on average is 5.5mw.
China is using coal for its industrial revolution just as we did 200 years ago. It’s cheap, abundant anti energy dense pretty much like the oil in the North Sea which we’re barred from using.
2TK will come back from China empty handed and proclaim victory. Just staying long enough to repack his suitcase for the next freebie.
January 28, 2026
Interesting today looking at our generation. At this point gas and nuclear are providing 71% of generation. The wind has dropped all over Europe just as Milibrain signs up to a 100gw Europe wind hub.
He still doesn’t understand that when the wind doesn’t blow the windmills don’t generate. I hear one of 2TK s giveaways in China is to allow a turbine manufacturing plant in Scotland and give the go ahead for s floating windfarm in the north sea to spy on our activities. Guaranteed price £248 per mwh. What a plank.
January 28, 2026
Stupid or is it deliberate vandalism from Starmer/Miliband?
January 28, 2026
…and coal should be providing the remaining 29%
January 28, 2026
‘flooding the world with solar panels’ ….and wind-turbines, heat-pumps, EVs, students, weapons, phones and white-goods & conponents….using slave labour
January 28, 2026
Indeed, we to should be going for cheap reliable & on demand energy too. China are being rather sensible after all they need load of cheap fossil fuel energy to process and make all those EVs, Solar Cells, batteries, Wind Turbines, steel and everything else they need or export!
January 28, 2026
I did not realise that China had been a British Colony.
January 28, 2026
What ‘favours’ do we owe China?
January 28, 2026
China was not a britisn colony- Britain had access to various Chinese ports for trade
January 28, 2026
Exactly, so we don’t ‘owe’ it anything as an ex-colonial power.
January 28, 2026
Do you know the number of british registered ships that docked in a chinese port 2025 ?
January 28, 2026
No, but Hong Kong was.
January 30, 2026
Hong Kong was leased from China. When the lease expired it was returned to China.
January 28, 2026
And it’s high time we stopped having people run our affairs who believe we do owe favours and must pay penance for and to everyone else.
January 28, 2026
As a customer China is beholden to our continued support.
That is how markets work and why they can move mountains.
January 28, 2026
@Michelle – the quality of the people in the UK Parliament wouldn’t know how to cope if they were asked to manage – they are order takers. Not the type of orders that come from those elected and pay them, and not the responsibility that comes from being the nations sole legitimate legislator, but the type that only takes order from unelected unaccountable foreign powers
January 28, 2026
We should start naming the PM Kier
Whicker he spends most time abroad than in this country and the only thing he should be talking to the Chinese about is there fine bone china for drinking tea from anything else leave to the professionals
January 28, 2026
We used to make bone china in the Potteries, hand painted beautifully too.
So maybe he can ask China how much of our re-fired pottery products they can take pa.?
January 28, 2026
Another industry heavily reliant on cheap reliable energy like so many chemicals, fertiliser, farming, steel… we are exporting jobs and whole industries and the CO2 production with them!
January 28, 2026
The Chinese will let him talk, and hide their contempt, disdain and amusement.
January 28, 2026
inscrutable as ever.
January 28, 2026
I would imagine he’s going to inspect the Chinese Surveillance State: to include a detailed briefing on their facial recognition infrastructure; communications monitoring of the entire population to identify and suppress dissenters and detailed operation of their Social Credit System.
And agreeing terms for the Chinese to install the infrastructure in the UK for him.
It’s getting harder to distinguish between Communist Xi and Socialist Two-Tier.
January 28, 2026
Donna,
Dark humour, but probably correct! One authoritarian to another…. Seems both don’t like their own military personnel too.
Just think, who’s in charge while 2TK is out of town— Oh good news, it’s Lammy!
January 28, 2026
I’m thinking along the same lines.
January 28, 2026
Donna +1
January 28, 2026
Donna :
You’re right.
January 28, 2026
PS : And taking instructions on the sabotaging of our energy to de-industrialise and destroy our economy, national security and democracy. Not only do the turbines and steel towers for offshore windfarms come from China but now even the concrete foundations as Loiuse Gimour, the GMB Scotland Secretary, writes in her foreword to the Jobs Foundation report titled ‘Cliff Edge: Jobs in Aberdeen, the epicentre of the UK’s energy transition’ :
“If only breathless promises were real jobs. Ed Miliband, for example, recently broke the happy news that 400,000 jobs in renewables will now be created in the UK, 100,000 more than promised by Labour during the election campaign. The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change must forgive us if we do not hold our breath. Even as he spoke, the first eight – of 54 – 2,300-tonne monopile foundations for the Inch Cape wind farm were arriving in Leith after being ferried 9,000 miles from Qinzhou in China. It would have been almost funny if not so absolutely dismal.”
January 28, 2026
@Donna +1
We get everyone here ‘gets it’, the majority of the Country ‘gets it’. To 2TK it is water off a ducks back, those complaints are the reinforcement he needs that the ‘Plan’ is working. Soon it will be Irreversible.
January 28, 2026
Chinese to Starmer; well done getting rid of leadership challenge, well done restricting local elections, well done on the embassay ….but what happened to ID cards and our base in Chagos Islands
January 28, 2026
Starmer’s already done that. It’s to be centrally controlled from the new Chinese Embassy in Royal Mint Court, London.
January 28, 2026
Gold shattered records on Tuesday January 20th – and every day since then – surging past multiple milestones and extending a powerful rally that has gained momentum throughout January. Yesterday, gold futures crossed another threshold trading around $100 higher and touching prices above $5,180/oz.
This historic move represents more than just another bull market milestone – it reflects a fundamental shift in how the global financial system values the precious metal amid unprecedented uncertainty caused by Trump’s tariff war on the rest of the world, the accelerating trend of global de-dollarisation and overwhelmingly, Trump’s repeated threats to the independence of the Fed
I see no end to the gold’s rally. The most significant structural support comes from relentless central bank buying, particularly from emerging markets diversifying away from the $US. Global central banks are purchasing gold at near-record levels, averaging 60 tonnes monthly – more than triple the pre-2022 average of 17 tonnes.
The BoE and the UK investment management community continue to ignore the reality of this unprecedented transfer of liquidity to the safety of gold bullion. This will prove to be a serious strategic mistake.
Reply This site does not offer investment advice. Things do not usually go up without down days or periods of back tracking.
January 28, 2026
You must have surely written that article with your tongue firmly in your cheek.
I’m willing to bet Starmer doesn’t even realise China (and India) still runs on coal.
January 28, 2026
@Michelle
This is not true. China is leading the world in renewable energy tech. In 2025 solar PV and wind contributed ~90% of new power generation capacity in China, where they are building huge HVDC transmission systems to send vast amounts of renewable juice from the Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Hebei, Shandong, Gansu deserts to the major population centres of Chongqing, Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, and Guangzhou, Schen, Wuhan, Tianjin, Xi’an, and Hangzhou
Renewable energy is enjoying economies of scale in China, which make installation and generation extremely cheap. Far cheaper than building new nuclear, CCGT or coal generation. China installed over 373 GW of renewables in 2024 and is on track to achieve a combined 1,200 GW of solar and wind capacity by 2030. It’s about 35% of China’s electricity needs in 2025
January 28, 2026
SG:
Whilst it is true that China has built a lot of renewables, probably to convince the useful idiots in the West to transition from fossil fuels to renewables as well as sell all the infrastructure, the Wikipedia 2024 data is solar 8.3%, wind 9.9%, fossil fuels 63%, hydropower 14% and nuclear at 4.5%. Furthermore China has recently increased its coal plant building to a 9 year high. I don’t see this changing much as they have just declared their UN NDC to be “7-10% by 2035 while “striving to do better””. The UK’s NDC for 2035 is 81% for comparison. China has built 100GW/year of coal for years 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 and in the pipeline plans exist for a further 370GW.
More importantly, however, it is not the pipeline installed capacities which need to be compared between the various fuels but the amount of additional energy each fuel type pipeline plan will produce and using Grok’s figures I calculate the following: Coal 175 PWhrs, Nuclear 56 PWhrs, Solar 14 PWhrs, wind (almost all onshore as offshore too expensive) 24 PWhrs. PWhrs = 1000 TWhrs. So China is concentrating on coal, followed by nuclear. They wouldn’t be doing this if renewables were cheaper and more reliable would they? The Communists know that they have only a limited amount of time to pursue this hoax as they know that global cooling is coming and this will be the end of it. According to Antarctic Vostok ice core data for the last 450,000 years, when both CO2 and temperature have been exceptionally low, CO2 has followed temperature up and down 5 times.
January 28, 2026
Thanks for that data
January 28, 2026
When the sun shines and the wind blows hence only 35% and the building of more reliable gas and coal generating capacity.
January 28, 2026
Why are they building 175 brand new coal fired power stations atm then?
I wonder what the active total coal fired power stations in China is?
January 28, 2026
@SK You are incorrect. In August 2025 DW reported that coal accounted for half of China’s energy production – this from a report by the Finnish Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and Global Energy Monitor (GEM) presenting their H1 2025 biannual review of China’s coal projects.
January 28, 2026
“Wind and solar power are rapidly increasing their share of China’s electricity generation, reaching over a quarter of total electricity use by early 2025, with wind at around 13.6% and solar around 12.4% of generation in April 2025, though their contribution to total installed capacity is even higher, over 40% by late 2024, significantly surpassing thermal power capacity.
Coal still provides the majority (around 61%) of China’s power.”
So says my Google search.
Sakara Gold seems not know the difference between capacity and generation or use. the Chinese are not stupid. they will not allow their country to be dependent on wind and solar for essential electricity needs. Because sometimes there is neither wind nor sunshine, a country needs 200% of its needs to be available as capacity, 100% of it thermal/nuclear. So overall, having solar and wind capacity to meet 100% of demand means the overall utilisation factor can never be more than 50% unless blackouts for long periods are acceptable. A low utilisation factor also reduces efficiency, increases costs and reduces the return on capital employed. It’s a really, really bad choice.
January 28, 2026
Awaiting the picture of Starmer next to China’s wind-farm
January 28, 2026
Yes and in other news the announcement of the death of Howard Flight. Put many of his colleagues in the shade and goodness could we do with his talent, views etc now. Supported you in the leadership so a good judge,
Sadly a classic example of the vicious nature of politics when he was sacked by Howard for the most minor of indiscretions and probably the truth,
A giant talent and exceptionally successful businessman defenestrated as a threat and replaced by a piece of ‘wet lettuce’
A story for the times explaining why the majority of our political class are so woeful and not fit to lick his boots.
January 28, 2026
Top bloke, I knew him in the 80s when he was an investment manager. He was part of a company in Doha QIDCO.
January 28, 2026
China is so embedded in the fabric of western society it is difficult to see what Starmer’s objective is prompting this visit.
As Ed Miliband doubles down on energy systems that make manufacturing untenable in the UK when comparing costs with China before we even start looking at the red tape and employment laws driving entrepreneurs out of business.
This looks like yet another Starmer foreign trip jolly, with zero benefit to the UK.
Does anyone ever bother adding up the actual cost of these foreign trips that Starmer likes so much?
January 28, 2026
As a career human rights lawyer who puts international law above all else he should raise that topic in the strongest terms. In fact if he doesn’t it would be grossly hypocritical of him. So he won’t.
January 28, 2026
He’s no Alfred the Great …building England
January 28, 2026
I really do not hold out much hope of Starmer getting anything from China other than fake warm and courteous welcome.
Starmer has no clue about business or what they need, the only hope is those commercial people in the trade delegation will make something happen for themselves.
As for asking to visit a working coal power station, forget it, they will show him exactly what they want him to see.
He may of course find out that their coal fired power stations have modern filters in place that reduce emissions, unlikely I know, but that would be a smack in the face for blowing up our own. !
China does not need anything from the UK other than low tariffs, and to keep out of the way of Chinese expansion.
What would China want from Starmer, they have already hacked into No10 so already know what goes on here.
January 28, 2026
As the UK is about to lose most of its gas and nuclear generation around the end of his stint and the waiting time for new gas stations is 8 years if ordered now, perhaps he could enquire whether we could buy around 10 off the peg Chinese coal stations to be ready for the inevitable dunkelflaute lack of electricity from Mad Ed’s windmills and solar farms.
January 28, 2026
When there is no energy the immigrants will have to go because we will have to reduce consumption.
We will also recover all the ‘minimum 3 star’ facilities provided to these immigrants specified by the Ex-Home Secretary Braverman and ex-Immigration Minister Jenrick.
Hurrah for Reform, they will put everything wrong, right.
January 28, 2026
“When in China the PM is well placed to do something about the big increase in world CO 2 as a third of the CO 2 and much of the growth in CO 2 comes from China.”
The fact that the climate activists have no issue with China’s CO2 emissions is one of the proofs that they do not believe their own tales of a climate crisis caused by anthropogenic emissions of CO2. The other proof is their objections to nuclear power.
January 28, 2026
Exactly. The U.S. have discovered the tremendous power of a large high-consumption population.
We did not use this leverage with the eu countries nor with any other country.
About time we did
January 28, 2026
I see people are at last waking up to the realities of heat pumps, Chinese or otherwise, seems from the latest reports today that many are finding them more expensive to run than their old gas boilers.
I also wonder how many systems have also been poorly installed by poorly trained contractors.
This is what happens when Government subsidies screw the market and people fall for the hype.
January 28, 2026
They produce ‘hot’ water at 40degrees, probably less in winter when the incoming cold water is at a much lower temperature. My underfloor heating has to run at water temp of 44 degrees.
Heat pumps are now deal-breakers in the housing market, some way behind migrant housing of any description.
January 29, 2026
Lynn
I thought they needed to work at 55 degrees or above, otherwise I was informed there is a risk of legionnaires happening. Info at the time gained from a Trade heating and ventilating magazine a couple of years ago.
Perhaps thoughts have changed since then ?
January 30, 2026
I’m sure they are dangerous in ways we have not clarified yet.
You can’t ‘make’ the cold winter northern air heat water to any specified temp an6 more than you can make the wind blow or the sun shine.
January 28, 2026
“He should say the UK is not going to carry on importing manufactures from China that depend on coal power.”
So we’re stopping all imports from China? So where will Ed Miliband get all his wind turbines, solar panels, transformers, motors, generators and cabling etc. for his transition to 100% electrification? And no longer importing all the necessary heat pumps and evs? And everything else such as electrical machinery & electronics, machinery, furniture and bedding, toys, games, and sports equipment, apparel, plastics and plastic articles, optical and medical instruments, vehicles and auto parts?
January 28, 2026
The PM will be treated with the utmost respect in China, while they have nothing but contempt for him behind his back. He will ask no difficult questions, challenge them on nothing and return thinking what a good job he has done. He may return with some token promise of more trade, but China will not deliver on it.
Starmer is a weak, wishy-washy individual who has done, is doing, and will do nothing but damage to the UK.
A horrible man leading a horrible government.
January 28, 2026
Firstly, don’t we need to have some goods that China wants. The first question surely should be “What do you need that we can supply?”
There can’t be many items we can provide at a cheaper price than China can make.
That should enter a little humour into the proceedings.
China is too savvy to do anything so stupid as to follow our example – they have seen through the whole con.
January 28, 2026
“He should remind the Chinese of the forthcoming carbon tariffs on China products the UK is bringing in.”
China will not care about CBAM! As a de-industrialised nation we will either have to import goods from China or do without! CBAM is simply another import tax to make our goods more expensive and to further impoverish us. All in the name of saving the planet.
January 28, 2026
With that lunatic in charge over there in America we have to look elsewhere for trade as Russia is also out of the question at the moment. We still have a long way to go if we are to match the EU / Mercasur deal covering 1500 million people and the EU / India 27 Trillion deal signed yesterday with 2 billion consumers – the PM has to start somewhere.
Reply We already have a free trade Agreement with India and have one with TPP which the EU does not
January 28, 2026
Nor does the US have agreement with TPP – its the CPTPP now eleven countries but of no use to us unless we make full use of it
January 28, 2026
So it includes the British Dominions with which we already have special trade arrangements.
We did not need CPTTP.
January 28, 2026
“PM is well placed to do something” I take issue with that assumption, he is in no position to even talk about anything of any consequence for anyone let alone the World.
China is now a World power, and has the power to push and shove how it sees fit a third world PM is in no position to even suggest things.
The assumption from everyone in the UK is that he has gone to China to get first hand his orders, and align with China as part of his ‘Plan’
January 28, 2026
LOL what Starmer should do and what he will do are miles apart! Our PM is too weak to obtain a good deal for Britain, and I fear he will hand over far too much for far too little in return. He’s got no bottle and has become an embarrassment to OUR country.
January 28, 2026
Half of the MetOffice weather stations are declared as ‘junk’, so can we believe the co2 measurement data from National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI) (another quango) ….more estimates & modelling using partnership imaging data ….on one page it states co2 rise than on another –
”4. Recent Trends in Measurements 2023 Drop: Provisional 2023 figures showed a 6.6% decrease in \(CO_{2}\) emissions, primarily driven by reduced gas demand in electricity generation and lower heating use.
Long-Term Trend: Total UK territorial greenhouse gas emissions were 52.7% lower in 2023 than in 1990.”
Maybe our politcians shouldn’t be declaring that co2 is rising without showing actual evidence (and not data from a report) ….We’re basing our trade, industry & ecomony on these figures !
January 28, 2026
Perhaps have a look at the Great Wall to see how they kept unwanted foreign hordes out.
January 28, 2026
Things are really going off track in England now a woman archbishop of canterbury.. all of those COE types in fancy dress on career paths as if climbing the greasy pole had anything to do with Christianity?
January 28, 2026
ask China to take some Afghan and Gazan refugees, see what they say
ask China why it is not allowing children to be mutilated because they think they are the wrong gender
Putin and China are correct about those things and others
January 28, 2026
I’m hoping the gas will!not be cut off to Germany altogether,
January 28, 2026
I hope the courteous Chinese offer him some generous hospitality in return for his ‘pacific overtures’:
‘Will you have some tea, some chrysanthemum tea,
An informal variation on the normal recipe..’
January 28, 2026
While Starmer is in China their security services will secretly remove the bug from his phone.
January 28, 2026
I’m fed up with our media saying that Starmer is in China to do a trade deal; there isn’t a ‘trade’ deal …we just buy things from them, its all one way, they’re the seller and we’re the customer
January 28, 2026
I’m expecting the PM to sell to China more UK university and research places so Chinese spies and influencers, sorry, students doubles to 300,000 and academia is well and truly in China’s pocket.
January 28, 2026
I wouldn’t be surprised if china where allow to take over a UK university or build their own …I honestly wouldn’t be surprised
January 30, 2026
Well they run Chinese syllabus in many schools in the U.K. now, including the 500 year old St Bees School in Cumberland.
They are educating our kids in our own country.
January 28, 2026
Have just seen the PM walk the Chinese red carpet and he’s made it look like a funeral march.
January 28, 2026
Keir Starmer should do all that? He couldn’t.
You’re ‘avin’ a larff, Sir John.
He will ask the Chinese what they want. They will tell him. He will promise to give it to them and ask how much he should fleece UK to pay them. Or perhaps China would like one of UK’s two Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus. Excellent spyoiing facities so he’d offer to pay even more to offload one of these than he did for Diego Garcia and wasn’t that a wonderful deal? How could they refuse?
January 28, 2026
young girls being raped so badly they need internal operations, caused by illegal immigrants. really the Conservative party needs to stop messing around and start raising this stuff every single day. there is no support at all in the country for the governments position.
January 29, 2026
The Greatest attack on Growth; An Attack on Growth, is an attack on Individuals Freedoms, and so, on this Country Freedoms ?
Theoretically basis: Collectivism!
What: Digital ID; Future ? no, Now ?
SMART CITIES ? 15min Cities ?
By how, when, where, the Organisation created to push this, and by who? the Establishment, the Elite ?
Including funding:
https://www.globalcovenantofmayors.org/
https://iclei.org/gcom/
The two aims:
Short Term: 2030 deadline!
Long Term:
Who is ahead, which country,
The UK !!! The Labour Government!
City’s: Oxford! Already being installed?
Sadiq Khan: London!
All require Digital ID, Control, Enforce wide access Databases (DWP, PAYE, Pensions), Driving Licenses, …
PAYE is one of the most important key’s too implementing this Program? The Threat: Collectivism!
?
RDM.