British Politics
Been on holiday for a few weeks, surprised to find no general discussion of British politics so though I'd kick one off.
Tory leadership contest is quickly turning into farce. Trump has backed Boris, which should be reason enough for anyone with half a brain to exclude him.
Of the other candidates Rory Stewart looks the best of the outsiders. Surprised to see Cleverly and Javid not further up the betting, but not sure the Tory membership are ready for a brown PM.
https://www.oddschecker.com/politics/bri...
Regarding the LD leadership contest, Jo Swinson is miles ahead of any other candidate (and indeed any of the Tory lot). Should be a shoe in.
Finally, it's Groundhog Day in Labour - the more serious the anti-Semitism claims get, the more Corbyn's cronies write their own obituary by blaming it on outlandish conspiracy theories - this week, it's apparently the Jewish Embassy's fault...
Indeed 100% is along way off
It will still be along way off when we hit 70% renewables. And when we hit 90%
100% renewables might require fusion although battery and non-battery storage develop apace.
When your baseload needs increase because you electrified heating and transportation in full (or close to it), the % you can rely upon renewable decreases, unless having many blackouts every year in winter is an acceptable outcome for you (which it shouldn't be at all especially if you electrify everything).
Imagine your winter consumption in society is 100, and thanks to electrification of everything the baseload is 70 , do you realize you need capacity to produce like 500 or 700 ot 900 in renewables in order to guarantee a baseload of 70? While with normal energy production 120-130 is more than enough to take into account the fact some plant might malfunction and/or be taken down occasionally for maintenance.
So was the fact that you need that kind of investment obvious to you? and that means the capacity won't be used almost ever, so you need to subsidize that even if it doesn't sell energy almost ever.
This makes the costs of going "full renewable" insanely higher than what they would be just by accounting for the cost of substition 1 to 1 .
And/or you have to spend gazillion $$ (or pounds) for batteries if/when they are available.
In a sane world you would be pushing nuclear and plan to keep decent amount of natgas plants available for many decades
When your baseload needs increase because you electrified heating and transportation in full (or close to it), the % you can rely upon renewable decreases, unless having many blackouts every year in winter is an acceptable outcome for you (which it shouldn't be at all especially if you electrify everything).
Imagine your winter consumption in society is 100, and thanks to electrification of everything the baseload is 70 , do you realize you need capacity to produce like 500 or 700 ot 900 in renew
Yes lots of investment is needed. That's another reason why we can leave these thinsg to markets. Over the time scale were talkign about that investment is generally a good thign anyway. Renewables scale well because they dont consume fuel. There's really no limit to the wind or tides etc.
Nuclear was a serious alternative and quite possibly we should have had a lot more. It's an area I know something about having done my degree project on low leval gamma radiation shortly after Chernbobyl. We also did a section on nuclear safety includign a talk on safety from Lord Marshall (for anyone who remembers him and the CEGB). I have mixed feelings but am absolutely certain that if we have it then it should never be anywhere near the hands of companies trying to make a profit. Not sure I want to trust governement either.
Sir Keir Starmer has paid back more than £6,000 worth of gifts and hospitality he received since entering Number 10 after a row over ministerial donations.
The Prime Minister is covering the cost of six Taylor Swift tickets, four to the races and a clothing rental agreement with a high-end designer favoured by his wife, Lady Victoria Starmer.
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Asked about the news that Labour peer Waheed Alli is under investigation by a parliamentary watchdog over a potential breach of the code of conduct, a Labour spokesperson has said:
Lord Alli will co-operate fully with the Lords Commissioner and he is confident all interests have been registered.
We cannot comment further while this is ongoing.
He's just paying back the gifts he's received since becoming PM less than three months ago.
Bravo Sir Keir!
In a sane world you would be pushing nuclear and plan to keep decent amount of natgas plants available for many decades
Apparently our planning rules and procedures make it about four to five times as costly to build a nuclear power station here as it does anywhere else. And at some point, possibly quite soon, there is going to be a 'black hole' in the power grid -- a shortfall in power generation versus demand -- unless somebody wakes up and does something, and there's no sign of that.
He's just paying back the gifts he's received since becoming PM less than three months ago.
Bravo Sir Keir!
Unfortunately he's stuck with the image of being a freebie-grabber (as is Rayner). When it comes down to petty freeloading items like Taylor Swift tickets or designer specs, or even not so petty items like a free house where one's son can supposedly revise for GCSEs, people are always going to remember it -- and remember the fact that the privileged recipients didn't see anything wrong with it until caught out.
Apparently our planning rules and procedures make it about four to five times as costly to build a nuclear power station here as it does anywhere else. And at some point, possibly quite soon, there is going to be a 'black hole' in the power grid -- a shortfall in power generation versus demand -- unless somebody wakes up and does something, and there's no sign of that.
You are probably going to manage buying electricity in "black hole" moments from France at least for a while, then you can only hope enough people realize you are one bad day of french generation away from complete blackouts, during winter, with electric heating in 2 million households or more, or you will discover truth the hard way, by burying babies and elders who froze to death.
Pretty sure the left will blame that on racism or climate change anyway though
It may also be that Starmer wants to start to try to distance himself from Alli. The current investigation may be something or nothing but we can guarantee the 'media' are looking hard for anything.
I know nothing much about him but you take those gifts from someone and you're tied to their good name.
You are probably going to manage buying electricity in "black hole" moments from France at least for a while, then you can only hope enough people realize you are one bad day of french generation away from complete blackouts, during winter, with electric heating in 2 million households or more, or you will discover truth the hard way, by burying babies and elders who froze to death.
Pretty sure the left will blame that on racism or climate change anyway though
Being able to wire some power in from France is helpful, but they're still going to need more new domestic nuclear and renewable generation than they seem to be bothered to plan for. They're just telling everyone to switch to electric heating and electric cars with no sign of anyone improving the grid to cope. It's amateur hour.
Being able to wire some power in from France is helpful, but they're still going to need more new domestic nuclear and renewable generation than they seem to be bothered to plan for. They're just telling everyone to switch to electric heating and electric cars with no sign of anyone improving the grid to cope. It's amateur hour.
It's willful suicide to push for degrowth.
They are our skillful, deeply evil enemies, not a comedy sketch.
They are by far the biggest domestic threat we face in the west in the last 80 years.
The entire movement to give the Chagos Islands to Mauritius is just bizarre. Chagos is literally in the middle of the Indian Ocean, so far from anywhere that it was never settled and there are no indigenous people to even give the island back to.
Even more bizarre, Britain is agreeing to hand over sovereignty to Mauritius, an island chain nation that is not close to Chagos at all and is itself an isolated island chain no one ever lived* until Europeans set up sugar plantations there, and brought in African slaves, and later Indian workers, to work the plantations.
*During colonial times, Muslim slavers used Mauritius as a way station when transporting slaves from Africa to the Muslim world, but no one actually settled there until the European sugar plantations.
As far as I can tell there is literally no rational reason Britain should be compelled to hand over the islands if it doesn't want to. I am skeptical Mauritius itself would do anything with the island chain other than sell/rent it to China.
The world court, as the ICJ is known, is the principle judicial organ of the UN which adjudicates disputes between nations. Before granting independence to Mauritius in 1968, Britain was found to have unlawfully separated it to form a new colony on the Chagos archipelago named the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT)
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The entire movement to give the Chagos Islands to Mauritius is just bizarre. Chagos is literally in the middle of the Indian Ocean, so far from anywhere that it was never settled and there are no indigenous people to even give the island back to.
Even more bizarre, Britain is agreeing to hand over sovereignty to Mauritius, an island chain nation that is not close to Chagos at all and is itself an isolated island chain no one ever lived* until Europeans set up sugar plantations there, and broug
The UK weren't compelled to do so, they decided to act because they are a self destructing country in which both main parties deeply hate the basic elements that allowed, in the past, the UK to become a great power. The tories a bit less than the labor but still enough to keep working toward the country destruction.
The world court, as the ICJ is known, is the principle judicial organ of the UN which adjudicates disputes between nations. Before granting independence to Mauritius in 1968, Britain was found to have unlawfully separated it to form a new colony on the Chagos archipelago named the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT)
Mauritius is 2000 km from Chagos. Chagos wasn't ever part of Mauritius. At one point Britain let some people live there, and then kicked them off when they decided to make the area military. But the ICJ ruling is completely LOL. But it seems Britain wants to give it away, so whatever. It will be the US's problem if they want to keep Diego Garcia I guess.
As I said before, Mauritius itself has no use for Chagos, so I am guessing they are just going to rent it out to the highest bidder, most likely China.
I guess if a country wants to self destruct, they are welcome too. But it does appear Britain at this point has decided they just want to be a poor island off the coast of Europe with bad weather, and nothing more.
I agree brexit was a very bad thing for us.
Ironically those who think we should keep Chagos probably mostly also voted brexit and brexit is part of the reason we have given them back.
Sue Gray has resigned. lol Starmer
Not seeing that yet but wow! if correct
edit
Sue Gray has quit her role as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's chief of staff.
A Downing Street spokeswoman confirmed Ms Gray will take up a new role as the PM's envoy for nations and regions.
wow!
The UK weren't compelled to do so, they decided to act because they are a self destructing country in which both main parties deeply hate the basic elements that allowed, in the past, the UK to become a great power. The tories a bit less than the labor but still enough to keep working toward the country destruction.
The negotiations were begun by the previous Conservative administration and Labour are just following on, even though the 'international law' case is completely lol, as international law usually is. The idea that they're 'decolonising' the Chagos by handing them to Mauritius, when the supposed attachment to Mauritius is itself purely a hangover from the French Empire, is particularly lol, as is the idea that Britain's separation of the islands from Mauritius without consulting the Chagossians in 1968 was illegal but somehow handing them over to Mauritius without consulting the Chagossians (who are unlikely to be allowed to return because the Mauritius regime doesn't like them and has passed a totalitarian extraterrorial law forbidding them to express an opinion on the subject anywhere in the world or else face arrest if they come into Mauritian territory) is just fine.
She'll be replaced by Morgan McSweeney who ran the election campaign. At least that campaign worked, whereas No.10 under Gray's tenure as chief of staff has been a charabanc with square wheels and a tendency to backfire. Not sure the position is recoverable, though. If you **** up that badly in the first months of your term, there is probably no way back. It may be Starmer's fault more than Grey's, but he can only be forced to resign in circumstances that are some way down the road.
That couldn't be the same Morgan McSweeney who failed to declare £700,000 of donations, could it.
She'll be replaced by Morgan McSweeney who ran the election campaign. At least that campaign worked, whereas No.10 under Gray's tenure as chief of staff has been a charabanc with square wheels and a tendency to backfire. Not sure the position is recoverable, though. If you **** up that badly in the first months of your term, there is probably no way back. It may be Starmer's fault more than Grey's, but he can only be forced to resign in circumstances that are some way down the road.
the result looks very good in terms of seats but could the voting result have been any worse? It was appalling given the disarray of the tories and SNP. Plus the nature of the campaign to avoid everyhting is a big part of their problem now.
It is easily recoverably but it will require substance. Sadly I think they will recover but the substance will be private equity based.
These people are mainly stupid and results oriented and are only herp derping "we have a huge majority therefore the mastermind behind the no policies campaign is a genius" while we hurtle towards a Farage election victory in 2029.
They also have this problem
A senior adviser to Starmer involved in forcing Gray’s departure said that the prime minister had also come to the view that she, rather than his communications team, was the person ultimately to blame for weeks of negative headlines over donations, freebies and the influence of the Labour donor Lord Alli over the government.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...
when the real person to be blamed is obviously starmer for taking the donations.
