Making John Redwood angry – it’s nothing personal

  This article first appeared in Business Green on the 17th February 2014     I recently made John Redwood MP very cross. He was so cross he accused me of making ‘a very unpleasant personal attack’ on him. He was mistaken. I did no such thing. I did, however, […]

FALLON’S FALLACY

      There is a presentational trick that skilled politicians practice. It grasps that most people are more affected by the tone than the content of a speech. This is an especially important skill to have mastered when you want to want to say something controversial. Then a soft […]

It can’t be easy being George Monbiot

  By Jonathon Porritt  5th December 2013   This article first appeared in Jonathon Porritt’s blog and in The Ecologist The Letter referred to in this article is the one that Jonathon Porritt, Tony Juniper, Charles Secrett and I wrote to David Cameron, highlighting the key economic and political issues with pursuing a pro-nuclear […]

Magic and Misdirection

  This article first appeared in the December edition of BusinessGreen magazine                 One of the more stressful moments in Britain’s history occurred in the spring of 1940. Churchill had just become Prime Minister. Rommel’s tanks were at Calais. France was about to […]

Remarks by Tom Burke CBE – All Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group (APPCCG) – House Of Commons

      REMARKS BY TOM BURKE CBE AT THE ALL PARTY PARLIAMENTARY CLIMATE CHANGE GROUP (APPCCG), COMMITTEE ROOM 12, HOUSE OF COMMONS, WEDNESDAY 27TH NOVEMBER 2013.   There are a number of ways in which climate change is unusual among the problems we face. We know exactly what we need […]

On Killing Dragons

  This article first appeared in the November Issue of The Ends Report                             Consistency is becoming the rarest of phenomena in public discourse. We have a government that is simultaneously increasing the planning constraints on wind […]

German wholesale prices have fallen by 50% since 2008 – why not in Britain?

  By Catherine Mitchell, IGov Team, 6th November, 2013 This article first appeared on the IGov New Thinking For Energy website.                           When in doubt announce another review.  In this case, the Energy Market Review – even though […]

Energy lobby insiders will lead cold war against Labour

  By Damian Carrington and Terry Macalister – The Observer Sunday 6 October 2013                 Tom Burke, a former head of Friends of the Earth who worked as special adviser to several Conservative ministers, said: “The secondments are pernicious, but the real power […]