FALLON’S FALLACY

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      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 […]

WHAT’S IN A WORD?

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    One of the less hysterical criticisms of Ed Miliband’s intention to freeze energy prices for 20 months has been to call it ‘unworkable’. This was the word  used by John Major when he intervened in the debate – ‘a bolt from the grey’ as one journalist called it. […]

It can’t be easy being George Monbiot

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  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

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  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 […]

Shooting Labour’s energy freeze fox

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                    You could not make this up. In order to cut energy bills the government has just announced it will cut one of its top policies to, uh, cut energy bills. Of course, that is not what it is saying. But […]

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

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      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

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  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 […]

Retrofitting the Green Deal

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  What the government needs to do to rescue the Green Deal                 An excerpt from a report written by Nicholas Schoon on behalf of BioRegional and The Association for the Conservation of Energy.   Recommendations Incentives for retrofits and closing the Green Deal funding gap 1. Government needs to […]

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

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  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 […]

Third or fourth time lucky

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  This article first appeared in Business Green October 2013     There is only one decision that really matters about future nuclear reactor building in Britain and that has not yet been taken. From the amount of media hoopla surrounding the announcement on Hinkley C you could be forgiven […]