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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Energy lobby insiders will lead cold war against Labour

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  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 […]

Renewables threaten fossil fuel interests

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  This article was first published in the September edition of the ENDS Report.     A good 93% of Britons think the climate is changing. Such was the finding of a recent pollby the blog Carbon Brief. This is as close as polling can ever get to ‘everyone’. Nor […]

Labour’s plan to reform our broken energy market deserves cross-party support

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  This article first appeared in the New Statesman September 2013                   BY TOM BURKE PUBLISHED 25 SEPTEMBER 2013 16:33   Ed Miliband’s energy price freeze met with a predictable, if not always credible, response from the energy industries. Led by Angela […]

ED’S BIG IDEA

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    ‘If we win the election 2015 the next Labour government will freeze gas and electricity prices until the start of 2017.’ This was meant to be an eye-catching, applause generating line and it was. And deservedly so. This is a brave commitment. It will be spun by the […]