THE FUTURE HAS BEEN CANCELLED

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This coronavirus has caused three shocks. There is a health shock the worst of which should be behind us by the end of this year if governments manage it well. There is an economic shock which will last for far longer. There is a psychological shock which we will never […]

An Unsquared Circle

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                        In her Easter message, the Prime Minister spoke of ‘the opportunities that lie ahead’ for post-EU Britain. Neither she nor any of her Ministers have ever set out exactly what these opportunities are. Nor have they ever explained […]

The nuclear option: Where next for Hinkley Point?

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This piece was first published by BusinessGreen                     BusinessGreen asks a range of experts their views on what should come next for the controversial and further delayed nuclear project Last week was quite a rollercoaster for those involved in low carbon […]

OF OIL AND STONES

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  This blog first appeared in Business Green                                 Sheikh Yamani, a former Saudi oil minister, is famous for having pointed out that the stone age did not end because we ran out of stones. […]

SOMETHING IS HAPPENING HERE

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  This piece first appeared in Business Green.       Environmentalists have long been vulnerable to their own passions. At times this can make us sound shrill and self-righteous. On other occasions it can blind us to political traps. The oil industry is now busy setting a big one […]

SOMETHING UNDERSTOOD

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  This article first appeared in BusinessGreen       The politics of climate change is changing. Astonished listeners at a recent conference in Paris heard the Saudi oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, announce ‘one of these days we are not going to need fossil fuels’. He went on to make […]

TROUBLE AHEAD

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  This piece first appeared in BusinessGreen       #         The political argument for trade liberalisation has always been that it is good for the economy. This argument was losing traction even when what was good for the economy was good for your wallet. Now that […]

THE FOSSIL FUEL PARADOX

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  This blog was first published by BusinessGreen                   A debate over the real value of investment in fossil fuels has raged all summer. September’s climate summit in New York brought it into sharp focus. There, Anthony Hobley of the Carbon Tracker Initiative […]

NO-ONE HOME

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  This piece first appeared in BusinessGreen     There is no-one at home in Britain’s political parties. Increasingly they are empty shells with ever fewer members. On a good day less than 400,000 people belong to all our political parties combined. That is about 0.5% per cent of the […]

CHINA NIGHTMARE

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  This piece first appeared in Business Green                   The prospect of the Chinese becoming owners, managers and even constructors of nuclear power stations in Britain has caused anxiety in some unexpected places. Both the right and the left, united in their […]