Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Hard left British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn appears to be embracing climate change as a wedge issue to overturn decades of British government retreat from public ownership of major utilities.
Labour’s John McDonnell says public ownership plan for services such as water and rail will “cost nothing”, while Corbyn adds it is necessary to prevent a “climate catastrophe”
Lucy White
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said the Labour party’s plan to bring services such as water, energy and rail under public ownership would be “cost free”.
The collapse of Carillion showed that privatisation had failed, he told the audience at a conference in London on “alternative models of ownership”.
McDonnell said taking key infrastructure assets out of private ownership was “an economic necessity”, and could be achieved at no cost to the taxpayer.
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Later in the conference, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said that nationalising energy companies was necessary to avoid a “climate catastrophe”.
“People have been queueing up for years to connect renewable energy to the national grid. With the national grid in public hands, we can put tackling climate change at the heart of our energy system,” he said.
“To go green, we must take control of our energy.”
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Read more: http://www.cityam.com/280382/labours-john-mcdonnell-says-public-ownership-plan-services
Corbyn has also promised a crackdown on the press – he seems to have a real problem with news outlets which published what he describes as “smears” about his past, like claims by a former Soviet spy that Corbyn was a paid informant in the 1980s.
‘Change is Coming’ – Labour Threatens Free Press, Could ‘Ban’ Breitbart
…
His comments came after the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn hinted at a crackdown on the free press, telling the media “change is coming” after right-wing papers published unfavourable stories about his meetings with a Communist spy during the Cold War.
The 68-year-old socialist held several meetings with a Czechoslovakian ‘diplomat’ in the 1980s, who now claims Corbyn was a paid informant. Corbyn has admitted to the meetings but denied knowing the man was a spy.
Whilst Czech authorities say the Labour leader is not on file as a collaborator, the former-spy said: “It’s not important what you can find in official documents. Don’t forget, a lot of them were destroyed.”
In the last few days The Sun, The Mail, The Telegraph and The Express have gone a little bit James Bond.
We've got news for the billionaire, tax exile press barons: Change is coming. pic.twitter.com/3ehSKfaAgZ
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) February 20, 2018
In a video posted to social media, Corbyn singled out The Sun, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, and Daily Express, accusing them of going “a little bit James Bond” and “continuing to resort to lies and smears”.
“Publishing these ridiculous smears that have been refuted by Czech officials shows just how worried the media bosses are by the prospect of a Labour government,” he said.
“We’ve got news for them: change is coming,” he added in a threatening tone.
…
It might seem difficult to believe a left wing firebrand like Jeremy Corbyn could gain traction in a comparatively prosperous Western country, but to dismiss Corbyn’s appeal is to ignore the very real hardships many Britains are currently facing.
Thanks in part to the botched green revolution and skyrocketing energy prices, life in Britain is very hard for a lot of people.
Elaine Morrall died in a freezing home – the state is tossing away people’s lives
Frances Ryan
The tragic death of this mother of four following benefit cuts shows how the government is failing even in its most basic duty – to keep its citizens safe.
When Elaine Morrall’s body was found at her home in Runcorn this month, she was wrapped up in a coat and scarf. That Elaine was only 38 and has left four children behind are heartbreaking details to a case that has rightly been shared widely on social media. But one aspect is particularly haunting: Elaine’s home was cold because, unable to pay the bills, she only turned the heating on when her children came home from school.
That Elaine’s social security had apparently been stopped recently makes this fact all the more painful. The Liverpool Echo reported that Elaine’s mother, Linda, wrote an open letter on Facebook describing how Elaine had had her benefits stopped repeatedly up until her death. Elaine, who had multiple health problems including an eating disorder and depression, had her out-of-work sickness benefit, the employment and support allowance (ESA), stopped this year. (Early reports appear to incorrectly say this was universal credit.) The Department for Work and Pensions states that Elaine’s ESA “account was closed” after she failed to attend three assessments this summer but her mother’s Facebook letter stresses Elaine had been in and out of intensive care in hospital.
I can’t stop reading the words Linda wrote about her daughter: “How many people have got to die before this government realises they are killing vulnerable people?”
…
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/16/neglect-benefit-cuts-deaths-elaine-morrall
The British press regularly covers stories of people who froze to death or committed suicide because they couldn’t pay their bills – energy bills being a primary cause of financial difficulties.
British Conservatives in my opinion have failed the British people. They have no solutions to the difficulties ordinary people face, because they don’t have the guts to admit in public that their precious green energy policies are an unworkable failure.
This political cowardice leaves the field wide open for hard left politicians like Jeremy Corbyn to claim that the reason prices are so high is because Capitalism itself has failed, that only his brand of hard left socialism can restore hope and stability to people’s lives.
Desperate people sometimes make desperate choices.
Can’t his brother get some sense into him? Maybe not. One of my brothers is a rabid socialist and he won’t see sense either.
That’s what I was thinking.
The problem is caused by The leftist politicizing the environment and climate, envirofascism. More of this is not going to help, but make it worse.
Sadly Santa it is not the hard left here in Britain who are sans brains.
We are ruled by so called Conseratives who are just as stupid.
The so called Conservatives in the UK are to the left of even many Democrats in the US.
Although Corbyn’s brother is sensible on climate matters I suspect his politics are very similar to Jeremy’s and so he won’t care how the truth is mangled to achieve the socialist aim.
So they’re two cheeks of the same arse, politically?
Like his brother, Piers has always been a hard-core socialist (I was at university with him), but he is a brilliant physicist. It is possible that Jeremy believes Piers, but it would not suit his political ambitions to publicly agree with him and lose a lot of his green/socialist supporters.
It is all about control: control of opinions, control of behaviour, control of resources, control of education and of course climate control! The problem with extreme thinking both on the the left and the right is that it is practised by people who cannot control their own emotions and therefore want to control others around them.
oebele bruinsma
Please define ‘extreme right’.
I consider myself extreme right because I’m a member of the UK Libertarian party, but we don’t march with fascist emblems or promote violence which is, of course, a child of socialism.
Instead, we promote personal liberty, low taxation and small governments.
The extreme left has, of course, demonstrated itself as violent, oppressive, dictatorial and elitist.20th Century history is littered with examples like Mao, Stalin and Castro.
The popular image of the ‘extreme right’ has nothing to do with my brand of politics.
Dear David,
“The extreme left has, of course, demonstrated itself as violent, oppressive, dictatorial and elitist.20th Century history is littered with examples like Mao, Stalin and Castro.” You missed of course e.g. Hitler. But that is not the point. The point is that a rational debate always generates the best possible way forward; such debates are much less rational and far more emotional on the extreme fringes of the political spectrum.
Obele Bruinsma, I think you missed HotScots subtle point. (As a Conservative, I’m going to present a biased response.)
I infer from your post that you feel there is an even political distribution regarding extreme activism and speech on the part of the “right” and “left”. I can tell you that is not the case here in the US.
Even if the Conservatives took an exact middle of the road position (e.g. on Immigration, gender issues) that the Left themselves held just a decade ago, they are now reviled as racist, misogynist, facist and the subject of violent confrontations to protest and to prevent any expression of their thoughts.
In contrast you would be hard pressed to identify similar protests and speech from the “right”. (Please don’t cite the KKK or American Nazi’s; their entire US membership wouldn’t fill a moderate sized church, despite exaggerated mainstream media coverage of their demonstratins.)
oebele bruinsma, Hitler was a socialist, not a creature of the right.
Dear George Daddis, In French they say: ” Les extreme se touche”. Translated in English ” extreme standpoints converge” I did not mention anything like the KKK ( a Democratic invention) or (American) Nazis. The point I’m making is that once people get emotional they seem to loose the ability to think straight. Have a look at the next post on WUWT concerning Polar Bears. An emotional (not a nature) problem!!
All the best.
Venezuela could use him about now.
In Europe, a conservative is someone who wants to slow the march towards socialism.
Jeremy Corbyn’s brother Piers derides the CO2 horror stories. Here’s the link to his website ‘Weather Action’. It’s a messy site, but interesting to browse. Clearly Piers hasn’t got Jeremy round to his point of view!
http://www.weatheraction.com/
“Labour’s John McDonnell says public ownership plan for services such as water and rail will “cost nothing”, while Corbyn adds it is necessary to prevent a “climate catastrophe”
Public Ownership costs nothing? Right nothing for the government but everything for the tax payer. The initial cost and thereafter government inefficiency!
Communists all!
Make Britain poor some more/again
Cheeres
Roger
http://www.thedemiseofchristchurch.com
PS My city council is taxing us all in order to restore Christchurch Cathedral which was damaged in the earthquakes. So much for respect to the rate payer who has to foot all their bills!
When industries are nationalized by socialist governments, there’s a tendency for the private prior shareholders to be stiffed. Also, new socialist managers tend to find “efficiency” by neglecting maintenance on the equipment, with predictable results down the years.
Not to mention that operating difficulties are never exposed and inefficiencies never eliminated because the “company” has access to an infinite source of cash: the taxpayer and the government printing press.
ya A building such as Christ Church cathedral which is a monument to a diety that doesnt exist something like AGW. All religions are the invention of people that couldnt accept that they cant live forever. Pure folly.
As for Corbyn someone should point out to the people that might vote for him and other other far left party; that there is no such thinga s socialism. A true socialist government is impossible Either you have the means of wealth to be able to run election campaigns or you dont. If noone owns anything in a socialist state it soon turns into a communist state of the governing party because noone has any money to pay for elections. Elections become a thing of the past. You have to either go all the way to communism or you you remain capitalistic. If you go partly capitalistic like Venezuela did your economy goes down the tubes. There is no middle ground except by creeping socialism in France where only 38 % of the economy is in private hands.Unless France veers to the right in the near future it is doomed as well. There never has been a 100% socialistic country in the world. Theyhave all devolved quickly into communism. Chile under Allende was about to go that way until he was stopped by the CIA.
I tend to describe any form of socialism as a percentage towards communism.
One way is to use the tax rate as a measurement of the capitalism – communist continuum. At the moment New Zealanders pay approximately 50% tax, so I have no problem saying that NZ is halfway towards communism.
Another way is to measure the amount of industry owned by the government. Using this criteria on the continuum I would still say NZ is halfway to communism.
Like anything, if it purrs its a cat, if it squawks its likely a bird etc.
Cheers
Roger
Alan,
“…a monument to a diety that doesnt exist …”
Why no “it seems to me” sort of qualifier? Seriously, why do you think it wise/effective, to speak as matters of fact, things you can’t know as matters of fact?
“All religions are the invention of people that couldnt accept that they cant live forever.”
Or, your imagination is not really a little window into whatever/whoever you happen to imagine about . . right? I mean you realize that’s something you imagined, yes? I ask because most of the “communists” you seem to be averse to, seem to me to have had trouble recognizing just that . . fallibility aspect inherent in our imaginings. (And that same conclusion regarding their ostensible God detecting capabilities . . infallible ; )
Ya know, Mr. Einstein believed in God, in the Designer sense. Can you give me one good reason to dismiss his assessment completely, and treat your assertions of a negative in such a weighty matter . . ; ) as supremely authoritative in some sense?
(And, I don’t think “not living forever” is all tough to accept, in terms of the body dying anyway (in religious beliefs I am aware of), and then potentially never experiencing anything anymore. Nothing is nothing . . The “live forever” stuff is a big positive, but not because it alleviates a big negative, it seems to me. I suggest your “matter of fact” on this origin story, could use some further development, before closing the door completely on a more . . sophisticated universal vision ; )
“You have to either go all the way to communism or you you remain capitalistic. ”
Yeah, splitting hairs between socialism, and communism, and Marxism, is nonsense. It is just a propaganda tool to give people the idea that socialism is not quite communism, so it’s okay. The slide down the slope has already begun once that premise is accepted.
Socialism must put people in bondage by definition. People can’t have the option of opting out. The individual must be crushed by the collective. Once that line is crossed there is no easy going back, because choice has been taken away. As it doesn’t work that well, then forced compliance of the recalcitrant is ratcheted up.
Care to prove your bigotry?
Or is insulting those who don’t worship as you do the limit of your mental abilities?
“Cost free”…lol.
It’s not only cost free, but paynless ™.
– Whom?
– To me. I’m going collect some good money and enjoy looking at you having the pain.
– So you’re able to keep your plan?
– Yes!
Smh … the State of CA might as well already have nationalized the State’s Public Utilities by way of politicizing and weaponizing the CA PUC to do the bidding of the SUPERmajority Leftist State Government which has been completely infiltrated by AGWists. The Consumer is being FLEECED in the name of some mythically carbon-overloaded environment … and driven into energy poverty. Who needs to “nationalize” our Utilities … when they’re already completely operated by the State?
The classical Fascist model, no need for the State to assume ownership of industry, with all the related hassles and direct costs, when they can dictate how the “private” industry operates. And incur umpteen indirect costs born by the economy.
And then when any problem occurs due to the burdensome regulations, they can just blame the problem on capitalism.
+1
Yes, As I mentioned before, here in Ventura, California, we are about to lose our 24 / 7 Natural gas power plants, because they use seawater to cool them. (First pass a law, that seems to good for the fish….), then follow it up years later to remove the Power Plants that fail to abide by that law. They are to be replaced with “100% renewables…”. Jerry Brown, with his allies, Tom Steyer and Elon Musk appeared at the community meetings with their Posse’s , took over the spaces, and gave every out of work student, Community activist etc, placards, and proceeded to shout down any dissent. Don’t think they ever had set foot in the Barrio before , except for their agenda.. OF course the Press was there to record it all and make it look like the entire world had voted for it.. Must have looked at old German Nazi propaganda footage, for a operating outline.
From what I can tell from this side of the pond, the UK Conservative Party is about as left as much of the US Democratic Party, while Labour seems to be currently about as far left as the Berkeley (CA) city council.
Basically, yes. British elections give you a choice between two left-wing globalist parties, one of which is slightly further to the left than the other.
In other words, it’s screwed.
The basis for the Western World is ample and cheap energy. The leftist have destroyed that with their “green energy” that is not working and is expensive. More socialism is more of the same and will just make it worse.
I do not know why you call UK parties left-wing. Here in Canada all the parties pose as centre-left but they all support the enviro/billionaire’s agenda of reducing population by raising taxes on the energy needed to grow and distribute food. None of the parties ever talks about the constantly rising price of food. How can any of them be left at all? It sounds as if matters in the UK are little different.
“I do not know why you call UK parties left-wing.”
Because they’re all big-government globalist parties. The closest to a right-wing party was the UKIP, who are unelectable due to Britain’s corrupt electoral system.
Big-government globalism combined with snob elitism (why don’t they drive a Tesla?) and braindead romantics. They’re people dependent on Chinese manufacturing while talking about ‘local food’. They wouldn’t recognize an oatfield yet thet know everything about how local farmers spoil waters. And besides, rice is cheaper. They want imported stuff.
I don’t know why poor people vote for them? Do they think they become rich by voting for elitists?
The poor vote for them because they promise lots of free stuff, paid for by shafting the evil rich.
Not really. The Tories are a very broad church, encompassing some who are a bit left but also Libertarians. That is why it wins so many elections. In general it is a lower tax (not a low tax), lower spending (but not a low spending), free market party, And given the spending Republicans are approving in the US, I would say the Tories are far less “left” than them!
Yes Tom, and it is very frustrating as a UK voter not to have a true right-of-centre party to vote for. Most Tory politicians are TINOs (as in RINOs). Cameron was a disaster as PM and May is just as bad. The Labor party’s Shadow Chancellor openly espouses Marxist policies. The guy who ran Corbyn’s election campaign had to resign from the Communist Party first in order to do so. I voted UKIP for years at all elections but that Party has now imploded. There is nowhere for my vote to go now. And, yes, there is a possibility that Corbyn could get in at the next election. There is no cure for stupid.
There is hope on the Conservative back bench in the form of Jacob Rees-Mogg. He is strong on Brexit and Conservative values. Teresa May sounded good in her early speeches but has completely lost the plot over time. Her appointee to manage Brexit is capitulating to the EU commissars, and this weakness drives people away from the Tory vote. Comrade Corbyn awaits eagerly in the wings, spouting Bernie Sanders style socialism, free stuff for everyone rhetoric and will easily beat the Conservatives at the next election unless May is dumped.
Britain under Corbyn will mean complete surrender to the EU and drive the country back into the dark ages economically.
“Britain under Corbyn will mean complete surrender to the EU and drive the country back into the dark ages economically.”
On the plus side, after Corbyn betrays the British electorate by refusing to leave the EU and then destroys the economy, Britain will finally be ready to elect a Trump.
Assuming there ever is another election after this one, of course.
Classic left wing motto:
One man, one vote, one time.
Actually Corbyn won’t support the EU, he will back Brexit. Why? Because the EU would not allow renationalisation of utilities, the very subject of this article. He knows this which is why he supports a continuing semi- custom union arrangement, but not a continuing membership of the Brussels cabal.
Paradoxially , whilst he spouts the ‘warmist’ mantra , mainly because Saunders-like , he requires the youth vote, he is much more likely to want national security of supply to be paramount in electricity planning, a throw back to CEGB days. So under Corbyn, out will go interconnectors and in will come more conventional generation. Odd isn’t it? Except of course the old ideas of ‘left and right’ in politics has gone.
Corbyn is no globalist, indeed he is a relic , whether he is his own man or captured by the ‘new age’ identity politics has yet to be determined. He is a survivor, of that there is no doubt.
Its likely we will only know that if he is successful at the next election. And if the Tories continue to make a ‘right horlicks’ of things we will soon know.
Corbyn is dangerous
Yes Alan, he is. He seems to be clever, an alarming thing for a politician.
Now exactly who or what he endangers is the question. Many people think HC was dangerous, many think DT is dangerous.
‘Left’ and ‘Right’ seem to be meaningless these days, so I admit I don’t know what he represents. Watson his no2 and apparently his ally, gives every appearance of being a die in wool old fashioned British socialist. The sort of guy who you would have expected to support the NUM in days gone by.
its a mistake to imply tat what comrade Corbyn says would in the end bear any resemblance to what comrade Corbyn would do. He is just mouthing the platitudes that he thinks people want to hear.
He is utterly incompetent to form a government let alone run a nation.
Britain isn’t a poor nation nor are people starving or dying of cold: That is a fiction invented by the left wing media. To justify ‘more state’
Steptoe – as he is known – is a pawn in the globalist game. Right now he is useful to destabilise the current very weak goverment in the hope of halting Brexit.
Since the EU is not even a particularly disguised self legalising Mafia protection racket.
It has been a few years now since we realised we are in the middle of a very dirty vicious and selfish war, in Europe. A war in which neither side will admit to which side they really support, and everything has been infiltrated in the name of political control of everything ‘fort your own good’. It i a creeping totalitarianism run by large corporates failed banks and sycophantic media.
Corbyn has been useful to weaken May who was put in place to fail. Unfortunately she had enough ambition to try and actually exit the EU, so she was told to hold an election which she nearly lost, thus weakening her position enough to keep her in line.
Corbyn’s usefulness is almost over, hence the timely release of material showing he is what he always was – a hard line communist idiot.
He is being lined up for an exit.
It is entirely in the EuroMafias interest to de-stabilise the UK to the point it has no government strong enough to govern, so that it can make a case for it remaining in the EU. That is the point of everything that is going on, politically,and why all the media are painting horror stories about the Uk, which are simply not true.
The EU wants the UK destroyed for voting to leave. Or to come crawling back. Comrade Corbyn is just a useful idiot in that process.
Who knows, maybe Corbyn is just following the model of an old philosophic sympatico? Putin has nationalized much of Russian industry over the years has he not?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5404789/Senior-Labour-figures-spied-Russians-80s.html
I like that little Lenin hat that he’s wearing in the photo.
“Corbyn has admitted to the meetings but denied knowing the man was a spy.”
Right! not collaborating with the enemy, just really really stupid!
Was there anyone on the British left in the 70s who wasn’t working for the Soviets?
The Soviet KGB was certainly secretly funding the CND protests and protest camps at RAF Greenham Common outside Newbury in the 1983-1987 period.
@Joel O’Bryan
secretly? looks like the “secret” that Xmas gift are actually from adults, not from Santa Claus.
What?????
Corbyn will lie through his teeth to get power. Once in power he will try Allende style tactics to overturn British society. If he is warning the newspapers now what will he do to others? He must be stopped now or Britain will have a new Hitler on their hands.
Many of the people who voted for Donald Trump would have voted for Bernie Sanders, given the choice. Similarly, Corbyn will get votes he doesn’t deserve from people he will betray. The downtrodden majority of the population is desperate. The Donald is a very mild rebuke to the Democrat party. If they don’t get back on track we will see much much worse. At least The Donald pays lip service to the ‘forgotten people’. Does Corbyn even get that?
I’m not following the analogy. Who has Trump betrayed? What promises (that would be important to the Sanders crowd) has he broken? What promises has he broken, period?
(ps i dont like trump as politician, entertainer, or businessman; i dont know him as a person, but i am guessing i wouldnt like that aspect either. with respect to proven policy, i dont have much to complain about)
The reality is that based on paleoclimate evidence and the work that has been done with models. the climate change we have been experiening is caused by the sun and the oceans over which mankind has no control. There is no real evidence that CO2 has any effect on climate and plenty of sceintific rational to support the idea that the climate sensivity of CO2 is zero.
We all know this on this site. New knowledge would be appreciated.
So when are the next British parliamentary elections?
Never mind. Found the answer in Wikipedia—May of 2022. Still four years away. Wondering if Corbyn can stand waiting that long and if he can hang on as Labour leader that long.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_United_Kingdom_general_election
The Tories can always call another snap election to try and exploit the weakness of Corbyn.
Of course, last time they tried that Corbyn had to be publically displayed on the news channels and so he swung the polls by 20% in his favour to destroy the Tory over all majority.
But Theresa May didn’t lose votes whenever campaigning was suspend due to terrorist attacks. And as she was Home Secretary and now PM there is always hope for the Tories.
They might try it again.
Neo-Marxists on the march.
(neo – meaning new style.)
All the basic elements of authentic Marxist-communism are present, such as the class struggle between proletariat and the bourgeois, violent revolution is justified, etc. They just don’t use those old labels. They use new labels. And there are some updates like the encapsulation of environmentalism and the Trojan Horse they call Climate Change.
The Brits scare me. They’ve let a crisp Brexit slide into a joke. Theresa May doubled down on stupid by calling a snap election and ending up with fewer seats, a minority government that had to negotiate a deal with an Ulster party (N.Ireland) to stay in power – greatly weakened. Why didn’t Nigel Farage stick it out and fight even harder after Brexit. He knew the Conservatives were like getting Colonel Sanders to care for your chickens. And now we have Vladimir Corbyn with his bolshevik cap waiting at the take out counter.
Ever since the Britons voted for Brexit, the establishment has been trying to find a way to keep them in. Every major party there is globalist, and hates the idea of Britain being an independent nation again.
It’s worth noting that Labour used to be anti-EU and the ‘Conservatives’ pro-EU. But that was when Labour actually claimed to represent the working class, who were the hardest hit by mass immigration of unskilled labour from Europe.
Please read my comment above. Corbyn could be many things, but a globalist he definitely is not.
You are correct that just as in the US most of the ‘establishment’ works to remove Trump, this is mirrored in the UK with brexit, and for the same basic reasons.
Young Brits worry older Brits. Young Brits want to be loved, they want to embrace their fellow Europeans in a future together. They want to extend this to most across the world. The English language allows them to believe that they can communicate with everyone. They do not have the experience of history. They naively do not appreciate the distaste Britain is held in many parts of Europe and the World because of relatively recent history. Older Brits are more sanguine about their place in the world. Hence the age split on brexit.
“Corbyn could be many things, but a globalist he definitely is not.”
Then why have Labour opposed Brexit so much?
The EU has traditionally been where tired old Labour politicians go to die with phat jobs that allow them to impose the socialist nonsense through the EU that British voters refused to elect them to do through Parliament.
It will come at no cost to the taxpayer.
In other words, the government is just going to seize what it wants without compensation to the current owners.
It never ceases to amaze me how the left keeps returning to the failed policies of the past, so convinced that this time they will get it right.
I wonder how many millions will die this time.
Most of the millions who died under Socialism were murdered. The general population lived in misery. The logic of Corbyn’s politics leads back to that.
Here is Alan Kors’ absolutely brilliant talk on the legacy of Socialism.
It is to that, that Corbyn (and Bernie Sanders) wants to return. It brings misery, gulags, thought crimes, heresy trials, and mass murder.
For all his moral posing and sentimentalism, Corbyn is a monster. So is Bernie Sanders.
The core error of socialist/communist thought is that all the problems we are having is because capitalism has corrupted man. They believe that man is at his core a kind and generous creature who will always care for his fellow man more than for himself.
(Anyone who believes this has never dealt with a toddler.)
They believe that once they get the perfect system in place, the ideal man will automatically appear.
They just have to keep killing those who disagree in order to make a place for these perfect people once they do appear.
And they are convinced that they are about to appear. Any day now. Just wait a few more days.
Oh the problem is those revisionists, they are the ones who are preventing the perfect man from appearing, got to kill them too so that we can create a perfect society.
And so on.
Did anybody listen and watch that old coot talking down to his constituents in that tweet of his above? If you did did you notice that it looked like his lumpy shoulders were growing upwards relative to his head and ears? Could that be a sign that his body was slowly engulfing his head?
Now, I know what I’ve just written, while it was about a genuine observation of a clearly observable phenomenon, it may not seem relevant to the discussion at hand. Trust me, it is.
Did you mean this?
?crop=780%2C520%2C0%2C0&resize=1200
Or this?
http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/styles/full/public/image/nosferatu-1922-001-max-shreck-bedside-00n-2r5.jpg?itok=_vUnFBx6
“Climate change”- 2 words that are both meaningless without qualification but can mean anything at all. The term encompasses absolutely anything- getting warmer, getting cooler- anything. The left’s true colours are coming out-they just want power and control. These control freaks think they can mould the human species to what they want and will use ANY tactic, no matter how unethical to achieve the destruction of society.
Whenever I hear one of their insane rants, I see the image of a spoiled brat in its soiled diapers chucking a temper tantrum, complete with crocodile tears, oblivious to all the s*^t that is leaking out of the soiled diaper on to the Persian rugs.
Alas, it is politically incorrect to give the spoiled brat what it actually deserves.
When there is a mistaken belief that CO2 causes global warming, climate change or whatever, it doesn’t matter if energy production is nationalized or run by “evil” multinationals. Electricity cannot be generated efficiently and cheaply by addled brains.
Excerpt from above:
“Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said that nationalising energy companies was necessary to avoid a “climate catastrophe”.”
This statement by Jeremy Corbin is false nonsense, and he should know it. His brother Piers Corbin is a prominent climate skeptic and has a solid track record as an astrophysicist and weather forecaster.
“Green energy: is costly nonsense that has severely harmed Britain’s elderly and poor. “Heat or Eat” is a well-known disaster in the UK, where the Excess Winter Death Rate is several times higher than that of Canada or the USA.
So is Jeremy Corbin a scoundrel or an imbecile? Is he knowingly and cynically misleading UK voters to get their votes or is he so stupid that he cannot recognize that global warming hysteria is a false crisis, unsupported by any credible evidence, and that ”green energy” is not green and produces little useful (dispatchable) energy?
Maybe is does not matter – Jeremy Corbin is dead wrong – and the two aforementioned terms are not mutually exclusive – perhaps Jeremy is BOTH a scoundrel AND an imbecile – a classic British nutter.
Even the IPCC has stopped predicting climate catastrophe. However the acolytes aren’t having any of it.
All part of the plan. What makes people think government will solve a problem that government caused?
Because governments never fail? That makes socialists predestined for government. /s just in case
I read through Chris Bookers article published by the Global Warming Policy Foundation. He pointed out that many supporters of AGW swapped science for politics, simply ignoring the science. The AGW mob classed deniers as right wing loonies. https://www.thegwpf.org/content/uploads/2018/02/Groupthink.pdf
The comments section here is nothing more than a groupfest of those denigrating left wing politics, with an alternative groupspeak that clearly cant differentiate between a Social Democrat, such as Corbyn, and a Stalinist tool such as Allende.
Most right wing, pro status quo parties around the world, are just as bonkers when it comes to supporting anti science positions. The group speak here that labels all AGWistas as left wing loonies is political, not scientific. Stick to the science…_
Digger you wrote:
“The comments section here is nothing more than a groupfest of those denigrating left wing politics, with an alternative groupspeak that clearly cant differentiate between a Social Democrat, such as Corbyn, and a Stalinist tool such as Allende.”
I am calling you out as just another bullsh!tter.
Climate skeptics range from right to centre to left-wing. Their common characteristics are that they have integrity, understand the scientific method, and recognize global warming alarmist falsehoods when they see them.
I am duly called out…_
I’m right wing, but I have no problem acknowledging and respecting left wing people of integrity.
e.g.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/10/12/freeman-dyson-democrat-supporter-climate-skeptic/
I’m not a fan of politicians who use the fake climate crisis to push their political agenda, left or right.
e.g.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/12/08/aussie-pm-tiptoes-away-from-carbon-tax-uproar/
“I’m right wing, but I have no problem acknowledging and respecting left wing people of integrity.”
There are some round here would parrot what you say, then think to themselves ‘but I don’t want them in my neighbourhood’
Science is never beyond politics, but we here should be. We can achieve change, how many here who were acceptors, turned deniers when a few facts were dug out of the search engines…_
“There are some round here would parrot what you say, then think to themselves ‘but I don’t want them in my neighbourhood’”
Why would we?
Just imagine the amount of time, money and energy that could be saved if we didn’t have to waste it dealing with idiotic political twaddle. Just imagine how much more advanced the human race could be if that could be spent doing useful things instead.
The left could go to live in North Korea, and we could go and live on the Moon. And everyone would be happy.
I don’t care who lives near me, as long as they don’t try to steal what I’ve earned.
What’s wrong with denigrating policies that have murdered millions and impoverished even more?
It is a cold, grey , still morning here in Cheshire – like Death warmed up , but only slightly .
According to Gridwatch
http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/
Wind is contributing only 9% to our energy demands , solar nothing of course , but nearly 5% is courtesy of the French. Coal is near its maximum as is nuclear , but these 2 sources will disappear in the next few years according to the Govt. God help us then .
One of my favourite poems is Christina Rosetti’s ” In the bleak mid winter ” , but I prefer it as a poem rather than an actuality.
While I disagree with much of what Jeremy Corbyn stands for, and I think as Prime Minister it would be a disaster for the UK, on this point of renationalising the energy utilities I think there is an argument in its favour.
When Thatcher denationalised Britain’s public utilities, many were sold off to non-UK corporations whose main incentive is to squeeze as much profit out of the UK consumer with the minimum of investment in infrastructure. After privitisation, utility bills increased dramatically.
Now living in Poland, I enjoy much lower utility bills in comparison. The utilities are owned by the Polish state and are generally well-managed and efficiently operated, and the investment is put into the infrastructure when this is required. My water bill, for example, is far lower than water costs in the UK where the average consumer is having to pay through the nose for a basic need.
Leaving aside Poland’s reliance on coal, I suggest if it were possible to build new utilities to compete with existing utilities normal competition would ensure reasonable prices. But as Amber Rudd acknowledged when she was Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change;
Read more: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/amber-rudds-speech-on-a-new-direction-for-uk-energy-policy
The British government stuffed up the energy market, by their own admission.
I worked for a “privatised” British utility once. Same personnel as the old public sector days. The people who interviewed me were so drunk they forgot to tell personnel department they had hired me. Rule was Wednesday to Friday afternoons down the pub. I’m not surprised companies like that have to charge high rates to cover their costs.
Is your wage also far lower than that in the UK?
Yes but taking that into account utility prices are still much lower comparatively
Ivan,
“While I disagree with much of what Jeremy Corbyn stands for…”
Does not go far enough?
The last communist prime minister in the UK was Harold Wilson. He eventually stood down to be replaced by Gentleman Jim Callaghan. Strangely lots of the old soldiers you talk to remember taking control of London’s airports when Harold “decided” to go. You would have thought that would have been in the press. Another thing the squaddies remember that never happened was during the Grosvenor Square anti Vietnam riots outside the American embassy in London. They seem fairly sure they were waiting around the corner to shoot any demonstrators who tried to storm the building because it would have looked bad if the Americans had to do it.
Labour’s Manifesto last year pledged to “ensure that 60% of UK energy comes from zero carbon or renewable sources by 2030”
The figure currently is 18%, only achieved at huge cost.
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2018/02/20/labours-low-carbonpromise/
There is not a cat in hells chance of getting to 60%
18 is 60% of 30. It can be done right now, provided you kill all other from 82 to 12.
Well, I didn’t say it wouldn’t hurt.
Alternatively, you can just paint “zero carbon” current energy
* Put the “Drax scheme” on overdrive, put wood where there is coal. Easy. Just costly. And juicy for connected.
* Duplicate the Drax scheme : Just ask some foreign investor to turn wood (or whatever not fossil) into gas and oil, and import it. Easy. Just costly. And juicy for connected
* Buy some carbon indulgence, whereby for each and every “carbon emission”, someone get paid to manage a carbon sink, like, planting a forest. When he cut it, HE will emit carbon, not you, so you are sinless. Easy. Just costly. And juicy for connected
etc.
And, just for the show, provide money to friends making new wind/solar/hydro. Easy. Just costly. And juicy for connected.
See? Put me in charge in 2022, and it is all done by 2026.
As a bonus, all these increased cost will stress the economy, provide some unemployment, and all this can be blamed on big oil and climate deniers, because, you know, they created the situation I am now fixing. A wonderful electoral argument
Change is coming. The green communist revolution is coming to confiscate private industries of fossil fuel hungry capitalists! Hail comrade Corbyn!
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EqnefhZujJA/UqM0YJCgCpI/AAAAAAAAfXY/p6js5KdEO4I/s1600/600898_10202629652722533_1731473012_n-894.jpg
But Lenin was not a Socialist. He may not be the ideal spokesperson you portray him as.
Once again the left uses global warming as an excuse for control.
Sent from my iPhone
>
All you really need to know is that despite having no loyalty to any past leader of the party, nor even the party itself having voted against it over 500 times. There is nothing he values more in others, than unquestioning loyalty to himself.
A person whose idea of progress is to go back to the union dominanted 70’s
Eric, you wrote that “British Conservatives in my opinion have failed the British people. They have no solutions to the difficulties ordinary people face, because they don’t have the guts to admit in public that their precious green energy policies are an unworkable failure.”
You only have this half right. Let it be remembered that it was under Labour in 2008 that they brought in the Climate Change Act. The Minister responsible was a Ed Millband (more normally known as “Millitwat”.
The rabid lefties at the Grauniad who wrote this drivel (Frances Ryan), conveniently forget that it was their own beloved party and supported by the Grauniad that imposed this murderous act in the first place.
It must be said that whilst the Conservatives didn’t introduce this legislation, they all just as brain dead because they voted in through. Virtue signalling at its best. Utter idiots.
Well…I guess we should wish them “good luck with that”…because it’s always worked out so well in the past and all.
Utilities are commonnly regulated by govts for one simple reason – they are basically monopolies,which means that a free market does not exist in this business area. I’m amazed that supposedly free market folks (conservatives) think that a free market means no govt interference.
That’s pure nonse – when monopolies exist, neither a free market nor competition exists. The
requirement is competition – that is what regulates markets and ensures that profits do not
go beyond what is required to conduct business. Competition is required in every facet of life – without it, nothing works. Nothing.
Utilities are generally localized monopolies because of government regulation.
The argument who would want two or three separate power lines on each power pole?
The answer is me, if it would result in cheaper power.
Another alternative is to have a monopoly that owns the power poles and power lines, but have the actual generation of electricity be provided competitively.
The only place monopolies have ever existed, they existed because a government created and protected them.
There was never a Microsoft monopoly on operating systems. Not even close.
There were always alternatives.
You could buy an Apple, you could go with one of the flavors of Unix.
Just because most people voluntarily chose the least expensive, easiest to use option, is not evidence of a monopoly.
Well, it can be argued that most people didn’t chose M$, and that it wasn’t the least expensive, nor the more easy to use. And M$ got sued and lost some trials, so it can surely be argued that M$ dominant position (not monopoly) included some abuse.
Looks to me a State failure.
State let M$ take advantages of a few rules to checkmate some other more important rules.
But we digress.
The fact that a judge determined that MS was in violation of a law, proves only that a judge ruled that MS was in violation of a law. It doesn’t prove that actual abuses occurred.
Windows has always been way cheaper than any Apple OS.
The PC hardware has also always been cheaper than the Apple boxes as well. There were also way more options when it came to applications and peripherals, and those were usually cheaper than the Apple equivalents as well.
The mere fact that individuals who couldn’t even spell PC were able to take a Windows computer out of the box and get it to run speaks towards it’s ease of use.
MS published it’s Bios, and let anyone who wanted to create apps and peripherals. While Apple forced everyone who wanted to sell Apple products get certified by Apple first. This kept the quality of Apple apps higher, but also made them more expensive.
Back in the 80’s and 90’s, every computer store that I went into had both an Apple and a Windows section.
People could freely chose which they wanted to buy.
@MarkW
Just read me correctly. I only told that “it can be argued”. Obviously doesn’t prevent anyone to think they know better than a judge.
We digress anyway.
Judges are often wrong. Especially when the law they are using is itself wrong.
I don’t understand your point. Of course government interferes, always did, and always will.
Conservative are just aware that the king, the government, and the political forces are just that. Men with their own sins, flaws and sins. Not god or providence incarnates as lefties think (after Hegel / Engel / Marx basically transferred all Christian God Attributes to State, and in the process basically switched right and left political spectrum).
And they are given a wonderful and extraordinaire (quite literally) tool to achieve their goal: violence, ability to take away properties and life and get away with it. This is even the current classic definition of State, after Max Weber.
They must use sparingly. Well, obviously conservative are still men as other, and wont mind as much if state violence is used in their interest (abundant examples), but, still, they basically don’t trust the state, and stick to old basic “habeas corpus” set of rules
“when monopolies exist, neither a free market nor competition exists. ” + “Competition is required in every facet of life – without it, nothing works. Nothing.”
This is a fallacy. A common fallacy, but a fallacy nonetheless.
Do you think competition stops when the state regulates and organizes monopolies? Far from it. It just switch the competition from the technical ability to satisfy customers, to the political ability to please rulers. And it rises the stakes: you don’t just risk a market share and your current way of living (is that so important?), you risk gulag and life, your children’s included.
Communist is just as competitive a regime as any other. It is even more, actually. Trouble is, the competition is to please and bribe the referee, not to play the best.
A fair competition will result in some monopoly. This is fine. It will also overrule it as soon as the front runner take “too much” rest, or as soon as some other competitor manages to gear up. What is not fine, is the referee choosing the front runner, bullying other competitors behind so that they cannot really compete, etc. Which is just what Corbyn says he will.
The Labour Party’s promise to the British people;
‘Poverty for the many, not the few.’
Socialism always enriches those who run it, at the expense of everyone else.
This is typical capitalist thinking. Because you care about yourself, socialist do, too.
They don’t.
They accept shitty life for themselves (and for you, of course…). Even when the amass vast fortune, which some of them do (while most don’t), it is not for the good life, it is for the power. They do care about power.
They don’t care about the body. They care about the soul, which they want pure, that is, perfectly aligned with all other souls along the “party line”.
Socialists are just godless warrior-monks longing to turn Earth into Eden, leaving all sinners the choice between taking rebirth in the faith, or be put aside, or even die if they are too much a threat to the Church.
They dream of some sort of new worldwide Sparta fighting for the peace against an endless stream of demonic corruption from within.
Socialism is just a christian faith turned mad (did you know that Pilgrim fathers envisioned a communist society, except for the word that didn’t exist then? It almost killed them all, and survivors reconsidered. Mad they were not, and they put more faith in God that in their human ways. Socialists, being godless, don’t reconsider)
Capitalism is all about doing Judo with human flaws, to turn them into good actions. You are greedy? fine. Just sell me some bread and make a profit. You are mean? fine, just invest your money to get even more later, and upon death leave behind more than gold: a golden goose that humankind will benefit from etc. The result is, even sinful or even evil goals can be turned into good actions.
Socialism is all about terminating those flaws. The result is, even good goals can be turned into rationale for bad deeds, as the end justify the ways, and pure unadulterated evil ensue.
Yeah, I was just thinking about this — when is some lame-brainer gonna want to nationalize utilities and oil companies for the ’cause’.
Hi Beng135 – I’ve lived with public utilities and and private utilities in the UK, and I can tell you that Public utilities are far superior. I would like to see the utilities nationalised – because they are national infrastructure provided originally from the taxes of the British people and have been run much more cost effectively as a public service for all citizens rather than a private monopoly. Furthermore, I’d like to see nationalised health, and nationalised railways, and other transport infrastructure (like the Germans, French, Swiss and others with brilliant railway services). Our NHS has been one of the most extraordinary benefits I have known throughout my lifetime – it is an absolute treasure, although I have personally needed it rarely – thank god – it treats all people equally according to need, and thus benefits rich people by avoiding, for them, unnecessary interventions, and benefits poor people by letting them get on with their lives without the crushing fear of health problems.
So as for Corbyn. I joined the Labour Party specifically to vote for Corbyn as leader. He has been right on issues over and over again – especially the Iraq war, and privatisation of the NHS. So I would be very pleased to see him win an election and, as far as it is ever possible to believe those lying bastards, I trust him to try to do much of what he says – he has been remarkably resilient over the past 30+ years he has been an MP. Furthermore, the present policies put forward by the Labour Party are in no way ‘Hard Left’ or even very leftwing – they are th esort of things that are absolutely middle of the road for Germany and France.
What about Climate Change? He’s wrong on that.
Jay, I was a registered professional engineer for a major utility in the US. Utilities here are usually public-owned (stockholders), but all are regulated by state commissions, and have been for a long time. Profit-margins have long been regulated, and major projects must be approved. But at least until recently, the regulatory agencies have been responsible & not heavy-handed. But like everything else, the lefties are using the system (EPA), Sierra-Club lawsuits, stockholder meetings, etc as sledgehammers to dictate to the utilities what & how to build (windmills, solar panels and no more coal plants). This is from people that have no idea or care about engineering/economics. Nationalization of utilities here would just allow the government to go bonkers on it.
Thanks beng
Good summary
In other words, you live in a fantasy world.
Please look at the regulations those “private” utilities had to deal with and tell me again how “private” they were.
Since the government is so superior to the market in providing services, why not go whole hog and turn over everything to the government?
Hi Jay.
Socialist are usually nice fellows as long as you put their political ideas aside. Discussing these ideas just make them look no good.
I just say: Just do it. Be proud and bold Kibbutzim, build your health service, power utilities, socialist banks, insurance companies, supermarkets, factories, telephone home and car services, etc, all those things that just need you to commit to what you claim your ideas are, without any money issue. Get rid of those pesky capitalists who don’t want to be in for whatever reason (in which they are so wrong, aren’t they? but just show them, and they will beg you to be in later, since your system is SO better, isn’t it?), without you as a customer and a worker they will collapse anyway. You don’t need them. THEY need you.
I understand that you may have some issue building your roads, railroads, electric grid, but there are so much that can be done, right now. People calling themselves socialist DO include rich people, and even when poor, they collectively can muster much more capital than the whole of UK could just a few decade ago, and most country still can right now.
That is, if you real think what you say you think, and commit for real.
Some did, and they had literally nothing to begin, as they came barely alive from death camps.
Answer
…
(I really love this “sound of silence” song of Simon and Garfunkel)
PS: The reason why health care etc is initially cheaper when the government runs it, is because the government is forcing someone else to pay for it. But as Lady Thatcher said, eventually you run out of other people’s money, and the whole thing collapses.
The NHS is cheaper per head than the dilapidated US system because of economies of scale.
It is also cheaper to the users at the time of use because the payment is made by everybody (well or ill – it’s only luck after all) over their entire lives.
NHS is cheaper per head because it doesn’t provide much care.
Dilapidated? Another example of you knowing things that absolutely aren’t so.
Regardless of your delusions, health care is one of those areas that benefit the least from the “economies of scale”.
1 doctor can only see so many patients per day.
When you force the doctor to see more, you are decreasing the quality of care.
If you save money by using people other than doctors to see patients, you are decreasing the quality of care.
“payment is made by everybody”
Translation, you are forcing other people to pay for what you want.
When you compare similar demographics, US health care is the best in the world.
Different countries have different mixes of demographics.
I knew the troll would bring up infant mortality.
The big problem with infant mortality, like most other health care statistics is that different countries define these things differently.
In the US, no matter how early or small a baby is, if it takes one breath post birth, it’s counted as a live birth.
Some countries count any baby that dies within 24 hours of birth as a still birth. Other countries count small babies as miscarriages.
That’s the big problem with socialists, most of what they believe they know, was never true in the first place, but that will never stop them from demanding more free stuff.
I’ve already answered that question, different demographics. When you compare similar populations in the US and Europe, the US comes out way ahead.
So Rob, in 17 minutes assuming you read my post as soon as it went up, you were able to locate and research the policies of the US and Britain in regards to how live births are counted?
Amazing.
So why don’t you show us the data you found, unless of course you aren’t just making it up again.
But does the NHS sufficiently cover opioids to drive overdose deaths in the population to the point of being statistically significant in halting gains in life expectancy? Only civilized health systems provide full coverage for that on a massive scale. By comparison the NHS is handing out bandages like the old utopian East German health system. /sarc
Oh boy, more boat people to deal with…..the Brits this time.
Let’s with priorities like climate and asset seizure, what could possibly go wrong?
Feb. 22 news
LONDON—The U.K. economy expanded less than previously thought in the final quarter of 2017, leaving the country further out of step with a global expansion that is powering growth among its major peers.
Let’s see,
Corbyn has support from a majority of students, elitist media types, and brainless luvvies. He is despised by patriots and people who work for a living and, therefore, will never win a majority in parliament.
The Guardain article about the poor woman who dies clearly states that she had personal problems. No one in the UK, who has a house and benefit payments, needs to die like her because of the cost of fuel.
Theresa May is a competent women but lacks inspiration. The Right needs a figure who articulates the value of capitalism and the idiocy of socialism.
The massive investment in water and wastewater during the last twenty five years would not have happened had the water authorities not been privatised.
Labour’s John McDonnell is on video record as being a straight up unreconstructed communist. No joke.
He hoped the 2008 crash would bring about his long hoped-for downfall of capitalism.
And there is hardly a terrorist organisation in existence that has not been praised at some point by his boss Jeremy Corbyn. No joke.
It is astonishing that the Conservative leadership, winning hugely in the poles, contrived to write a prospectus so bad that it nearly lost them the election. It is the closest escape since Dunkirk.
Fortunately the Ulster Unionists, who they then had to turn for support, are strongly against most of the policies promoted by the global warmers. Every cloud has a silver lining.
COMRADE corbyn (Trotskyite) and his appalling side kicks McDonnell and the rear end of a pantomime horse (Abbot) will say and do anything to take over the country and make one more failed marxist utopia that other people will pay for. They lie openly taking a page out of their puppet master’s book. Behind corbyn is a dangerous organization of marxist anachists called Militant Tendency who were thrown out of the Labout party 30 years ago because of their unacceptable unsafe practices… corbyn brought them back in and now they run the party!
Well I voted for him as leader of my party. And I voted for his party at the General Election.
But I’m not a Climate Alarmist.
That’s because the physics of the atmosphere and oceans does no determine the best way to run a society.
Fascinating how the socialist assumes that it is the job of government to run society.
Jeremy Corbyn is no fool. Advocating public ownership of utilities (he’s a socialist – why hasn’t he said this before?) will resonate well with older generation folk who remember when energy was more or less affordable and it was always there and you knew what the price was going to be and blah blah blah. And it will resonate with younger folk who listen to older folk talking about the good old days (I was there and they weren’t all that bad you know Mark, even if they weren’t perfect).
The trouble is, re-nationalising energy will not bring back the good old days of coal fires in the grate, coal-burning power stations and a coal-gas plant behind the train station in every town. It’s going to be more of the green boondoggles, more expensive energy for everyone (unless he copies the Ontario model of borrowing against the next generation to make green electricity appear a bit cheaper – of which more later), no fracking of course, that’s bad, and no more nukes because they are bad too.
I’m glad I’m getting old, I won’t have to listen to this stuff much longer.
Ontario energy: I’m somehow maintaining two households in Ontario, one in the urban south and one in the north. Both have gas heating, gas water heating, gas cooking and a gas dryer (actually one doesn’t have a dryer at all). And the electricity bills for both are higher than the gas bills. That says it all for green electricity, even after the subsidy. All because they have taken Ontario’s electricity supply from about 76% “carbon-free” to about 86% (that’s delivered MWh, not installed MW). What a monumental waste of public money. What it would be like if we didn’t still have big hydro and big nukes and Alberta gas, …… don’t want to go there
My gripe for the day.
Ontario decisively sent out the message to low cost sector leaders in solar PV with their local content law to go away and the low cost leaders in utility solar PV did just that. Then they could claim support from higher cost participants in vote buying and green advocacy on the overall renewables goal. The ratepayers were stiffed twice in that maneuver.
Socialism always improves the lot of the poor, for a short time. The problem is that this improvement is caused by shifting resources from production to consumption, delaying of maintenance in order to keep costs down and eventually restricting service to those without political pull.
Long run, the poor are worse off.
I don’t think politics is the key to the amount of additional regulation that we have to endure today compared to when I was young, I think you have to look at the role of local government who only exist in order to regulate the lives of ordinary citizens like us it seems. The local councils love the idea of global warming because it gives them an excuse to regulate our lives for our own good which is what they want to do anyway you only have to look at the increasing licensing of jobs and compulsory education for occupations such as mine It is becoming more like living in an insect colony then a human society. The subsidies that renewable energy get from us is a scam but we are also being scammed with the housing crises which it seems requires us to build infinite new housing although the decrease in the death rate is not infinite and is matched by a lower birth rate and even the increase in immigration is not infinite. We have built more housing and we continue to build more housing but this has not solved the housing crises and is not likely to do so in future , rather then making building firms more wealthy we could look at regulating ownership so that nobody owns more than one home and non citizens cannot buy houses also we could give those who want houses loans to build there own houses at cost price rather then paying the market price.
Mate there’s a housing crisis because there AREN’T ENOUGH HOUSES.
“housing crisis” is a joke. What most of Europe experienced during WWII and after, because of war destructions and population expansion and population move from countryside to cities, THAT was housing crisis. It was easier to find a job than to find a home (can you imagine that, today?).
But nowadays? seriously? People easily find housing, they just find it too expansive; well, I guess housing is ALWAYS too expansive, no matter how cheap and confortable it. Just like earnings are always to small, and the work always too hard.
Just an excuse for more silly politics
You never want to lose faith in human nature and the ability to make the most of watermelon stupidity-
https://www.masterresource.org/electric-vehicles/norway-ev-subsidies/
Heaven help the UK if the spittle-flecked Jeremy Corbyn Laden and his merry band of swivel-eyed loony lefties ever get their grubby mitts on the levers of power…
Well with Brexit underway, their added policy mistakes would be glaring and fully exposed. Sometimes it takes hard lessons from headlong leaps in the wrong direction to make meaningful change in the right direction later. Good luck with that. Redistribution of wealth policies only get you so far in a declining economy–just ask the Venezuelan refugees. Invest in real estate in Dublin and Germany as a backup plan.
Jeremy Corbyn is only “hard” left in the febrile imaginations of Americans.
[The mods fear to imagine what you would consider “hard left”… -mod]
To a communist, everyone else is right wing.
I am in no way belittling the tragic death of Elaine, but her main failing was not gaming the system correctly. If she had set up as self employed – any sham business would do – she would be eligible for child tax credits. These are not means tested and probably would have allowed her to keep the heating on. Very sad.