Utopia, you are standing in it!

During the recently concluded Conservative leadership contest, the government appeared to be in a holding pattern, taking little or no action of substance until the election of Boris Johnson’s successor. But did the government, which had a substantial parliamentary majority and an electoral mandate, need to act as if it was merely a ‘caretaker’? Robert Hazell explains that the rules around a ‘lame duck’ PM remain fuzzy, and argues that steps must be taken to clarify the position as soon as possible.

Something very strange happened at Westminster over the summer: a government which enjoyed a comfortable working majority of 71 seats was declared to be a caretaker which could not take any major decisions. It was variously accused of being a ‘zombie government’ ‘asleep at the wheel’, and incapable of taking urgent decisions required by the energy crisis. In its defence the government might…

Britain’s power consumers (or what’s left of them) are brewing for a full-scale revolt.

12 months ago, the average annual energy bill was £1,400 ($2,400). Energy industry analyst Cornwall Insight forecasts that the British price cap will skyrocket and the average annual bill will reach £3,582 ($6,177) next month. By January, it predicts it will be £5,000 (almost $10,000) a year. No wonder Brits are furious.

And a fair degree of that fury rests on the fact that they have been lied to for the best part of 20 years.

You know, the usual rubbish about our ‘inevitable’ transition to an all wind and sun powered future bringing cheap and abundant electricity to all. An apparently easy sell, driven by the meme about the wind being ‘free’ and that the ‘sun’ is cheaper still. And yet, for some strange reason, every single country that has attempted to run on sunshine…

I strongly supportedBrexit in part because I wanted the United Kingdom to have both the leeway and the incentive to adopt pro-market policies.

Imagine my disappointment, then, when subsequent Conservative Prime Ministers did nothing (Theresa May) or expanded the burden of government (Boris Johnson).

Where was the reincarnation of Margaret Thatcher? Didn’t the Tory Party understand the need to restrain big government?

Perhaps my prayers have finally been answered. After jettisoning Boris Johnson (albeit for scandal rather than bad policy), the Tories elected Liz Truss to lead the nation.

And she appointed Kwasi Kwarteng to be Chancellor of the Exchequer (akin to U.S. Treasury Secretary). The two of them have just unveiled some major changes in U.K. fiscal policy.

Allister Heath’s editorial for the Telegraph has a celebratory tone.

…the best Budget I have ever heard a British Chancellor deliver, by a massive margin. The…

Power-starved Brits and Germans will soon tell you how important having power on demand truly is. And they’ll also tell you what it’s like to receive a power bill that you’ve absolutely no hope of paying.

After years of telling us how cheap and easy our inevitable transition to an all-wind and sun-powered future would be, with examples like Germany and Britain, the story is beginning to fall flat.

Rather than some brightly lit Nirvana, our wind and solar-powered future is looking more miserable by the day.

As they say in politics, the mob soon works you out.

Well, the number who have identified the scale and scope of the great renewable energy fraud is growing, and they’re growing angrier by the day. Something has to give.

Michael Shellenberger isn’t alone in his view that the days of the West’s obsession with wind and solar are numbered.

End Of Renewables…

Stardate: 4523.3 (2268)
Original Air Date: December 29, 1967
Writer: David Gerrold
Director: Joseph Pevney

“Where they’ll be no tribble at all…”

At last we arrive at this classic fan-favorite, a campy light-hearted romp featuring everyone’s favorite tiny furry alien creatures. The Enterprise is approaching Deep Space Station K-7 (perhaps foreshadowing for DS9) which is located in a disputed quadrant near a planet known as “Sherman’s Planet” which has been claimed by both the Federation and the Klingons since the Battle of Donatu V which took place about 23 solar years ago. Spock notes the Enterprise is within one parsec of the nearest Klingon outpost so this will be a tricky mission. However the quadrant which includes Deep Space Station K-7 and the nearby Sherman’s Planet is actually protected by writ of neutrality under the Organian Peace Treaty (the treaty was established in the…

It may well take some time for the dust to settle on Kwasi Kwarteng’s first Budget (yes, ‘Budget’: if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it’s fair to call it a duck).

The initial reaction from most economic commentators and in the financial markets has been a loud boo! There are some things I would have done differently. But the overall strategy is sound and sentiment should recover as the economic benefits become clearer.

There are two aspects I particularly liked. One is the emphasis on breaking the ‘doom loop’ of weak economic growth and rising taxes, both with tax cuts and – at least as importantly – structural reforms on the supply-side.

The second is the willingness to take decisions that are unpopular but still right for the economy, such as scrapping the cap on bankers bonuses and abolishing the…

When it comes to historical documentary series over the past 30 years the undisputed master has been Ken Burns. His blockbuster 9-part The Civil War broke new ground in the way documentaries were produced. After that game changer anytime a new Ken Burns doc was announced it became appointment viewing for history buffs and casual fans alike. He and his production company have since become synonymous with PBS with each work guaranteed to be a critical and commercial hit. Because I am a history geek I thought today would be a good day to shine the spotlight on Ken Burns.

The Civil War (1990): The 9 part series that transformed a humble documentarian into a household name. Over 30 million viewers were captivated by his telling of this dark period in American history. Creating a technique dubbed the “Ken Burns effect” he brought a new perspective to archived material allowing…

There have been some incredible long-range sniper records set over the years in Afghanistan, often by Canadian teams. Distances of two or three miles are not unknown in the thin air and barren countryside that makes such shooting a little easier than in sea level rainforests.

But you don’t hear much about such things in the civilian world, so this news from the Cowboy State of Wyoming is interesting, At 4.4 Miles, Wyoming Team Sets New Rifle Shot World Record:

From the pull of the trigger, roughly 24 seconds elapsed before forward spotters heard the telltale plunk of a 422-grain copper bullet piercing the thin metal target.

The shooter was 4.4 miles away, a distance so great, the Earth’s rotation came into play.

It was a new world record for a rifle shot, set by the Jackson-based Nomad Rifleman team led by Schott Austin and Shepard Humphries. The shot was…

Mark Twain noted reports of his death had been greatly exaggerated. So too, the ‘death’ of coal-fired power.

For years, the wind and sun cult have been bleating triumphantly that ‘coal is dead’. Energy markets, however, don’t share their peculiar worldview.

Thermal coal prices are off the charts, with record demand driving record prices: Australian thermal coal prices hit $US$400 ($548 a tonne) in March, with prices still on the rise. For an energy source that should be suffering rigor mortis, coal is displaying a remarkable resilience.

Newcastle coal sets record as global energy crisis deepens
The Australian
Perry Williams
5 September 2022

One of Australia’s biggest commodity exports has surged to record levels, with the price of Newcastle coal soaring to all-time highs as miners cash in amid a deepening energy crisis in ­Europe.

The thermal coal rose to a new high with Newcastle futures trading above $US440 ($648) a…