Alistair Campbell is upset

It is quite astonishing how politicians and their propaganda experts feel that when their vice or folly is exposed, it is done so purely because their enemies wish to humiliate them, rather than for reasons which are about the quality of what has been done.

Rare earths, niobium, and rhodium

In these days of free trade, few restrictions on exporting currencies and massive speculation it is not surprising that prices of raw materials and commodities rise and fall with the frequency of the proverbial knickers, but unlike those undergarments in the case of raw materials the general trend is upwards and upwards.

Belief, and the siren voices denying climate change

We have heard a great deal about “belief” recently in the United Kingdom. Tony Blair has a great belief that fighting the war in Iraq was better than not fighting a war in Iraq. Mr Cameron has a belief that evil acts are evidence of a broken society and Mr Brown has a number of [...]

Storing thermal and electrical energy

The thing that differentiates solar thermal from all other forms of renewable clean energy is that you can safely and easily store heat. However you generate your electricity – be it by wind or photovoltaics – storing electricity safely and cleanly is a real problem. You can build banks of environmentally damaging batteries using precious [...]

The energy crunch is coming

Ofgem, (the Office of Gas and Energy Markets) the body responsible for protecting consumer’s interests in gas and electricity supplies, has warned that by 2020 energy prices would rise by 20% and that we in the United Kingdom may face energy shortages.

Reforming the electoral system

After winning three General Elections (the last of which was “historic” apparently) and thirteen years in office, with the polls predicting disaster for Gordon Brown and the Labour Party he leads Mr Brown has suddenly decided that the time has come to reform the electoral system. Presumably any electoral system that the party in office [...]

Nations of the world are in denial

If they have any sense, the leaders of the world will do well to play down expectations for next winter’s climate change conference in México. The conference in Copenhagen left a great many people disappointed. I predicted that the conference would not be successful, as it seemed to me that the nations of the world [...]

Ice instability in the Western Antarctic

The recent publicity that was given to the claim that the Himalayas may lose their glaciers by 2035 was (depending on which version of the story you prefer) either due to a misprint of the date or a miscalculation which was not spotted or a deliberate attempt to fool us. It is useful to get [...]