Increasing energy prices - why they will rise and rise and what we can do about it

Natural gas and electricity prices will get higher. British Gas increased electricity and gas bills by an average of 15% this January and is now signalling further large price increases. It claims that its profits have been hit by a 92% increase in the wholesale price of gas in the past twelve months and therefore [...]

Gordon Ramsay, nouveau environmentalist

On Friday morning I heard Gordon Ramsay talk on the Today Programme on BBC Radio 4 about banning out of season fruit and vegetable imports. He also suggested fining chefs who use out of season produce. Mr Ramsay, who is a highly successful chef and businessman, thinks that it is terribly important to have a [...]

Mr Brown’s own yardstick and climate change

Mr Gordon Brown’s recent speech was about climate change and as you would expect he tried to put a very positive emphasis on the government’s climate change policy. It is worth looking at the speech in detail so that we can fully measure the government’s climate change policy against a proper yardstick. I shall give [...]

Political debate and sorry, Mr Brown

In the real world of politics the politicians were given one of their too infrequent doses of reality on 1st May when elections were held for many local councils and the important position of Mayor of London. I think that all the major politicians who were up for election have an sense of moral justice, [...]

Biofuels - we drive and the world starves

 
Sometimes you can only see a picture clearly if you step back from it, so you can see the whole canvas. So it is with energy. Without any doubt we are heading for an energy crisis. The oil will probably peak – that is to say reach its maximum production in ten years time. Oil [...]

Good decisions and bad decisions

In life we all make some good decisions and some bad decisions. Decisions that are right are good; decisions that are wrong are bad. In business I make lots of bad decisions but I hope to make more good decisions than bad decisions.
 
In the strange world of government, we find that governments do not admit [...]

Boycotting China on environmental grounds, conflicts of interest at the EU and other Dragons

Whenever the leaders of the states of the European Union sit down to discuss climate change their first priority is not really to address climate change but to look after their own national interests. Everyone wants to protect the planet but everyone also wants to create special exemptions.

Green Taxes, reports gathering dust, and polluters that should pay

I decided in October last year to “blog” about the environment and have posted articles almost every day since then. I called this “Ideas for the Environment” because ideas about improving life sometimes turn into real improvements and without the ideas there will be no improvements. 

No tax relief for the environment

Governments are notoriously reluctant to change. Some months ago I was talking to a Treasury official about the best ways to incentivise microgeneration and solar thermal in particular. I explained that I thought that a simple income tax allowance of the amount spent on a thermal solar system would be a good idea.
This is [...]

Gordon Brown calls for global institutions to do his job

Gordon Brown has been arguing the case for reform at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He says we need greater globalisation and new global institutions to cope with global capital movement. He says that the present economic problems of credit stem from “under pricing of risk” which no one spotted due to lack of [...]