UK: National Highways seek to remove air pollution monitors on the Lower Thames Crossing
"National Highways is yet again trying to wriggle their way out of their environmental commitments...The promises to reduce speeds and air pollution and undertake monitoring were made for good reasons, to protect the ancient woodland at Epping Forest. Planting saplings won’t stop that pollution from happening."
National Highways seeking to avoid air quality commitments on Lower Thames Crossing
Palantir's PR problem
"In the US, it is now so radioactive that Democratic candidates have felt compelled to sell even small stakes in the group and return donations from those associated with it. Across Europe, doors once open to Palantir in London, Paris or Zürich have been slammed firmly shut."
Couldn't happen to a nicer company.
https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/a16c171e-b6dc-4087-b6ca-e5c2932fd5bf
‘Did Westminster just ignore buses?’ Burnham aims to shake up UK transport
Nationalization should be helpful in keeping fares down, but there's no discussion of how the roadways should be redesigned to make buses faster. Maybe Manchester doesn't have the traffic problems that London does.
"Burnham, like Sadiq Khan again in the capital, has staked a lot on keeping bus fares low – instigating a £2 single bus fare"
‘Did Westminster just ignore buses?’ Burnham aims to shake up UK transport
Help poor people. Avoid inflation. If Andy Burnham can manage to do both of those things I think everything else will take care of itself.
Now THAT, my friends, is an impressive sentence.
"If (Burnham) starts treating Manchester and something called “The North” interchangeably, his fissiparous notional kingdom will be threatened by a series of subregional peasants’ revolts."
- Alan Beattie
https://www.ft.com/content/0da0a85f-ff66-41a5-b711-aa429cbaf88a
Pause HS2 reset until you are confident it can be delivered, NAO tells ministers
I wonder if they said anything similar about the Lower Thames Crossing motorway, which is more expensive per mile than the HS2.
"Constructing HS2 from London to Birmingham, as well as the now abandoned onward legs to Leeds and Manchester, was initially estimated to cost £32.7bn at 2011 prices. The latest cost estimate is roughly double the figure estimated in 2020"
Pause HS2 reset until you are confident it can be delivered, NAO tells ministers
The UK's greenest prime minister resigns
James Murray: Keir Starmer's "government lifted the ban on onshore wind farms, delivered a record breaking clean energy auction and project pipeline, overhauled the grid development regime, eased planning barriers for low carbon infrastructure, re-introduced grants for electric vehicles and turbocharged demand for zero emission vehicles, and increased grants for heat pumps"
Energy specialists say abandoning net zero and increasing oil and gas drilling would cause more instability for Britons
"Abandoning net zero and drilling for more oil and gas in the North Sea would be a massive setback for the UK and would not help the economy, leading experts have said in response to claims by the former prime minister Tony Blair."
Blair’s fossil fuel ideas ‘bizarre’ in face of energy and climate crises, experts say
Mayor Sadiq Khan protects the public by not allowing secretive Palantir contract
"The Met had planned to hire Palantir, which was co-founded by the Trump-supporting tech billionaire Peter Thiel, to automate aspects of investigations. But the mayor’s office, which oversees large Scotland Yard contracts, said there had been a “clear and serious breach” of procurement rules."
Palantir hits back at Sadiq Khan after £50m contract with Met police blocked
Guardian provides us with a peculiar headline
"UK households to be urged to use more power this summer as renewables soar". No, we don't want to use *more* power, we want to move our usage to times when the grid isn't being powered by fossil fuels!
"Under the new plans, people could be encouraged to run dishwashers and washing machines or charge up their electric vehicles when there is more wind and solar power than the electricity grid needs."
Great Britain households to be urged to use more power this summer as renewables soar
Russia's 'shadow fleet' makes mockery of UK naval power
"On 9 April, two Russian "shadow" oil tankers were escorted through the channel by a Russian navy frigate armed with all manner of weapons, including anti-ship missiles. In response, the Royal Navy could only muster an auxiliary fuel tanker to follow it helplessly. The Daily Telegraph reported on this heroic operation from the deck of a 40-foot fishing boat following in the tanker’s wake."
UK Renewable Energy Planning Database
The Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD) tracks the progress of UK renewable electricity projects over 150kW through the planning system. It provides as accurate and comprehensive a snapshot as possible of projects, and of progress across the technology sectors, through the following stages:
* inception
* planning
* construction
* operation
* decommissioning
Renewable Energy Planning Database: quarterly extract
We can make electricity cheaper by developing more solar and wind power
"By far the cheapest component of our energy supply is the electricity produced by renewables, principally wind and solar. It’s the same story worldwide. But the price of electricity does not reflect the mix of sources. It is set at almost all times by its most expensive component. And what might that be? Oh yes, fossil gas."
Clean power offers protection
"Clean electricity, by contrast, cuts gas demand and reduces exposure to volatile markets. The political pressures are jobs, tax revenues and the economies of Scotland and north-east England tied to a declining asset.
Clearly, more drilling will not shield households from price spikes; it will mainly boost oil company profits – which explains why the industry is lobbying to scrap the windfall tax."
It's about time for Sir Keir to start releasing from the Strategic Solar Panel Reserve.
Active travel groups call for clear targets on walking and cycling in England
"Saying that CWIS3 should put active travel on an equal footing with roads and rail, it argues for clear targets that should be met by 2030, the period covered by the strategy, including that by then 50% of trips of less than five miles in towns and cities should be walked, wheeled or cycled."
Active travel groups call for clear targets on walking and cycling in England
The majority opposed to Brexit has reached eight million
"The dominant reason why so many Leave voters have changed sides is that only 25 per cent of them think Brexit has been a success, while 35 per cent judge it a failure. Among the 35 per cent, the two most commonly cited reasons are that it has damaged Britain’s economy and failed to generate the promised extra money for the NHS."
https://kellnerp.substack.com/p/the-majority-opposed-to-brexit-has
The secret courts system hearing part of Palestine Action case
"When Huda Ammori returns to the room, the special advocate – a security-cleared barrister – who represented her interests in her absence will not be allowed to tell her or her legal team what evidence was presented against Palestine Action...Such is the nature of the secret courts system, known as the closed material procedure"
‘Unavoidably unfair’: the secret courts system hearing part of Palestine Action case
Starmer might raise income taxes, because they have to find SOME way to pay for Reeves lowering taxes on the UK oil and gas sector. These things don't just happen by magic!
Call for ‘pay-as-you-go’ road levy sparks warning in Lords of divorce risk
“If, maybe in a marriage, someone can see where their other half has been going when they are not around, it could well cause a major rise in the divorce rate and other things.”
I would like to see some serious discussion of this issue rather than just making a joke out of it.
Call for ‘pay-as-you-go’ road levy sparks warning in Lords of divorce risk