Sep 19, 1992 Margaret Thatcher was Speaking to the CNN World Economic Development Conference
The Grocer’s Daughter on Facebook
Huge sums would have to be transferred from richer to poorer countries and regions to allow them to take the strain. Even then unemployment and mass migration across now open frontiers would follow. And a full-fledged Single currency would allow no escape hatch.
The political consequences can already be glimpsed: the growth of extremist parties, battening on fears about mass immigration and unemployment, offering a real — if thoroughly unwelcome — alternative to the Euro-centrist political establishment.
If in addition you were to create a supra-national European federation, and the people could no longer hold their national parliaments to account, extremism could only grow further.
It is time for the European politicians to sit up and take note. Time to stop their endless rounds of summits — summitry is fast becoming a substitute for decision-making — and observe the reality around them.
There is a growing sense of remoteness, an alienation of people from their institutions of government and their political leaders.
The full transcript of the speech.
h/t to Steve H who sent this link to me.
The Iron lady,
See just what chewing on a piece of thermal coal can do..
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One her closest advisors Martin Armstrong has written much about Europe this being the most recent
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/markets-by-sector/precious-metals/gold/hoarding-gold-dollars-in-europe/
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Hey Fabians!
Mrs Thatcher knew your goals were false, she knew the flaws in your methods. She emphasized it when she said —
The European Union if it attempts to stay as it is — as an economically and politically closely controlled block, will fragment into increasingly fractious national states.
IMO the United Kingdom should move away from the EU’s sphere of influence. Move away from the EU’s cumbersome centralization that restrains domestic law, trade, economics, an EU that through undemocratic but over-politicized decisions relegates national elected domestic authority of each nation state to a mere footnote in history.
Britain should move back to a looser international trading and political arrangements. Perhaps move back towards better ties and relations with the British Commonwealth of nations, and trading with like-minded free market nations. Britain should join with the US politically in tempering down the (undemocratic) UN’s ambitions to becoming a World Government, and instead force it to become more accountable for the vast sums of money it commands and the decisions it makes.
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Well that’s what we voted for, but far too many of our politicians are determined to stop it and keep us in the Fourth Reich
542
Correct
“There is a growing sense of remoteness, an alienation of people from their institutions of government and their political leaders.”
And this is also occurring in Europe and Australia, as people realize the govt doesn’t give one hoot about the general population.
Whats glaringly obvious is that the EU is seeking power for the sake of power, not governance. This may eventually earn them a Nokolai Caecuscu award for bad government….
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But.. but.. but without the EU, who will legislate the curvature of bananas?
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Who will legislate the curvature of bananas?
Boris Johnson, come on down.
After being sacked by the Times, Mr Johnson moved to The Daily Telegraph, working as the publication’s Brussels correspondent between 1989 and 1994.
His articles, like those in several other Eurosceptic newspapers, originated many of the claims widely described as “Euromyths”, including plans to introduce same-size “eurocoffins”, establish a “banana police force” to regulate the shape of the curved yellow fruit, and ban prawn cocktail crisps.
10
The UK needs another strong, intelligent, and patriotic leader such as Thatcher. Extraordinary that she could see then what the EU and its dependent nation states became today. Qaddafi in Libya predicted Eurarabia and boasted of the fall of Europe.
The EU is falling under German control and they are speeding Qaddafi’s prediction.
The Five Eyes (UK, CA, AU, NZ, and US intelligence agencies) have also broken down with UK and AU (as well as Italy) joining in Spygate to prevent Trump’s election and then trying to remove him from office. With BREXIT, perhaps the Five Eyes can be fully restored.
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Indeed. In fact every Western nation is in desperate need of a strong, intelligent and patriotic leader. Too bad the US is the only one that has a real one and even that won’t last very long. Once the Democrats are back in control they will resume the destruction of that great nation in quick order. It’s up to the voters to decide. That’s what a democracy/republic is all about.
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Morrison got back into government because they moved away from the madness. Unfortunately some of the states want a return to the NEG or something.
Imagine you are the PM for a day, what do you tell Premier Gladys?
100
el gordo said:
Um: make like Billy Connelly suggested and F. O ?
… although that would probably go down like a lead zeppelin or a concrete balloon …
101
Its alright, Gladys has a Plan B.
‘Officials say the NSW plan would involve Canberra assisting a transition to lower emissions by underwriting generation, probably firmed renewables, to replace the Liddell power station, and also underwriting and de-risking new investments in transmission that have been highlighted as urgent by the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo).’ Guardian
Morrison should say we’ll underwrite new Hele coal fired power stations and forget about firmed renewables.
260
‘Firmed renewables’….an oxymoron if ever there was one…m0r0n being the operative word.
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I wouldn’t tell tell Premier Gladys anything. If I were PM I would get on with the job of turning things around. First, I would permit nuclear power stations to be built. Second, I would enforce a policy that would stop the use of the interconnects for anything but for emergency backup due to storm, unexpected disruption of base load power within the state, and the like. It’s not there to provide power simply because renewables are not producing enough to meet demand. If a state wants to rely so much on renewables then let them do it on their own.
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This woman has nailed it:
https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2019/08/sarah-pittam-the-intended-audience-for-the-prorogation-is-the-leadership-of-the-eu.html
The negotiations are not between Parliament and the Government: they are between Britain and the EU – an EU that does not have the interests of the British People at heart. In fact, the ‘EU Elites’ do not have the interests of anyone at heart other than themselves, and the British People have cottoned on to that earlier than those on the Continent. Their only goal is ‘ever closer union’, and nothing else matters: rule of law, quality of life, integrity or economy. In fact profligacy appears to be admired.
We are still wary that Boris could slip May’s ‘Merkel Treaty’ (Yes it is a treaty, policed only by the EU courts), without the backstop. That treaty is like the curate’s egg: the backstop is famous because it is the worst of the worst. We want none of it. We want to be sovereign, like so many other countries.
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Example
“EU President Donald Tusk: Domestic Politics Could Drive Britain Out of EU….”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2019/08/30/eu-president-donald-tusk-domestic-politics-could-drive-britain-out-of-eu/
30
Many of the comments are very good too.
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Then the UK should and must #WalkAway, and at the same time tell the EU to stick its ridiculous “divorce charge” for £50 billion, now down to £39 billion; Boris already suggested as much.
The EU “evolved” out of the Common Market and then EEC into the proto-global corporatist Left supranational State, the embodiment of the UN “transformational” agenda a manifest focus of UNFCCC, ECOSOC, and UNEP policies, most obviously expressed by open-borders and climatism. Locked into place by the Paris Discord and the more recent and outright totalitarian UN Migration Compact, the latter unsigned by countries with better sense like the United States, Hungary, Austria, Bulgaria, Poland, Israel, Estonia, Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Russia, China, Korea, Japan, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, the resultant growth in national populism and demand for the fundamental securities of economy, culture and border have rightly been asserted, as demonstrated by POTUS DJT and Brexit and many countries around the World rejecting the Left’s corporatist globalist agenda in preference for nationstate identity, liberty, prosperity and happiness.
The migrant crisis fostered by the UN was fermented intentionally when the UN stepped back from its traditional roles, passing them over to the EU. The UN implemented a more pernicious active global administration at that point. The legion of Soros funded UN ECOSOC accredited NGO’s then propelled the crisis with their human trafficking and transport, solely focused on the destruction of national borders and identities.
They very nearly succeeded.
10
Might one say that the so-called ‘extremist’ political parties are relying for their popularity not so much on fears of mass immigration and unemployment as on an actual invasion from outside Europe of military age men with no interest in being employed?
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Young men, well-dressed and having all the latest gizmos like smartphones, unaccompanied by parents, wives, children. It’s already been happening for years. Thankyou Merkel and co.
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Annie,
That’s no way to talk about these poor refugees which are designed to make our hearts bleed.
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Genuine refugees they are mostly not. I will keep my sympathies for real ones.
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Indeed. I see a rise in an extremist, and very corrupt, left. I also see a rise in the voice of those who prefer a moderate politics.
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A quarter of a century ago: and it’s all there.
Something has to be done here in Australia because this is not the democracy we are entitled to.
It’s completely bizarre.
213
Not at all bizarre, In a modern privatised democracy, the digression of the creditor bank is paramount, for example, the creditors ability to quantitatively ease (print money) is paramount.
40
*discretion
30
“Quantitative easing”.
Sounds very “economic” doesn’t it.
Translation: adjustment needed after you have spent all your money and the other 30% that was borrowed.
Concurrent action: just reduce the value of the Australian Dollar to square it all up.
Using this technique we don’t ever have to work again.
KK
10
Dear comrades,
the entire universe evidences order in the form of modular assemblies. From suba tomic assembles to atomes, to modeluces to cells to individual plants or animals to ‘family groups’ to ecosystems and animal communities a;;the way up to the self governed geographic entity known as a nation or country and even ‘federations’ of same.
In all these iterations of reality the modular specifications have been proven by survival of the fittest which means that the specs generate more benefits than disadvantages.
Look at the US and our federation and the fedral ‘issues’ that cause problems can be managed by a broader community with largly common ethnograpghy, currency, language etc.
Is it any surprise the EU is fracturing? Margaret Thatcher could see the potential failure mechanisms all those years ago.
The ‘internationalist’ / ‘socialist’ / ‘communist’ cabal that think the EU is a wonderful thing and would have the UN take over world administration only seem to pay attention to that one aspect of animal life that does to share the modular construct, i.e. that which flows out from our urethras and sphincters.
I don’t know what their fascination is but surely some serious counselling is in order for these wierdos, at the very least.
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Have a read of “Directed Understandings” in John Steinbeck’s “Once There Was a War”.
” “You must meet Jones – wonderful fellow. You two will get along”.
With a start like that, Jones has got two strikes on him before you ever meet him.”
And even worse with nationalities, so I’d guess Steinbeck wouldn’t have given the EU much chance.
30
EU your contradictions
damn you.
81
Thatcher was more concerned with uncontrolled migration within the super-EU bloc, consistent with poor states and wealthy states being unable to adjust their different circumstances under a common currency. That gave rise to a lot of debate about a two-tiered euro. If only that had occurred, the economic and social destruction that was rained down on countries like Ireland could have been avoided.
But I dont think Thatcher foresaw the wholesale migration from outside the EU, initially from war-torn Syria and Iraq, to be replaced by massive movement from north Africa, aided and abetted by the rise of the “high-street charities” hiding their true activities under a veneer of glossy middle-class humanitarian and medical aid.
The uncontrolled rise of the charities and NGOs, mainly in the UK and the low countries, has been the new factor since Thatcher’s time. With opaque finances and concealed global connections to benefactors and far left political groups alike, this “sector” is the main driver at work in the migration industry.
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DaveR:
She probably thought that even the EU wouldn’t be that stupid. As it is, it took a diktat from Merkel to push 2 million of the unwanted onto the EU nations.
I see that Slovenia is now constructing a border fence on the southern border. Hungary has one already. Poland won’t take them. Italy & Spain are taking a hard line with “refugees”. The Baltic states are against it, as is Denmark who shuffled any border hoppers off the Sweden, who were welcoming them and are now paying the price. You might get the impression that unrestricted migration isn’t popular.
The real problems it causes aren’t appearing in the MSM, and certainly not on Their ABC or SBS.
Yet in Australia one main (and a minor) party are keen to bring that problem here.
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Brexit is all about immigration, its the straw that broke the camel’s back.
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Brexit was about sovereignty first and foremost; uncontrolled immigration is only part of the story.
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Yes, Brexit was and is about sovereignty.
Curious that our two most repellent recent prime ministers, KR and MT, are EU boosters; lucky we’re in the Southern Hemisphere or that pair would have had us queued up for EU membership.
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I think there ambitions were slightly lower, i.e. for us to be serfs.
40
Australia well on the way to becoming a globalist EU vassal state.
Towards an EU-Australia Trade Agreement
The European Union has launched negotiations for a comprehensive and ambitious trade agreement with Australia.
The EU is Australia’s second-biggest trade partner. Bilateral trade in goods between the two partners has risen steadily in recent years, reaching almost €48bn in 2017. Bilateral trade in services added an additional €27bn.
EU and Australia launch talks for a broad trade agreement
00
Thatcher was concerned with the European desire to control Britain, something that was not unheard of in recent past.
Everything else flows from that.
A sovereign nation with 1000 years of contiguous government should not throw it away to those who can hardly make it past 100 years.
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Thatcher was concerned with the European desire to control Britain, something that was not unheard of in recent past.
Everything else flows from that.
A sovereign nation with 1000 years of contiguous government should not throw it away to those who can hardly make it past 100 years.
30
Never a dull moment in Brexit land.
Brexit is looking very very shaky as I cautioned a couple of days ago during the prorogation euphoria. This is the Second Battle of Britain hanging by a thread, and is a proxy for the global battle between democracy and the forces ranged against it.
Members of the EU Parliament have called for a formal investigation into the prorogation of the UK parliament on the grounds that it is a “serious breach” of EU values of democracy and the rule of law and “an offence against the democratic process”. LAHFF!
They have compared it to the actions of a past European dictator in his grab for power. This from an organisation that has repeatedly ignored and overruled the results of multiple referenda unfavourable to its wishes; ignored the harsh treatment of the yellow vests etc.
This prorogation is a routine parliamentary event. This one just happens to be inconvenient for the Remainers because it interferes with their undermining of Brexit.
There are currently 3 court cases in the pipeline to stop this prorogation with the Pro-EU British court system bending over backwards to immediately accommodate the wishes of the Remainer litigants, unlike pro-Brexit cases. In London Gina Miller (who had a court case in 2016 to stop the government implementing the result of the referendum) is about to launch a case, alleging that the Queen was illegally advised to prorogue by the Privy Council. More Soros money backing her agenda? Ironically one of its prominent backers is former PM John Major who himself prorogued parliament prior to signing the UK up to the Maastricht Treaty — to allegedly hide the EU’s potential sinister effect on UK sovereignty.
Meanwhile in Scotland the other case brought by Remainer MPs to force an injunction against prorogation has just been rejected but will nevertheless have a full sitting next week for some strange reason. Another case is taking place in Northern Ireland.
In the few days it will have before the prorogation commences, the House of Lords is now getting ready to rush through a bill to stop Brexit, with weekend leave cancelled for the week after parliamentary recess ends. Remainers in the Commons are looking for a way to pass such a bill aided and abetted by the Europhile Speaker. They can’t get it through by prime legislation because they don’t control the order of business, but they can do it via amendments as they have done in the past, especially when the speaker breaks the rules and conventions for them — and Speaker Bercow is out for blood after Boris blind-sided him with the sudden prorogation.
Labour’s Marxist leader Jeremy Corbyn has called for his rabid Left supporters to occupy parliament and block the streets. They claim they are “the people”, conveniently forgetting about the 17.4 million majority who voted to leave the EU.
The Soros-funded Best for Britain pro-EU group has suggested that the Queen should suffer the same fate as King Charles 1 for proroguing parliament.
Interestingly Boris has just ruled out a “technical extension” to the Article 50 process (the leave date), which means that a deal with the EU is looking less likely from the UK end, but it’s Boris, so who knows?
A general election needs to be called more than ever, but to do that Boris needs a trigger due to the fixed term parliaments. Only an election will stop the anti-Brexit forces for certain and simultaneously clear out the unrepresentative swill from parliament.
Had Boris moved on the Tillbrook case (which stipulated that the initial Brexit date extension was illegal) when he had the chance he could have avoided all this garbage. He would have been called nasty names, but he would have had Brexit, but Boris is playing his little 2 bob each-way games, still talking about a deal, and this is the result of his dilly-dallying. He has had a few chances to nuke the enemy, but has instead sat on his hands instead of nailing his colours to the mast.
It could be worse — they could have had Scott Morrison as their PM, perish the thought.
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Excellent comment beowulf.
I have been reading about the so-called “Political Declaration” that will have the effect of making it “Brexit in name only” if Boris gets the EU to drop the Ireland ‘backstop’ but leaves the rest of the dreadful Theresa May agreement in place.
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Boris is getting all his ducks lined up. The House has sat too long so he’s following the English `Constitution.’ Prorogation will give insufficient time for law changes and blocks the House of Lords. The Queen’s speech at the reopening of the house will be interesting. It’s for the coming legislative actions. The break will give Boris and his side a better chance to have their legislation prepared. There could be a few more `blind sides’ to come.
Proroging Parliament is intended to give the remoaners in Parliament no time to do much.
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Unfortunately prorogation has a limit of 5 weeks duration. Parliament is about to resume sitting after its recess, so depending upon when Boris initiates prorogation (some time from Sept 7th onwards) there will be about a week of sitting prior and about 2 weeks post prorogation before the Oct 31st Brexit deadline, nor will the Remainers be lying low for those 5 intervening weeks. So there are 2 months to connive and roughly 3 sitting weeks to implement their connivance in parliament.
Earlier anti-Brexit bills that would normally have dragged through parliament for months were rushed through in a couple of days by the Remainers. They can do it when they want to, especially with the Speaker bending the rules and a complicit pro-EU House of Lords. Don’t write off their chances of sabotaging Brexit just yet. The best thing Boris has going for him is Jacob Rees-Mogg who is a master of parliamentary procedure and tactics . . . if Boris listens to him that is, and doesn’t go off on one of his Boris-tangents. It was Rees-Mogg who called for prorogation months ago.
Whatever else Boris might announce via the Queen’s Speech, it is utterly irrelevant if he doesn’t get Brexit through. He has already pledged 20,000 extra police; money for the NHS etc, but that will all fall in a heap if there is no clean Brexit. Brexit is and must be his only real focus. Everything else is window dressing. He needs an election to clear the decks and reset parliament.
Farage is of zero help to Boris unless there is an election being held. His only task now is to keep the blowtorch to Boris’s feet to stop him from deviating from a clean Brexit.
Over the next 2 months every dirty trick in the book — and probably a few that aren’t yet in the book — will be played out in parliament and in court.
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The Scottish judge refused an interim injunction, but the full case will be decided next Tuesday. Of course the government will appeal if it loses.
30
To quote winston churchill with a recent flavour…
” We shall fight them in the parliament,
” We shall fight them in court
” And we shall never….. never give up”
20
A Full English Brexit is exactly what we need!
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Yes, so true!
We are famished,and it’s nearly lunch time.
40
The way I see it, the choice is not between remain or leave.
It’s between leave before the EU collapses or leave while the EU collapses.
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They are in panic mode.
‘I believe that next week the European Union will withdraw the October 31 deadline and remove the excuse that Boris Johnson has and the claim that he’s making that it’s the EU that is being inflexible.’ Gordon Brown
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EG that doesn’t make any difference.
Oct 31st. is the date because the Commons in it’s wisdom
Made that the date when they scrapped the March 31 st. date.
I think I know what Boris will do If the Remaoners try
to Stop Brexit.
But I’ll wait a while before saying
No point in undermining Boris’ options.
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We should undermine his options, I like Farage.
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/08/28/did-boris-just-commit-brexit-suicide-for-the-love-of-farage/
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I think you will find that Boris & Farage strike up an alliance to defeat the Remoaners conclusivly & for ever..
It’s just political posturing until that time to see who is the boss cocky between the two
40
Utterly brilliant comment #12 John in NZ
Few down under appreciate that the EU is the epitome of degenerative stasis.
It is unfailingly entertaining that so many in New Zealand pontificate about the joys of the globalist Left cult, yet New Zealand and Australia, whose differences are for all intents and purposes trivial, cannot manage open borders, common currency or centralised government.
In fact, it’s as unfailingly entertaining as it is a conversation killer.
00
31 Aug: Daily Mail: Now you can pay to bury charcoal in a quarry to allay your ‘green guilt’ – but first it has to be imported from Namibia
•Those wanting to offset carbon emissions can pay for the equivalent amount of charcoal to be stored safely underground
•Solid Carbon Storage, claims to be taking CO2 ‘out of the carbon cycle’
•But most of the charcoal it uses is imported from Namibia in southern Africa
By Chris Brooke
The company, based in Yorkshire’s former coal mining heartland, boasts of doing ‘something completely different’ to combat climate change and describes its scheme as ‘un-coal mining’…
Charcoal storage doesn’t come cheap. Solid Carbon Storage suggests a £58 donation for a European flight and £187 for a flight to the United States…
Once enough charcoal has been bought by customers the first batch will be buried in a quarry by the Barnsley-based company.
Charcoal is bought from a Derbyshire firm. Most of the charcoal is said to be made in Namibia from ‘woody weeds’ on farmland. It is sent by ship and road to the UK…
Professor Stuart Haszeldine, from the UK Biochar Research Centre at the Edinburgh University, said burying it deep underground is a ‘bit of a waste’.
He said: ‘We are not getting very good value out of this environmentally. Charcoal is effectively being dumped into the quarry when it could be used as a soil enhancer.’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7393531/Pay-bury-charcoal-quarry-allay-green-guilt-imported-Namibia.html
27 Aug: UK Telegraph: Festival-goers should pay £25 fee which is withheld if tent is abandoned, campaign group says
by Jack Hardy and Jessica Carpani
Festival-goers should be forced to pay a £25 deposit on their camping spot to stop tents being abandoned en masse, campaigners have demanded after bank holiday events created a sea of litter.
More than 100,000 music fans basked in glorious sunshine at Reading and Leeds Festival last weekend, where organisers had this year launched a “staying green” campaign to slash waste…
Previous research has indicated around 23,500 tonnes of waste is produced each year by festivals across the country, the majority of which is sent to the landfill…
Similar problems befell another staple of the August bank holiday calendar – Notting Hill Carnival.
More than a million people were in west London for the celebrated two-day street event, but left behind an estimated 300 tonnes of rubbish…
PIC/VIDEO: 28 Aug: BBC: Reading and Leeds 2019: Festival-goers ‘should pay tent tax’
Festival-goers should be charged a £25 deposit to camp at Reading and Leeds, say campaigners who want to stop so many tents being abandoned every year.
After the Bank Holiday festivals, photos emerged showing fields strewn with litter, nearly-new tents, airbeds and even an upright gazebo…
But festival-goers often find themselves too tired and emotional after a weekend partying to take the time and effort to pack up their belongings – and their tent…
John Read, founder of campaign group Clean Up Britain, told the BBC: “This is heartbreaking and such a waste of resources – it should not happen.
“You see a lot of people saying they care about the environment but their words and actions don’t match up.”…
He said his group thought it should be fixed at £25 – but others have told him it needed to be higher…
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-49494957
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Rather than buying charcoal with the concomitant energy wasted in making and transporting it from Namibia to the UK, would it not be more efficient if they bought some UK coal and buried it in a quarry?
40
Will the ships transporting the charcoal be powered by……. charcoal?
20
Much of what was happening in 1931 is not mentioned in polite society. Making beer a felony had made opiates popular. Germany was the largest producer, and to get her to cut back on such exports, Herbert Hoover offered as incentive the Moratorium on Brains. He finagled debt relief which Germany promptly invested in Naziism and rearmament. Out Liberal party formed in 1930 and wrote a plank to repeal ‘prohibition–which the Democrats appropriated and parlayed into five consecutive victories. The State Department published some of this background, as did Hoover in a hole-in-corner way. But the various prohibitions appear to have caused a lot of trouble politicians struggle to forget.
Here’s hoping England escapes the new Anschluss.
70
Well to be fair I think the respective peoples of Europe – including Germany, would like their countries back. But in Britain- as it is on the continent is a 50/50 sort of thing.
41
29 Aug: TheEdinburghReporter: Scottish Greens launch Green New Deal
By Phyllis Stephen
The Scottish Greens unveiled a new campaign today to transform Scotland’s economy.
This means
– Rebuilding the public sector, providing long-term certainty for the private sector
– Channelling investment into low-carbon industries to transition energy and manufacturing
– Regional industrial strategies to target support to those who need it most
– Green and integrated public transport
– Restoring the natural environment by reforming land ownership and farming subsidies
– A housing revolution to ensure warm and affordable homes.
Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater said: “It’s not enough to say it’s a climate emergency, we need governments to act…
https://www.theedinburghreporter.co.uk/2019/08/scottish-greens-launch-green-new-deal/
30 Aug: NationalScotland: Scottish Greens set out ‘New Deal’ to transform economy
By Craig Cairns
Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater: “With only six MSPs the Scottish Greens have made a considerable impact on Scotland, and with this new ambitious vision we will use that influence to push for the actions needed, including on infrastructure, farming, manufacturing and housing.
“I work in renewable energy engineering, and it is completely misguided to argue that we need to wait until the technology is ready, or for independence. We have the technology now, and the climate emergency will not wait for independence.”
https://www.thenational.scot/news/17869281.scottish-greens-set-39-new-deal-39-transform-economy/
23
I know the Scots have fallen for a lot of B.S. about renewable energy but I think this is a pile too far.
70
Where will Scotland obtain the funds from? They are effectively a mendicant state, relying on England to support them.
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Graeme yee canna say that !
The Scotties will get all snooty
And revolting
🙂
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Yep, which is why independence in light of the North Sea oil revenue being nearly dried up is an unrealisable fantasy.
I’d have never thought of the Scots, given their past significant engineering and scientific achievements, as a tribe of wishful thinkers but their obsessive focus on renewables is convincing me otherwise.
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It’s simle Serp.
Those who could do, went south or out into the wide world. Those who couldn’t fell into the slums of Glasgow and moaned about those successful. So what is left in Scotland are their descendants who think that someone should pay them a living. Unfortunately there are a lot of them, more even than when Gladstone worried about how Paisley would vote.
50
29 Aug: BusinessGreen: Solar slump: UK adds just 7.5MW of new capacity in July
by Madeleine Cuff
Official figures show UK solar sector added less power capacity than one large wind turbine last month…
The UK’s sluggish solar installation rate is showing few signs of life, with provisional figures released today by the government indicating just 7.5MW of new solar capacity was installed last month…
https://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/3080951/solar-slump-continues-with-uk-adding-just-75mw-of-new-capacity-in-july
28 Aug: Financial Times: Decline in new German wind farms sparks concern
Only 290 megawatts of new capacity were installed in the first half of 2019, a decline of more than 80 per cent compared with the same period last year and the lowest total in almost two decades. In 2018, Germany installed wind farms with a total capacity of 2,800MW. That, too, was a sharp reduction from 2017, when Germany added more than 5,000MW of wind capacity on land…
“When it comes to expanding wind energy on land, Germany has fallen from the fast lane to the emergency lane,” Achim Dercks, the deputy director of the German chambers of commerce and industry, told journalists on Wednesday. “If this continues the government will fail to meet its self-proclaimed goals for climate protection and renewable energy.”…
https://www.ft.com/content/b0f94478-c998-11e9-a1f4-3669401ba76f
21
The average insolation in central England in December is in the vicinity of 0.5kWh per day. Average household energy usage is 10kWh/day. So will need around 20kW of panels just to supply the average household; maybe only 12kW they are tilted at 75 degrees or so to maximise winter collection. It would be difficult to justify solar panels in England – even worse in Scotland.
61
And Blackfriars Station in London has an array of 4400 solar panels installed above it; the UK has the full pathological renewables mania.
31
29 Aug: PowerTechnology: UK’s Crown Estate approves extension of seven offshore windfarms
Seven offshore wind extension projects in the UK will progress to the award of seabed rights by the Crown Estate after the group completed a plan-level habitats regulations assessment (HRA).
The expansion will add 2.85GW to the UK’s windfarm capacity, offering an opportunity to unlock an almost 10% increase in the country’s offshore wind portfolio…
The Crown Estate was also supported by a team of expert independent advisors during the assessment process. The seven offshore windfarms approved for extension include Sheringham Shoal, Dudgeon and Thanet.
Additionally, the Crown Estate also received an application from Ørsted for the expansion of the Race Bank project as part of the 2017 extensions round.
However, Ørsted’s application was turned down after identifying that the majority of the proposed extension was located within the Inner Dowsing, Race Bank and North Ridge Special Area of Conservation.
The developers of the seven windfarms are required to carry out environmental assessments and surveys to seek planning consent through the statutory planning process. The Crown Estate has developed a cable route protocol, to help developers establish a transmission system infrastructure including export cabling…
https://www.power-technology.com/news/uks-crown-estate-extension-offshore-windfarms/
11
24 Jun: Bloomberg: Wind Power Drives Record $437 Million Income for Queen’s Property Company
By Jack Sidders
The Crown Estate, the property company that generates income for Queen Elizabeth II, returned a record 343.5 million pounds ($437 million) to the U.K. Treasury after a surge in its offshore wind business.
The full opening of the world’s largest offshore wind farm, the Walney Extension in the Irish Sea, helped boost the Crown’s wind capacity to 7.7 gigawatts, up 4% from a year earlier and enough to supply the electricity needs of 6.6 million homes. That helped boost the value of the company’s overall portfolio to 14.3 billion pounds in the year through March.
The Crown Estate manages the seabed off England, Wales and Northern Ireland, where thousands of wind turbines are being built as the U.K. seeks to meet some of the toughest climate-change targets in the world. That’s helping the company deliver record returns even as its core property portfolios are buffeted by political and economic uncertainty…
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-24/wind-power-drives-u-k-crown-estate-s-437-million-record-income
Updated 6 Aug: AFR: The Crown: Safeguarding a $21.4 billion estate for the Queen
by Rhiannon Bury, UK Telegraph
The company (Crown Estate) has just opened a £140 million shopping centre called Rushden Lakes in Northamptonshire, and has revamped the Westgate Shopping Centre in Oxford. In total, it has about 93,000 square metres of retail space under construction in the UK’s regions.
It also owns a number of wind farms, swathes of forest and farmland spanning 106,400 hectares across Britain…
However, it is wind farms where the company has made great steps forward in recent years. Britain generates more electricity from offshore wind than any other country. At the moment, the industry meets about 5 per cent of annual demand and this is expected to grow to 10 per cent by 2020.
(Alison Nimmo, chief executive of The Crown Estate) wants The Crown Estate to be well-placed to take advantage. In its latest annual report, wind farms were identified as a key driver in its record returns, making £27.7 million. This made the estate’s energy holdings its best-performing sector.
This is despite the fact that the Prince of Wales has called wind farms a “horrendous blot on the landscape”…
“I think we agree about more than we disagree with the Prince of Wales,” she says, diplomatically. “He’s a big fan of renewable energy and that idea of stewardship.”
Most of The Crown Estate’s wind farms are offshore, making them less controversial, she adds…
https://www.afr.com/property/the-crown-safeguarding-a-214-billion-estate-for-the-queen-20170731-gxm8i6
11
Now who was it? A refrain from a song pops up in my mind…Money, Money…
20
behind paywall:
30 Aug: UK Times: Smart meters a turn-off for households
by Emily Gosden
Britain’s £11 billion smart meter programme slowed yet again in the three months to June as installation rates fell for the fourth quarter running.
Just over one million smart gas and electricity meters were installed by large energy suppliers in the second quarter of this year, a fall of 2.2 per cent on the previous quarter and 19 per cent on a year earlier…
Their introduction has been plagued by technical problems with the data and communications systems needed for sophisticated meters to work properly.
It is widely acknowledged that the target of full installation by the end of 2020 is virtually impossible to meet. At the end of June smart meters accounted for 29 per cent of domestic energy meters operated by large energy suppliers. The figure at the start of the year for small energy suppliers was 9.4 per cent…
30 Aug: BusinessGreen: Smart meter delays means UK risks building half-‘dumb’ smart grid, Labour warns
by Madeleine Cuff
The UK risks being left with an electricity system that is only partially tooled-up for the low-carbon transition if the government does not take radical action to accelerate the smart meter rollout.
That is the stark warning issued today by Labour’s Shadow Energy and Clean Growth Minister Alan Whitehead, who writing for BusinessGreen predicts the UK will not reach the “critical mass” of smart meters needed across the country to allow the technology to deliver system-wide benefits…
29 Aug: EnergyVoice: One in three smart meter owners has issues with device, new survey claims
A third of smart meter owners have had problems with their devices, ranging from them “going dumb” to failing to function entirely, a survey suggests.
The figures come as one in five households (20%) say they have been offered first-generation SMETS1 meters since March, despite the Government and Ofgem saying they should be installing second-generation SMETS2 devices after this date.
Some 31% of households have had problems such as displays not working (39%), devices “going dumb” after switching (32%), or meters ceasing to function entirely (13%), the poll for uSwitch indicates…
Rik Smith, energy expert at uSwitch.com, said: “While it’s great to see smart meters improving energy habits and helping consumers to save on their bills, there are still far too many issues with the rollout which are damaging consumer confidence in the whole scheme…
https://www.energyvoice.com/other-news/206439/one-in-three-smart-meter-owners-has-issues-with-device-new-survey-claims/
30
finally some common sense, but why limit it to certain speeds or suggest silent cars are only a problem for the vision-impaired?
27 Aug: news.com.au: Government hears blind silent car concerns
Electric vehicles pose a “significant challenge” for some road users with a change in the rules expected to strong arm makers into including this new feature.
by David McCowen
The nationwide Transport and Infrastructure Council met in Adelaide in August to discuss potential changes to road rules including the addition of an “Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System” to cars which operate near-silently at low speed.
As a result, the Federal Government will put forward a public consultation process early next year to determine how to address the issue of electric cars and people who have trouble seeing them…
Chris Edwards, Vision Australia manager of government relations and advocacy, says acoustic warning systems will make cars safer for everyone.
“The government has listened to our recommendation and is acting in the interest of all road users,” he says…
https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/motoring/motoring-news/government-hears-blind-silent-car-concerns/news-story/37a5d48132ee022590577dbb3644ebfa
31 Aug: CarAdvice: Electric and hybrid cars to no longer get the silent treatment
by Joshua Dowling
During a meeting of all state and federal transport ministers in Adelaide earlier this month, it was proposed that “all electric, hydrogen fuel cell, and hybrid vehicles install an Acoustic Alerting System”, and that a regulation impact statement be ready in “early 2020”.
The rules would follow those imposed in Europe from this month and about to be introduced in the USA from next month…
A quick check of the brands that sell electric cars locally found that most sold in Australia – and those due to be introduced in the near future – are already equipped or are able to be upgraded to include an audible alert system because they have been designed to meet overseas requirements.
However, the new rules could throw a spanner in the works for the silent majority: hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius, which greatly outnumber electric-only vehicles.
Electric-only and plug-in hybrid cars account for less than 0.25 per cent of all new vehicles sold in Australia so far this year (less than 1600 from a total tally of 637,650), according to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries…
By comparison, Toyota has sold more than 100,000 hybrid vehicles in Australia since the first Prius went on sale locally in 2001 – but that number is expected to grow sharply as the company adds hybrid tech to more models.
Toyota is expected to sell more than 20,000 hybrid vehicles this year alone, likely doubling the total of 11,590 hybrid vehicles it sold in 2018…
A statement from Toyota Australia said: “At this stage, there are no plans to introduce a noise alert on hybrid vehicles in the Australian market. However, we will continue to work with governments and key stakeholders to ensure our vehicles meet future regulation requirements.”…
???“With electric vehicles predicated to make up 90 per cent of the entire Australian vehicle fleet by 2050, this outcome is significant for all pedestrians, especially people who are blind or have low vision who rely more heavily on other sensory systems such as hearing and touch,” said Chris Edwards, Vision Australia Manager of Government Relations and Advocacy…
The regulations in Europe and the USA will compel makers of electric and hybrid cars to have their vehicles emit a noise when travelling at up to 20 km/h…
https://www.caradvice.com.au/788347/electric-and-hybrid-cars-to-no-longer-get-the-silent-treatment/
11
Maybe they should install a noise maker for EVs and very quiet vehicles.
IMO the sound of a tin box of bolts being tumbled would be ideal for every EV, or maybe the sound of a steam engine? E.g the opening sequence of this video — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXh-evRHkhM
🙂
40
tom0mason:
Splendid transport and capable of satisfying the Adelaide City Council’s proposed speed limits in the CBD.
20
I note that the Great Dorset Steam Fair next year is on about now – 31 St August. Hmm. Will be in the vicinity around that time.
30
Excellent. I grabbed a copy of it with youtube-dl.exe; thanks.
20
29 Aug: ScienceDaily: Drug use, excess alcohol and no helmet common among US injured eScooter users
Most of those injured are 20 to 40-year old men; injury toll set to rise, warn researchers
Source: BMJ
This is an observational study, and as such, can’t establish cause. The total number of patients was small and the researchers weren’t able to glean information on the frequency, locations, or patterns of eScooter use.
What’s more, the research focused on patients admitted to major trauma centres, and there may be a large number of people who sustain more minor injuries after riding an eScooter…
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190829184146.htm
24 Aug: SMH: Sydney’s electric scooter trial plagued by safety fears
By Josh Dye
Electric scooters would be restricted to riders aged over 18 who hold a driver’s licence and could only be ridden during the day, under strict conditions proposed by the state government for a possible trial in Sydney.
While electric scooters are currently illegal to use in public spaces in NSW, the government has been running a confidential review to determine how and where the e-scooters could be trialled.
Eight Sydney councils are in discussions about hosting the scooters, including the City of Sydney, Inner West, Waverley, Randwick, Northern Beaches and Bayside councils.
But public safety fears have stalled the launch of the Sydney trial, which was first flagged for Manly last summer. Shared e-scooter schemes already operate in Brisbane and Adelaide and many overseas cities, and scooter companies have criticised the strict conditions proposed by the NSW government…
In May, a Brisbane man died after he fell down a set of stairs while riding an electric scooter. It was the first fatality involving the mobility devices, coming after dozens of injuries…
***”The question is to what extent are they just replacing walking?”…
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sydney-s-electric-scooter-trial-plagued-by-safety-fears-20190823-p52k5i.html
28 Aug: Sky News: Electric scooters: Criminal damage and traffic collisions among hundreds of police incidents
Forces across the UK reveal more than 1,600 incidents involving e-scooters, hoverboards and Segways have been reported since 2018.
By David Mercer
It comes after YouTube star Emily Hartridge became the first e-scooter rider to be killed in the UK last month, raising fears about the safety of the vehicles…
In total, 618 incidents were reported in the first half of 2019, compared with 1,017 reported incidents in 2018, 1,123 incidents in 2017 and 1,275 incidents in 2016.
However, the actual number of incidents is likely to be much higher as only 27 forces revealed figures for each year, while Britain’s biggest force – the Metropolitan Police – did not provide information…
The Department for Transport (DfT) is currently carrying out a review of legislation which could lead to e-scooters being legalised for road use in the UK for the first time…
Campaigners calling for e-scooters to be allowed on UK roads recently staged a protest outside Downing Street, saying the law banning their use is “outdated” and the devices provide an environmentally friendly alternative to cars…
https://news.sky.com/story/electric-scooters-criminal-damage-and-traffic-collisions-among-hundreds-of-police-incidents-11790527
30
I think it is called Natural Selection or survival of the fittest.
40
29 Aug: Xinhua: African experts, policymakers urge to reverse current “lackluster” approach to Paris climate accord
ADDIS ABABA – The experts and policymakers made the call during the ongoing eighth edition of the Climate Change and Development in Africa Conference (CCDA-8), which is underway at the headquarters of the African Union (AU) in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa from August 28 to 30.
The high-level climate-themed conference, which is co-organized by the AU Commission, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), African Development Bank (AfDB), and the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, kicked off with strong calls from African ministers and experts to reverse the current uninspiring approach to implementing the Paris Agreement…
The three-day climate-themed continental conference is being held under the theme “Stepping up Climate Action for Resilient Economies in Africa — a Race we Can (and must) Win.”…
The Paris Agreement, which was signed back in 2016, is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, dealing with greenhouse-gas-emissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance…
“The continent contributes less than 6 percent of emissions, with per capita emissions of only 0.8 tons per year, well below the global mean of 5 tons, and far lower than for other regions such as Europe and Asia,” (Aida Opoku-Mensah, at the UN ECA) said…
“This is the last wake-up call to all countries to raise their game and step up climate action for multiple social, economic and environmental wins,” she stressed.
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-08/29/c_138348897.htm
11
pat:
When they say “with per capita emissions of only 0.8 tons per year, well below the global mean of 5 tons,….“This is the last wake-up call to all countries to raise their game and step up climate action” do they want to increase their emissions?
40
30 Aug: Politico: A new strategy on climate: Try to outlast Trump
By ZACK COLMAN; Ben Lefebvre contributed to this report
World leaders and major companies intent on dealing with climate change have settled on a strategy for handling President Donald Trump: snub him.
When Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency this week proposed withdrawing Obama-era rules to limit emissions of methane from oil and gas wells or pipelines, major oil companies said they wanted the rules to remain. Some of the world’s largest automakers are ignoring the administration’s attempt to do away with rising fuel efficiency mandates. And when Trump skipped a climate change session at the G-7 summit last weekend, other world leaders said they were better off without him…
Trump’s scorn for collective action to address global environmental consequences could have a lasting impact, freeing other leaders like Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro to pursue their own nationalist policies. But the world leaders who are still committed to addressing climate change are now looking beyond Trump’s tenure.
“They’re just trying to wait it out and hope he’s not there next year,” said Alden Meyer, the director of strategy and policy with the Union of Concerned Scientists, who has participated in international climate meetings since 1991…
The shift comes just ahead of a United Nations climate summit, where countries are expected to announce more ambitious goals to meet scientists’ increasingly urgent calls for action…
Instead, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is trying to head off Trump’s dampening effect. He has met with officials from several G-20 countries to encourage new, bold commitments beyond those made when crafting the 2015 Paris climate accord in exchange for giving them a plum speaking spot at the U.N. climate summit that begins Sept. 23, Meyer said…
Even as the world tries to move on without him, Trump’s stance both emboldens leaders of developing countries to prioritize fossil fuel or agricultural development and also limits pressure on China and India, which must rapidly reduce emissions for the world to avoid devastating climate change. While other G-7 members have sought to apply pressure to Bolsonaro to do more about the fires raging in the Amazon, Trump has defended him.
“The rise of right-wing populism throughout the world is a severe threat to climate change,” said Jason Bordoff, the National Security Council director of climate change and energy under Obama. “The Trump administration’s dismissal of climate change is really damaging. It does discourage other countries.”…
Some are delaying bolder commitments and others are slow-walking projects, according to Andrew Light, a former Obama State Department official who is now at the World Resources Institute…
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/30/trump-climate-strategy-1695813
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31 Aug: Manila Times: Climate action flops at G-7 summit as countries put growth first
By YEN MAKABENTA
David Bryce, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, explained the reason why climate action flopped at the G-7 summit, in an article in the National Review.
I quote here key excerpts from the Bryce analysis:
“Some of the blame was laid at the feet of President Donald Trump, who was ‘a no-show at a crucial session on climate change.’ While blaming Trump for the lack of progress on climate change might make for a good headline, the broader story is more complex.
“[A] look at the numbers shows that the US has slashed its coal use and cut its total greenhouse emissions more than any country in the G-7. It has also become a major supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) — which emits about half as much carbon dioxide as coal during combustion — to other members of the G-7…ETC
“Why, despite the urgency of dealing with climate change, aren’t more countries making big cuts to their emissions? The most succinct explanation can be had by understanding what Roger Pielke Jr. has dubbed the Iron Law of Climate Policy: ‘When policies on emissions reductions collide with policies focused on economic growth, economic growth will win out every time.’…
“To be sure, the growth in global coal consumption is slowing. But for developing countries, particularly in southern Asia, coal remains an essential fuel. Over the past decade, six countries — Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan and India — have all seen dramatic increases in coal consumption. Those countries are home to some 2 billion people. As coal consumption in those countries has grown, so too have incomes. For instance, between 2008 and 2018, Vietnam’s coal use tripled and per capita GDP more than doubled.
“Although the G-7 members say they want to slash their emissions, several members remain heavily reliant on coal.”…
“Over the weekend, Jean Jouzel, a French climate expert, was quoted in an article the New York Times ran about the G-7 meeting and climate change. Jouzel declared that the ‘international scene now lacks dynamism in the fight against global warming.’ He said ‘to effectively combat global warming, all countries must look in the same direction.’
“Therein lies the rub: When it comes to economic growth and energy consumption, the members of the G-7, as well as other countries around the world, aren’t looking in the same direction. Instead, per the Iron Law of Climate Policy, they are looking out for their own economic growth. And there’s little reason to expect that that will change any time soon.”…
The UN will convene a climate action summit in New York on September 23. It will preside over a world that is much more skeptical about its climate agenda, and much less terrified by its forecast of apocalypse.
https://www.manilatimes.net/2019/08/31/opinion/columnists/topanalysis/climate-action-flops-at-g-7-summit-as-countries-put-growth-first/608785/
30
Hope still springs forth!
30
The Philippines are building coal fired
Power stations as far as they can get funding for them.
Sixteen in 2016-7 alone
Burning coal from Indonesian Kalimantan
Why ?
Because the Filipinos are determined to
Break out of poverty and avoid Brown outs.
Way to go !
Buggers the greenists and their
Save the planet rubbish !
60
Somebody needs to tell the Victorian government…
20
Our economy needs more renewables to devolve down to the levels of the Phillippines first and then our CO2 emissions won’t count and more brown coal plants will be allowed to be built again.
30
Trump is simply following the US constitution in separating the State from religious beliefs:
The first amendment to the US Constitution states:
Any legislation around so-called greenhouse gasses is counter to the US constitution as it supports a religious belief.
30
30 Aug: WSJ: Macron Takes an Unsteady Grip on Shipping’s Environmental Path
The French president reignited a debate over shipping emissions, but some believe his solution would cut investment in next-generation, carbon-neutral vessels
By Costas Paris
Shipping companies have used slow steaming before, not for the environmental benefits but to effectively reduce capacity and cut fuel costs in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis while keeping vessels operating. The IMO said in a 2014 report that the average speed of ships declined 12% from 2008 to 2012. The report said shipping’s contribution to global greenhouse-gas emissions fell from 2.8% in 2007 to 2.2% in 2012.
Maritime broker Clarkson PLC wrote in a separate report that average vessel speeds have declined by around 21% across all ship types over the past 10 years, and that fuel consumption and CO2 emissions in the sector has declined by an average 18%.
That reduction has come with a broader restructuring of the maritime sector, with massive consolidation over the past five years and a move by the remaining carriers to operate larger but fewer vessels…
France first made its slow-steaming proposal at the IMO in April, backed by other European countries, including Greece, Germany, Belgium and Spain, where local owners make money by chartering their ships. But the move, which is going to be discussed again in November, “is not gaining traction, with South American and Asian countries being flatly against,” according to a senior delegate participating in the talks.
“I don’t think it will pass,” this delegate said.
An array of countries including Japan, Korea, India, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Turkey fear slower deliveries in an industry already being hit by trade disputes and a weakening global economy, would harm transport of meat, vegetables and other time-sensitive exports…
The U.S. and China are also leaning against the proposal.
Ships move the world’s commodities like oil, iron ore and grains and the vast majority of retail manufactured goods, including cars, home appliances, clothing and food…READ ALL
https://www.wsj.com/articles/macron-takes-an-unsteady-grip-on-shippings-environmental-path-11567159200
20
saw this vessel arrive on CaribVision news online last nite re Guyana, pop. approx 800,000, GDP 3.676 billion USD (2017):
New Exxon Mobil production vessel arrives off the coast of Guyana
Houston Chronicle – 29 Aug 2019
Exxon Mobil’s first oil production vessel has arrived off the coast of Guyana as the United States’ largest oil major prepares for massive growth along the small South American nation.
The Liza Destiny is a floating, production, storage and offloading vessel, called an FPSO, that arrived following a 42-day journey from Singapore, where it was built. The 1,115-foot vessel will lead production from 17 wells during the first phase of development, called Liza Phase 1, starting in early 2020…
Along with the booming Permian Basin, Exxon Mobil’s biggest growth ramp up is focused on deepwater Guyana where Exxon and its partner, New York-based Hess Corp., have announced 13 major discoveries in just a few short years…
Exxon Mobil now expects to produce more than 750,000 barrels of oil a day offshore of Guyana by 2025. That’s equal to nearly 20 percent of Exxon’s global oil and gas production today…
—
you have to wonder if the likes of Chatham once wrote a piece along the following lines about Australia and our gas discoveries!
26 Jul: Chatham House: Gushing money, staying green
Guyana has struck oil but intends to stick to its low-carbon path, writes Valerie Marcel in Georgetown
Guyana is expected to produce 750,000 barrels a day by 2025, on a par with Brazil, its huge neighbour to the south. But the transformation is better grasped in per capita terms – Guyana will produce almost one barrel of oil per person per day. That is three times more oil per capita than Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates – though per capita revenues to the state are closer once the oil company’s costs and profits are deducted. The transformative nature of these discoveries for Guyana cannot be overstated…
Guyana was fortunate that President David Granger’s government came to power with a vision to guide the country’s development. It had set the course on green growth. Even after oil was discovered, it continued to develop its Green State Development Strategy. The goal is to ‘transition to a diversified green and inclusive economy, become a leading example of a Green State and serve as an inspiration to other countries in the region and worldwide’, according to the Guyana Department of Environment.
The strategy guides Guyana along a low-carbon pathway, with investments in ecotourism, renewable energy, emission caps and forest conservation, coupled with a concern for providing the Guyanese with a ‘better life’.
But the big question is whether this vision sits well with the country becoming a leading oil exporter. No other country with oil reserves as large has pursued such an ecological vision.
So far the plan has held strong, most notably with the government’s decision not to bring the oil to shore for refining or other sorts of processing, and to use the export revenues to support renewables development and the diversification of the economy, as well as saving for the future through a sovereign wealth fund…
here will inevitably be temptations to pursue a different course. Domestic pressure will mount to bring the oil ashore and to refine it in Guyana, making sure the country takes control of the industrial process and escapes the legacy of colonialism – British rule did little to develop the country. There will be calls for cheap oil and gas feedstocks to support Guyana’s industry and for subsidized fuel and power for consumers. In other words, there will be political pressure to benefit from the oil itself, not just the oil revenues.
But Guyana has the benefit of hindsight. It can see the experience of Gulf Arab producers, who created oil-intensive industries and introduced subsidies on petrol, power and water that created unsustainable patterns of domestic consumption. Subsidies and dependency on oil are very difficult to reverse, and they lock the country into a high-carbon economic model…
The world’s energy usage is changing and oil is not forever…
Guyana is a unique test case of a new, major oil producer country guided by an environmental vision. It is in this sense emblematic of our changing world. As a developing nation, it wants to use its natural resources to invest in its future prosperity, but also avoid the mistakes of carbon lock-in made by others. This vision has great potential, if Guyana can stay the course.
Headwinds are already being felt. There will be elections by the end of the year which were triggered by a no-confidence motion. The opposition party, the People’s Progressive Party, has not yet taken a position on the high-level vision for Guyana, only calling for a critical review of oil contracts and institutions overseeing the sector, as well as a bigger push for local opportunities for Guyanese people and businesses to participate in the oil sector. The run-up to the elections will surely be the time to debate what kind of producer Guyana should become.
https://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/twt/gushing-money-staying-green?CMP=share_btn_tw
mostly wishful thinking, but be prepared for the attacks and smears when the next election comes around, if any candidate goes against the globalist plan.
30
the writer:
Chatham House Bio: Dr Valérie Marcel, Associate Fellow, Energy, Environment and Resources
Valerie Marcel led energy research at Chatham House from 2002 to 2007. She became an associate fellow in 2007, based in Dubai and Toronto before returning to London in 2014.
She advises governments in sub-Saharan Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean, South America and the Caribbean on petroleum sector policy and governance…
She is a member of Columbia University’s Executive Session on the Politics of Extractives and sits on the advisory board of the Payne Institute at the Colorado School of Mines and the Lebanese Oil and Gas Initiative.
She is also an expert faculty at the School of Public Policy at the Central European University, the ESCP Europe and previously at the London Business School.
Past experience
2014-2016 Member of the Global Agenda Council on the Future of Oil & Gas, World Economic Forum
2008-2013 Consultant, KPMG LLP
https://www.chathamhouse.org/expert/dr-valerie-marcel
02
Yes revellino. Officiating had an impact. But each side will always have a compliant about refereeing decisions after a loss. All I was saying was that we cant blame everything on financial doping of Dublin. Yes they have advantages but we had numerous chances to derail the 5 in a row and failed to do so, and sometimes that was partially due to our own failings on the day.
10
as for Bolsonaro – best to know who is writing the following Foreign Policy piece first:
Amazon: Post-Western World: How Emerging Powers Are Remaking Global Order
by Oliver Stuenkel
Oliver Stuenkel is an Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV) in São Paulo, where he coordinates the São Paulo branch of the School of History and Social Science (CPDOC) and the executive program in International Relations. He is also a non-resident Fellow at the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin and a member of the Carnegie Rising Democracies Network. His popular and influential blog postwesternworld.com explores how emerging powers are changing the world…
With the United States’ superpower status rivalled by a rising China and emerging powers like India and Brazil playing a growing role in international affairs, the global balance of power is shifting…
In this provocative new book, Oliver Stuenkel argues that our understanding of global order and predictions about its future are limited because we seek to imagine the post-Western world from a parochial Western-centric perspective. Such a view is increasingly inadequate in a world where a billions of people regard Western rule as a temporary aberration, and the rise of Asia as a return to normalcy. In reality, China and other rising powers that elude the simplistic extremes of either confronting or joining existing order are quietly building a “parallel order” which complements today’s international institutions and increases rising powers’ autonomy. Combining accessibility with expert sensitivity to the complexities of the global shift of power, Stuenkel’s vision of a post-Western world will be core reading for students and scholars of contemporary international affairs, as well as anyone interested in the future of global politics.
https://www.amazon.com/Post-Western-World-Emerging-Powers-Remaking/dp/1509504575
30 Aug: Foreign Affairs: Bolsonaro Fans the Flames
Brazil’s Government Still Has One Faction That Can Douse Them
by Oliver Stuenkel
But Bolsonaro seems to revel in his role as environmental enemy number one, responding to criticism from world leaders in the same way he reacts to his opponents at home: with provocative disdain. He taunted French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, called the fires and the deforestation of parts of Brazil’s rainforest an “internal issue,” and repeated that “the Amazon belongs to Brazil.”…
Bolsonaro views international concern over the fires in the Amazon as a threat to his country’s sovereignty. He and a coterie of closely allied ministers and advisers—known collectively as the “ideological faction” of the Bolsonaro government—ascribe the criticism to a globally coordinated campaign to weaken Brazil’s territorial integrity and keep it from developing economically…
By striking its chords amid the environmental outcry, he assumes the role of culture warrior, fighting the “globalism” and “cultural Marxism” of international institutions and foreign-funded civil society organizations…
Two of the three factions in Bolsonaro’s government — his associated ideologues and members of the military — are unlikely to embrace such a reversal. These factions share the fundamental view that environmentalists may threaten Brazil’s sovereignty. The third faction, composed of liberal economists and business interests, still has an outside chance to convince Bolsonaro to adopt necessary environmental policies by appealing to Brazil’s long-term economic and foreign policy interests…
Bolsonaro and Ricardo Salles, Brazil’s minister of the environment, do not believe in climate change. The president campaigned on promises to cut back government protections for the rainforest. He has made good on that pledge in part by slashing the budget for Ibama, Brazil’s environmental watchdog, which enforces regulations and imposes fines for illegal logging and other encroachments. The government sacked the head of the National Institute for Space Research, which publishes data on deforestation. (Scientists at the institute claim that fires this year are up 35 percent from the average of the past eight years.) And the president has fostered an atmosphere of impunity, encouraging loggers, ranchers, miners, and farmers to breach regulations and cut into the forest. Government agencies have imposed far fewer fines this year than in previous years…
The Bolsonaro government has made no secret of its hostility toward environmental NGOs and international conservation efforts. Without providing evidence, Bolsonaro accused environmental NGOs of having started the fires. And the government has questioned the value of the Amazon Fund, an enormously successful conservation program financed by the Norwegian and German governments…
But in May, Salles demanded a reduction in the NGOs’ role — a deliberate provocation that predictably led Norway and Germany to suspend their payments. “Isn’t Norway that country that kills whales up there in the North Pole?” Bolsonaro quipped…
Bolsonaro thrives on controversy and conflict, and the international criticism helps strengthen the president’s narrative that powerful forces are at work to undermine him, even while it helps rally his government’s most ardent supporters around the flag. The more hostile international rhetoric becomes, the more Bolsonaro will embrace a “bunker mentality,” entrenching himself in opposition to world leaders such as Macron. The Brazilian president may not even be that bothered that his handling of the fires is threatening a major free-trade deal between Brazil and the European Union…
To the extent that the radicalism of Bolsonaro’s ideological faction threatens the country’s economic interests, Brazil’s generals have acted as a moderating force…
Environmental policy, however, is a different matter altogether. Those who expect the military faction to act yet again as the adult in the room and provide a check to Bolsonaro are likely to be disappointed. (Indigenous Vice President/former General Hamilton) Mourão himself has expressed doubts about whether climate change is actually man-made. The armed forces are fully aligned with the president’s views on sovereignty and international interference. The former commander of Brazil’s army, the influential General Eduardo Villas Boas, closed ranks with Bolsonaro when he rejected international criticism as a “direct attack on Brazilian sovereignty.”…
LIBERALS TO THE RESCUE?
With both the ideological and military factions of the government shrugging off international pressure, the government’s third faction, the neoliberals, has begun to mobilize against the president’s environmental policies, reaching out to agribusiness and civil society.
The liberal faction is led by Brazil’s minister of agriculture, Tereza Cristina, and by Guedes, and it includes many skilled technocrats in the ministry of the economy…
And the Europeans could still refuse to ratify the EU-Mercosur trade deal, a pact that is estimated to add nearly $90 billion to Brazil’s economy over the next 15 years, and which Bolsonaro counts as one of his biggest foreign policy achievements…
The stakes are not lost on Brazil’s business leaders, particularly in agribusiness, which accounts for more than 20 percent of the country’s GDP. The European Union currently buys $5 billion worth of Brazilian soy per year. Marcello Brito, head of the powerful Brazilian Agribusiness Association, recently warned that “it is only a matter of time” before the fires prompt boycotts of Brazilian products. In such a scenario, Brito noted, Brazil would struggle enormously to “regain confidence” abroad.
As president-elect in the fall of 2018, Bolsonaro expressed willingness to withdraw from the Paris agreement on climate change. Ambassadors from European Union member states coordinated a pressure campaign, meeting one-on-one with Brazilian congressmen representing agribusiness. The European diplomats told the lawmakers that if Brazil left the Paris agreement, consumers across Europe would boycott Brazilian products. Days later, Salles, the environment minister, announced Brazil would not abandon the commitments it made in Paris.
And yet European pressure may not make much of an impression on Brazil’s domestic policy. Unlike the big agricultural associations, Brazil’s small farmers continue to support Bolsonaro’s loosening of environmental protections…
And Brazil will not be without trading partners in case of a European boycott: China buys 80 percent of Brazil’s soy exports, and this relationship has proved unresponsive to Bolsonaro’s shredding of environmental protections…
Bolsonaro certainly faces little pressure from the White House. At the G-7 meeting in Biarritz this month, U.S. President Donald Trump, himself a climate skeptic, dismissed the Amazon conflagration as a “niche issue.” Even European leaders are not united in their approach. Macron has adopted an aggressive strategy, accusing the Brazilian president of lying and insisting that he won’t ratify the EU-Mercosur deal under current circumstances. German Chancellor Angela Merkel disagrees, arguing that refusing to ratify the trade deal will not prevent “a single hectare” from being illegally logged in Brazil’s rainforest.
To really protect the rainforest and take Brazil’s environmental responsibilities seriously, Bolsonaro must reverse his government’s systematic weakening of its environmental protection agency. He must explicitly recognize that climate change is real. And he should accept that NGOs make positive contributions in combatting deforestation.
an about-face is highly unlikely. Bolsonaro’s ideological anti-environmental views are deeply intertwined with his entire political project. Economic liberals can raise the specter of a scrapped trade deal with the European Union, consumer boycotts, and denial of OECD membership—but such pragmatic concerns may not sway a president so committed to defiance, no matter the cost.
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/americas/2019-08-30/bolsonaro-fans-flames
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the lose of two people in the 20th century created a vacuum into which the marxistes and communists marched without challenge. The result has been the EU and UN movement to global marxisme and world control.
Those two people ?
Richard Feynman
Margaret Thatcher
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Warmists now try blaming CO2 for the Jetstream becoming more disturbed, despite that normally being associated with lower solar activity.
Didn’t they try that wind shear stuff to claim evidence for the Tropical Hotspot too, that wasn’t there?
“Our results indicate that Climate change may be having a larger impact on the North Atlantic Jetstream than previously thought”
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https://mobile.twitter.com/DrPaulDWilliams/status/1167500228632596481
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October 31, the new Brexit date, is also the most “holy” date in the pagan occult calendar. Anyone who understands the occult would understand this.
This should be pointed out.
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Just 5 days before the Gunpwder Plot is celebrated, when they nearly blew up Parliament and Guy Fawkes is now burned every year in effigy.
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If she had resigned from Heath’s cabinet when he dragged Britain in, or even followed up this speech by pulling Britain out of the EU when she was PM, there would be something positive to set against her promotion of the AGW nonsense.
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She was questioning AGW to promote Nuclear the. Little did she imagine how the left would pile in on it at the prospect of a free lunch.
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She’s the most horrible excuse for a human being, on a par with Hitler as far as I’m concerned.
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Tons of irony round here.. . or ….are you for real?!?!?!?!????!!!
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Although Thatcher was always undoubtedly correct about the ERM insanity, her solution was unabashed neoliberalism which was itself another form of social cancer but with a longer period of growth.
The Carbon Credits and Derivatives market will be centered in the City of London, and require a neoliberal free-trade ideology with which to place a singular macro-economic straitjacket on the entire world. For what? For control, and for profit.
Thatcher’s fault is that she actually didn’t believe in Britain as a Nation of people fighting for Sovereignty, but instead saw it as a bulwark against European Federation which instead needed to sell-out it’s productive capital to a larger offshore world order so that the City of London could retain its financial clearing house crown.
There’s one square mile in Britain and the rest is just an afterthought. Because of Thatcher, massive chunks of the FTSE are owned by Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Communism and Neoliberalism are two wolves fighting over the sheep of Nationalism.
Nations have to become more mercantilistic and protective of their economic sovereignty. We need free-trade within our own borders, and then trade deals with our allies that are closely monitored and reassessed to balance the interests of our peoples and businesses – not just the businesses. Trade with nations who are not compatible with a fair play ethic should be actively reduced and eliminated for the long-term health of our nations but also alliances.
The exact same disconnect can be seen in the *Trump is the new Reagan* idiocy flying around on the political right in the USA. Reagan was an amazingly destructive neoliberal who allowed the offshoring of US productive capital, whereas Trump is simply the guy holding the bill but having to repeal the norms of late 20th century neoliberalism … and this is why he’s so unpopular at summits like the G7.
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overreach much
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Hello. I have found this good book on Brexit. It is a comedy satire about Britain, leaving the European Union, with a no deal Brexit.
What makes the book special, is it is written by four different people, with some for, and some against, Brexit. They each write a chapter at a time. A short story prediciting the future of Britain and Europe, after a No Deal Brexit.
The story looks at geo-politics, politics, war, arguments, history. And even has a some poems, and jokes.
Brexit From Four Views: By Fergus Brown, Alex Bath, Andrew Knife, and the Mute Swan King.
You can search for the book under the title Brexit From Four Views, on Amazon.co.uk.
Maybe you would like to review the funny story.
Diolch.
Yours
Susan Scottish,
Great Britain.
United Kingdom.
Europe.-.–
00