Government Energy Policy Starting to Backfire on Politicians

I'm currently a SSE customer and today I received a letter from the company advising me of the rise in energy prices.

Unusually, the letter lays the reasons for the rise firmly at the door of successive governments.

It says: "We've worked hard to keep prices at their current level and delay an increase for as long as possible, but unfortunately we will have to put your energy prices up on 15 November 2013. There are many reasons for this, including the rising cost of energy efficiency programmes, support for low-carbon energy and help for vulnerable customers. While we support the aims of these Government-sponsored initiatives, they do come with a cost. In addition, the need for investment means the cost of using the electricity and gas networks has increased, and the cost of the energy we bought for this coming winter is higher than it was from the same period last year."

Hmm, Drawing a line in the sand? This far an no further government meddling in energy company affairs? Pointing the finger squarely at the reason for price increases? Or just sour grapes that they're being made scapegoats?

All I will say is get yourself a portable heat source and some battery-powered lighting. Forewarned is forearmed and reading between the lines I see interesting times ahead as we get to see who eventually backs down. Expect the full arsenal of energy cuts to be enacted in support of the energy companies power play.

How the government reacts will be interesting given that their hands are tied by EU energy policy. Can they react, can they change policy, are they allowed by their EU masters?

It seems both ships are lashed firmly on a collision course. Batten down the hatches and brace for impact!

The End of the Minimum Wage?

So yesterday the Conservatives at conference suggested that the unemployed should work for their dole money or attend job centres all week.

So that means the end of the minimum wage, because why would firms pay the minimum wage when they can get someone for free, paid for by the government? Even if the firm the "unemployed" person was working for was contributing something, I assume it would be a whole lot less than the minimum wage.

Of course there will be caveats: the work will be short-term (of course the position will be long term, it'll just be the people doing it that will be employed on short-term contracts, which will entail much shuffling in and out of unemployed people), or something similar.

AR5: More Patent Propaganda

The AR5 climate report has (sort of) been released. Well the report's conclusions have been released and spread far and wide, but as with anything related to the climate change agenda, the detail will be late coming to the table.

Despite the alarmist propaganda on the news this evening, the UKs weather has not suddenly turned extreme: I'm old enough to remember when it snowed and stayed snowy and cold for weeks. Every winter.

I remember when it rained solid for days and days, I remember winds that brought down brick-built factories.

I'm only 51 and all the above have happened in my lifetime; can the collective memory of the country be so completely erased or manipulated as to think that this wasn't the norm? I guess if the news tells the population its extreme weather they'll believe it.

Earlier this week it was reported that glaciers were melting more rapidly not because of increased CO2, but because of soot from fires making the snow less than white and less able to reflect heat, causing increased melting. Now that to me is a more simple and straightforward mechanism than the fallacy that is the greenhouse effect.

CO2 is a miniscule gas, in miniscule amounts, being a gas, its "weight" in the natural world is negligible, having very little energy in itself and causing very little effect. Water vapour has more weight and has a more drastic effect on climate both local and global. Spray a mist of water over yourself on a sunny day and instantly realise the cooling effect. In the atmosphere water vapour has several times more ability to affect climate than a gas.

Climate is self regulating: Stand on a beach on a sunny day and watch the water vapour rise from the sea. The same thing happens on a global scale, the oceans when heated release billions of tonnes of water vapour into the atmosphere and begin to cool the atmosphere down again. It works, and its far more potent than CO2.

I'm convinced that global warming, climate change or whatever its called this year is a global con hatched by the elite, the king-makers, those that control those in power in order to what they consider "re-balance" the global economy. Way back when they had all the power and the money and we were just serfs. Two world wars wiped out the labour market and just like the black death before it became an equalising force. Serfs could demand more from their masters and the masters had to cough up.

Now we have a global cash-cow with everyone being milked for money: corporations forced to buy carbon credits from brokers who are literally making money from thin air. Its THE most glorious scam ever. Don't buy into it.