Forum Topic

Lack Of Government Response To The Present Crisis

Fleur Anderson has quite rightly called for Parliament to return and discuss the appalling cost of living crisis. In fact, the matter is well beyond party politics as the country is moving towards an economic and social disaster without leadership, strategic planning or any indication that the Government needs to respond to this situation at once.  

Miles Thompson ● 1346d39 Comments

Giving the answer that the audience wants to hear - just like Boris Johnson.The planning decision was against planning recommendations. Yes, it was that Japanese one that was on a fault line, wasn't it? Everybody seems to look at them as if they are a simple and sensible option but they don't seem to be as easy as made out.  In the past Russia used to take other countries' nuclear waste to dispose of it.  Unfortunately I understand there is a lot of pollution in the seas around there.

Philippa Bond ● 1340d

My impression is Truss gives the answer she thinks the audience she's talking to wants to hear. Truss will be long gone before any new nuclear power stations come on stream. Might have been useful if we'd started 15 years ago.As Ukraine is showing, future security problems are difficult to predict however well the units are engineered and regulated for safety. Still, at least Sizewall isn't on a fault line, but will construction take into account rising sea levels caused by global warming?

Michael Ixer ● 1340d

Completely agree.  A populist reply to an unpleasant but realistic situation.  It's worrying.  With Sizewell C (which was given a go ahead last month against a lot of opposition) there are quite a few hitches to overcome.  It will need more guaranteed water.  France has had problems with the lack of cooling water for its nuclear power stations during the heatwave as the Rhone and another river were two hot.  Rivers have also been running low.

Philippa Bond ● 1340d

I am going to be truly awful here, but it sounds more like populist sound bites?I am truly totally unconvinced with Truss and I wholeheartedly hope, against all hope, that she does not become our next PM.

Ivonne Holliday ● 1340d

Worrying tha Ms Truss is making promises about something she may have no control over (and seemingly doesn't understand):https://www.itv.com/news/2022-08-31/truss-vows-no-energy-rationing-in-final-clash-with-sunak-before-leadership-voteEnergy experts say if there's a shortage of power input to the grid then it's either controlled rationing or uncontrolled blackouts …

Michael Ixer ● 1340d

Dieter Helm is a very smart bloke who has much sense to talk about the energy market - if only the government would listen to him.There is certainly an effect on current energy prices of past government actions, past privatisations and past decisions as to to investment in generating capacity.For example - and you won't like this - had we decided 20 years ago to build lots of nuclear power stations and keep all the coal fired power stations open, we would not be at the mercy of international gas prices.However, given where we are, and that is probably a better place, 40% of our electricity and 100% of our gas comes from gas. Therefore, if gas is expensive, without someone else picking up the tab, such as a goverment subsidy, our energy bills are expensive. International gas prices eased up post-Covid, but went gang-busters as a consequence of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And for those appeasers and pro-Russia shills, let's be clear, UK support for Ukraine or the lack of it will have very little effect on that because there is a broad US and european consensus to stand up to Russia for once. So we may as well continue to do the right thing.Slava Ukraini.

Michael Winstanley ● 1343d

Anyone with a brain in their head might realise the difficulties with your suggestion that the UK "only buy Russian gas". How? On ebay? Would you have Amazon deliver it for you? Or maybe it could be transmitted here on one of your energy rays.I suppose it is too much to ask for a complete idiot living in a fantasy world to have any appreciation of the practicalities here.Gas comes down pipes or, subject to the availability of transhipment points and the ships, in tankers. All of these are huge elements of physical infrastructure which take years to plan, build and commission.

Michael Winstanley ● 1343d

There's an interesting article on the Independent website in which Dieter Helm, a former Conservative adviser who wrote a 2017 Cost of Energy review, criticizes the government and says that the real reason for the high energy prices is not so much the Ukraine war as an utterly failed privatisation model. Worth a read:https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/energy-bills-privatisation-sewage-ukraine-b2154883.html

Richard Carter ● 1343d

Ok, Ed. In that case, it's a collective attack on society, and by the same people who used a Covid response to attack society; and it's always for 'good' reasons - Covid response to protect grandma, who they made sure of killing anyway, and Energy response to support Ukrainians, who are 'paying with their blood'. A war all prompted by the West in any case.

Michael Brown ● 1343d

Ed. I was throwing some points around for debate and wasn't sure if sanctions was the only option, I'm assuming no one would suggest direct military intervention? Judging by what Sir Kier has said versus the mutterings of Liz and Rishi Labour might have a different approach but I agree that's speculation, and we don't know what the current government will end up doing. It might be interesting to know how much people differentiate between the Russian government and people. In the early days of the conflict Eugene Kaspersky tried to make a conciliatory sounding statement but was criticised (if I remember correctly, on LinkedIn) for not using the term "war" - to be fair to be fair he was in Moscow so a difficult dilemma; he seems to have gone quiet since then. A few weeks ago I was at an event where a British chap turned up with his Russian girlfriend (who it appeared hadn't  been it Russia for a while), everyone was civil and avoided mentioning the war! (Perhaps it was just the British reserve?)

Michael Ixer ● 1343d

Michael B,The UK is impacted not because it imports large amounts of gas from Russia but due to the international wholesale price being impacted due to other European countries relying on Russian gas. Successive governments going back to Thatcher have to take joint for the UK's short energy policy.Although Germany's gas storage facilities are nearing capacity - when full it will give them only 20 percent of what they used in 2021 I believe.At a higher cost than Russian gas it will impact upon Germany's industrial efficiency - the Euro was below the dollar but has now recovered to be on par.Perhaps a low value Euro may help southern European countries and rebalance Europe?? It will certainly make EU imports cheaper for the UK but unfortunately that means  UK produce and exports may be more expensive.

Ed Robinson ● 1343d

Michael,"Putin is helped by having a stranglehold over both mainstream and social media"Agreed but it doesn't help that some UK politicians are verging on Russophobia and institutions are targeting ordinary Russians. The message that the Russian government is our enemy not the Russian people seems to have gotten lost."are the Chinese hedging their bets, they've a lot of links with the US and EU?"Chinese foreign policy is quite clear and consistent on sovereign states for several reasons I guess. German and the US car companies sell a huge number of cars in China mainly through joint ventures - which has mutual benefits.I have to take issue with the no choice stance - sounds similar to saying shooting yourself in the foot is better than letting the enemy shoot your foot. Let's hope that Europe is not weakened economically to such an extent it can't respond adequately to future threats.The oligarchs will not be going cold this winter or losing their only home. I doubt even the ordinary Russians would feel sorry for them if the sanctions were targeted."Perhaps the energy crisis could be good longer term.."I'm not seeing any positives Europe will likely burn more imported coal and gas leading to an increase in transportation emissions.As with covid one wonders if there is a concealed heard immunity agenda amongst the government's thinking - (the infamous Lord Farquaad covid speech springs to mind)??"Still, at least we'll be able to hold our politicians to account at the next election"Only the living get to vote and even then you need to be registered, not to mention  opposition policies are likely to be 99 percent the same possibly perhaps even worse??

Ed Robinson ● 1343d

Anyone with a brain in their head knew at the time that the government Covid response would do more harm than good; and, of course, it has, which is now widely acknowledged. Perhaps not quite so widely acknowledged is the fact that the harm was intentional - it was the whole purpose of government Covid responses, here and around the world.Anyone with a brain in their head can also see that the government Energy response will do great harm to society and is unnecessary. If the government really wants to take the moral high ground, it could announce that it will only buy gas from Russia until alternative affordable supplies have been arranged, which of course could take sometime; but the plans would be in place and society would not be destroyed. However, as with the government Covid response, the government Energy response is designed to cause great harm to society - it's the whole purpose.Wake up you fools!

Michael Brown ● 1343d

Ed. There does seem to be an underestimation of the resilience of the Russian economy and its people to accept a level of reduced living standards more than thos in the west; however, Putin is helped by having a stranglehold over both mainstream and social media. Word on the street is that those Russians who do have access to western media aren't so keen on the war.What is difficult to predict is long term outcomes. Russia and China appear to be closer but the Chinese at present don't seem too keen on providing much direct assistance to Putin, it seems an uncomfortable relationship - are the Chinese hedging their bets, they've a lot of links with the US and EU?Russian technology doesn't seem up to the standard of the US's - I doubt it could compete with the US (with some ESA help) Artemis Moon project scheduled for a test launch today? Rumours are the Russian arms manufacturers are short of computer chips they need to produce weapons such as cruise missiles, although there's a lot of disinformation from western intelligence sources as well as Russia so perhaps that's not true ...Perhaps the energy crisis could be good longer term if it weans us off damaging hydrocarbon fuels in favour of greener, renewable energy sources, and restricts cheap air travel? Perhaps a positive aspect emerging from the chaos?The main people who should be held to account are Putin and his advisers for the unjustifiable and murderous attack on Ukraine, although they probably won't be. The response of sanctions may have been a knee jerk reaction with undesirable consequences but I'm not sure thee was much alternative; Putin would probably have squeezed the west with energy restrictions just for supplying effective arms, training, economic assistance and (I assume), intelligence to Ukraine. Sanctions are always going to have repercussions but if it makes a few oligarchs squeal is it all bad? Still, at least we'll be able to hold our politicians to account at the next election, I suspect that won't happen in Russia?

Michael Ixer ● 1343d

Ed we currently have a dysfunctional government that's gone into hibernation. 

Michael Ixer ● 1343d

Last minute UK gov .comThere doesn't seem to have been much thought with the refugees scheme either. "As the cost of living crisis bites and with no end in sight to the war with Russia, fears are mounting that the government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme will unravel next month when refugees’ initial six-month placements with hosts end without alternative accommodation in place."https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/28/50000-ukrainian-refugees-in-uk-facing-homelessness-disaster-next-year-homes-for-ukraine

Ed Robinson ● 1344d

We can not excuse Russian from the invasion of Ukraine, however those that decided the type of response to the invasion should to be made accountable.Various government reports in the US and UK had highlighted the dangers of an economic war with Russian. These were ignored.The UK, EU and US unfortunately underestimate the Russian economy and down played their own dependencies on Russian resources and raw materials.They have also pushed Russian and China closer together - another mistake.Some sanctions such as those on resold Russian oil and shipping insurance have been quietly dropped.Of course if we weren't depent upon imports especially energy in the first place and had a domestic energy policy that wasn't subjective to international wholesale prices then things may have been different.We were I'll prepared and underestimated Russian. We need to learn from that not just blame them!

Ed Robinson ● 1344d

Absolutely right: there's a perfectly clear explanation for the increase un energy prices in the weekend FT, by David Sheppard:"Over the past decade the price of gas has traded between about 20 pence and 75 pence a therm in the UK wholesale market. By January 2022, after Russia had started to squeeze supplies to Europe last year and as demand rebounded from the pandemic, gas rose to around 200 pence a therm. It went up again after the invasion of Ukraine in late February. But since June, when Russia slashed supplies to Europe by restricting flows on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, prices have more than doubled to 555p a therm.At these price levels a 10 per cent rise in the price — as happened over the last week — is like adding the entirety of a normal year’s wholesale gas cost on to your bill again. That is why forecasts for the price cap have started to jump by such large amounts."Any rational person can see this - which, of course, excludes the nutters, who can't see something without imagining some fantastical "explanation". Oh no, it was caused by the Covid lockdown lol!

Richard Carter ● 1345d

Thorough analysis but why waste time on some idiot who thinks the UK's response to Covid made gas expensive. It's quite clear why gas is now more expensive. If some bunch of nutters want to blame it on death rays, or whaever is their latest fetish, leave 'em to it.

Michael Winstanley ● 1345d

I managed not to copy one of the points from my draft to my post with three points! :-Finally, in my opinion, the lockdown was to limit the number of people being hospitalised to stop the NHS collapsing under the strain. If the NHS hadn't suffered underinvestment from the government over the last decade perhaps they wouldn't have imposed such a stringent lockdown but they presumably knew how precarious the NHS position was because of their policies? The NHS is still struggling to survive (let's hope it does) and one can expect excess deaths to be higher than average for sometime because of the strain the pandemic has caused and it's inability to provide adequate treatment in all cases?

Michael Ixer ● 1345d

Oh dear, someone found the keys of the asylum and out pour Paul Beer, Robin Tate (a new one here - or are they all the same nutter using different names?), Michael Brown (of course!). But they've discovered a new plot in the "real" cause of the current cost of living crisis: driven, not by the huge increases in the costs of oil and gas as any fule kno but (where *do* they get these crackpot ideas?) by the lockdowns. It doesn't matter how daft the idea is, but these fools clung on to it desperately. It really is laughable ! 

Richard Carter ● 1345d

I would say, in Ms Turner's favour, she is, according to Wikipedia, a patron of the Family Planning Association and an associate of the National Secular Society.

Michael Ixer ● 1345d

I think my only criticism (was it a complaint?) was people making wild statements on subjects they seemingly aren't expert in? There's several aspects to this:Firstly, one can look back on the spread of the Sars virus, the statistics related to Covid illness and deaths, and the projections made (particularly before vaccines and drugs were available) to mitigate it and say they were over the top. However, they were the best scientific and mathematical estimates at the time, and the lockdown decisions were made by politicians with a dislike (supposedly) for regulation and control. I bet if Corbyn had been in power making the decisions you'd have called it a Stalinist, Soviet revolution, and out in the streets protesting then?Secondly, I've made complaints elsewhere about what I consider the lack of competence of this government and unfairness of this government's policies. The capitalist system seems to break down in these extreme economic crises requiring a more socialist approach to protect the poorest and most vulnerable. Difficult to compare but Gordon Brown seemed to cope better with the 2008 financial crisis? I don't remember being so concerned then, if only because there were more positive, expeditious decisions being made to protect the finances of most people, not the vague uncertainty we have at present?Thirdly, slightly off beat, but I find it interesting that people trust the science and mathematics that underpins the technology that allows them to create and distribute their own theories but don't believe it when the same basic science and maths knowledge and methodologies underpins the statistics, biological and medicines used to measure and fight pandemics? It seems a somewhat selective acceptance based on prejudices? After all the same quantum mechanics underlines atomic theory whether that's applied to the fibre optics transmitting your posts over the internet and the analysis of how atoms form chemical compounds and biological structures to create vaccines and drugs?

Michael Ixer ● 1345d

• Society mentally, physically and financially broken from Covid response• 1,000 + excess non-Covid weekly deaths since vaccine programme firmly established• Energy bills to double, treble, quadruple, whatever – money people haven’t got• Food prices and general cost of living to go through the roof – money people haven’t got• Death figures from ‘Sudden Death Syndrome’ through the roof since vaccine programme firmly established, and now a more than acceptable form of death• 1,000 + illegal immigrants allowed into Uk every day, continuously watering down whatever society has leftWhat rotten luck, eh?!

Michael Brown ● 1345d

Robin, totally agree with everything you say, if the people who agreed with lockdown and didn’t question the 500 billion pounds printed don’t wake up we’re stuffed.

Paul Beer ● 1345d

The second part of the economic wave is about to hit. Many conspiracy theorists have been warning about this for 2 years. You don’t shut down society for months on end without getting a huge economic blowback. The cost of living crisis is the cost of lockdown crisis.Those that supported shutting down the economy and hard lockdowns own this inflation crisis, so please don't complain Michael.

Robin Tate ● 1345d

Got to love a bit of Gbeebies.

Matt Palmer ● 1345d

Who the *!#& is Bev Turner was my initial reaction. Then when I read her Wikipedia page I see most of her career has been in sports reporting, and I do remember discussions about her book declaring there was sexism in F1 (I expect Lewis would say why ignore the racism?) although the name didn't stick. I'm sure she was right about F1 judging by the petrol heads I've known, although the pit girls have now gone along with Bernie. But I didn't see anything in her background about finance, economics, pandemics - or, in fact, any STEM disciplines? With due respect (as I don't know much else about her) I suggest she'd be wise to comment on things she does know about? I'm happy to stick with advice from main stream scientists I'm acquainted with and doesn't Putin have something to do with rising energy costs that are currently rippling through western economies? And don't forget the SMEs struggling as they've lost their EU markets and all their EU workers …

Michael Ixer ● 1345d

This present crisis is from the excessive money printing of the unnecessary covid lockdown.https://twitter.com/GBNEWS/status/1563118976258949120

Robin Tate ● 1345d

Nadhim Zahawi has called for us to use less energy, do you think he's turned down the heating in his stables? Or is he still billing it as an expense and therefore doesn't care?

Matt Palmer ● 1345d

Fleur is right, parliament should be recalled to discuss and take immediate action. It won't happen, Johnson doesn't care, Truss is only interested in her career, Sunak is probably sulking ... and Raab ... useless.

Michael Ixer ● 1346d

Maybe it is better not to know.On past form, the "government response" could be so awful that we are better off not knowing what it is for as long as possible.I've seen supporters of both prime ministerial candidates and a number of other people on TV parading a litany of things, none of which will help me with my energy bills this winter.Here are some examples:tax cutsfrackingbuild more nuclear power stationslook for more oil in the North Seainsulate more housesbuild more district heating schemesWhilst one or two of these might help over a 10-20 year timeframe, not one will help this winter. The only actions that will help are those which immediately address the effect of international market gas prices on British consumers. This isn't my day job - but if it's so obvious to me, a minister on £100k a year ought to have appreciated this by now.Thank god I can afford higher energy bills. Indeed any long-standing home owner in Putney could by virtue of their immense property wealth. Unless something is done for those that can't, the poll tax riots will look like a birthday party in comparison.

Michael Winstanley ● 1346d

It's all OK, folks. Truss (Foreign Secretary, no less) is slagging off the French President. That will please Conservative Party voters, which is more important than coming up with actual policies and leading the UK out of its current crisis.

Alexander MacLeod ● 1346d

Be careful what you wish for, Adam! The combination of stupidity,laziness and incompetence displayed by Raab in his job (for example, during the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan) would make me very wary of his doing anything. But of course you're right that someone should be developing policy, but there's a complete vacuum.

Richard Carter ● 1346d

where's Dominic Raab? surely as Deputy PM he could show a modicum of leadership in the absence of Boris the Buffoon?

Adam Tripp ● 1346d

She’s absolutely right, parliament should have been recalled weeks ago. We have a serving PM and two replacements who were prominent members of the cabinet. Liz Truss is still Foreign Minister. They should meet tomorrow and freeze the cap and then set out a plan to put the last 12 years of Tory misrule behind them. As if. No one is buying the “new ministerial team” and the “new PM with a fresh plan” which is PR spin codswallop.Nick

Nicholas Evans ● 1346d

Couldn't agree more: the complete failure of government whilst we wait for the Tories' Ugliness Contest to stagger on is dreadful.

Richard Carter ● 1346d

Brilliant Fleur Anderson!  Parliament should have been recalled weeks ago.

Ivonne Holliday ● 1346d

I agree.  We are in an extremely serious situation for this country.  People are facing destitution and many businesses are going to fail because they cannot afford energy bills.

Martine Guy ● 1346d