A new report has highlighted the U.K.’s deepening divide between the political Left and Right, marked by increasing polarisation and growing distrust of institutions. The Telegraph has more.
The research by Dame Sara Khan, the Government’s former counter-extremism tsar, found the U.K. had the highest levels of polarisation between the two groups outside the U.S.
She warned there was decreasing societal cohesion and resilience which was contributing to a permissive environment that extremists could exploit.
The percentage of people who viewed Muslims as having “completely different” values had increased from 38% to 44% following the summer riots after the Southport murder of three girls at a Taylor Swift dance class.
Around eight in 10 (80%) of Jews felt less safe in Britain than before the October 7th Hamas terror attack on Israel which claimed the lives of more than 1,200 people.
Forty-five per cent of those questioned said they almost never trusted the government to put the nation’s interests first, regardless of the party in power. This was up from 23% in 2020. Only 41% of people trusted their neighbours.
Out of 28 countries, the U.K. was the least trusting at 39%, down from 43% last year. The study published by Crest Insights, an independent think tank that specialises in the criminal justice system, found the UK had the least trust in the media.
Around 43% of people described Britain as “declining” and a further 25% said it was “weak”. …
One in 10 shared the views of people who engaged in violent disorder and rioting during the summer and had sympathy for the use of violence against refugees. Around 8% believed violent protest outside refugee accommodation was justified.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: If we are to start with an honest analysis of the real and damaging divisions within our society, we cannot simply point the finger, says Tom Harris in the Telegraph.
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Good article. They are vastly more expensive to consumers – 2 or 3 x more is a reasonable approximation when all the subsidies, grants, etc are factored in. I have seen 5-10 x in some cost comparisons.
1-They are not ‘green’. Far from it. None of these technologies are Gaia friendly. Don’t let these half wits promote themselves as eco-angels with ‘green’.
2-Hypocritically, all of this tech is reliant on abiotic, clean, naturally replenishing hydrocarbons from sourcing to production, to implementation and operations. 30 Tonnes of steel per bird chopper etc etc Therefore – it is not, nut-zero neutral whatsoever.
I assume that “balancing the grid” is a euphemism for lighting a gas turbine and burning some hydrocarbons as efficiently as physics will let you.
Maybe not. I think it might be when we beg* France to direct some of their nuclear generated electricity over to us instead of to Germany.
*Beg: Assume the position.
Some real time details of the interconnection links here: https://grid.iamkate.com/ There is a tiny bit of storage in hydroelectric form as well. More details about it all here: https://www.nationalgrideso.com/electricity-explained/how-do-we-balance-grid
If renewable energy is cheap but prices are going up then someone is profiteering.
A lot of the profits go offshore
https://davidturver.substack.com/p/offshore-wind-follow-the-money
While you state that FiTs are index linked, it might be worth noting that September RPI is used at the start of each fiscal year. That’s baked into each contract. It also might be worth observing that incoming cash from FiT is not regarded as taxable income by the HMRC; makes sense, otherwise they’d be issuing cash in one hand and clawing it back in the other.
If it had been taxable, it might have discouraged certain customers to invest in the kit at all, when doing the sums on the investment.
The question that everyone needs to ask of anyone advocating renewables is “when do prices start to fall?”
Unlike fossil fuels, with prices fluctuating at the whim of international players, renewables costs should be quite easy to predict with a degree of certainty, therefore it is possible to show a clear dated path to the nirvana of cheap power.
Over to you greenies, a simple spreadsheet will do.
I hear all the time on mainstream news (BBC, SKY etc and even on GB News) activists telling the viewers that “renewables are now cheaper than coal and gas” ——–THIS IS FALSE. It is a blatant LIE. On a level playing field with no subsidy coal is by far the cheapest way to generate electricity. Some of us might remember the words of Obama when he said “Sure people can open a coal fired plant, it is just that it will bankrupt them”. The reason all over the western world for this is the picking of winners and losers by government. Western governments choose Renewables as their winner and they then set about hammering fossil fuels with carbon taxes and other mandates and environmental costs to force coal out of business. ———The other thing to take into account is that wind and sun are part time energy. Coal and gas are full time. So comparing the two can only be done if you take into account the back up required when the wind does not blow, which is often, and that backup mainly comes from gas which has to sit ticking over, and costing money till the wind stops. ——-Also please take a look at your electricity bill since we started using wind. A three year old could easily see that their bill has virtually trebled in this time. So much for all the “Free Wind”.
Send to everyone you know.