Drax had been ordered to close its two coal-fired power stations in North Yorkshire, but this summer it was told to delay that closure in case the National Grid needed to fire them up again this winter in an ‘emergency’. Sure enough, that ‘emergency’, i.e., cold weather, is now upon us and the Grid has told Drax to get the power stations ready. Incredibly – who would have predicted it? – zero-carbon renewables aren’t meeting Britain’s needs. The Guardian has more.
Great Britain’s electricity system operator has put two coal-fired power stations on emergency standby to keep the lights on amid a spell of cold weather.
National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) said the two “winter contingency coal units” will be available if required on Monday as temperatures dip below zero and demand soars. It said the public “should continue to use energy as normal”.
The Government this summer asked the owners of coal-fired power stations to slow closure plans as ministers looked to shore up energy supplies following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Russia was previously a big supplier of natural gas to Europe, so the invasion roiled global energy markets and prompted a scramble for alternatives.
The coal plants in North Yorkshire that are preparing to operate on Monday are owned by the energy company Drax. They will only operate if instructed to do so by National Grid, and Drax will not be able to sell the electricity on the open market.
It comes after temperatures dropped as low as -8.6C on Sunday in Marham, Norfolk, according to the Met Office. It had issued yellow weather warnings for snow or ice for large parts of the country on Monday morning, with snowfall causing travel disruption across south-east England, including London, and northern Scotland.
The drop in temperatures prompted U.K. power prices to hit a record high on Sunday.
Great Britain’s electricity generation system has rapidly moved away from coal in recent years: its first coal-free day was achieved in 2017, while in 2020 the island ran without coal-powered electricity for a month during a sunny May.
The use of zero-carbon renewables has increased rapidly to replace it, but the UK has also increased its reliance on natural gas, a fossil fuel. That reliance has proved problematic during 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Great Britain was heavily dependent on burning gas for electricity generation over the weekend, with low winds and cloudy skies. On Saturday, gas generated 62% of electricity in Great Britain, according to National Grid data. Nuclear power stations generated 14%, while wind and solar accounted for 8% and 1% respectively. Coal accounted for 4%. (Northern Ireland’s energy system operates separately.)
Is there any hope that this ‘emergency’ might prompt a rethink of the Net Zero policy? Not a snowball’s chance in hell.
Stop Press: Vanguard, the world’s second-largest global money manager after BlackRock, is resigning from the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, whose members have committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Net Zero zealots are blaming this on ‘political pressure’ rather cold-headed financial realism. The FT has more.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
Tuesday Morning South Hill Road & A322 Bagshot Rd Bracknell
“Dementia cases hit record of high of nearly half-a-million”
The article talks about a rise in dementia risk factors, now what could they include? My computer does nor seem to work well with the mail comments section and so there may be some suggestions in the comments. But one has to wonder if the insidious mRNA technology may be playing a part in this?
I guess mRNA technology would have been a good idea if it actually worked and did no harm, indeed our World at the moment seems predicated on things that would be a good idea if they worked, the trouble is that they do not work, mRNA potions, EVs, Heat Pumps and most of our politicians.
I’d be careful on the causation correlation thing, here… Covid brought us the mRNA ‘vaccine’, of course, but it also brought lack of diagnosis, lockdown, collapse of small businesses, furlough and ‘bounce-back’ loan repayments, to name a few.
Many of these are affecting people among my own friends and acquaintances group, regardless of what they may, or may not have injected.
Or more to the point if interested in causation, it was the reaction of bureaucrats and politicians to the emergence of Covid-19 that caused most of the trouble. Not the SARS-Cov2 virus itself, starting with it’s name given by the suspects mentioned.
Absolutely, though if you were to head a little further down the rabbit hole, you might happen upon those scientists doing gain of function research… an activity possibly best filed under: “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Subsection: what could possibly go wrong?”.
Bureaucrats and politicians MADE “covid” emerge. If it exists, which is up for debate IMO, very few people beyond a few people working in virus analysis, would have noticed it.
Here you go tof and from Dr Mike Yeadon.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/former-pfizer-vp-michael-yeadon-explains-why-theres-no-evidence-for-the-existence-of-any-viruses/
In my case it is a personal issue as my wife was ‘brow-beaten’ into taking the Pfizer mRNA injections, much against her better judgement. Her cognitive ability took a fairly immediate dive following the 2 injections and she now has a diagnosis of cognitive decline with further tests to come.
I’m sorry to hear it.
Not just mRNA but also Statins and a whole range of other drugs I should think. Things have been going wrong for a long time.
Not to mention the cocktail of drugs that so many are on today.
I recall a story from a few years ago: a new doctor took over responsibility for the medication of the residents of an old people’s home, somewhere in Israel, if I recall correctly… astonished by the drugs regime so many of his patients were on, his investigation revealed that practically everything was prescribed to counteract the effects of the previous medication. He took them off everything, to start again, and apparently found their quality of life improved hugely almost across the board.
What about annual flu injections – no mRNA, but plenty of aluminium adjuvants?
Yes, the ‘flu jabs.
As I’ve no doubt you are aware – but just in case others are not – the annual ‘flu jab was offered to all over 65’s in the UK from the year 2000 onwards. Seeing as how it is so highly effective (as well as safe) this should have resulted in a significant decrease in the all-cause death rate for this age group…
Alas it didn’t. (I’ve helpfully highlighted the inception of the NHS, the terrible Asian (1957) and Hong Kong (1968) ‘flu epidemics and the start of ‘free’ (paid for by us) ‘flu jabs for over 65’s.)
Sure, the death rate declined after the introduction of the jab, but it was already declining quite fast. What we really should want to see is the death rate declining faster or, if it had been previously increasing, increasing less fast.
It didn’t. The death rate had already been decreasing but after 2000 it decreased less quickly. The ‘flu jab was not a smashing success.
Of course, the introduction of the annual ‘flu jab was not the only thing happening in 2000; correlation is not cause.
Some of the antidotes to cognitive failure in older people are exercise, mixing with people and being active. Being lonely, locked in your home, being told you will die if you go out etc all this happened during lockdown and would contribute to increased risk of dementia. Just as young children’s language development and social skills were stunted when they didn’t mix with others. I will never understand how those who supported lockdown could not see the harms which would show up over time.
Jee Hoon Roh, Inha Jung, Yunsun Suh, Min-Ho Kim, A potential association between COVID-19 vaccination and development of Alzheimer’s disease, QJM: An International Journal of Medicine, 2024;, hcae103, https://doi.org/10.1093/qjmed/hcae103
Have a read.
A member of my family contracted Giant Cell Arteritis immediately after a second pfizer vaccination.
‘Although rare, the short time between immunization and the onset of first symptoms of PMR and GCA suggests a temporal association. Physician should be aware of this potential vaccine-related phenomenon.’
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21645515.2024.2334084
The treatment for GCA involves steroid tablets. Prednisolone (corticosteroid) is the most commonly used steroid tablet.
‘We had identified that > 90-day corticosteroid administration is a significant dementia risk factor in both female and male patients of all ages, especially in the 50-60-year-old group.’
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8040399/
The same treatment is used for the much more widespread affliction of gout.
‘The results of anti-gout drug administration, which impacted the dementia risk among patients of all ages (but especially in 50-64-year-old patients), demonstrated a higher risk ratio after 90 days of corticosteroid use’.
So a rise in dementia seems to be diet related, due to gout treatment.
But it may also, potentially, be caused by prescription of statins.
‘Patients with mild cognitive impairment or normal cognition who used lipophilic statins were found to have more than double the risk of developing dementia compared to statin non-users.’
https://scitechdaily.com/statins-used-to-lower-cholesterol-linked-to-doubled-risk-of-developing-dementia/ 28 June 2021
But the Covid vaccination programme does appear to have played some (possibly understated) indirect role in the rise in dementia.
As I run through the list of articles here, as I do almost every morning I’m left with an overwhelming sense of gloom, what a depressing commentary on the state of the world today’s shortlist is…
It really is depressing isn’t it? I’m finding I’m increasingly peering through fingers covering eyes. A short break I find is healthy… although maybe a permanent break in some remote location might be a lot healthier!
I understand where you’re coming from, but the list also says I’m not imagining any of it, it IS stupid shit, Lots of others have seen it, and many are fighting it in small ways or large. Most importantly…you are not alone…
I would recommend some proper comedy, recommend all of the old ‘Harry and Paul’ sketch shows, Little Britain (who knew), rewatch League of Gentlemen, Jinsy (worth hunting for), Nighty Night, Green Wing, and of course Black Books….
That’s the idea.
The DS is basically doom porn for anti establishment types like us.
All news media seems to be doom porn. If you want to be happy, the best thing you can do is never look at the news.
‘Doom porn’… thank you for that!
The problem with ignoring news, or proper news is that ignorance takes over. Working with some colleagues yesterday after a few weeks off that became painfully obvious. Ignorant stupids to the core. I felt like I was in another world.
Totally agree – the pursuit of truth and understanding is a critical part of life, IMO. Ignorance is not the answer…
Thanks Michael 👍
This is terrible. Not sure if this was a personal or a random attack but I obviously hope the guy pulls through;
”A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a soldier was stabbed multiple times near an Army barracks.
Police were called just before 6pm on Tuesday to a serious assault in Sally Port Gardens, Gillingham, near Brompton Barracks.
The victim, a soldier in his 40s, suffered injuries consistent with stab wounds and was taken to hospital for treatment, where his condition is currently described as serious.
Police arrested a 24-year-old man at about 6.20pm on suspicion of attempted murder.
KentOnline understands the victim was living in military accommodation in the street.
A witness described seeing a man pull up on a moped before attacking the soldier.
“The attacker was going for him and stabbed him about 12 times,” he said.
“This was with two kitchen knives, about nine to 10 inches long, and there were about seven of us there who witnessed it.
“The soldier was in uniform.
“He works at the barracks, lives in Sally Port Gardens and was walking home.
“His wife tried to pull the attacker off. [The attacker] didn’t want her though, he just wanted the soldier.
“Nobody else in the vicinity was in danger – the only person he was targeting was the soldier he attacked.”
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/medway/news/man-airlifted-to-hospital-following-serious-assault-310235/
The Ethnic African Muslim terrorist who stabbed that soldier actually LICKED THE KNIFE CLEAN of the victim’s blood in full view of witnesses, reminiscent of the Ethnic African Ghouls who beheaded Fusilier Lee Rigby, after first running him over to make sure he couldn’t fight back. Luckily one of them did get his front teeth smashed out later in prison.
Since a visiting prison officer was also stabbed by Muslim inmate in Durham on the same day, it seems both attacks were “revenge” for the conviction of the Terrorist Filth Anjem Choudary, so there may be more…
Not exactly behaviour befitting a VP, let alone a future president ( cringe ) of the U.S, is it? More confirmation of her total lack of professionalism. I’ve a sneaky suspicion she would have no problem if it were the Taliban or Iranian leaders;
”House Speaker Mike Johnson is not too pleased that Kamala Harris will not attend Netanyahu’s speech:
“It is outrageous and inexcusable that Kamala Harris is boycotting Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech. She will abandon her seat and refuse to attend. She needs to be held accountable for this. The idea that Democrats are making political calculations when our ally is fighting for its very survival is unconscionable to us.”
https://x.com/Osint613/status/1815782518601249195
Their ally is fighting for survival or is this more about the Prime Minister of their ally?
“Democrats shouldn’t attend his talk Wednesday.
Right now, Netanyahu is politically vulnerable. Israelis are largely shocked that he seems constitutionally incapable of taking responsibility for his failures, particularly the historic failure of October 7.
Speaking to the most powerful governing body on the planet can help him reverse that image. Every time he speaks on the international stage, he earns legitimacy just from the act of speaking on the international stage. It gives him the appearance of power and ability, which has always been convincing for many Israelis.”
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2024-07-23/ty-article-opinion/.premium/why-democrats-should-boycott-netanyahus-address-to-congress/00000190-df48-d851-afbe-df480d7c0000
“Mother of JSO activist jailed says she ‘will miss brother’s wedding’”
Well that’s a shame.
No, I mean she should be shamed for disrupting her brother’s wedding too.
However, we are where we are and there is a really simple way to fix the problem of Cressida missing her brother’s wedding next year: delay the wedding until after she gets out. Simple.
Even assuming the wedding is planned for early next year (it’s more usual for a Spring or Summer wedding) they have more than five months in hand to change their plans; plenty of time.
Why should her brother and his prospective spouse have to do this? Yes. Why?
I thought it quite fitting after her actions and those of others like her caused people to miss weddings, funerals, birthdays, hospital and doctors appointments, and delayed tens of thousands of people trying to go about their lawful business. She had a choice not to do what she did. The people affected had no such choice.
But (boo hoo, blub) she had no idea how close she was to Heathrow!
Actions have consequences… who knew?
Meanwhile, I can’t find a violin small enough…
And one of her victims missed a cancer appointment. What does Mummy have to say about that?
What a shame, never mind.😀😃😀
Marvellous news. That brought a smile.😀
Following on from News Round-Up of the 20th:
“Adidas has apologised for its “unacceptable” Bella Hadid advert, according to the Telegraph”
Adidas has flip-flopped over its footwear apology:
“Adidas Apologizes for Dropping Bella Hadid From Campaign Amid New Wave of Backlash”
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2024-07-23/ty-article/.premium/adidas-apologizes-for-dropping-bella-hadid-from-campaign-amid-new-wave-of-backlash/00000190-d5fa-d566-adfa-fffa559b0000
Is Adidas going to have to apologise for apologising?
“Seven Labour MPs have had the whip suspended for six months after voting against the Government on an amendment to scrap the two-child benefit cap”
Putin would be proud of Starmer 👌
Putin would have issued a note of regret when they, mysteriously and simultaneously all fell from top floor windows…
…while accidentally shooting themselves in the back of the head – six times.
Or poisoned on a foreign trip somewhere else.
Given what’s going on in the USA at the moment, we might also suggest the same for Obama or Hilary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi.
So Sir Keir is reducing his working parliamentary majority… excellent, but he’s got a way to go yet. It reminds me of Boris Johnson.
Labour reminding voters their MP only represents them when they make the correct decisions
“Mattel launches first blind Barbie”
They’re made of plastic, they’re all blind!
But I want a black trans blind one with a prosthetic limb.
You can tell it’s trans. Look, no bits.
–
Becky: I wanna Blind Barbie!
Mummy: You’ve got lots of dollies. Look, you’ve got Nuclear Physicist Barbie, Astronomer Barbie, Racing driver Barbie. Why do you want another one?
Becky: They’re old. I wanna new one!
Mummy: But why a Blind Barbie?
Becky: It adds to the narrative when we run her over with the Scalextric.
”and it’s wonderful to think that children with a vision impairment can now play with a Barbie that looks like them,”
To be blunt a blind person can’t see the doll is blind! Tactile clothing yes great that’s a nice thing and thoughtful, even for young children that have problems with fiddly fastenings – but changing eye direction and adding a stick, what the heck!?
The sudden popularity of Harris is due to two things.
Firstly she is not Biden.
Secondly she has not said anything of substance on policy issues.
The euphoria is simply a symptom of relief and won’t last long.
Suddenly popular in one poll of many, the rest of which still have Trump ahead: Presidential General & Primary Elections | Latest Polls | RealClearPolling
Anyway, national polls are pretty irrelevant in the US – it’s only polls in swing states that mean much.
It is not just the poll, but the donors finally releasing their withheld funding, which the MSM is misrepresenting as a massive popular inflow of backing for Harris.
But as you say, irrelevant except in the eyes of the media.
Spectacular interaction between Emily Maitlis and Kari Lake about election fraud in the USA.
https://x.com/BoLoudon/status/1815810305202552914
A truly vile woman, that Emmy No-maits
Love it. Thanks.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/23/gps-threaten-to-see-fewer-patients-pay-row-protest-labour/
GP surgeries couldn’t offer less appointments if they tried.
Does anyone know what is going on with the Likes and Dislikes in the Comments section? Numbers are much lower than they used to be…???
Yes. People who did not have accounts or who were not logged in used to be able to ‘vote’ but not write comments. A recent change means they can’t vote now.
It’s worked as a strategy as well, for me at least. I’ve lurked here since the start, and never got around to donating monthly until the recent change.
its helped keep me sane since convid so worth the investment, albeit late
I’m not convinced it is a good strategy from DS’s perspective. The impression given by the low counts (to casual readers passing through and even to us as commenters, subconsciously) is of a site with not much activity or interest. I feel (subconsciously, at least) less inclined to comment if there is only visible evidence of 3 or 4 people having read my contribution.
Thanks soundofreason, good to know…
Oddly, neither can I! And, my sub is up to date… maybe it’s not big enough? 🤣