Today’s Update

Heat Pump Rollout is Failing Because People Don’t Want Them, Ministers Told by National Audit Office

By Will Jones

Public enthusiasm for heat pumps has been overestimated by ministers, putting the Government’s Net Zero goals at risk, spending watchdog the National Audit Office has warned. The Telegraph has more.

The National Audit Office (NAO) found that 27 times more gas boilers were installed in homes in 2022 as taxpayer-funded subsidies failed to spur demand.

In a report published on Monday it said the rollout of heat pumps has been “slower than planned” despite the fact they are a “key component” in meeting climate targets.

It comes just days after Claire Coutinho, the Energy Secretary, scrapped the so-called “boiler tax” which would have fined boiler makers if they failed to meet sales targets for heat pumps.

The policy, which has been delayed until after the election, was meant to encourage adoption but was seen as politically toxic as it would have pushed up the price of gas boilers.

Just 55,000 domestic heat pumps were installed in 2022, the NAO found, which is a fraction of the Government’s longer term aim of 600,000 installations per year by 2030.

By contrast about 1.5 million new gas-fired boilers were installed, mostly to replace worn-out models, even though homeowners could have chosen heat pumps instead. 

The Government’s flagship Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which offers homeowners a grant to help them pay for the cost of a heat pump, has also underperformed, the NAO said. Just 18,900 heat pumps were installed between May 2022 and December 2023 under the scheme, less than half of the 50,000 installations that had been expected. 

The NAO warned ministers were “relying on optimistic assumptions about consumer demand and manufacturer supply of heat pumps increasing substantially” to hit the 600,000 target.

It also said that to meet the Net Zero target installations would need to carry on rising at pace to reach 1.6 million a year by 2035.

Worth reading in full.

No wonder people don’t want heat pumps, says Ross Clark. They’re unreliable and cost a bomb. Yet they were supposedly going to be cheaper than gas boilers, he reminds us.

[Heat pumps] were all going to slash our bills as we switched from expensive gas to cheap-as-chips renewable energy from wind and solar farms. … Remember how Government grants were supposed to allow the industry to reach a scale at which prices would start to tumble? That’s not quite going according to plan. The average real-terms cost of a heat pump installation has actually risen over the past four years, from £10,328 in 2019 to £11,287 in 2023 (both at 2021 prices). It still costs four times as much to replace a gas boiler with a heat pump than with a like-for-like replacement. 

GB News Hits Back at Ofcom After Five Shows Found to Have “Broken Rules”

By Will Jones

GB News has hit back against Ofcom’s decision to uphold complaints about shows hosted by Tory MPs Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, Esther McVey and Phillip Davies after the media regulator found five episodes breached broadcasting rules. The broadcaster has more on its website.

Ofcom announced the five episodes broke set rules due to politicians “acting as news presenters”.

However, GB News stressed the media watchdog’s ruling is based on arbitrary changes to how Ofcom determines impartiality.

A GB News spokesman said: “We are deeply concerned by the decisions Ofcom has made today.

“We will raise this directly with the regulator in the strongest possible terms.

“Ofcom is obliged by law to promote free speech and media plurality and to ensure that alternative voices are heard.

“Its latest decisions, in some cases a year after the programme aired, contravene those duties.

“Extraordinarily, Ofcom has determined that a programme which it acknowledges was impartial and lacking in any expression of opinion, still somehow breaches its impartiality rules just because an imaginary viewer might think otherwise.

“Ofcom has now arbitrarily changed the test so that it is no longer ‘Was it impartial?’ but ‘Could someone think it might not be?’

“This is a chilling development for all broadcasters, for freedom of speech, and for everyone in the United Kingdom.

“These decisions go against established precedent and raises serious questions about Ofcom’s oversight over its own regulations.

“It appears that Ofcom is trying to extend the regulations, rather than enforcing definitions which have been settled for many years.”

He added: “GB News is a regulated broadcast channel and takes its obligations very seriously.”

Worth reading in full.

The issue, apparently, is that politicians may host current affairs shows but are not allowed to host news programmes – and Ofcom claims the MPs’ shows would be understood by viewers as news programmes.

All five programmes in question contained a mix of news and current affairs content. We found that host politicians acted as newsreaders, news interviewers or news reporters in sequences which clearly constituted news – including reporting breaking news events – without exceptional justification. News was, therefore, not presented with due impartiality.

Stop Press: Jacob Rees-Mogg has responded to the ruling: “Old fashioned is usually good but Ofcom is antediluvian.”

Conservatives Fume After ‘Deceptive’ Headlines Take Trump’s ‘Bloodbath’ Comment Out of Context

By Richard Eldred

Prominent conservatives are accusing the mainstream media of distorting former President Trump’s “bloodbath” rally remarks about imposing tariffs on Chinese cars. Fox News has the story.

Conservative commentators, Republican lawmakers and others slammed outlets like Rolling Stone, NBC News and CBS News for sharing headlines about Trump claiming there would be a “bloodbath” if he didn’t win re-election that didn’t mention he was referring to the automotive industry.

These critics claimed this was a new, anti-Trump “hoax” being manufactured in real-time. 

Trump’s comments came during his recent rally in Ohio on Saturday, where he mentioned putting tariffs on Chinese-made cars that China would sell to Americans.

Addressing Communist Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Trump stated, “If you’re listening, President Xi – and you and I are friends – but he understands the way I deal. Those big monster car manufacturing plants that you’re building in Mexico right now… you’re going to not hire Americans and you’re going to sell the cars to us, no. We’re going to put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you’re not going to be able to sell those cars if I get elected.”

Immediately after, the former President said, “Now if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole – that’s gonna be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That will be the least of it. But they’re not going to sell those cars. They’re building massive factories.”

Prominent media reported on the quote, sharing headlines simply stating that Trump warned of a “bloodbath” if he didn’t win.

Politico’s headline stated, ‘Trump says country faces ‘bloodbath’ if Biden wins in November.’ NBC News’s headline stated, ‘Trump says there will be a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses the election.’ The headline for CBS News stated, ‘In Ohio campaign rally, Trump says there will be a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses November election.’

Worth reading in full.

Sunak’s Allies Rage As Penny Mordaunt Fails to Quash Rumours of Coup

By Richard Eldred

Rishi Sunak is preparing for a political comeback as he seeks to convince Tory MPs that the economy is poised to “bounce back” under his leadership. The Mail has more.

The Prime Minister will use a speech in the Midlands to try to shift the political debate on to the economy after a bruising week which triggered speculation he could be deposed before the election.

Allies of the Prime Minister are furious with Commons leader Penny Mordaunt after she failed to publicly distance herself from weekend reports that she is being lined up as a potential unity candidate to replace Mr. Sunak. …

Rebel MPs are targeting the May bank holiday for a potential push against the Prime Minister if the Conservatives take a drubbing in the local elections on May 2nd. One source said it would be the “May Day from Hell” for Mr. Sunak.

Senior Conservatives acknowledge there is widespread dismay at the party’s standing in the polls, but insist that active plotting is confined to a “small minority”. Mr. Sunak will attempt to fight back today by saying the U.K. economy is “turning a corner”. …

The Mail revealed at the weekend that Tory MPs on the Right of the party held secret talks with moderates last week about the possibility of burying their differences to unite behind Ms. Mordaunt.

In a further blow to No. 10, the Mail on Sunday yesterday revealed dire private polling suggesting that the Conservatives are on course for their worst election defeat in history and could be reduced to fewer than 150 seats

In this scenario, Ms. Mordaunt’s Portsmouth North seat would be among the casualties, prompting one rebel source to observe: “She’s got nothing to lose.” …

Former Cabinet minister Sir David Davis, who backed Ms. Mordaunt’s leadership bid in 2022, warned that installing a fourth leader in two years would be “completely bonkers” and make Labour calls for an immediate election “irresistible”.

But another former minister on the moderate wing of the party said the “balance of opinion is starting to shift” over whether to stick with Mr. Sunak or gamble on a new leader. 

Allies of the PM believe Ms. Mordaunt is being used as a ‘stalking horse’ to persuade Tory moderates to submit letters of no-confidence in the PM. 

Worth reading in full.

Where Are the True Environmentalists?

By Joe Bastardi

We have had a week that has exposed the no-limits extremes of the climate campaign.

John Kerry, with his parting shot as Climate Czar, said that the world might feel better about Russia’s actions in the Ukrainian war if they lowered their climate footprint.

The depths of lunacy this reaches know no bounds. It is because of the actions of Kerry and his ilk in the administration Putin has the funds to fight the war in the first place.

In Germany, destroying an ancient forest to put up wind turbines is beyond any rational thought. First of all, you can wreck plenty of open spaces with the turbines. But the removal of 120,000 ancient trees, each taking away 50 lbs of CO2 for six million pounds a year, and the environmental cost of building these monstrosities should have every environmentalist up in arms. Do they realise the effect on the local climate? Forests are a great way to remove CO2 as I mentioned above, and are naturally cooler areas. So if you are afraid of CO2 (I am not, but understand you might be) this shows in no uncertain terms the depths of delusion these people are forcing on others. How this is even considered is beyond me. And if you are an environmentalist how are you not up in arms at this? You have a forest that has survived wars and turmoil. Germany’s forests are supposedly dying because of climate change, so they destroy more forests to prevent more climate change. How is this even considered or tolerated? This is just another matter that Dostoevsky was right about.

Then, there is this illustration from the Twitter account True Science PEng, DFP, ADFS, MA, MBA.

The covering of fields with solar panels could actually add to warming. The illustration means microclimates will indeed change. We see this all the time with cities. Not only is there an urban heat island (UHI) with downstream implications. For example, the Philadelphia UHI is a great place to start thunderstorms that then follow the three major highways, U.S. 30, U.S. 322 and the Atlantic City expressway ESE toward the shore. There are major differences in thunderstorm frequency at the NJ shore for instance north of Atlantic City versus south, more to the north enhanced by the effect noted above. But now imagine fields that were covered with cooling vegetation replaced with solar panels that can elevate temperatures to 70°C.  Imagine the change to the environment in those areas. The vegetation and animal life be damned..

But this is because the people pushing this have no love of weather or climate. I have written about this several times. They simply use weather and climate to advance their mission. There is no rational thinking about this. It is getting so bad that the Dostoevsky quote above not only is evident in the irrational policies we are seeing enacted in non-climate issues, but is leading to some kind of disorder that is causing societal disruptions we are seeing, with climate protesters who are blocking roads or trying to destroy priceless art. Circle back to the destruction of the ancient forest. How is that so different from throwing orange paint on a priceless piece of art as far as an irrational action based on a phony mission?

In the face of all this lunacy, these facts seem to be completely ignored, nicely compiled by man-made climate change skeptic, Graham Keagan:

Since 1900… life expectancy up 130%; literacy percentage up four-fold; population up five fold; GDP per capita up seven fold; poverty down seven fold; death from natural disasters down 50-fold (with five times the number of people on the planet). Civilisation is flourishing!

There is no rational reason for what is being forced down the throat of the planet. The destruction of an ancient forest should raise alarm bells. Kerry’s parting comments that would imply a carbon footprint reduction would somehow offset aggression that we are indirectly funding by phony climate war policies Kerry advocates should raise alarm bells. The effect of these actions on the environment, the destruction of large areas of nature by the establishment of these fields and the cost of the materials should be obvious. This has nothing to do with climate or weather. It is being pushed by people who have no love of climate, weather, nature or mankind in general.

Dostoevsky was (and is) right. It’s time for rational people to stop this irrationality. I have never thought climate should be a big issue, but what is driving all this is. The motivation for all this is the reduction, if not destruction, of man’s upward mobility — and climate is the tool.  This must be stopped peacefully at the ballot box. Because, in the end, this irrationality is the nail in the coffin of our freedom and is designed for top-down elitist control.

Joe Bastardi is a pioneer in extreme weather and long-range forecasting. His latest book is The Weaponisation of Weather in the Phony Climate. This article was first published by CFACT.

J.K. Rowling Vows to Continue “Calling a Man a Man” in Defiance of “Ludicrous” New Hate Crime Laws

By Will Jones

J.K. Rowling has vowed to continue “calling a man a man” in defiance of controversial new SNP hate crime laws, which she branded “ludicrous”. The Telegraph has more.

The Harry Potter author said she would not delete her social media posts, in which she has regularly argued that trans women are not women, to avoid being taken to court “under this ludicrous law”.

She said she would instead “do some more accurate sexing” after the legislation takes effect at the start of next month, despite predictions that LGBT campaigners plan to use it to target her. Rowling lives in Edinburgh.

Humza Yousaf oversaw the passage of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act at Holyrood in 2021, when he was Justice Secretary in Nicola Sturgeon’s Government.

It will come into force on April 1st after Police Scotland said it needed time for “training, guidance and communications planning”.

The legislation creates a criminal offence of “stirring up of hatred”, expanding on a similar offence based on racist abuse that has been on the statute book for decades.

Offences are considered “aggravated”, meaning they could lead to stiffer sentences, if they involve prejudice on the basis of age, disability, race, religion, sexual orientation or transgender identity.

But concerns have been expressed that the legislation’s definition of a hate crime is too ambiguous, potentially leading to a “chilling” effect on freedom of speech and a torrent of vexatious complaints being made to police.

Joanna Cherry KC, an SNP MP and feminist who has been highly critical of the Scottish Government’s gender policies, has said she had “no doubt” that the new laws “will be weaponised against women exercising their right to freedom of speech”.

Worth reading in full.

Puberty Blockers in Children Were Always an Unregulated Live Experiment Based on No Evidence

By Dr Carl Heneghan and Dr Tom Jefferson

Five years ago, we reviewed gender-affirming hormones in children and adolescents.

To find the evidence, we searched PubMed Clinical Queries for systematic reviews (the original search strategy is available here).

Our conclusions stated:

There are significant problems with how the evidence for gender-affirming cross-sex hormones has been collected and analysed that prevent definitive conclusions from being drawn. …

The development of these interventions should, therefore, occur in the context of research, and treatments for under 18 gender dysphoric children and adolescents remain largely experimental. There are a large number of unanswered questions that include the age at the start, reversibility, adverse events, long-term effects on mental health, quality of life, bone mineral density, osteoporosis in later life and cognition. We wonder whether off-label use is appropriate and justified for drugs such as spironolactone, which can cause substantial harm and even death. We are also ignorant of the long-term safety profiles of the different [gender-affirming hormone] regimens. The current evidence base does not support informed decision-making and safe practice in children.

The review formed part of an independent analysis for the BBC’s Panorama programme, in which we said transgender teen care “needs urgent regulation”. Also, Carl wrote an article in the Times saying it was time to end the experiment on children.

In the intervening years, we’ve been labelled as transphobes, subject to three different complaints at the University of Newcastle, where Tom was a visiting professor, the University of Oxford and the BMJ, where we posted the original review.

All of these were dismissed – it’s hard to argue that reviewing the evidence should be subject to complaints. But it did have a chilling effect to shut down our BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine posts.   

Now, five years after we published our review, NHS England says children will no longer routinely be prescribed puberty blockers at gender identity clinics. Its review found that there was “not enough evidence” that they were safe or effective. A 2022 review by Dr. Hilary Cass reported “gaps in evidence”. 

At Trust the Evidence, we do not have any vested interest in the outcome of treatments when we review the evidence. 

Yet, consistently, we have found that an evidence-based approach has proved controversial. People tend to hold strong beliefs and convictions about various treatments, which is precisely why an impartial, evidence-based approach is crucial. When the pharmaceutical industry’s competing interests and financial gains are considered, having an evidence-based approach is essential for reviewing the evidence and informing decisions.

For all those following an evidence-based approach, it’s essential to be ready for the onslaught of complaints, insinuations and abuse that comes with the territory. However, keeping to an evidence-based approach is critical to informing decisions—in the end, the evidence will win out — and the question is how many are harmed before we get there.

We’ve posted the review in full on Trust the Evidence.

Prof. Carl Heneghan is the Oxford Professor of Evidence Based Medicine and Dr. Tom Jefferson is an epidemiologist based in Rome who works with Professor Heneghan on the Cochrane Collaboration. This article was first published on their Substack, Trust The Evidence, which you can subscribe to here.

Stop Press: A Google search for puberty blockers in the U.K. brings up as the first result a pro-trans American web page from the Mayo Clinic that lists five “benefits” of puberty blockers at the top including “improve mental well-being” while side-effects are buried near the bottom. The NHS page stating that puberty blockers “are not available to children and young people for gender incongruence or gender dysphoria because there is not enough evidence of safety and clinical effectiveness” is the third result down – and barely visible without scrolling.

News Round-Up

By Richard Eldred

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