Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
1 September 2009
08:1528359#1
Something I have posted on before, Labours failure to plan properly to ensure that we have enough power....
From John Redwood's blog...
"Two years ago......we warned that immediate decisions were needed to allow the construction of new power stations. If not, the lights would go out before the end of the decade. Today we learn that the government's own forecasts include the assumption there will be power cuts before the decade is out..........Meanwhile they have signed up to EU directives which entail closing old power stations before we have the replacements."
Yet again this Government has failed to make difficult decisions in good time and instead chose to 'plan for power cuts'... Imagine the damage to British businesses from this.
I really dont think we could ever have had a Government more incompetent than this one. Its serious stuff.
Sid Pollitt
1 September 2009
10:4328364#2
Does Redwood acknowledge that it was your forcast BarryW? I suppose that some of the best ideas and policies are sent from your computer in emails to the most influencial policy formers at one time or other.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
1 September 2009
11:0628369#3
Sid - I give up the hope that you will ever make an intelligent and constructive comment on any thread.
Guest 687- Registered: 2 Jun 2009
- Posts: 513
1 September 2009
14:0328372#4
Barry don't give up hope, Sid is intelligent with the ability to make a constructive comment but regrettably he is blinkered and believes he is doing the Labour party a favour with his inane and pointless comments.
DT1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 15 Apr 2008
- Posts: 1,116
1 September 2009
17:4128376#5
It could be worse; it could be inane affiliation.
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
1 September 2009
17:4728379#6
Sorry but unless we have been misinformed
we have a dramatic increase in wind turbines both on land and sea...that apparently no-one wants
We have the proposal to build new nuclear power stations that everyone objects to..
The Labour Party have also suggested having new clean coal fired power stations but again nobody wants them...
We can't send a dying man back to Libya in order to secure future oil supplies because that upsets the Tories ...even though it would be good for the country and good for the economy.
We have only 40 years of gas left that at present is being piped from Denmark.
And all this is down to Thatcher selling off our assets in order to raise funds to cut taxes for her rich friends. What right did she have to flog off our gas,coal and electric to overseas entrepreneurs and futures gamblers who didn't give a toss about how this country would continue to meet its increased energy demands.
For Gawds sake get a grip what is Deadwood recommending?...nothing he is a waste of space and if you don't believe me go to Youtube and look him up not singing the Welsh national anthem..
What ever the Labour party suggests as an alternative power source there is some do-gooder that lists a 1000 objections without putting forward a realistic alternative...give me strength...
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
DT1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 15 Apr 2008
- Posts: 1,116
1 September 2009
18:0728383#7
Great post there Marek, from the heart!
She was quite good at selling off things that didn't belong to her wasn't she!
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
1 September 2009
19:1228385#8
nice one marek.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
1 September 2009
19:2028387#9
i am always amazed how much of our necessary utilities are in foreign hands.
when there is a shortage of something, we will be the ones losing out.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
1 September 2009
19:3228389#10
Marek, come off it that is nonsense and you know it.
The privatisation is not at all relevant to the matter of future power shortages.
What is relevant is the indecision and the utter failure of the Labour Government to actually make a decision, in good time, on the provision of additional generating capacity to replace old power stations and to take up increased demand.
Wind farms and renewables will not fill the gap, there have been enough reports saying just that.
We need a new generation of nuclear fision powered reactors to bridge the gap until clean and safe nuclear fusion is developed. That has been spelled out in reports going back at least 3 years. We discussed just this a couple of years ago on the forum when we were warned of future power shortages. So what does this wretched Government do? Instead of taking the difficult decisions and in so doing upsetting special interest groups, it dithers, so now they have to assume that in 8 years time we will have 'brown-outs'. Pathetic and dangerous.
Sid Pollitt
1 September 2009
22:2528397#11
I suppose the Tory plan is to run the thing like a budget airline. The economy, a tuck shop in a toff school model?
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
2 September 2009
07:3228398#12
If you have nothing to say then dont say it Sid. You are perhaps showing just how difficult it is to defend the indefencible.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
2 September 2009
12:0828408#13
i suppose the ending of 100 watt light bulbs will go some way to putting of the day when power cuts will come in.
i seem to remember california having this problem a little while back, they put it down to their economy being overly successful.
Sid Pollitt
2 September 2009
16:0528412#14
Is this the pitch for the Tories at the next election? They want people to vote for them because they know how to manage the country on a three day week and how to get unemployment to above 3 million and keep it there for years.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
2 September 2009
17:2428415#15
Its sad that when certain people, one in particular, a thread decends into pointless absurdities. If Sid had any sense he would keep quiet as it is clearly Labour policies and inaction that is leading to power cuts as their own planning now admits. Likewise unemployment is indeed set to rise to 3m or more as a result of Brown's economic mismanagement, probably before the election takes place and beyond. All you are doing with silly posts like that is to draw attention to these facts.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
2 September 2009
17:3328417#16
barry
are you saying that the problems in silicon valley with power were not put down to economic success?
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
2 September 2009
20:1128419#17
Silicon Valley is nothing to do with the UK and our problems. There is nothing new here in the UK, it was said years ago that urgent action was needed to prevent power cuts, that action has not been taken by the UK LabourGovernment and they are therefore having to plan for cuts. They are a disaster. This is one problem that is directly and indisputibly due to this present Government and no there is no way they can stretch out time-lines enough to blame the last Government.
This is no problem that has crept up on us, it was known about and forecasted and the Government did not act when it needed to. We discussed this on this very forum a couple of years ago. So you cant excuse the Government - the buck clearly stops with them.
the Telegraph and Daily Mail have both highlighted the problem among others.
Here is the Telegraph leader:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/6120075/When-the-power-cuts-start-blame-Labour.html
Other countries may have their own problems but it is the duty of our Government to ensure that the UK is well prepared and they have failed... full stop.
Guest 673- Registered: 16 Jun 2008
- Posts: 1,388
4 September 2009
16:3428495#18
According to the fascinating Wikipedia entry below, the California power cuts were entirely a result of deregulation of the power generation system.
The big utilities - Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas and Electric - had the price at which they could sell electricity capped at the pre-deregulation price. They were also required to sell off much of their generation capacity to private companies such as Enron.
The latter thereupon devised scams whereby they could artificially limit the amount of electricity supplied by using artifices such as overbooking power transmission lines and closing down generating plant for "maintenance" at crucial times. This enabled them to charge astronomic prices on the energy spot market to the utilities which they could not pay as their own income was capped.
I always love the colourful terminology Americans dream up to describe things. The scams employed by Enron were given names such as "Fat Boy", "Death Star", "Forney Perpetual Loop", "Ricochet", "Ping Pong", "Black Widow", "Big Foot", "Red Congo", "Cong Catcher" and "Get Shorty!"
The power was there all the time but the unforseen consequences of deregulation resulted in the utilities being bankrupted, Enron and other middlemen growing fat on the proceeds, and California being subjected to years of unnecessary rolling blackouts and brownouts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_electricity_crisishoward mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
4 September 2009
17:0828499#19
reading that, it makes renationalisation seem an attractive idea.
not that it will ever happen, of course.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
4 September 2009
18:2228507#20
Ed - deregulation is different to privatisation. There is regulation for the UK power industry set up by Mrs T at the time of privatisation.