UK News

from The Great Debate UK:

Facebook group defends “harassed” BP

BP’s chief executive Tony Hayward branded “the most hated man in America” may be surprised to find himself cast in the role of victim by a growing clan of web-based supporters on Facebook.

One such group ‘Support BP’ calls itself the defender of an “undeservedly harassed institution” and seeks to show that the public opprobrium BP faces over its now 60-day-old Gulf of Mexico oil spill is not universal.

Members have been increasingly vocal since a succession of strong rebukes of BP by U.S. President Obama and lawmakers at Thursday’s congressional hearing, which they are calling a “lynch mob”.

The outburst of sympathy follows an apology to Hayward from Texas Republican Representative Joe Barton on Thursday, later withdrawn, for having to agree to a deal with President Obama to set up a $20 billion fund for Gulf claim damages.

Some of the Facebook posts echoed this same spirit of regret: “My apologies as an American to Tony Hayward for the rude and insulting conduct as well as the rush to judgement by U.S. politicians on 16/7,” wrote George Gray, 50, from Pennsylvania, referring to Thursday’s hearing.

The bulk of the group’s posts are written by Americans.

Are you losing faith in climate science?

While attending a meeting of prominent climate sceptics during the U.N. Climate Conference in Copenhagen in December (an anti-COP15, if you will), I listened to each of the speakers put forward their theory on why conventional evidence on the primary causes of climate change should be dismissed as, for lack of a better phrase, complete hokum.

Among their denunciations of widely-accepted truths regarding global warming, greenhouse gases, melting glaciers and rising sea levels was the assertion that a change in attitude was afoot; the public may have been duped into believing the mainstream scientific assessment of climate change, but not for long.

There was something in the air, the sceptics said, and soon people would begin to question their trust in the majority view.

I’m no scientist and am in no position to comment on the validity of any of the evidence on show; as journalists we were there to make sure both sides of the argument were being heard. This group of climate outcasts were in every sense on the fringes of COP15, but after a series of controversies in recent weeks it seems they were right about one thing at least — the public conviction about the threat of climate change is slipping.

Well, it is in Britain anyway. An Ipsos Mori poll of over 1,000 UK adults found that the proportion of people who believe climate change is definitely a reality dropped from 44% to 31% in the past year.

Meanwhile, 31% said the threat was exaggerated, up 50% on last year – worrying statistics for the government and charities trying to convince the public to change its behaviour and to accept higher priced energy and goods as a small price to pay for saving the planet.

Why the sudden drop off? The poll follows weeks of suggestions that mainstream climatologists have, in the past, manipulated data and that an influential study by the U.N.’s main climate science body contains inaccurate information.

from The Great Debate UK:

Government intervention key to low-carbon economy

Scientists argue that rich nations must make drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to prevent dangerous climate change. The way energy is used, priced and created would have to change in order to institute these cuts.

Ahead of elections in Britain, which must be held before June 2010, Dave Timms of Friends of the Earth shared his thoughts with Reuters on what the group thinks the next government needs to do in order to build a low-carbon economy.

Bumper profits for oil companies – worth picking a fight?

It is not surprising that many people find it thoroughly irritating to read headlines about oil companies, such as Shell and BP, making bumper profits thanks to high oil prices while consumers pay ever more to heat their homes.

With crude oil prices having fallen to around $70 dollars from more than $147 in July even Chancellor Darling felt compelled today to say the recent drop should be passed on swiftly to the consumer,

That’s a noble sentiment but are governments really able to tell corporate giants what to do? Whispers of windfall taxes have come and gone but the government didn’t even introduce one on the utilities.

Restricting companies in a way that could eat into their profits might not be a good idea anyway as some of them account for a large share of the dividends paid to UK pension funds by FTSE 100 companies – a whopping 10 percent in the case of BP, for example.

Moreover, some economists argue that measures such as windfall taxes are a short-termist solution to a permanent problem and thus don’t work.

What do you think? Is it time for the government to stop talking and show some muscle?

Editorials praise Brown’s energy package

Unions and energy watchdogs lashed out at Gordon Brown’s aid package aimed at helping householders cope with soaring energy bills, saying it was ”too little, too late”. Even  pensioners’ charities gave a frosty response.

But newspaper editorials on the whole were supportive, describing it as “bold politics. More importantly, it was good policy”, as The Times said.

From The Guardian to the Financial Times, the editorials praised the “eminently sensible” measures which concentrated on big companies helping householders to lag their lofts and cavity walls.

It may not have delivered on the pre-hype, but the editorials blame the government for bumping up the publicity in a desperate attempt to boost its poor showing in the opinion polls.

But the government resisted the temptation to impose a windfall tax on big power companies — a target on so-called excess profits.

Instead, the utility companies have been persuaded to invest 910 million pounds in helping householders pay the cost of insulating their homes.

The editorials said the government was right to resist pressure from Labour MPs and unions to impose a tax.

Is the energy package enough?

Gordon Brown has unveiled an energy package designed to give some relief to householders struggling with ever-rising gas and electricity bills.

The six major energy suppliers will contribute to a one billion pound, three-year energy-saving initiative — but will not face a windfall tax on their profits.

Pensioners and people on low incomes or benefits will receive free loft and cavity wall insulation, while others will receive a 50 percent discount. The government says 12 million elderly households will benefit from the plan this Winter. 

Other measures include:

* A freeze on this year’s bills for 500,000 poor customers

* Partial reversal of the cut to the warm front programme giving free central heating to poorest pensioners

* Cold weather payments to go up from £8.50 a week to £25 a week for pensioners, the disabled and families with children under five – if temperatures drop below zero for seven consecutive days

Who’s to blame for the gas price rise?

As 16 million people digest the news that their gas bills are going up 35 percent, courtesy of British Gas, blame for the staggering rise is flying thick and fast.

Centrica, the British Gas parent company, says it is unable to resist the sharp rises on world oil and gas markets and that any attempt to impose windfall taxes would crimp its investment programme.

Energy watchdogs question how the company can be allowed to impose such steep rises at the same time as it makes healthy profits for its shareholders.

Opposition political parties say the government has not built sufficient gas storage facilities and has failed to negotiate an open market across the European energy sector.

What do you think? Are you going to feel the pinch this Winter?