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outburst of sympathy follows an apology to Hayward from Texas Republican Representative Joe Barton on Thursday, later withdrawn, for having to agree to a deal with President Obama to set up a $20 billion fund for Gulf claim damages.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