LATEST MOAN FROM YOU AND ME - 2022

Boris has just been spouting about offshore wind farms produce the cheapest electricity.

He forgot to mention where we can buy some,
They are all idiots, they are treating us all with contempt or they think we are as stupid as they are, not sure which, but probably both.

 

Had a rather unpleasant trip to Marmande this morning due to the choking smoke wafting over from the Gironde forest fires, west of us. Even chez moi there was a distinct smell of smoke in the air, but 10 minutes in Marmande and my throat felt as though I'd smoked 5 packets of Woodbines (I imagine ). It must be appalling for the people and animals living closer to it, let alone the heroic firemen trying to contain it. Their biggest problem is that there are huge areas of peat where the fire goes underground, thriving on the peat and then emerging anywhere and everywhere in the forests. I wonder whether this will prompt a re-think on using peat for composts? If it's going to be consumed anyway, it might as well be extracted and used for a definite purpose.

 

I think the point he was probably trying to make is that electricity generation costs are lower than other means of generating electricity, and so we should build more off shore wind farms, which in the long term will make it harder for fossil fuel rich countries to hold us to ransom.

Doesn't help us right now though of course.

 

I've got an idea. How about temporarily suspending the green levy and any other taxes on energy - instant savings for customers. No negotiating with energy suppliers and can be pushed through Parliament.

Perhaps this is too simple...

 

It still doesn't stack up, all the time that electricity prices are linked to gas prices it just means that the generating companies will make even more profit due to their lower costs, but the end user will still pay the same.

 

Germany appear to be burning more coal for generation of electricity.
They were saying that the level of the Rhine river is so low it's hampering the movement of the barges taking it to power stations.

 

We binned off the environment when covid started. All those disposable masks and plastic test kits. Now we're coming out of covid into another crisis, so we bin off the environment again til this is sorted. After that there'll be something else. Meanwhile, co2 is still rising, extreme weather events are already happening more frequently than the worst climate models forecasted.

A far easier and quicker solution to the inflation problem is to reduce demand. I know some can't because they've already cut back as far as they possibly can, but many of us can, but most choose not to it seems.

 

It's worldwide, you can't change the world.
No body discusses the real problem facing the world, it rarely ever gets a mention, until that is at least talked about and discussed by the greens we will be pi**ing against the wind IMO.

 

Indeed it is worldwide, and you're right, one person can't change the world, or at least not ordinary regular folk.

But collectively people can. We have a recent example of what a drop in demand does to commodity prices. If you Google crude oil price chart and set the date range to 5 years, you can't miss the time we all had to stop driving, nor can you miss the time bojo said everyone should go back to the office.

 

So are you suggesting we actually need a worldwide recession in order to cut demand.
Some thing along the lines of a pandemic even.

Maybe we shouldn't have had a worldwide lock down and then started a war with Russia .

Things could be ticking along nicely now if none of that had happened.

Or would it?

 

Nope. I'm saying that we should collectively endeavour to reduce unnecessary spending.

I worked from home like millions of people did worldwide when everywhere was locked down. Tech industry thrived, oil use was down, atmospheric co2 dropped, roads were quieter for those that did have to use them because not every job can be done from a desk. Trouble is everyone had more money to spend on other things, and more time to spend it, while supply was struggling due to restrictions and illness. Inflation was inevitable.

The only segment of society that benefited from everyone going back to normal was those with shares in companies that profit from fossil fuels. Apart from those companies, other companies could manage fine with something in between where we're at now and where we were then, and if companies can't adapt to changing trends then they're not viable anywhere.

 

I think you are forgetting all those that were unable to work and all those that had to find new jobs.

Sorry but that sounds like the typical response from a work from home person, the hospitality industry crumbled, the airlines are struggling to get back to something like normal.
People only had more money to spend because of the furlough scheme and the fact you couldn't go anywhere.
All can think is there must be a lot of unviable companies out there if what you're saying is realistic.

 

The hospitality industry crumbled because they were forced to close. That's not what I'm suggesting. The airlines struggled for the same reason.

You criticised the government earlier, they are the ones that basically tried to tell us not only to spend our money but where to spend it. One of Boris's justifications for making people go back to the office even if they could do their job as well or better from home was that city centre businesses were seeing less footfall. But what about the local businesses that thrived when people were able to spend more time in the actual towns and villages they live in?