The Eagle crash landed

I have an article up at the Spectator Coffee House blog about Labour's Maria Eagle.

Think before you vote

Tata Steel is to shed hundreds of jobs at its plant in Port Talbot. And the reasons?

Chief executive Karl Koehler said the changes were vital if the company was to remain competitive.

He pointed to the UK's high business rates and "uncompetitive" energy costs as factors in the decision.

So despite all those people who claim that energy costs are nothing to do with the flight of heavy industry from these shores, it seems quite clear that it is in fact an important factor.

It's interesting to consider that most of those who have been flung out of work probably voted for the area's Labour MP Hywel Francis, a proponent of an decarbonisation target during the passage of the recent Energy Bill (and apparently a former communist!). Francis is to stand down at the next election, replaced by the red prince, Stephen Kinnock, another keen advocate of renewables. So to some extent the people of Port Talbot may be the authors of their own misfortunes.

Neither the MP nor his prospective replacement appears to have commented on the news as yet. In such circumstances, keeping one's head down is probably wise.

Compulsory indoctrination in schools

As John Shade and I noted in our Climate Control report, the latest edition of the National Curriculum has removed all mention of "sustainable development", a concept that formed the very basis of the previous edition. The government's decision to rein back on the indoctrination of children in schools has understandably angered some within the green movement, including Joan Walley, the chairman of the Commons' Environmental Audit Committee:

Labour should commit to including sustainable development in the national curriculum, a senior backbencher has said.

The call from Joan Walley, who chairs the Commons' environmental audit committee, comes as the opposition party draws up its policy on green issues ahead of next year's general election.

However, it seems that in the university sector, the momentum is in the other direction:

Walley has been working with Keele University, where chancellor and green champion Jonathan Porritt is introducing a sustainable development core discipline in each subject.

"But what's the point of having that at university if it's not seamless back through college and back through secondary school?" she told Politics.co.uk.

Time to rein back the funding.

EA working with Labour against government?

Inside the Environment Agency is reporting that he has received a letter from a potential whistleblower who claims to have evidence that Agency officials are conspiring with the Labour party to undermine the government.

I have been following your blog for the last few months. You make some truthful claims but they are only the tip of the iceberg. I have been working for the Environment Agency as a team leader for six years. Your last post on political hypocrisy is what has prompted this email. I can give you the evidence you need showing senior managers in the South West conspiring with Labour MPs to discredit this government over the past two to three years, which I believe have made the floods far worse than they otherwise would have been. The MPs involved are: xxxxx (edited out for legal reasons - Labour MPs based in South West towns and cities)

There's always the possibility that it's not true, but it might be worth laying in supplies of popcorn, just in case.

Not right, not right at all - Josh 189

See story below

Cartoons by Josh

Update on Nov 24, 2012 by Josh

As Woodentop says, Guido has a good write up here with a link to the Today programme interview with Rotherham Council's Joyce Thacker here. Also a longer Sky News clip here 

All change

Further evidence of the decline influence of green extremism in the UK, with two news stories today. The Mail on Sunday reports that a go-ahead appears likely for Cuadrilla to resume shale gas exploration in Lancashire. Work was suspended after some minor earth tremors were reported.

Meanwhile, hot off the presses is the news that the UK will oppose the idea of the EU producing a new renewables target for 2030 - the existing one runs out in 2020. Given the damage that greens - including those in the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties -  have done to the UK economy already, this is probably wise, or at least not quite so extraordinarily foolish as previously.

New vacancy on S&T committee

One of the Labour members of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, Jonathan Reynolds, has been appointed a whip. In this position he is no longer eligible to sit on the committee.

New elections will be held among the Parliamentary Labour party to select a replacement, with nominations closing on 25th October.

(Via Farah Bhatti)

Who's on the select committee?

Here's an introduction to the members of the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee, gleaned from Wiki pages, TheyWorkForYou and so on. For each member, I've given details of constituency, party, educational/professional background and details of their voting records on climate change issues.

The good news is that there are a reasonable number of people there with genuine scientific backgrounds, including a few PhDs and one full professor.  In terms of credentials I think this is probably a reasonable group of people to assess the questions that have been asked.

Overall they seem to be much more sceptical of global warming than one might have expected. Intriguingly the distribution of sceptics over the different parties is almost the opposite of what might have been expected, with the Conservatives all appearing to be vigorously green, while their Labour counterparts appear to be the ones who vote against climate change legislation. This could be a case of the Tories trying to establish their environmental credentials as mandated by their party leader, David Cameron.

Here's the list.

Phil Willis (Chairman) Harrogate and Knaresborough (LD). Degree in history and music. Former teacher. Has voted moderately for laws to stop climate change.

Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods City of Durham (Lab). Sociologist. Has voted moderately against laws to stop climate change.

Mr Tim Boswell Daventry (C). Former farmer. Has voted very strongly for laws to stop climate change.

Mr Ian Cawsey Brigg and Goole (Lab). Background in IT. Has voted moderately against laws to stop climate change.

Mrs Nadine Dorries Mid Bedfordshire (C). Former nurse and businesswoman. Has voted strongly for laws to stop climate change.

Dr Evan Harris Oxford West & Abingdon (LD). Medicine. Voted very strongly for laws to stop climate change

Dr Brian Iddon Bolton South East (Lab). Professor of Chemistry. Voted for and against laws to stop climate change.

Mr Gordon Marsden Blackpool South (Lab). Former editor of History Today magazine. Voted moderately against laws to stop climate change.

Dr Doug Naysmith Bristol North West (Lab). PhD in Immunology. Voted moderately against laws to stop climate change.

Dr Bob Spink Castle Point (Ind). Electronic engineer. Voted strongly for laws to stop climate change.

Ian Stewart Eccles (Lab). Chemical plant operator. Has voted moderately against laws to stop climate change.

Graham Stringer Manchester, Blackley (Lab). Analytical chemist. Has voted strongly against laws to stop climate change. Has voted strongly against laws to stop climate change.

Dr Desmond Turner Brighton, Kemptown (Lab). PhD in biochemistry. Has voted moderately against laws to stop climate change.

Mr Rob Wilson Reading East (C). Small businessman. Has a commitment to "scientific evidence-based research into climate change". Has voted strongly for laws to stop climate change.

Conspiracy theorising

1. Yesterday Lloyds TSB reported that they are to repay £2bn on their bailout money (the economy has turned).

2. Yesterday again, Gordon Brown, survived a meeting of the parliamentary Labour party which might have been expected to unseat him. Perhaps Labour MPs felt the economy was on the turn.

3. Today, Lloyds TSB accounced that it is to close down all of its Cheltenham and Gloucester branches.

Could it be that these news items are in some way linked? Institutional investors in Lloyds may have needed persuading that the time was ripe to repay the bail-out. The government is, of course, the majority shareholder in the group. Could it be that government agreement to the closure of C&G was the price the investors extracted? It is certainly odd to find a company making major stock exchange announcements on consecutive days. Even odder when you notice that the good news preceded Gordon Brown's moment of truth, while the bad news came later.

If this is right, then C&G would effectively have been closed down in order to allow Brown to take some good news - the repayment of the bail-out - to the House of Commons yesterday.

Interesting thought, isn't it?

More good news on the expenses front

LabourHome is reporting that the constituency Labour party in Luton south is standing behind their troughing MP, Marge Moran - her of the rotten house in Southampton.

This is wonderful news. The party is demonstrating to everyone that not only are its MPs corrupt but their supporters are too. Believe me, they are going to be toast.

More of this please.

I agree with Ken Livingstone

Ken Livingstone:

The civil service is a malignant conspiracy against the national interest.

How can you possibly be in the Labour party, which tries to expand the influence of the state and opposes privatisation, while at the same time believing the civil service to be a malignant conspiracy against the national interest?

Unless you are in favour of malignant conspiracies against the national interest...?

Royal Bank of Scotland asks about customers' political views

This is unbelievable. According to The Spectator, the state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland is asking for customer's political affiliations as part of their account opening procedures.

Read the whole thing.

Broon the loon

The theory that Gordon Brown is in fact a certifiable madman is still brightening up these dark and sombre days. I remember being roundly berated for suggesting so a couple of years back in a comments thread. There certainly seem to be strong hints of it in the mainstream media.

And when you see him proposing rises in National Insurance at a time like this, you know he's a few cards short of a full deck.

Look who's on the make

The news that a bunch of Labour peers have (allegedly) been tarting themselves about on their purported ability to get legislation changed for their "clients" has given the week's news a delicious fin-de-siecle sense of grubbiness and corruption.

One of the commenters at the relevant post at Labour Home helpfully points out that one of the alleged culprits has previous form:

Typical that Lord Taylor of Blackburn is one of them. He's a central character in the saga of Jack Straw's embarassment by the Committee on Standards and Privileges. It was Lord Taylor of Blackburn who "invited" U.S. company Canatxx, with no previous connection to Blackpool, to make the £3,000 "a non-political donation" to Jack Straw's 25th anniversary party that was never declared. A bit before Canatxx made a planning application to Lancashire County Council to to store gas in salt caverns. Lord Taylor was a paid consultant for Canatxx.

Oh, and Lord Taylor of Blackburn forgot to declare an interest when asking a supplementary question about gas storage. Canatxx's business is gas storage. He made an apology later.

Tractor stats

Tractor Stats is a new site for me - a picture blog in fact. Most amusant.