Future Postcards

I’ve been saying two things in response to the fossil fools calling for more drilling in the North Sea - both are cutting through. First is we don't set the price of our own North Sea oil and gas, second is we have very little left, around 10%. More drilling can't help us with this energy (price) crisis and the idea of some kind of oil self sufficiency for Britain is a fantasy. Now comes this revelation - the hundreds of licences the Tories issued, over a 14 year period, in pursuit of this fantasy - resulted in just one months worth of gas being produced. The reality is starkly different to the fantasy Farage and Badenoch would have us believe. theguardian.com/business/2026/…

Left: Kemi Badenoch says if we drill today that money could be used to subsidise energy bills Right: Kemi Badenoch says no one is suggesting that if we drill today the money would subsidise energy bills

Headline: 'Kemi Badenoch will cut £200 off bills by drilling in North Sea'. Actual quote: 'I'm not saying it's going to go straight onto your bills'. James O'Brien wants to know what's going on with the 'drill baby drill' brigade.

We’ve built cheap energy but we’re still pricing it like it’s expensive. The UK uses a marginal pricing system, where the last (most expensive) generator sets the price. That’s usually gas. So even when most of our electricity comes from cheap wind and solar, households still pay gas prices. That’s why bills haven’t fallen. Getting off gas pricing is about fixing the system by reforming the electricity market so gas no longer sets the price, building storage so we don’t rely on gas for backup, reconnecting with European energy systems to smooth supply, reducing gas demand through insulation and heat pumps, and continuing to expand renewables so gas is needed less and less. Until we do that, cheap energy will keep being priced like expensive gas.

Everything rotten in Britain stems from this period. Everything. Landlord rents. Shit in the rivers. Zero work hours. No British industry. Gas, electric bills through the roof, No affordable housing. All of it.

Wow 90.3% renewables on a 113% generation 🤯 As we’re generating more than we need we’re exporting 9.2% to Europe and refilling pumped storage with another 4.2% 🙂

Elect a mayor who talks about bicycles. Cities designed for the bicycle tend to serve everyone: the rich and the poor, the young and the old. In transport policy, the bicycle is perhaps the most democratic instrument ever invented🚲

Ed Miliband gets relentless bile from the right for his ‘ideological’ commitment to clean, cheap renewable energy - just as Nye Bevan once did for creating the NHS. Yet on March 25 97.7 % of our electricity was from renewables. A revolution is unfolding. observer.co.uk/news/columnist…

Would absolutely hate to see a proper Paris-style defended cycle lane here in Camberwell so I could bike my son around without risk of getting smashed. Probably not enough space though. Look how cramped the motorists are.

You will not see this on any American cable news station. Israel and war criminal Netanyahu are now bombing tents sheltering displaced Palestinians. This bombing occurred during a supposed ceasefire in southern Deir al-Balah in central Gaza Strip. 🥹 👇

Palestine, 1945, 3 years before israel existed.

On 23rd March 2026, Japan launches the world's first freight-only Shinkansen, converting a former passenger bullet train into a high-speed cargo carrier by removing all seats to maximize storage space. A total game changer for freight transport.

We are causing #globalwarming 100 times faster than past natural changes We are taking Earth’s 🌎 climate beyond natural limits, with CO2 & temps levels not seen for 3 million years. No time to wait. #ActOnClimate #climate #energy

Mel Stride doesn’t live in the real world. He dodges the first point put to him, that more drilling in the north sea can’t help us this winter or even next - because it could take around five years to get anything new out. Instead he answers a different point - that global markets set the price of our North Sea oil and gas - so making more here can't lower our energy bills. His point about indirect benefits is all well and good, but as above - that’s coming in maybe five years time - if at all. And bear in mind our North Sea has been in decline for 30 years and has just ten years capacity left. It’s 90% depleted already - a new report last weeks says 93% - either way it’s all but gone and we don't set the price of it anyway. It’s a massive distraction from the real job - energy market reform to disconnect us from global oil pricing, which actually sets the price of our green energy too. A mad mechanism that Mel’s party passed legislation for - to enable them to break it - and then failed to follow through on. Oh and his argument that we need to make oil here not buy from abroad, shows he knows nothing - Rosebank, that massive tax payer funded project currently not going ahead, is Norwegian owned and none - NONE, of the oil it might produce would land in Britain. That’s the reality of our North Sea oil and gas. And our total embrace of global commodity markets - which serve only big business interests.

Imagine if in your weekly shop, you could pick up plug-in solar panels that help save on your energy bills? Well, in some parts of Europe you can do just that. We’re working with industry to bring plug-in solar to UK shops within months.

Developers will be required to install solar panels and heat pumps in all new homes in England as part of updated planning requirements published by the government. Energy minister Michael Shanks told #BBCBreakfast plug-in panels that homeowners can self-install on balconies will also be available in supermarkets in the coming months bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

Surreal arrogance. Conservative MP Bernard Jenkins is complaining about our armed forces being under resourced when it was his Conservative government that cut defence spending by 25% in real terms over 14 years! Bernard Jenkin, "It sounds as though you are at peace while we are at war" Keir Starmer, "With respect, I'm clearing up the mess left by the last government" Bernard Jenkin, "I dare say Winston Churchill had a mess to clear up from the previous government" "Margaret Thatcher had a mess to clear up from the previous government" "Why were we so unready to defend Cyprus?" Keir Starmer, "We've got a lot of defensive capability in Cyprus, as you know" Bernard Jenkin, "We couldn't even stop a 150mph drone from hitting a base in Cyprus, that means we were unprepared" "This smacks of a lack of war fighting mentality" Keir Starmer, "We are finalising the defence plan" Bernard Jenkin, "This smacks of enormous complacency" Keir Starmer, "This smacks of the fact that for years there was under investment by the last Conservative government and the hollowing out of our armed forces" Bernard Jenkin, "You've had 18 months to deal with that" Keir Starmer, "14 years of underinvestment. We're picking up from the underinvestment of your government"

The most important thing about this amazing Paris transformation is how fast it happened —how fast people on bikes “appeared” —once streets were transformed. You can’t write this off as “#Paris was always this way,” because it wasn’t. It took leadership.

Zia Yusuf deflections tactics called out by Emily Darlington on #politicslive ED - This is typical Reform, when you are challenged with the truth you try and switch the conversation. ZY - That’s simply not the case Ed - That’s what you have just done ZY - It isn’t 🤥

We 100% need this everywhere we can do it