Phil Carr

“Let’s ban new oil and gas licences in the North Sea but spaff away £40billion buying North Sea oil and gas from Norway. Let’s buy coking coal shipments worth £7.2million from Japan but ban UK coal mining. Let’s plaster thousands of acres of farmland with solar panels but spend £50million on sun dimming experiments. Let’s give Drax an estimated £1.8billlion in taxpayer funded subsidies on top of the £11billion it has already received despite Drax burning an amount of wood equivalent to 300 million trees. Let’s give £500million this year alone to wind power companies not to generate power from their wind turbines. And let’s spend £30billion of taxpayers’ money on carbon capture machines but put pensioners, farmers and the disabled into financial peril by claiming there’s a £22bn black hole.”

@ClarksonsFarm1 Makes me proud to see our local farmers in Fylde, Lancashire turn out for the annual Christmas Convoy. They put so much into the community and charities.

#Eurovision2026 At this rate we will have a 50:50 chance of winning - UK or Israel.

@7Kiwi As an indicator of the problems at the BBC, Chris Packham was on 5 Live this morning giving his views on climate change uninterrupted for 5 minutes - no one invited by the BBC to give a contrary opinion.

We have gone further and faster than almost any other nation and now we have the most expensive industrial electricity prices in the developed world. And no change in the weather.

@7Kiwi Of course had we replaced the old magnox nuclear stations ( or installed SMRs on their sites) we could have used the existing grid connections which were good for 4.3GW

His beloved renewables screwed it.

@7Kiwi It’s been “dunkelflaute” here in the northwest - thank god for Heysham I and II adding CO2-free power.

Electricity demand over 37GW. Yet our 32GW wind fleet is producing <1GW. Again. We can't run a country on expensive, fickle wind. Even Shakespeare knew: "I am a feather for each wind that blows"

@PaulEmbery Don’t they wave the EU flag most of the time?

So if the Liberal Democrats wave hundreds of English and British flags at their annual conference, it’s ‘tolerant’ and ‘inclusive’. But if a working-class person sticks one on a lamp post, it’s ‘divisive’ and ‘hostile’. The sneering arrogance knows no bounds.

Have #jet2 reduced the seat pitch ? No space at all - very poor

#lastnightoftheproms can someone explain why people need to wave the EU flag while singing Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory. Let it go.

@IainDale @AngelaRayner Live by the sword ………..

Interestingly, I have received a dozen or so texts or Whatsapps from right of centre friends on the subject of @AngelaRayner today. Every one of them said they felt sorry for her. As do I. I may have disagreed with most of what she was doing, but she was one of few cabinet ministers to know how to pull the levers of power. She's a huge loss to the Government.

@afneil “ is one of the great British political figures of our time.” - not even greatest in the last 15 minutes. Nurse, Ed’s got out again and is talking gibberish

I must say this is delusional nonsense even for net zero Ed. Her labour law reforms will cost jobs, especially for young working class people. And her house building programme has got off to the most lacklustre of starts.

Is this @victoriabeckham ‘s new pet name for Sir David now he’s turned 50 🙃

@whatcar Anyone know why BMW have stopped manufacturing the X3 PHEV? (No longer able to configure the plug-in version of the X3 on BMW website and I understand production has been halted)

@KiszelyPhilip @BurnsideWasTosh Son just been mugged in Piccadilly Gardens by masked and hooded person. Lawless Manchester. @AndyBurnhamGM needs to get a grip.

Just walked through Manchester city centre. Homeless people lurching around, dead in the eyes. Marauding gangs of Asian teenagers in masks and black tracksuits. Some poor woman, off her face, sh*tting in a doorway. People bawling and shouting in foreign languages. It’s a drug-ridden, poverty-stricken hellhole. A kind of multicultural Mogadishu. Babel. Just like every other big city in this broken country.

@AndyBurnhamGM My son has just been mugged in broad daylight in Piccadilly Gardens - apparently this is quite common - Manchester is becoming lawless. I was thinking of coming to do some shopping - not now - stay away- stay safe.

@afneil @TimesRadio I presume the water companies will not be paying dividends for the next few years 😉

This is The Times at One with Andrew Neil. Live NOW on @TimesRadio Household Bills are going up, tariffs are coming in and national insurance rises are about to land. We’ll take a long look at what this grim litany means for the UK economy.  We’ll speak to a British businessman who’s already been on the wrong end of the Trump tariffs.   We’ll ask an expert on Anglo-American relations where they go next.  And we’ll bring you up to date with the Europe-wide reverbations following the conviction of France’s Marine Le Pen.  All that and more coming up in the best lunchtime hour of high quality news and analysis in British broadcasting.

@afneil @TimesRadio Never thought that if I looked to the West I would see a rogue state !

My monologue on @TimesRadio 1pm today: The man who promised to stop the Ukraine-Russian war on Day One of taking power has instead on Day 42 decided to stop all further US military aid to Ukraine. The war, of course, continues to drag on.  President Trump says his arms embargo will only be lifted when he’s ascertained that President Zelensky is ‘serious’ about peace.  Exactly what he has to do to convince Trump is not clear. But I think we can be sure Trump will want it to involve a lot of grovelling and kissing of the ring.  Either that — implies the White House — or Zelensky should make way for a Ukrainian leader who IS prepared to bend the knee.  What happens next is anybody’s guess — it always is in Trump World. But amid the chaos and confusion it’s important not to lose sight of some pretty fundamental facts.  First, this is the worst crisis in the long and successful history of NATO and the Atlantic Alliance. It might not survive.  A pact which has kept us safe and secure for as long as most of us can remember is crumbling, for no good reason other than the capricious whims of a man in the Oval Office.  Second, it is being demolished on a litany of falsehoods. Trump says America has given Ukraine $350 billion in military, financial and humanitarian aid — with nothing to show for it.  Wrong. America has spent $120 billion. And the dividend has been to thwart Russia from taking all of Ukraine then going on to threaten the rest of Eastern Europe, consisting of America’s NATO allies.  Trump says America has given Ukraine a lot more than Europe. Wrong. European aid combined totals $138 billion, almost $20 billion more than the US.  Trump claims European aid is mainly in loans and it will be repaid one day whereas American aid is in grants. Wrong. The bulk of European aid, like American aid, is in grants.  Thus is NATO in danger of being dismantled on a tissue of lies.  But it gets worse. It’s increasingly hard to avoid the conclusion that Trump is a better friend of Russia than he is of NATO or Ukraine. That when it comes to a choice — Russia or NATO — Trump chooses Russia.  It is hard to credit that it can be so. Yet Trump is cutting off arms to Ukraine while Russia’s war machine continues unhindered and Iran, North Korea and China ramp up their support. The Trump administration is even preparing plans to drop sanctions on Russia before a peace deal is struck, adding to the concessions Trump has already indicated he’ll make to the Kremlin in advance of any talks. So much for his ‘Art of the Deal.’ As Trump tries to discombobulate us with all manner of stuff and nonsense it’s worth holding on to some other fundamentals.  There is an invader — Russia —  and a victim — Ukraine. There is a democracy — Ukraine — and a dictatorship — Russia.  There is a country who wants to be a European democracy and a Western market economy — Ukraine — and another that hates democracy, freedom and everything else the West stands for — Russia.  That we have a US president who sides with the invader and penalises the victim is proof that our world has turned upside down.  The US arms embargo will not undermine Ukraine’s war effort immediately. But it will take its toll as we head into summer.  Europe must do all it can to fill the gaps, as it’s already starting to do. But it cannot replace everything America is now denying.  Of course Trump may yet pull back from the brink. He wants that mineral rights deal with Ukraine. Zelensky may be prepared to abase himself. Things would be back on track. Sort of.  But not really. For what lunacy might Trump get up to next in pursuit of his own self-interest and ego? What hope of the Atlantic Alliance when its head is a better friend of Russia than Europe?  Whatever happens Europe must prepare for a future without America. It was already starting to realise that before Trump pulled the rug from under Ukraine. It can now be in no doubt — and must rearm accordingly.

@TomCadwallender Gerrit doon ya !!

A present from my sister Sandra for last years 40th anniversary, but we were distracted by a new hip. It’s well worth the wait till this year 41st #cheers #vintagechampange

@afneil On the lighter side - walked down Temple St in Hong Kong and noticed these fridge magnets for sale. Interesting that a certain someone is associated with the red leaders !

I do wonder if Trump gets his Kremlin talking points in Russian and his team has to translate them. Or if the Kremlin propaganda department sends them to him in English for immediate cut and paste. I think the latter.

@profsked Milliband???

Rumours of a cabinet reshuffle include the ousting of the Attorney General, the Education Secretary and the Culture Secretary. Reeves will survive.