Thomas Rodgers

Holy cow: livestock carrier Cattle Force broadcast its destination as "All crew Muslims" while sailing through the Red Sea, in an apparent message to the Houthis in Yemen

There is no such thing as a "global gas market". That is why Americans pay a fraction for natural gas, compared with us. Historically natural gas prices in Europe/UK were cheap. We produced lots of it. But then governments, including the UK, decided that gas is bad. They decreased domestic production, prohibited or restricted new exploration and development, taxed it punitively, and yet increased dependence on gas (renewable energy mandates, and abolishing coal and nuclear) and on imports. Fracking was banned. They also created reliance on spot markets, rather than on supply contracts. Prices went up because of scarcity driven by policy. Since the 2000 Utilities Act and Renewables Obligation, followed by the CfD subsidy regime, renewable generators have been given prices that guaranteed their profits by either adding to the price of electricity (RO) or with a fixed price (CfD). Both of these subsidy regimes mean that power from renewable sources cost more than the average price of gas, despite the rising cost of gas. And that problem is multiplied by the policies that increase the scarcity of gas. The volatility of energy markets is nothing compared to the variability of weather. Weather-dependent renewable power will therefore not reduce the volatility of energy markets. They will make it worse. Ed Miliband does not understand the energy market. He is lying about what causes high prices. He is lying about the ability of his policies to bring down energy prices.

me going through the Red Sea

Every August, Bosnian Serbs, Bosnian Croats, and Bosniaks who have spent thousands of dollars on raising bulls, battle for glory in one of the Balkans' oldest and most coveted sporting prizes.