4 ms·

If you want to know the result of successive Tory governments and forty years of deregulation and mismanagement, then power blackouts and people not being able

If you want to know the result of successive Tory governments and forty years of deregulation and mismanagement, then power blackouts and people not being able to heat their homes is it. The Tory agenda now seems fixed upon ensuring the very rich have everything and everyone else has absolutely nothing.

theGnuMe 4y ago
Maybe just maybe the UK as learnt the lesson?
- was_a_dev 4y ago
  I highly doubt it. Any lessons will be shortlived, and probably will be forgotten by the electorate before the next election
brnt 4y ago
> The Tory agenda now seems fixed upon ensuring the very rich have everything and everyone else has absolutely nothing. It has always been thus.
- pharmakom 4y ago
  Before the riches of globalisation somewhat masked the damage.
seibelj 4y ago
The US is the most deregulated, pro-market, capitalist developed nation of size and we are doing much better than the UK. Jobs are plentiful and our corporate titans continue to dominate global equities. Maybe the issue in the UK isn’t as simple as tax rates. But you can always try to pivot hard left, maybe it will work this time. Capital does tend to flee when serious attempts to expropriate it occur…
- adrianba 4y ago
  > The US is the most deregulated, pro-market, capitalist developed nation of size Well, here in the US, I still buy electricity from the government. Consumer energy deregulation in the UK started in the late 80s and electricity has been sold through private companies for years.
  - gizajob 4y ago
    It's not so much energy deregulation that's the problem, more the fact that we gave away the resources of oil and gas for peanuts and now pay through the nose for them, compared to say Norway or Saudi Arabia where they oil and gas stayed as a semi-state-owned resource.
- kansface 4y ago
  Both Texas and California struggle to keep the power on. They both make memes about it, too.
- pharmakom 4y ago
  Correct. The UK doesn’t have a large domestic market or much in the way of resources. The US has both.
- sgt101 4y ago
  There are lots of jobs in the UK right now - in fact there is a labor shortage. What we don't have is large domestic natural resources, or access to the global market guaranteed by force of arms. We used to have that, but we had to give it up due to the Second World War and also morality (admittedly that part came with hindsight and without prerequisite contrition and apologies).
- Mizza 4y ago
  Sacrificing public health systems and educational programs in order to enforce the largest military empire in human history might also have something to do with it.
  - nickpp 4y ago
sgt101 4y ago
Are you sure that this has nothing to do with the war in Ukraine? If it is down to the Tories then they have really screwed up the EU as well! https://www.iamexpat.de/expat-info/german-expat-news/energy-crisis-blackouts-possible-winter-eu-warns https://www.iamexpat.de/expat-info/german-expat-news/energy-...
- gizajob 4y ago
  The thing is that Britain has an independent oil and gas sector though. We're not reliant on imports, so yeah, the blame can be levelled at the Tories for this one.
  - tremon 4y ago
    That oil and gas sector is still reliant on international gas prices, since it's a global market. I'm not sure if it's even possible for a single country to commandeer its fossil fuel production for own use without sparking a few international conflicts.
    - shagie 4y ago
      https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-21-118 https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-21-118 > With U.S. crude oil production nearly doubling from 2009 to 2015, Congress repealed the crude oil export ban in December 2015—allowing the free export of U.S. crude oil worldwide. https://ballotpedia.org/Crude_oil_export_ban https://ballotpedia.org/Crude_oil_export_ban Yep, a country can do it and has done it.
  - vel0city 4y ago
    You're not reliant on imports, but unless you outlaw the export of energy you're still subject to the global price of energy. If they can export it cheap enough, energy producers would rather sell it to mainland Europe or around the world rather than sell it for less domestically.
    - stuaxo 4y ago
7952 4y ago
I agree with the sentiment but its a bit misplaced here. The energy industry in the UK is still heavily regulated and the government do intervene a lot. The main thrust of this has been to push renewables and nuclear to combat climate change. And the response of National Grid has been to plan for that. For example in planning connections for offshore wind, building interconnectors and incentivising backup capacity. They have a good record in maintaining supply and are well funded. The trouble is that much of our backup depended on gas and interconnectors. Gas has been effected by the war. The interconnector capacity by French nuclear problems. Those nuclear problems have exasperated gas supply problems. There are steps the government could have taken. In hindsight maybe we should have kept more coal stations available. And gas storage should have been maintained. And we definitely should have built out more onshore wind. But I don't think the system is mismanaged. And we are probably better placed than much of mainland Europe for this winter. We did build some massive offshore windfarms.
- gizajob 4y ago
  We (the Tories) also privatised North sea oil and gas, giving it away for peanuts, and that chicken has now come home to roost.
  - 7952 4y ago
    Our biggest problem is that we are not rich enough and I absolutely agree that the Tory party hold a lot of responsibility for that. Poor choices on oil and gas are a part of that.
unity1001 4y ago
> then power blackouts and people not being able to heat their homes is it You forgot food banks, people having to choose in between heating and food, and poverty suicides. Also, clowns - psychopathic clowns. Lots of them...
acheron 4y ago
How convenient that every problem is the fault of your political opponents.

theGnuMe 4y ago

Maybe just maybe the UK as learnt the lesson?

was_a_dev 4y ago
I highly doubt it. Any lessons will be shortlived, and probably will be forgotten by the electorate before the next election

brnt 4y ago

> The Tory agenda now seems fixed upon ensuring the very rich have everything and everyone else has absolutely nothing. It has always been thus.

pharmakom 4y ago
Before the riches of globalisation somewhat masked the damage.

seibelj 4y ago

The US is the most deregulated, pro-market, capitalist developed nation of size and we are doing much better than the UK. Jobs are plentiful and our corporate titans continue to dominate global equities. Maybe the issue in the UK isn’t as simple as tax rates. But you can always try to pivot hard left, maybe it will work this time. Capital does tend to flee when serious attempts to expropriate it occur…

adrianba 4y ago
> The US is the most deregulated, pro-market, capitalist developed nation of size Well, here in the US, I still buy electricity from the government. Consumer energy deregulation in the UK started in the late 80s and electricity has been sold through private companies for years.
- gizajob 4y ago
  It's not so much energy deregulation that's the problem, more the fact that we gave away the resources of oil and gas for peanuts and now pay through the nose for them, compared to say Norway or Saudi Arabia where they oil and gas stayed as a semi-state-owned resource.
kansface 4y ago
Both Texas and California struggle to keep the power on. They both make memes about it, too.
pharmakom 4y ago
Correct. The UK doesn’t have a large domestic market or much in the way of resources. The US has both.
sgt101 4y ago
There are lots of jobs in the UK right now - in fact there is a labor shortage. What we don't have is large domestic natural resources, or access to the global market guaranteed by force of arms. We used to have that, but we had to give it up due to the Second World War and also morality (admittedly that part came with hindsight and without prerequisite contrition and apologies).
Mizza 4y ago
Sacrificing public health systems and educational programs in order to enforce the largest military empire in human history might also have something to do with it.
- nickpp 4y ago

sgt101 4y ago

Are you sure that this has nothing to do with the war in Ukraine? If it is down to the Tories then they have really screwed up the EU as well! https://www.iamexpat.de/expat-info/german-expat-news/energy-crisis-blackouts-possible-winter-eu-warns https://www.iamexpat.de/expat-info/german-expat-news/energy-...

gizajob 4y ago
The thing is that Britain has an independent oil and gas sector though. We're not reliant on imports, so yeah, the blame can be levelled at the Tories for this one.
- tremon 4y ago
  That oil and gas sector is still reliant on international gas prices, since it's a global market. I'm not sure if it's even possible for a single country to commandeer its fossil fuel production for own use without sparking a few international conflicts.
  - shagie 4y ago
    https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-21-118 https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-21-118 > With U.S. crude oil production nearly doubling from 2009 to 2015, Congress repealed the crude oil export ban in December 2015—allowing the free export of U.S. crude oil worldwide. https://ballotpedia.org/Crude_oil_export_ban https://ballotpedia.org/Crude_oil_export_ban Yep, a country can do it and has done it.
- vel0city 4y ago
  You're not reliant on imports, but unless you outlaw the export of energy you're still subject to the global price of energy. If they can export it cheap enough, energy producers would rather sell it to mainland Europe or around the world rather than sell it for less domestically.
  - stuaxo 4y ago

7952 4y ago

I agree with the sentiment but its a bit misplaced here. The energy industry in the UK is still heavily regulated and the government do intervene a lot. The main thrust of this has been to push renewables and nuclear to combat climate change. And the response of National Grid has been to plan for that. For example in planning connections for offshore wind, building interconnectors and incentivising backup capacity. They have a good record in maintaining supply and are well funded. The trouble is that much of our backup depended on gas and interconnectors. Gas has been effected by the war. The interconnector capacity by French nuclear problems. Those nuclear problems have exasperated gas supply problems. There are steps the government could have taken. In hindsight maybe we should have kept more coal stations available. And gas storage should have been maintained. And we definitely should have built out more onshore wind. But I don't think the system is mismanaged. And we are probably better placed than much of mainland Europe for this winter. We did build some massive offshore windfarms.

gizajob 4y ago
We (the Tories) also privatised North sea oil and gas, giving it away for peanuts, and that chicken has now come home to roost.
- 7952 4y ago
  Our biggest problem is that we are not rich enough and I absolutely agree that the Tory party hold a lot of responsibility for that. Poor choices on oil and gas are a part of that.

unity1001 4y ago

> then power blackouts and people not being able to heat their homes is it You forgot food banks, people having to choose in between heating and food, and poverty suicides. Also, clowns - psychopathic clowns. Lots of them...

acheron 4y ago

How convenient that every problem is the fault of your political opponents.