@RupertDarwall@GWPF_org@Prosperity_Inst Excellent point. And one only has to pick up a piece of coal to feel the treasure of it. 'A gift from God' as the Azerbaijani president said (of oil and gas) at COP29. I think we're going to rebuild those coal-fired power stations we destroyed. They were in the right places.
@AdamMGrant AI generated writing must converge on the mediocre. It is designed to do that, being probabilistic. I think in a few years time the engineers will turn round and say this was a regrettable hoax- as they have regretted their other designs (like buttons, scrolling).
@DominicFrisby All anti-racism is good. There is no bad anti-racism. That is the establishment belief. So bad anti-racism is starting to do us a lot of harm and is, if anything, adding to racism... leading to more bad anti-racism, leading to...
@basedandbougie@AytonImarn It's not unusual- I got on very well with my opponents when I stood in the local elections... One of the nice about actually engaging with politics. I saw it even in Belfast City Council in the early 90s when the Troubles were on; councillors getting on well outside the chamber.
@jtworr Gary Smith of the GMB completely demolished the climate change religion in an interview in the Spectator a few years ago. It was one of the the most comprehensive rebuttals I have ever read. He took it apart brick by brick. No-one noticed. But here is the result.
New study in @PNASNexus: While most countries became more gender egalitarian 1995-2022, global support for gender equality stagnated
Why? Higher fertility in less egalitarian populations compounded this.
This reveals a critical paradox in cultural change.
https://t.co/Gmvs4g53vf
@LukeJohnsonRCP Are UK emissions properly accounted for? Don't we have higher emissions due to net zero false accounting (ignoring imported emissions from the stuff we buy from coal-powered China) and also very poor growth due to net zero? Like the Germans, who burn lignite coal to keep going.
MORE: Ukrainian forces appear to be regaining the tactical initiative in different sectors of the frontline in Ukraine. Ukrainian forces have conducted a series of counterattacks in different areas across the theater in recent months, having made their most significant gains on the battlefield since Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk Oblast in August 2024.
Ukrainian counterattacks recaptured much of Kupyansk starting in November 2025, liberated over 400 square kilometers in southern Ukraine in winter and spring 2026, and most recently liberated several settlements in western Zaporizhia Oblast since late April 2026.
Ukrainian counterattacks in southern Ukraine have created cascading operational and strategic effects against Russia’s ongoing Spring-Summer 2026 offensive against the Fortress Belt, which has forced Russia to choose between defending against Ukrainian counterattacks or allocating manpower and resources to priority sectors.
Ukraine’s intensified mid-range strike campaign against Russian logistics, military equipment, and manpower since early 2026 has also degraded Russian forces’ ability to conduct offensive operations across the theater and has likely supported recent Ukrainian advances.
Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief General Oleksandr Syrskyi stated on May 15 in an exclusive interview with Ukrainian defense outlet Militarnyi that precise Ukrainian strikes, the destruction of Russian reserves, and constant pressure on Russian assault units have allowed Ukrainian forces to increasingly seize the tactical initiative and force Russian forces to react to a Ukrainian-defined operational tempo. Syrskyi did not provide absolute figures but noted that the number of Ukrainian offensive actions exceeded those of Russian forces as of May 14, which may indicate Ukraine contesting the initiative at the tactical level and engaging in more active counterattacks.
The UK needs jet fuel and diesel. That is why Labour has loosened sanctions on Putin’s Russia.
But this fuel crisis did not start with Iran. Nor did it start with Ukraine. It began in the 2000s and 2010s, when Britain chose to hollow out its own energy base.
Since Gordon Brown's government published its Energy Security Review in 2009, the British state has known that maintaining refining capacity matters for energy security. Miliband’s own DECC acknowledged the challenge when he was last Energy Secretary. At the time, Britain had around 10 refineries.
But the truth is that today neither Shanks nor Miliband want a domestic oil production and refining sector. They are determined to run it down. They would rather pretend Britain can live without diesel and jet fuel, while importing whatever refined products we still need, from Putin if necessary, because it flatters our domestic emissions targets.
That is why they allowed Grangemouth and Lindsey to close last year, reducing Britain to just four refineries.
Shame on them.
@JohnSimpsonNews I read yesterday that at least 16% of the Serbian population lost their lives in WW1. A terrifying statistic. It may have been sonething like 50% of the male fighting age population of the country.
@DominicFrisby I'm very much looking forward to reading our signed copy of the Secret History of Gold that we won at Crazy Coqs but every time I pick it up I am overwhelmed. I just can't bear the excitement, the aniticipation and have to spend the day in bed.