Sam

[Sam @Stuart_t0]

@raelbrav Seams like a reasonable strategy to me. There are plenty of Reform supporters who would like to see both parties come together. Mustering support from the ranks before or during negotiations would make sense.

[Sam @Stuart_t0]

@ClarksonsFarm1 Take more risk. Don’t be afraid of failure.

[Sam @Stuart_t0]

@asentance @afneil Same question applies to the Welsh Government as well.

[Claire Coutinho @ClaireCoutinho]

In my three years covering the energy brief, I have never seen anything like this.

I first raised concerns put to me by whistleblowers within NESO in the House of Commons on 7 July.

The main allegation is that our grid is not being run securely, and specifically that the rules put in place to prevent blackouts were breached on 23 June, when a heatwave put strain on our electricity supply.

Since then, we have seen a conveyor belt of dismissals, denials, and downright lies from NESO and Ministers.

The problem? Time and again, the whistleblowers keep being proved right.

At first NESO denied that rules were breached on 23 June, telling staff and the press that the allegations were “false”.

Ministers Ed Miliband and Michael Shanks said I was “scaremongering”, and Shanks told the House categorically that “at no point did we come close to breaching” reserve standards.

However, leaked internal documents have since shown that NESO's initial view was that they did breach reserve standards, and that “system security was compromised”.

NESO has confirmed these documents are genuine and has provided no evidence to contradict them.

Strike one.

Senior management also criticised the whistleblowers internally, saying on an all-staff call that they had “let them down”.

They denied this was said, only for a leaked recording to prove that it had been.

Strike two.

Then Ministers and NESO management insisted an 'independent' investigation would take place, only for it again to become clear that this was not true.

Ministers and Ofgem had left NESO to mark their own homework. Engineers were told that if they wanted to contribute, they had to identify themselves to the very NESO managers whose necks would be on the line if the inquiry found them to be at fault.

Strike three.

After my repeated complaints, some improvements have been made to the investigation. But there is still no route for control room operators to raise concerns about grid security without going through NESO managers.

Miliband was completely absent during this scandal, too busy trying – and failing – to become Chancellor.

His Ministers have been firmly on the side of NESO management despite their repeated poor behaviour.

Whatever your view on renewables, it is clear that the more wind and solar we pile onto our grid, the less engineers can perform the delicate balancing act needed to keep the lights on.

You need to have a lot of back-up power on standby in case the wind doesn’t blow or the sun doesn’t shine.

And if the wind blows or sun shines too much, you need to pay to switch things off.

Balancing costs us £1.5bn per year now, but up to £10bn by 2030 - all paid through your bills.

These 'hidden costs' triggered my battle to get the energy department to do a true costing of renewables. We have to look at their full system costs, not just their cost when the wind is blowing the right amount.

Sadly, one of Ed Miliband’s first acts was to cancel that work and ask NESO to take it on instead.

They delivered one of the most discredited reports I have ever seen, showing through shameless statistical contortions that Labour's dash to Clean Power 2030 was, conveniently, both achievable and consumer-friendly.

As the sole shareholder of NESO, only the Secretary of State can hold them to account.

The NESO leadership’s craven support for his plans, worked out behind the scenes with his political advisers, shows they had already given up on the standards of impartiality and integrity required from our independent public bodies.

When public bodies face no accountability, the British public will always lose.

The fact that things have got so bad for expert engineers within our control room that they are talking to an Opposition politician and the press at huge personal risk is shameful.

The Ministers dismissing their concerns do these courageous individuals a huge disservice.

We should be applauding them, not denigrating them.

I will not stop until they are heard.

[Sam @Stuart_t0]

@WRCPAST Had one exactly like that. Great car, fast and practical.

[Sam @Stuart_t0]

@KevinASchofield Surely his next move then is to not stand himself.....

[Sam @Stuart_t0]

@HillF1 So he’s basically saying that Antonelli doesn’t have talent. What a ridiculous assertion.

[Sam @Stuart_t0]

@KevinASchofield Surely it’s just a threat that will be withdrawn if burnham offers him a job?

[Sam @Stuart_t0]

@Artemisfornow If they want to slow down AI development just stop building data centres. It’s really that simple, they have already maxed out the available compute.

[Sam @Stuart_t0]

@MatthewStadlen Sounds like you’re creating an off-ramp for your earlier support for Starmers position.

[Sam @Stuart_t0]

@Gwlad_Gwlad @_Sell2Wales The contracts may go to companies outside Wales but that doesn’t mean that local people aren’t involved in delivery.

[Sam @Stuart_t0]

@tomwhx Hi Tom….did you put the graph together?

[Sam @Stuart_t0]

@JohnSimpsonNews Maybe Hezbollah had assets in or under the building that the IDF knew couldn't be easily moved?

[Sam @Stuart_t0]

@rickygervais Managed to get two for the 25th. Need one more if anyone has one spare?

[Sam @Stuart_t0]

@MrJamesMay @leekern13 Reminds me of an Italian guy I had working for me years ago. Every time we’d meet I’d ask him how he was and he’d actually tell me in detail. After a few months of this I got fed up and explained to him that in the UK we normally answer “fine” even if as your leg is hanging off.

[Sam @Stuart_t0]

@ClarksonsFarm1 Take more risk.

[Sam @Stuart_t0]

@annettedittert @lewis_goodall I don’t think I heard him say the content of the Prescott report was wrong he just said the report was politically narrow in its observations.

[Sam @Stuart_t0]

@David__Osland They obviously peaked too soon. 😂😂

[Sam @Stuart_t0]

@iamtomskinner There may be a few teens who think they can become YouTubers but the issue goes way beyond that. Starmer should start reducing university places, increasing funding for apprenticeships to incentivise employers and bring back indenture to cement apprentice/employer commitment

[Sam @Stuart_t0]

@there_is_no_if He didn’t refuse to look at it again when he started he actually oversaw the enquiry.