Image it, if Scotland’s Cambo oil subject is drilled, we will sit in our pants in our toasty properties, unencumbered by crippling gas poverty.
Billions in taxes from Shell will rain down on the poor of this land, as united we cry: “ Putin, shove your oil again up your pipe.”
That is the dream, Shell and its PR cronies will likely be promoting us now the power big is “reconsidering” its resolution to drag out of the Cambo oilfield growth off Shetland.
I say dream however, in fact, I imply lie. Assume Pinocchio if his nostril might be seen from house.
Shell has additionally resubmitted plans to drill the North Sea’s Jackdaw subject, named fittingly after the thieving git of the hen world.
Yep, COP26 is over, the TV crews have gone residence and Shell can drop the pretence and get again on the hunt for liquid gold.
And there may be no higher cut-off date to “rethink” putting up the large polluters of Cambo and Jackdaw than when a warfare is raging in Europe.
Nothing performs into the arms of massive companies like warfare, the right alternative for catastrophe capitalists to swoop in, exploit collective panic and switch it into income.
So right here we're, six million folks within the UK in gas poverty and alongside comes the bogey man Putin to hold all of the blame.
The Russian invasion has pushed up world oil costs however we had a chittering inhabitants surviving off meals banks lengthy earlier than the invasion of Ukraine.
In Britain, about 4 per cent of gasoline and eight per cent of oil comes from Russia, far decrease than any of our European neighbours. And we aren't as depending on Russia as we're being made to consider.
And Cambo will not be about plugging our power hole.
Shell declared £14.5billion in income for 2021 on the identical day in February as Ofgem elevated the power worth cap by 54 per cent.
The flexibility to cut back gas payments already lies within the arms of the power corporations however a polar bear will likely be dancing in George Sq. earlier than that occurs. Shell and BP, which collectively produce greater than 1.7billion tonnes of greenhouse gases a yr, haven't paid any company tax on oil and gasoline manufacturing within the North Sea for years.
Shell and BP paid no company tax or manufacturing levies on North Sea oil operations between 2018 and 2020, and claimed tax reliefs of almost £400million.
The UK has a few of the lowest oil tax charges on the planet and we're paying a few of the highest gas payments on the planet.
Neither Cambo nor Jackdaw would produce oil for years and Cambo holds heavy crude oil which is just about unusable within the UK.
With 80 per cent of the oil extracted within the UK exported, the profit to the UK of drilling Cambo is negligible.
The one solution to cut back our dependence on company, Russian and Saudi dictators is thru options resembling renewables and insulation.
In Glasgow, Queens Cross housing affiliation refurbished blocks of Nineteen Sixties excessive rises and made them so environmentally pleasant, power demand was slashed by 80 per cent.
The mission value £16million however that’s nothing to the price of flattening the buildings and beginning once more, and a few tenants haven’t switched on their heating for years.
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Options are already obtainable and have to be rolled out not simply to cut back our dependence on fossil fuels and save the planet however to remove the debilitating cruelty of gas poverty suffered by tens of millions within the UK.
There's a Russian saying “I ran from the wolf however ran right into a bear”.
And if we modify our considering we may be launched from the grip of Putin with out tightening the stranglehold of grasping power giants.
P&O, fireplace and rehire and a sinking feeling
The administration of P&O ferries should know they're decrease than a pimple on a snake’s stomach when the Tories are condemning them.
However look previous the mock outrage of Tory ministers threatening prosecution and keep in mind this can be a celebration which celebrates callous remedy of employees by “market forces”.
Tons of of firms throughout Britain have been allowed to execute the identical coverage of fireside and rehire, simply not so crudely.
This obscene money-grabbing tactic has been used for years and the identical Tories now condemning P&O might have stopped this vile apply years in the past.
A yr in the past – higher late than by no means – Labour MP Barry Gardiner drafted a Cease Fireplace and Rehire Invoice, which might have penalised employers who failed to barter with their workforce.
It might have allowed P&O employees to safe an injunction to reverse the sackings however the Tory Authorities blocked the Invoice.
The largest mistake P&O ferries made was to fireplace its workers by video whereas corporations like British Gasoline, Tesco and British Airways had been well mannered sufficient to spoil employees’ lives to their faces.
Can’t shake off disgrace
Kate and Wills can shake their maracas all they need on their Caribbean tour however they will’t distract from the brutality of 300 years of colonial rule.
A letter signed by Jamaican leaders stated the Royals’ predecessors “perpetuated the best human rights tragedy within the historical past of humankind” and that they weren’t welcome.
Except they've an apology and reparations for the UK’s half in slavery, the Royals ought to get again on the aircraft.
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