I'm biased, but I think this is the apex example of how our discourse has become detached from reality. The reality has moved rapidly in one direction (dramatic fall in solar and battery costs; climate change seeming worse than expected). The discourse has moved in the exact opposite direction

Fossil fuels suffer from this little thing known as intermittency. You have to build a whole back-up energy system for when the little boats get stuck. Not many people know this.

over on Twitter an economist I used to think was halfway sensible is still utterly obsessed with the idea that decisions on North Sea licences are the number one issue with regard to this energy crisis, and I honestly don't get how people become this deranged.

The Economist arguing for export controls - never thought I'd see that!

Sobering report from the team at @e3g.bsky.social explaining how it's not just about the Strait of Hormuz. Chokepoints are inherent to fossil fuel markets and as a result no importer is safe. www.businessgreen.com/news-analysi...

Incredible how far public debate in Europe and the US is behind the emerging reality of the global energy transition in every aspect. This is Indonesia's transition to electric vehicles. Indonesia has a GDP per capita less than a third of the UK and a quarter of the US.

Hilarious how for years serious people have said that you can't rely on renewables because they are prone to disruptions in supply www.ft.com/content/19f1...

What does it mean when we say the North Sea is a mature basin? This by @frankiemayo.bsky.social illustrates it well. The major spoils have already been tapped, additional discoveries are smaller and more technically complex (expensive). You can't argue with geology.

Truly remarkable political antennae from Kemi Badenoch to call for windfall taxes to be cut just as oil and gas companies line up to enjoy a windfall for the ages. www.businessgreen.com/news/4527688...

It is absolutely stupid that a major focus of policy response to the Iran War is on the planned 1p rise in fuel duty in September (watching Trevor Phillips interview Bridget Phillipson). Of no help now to anyone to abandon it. Shows how trivial our political debate has become.

There are l many bad North Sea takes at the moment. The one that slips through the net is the sensible sounding ‘We won’t affect global prices but we would be more secure’ Uk energy security is all about price! We didn’t face actual shortages in 2022 or now we just had to pay more to get it

When someone tells you they'll base the country's future energy security off of North Sea gas, they're not being honest with you. 14 years & a policy of 'maxing out' the basin produced only 36 days worth of gas to date www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Conscious decoupling ✨

Lot of debate about splitting the gas and renewables market for electricity (decoupling). This is a distraction from what we need to actually do. www.common-wealth.org/publications... 1/5🧵

In the middle of an oil and gas crisis, it's been a remarkable day for clean power in Great Britain. –Fossil fuel reached a new record low share in our generation mix, just 2.2% –Wind power set a new record high, 23.88 GW

Duck curve is OUT Boa constrictor digesting an elephant curve is IN

This is where the debate should be, rather than on the distraction of North Sea drilling. What can government do to move faster on clean tech and green buildings? Can it afford to be more ambitious and demand new homes are passivhaus and zero bill? How quickly can it bring down fossil fuel reliance?

This was great - my main takeaways: - We have summer months to crunch down on oil/gas demand (heat pumps, EVs)- all no-regrets stuff- even if the crisis ends tomorrow, it won't be the last - There's more to do on levy reform - The fiscal space for universal bill support just isn't there this time.

amazing that European car companies retreated on EVs just before a potentially major oil shock

Official UK oil and gas statistics and projections suggest that 93% of the oil and gas that is likely to be produced from the North Sea has already been extracted. eciu.net/media/press...

Something extraordinary – yet predictable – has happened over recent days on Facebook. Fake accounts that usually post anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim content generated using AI to fuel division and hate in UK are now pushing out AI-gen content asking: "Should the UK produce its own fuel again?"

STICK IT ON A FIVE POUND NOTE

This can't be said often enough.

Who else would have an interest in high oil prices, strained NATO relations, and distractions from Ukraine? @wsj.com www.wsj.com/world/russia...

Sam Alvis of IPPR says support for net zero remains strong among the public despite political narratives suggesting otherwise. #NetZero #ClimatePolicy #EnergyPolitics #EnergyTransition

I think some quantification is in order here. The net cost of energy support policies in 22/23 was £51bn. Less than 10% of the gross was recovered through windfall taxes. The tax take from oil & gas last year was £4.5bn. It's not nothing but it's not huge, and drilling more is going to add what?

Factcheck: North Sea gas is not ‘four times cleaner’ than LNG imports | @daisydunne.carbonbrief.org @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org #CBarchive Read here: buff.ly/IoMIeUt

The idea the North Sea is some great goldmine waiting to be tapped is entirely at odds with reality.

This is a dreadful proposal that will erode trust and transparency in politics even further. Of course staff will prefer maximum privacy but this has to be balanced against the public's right to know which interests are influencing the people representing them. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Damn, those fossil fuels are looking pretty intermittent

If I were an industry extracting rents from fossil fuel trade disruption, I, too, would be pretty keen to lift a windfall tax right now.

Following the price surge, the British right are pedalling a fantasy of self-sufficiency through North Sea oil. This has no serious basis in reality. Britain has been a net energy importer for 20 years. It has nothing to do with net zero and everything to do with decades of declining production🧵

Damn, those fossil fuels are looking pretty intermittent

👀 www.lbc.co.uk/article/d295...

"As well as calling to reverse the licences and the windfall tax, the former ministers also want the government to give Equinor and Shell permission to develop two giant new oil and gasfields, Rosebank and Jackdaw. " That's interesting.. www.ft.com/content/2d18...

Great piece

This is how the Cure's Robert Smith imagined life to be in the mid-2020s - when he was asked by Smash Hits magazine in 1983... "More boring. More people around. It will be battery people. World will be really awful. I'd like it to be 95F all the time."

release the crosstabs by age!!

Oil spills aren’t rare. They’re routine. 🚨 Tonnes of oil was spilled into our seas in 2025 alone, and this toxic drip feed of pollution is devastating our ocean wildlife 🌊 Take action with us today ✊ 🚫 End new oil & gas: https://act.oceana.org/page/171529/action/1?ea.tracking.id=bluesky

This piece is as good as everyone's saying. It's striking how willing this bonehead is to outsource all ethical judgement to the tiktok algorithm. Just a humble participant in the market, responding to the incentives on offer.

I know we all focus on geopolitical issues when considering how dependent Europe is on US LNG, but probably wise to acknowledge that when it gets really cold, gas / LNG supply becomes quite insecure on an infrastructure basis. US gas to LNG dropped 30% as soon as things started icing up.

The Gorton and Denton by-election will at least be a chance to test the theory that the left bloc will always vote for Labour if it's to keep Reform out

He's giving new meaning to 'tilting at windmills'

how many swift bricks will you need for that

Am I anti-Semitic? No it's the (((North London Elite))) who are wrong

I will never get over pieces claiming Ed Miliband has 'turned a steady decline into a collapse' and printing this graph alongside.

Our data journalism is great and this was instructive, but note that burning a barrel of oil produces 433kg CO2 equivalent. So this is the difference between adding 22% (Venezuela) or 6% (Brazil) to the CO2 emitted. Significant but not game-changing