Our macroeconomic reliance on debt, and the focus on aggregate demand, is based upon a wide Keynesian consensus.
Less attention is paid to the savings that must provide the funding for investment, the centrality of assets and importance of the core infrastructure systems – natural and conventional. Microeconomic principles, such as the polluter pays and public money for public goods, provide guides for developing sustainable government policies.
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Podcast 69: Thames Water – the unacceptable face of water privatisation
How have investors managed to turn Thames Water, despite its extraordinary debt, inefficiency and poor performance, into a company that offers rich financial rewards, at least for some? The roots of this began with the privatisation of water in England and Wales in 1989. At the time, the sector was in need of significant repairs… Read more…
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Podcast 68: Heathrow airport shutdown – a lesson in resilience
The recent fire at an electricity substation shut Heathrow Airport for 24 hours, causing chaos in the skies and across international airports. In doing so, it highlighted the broader critical condition of the UK’s major infrastructure and its lack of resilience. “Just in time” and “just enough” have replaced secure, ready and prepared. The incident… Read more…
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Podcast 67: Defence versus net zero
Retreats on manifesto promises (electric vehicles and gas boilers), alongside the plans for carbon-intensive housebuilding and airport expansion, as well as renewal of the DRAX subsidy, are putting the UK’s ambition to achieve net zero electricity by 2030 at serious risk. Additionally, the cost of capital for renewable energy projects has increased, making it more… Read more…
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Defence and the retreat from net zero
Few grand projects survive contact with reality, and the grand promise of net zero electricity by 2030 is clearly one of these. There have been the first skirmishes – the promise of £28 billion per annum, the grand ambition for Great British Energy to be the EDF of Britain, and the silly promise that you… Read more…
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Podcast 66: Climate cakeism
Climate cakeism The UK government and the Climate Change Committee (CCC), with its 7th Carbon Budget, are keen to portray a “cakeism” narrative, suggesting that economic growth and net zero emissions are easily achievable together, without net costs and us having to change our lifestyles. The CCC even claims that it can reduce electricity bills by… Read more…
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Podcast 65: Competitive electricity prices
Competitive industrial electricity prices The UK has very expensive electricity for both the industrial sectors and consumers, despite the government’s policies that are intended to deliver the exact opposite. It’s damaging not only the dwindling remaining energy-intensive industries in the UK, but also any potential future ones, including all the AI and data centres. A quick look… Read more…
