vivweb01blog

Warning to low Electricity and Gas users:  Don't be tempted by offers from your supplier to fix your tariffs now. If you do, you'll lock yourself into a contract lasting at least a year with exit penalties, and won't be able to take advantage of any No-SC tariffs that appear this winter.... ------------------------------- Why are No-SC tariffs important, and when are we likely to see them ? Our Electricity prices in UK are acknowledged to be the highest in Europe.  Despite this rather serious indictment of our pricing structure, as discussed in a previous blog , our Electricity and Gas suppliers have continued to penalise low users by first re-introducing, then continually hiking up their standing charges (SCs) to hitherto unprecedented levels. This has not so far been challenged by the regulator, OFGEM, but has caused much resentment and complaints amongst consumers, who object to 'paying through the nose for not using any energy' as they see it.  Figure 1 shows ...

  On present evidence, and despite a welcome shower or two in recent weeks, we just might….. Those of us old enough to remember the excesses of the 1970s will recall one of the most notable of its meteorological ones - the ‘great drought’ of ’76. Contrary to popular belief, this was more extensive and prolonged than the current one, with both a dry autumn and winter in 1975 and a dry spring in 1976 contributing.   In June 1976 there was actually a period of two weeks where maximum temperatures in southern England never fell below 32oC, and we haven't seen anything that prolonged this year - yet. The prolonged nature of the 1976 heatwave, and the following dry, hot period which continued until early August, resulted in severe consequences for crops and domestic  water supplies, with taps in some areas actually running dry. This culminated in the Drought Act being rushed through parliament on 5 th August. This legislation   included more draconian water restricti...

  Editor's note: This blog first saw the light of day in late December last year after 5 months of Labour's incumbency (or should it be encumbrance ?). If anything, the prospects of  its leader securing a second term, or even surviving in post to seek one, seem even more remote. The latest mis-step (or should it be ' lammy ') is a frontal attack on seven of his back-bench 'rebels', four of whom have actually had the whip removed. Far from trying to bring them and their many 'potential rebel' colleagues onside in an attempt to save his premiership, as any remotely astute leader would do, he 'goes for the jugular' in a (probably vain) attempt to frighten them all into submission. Even Diane Abbott may not be safe, now that she has withdrawn her recantation over her comments on 'differential racism', which are being 'considered' as we speak..... Oh no, not another 'lammy'...... I spoke too soon - he's just expelled Diane ...

Last year  I took a look at various options that we in the UK might use for energy conservation as part of a wider review of our energy crisis and its consequences.  Since then, political parties of all hues have weighed in on the ‘greening’ debate and there appears to be a general consensus that we need to replace fossil fuels with renewables and nuclear for our energy generation and supply. The only dispute is over how quickly we should do it, and in the UK at least, this is currently tied up with the post-election policy tussle between the two (erstwhile) major parties and Reform. Starmer's recent 'go slower' initiative was designed primarily to wrong-foot the Tories and Reform on their criticism of Miliband's over-hasty introduction of Cameron's so eloquently described 'green crap'. Miliband is, needless to say not happy with the wind being taken out of his sails in this way, and I foresee trouble ahead for Starmer from his 400-strong 'rump' of...

  Devotees of the BBC’s Radio 4 ‘Dead Ringers’ comedy offering will already be familiar with the phrase “Oh what a lammy”.... The DR team’s most recent series has treated us to hilarious weekly lampoons of our unfortunately rather ‘gaffe-prone’ foreign secretary, thereby doing much to lift the country’s morale at a time of much turbulence and uncertainty on the international and home fronts. If there’s one thing the dear old Beeb has done right in recent months, it’s commission another series of this radio ‘gem’, for which they should rightly accept the credit that’s due… on the other hand, failure to renew or cancellation (heaven forbid!) of this series is simply not an option if they wish to retain the licence fee beyond 2027. Programme planners be warned.... The series is A must for any comedy fan - if you haven’t already sampled the delights, it's available on BBC Sounds now….. But I digress....here's the serious bit.... The term ‘lammy’ actually already has an ...