The Unstoppable Lie Machine
Six weeks ago, Nicola Sturgeon said this:
Today, on her behalf, her perpetually furious lawyer said this:
So she was lying. Imagine literally nobody’s surprise. “I have nothing to hide, but I’m going to hide it anyway” is flawlessly in character.
(Though we must take a moment to note that the idea of anyone bothering to release her “police interview” – seven hours of “No comment” – is hilarious.)
In the intervening time, both Police Scotland and the Crown Office have made it very plain that Sturgeon was NOT “exonerated”, something only a judge and jury have the power to do, but Anwar lies about it anyway because neither of them has the slightest clue how to do anything but lie any more.
Everywhere Sturgeon goes, the lies glisten in her wake like a snail trail. The former First Minister, a coward to the last, is nothing but a stain on Scotland’s history.
I wonder who took the telephone call from Thames House?
Innocent fm I’ve several bridges to sell !!
Oh my god. Only thing gold – plated is her brass neck.
Ah the good old “exonerated”. That’s what I used to bring down Jeffrey Archer all those years ago. Are you sure you don’t want me sending you my stuff on the late John Smith? Anglia Television is where the paths of Archer and Smith collided back in May of 1994.
I genuinely commit a crime virtually every day. Whether it’s exceeding a speed limit, peeing in the woods when caught short, running an amber light, or mindlessly discarding a cigarette butt. However, I’ve never been charged, prosecuted or convicted, therefore I’m completely innocent.
Now if that was me, and I had nothing to hide I’d be demanding that the “police interview” was published.
But the thought that she’s hiding something will go on and on.
Methinks the woman denies to much…..
It is a joy to behold, that sharp common sense coupled with dogged persistance applied like an old fasioned poultice to the offending area, that is patiently and adoitly with almost loving care repeatedly administered until the pus starts to weep out, you have them kicking and screaming on the mend.
Wont be long now. Very well done.
Every terrorist who gave a no comment interview can now be said to have fully cooperated with the police. At least according to Sturgeon and her celebrity lawyer.
Isn’t there expression meant to be “gold-standard”. “Gold-plated’ suggests it looks authentic and real at first glance but is virtually worthless underneath. Or maybe that was the point lol
My take also
Getting rattled?
Fro
Excellent point well made. 🙂
Pettifogger
Anwar has been a radge wee man for most of his adult life. Ever since he got a bit of a shoeing up the West End of Glasgow when he was young.
He comes across as very arrogant and entitled. Perhaps Scotland is too “White” for him also.
Sturgeon and Anwar would make a nice couple now Peter is in the pokey….
Ld
Pal Val might have something to say about that!!
🙂
Anyway, it’s widely held that she doesnae like the boaby so that’s not going to happen..
Anwar is a rat in a suit defending the pig in knickers.
Couldn’t have put it any better , well said
“The former First Minister…is nothing but a stain on Scotland’s history.”
Indeed Rev, however the fact remains that “a colonized people are in no way a subject of history any more” (Memmi).
There is also a tendency for collaborating native elites and “confidential agents pensioned off by colonialism” to seek refuge in the mother country (Fanon), or its ‘dominions’ (Elkins).
Fucksake Alf, take a day off.
Well done Rev for your dogged and forensic dismantling of the lies and deceit that this awful woman has inflicted on Scotland. Now to be seen quaffing wine, bulging at the seams and demonstrating the lesbian lite image she had covered up for years with baldy, beardy, Peter. It is in plain sight that she is up to her ears in ordure but is determined to lie her way out. I am not a supporter of an independent Scotland; however I have always had a regard for those who had the vision of a fair and decent Scotland run by individuals with honour and integrity. What we got was Sturgeon, Useless and Swinney that tripped up hilariously on the men in dresses debacle and were infiltrated by some of the vilest and strange people on the planet. So it is unfortunately proven Tharp Scotland cannot govern itself due to the criminally incompetent chancers that machete their way up. And by the way folks please give the colonial guff a rest. Brilliant stuff Rev, you are getting a lot of traction in other organs.
@James Blair
Yes, that pretty much mirrors my own take on these things. Rev Stu deserves huge credit for shedding light on this whole tawdry affair.
His is truly a real David v. Goliath tale in journalistic terms. Cap duly doffed.
Best thing you have ever written Stu. I would however suggest that a day is far too short.
Yeah, Baird, shut the fuck up… anyone would think this is a Scottish independence supporting blog the way you bang on and on about how Scotland is a fucked-up mess of a former country because the English colonized it.
Keep your posts, if you must post at all, to the same daily count as some of the colonialists (unionists if preferred… same thing) who ponce aboot this place endlessly posting their anti-Scots rhetoric.
Oh, wait. That would mean actually increasing your daily posting output by at least tenfold.
I didn’t really think that through, eh?
Heh! Literally the very next post, Northy to the rescue of his idol.
Like I said. Zero self awareness.
None.
I’m sure there might be more of an accommodation of the professor if he posted on a range of subjects rather than repeatedly posting the same thing over and over again, sometimes on an hourly basis.
yeah, Alf to STFU about colonisation … if the rev SHUTS THE FUCK UP ABOUT TRANNIES, no one gives a shit and FUCK WOMENS SPORTS and fuck the suffragettes and fuck feminism – when western civilisation is finally destroyed its the wimmin who will have buried it. Lets put queers and wimmin in charge … oh no its all fucked up … no one could have predicted this (just every major religion, philosopher, thinker of any note) – the west is run by fat women with lanyards and rainbow badges; did the mullahs really get it wrong?
as for Scotland – we got fucked over by a fat lesbian at one end (Queen Anne) and now we have been fucked over at the other by “Queen Nikki”.
“…if he posted on a range of subjects rather than repeatedly posting the same thing over and over again…”
The American educator Mortimer Adler, who wrote extensively about reading and understanding difficult texts said:
“The more times you read a book, the more you understand it.”
Understanding complex subjects isn’t a straightforward matter for most humans.
And that being so, the more times going over the source material equals a greater chance of the ‘penny dropping’ leading to a more profound understanding of the educational ‘message’.
Postcolonial theory is exceptionally complex in that it mainly deals with human psychology – asking folk to look at their own behaviour and analyse its origins is an enormously difficult challenge for most people.
Alf Baird’s book, ‘Doun-Hauden: The Socio-Political Determinants of Scottish Independence’ (Kindle version £4:99 from Amazon) lays out in easily understood language how postcolonial theory can be applied to Scotland’s specific situation.
Professor Baird uses his academic expertise to ‘ground out’ an analytical framework which helps to identify, based on analysis of key environmental factors, the fundamental determinants of Scottish independence.
Professors Hateface, Caveman, AI Dan, and all the other unionist professors who roam this place haven’t produced any academic work at all so far to counter Professor Baird’s thoroughly researched argument.
“No comment”
You’re right Northcode, Alf has published his book and so if any of us wanted to explore the theme of colonialism in the Scottish context more throughly, we could buy the book and read it.
As it is, most of Alf posts;
– do not provide any insight;
– do not engage any other posters in a genuine point of conversation;
– convey substantially the same meaning, to they extent they have any meaning at all; and
– are irrelevant to both the original post or to anyone else’s comments.
Can you provide any rationale excuse for this kind of behavior, I think the most charitable explanation is an unfortunate mix of boredom and obsession.
“No comment”. Great double entendre, Alf.
Response to the Rev. & Sturgeon tribute act rolled into one!
Stu, as has been observed before while your patience does you credit there are times when liberal use of hammers is the only answer.
Although you famously opined that you don’t actually read most (any?) of the BTL commentary, there does come a point when only a good hammering will do the trick. It has invariably improved both the content and flow of BTL commentary, which is a shadow of its former glory.
Adding colony / colonialism to the naughty word list would be a fine start.
Pastor Fagat & 1.51
The classroom creep..
“Please Miss! Please Miss! Please Miss!; Alf used the “C” word!!!!”
Our esteemed professor says
“the fact remains that “a colonized people are in no way a subject of history any more” (Memmi)”
No, Professor. Where is your academic brain?
You quoting Memmi’s opinion does not make it fact. It remains Memmi’s opinion.
I guess if Memmi was right, there would be absolutely no point in sending the Scotland team to the World Cup.
Erm.
Haud oan. Have I just found evidence supporting Memmi’s assertion?
Why should she start telling the truth now, when her whole (rather successful) career has been based on NOT telling the truth?
The phrase “chickens coming home to roost” springs to mind now though.
Those chickens have grown wings and flown off to Portugal, or some similar sunny place, never to return to their Scottish roost.
Anyone who thinks Sturgeon is ever going to face justice for her crimes against high-heeled shoes, and other more serious things, is dreaming of an independent Scotland where Scots Law issues international arrest warrants to clip those wings and bring those nasty chickens home to roast.
Heh, well maybe – but not if we’re talking about the Court of Public Opinion?
That’s really quite the cliff fall.
When it’s all laid out like Rev Stu has done it becomes so very clear what a barefaced liar Nicola Sturgeon is.
Her halo has slipped, and like the whores drawers, her reputation is around her ankles.
The black facade cannot however go on. The reputation of the Crown Prosecution Fiscal Service and Police Scotland is in tatters. These rotten and corrupt arms of the state are now being exposed internationally for what they are.
No one, and I mean no one can have any confidence in the so called rule of law. It does not exist. It is a carefully polished myth and Sturgeon is exposing it to be so.
The reality of course is a gangster state for all the world to see. And Sturgeon is doing her best to show that.
But her chutzpah of denial will come to an end. The state will have to prosecute her, and indeed others. She is a rotten bad egg and her, and others time is coming to an end.
And not a moment to soon. The big bang is coming.
And on that day, everybody’s drawers will be around their ankles.
Clean up your mind p, McHateful. Why waste our time with your obsessions. Your obsession with excretory processes seemed to have been reduced but are the most likely explanation for your otherwise irrelevant or vacuous comment. ‘Take a day off’, and as long as required for psychotherapy.
You got it, Rev.
Question…
Does Alf Baird really post his repetitive mince himself ?
Or does he have a bot churning out irrelevant quotes every time it is triggered by certain keywords ?
LOL
Talk about self-awareness bypass!
Do piss off.
I mean Scotsmen and women, wake up!!! What are we expected to believe – an individual who has been arrested and replies “No comment” to all questions and then sends in a report –
Cue Murder/Burglary/Dope Dealer/Terrorist suspect “No comment” “Will send you a written reply to all your questions at my convenience,in a few days’ time once I’ve talked to my lawyer
The down side of being a Wings reader is that you find yourself shouting at the English media reporting on all of this;
“We know that!”
“Yes and we know that as well. Get to the bloody point!”
There’s a down side? Crivens!
Immunity engenders impunity.
Rev
The cracks are starting to show..
Keep going.
The Guardian is reporting that whistleblowers have revealed how close the UK came last month to an electricity supply grid collapse. The issue has also been raised in the WM parly (by the Tories, so tribalists can stop reading now).
Seemingly a heatwave puts the same demand for electricity on the grid as a cold snap. Both are typically associated with stable, high pressure weather systems, in which the turbines don’t do very much.
Far from being drowning in “cheap leccy”, seems there still isn’t enough to go around when it’s really needed.
I guess the green energy zealots are much like the cashless society freaks. Both can only be cured by a 48-hour period with no power, comms and internet. Dirty, hungry, desperate for news, trapped and unable to go anywhere, they’ll have time to reflect on the wisdom of those who counselled against tying a modern country’s power supplies to the vagaries of the weather.
…. now, that is better McHateful, electricity supplies!
“… they’ll have time to reflect on the wisdom of those who counselled against tying a modern country’s power supplies to the vagaries of the weather.”
I wholeheartedly agree that that is indeed a satisfying thought, Hatey. The trouble is, though, they’ll have dragged the rest of us down with them at this point.
Still, no doubt we’ll all be told how “unforeseeable” it all was.
When did “we” all become *so* thick, and allowed one-track, brainless zealots (who’ve never actually had a real job) be in charge? Heavens above, we don’t half need a reboot.
Cheers, CC.
I can only reply because Rev Jay has generously granted prior authorisation.
The Guardian states that it was the availability of backup gas-powered generation that stopped a grid collapse.
That gas-powered intervention seemingly cost millions, due to its emergency, short term nature. To which I can only respond, “Drill, baby, drill!”
How’s that, Jay? Stick all your comments in the usual place.
Heh. Amusingly enough, Hatey, our excitable, puffed up, endlessly verbose friend “Jay” is of precisely the same “ideologically captured, witless leftist zealot” ilk that we’re discussing here – though I very much doubt he’ll see the irony. 🙂
If you tell one lie more are sure to follow.
When all of this started it was about the Independence fund regarding 2017 & 2019 crowdfunding, its now when into different avenues, but the original complaint still hasn’t been addressed.
When Sturgeon was FM she had to some degree of control of events, now she just a ordinary person she totally reliant on someone else.
I’d say Wings has more information than whats been published and no one knows who been saying what and to whom.
Now Peter Murrell’s in jail will he be prepared to keep tight lip if facing more accusation with regards to embezzlement and fraud I personally doubt it.
Lets remember when Peter pleaded guilty he thought this was the end of it, is it. I very much doubt it.
Swinney’s position isn’t what he thought it was going to be. I’m sure he thought Peter was going to plead guilty and do his time and every thing else will just be forgotten about, this plan hasn’t worked the exact opposite has happened its opened new area’s of investigation and could implement a whole lot of people.
Lets remember Peter was happy to do one for the team I very much doubt someone else is going to go to jail to protect her or anyone else in the SNP.
Obviously, the written statement contains something she doesn’t want in the public domain, but what?
She might have been Scotland longest serving FM, she also the worst FM we’ve ever had.
All these other fraud investigations propping up, Peter might just be thinking why or why have I taken one for the team, its somebody else’s turn now and he me be prepared to talk, if he hasn’t already.
At leased Johnston can look back in History and say I performed better than Sturgeon.
She nervous to the point she doesn’t know what to say or do without the fear of putting her foot in her mouth.
I bet the Police want to talk to her about YesScotland.
I wonder what can one lawyer say, another can’t say.
I am in no doubt when Sturgeon stood down as FM she believed she had this all under control, so did Swinney. You only have to listen to Swinney and watch Sturgeon to see they don’t.
It just a shame Salmond isn’t still alive, his opinion would have been informative.
I’m beginning to think if money has been embezzled from Yes Scotland I can’t see how the Crown office or the Police can ignore the Independence crowdfunding for 2017 or 2019.
We have to be thinking to ourselves that Swinney has promoted certain individuals to the rants of MSP’s but what about those who were ignored, it might just be them that hold all the secrets.
Follow the slime trail, and eventually you will find the slug.
POWER & MONEY,
the danse macabre whose rhythms politicians, businessmen and the like just cannot resist.
Trump is the current Grand Master of this dance of death.
Include SEX and you have the perfect set.
I think it’s really good to see that Nicola has hitched her star to the outstanding Anwar. Between them they should be able to dust off any money issues nae worries, but his guidance will be really important when the Alex Salmond stuff comes to court and she stands initially * in the witness box and has to explain the evidence (when ‘I forget’ just won’t hack it).
* and heaven forfend, eventually the dock.
Get your invoices in early and often, AA.
I find myself caught up in the excitement generated by excessively topical World Cup madness – “No Scotland, No Party”, and aw that guid stuff.
So, in the spirit of good-hearted international sporting relations I deliver this message from Scotland to Argentina.
Good luck on Wednesday, Argentina… aw the best fae the Scots (this yin onyway).
For those interested, the opening lyrics to Argentina’s national amthem translate to English as:
How apt for us Scots, eh?
I hate the fitba, but I’ll be watching on Wednesday and hoping… hoping… hoping – three hopes tae none for Argentina.
G’aun yersel, Argentina!
Gaun yersel, Northcode.
it’s about more than fitba, innit.
link to japanhistory.github.io
“Unlike most contested territories, the Falklands present an unusual historical anomaly: no evidence suggests permanent indigenous settlement prior to European arrival. While Patagonian tribes like the Yaghan may have visited, the islands remained uninhabited until the 18th century. This absence complicates modern sovereignty claims, making the Falklands dispute uniquely about colonial legacy rather than indigenous rights—a stark contrast to conflicts like Western Sahara or Palestine….”
“The Falklands saga encapsulates every major theme of 21st-century geopolitics: energy competition, climate vulnerability, historical memory wars, and the tension between might and right. As autonomous weapons and cyber warfare evolve, the next Falklands conflict may play out very differently—but the underlying drivers remain hauntingly familiar.
What makes these islands perpetually relevant is their demonstration of how localized disputes become proxies for global order. Whether in the South China Sea or the Sahel, the same questions persist: Who gets to interpret history? Who benefits from the status quo? And when does might make right? The penguins of Stanley may not care, but the answers will shape our fractured world.”
I would recommend you read Samuel Johnson’s account of the Falklands dispute from the time: ‘Thoughts on the Late Transactions Respecting Falkland’s Islands’ (1771).
It starts like this:
‘To proportion the eagerness of contest to its importance seems too hard a task for human wisdom. The pride of wit has kept ages busy in the discussion of useless questions, and the pride of power has destroyed armies, to gain or to keep unprofitable possessions.
Not many years have passed, since the cruelties of war were filling the world with terrour and with sorrow; rage was at last appeased, or strength exhausted, and, to the harassed nations peace was restored with its pleasures and its benefits. Of this state all felt the happiness, and all implored the continuance; but what continuance of happiness can be expected, when the whole system of European empire can be in danger of a new concussion, by a contention for a few spots of earth, which, in the deserts of the ocean, had almost escaped human notice, and which, if they had not happened to make a seamark, had, perhaps, never had a name!’
The futility of the clashing of empires that led to Britain ‘acquiring’ the Falkands is laid bare, and its continuance today is a legacy of that. The rest of the article goes into a long, detailed account of what led to the Falkand’s dispute with Spain over some 200 years and is of historical interest only now, but he does sum up later by asking what on Earth have we gained and to condemn indifferent warmongers:
‘Such is the loss of Spain; let us now compute the profit of Britain. We have, by obtaining a disavowal of Buccarreli’s expedition, and a restitution of our settlement, maintained the honour of the crown, and the superiority of our influence. Beyond this what have we acquired? What, but a bleak and gloomy solitude, an island, thrown aside from human use, stormy in winter, and barren in summer; an island, which not the southern savages have dignified with habitation; where a garrison must be kept in a state that contemplates with envy the exiles of Siberia; of which the expense will be perpetual, and the use only occasional; and which, if fortune smile upon our labours, may become a nest of smugglers in peace, and in war the refuge of future bucaniers . . .
This is the country of which we have now possession, and of which a numerous party pretends to wish that we had murdered thousands for the titular sovereignty. To charge any men with such madness approaches to an accusation defeated by its own incredibility. As they have been long accumulating falsehoods, it is possible that they are now only adding another to the heap, and that they do not mean all that they profess. But of this faction what evil may not be credited? They have hitherto shown no virtue, and very little wit, beyond that mischievous cunning for which it is held, by Hale, that children may be hanged!
As war is the last of remedies, “cuncta prius tentanda,” all lawful expedients must be used to avoid it. As war is the extremity of evil, it is, surely, the duty of those, whose station intrusts them with the care of nations, to avert it from their charge. There are diseases of animal nature, which nothing but amputation can remove; so there may, by the depravation of human passions, be sometimes a gangrene in collective life, for which fire and the sword are necessary remedies; but in what can skill or caution be better shown, than preventing such dreadful operations, while there is yet room for gentler methods!
It is wonderful with what coolness and indifference the greater part of mankind see war commenced. Those that hear of it at a distance, or read of it in books, but have never presented its evils to their minds, consider it as little more than a splendid game, a proclamation, an army, a battle, and a triumph. Some, indeed, must perish in the most successful field, but they die upon the bed of honour, “resign their lives amidst the joys of conquest, and, filled with England’s glory, smile in death.”
The life of a modern soldier is ill represented by heroick fiction. War has means of destruction more formidable than the cannon and the sword. Of the thousands and ten thousands, that perished in our late contests with France and Spain, a very small part ever felt the stroke of an enemy; the rest languished in tents and ships, amidst damps and putrefaction; pale, torpid, spiritless, and helpless; gasping and groaning, unpitied among men, made obdurate by long continuance of hopeless misery; and were, at last, whelmed in pits, or heaved into the ocean, without notice and without remembrance. By incommodious encampments and unwholesome stations, where courage is useless, and enterprise impracticable, fleets are silently dispeopled, and armies sluggishly melted away.
Thus is a people gradually exhausted, for the most part, with little effect. The wars of civilized nations make very slow changes in the system of empire. The publick perceives scarcely any alteration, but an increase of debt; and the few individuals who are benefited are not supposed to have the clearest right to their advantages. If he that shared the danger enjoyed the profit, and, after bleeding in the battle, grew rich by the victory, he might show his gains without envy. But, at the conclusion of a ten years’ war, how are we recompensed for the death of multitudes, and the expense of millions, but by contemplating the sudden glories of paymasters and agents, contractors and commissaries, whose equipages shine like meteors, and whose palaces rise like exhalations!
These are the men who, without virtue, labour, or hazard, are growing rich, as their country is impoverished; they rejoice, when obstinacy or ambition adds another year to slaughter and devastation; and laugh, from their desks, at bravery and science, while they are adding figure to figure, and cipher to cipher, hoping for a new contract from a new armament, and computing the profits of a siege or tempest.’
‘
Bobby Moore was a thief. Never forget. Just like all his kind … wherever wood floats …
And the malvinas.
remember the brave lads who fought in the war – all those little dudes in their skyhawks; without the dodgy detonators, the thatcher cabal would have been finished politically
give hate a chance
I would love for an indy Scotland to get an airforce like the terrorist gangster state (just like them we blackmail the dumb yanks and they give us it for free) – then I would be in an F-15 (EX) going supersonic over central London, dropping white phosphorus on city bankers … there is a terrorist HQ under the gherkin, so there is.
– england could be like our “lebanon” – a fuckpig to be abused at will, for fun and giggles, a bully ramming just for the sake of it.
Scotland being the true promised land and we being the true chosen people – it is thus God’s will, and ye huv to dae whit the big man tells ye
in indy Scotland the youth will come of age like the ancient spartans or the aboriginals on walkabout – to survive 40 days in the wilderness and bring back the pelt of an englishman
Confused
Now now, that’s enough of that!
Poor AI Dun will have swooned requiring a touch of the vapours after reading that!!
Cheering on the Argentinians and not the exploits of the Scots Guards at Tumbledown? This self-identification lark is good, eh? You can be a bearded bloke and insist you’re really a ‘woman’, and you can cheer on the killers of our fellow Jocks and insist you’re a ‘Scottish patriot’. Aye, right.
SHM
I served then, but not in the Falklands, indeed I remember seeing the remnants of the Argentinian debris of Tumbledown at a military compound near Cambridge shipped up the following year with bits of Tumbledown and other stuff I won’t go into sticking out the muzzles and top cover ejection ports, sobering stuff indeed..
However time moves on, I was in Germany in fewer years past from WW2 than since the Falklands to now..
Things had -to an extent- moved on and I’ve subsequently been lucky rough to work with a couple of Argentinians, and the P0les, and East G3rmans who we were prepared to mow down when driven on by the whips of the Sov1ets, and let’s face it, the Ukra1nians, EstOnians, L1thuan1ans and god knows who else that would be sent our way in front of the steamroller that are now our “besties”..
What I’m saying, N! included is that life moves on and bearing such grudges won’t do you any good.
Anyway, the Engerlush!
Now that’s a different matter that the SGs would have “supported” or not as suited!
Few here seem to appreciate (or care) what it was like to serve..
It’s alien to them.
Support who you want tomorrow, it’s just a game of 20 men chasing a ball about while 2 guys get cold hanging about in the goals after all..
I’m sure the people of London can sleep safe in their beds knowing you likely can’t operate a pencil sharpener “Confused”, so the chances of an incoming bombing raid are zero.
“Support who you want tomorrow, it’s just a game of 20 men chasing a ball about while 2 guys get cold hanging about in the goals after all..”
Ne’er a truer word spoken. Life is indeed too bloody short, YL, and fair play to you, from what you’ve said, I reckon you know that better than most. Your post juxtapositions nicely with Confused’s, for sure. 🙂
Anyway, even if we “Inglis” make it through tonight, the Spanish looked very, very tasty in their ruthless dispatch of the French last night. Oh my days, with our shaky defence… Jude will need to score five 😀
Sturgeon’s collaboration with Gove raises a question or two.
Gove is one of the slimiest of the ‘proud Scot but’ agents of Westminster.
Probably worse that Daniel Defoe.
So how long have they been such good mates.
And isn’t this just a way to pay her off, a well paid acting job?
there’s not a lot of engineering or physics in the brains trust round here – caveman does not understand the concept of kinetic energy (big stupid cars are safer), main certainly isn’t aware of the maximal efficiency of a heat engine being determined by the carnot law (he doesn’t even do higher or lower) – and so we have halfwits trying to discuss energy and energy markets.
first of all energy markets don’t work because you can’t setup the conditions properly a la Adam Smith, so you setup an artificial market, which you have to rig, and then create a useless regulator ofgem, to pretend to everyone it works properly. Then when the supply companies go bust you still have to bail them out, and the whole thing still acts like a cartel
– the poster boy for fucked up energy markets was in america, which gave us enron, price gouging and brownouts, then one of the biggest frauds in history, and kenny boy lay having to fake his own death to avoid implicating cheney and bush …
the auction process gets the energy from the lowest bidder but pays the highest price – it is stupid; nor do we have local pricing – the south east would go nuts.
power generation is not the same as transmission, so the state of your grid also factors in. The grid is decrepit.
Taken overall, the UK has contorted itself in bizarre ways to create a uniquely fucked up system; it is truly incompetent, just as everything else in the UK is – they can’t do anything right and just “pish it up a wall”, all the time.
This need to pish it up a wall rather than spend on what is important – all fur coat and no knickers – means the important stuff – food, energy, water(!), infrastructure in the UK, is fucking terrible; we aren’t a nation of shopkeepers, we are a nation of tax dodgers.
Being skint, you have no money for the important projects, so you try to get the city to finance them and the corporations to do it – the only way to do this is offer them “sweet deals” and locked in profits for decades; the supply contracts for the new nuke plant – hinckley – are designed to lock in high leccy prices for decades, just so the builders can make their return.
Everything you analyze, when you say “what is the worst fucking way we could do this to fuck everyone up” – you will get the UK approach. Useless, on every level; they would be better off running the country randomly, or just getting the 200 bucks a month gpt account and use that.
If energy production and transmission is classified as infrastructure and the responsibility of govt, you can optimise the system as a whole, ensuring stability and low prices. First of all you have a variety of energy generation sources – solar, wind, hydro, gas, coal, even a nuke plant as a last resort, on standby. Then you use whatever you have most of, at the time, the renewables don’t have enough storage, that is used first, then you go down the list. You don’t have a market where each is competing against one another – its crazy. And you also modernise the grid. I heard some bad rumours about the state of the grid, particularly in Scotland.
– if you need an external supplier, “I know a guy”, who always delivers, and will pump it to your door, all the gas you want on low cost, long term supply contracts. But, there’s a whole bunch of mad cunts who for “mackinder” reasons, want to fuck that up. Let’s buy expensive LNG from Qatar. Why? Qatar is a US airbase and Blair works for the royal family. Might be something to do with it.
A bit of lateral thinking also helps; data centres are getting a bad rap, but if you build them right, you can use the excess heat to power local homes, or even to heat greenhouses – organic food! – and make them less ugly.
You could also, using a combination of solar, wind and battery systems for ordinary houses, turn the entire country into one large energy generation and storage device; this would revolutionise energy production, but corporations would make less profits (- you will have a much reduced bill, may even breakeven, and may even make money by selling it to the grid).
Energy, the grid – is fucked up in this country, but it is fucked up by the incompetence of England and its contorted ideological driven “solutions” to things it clearly does not understand; this is a physics and engineering problem, but the civil service is full of people who spent their time studying sodomy at oxbridge. The civil service is about queers, diversity, DEI and pronouns, everything else has just to rot.
If you think Holyrood is corrupt and incompetent – it is – but it had the best teacher in the world, Westminster.
ironically, thatcher destroyed the UK’s energy independence by destroying the coal mining industry; nasty dirty shit that it is, we had enough for about 200 years of consumption. But she needed to destroy the miners. But you really wouldn’t want to be a coal miner anyway, horrible, dangerous job, especially in the old days – you see little memorials all around, to this pit disaster or that.
Read two articles in the Guardian written within the last few weeks, one about a solar energy producer in south west england having to shut down because it produced too much energy which the NG was unable to handle, the other was concerned with NG in energy deficit and the need to restart for a few hours only but at a significant cost, mothballed gas powered generating stations to make up the shortfall. A separate energy overseeing organization called NESO was the player here.
The same paper has focussed on Data Centre energy consumption and their significant contribution to the heat island effect as well as energy deficits and water shortages.
It would appear that the British State apparatus is somewhat clueless or to be kind cannot retain a single idea in its collective head for processing purposes before another idea displaces it.
Given the aim of Westminster government to put England’s «golden triangle» at the core of AI and all it has to offer in the much rehearsed but fundamentally notional advantages to the economy of London & the rest of the benighted UK, being a headless chicken in a farmyard of voracious yankee foxes is not a good thing.
Governments may talk of «science» but they do not seem to practice its requisite intellectual discipline but then Ingerland might win the World Cup and all would brilliant.
If Nicola Sturgeon swore, on oath , that she was lying – should we believe her?