Something is starting to bother me about the MPs' expenses scandal. I do not defend those MPs who have taken advantage of the lax rules that they instituted. They should go. But it is starting to feel to me that, for most people, this is…

I recently heard a former central banker (not British) tell the story of a conversation he had with a Non-Exec Director of a bank, who had formerly worked for their government's finance department. The central banker asked the Non-Exec if…

Does anyone need more evidence of the need for England to devolve from the socialist Gaelic republic than the episode of Question Time from Dunfermline just now? I have nothing in common with most of the audience and the panel, and would…

Mental illness is no laughing matter, so I hesitate to take the piss out of the following. On the other hand, it's hard to know whether to laugh or cry when you see something like this. You can fill in your own punchlines about the mental…

Just came across this lottery-funded scheme: You'd think, with a name like that, this would be a spoof, or at least an ironic reference. But apparently not. They appear to be "serious". Is this the apogee of the New Labour philosophy?

Renewable energy has a number of benefits and disadvantages. The most significant of the benefits are the avoided carbon emissions and the energy-security benefits. The latter is more debatable - diversity is undoubtedly the key to security…

Spent the morning at a Regen SW workshop on the Heat and Energy Saving consultation. Before we got to the main course (a presentation by the DECC civil servant responsible for the consultation), we were treated to an hors d'oeuvre from…

This is a mantra of the right. Martin Vander Weyer voiced a fairly standard version in today's Sunday Telegraph: -Those reductions of state provision will be met in part by a reinvigorated voluntary sector, to which the retired and unjobbed…

It was a miserable budget. Lots of people got screwed. The main ones will be picked up by the commentariat. Let me add to that list a group who many might imagine had done quite well: renewable developers. But didn't Darling throw lots of…

It's not true that the Tories don't have any policies. They have a policy for each of us. Do you want lower taxes? They support that. Do you want more public investment? They support that too. Worried about the national debt? They are…

Further to the earlier post about the dumbest economic argument in the world, the perpetrator (Mark) has now published the results of his poll, which asked "-Who is best placed to decide what to build on any particular plot of land?-" He…

Carbon-capture and storage (CCS) is already one of the biggest political lies around. The Government is poised to grant permission to the development of several coal-fired power-stations, so long as they are "CCS-ready". They don't actually…