Sterling becoming an emerging currency

Whitewavemark2

One thing that would give real help to our economy is to listen to Tobias Ellwood and give Brexit a boost by joining the single market.

Good man!

To join the “single market” would mean accepting their rules, including freedom of movement.

Not with a Tory government anytime soon.

Whitewavemark2

One thing that would give real help to our economy is to listen to Tobias Ellwood and give Brexit a boost by joining the single market.

Good man!

Indeed! :-)

There's a way waste heat from air conditioning units can be recycled.

One thing that would give real help to our economy is to listen to Tobias Ellwood and give Brexit a boost by joining the single market.

Good man!

Of course if we all changed our lifestyles so that we don’t travel and lived in places that don’t need to be heated or air conditioned, ate only what we could grow.

I don't know if that was a response to my suggestions, Katie59, but it's rather an absurdly extreme interpretation..

There is plenty that can be done to use energy more efficiently and to produce it without resorting to fossil fuels or nuclear. Without making ourselves unduly uncomfortable.

I recall reading a thread on here about the use of tumble driers in the US. One of the mostly energy wasting forms of clothes drying... IIRC there were places where you weren't allowed to dry washing outside.. That raised my eyebrows somewhat. While that doesn't happen in the UK they are very commonly in use here. People need to be helped to think about what they are using. Perhaps apparently small changes could make a difference.

You sometimes see estimates of how much electricity is consumed by people leaving appliances on standby all the time; quite staggering really, and I'll hold up my hands and say we do it in my household, but what if they were programmed to automatically switch off when no-one was around?

Do we really need constantly 'on' digital clocks on half our kitchen appliances?

We squander energy.

Our local supermarket has had two arrays of solar panels installed. Each array covers two rows of 30 cars. They provide shelter from the weather which is good and are obviously generating electricity. think how much solar energy could be provided if a portion of each supermarket car park in the UK was covered with arrays of solar panels.

Of course if we all changed our lifestyles so that we don’t travel and lived in places that don’t need to be heated or air conditioned, ate only what we could grow.

The rural areas in Africa and other countries live just like that, consuming only the energy they need for cooking, I suggest it is not a lifestyle that is going to be acceptable in the UK.

The Severn Barrage is back on the cards, it would be the second biggest tidal barrage in the world, and would produce 10% of the UK’s energy needs.

In addition to what others have said...

They take at least a decade to get online.

The so called mini reactors being proposed by Rolls Royce still require an area the size of half a football pitch and still generate the same amount of nuclear waste. And still take at least 10 years

We don't know how to get rid of the waste. At the moment, its bury it or put it out to sea. Where it remains radioactive for 10s of thousands of years, and is at risk of just blowing up spontaneously.

Scotland generated 97% of its own power requirements from renewables last year, a number which could be increased fairly easily with proper investment in all renewables - solar, wind, geothermal, hydro, etc. Then the energy could be exported to different parts of the UK which need it.

At the start of the war in Ukraine, remember when Russia took over Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia? They are not stable and susceptible to attack.

This is not based on a CND/hippy dislike of nuclear, its based on knowing how it works.

P.S. There's always candles, of course

Katie59

volver

No, no nuclear.

(sorry, its very important to me because we are being misled.)

Perhaps you would like to explain how we keep the lights on without nuclear.

Perhaps we could do it by investing heavily in alternative energy sources (and don't forget that nuclear takes decades to build), retrofitting all properties to make them energy efficient and mandating energy efficient standards for all new builds. Mandate solar panels for all new builds.

Educate people in efficient energy use (and I don't mean in schools, I mean nationwide campaigns). How about developing 'smart' switches that turn lights and standby lights off when there's no-one in a room? How about progressively increasing the cost per unit as excessive energy is used? I'm sure that there are hundreds of energy saving ideas which could be developed.

We have to stop thinking that unfettered energy use is a right and that we can go on using more and more of it. If the populace won't reduce their usage voluntarily they'll have to be 'nudged'.

When parts of the world are regularly experiencing exceptionally high temperatures which are a serious threat to their survival we've got to stop being so profligate with the world's resources. Global warming is real and dangerous.

And not contribute to our descendant's problems by leaving megatonnes of radioactive waste for them to deal with...

we really do need to get on with developing our nuclear industry, if the French can do it the UK can.

Where this is being done in the UK it is the French doing it.

Hinkley Point C is being funded by a joint venture of France’s state-owned EDF Energy (66.5%) and China’s state-owned China General Power (33.5%).

Hinckley C is an appalling monstrosity creating energy for a very short period (60 years). The environmental impact of its creation is never spoken about. It is creating a reliance on other countries whilst setting up a problem on our own land for generations to come. We don't need to be doing this.

volver

No, no nuclear.

(sorry, its very important to me because we are being misled.)

Perhaps you would like to explain how we keep the lights on without nuclear.

No, no nuclear.

(sorry, its very important to me because we are being misled.)

growstuff

... or renewables.

We have the technology and the people to design it. We just need the commitment and investment.

Renewables of course, expansion of that is in progress but has to be in conjunction with nuclear and what remains of domestic fossil reserves.

If we continue to rundown the country in the way the last 20 yrs has its going to be pretty grim for the next generation, that’s not party political Labour did just as much damage as the Tories.

Not nuclear, please. I won't start ranting about this again, but really. Not nuclear. Whatever anybody tells you, its not the answer.

Renewables.

On the whole, the UK doesn't import cars or parts from the Far East. We had seamless supply chains with the EU.

... or renewables.

We have the technology and the people to design it. We just need the commitment and investment.

There is no doubt the government is in crisis management mode, so are many companies, having to make do with the workforce and materials they can get. If you want a new car popular models have 12 months waiting list, if the old one breaks down parts are not available to repair it. This is repeated with other domestic and industrial equipment, we are far too dependant on goods produce in the Far East.

Energy in particular we really do need to get on with developing our nuclear industry, if the French can do it the UK can,

Katie59

This is one of the consequences of Quantitive Easing - printing money, international investors get nervous, theUK has now proved itself vulnerable to outside pressures because we import too much of everything, too dependant on others while paying ourselves too much.

Too little effort is put into productive industry and most of that benefits foreign owned companies.

The main reason for this distrust of Sterling is the chaos in government policy or rather non policy.

No one can be sure what is being planned or even any coherence in economic policy.

Johnson is lurching from crises to crises attempting to react with daft proposals rather than any recognisable and stable economic policy.

Casdon

growstuff

The UK's exports have fallen since Brexit.

Have our imports increased or reduced over the same period growstuff?
If they have increased I expect we’re in for a big ‘Buy British’ campaign shortly.

Much of the increase in non-EU imports is from increased fuel prices. There's not much point having a "Buy British" campaign for oil and gas.

Non-EU goods imports have increased, but EU goods imports have decreased.

Service imports and exports were relatively stable until the start of the pandemic, although imports from the EU are now much lower than before Brexit and are contributing to shortages.

Our trade-to-GDP ratio is the worst in the G7.

obr.uk/box/the-latest-evidence-on-the-impact-of-brexit-on-uk-trade/

growstuff

The UK's exports have fallen since Brexit.

Have our imports increased or reduced over the same period growstuff?
If they have increased I expect we’re in for a big ‘Buy British’ campaign shortly.

The UK's exports have fallen since Brexit.

Katie59

This is one of the consequences of Quantitive Easing - printing money, international investors get nervous, theUK has now proved itself vulnerable to outside pressures because we import too much of everything, too dependant on others while paying ourselves too much.

Too little effort is put into productive industry and most of that benefits foreign owned companies.

But Katie59, if the poorest don't have enough money to spend on what they need and perhaps a little extra to buy what we produce, we'd be in an even worse situation because there wouldn't be a market. It's the highest earners who are paying themselves too much and the gap has widened over the last 12 years.