Government to shift resources from wind power to nuclear power in ERM – Energy Market Reform…….by Dr Dave Toke

A letter on this subject was published in the Guardian today, 27th December 2010http://realfeed-intariffs.blogspot.com/ – for further info…. Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne is heralding  a move towards giving nuclear power  guaranteed subsidies from electricity consumers whilst going back to the discredited 1990s approach of awarding contracts to supply wind power through contract auctions. […]

Read More

Graduate attacks outsourcing of UK water engineering jobs to India etc as a cheap electoral gimmick by way of keeping water bills down.

The consultant I work for is undergoing a major redundancy process in the water engineering side of the business, with the majority of jobs being lost at graduate level and below.

We have been informed that the reasons for this are that the draft determination from Ofwat appears particularly tough and as such, we won’t be getting any work out of the water companies for possibly as much as a year. It is also apparent that when the work does start to come, unachievable efficiency will be required, forcing consultants to “offshore” work to India and the like.

To make graduates redundant in this country, only to employ staff in India in their place does not seem acceptable. If we, as an industry, are left with this as the only option to be able to survive, then it would seem that Ofwat has got it wrong and we should be doing more to influence its decision making.

This is a very important issue for the country as we have already practically lost manufacturing as an industry and cannot afford to lose construction skills overseas.

It is also clear that the reason for the harsh determination is that the government doesn’t want to put water bills up because it is still hoping to win the approaching General Election.

This is unacceptable and is destroying an industry. What is the ICE doing about this?

Joe Andrews, mailto:joekayaker at hotmail dot com

Read More

That financial crisis in full – G20 triumph – latest

The banks lost all their money, put pressure on the politicians who in London, agreed to give them all the money back, by taking our money and giving it to them for the next 20 years. The also agreed to leave the tax havens pretty much as they are – well the ones that people […]

Read More

HOUSE OF COMMONS SEMINAR ON LAND VALUE TAXATION

    Organised by The Coalition for Economic Justice Hosted by Vince Cable MP Panel of Speakers: Sir Sam Brittan,  Financial Times Fred Harrison*,  Land Research Trust Prof Iain McLean,  Professor of Politics– Oxford University Ashley Seager,  The Guardian Molly Scott Cato,  Green Party Economics speaker David Triggs,  Henry George Foundation * Author of Boom […]

Read More

CHANCELLOR RECEIVES PROPOSAL FOR RESOLUTION OF REPETITIVE BOOM AND BUST

I am writing this open letter to you on behalf of the Coalition for Economic Justice (CEJ). In response to the seriousness of the current economic crisis a number of think tanks, charities and pressure groups across the political spectrum recently decided to join forces as the CEJ. We propose the introduction of an annual Land Value Tax (LVT) to replace or reduce existing taxes on enterprise and labour in order to prevent future economic crises and alleviate the current one. The resolution below, passed at our first meeting sets out our broad position. (Set out at the foot of this letter is a list of the organisations concerned.)

Read More