They shoot looters don't they? - by Richard... Sunday, August 21, 2011

They shoot looters don't they? - by Richard... Sunday, August 21, 2011

Rather ironic, all those "tough guys" calling for the Army to be brought in to deal with the looters ... when it turns out that amongst the biggest looters of them all are the military top brass - one helo trip equivalent to two wide-screen plasma TVs (PTEs).

Mind you, there is little new about this. The Brass have a history of ripping off the taxpayer – here, to the tune of nearly 1,700 PTEs .. for the servants (many, serving soldiers). That, it seems, is in addition to the 1,200 PTEs for the limousines .. call it 3,000 plasma TVs, including discount.

Success, it seems, it being able to sit in your luxury office and get your serfs to do your looting for you. Why bother breaking windows when you can delegate your looting, and do it wholesale? You can even get the loot sent directly, or get the servants to pick it up for you.

Look in the mirror Dougie - by Richard...

No further comment needed. These people have no self-awareness.

A herd of Myrtles - by Richard...

The Sunday Failygraph is making a big deal about an old story, one we covered well over a month ago. This is how those mythical creatures, "eurosceptic" Tories, are going to get together to do something or other.

Of course, this has nothing to do with the coming euro-elections, and the Tories wanting to avoid utter humiliation as the voters show they prefer even the dysfunctional UKIP to them. Thus, do we have Myrtle the Judas goat, but now in herds, as the Tory claque collects together their licensed dissidents, a grouping with all the credibility of the people's front for the liberation of Judea. When all is said and done, they are still Tories.

The more substantive point, though, is that euroscepticism is old hat. Given its current travails, there is little chance of the European Union surviving in its present form to the end of the next decade. The better odds are on a complete collapse.

Moreover, as it becomes increasingly apparent that our membership of the EU is a symptom of a greater malaise, and that leaving the EU would not actually solve anything, given the corruption and incompetence of our political élites, the idea of Tory Boys (of both sexes) getting worked up about the EU frankly lacks appeal. In truth, though – as Wittering for Witney points out - they are taking the piss.

Even if we take the initiative at face value, this is a case of generals fighting the last war. We have the advanced guard of the politicals fighting yesterday's battle. One should perhaps be grateful that they can deal with such an advanced concept, but even that has little more than academic interest.

The real battle is elsewhere. This parliament has had its day. It has become little more than a self-interest pressure group.

Madness "is far too polite a word" - by Richard...

At the moment, writes David Shukman, BBC Environment & science correspondent, "price is the great weakness of offshore wind". Right now, he continues, in a report about the new Ormonde wind farm, "it's the most expensive means of generating electricity, costlier even than nuclear".

Then, and only then does he concede that the power companies "earn" an attractive subsidy for power produced this way, adding that "the costs willfind their way on to household bills". Not he, but "critics" then warn that this could make offshore wind highly unpopular (my italics throughout).

And that is as good as it gets from the BBC. You will get no figures, and nothing but these carefully crafted, anodyne statements, which are hardly calculated to inspire the outrage that £40 millions of annual subsidy –114,000 wide-screen plasma TV equivalents – should provoke.

Enter, therefore, Booker, who fills the gaps left by the feline Shukman, asking: "What is the maddest thing going on in Britain today?" And while I did the comparisons with nuclear, working out that the capital cost of wind is six times that of nuclear plant, Booker does it on gas, working out that the capital cost of offshore wind is 22 times that of a gas-fired power station.

Actually, Booker is "wrong" on this, as he has constrained his calculations to gas and wind equipment lasting the same time - a necessary approximation given the space limitations. It is even more entertaining when we calculated on a gas plant lasting at least twice as long as a wind farm. On that basis, offshore wind costs a staggering forty times more than gas to build.

In fact, even that may be over-generous. As this report indicates, wind turbines are not even lasting the planned twenty years – most requiring expensive gearbox repairs after 5-7 years.

This explains why that, despite a 200 percent subsidy, wind operators are still looking for more subsidy, and it is highly likely that the offshore operators will be hit by massive repair costs to keep the current generation of wind farms running. But then, how mad is it parking highly complex and sensitive machinery in one of the most aggressive and dangerous environments in the world?

Madness, Booker concludes in his piece, "is far too polite a word". We could venture "criminal folly", but even that would be too polite. The more appropriate description, however, would be probably be unprintable – for those who prefer words to action. But it is action that is needed, to bring home the malevolent nature of this criminality. By comparison with the subsidy harvesters, the plasma TV looters are pussycats.