Cronies come first!

​Congratulations Finland! Your new Olkilouto 3 nuclear power station is finally up and running! 18 years late, but let’s not worry about that. At a huge cost it has arrived just at a time when plentiful renewable sources of energy have come on stream and commentators are saying perhaps Finnish consumers should be paid to use electricity. That’s not good news for nuclear power, which relies on huge up front subsidies and guaranteed generation prices to survive. To be fair to the Finns their strategy in developing this new nuclear power station was to wean themselves off their reliance on Russian oil and gas. That was prescient, but now seems redundant. A Twentieth century fix for a Twentieth century problem. Finland will be lumbered with the cost of this nuclear behemoth for decades to come. As will we, as all ‘serious’ people in the UK establishment tie themselves to the nuke lobby’s richly resourced blandishments—with an opportunity cost in sucking investment out of sustainable sources of energy. Regrettably Labour is keen to follow this path. It’s time somebody reminded our Great Leader that at one time Tony Benn was pro-nuclear—that could be enough to kill off the idea in his deranged left-hating skull.
 
+There’s a bubbling debate about whether reparations should be paid over Britain’s role in the slave trade. In this regard it should be remembered that ‘reparations’ were generously paid to slave owners who were so cruelly deprived of their human property. £17 billion in today’s money. University College London continue to do an excellent job tracking down where that compensation went. In Yorkshire the most notable family to benefit from these payments were the Lascelles (aka Earls of Harewood). If there is a case for some form of reparations for the slave trade, then clearly the beneficiaries of the 19th century scheme should be called upon to make their fair contribution. And since the UK as a whole benefited from the trade the whole amount should be topped up. Perhaps by doubling the £17 billion figure. This, let’s remind ourselves would still be less than the amount of money the government spent on useless PPE during the Covid crisis, money spent on Tory cronies with no experience. Such a sum, £34 billion, might help develop what is needed, which is to say a society which is fair and equal to all.