Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Sheilbh]

Natural gas is how Britain's cut our emissions so much in the last twenty years - we basically shut down coal and moved to gas.

Which is fine. But we have also cut our storage capacity (as in literally locations to store gas) to some of the lowest in Europe - while becoming one of the most gas dependent countries in Europe. And also stopped domestic exploration (which wasn't likely to produce much anyway). I think all of these are maybe defensible on their own but taken together mean we are very exposed.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Giant batteries are being built, was reading about one in Lanarkshire a couple of days back https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yd18q248jo

Like so much British journalism it was alarmingly short on facts and figures. It is a 1GW facilty, which sounds a lot, but is only 30 minutes of UK supply. According to these guys the cost is £800m https://www.scottishconstructionnow.com/articles/ps800m-deal-to-build-europes-largest-battery-storage-projects-in-scotland . That will be useful for balancing in variable windspeed conditions but is essentially useless if the wind drops for a period of days.

[mongers]

I dpn't disagree with his point, though I think some of it is timing, with the 1st generation of nuke plants being on line and the building of AGC nuke plants maturing and so forth there would be a natural lull in the pace of power plant construction. Plus the economic turmoil of 73-74 and later difficulties might have challenged continued long term planning during the decade.

However I do disagree with your second assertion, how is the thatcherite selling off of national infrastructure, British Gas in 1986 and the others, not an implicit ending of long term planning and national energy policy?

Edgerton's point is wider than energy I should say. His book - The Rise and Fall of the British Nation: A Twentieth Century History - is really good on British economic history. It's very revisionist in all sorts of ways but basically (I think very effectively) demolishing the "declinism" narrative that was so important for Thatcherism - and lots of mini-myths within that.

I think I wasn't clear on Thatcher (or Kohl or Mitterrand). It wasn't a comment on their specific policies but that I think they understood that there was a material side to issues like security or energy and I don't think generally they were as careless/insouciant/taking things for granted as we have.
 
.. snip...

Thanks Shelf, that sound like a very interesting book.

On the wider subject of energy security, I think getting rid of all oil power stations, is rather short sighted, it wouldn't have cost much to mothball two or three, but iirc the last one, at a NE port (?) has now been demolished, certainly the usefully located Fawley station on Southampton water has now gone.

Then is all hell broke loose we'd be able to import a few tankers worth a month to give electricity a boost.   

[Tamas]

You guys are depressing. And I am losing hope in this government now. They seem to be looking at themselves as caretakers put there to preserve the status quo, no doubt influenced that way by the myriad of forces interested in doing just that.