gdp's Comments

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Chris Whiteside: Why Britain's first new coal mine for decades should open in the ward I represent

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 19:03:35 +0000

Your reply illustrates the utter folly of a domestic net zero policy nicely: not your fault, of course (at least I hope you bear no responsibility for it). The point is that the mine will result in lower emissions globally than otherwise would be the case. Those who are serious about lowering emissions should grab such opportunities with both hands, and not hide behind rules established by virtue signalling politicians pursuing impossible agendas. The economic factors include a useful benefit to the UK blance of payments - surely essential given the amount of damage it will incur through offhsoring caused by the economy being made uncompetitive in pursuit of the inedible net zero.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Chris Whiteside: Why Britain's first new coal mine for decades should open in the ward I represent

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 18:17:15 +0000

It is for the owners of the mine to evaluate the commercial risks. But unless you can show that the world will magically be able to make steel, which is an alloy of carbon and iron and other metals, without carbon, or that we will instead have developed artificial spider silk to replace it, all you are arguing about is displacement of steel manufacture to less environmentally conscious countries and greater emissions through transport as being a price worth paying for virtue signalling.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Chris Whiteside: Why Britain's first new coal mine for decades should open in the ward I represent

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 17:42:45 +0000

I am pleased to see space being made here for the case for the mine to be set out. I trust that the Council will stick to its original guns, despite the heavy handed propaganda campaign being organised against it, which I suppose may now extend to official arm twisting (which deserves to be exposed if it is being threatened). Excluding Harrabin's Room 28-gate in Minitrue, I am sure there is widespread support for a project that will, on a global emissions basis, actually reduce overall emissions anyway. Having steel made in China now they are refusing quality Australian coking coal is not a good alternative. It will be an opportunity missed to improve our balance of payments through both exports and import substitution if the project does not go ahead. You certainly have my full support for your correct decision in the interests not only of the local people you represent, but also of the rest of us.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Adam Afriyie: Self-interest will drive up EV use and drive down pollution if charge points are avail

Thu, 18 Feb 2021 15:41:05 +0000

Nature cannot be fooled Feynman Nor can the laws of thermodynamics.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Daniel Hannan: The China genocide amendment. Trade sanctions punish the innocent - and make fortunes

Thu, 18 Feb 2021 12:56:04 +0000

That is a disadvantage. There are plenty of means to lobby government that are available. It should not be a privilege reserved to the legal profession. Besides, it is far more effective if there is a genuine groundswell of public opinion. For one thing, they are likely to vote with their wallets.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Adam Afriyie: Self-interest will drive up EV use and drive down pollution if charge points are avail

Thu, 18 Feb 2021 12:49:33 +0000

It's a long way from being the obvious way forward. Hydrogen is extremely expensive as a fuel, (start at about 3 times electricity) and the handling problems are considerable. Hydrogen fuelled vehicles are very expensive. A research project with a limited chance of success.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Adam Afriyie: Self-interest will drive up EV use and drive down pollution if charge points are avail

Thu, 18 Feb 2021 12:45:40 +0000

Afriye has a good future as a fiction writer. EVs only make any kind of financial sense to business buyers who can save thousands of pounds a year in BIK tax and avoided congestion charges, not to mention the subsidy on purchase and lower VED. It helps to be able to stuff that motorway recharge at 80p/kWh on expenses. Depreciation still remains eye-watering. Government is not going to be able to afford to subsidise EV rollout for ever. It will have to replace lost taxation as well. Ordinary motorists are aware, and they fear the attempts to make owning a vehicle a privilege of the rich. The naivety of assuming that it is merely a matter for the National Grid and subsidising the installation of charge points is charming. The reality is that it will be the distribution companies who will be faced with digging up every street in Britain to recable to provide the necessary power: that alone is a £200bn item, without considering the inconvenience caused. There isn't the spare capacity in the distribution system. Even more stupid will be doing it over again a few years later if there is a large push towards electrification of heating. Then of course there is the question of providing the additional power in a reliable fashion. The manner in which the grid has creaked whenever it has been cold, dark and windless, despite still having coal and nuclear capacity to call on that will soon be shut down, suggests that regular power cuts loom. It is of course entirely wrong to suggest that we will have 100% EVs on the road in 2030, since there will still be a very substantialfleet of ICE vehicles. Proba by just as well, since the target is complete fantasy. It is a big concern if we have MPs who believe the impossible and are determined to attempt to impose it. Some basic understanding of the very real problems is desperately needed.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Daniel Hannan: The China genocide amendment. Trade sanctions punish the innocent - and make fortunes

Wed, 17 Feb 2021 23:58:01 +0000

What is the use of a verdict passed by a British court? They will not have the guilty parties in the dock to sentence to a term in jail. It just becomes virtue signalling by the Bench. Done badly, it backfires. Different matter if you are running the International court in The Hague with the perpetrator present, and under arrest.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : The mass testing 'blitz'. Cummings' Operation Moonshot strategy returns.

Wed, 17 Feb 2021 21:04:16 +0000

Well, actually not necessarily. See the BMJ article I cite below.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : The mass testing 'blitz'. Cummings' Operation Moonshot strategy returns.

Wed, 17 Feb 2021 20:53:25 +0000

Some data

Ongoing review in real time for the ‘Innova SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Qualitative Test’ shows that the test had a specificity of 99.68% (that is, a false-positive rate of 0.32%), an overall sensitivity of 76.8%, and a sensitivity of over 95% for those with high viral loads. It should be noted that the preliminary report from the joint PHE Porton Down and University of Oxford SARS-CoV-2 test development and validation cell found the sensitivity of the ‘Innova SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Qualitative Test’ dropped from 79% when used by laboratory scientists compared to 73% when used by trained healthcare staff compared to 58% when used by self-trained members of the public. This means there is a higher chance of false negatives when the tests are used by self-trained users until they develop more experience.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/eviden... So this test will not be all that good at picking up true positives, unless you are pretty sick with the virus, especially if you are not a skilled tester. And it still comes with a false positive rate that can give misleading impressions when blitz testing is conducted. It's far from clear that this is a sensible way to spend money. The BMJ was unimpressed: https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/01/12/covid-19-gov...

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Ben Everitt MP: The Chancellor must not let a cliff-edge ending ruin the good work of the Stamp Duty

Wed, 17 Feb 2021 15:39:23 +0000

Well quite.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Ben Everitt MP: The Chancellor must not let a cliff-edge ending ruin the good work of the Stamp Duty

Wed, 17 Feb 2021 13:53:43 +0000

A bit more honesty would recognise that the main motivation is encouraging households to borrow more via mortgages. It's almost a form of disguised QE.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Paul Howell and Heather Wheeler: Full HS2 is critical to our election commitment to rebalance the ec

Wed, 17 Feb 2021 13:49:03 +0000

The principal beneficiaries of HS2 will be those MPs whose constituencies are conveniently located for a station. This is taking spending for personal benefit to a new extreme.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : James Frayne: The 0.7 per cent. Polling suggests that the Tory rebels should aim to bring it back la

Tue, 16 Feb 2021 12:51:14 +0000

I suspect that one of the key reasons for support for the utterly arbitrary and senseless 0.7% aid target among MPs is that once you start undermining one such target, you undermine others. Net zero for instance. It's about time that policy was designed on a rather more rational basis, rather than hiding behind arbitrary targets that are designed to remove rational debate from the public square.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Richard Holden: Dogs have been a comfort during the shutdown. There's more we can do to protect them

Tue, 16 Feb 2021 11:34:06 +0000

They were reported to have been in difficulty, unlike previously. By not making unnecessary visits she had minimised risks. But when her support was called on she was there. Makes her an exemplary daughter in my book.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Richard Holden: Dogs have been a comfort during the shutdown. There's more we can do to protect them

Tue, 16 Feb 2021 00:24:07 +0000

Do you have any evidence that Holden should have been prosecuted, or whether she was in fact fully entitled to be part of a support bubble for her parents, and thus there was no case to answer?

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Stephen McPartland and Royston Smith: To build back better, Ministers must regain the trust of lease

Tue, 16 Feb 2021 00:19:33 +0000

You must show that the companies designed the regulations. I think not.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Philip Mitchell and Chris Goddard: 2020 was a reality check on China. Trade offers opportunities for

Tue, 16 Feb 2021 00:17:52 +0000

It would be interesting to know if Biden now considers China to be beyond the pale for their threat not to cooperate on climate change and perhaps for their threats to reclaim Taiwan. I doubt much else troubles him, except the loss of opportunity for his son.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Philip Mitchell and Chris Goddard: 2020 was a reality check on China. Trade offers opportunities for

Tue, 16 Feb 2021 00:13:11 +0000

I hope that the Cumbrian Council sticks to its guns for its logical decision. There is little doubt that there is some heavy arm-twisting behind the scenes. The press campaign orchestrated by Harrabin has been an abuse of his position and of BBC impartiality, lining up one critic after another as an excsue to recycle the story and give it legs. Yet if he actually did analyse its environmental consequences properly, as per his self-inflicted job description, he would be agreeing with the Cumbrian Council's original decision to proceed with the project as being the way of minimising global environmental damage while causing no significant environmental consequences in Cumbria itself yet offering a very useful economic boost. But he is an arch green campaigner, not an environmental analyst. He should have been asked to resign, frankly. He could join his mate Black campaigning for a think tank.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Stephen McPartland and Royston Smith: To build back better, Ministers must regain the trust of lease

Mon, 15 Feb 2021 17:57:35 +0000

Thought exercise. A) The government has absolved the vaccine manufacturers from any liability if the vaccines prove injurious. Should they have done this? B) Companies have by and large complied with the building regulations. It is the regulations that have been deficient. Where should the responsibility for the consequences of that deficiency lie?