Great British Energy logo is a cheap stock graphic available for pennies
Keir Starmer has ‘unveiled’ the logo for his ‘Great British Energy’ scam – it won’t actually supply any energy – and it’s a shocker that suggests how little thought and seriousness is behind the whole project.
The logo drew derision from the moment of its publication, with pithy reactions:
Another wag observed that the logo,
looks like a lightbulb farting.
And there may be a reason it’s underwhelmed its viewers – Labour appears to have bought it as a stock ‘vector graphic’ logo for the princely sum of… as little as 57 pence:
The price may have been slightly higher if bought as a one-off.
Great British Energy is a PR con designed to create the impression of nationally owned energy while allowing corporations to make huge profits at the public’s expense. Shadow Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds admitted as much when he told Utility Week in 2022 that it will not produce any energy, but its purpose would instead be the:
management of the investments, which we believe are essential to unlock these markets and opportunities.
Nothing to do with public energy provision to ensure that UK families do not continue to be ripped off and impoverished by greedy private energy companies making obscene profits, then – just more marketisation of an already broken sector that can only be repaired by full renationalisation.
And it seems that Labour can’t even be bothered to spend a bit of time and effort badging the thing in a credible way.
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Looks like a question mark wearing a crown that’s slipping backwards. How appropriate!
Off topic:
In light of Faiza Shaheen’s despicable treatment Paul Knaggs on Labour Heartlands writes this:
So as the Starmer outriders fan out across the media campfires, bleating about their phoney “broad church”, ask yourself this: in what ethical universe does systematically persecuting Black women and ideological dissenters qualify as progressive, pluralistic or remotely socialist?
The unfortunate reality is that under the watchful gaze of its current masters, Labour has devolved into a neoliberal Protection Racket – willing to monetise even the most existential struggles against white supremacy for transient professional gain. All whilst spouting utterly insincere platitudes that would never withstand a millisecond of rigorous scrutiny…
Meanwhile, Luke Akehurst has been feverishly scrubbing his Twitter history. According to the analytics tool Socialblade, he deleted a staggering 2,179 tweets over the course of two days last week. Now Starmer’s little altar boy has managed to secure the Labour candidacy for North Durham. Hailing from Oxford and having no discernible connections to North Durum Akehurst has been parachuted into the safe seat. However, no matter his forensic clean-up in the digital age, nothing truly disappears, as there’s always someone ready to capture screenshots. And alas, one did manage to slip through the cracks and here’s one…
Of course, in Labour’s hierarchy of racism and as the Western world has proved Palestinians are right down at the bottom… [image follows in the text]
From the image the tweet from the disgusting arch-Smarmerite Akehurst reads — “If Palestians don’t desire to be treated in the way that they do then a possible solution would be to extend human rights to that of rats”
What an absolute arsehole! Paul has it right when he says why aren’t his vile tweets being investigated? Of course, those of us who see Starmer for what he really is all know why.
https://labourheartlands.com/shaheen-vs-labour-racism-allegations-and-forde-report-disregard/
I see that the Labour Party have just announced that Diane Abbott is “free” to stand for Labour at the general election’.
https://news.sky.com/story/diane-abbott-free-to-stand-for-labour-at-general-election-sir-keir-starmer-says-13145531
In context, the Universal and commonly accepted definition of the content of the above post, – dated 31/05/2024 at 01:53PM – along with the intention behind it, is known as “Damage Limitation”.
I’m afraid, Billy, with your record of dis-ingenuousness, you are going to need a whole lot more fire fighting equipment than that sorry offering*.
* (Is that really all your handlers have given you?)
Dave – Yet more of your duplicitous nonsense.
What is disingenuous about reporting the news?
Context Billy.
You only post news such as this which suits your Official Narrative agenda. In the same way you desperately trawl the internet to find any feeble excuse to throw mud at anyone and everyone – up to and including repeated misrepresentations (for which you still owe apologies for) – to divert attention from proven facts about the actions of those you seek to excuse.
A very obvious and familiar pattern of damage limitation news management. Your protestations of ‘innocence’ carry no weight and have no credibility.
Dave – Yet more of your duplicitous nonsense.
You really do need to get over yourself. 🥱
Coming from someone so accomplished in those traits I’ll take that as a compliment Billy.
Particularly when you, yet again, play the man rather than the ball. Ignoring the substance of the issue with a poor attempt at diverting attention to something else. Its the only feature in which you exhibit any degree of consistency.
Very telling.
Dave – What substance would that be?
All I have done is report the news, without comment. 🙄
The context as described Billy.
Though, credit where it’s due for providing a classic example of the process described by the guest writer in this piece…..
https://sonar21.com/a-civilization-beyond-reality/
….of changing something by giving it a new definition of your own to make it ‘magically’ disappear from the alternate reality you inhabit.
Dave – Now you are being silly. This nonsense of yours has absolutely nothing to do with context and everything to do with your feeble attempts to justify making stuff up to suite your agenda. 😏
That’s some chutzpah coming from you Billy.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/medice%2C%20cura%20te%20ipsum
Looks like the direction smarmer’s taking…ever decreasing circles, soon to disappear up his own arse. (Wee fella’s already there to keep him company).
And just HOW bleedin’ gormless can that Reynolds be? Stupid bastard’s genial plan to “reform welfare” was to change the name of universal credit.
Jesus wept.
This piece from 2015 (updated 2016) by Nick Stephenson in Huffington Post tells you all you need to know about Reeves and welfare:
‘Tougher Than Tories’ Rachel Reeves Leaves Labour Front Bench, But Won’t Be Missed [what a pity she’s back]
It is fair to say that Reeves was not popular among unemployed people, apparently misunderstanding the meaning of the word ‘opposition’ and racing Iain Duncan Smith towards an ever-more-draconian position on social security, caring little for the victims created on the way.
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/nick-stephenson/rachel-reeves_b_8135244.html
Besides which, that effort of a light bulb caricature is meant to represent an edison (screw-in) style bulb. Used in the good ol’ US of Murrica
…When the UK overwhelmingly uses bayonet (push & twist) style bulbs & light fittings.
How patriotic, keef. Still, it’s called great BRITISH energy, innit? 😕
On the one hand, it is commendable that money is being saved, though I suspect that they haven’t bought exclusive use of a publicly-available graphic so anyone can presumably use it without incurring a legal warning . But given the lack of utility of something purportedly concerned with a utility it doesn’t seem likely that it will be much in the public consciousness anyway. I’ve just tried to unpick the spiel on the Labour site and yes, the implication is that it is an energy supplier but if that’s not the case then the rest of the undertakings it sets out are what you would expect a government to do as a matter of course (and some off which Sunak had been doing). The same might be said of the new border force that gets a name change from the current border force. Keir, the deckchairs are fine where they are.
The issue goes deeper than that of the logo.
In the real world producing useful energy – in both the practical and affordable (ie for the populace) sense – is an industrial process not a financial one.
In this regard the practical systems result of focusing entirely on ‘managing financial investments’ looks set to repeat the mistakes (at least as defined for the majority of the populace compared to the 0.1% who will be coining it yet again) in the examples of the piratised UK Water Companies and the US Fracking industry.
The same financial investment approach model utilised by the private UK Water Companies has seen not only an increase in deliberate pollution incidents whilst water bills go through the roof year on year but also an increasing complexity of the financialised corporate structure. which as far back as 2017 the Environmental Rating Agency….
https://environmentalratingagency.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Environmental-Rating-Agency_Water-Industry-Risks-Briefing_Full-Report_2017.pdf
……was warning: of the high level of debts – Thames water for example:
“having such a high level of net debt (approximately 80% of the company’s regulated capital value is accounted for by its net debt) and exposure to the weakened governance in tax havens? Do they understand the long-‐term implications of carrying so much debt and the way in which it has been diced and sliced across so many subsidiary companies?”
…..highlighting the
“systemic risks and costs associated with allowing essential water services to be owned by companies that have increasingly acquired complicated corporate structures and large amounts of complex debt over the course of decades.”
…..and noting:
“If any of the most heavily indebted water companies are pushed to insolvency by unexpected changes in market conditions [NB increases in interest rates] or stricter regulation, it is possible that these “too big to fail” public services will lose their investment grade status have to be nationalised at short notice and great expense – just as happened to the banking sector in 2008.
With approximately £40 billion -‐ £50 billion of debt inside these companies, the sudden socialising of these private debts could prove extremely controversial and destabilising. They might also cause further knock-‐on problems in all of the other public utilities privatised during the same era, which have been regulated using similar forms of conflicted self-‐regulation.”
In a similar vein the fracking industry in the US has been notorious in not only being an energy inefficient system in EROI (Energy Return On Energy Investment) terms that is almost an energy sink (ie less energy output than the energy input) but also, as a result of the same financialised approach has for well over a decade lost hundreds of billions of dollars rather than making a profit.
Depending on its continued financing on issuing junk bonds and the gullibility of Pension Funds.
The bottom line is that this financial approach taken by the LP under Starmer is a dead end in practical terms and will not deal with the practical requirements of the UK’s energy needs in the future.
It will, however, further enrich those minority 0.1% of Corporate lobbyists who those such as Herr Starmer and his cabal are really answerable to.
Dave – If only we were all as clever as you think you are. 😉
Billy, I had no part in writing the ERA paper.
If you have a problem with the facts the customary and traditional process is to take that up with the authors rather than anyone who raises the facts such research highlights.
It is also custom and practice to deal with the facts rather than blindly lashing out and attacking the messenger.
Have you nothing else to offer other than constantly playing the man rather than the ball?
Ed Moribund on CH4 news.
It (GBE) WILL be an energy generator…blah blah…and an investment vehicle .
**Making sure to slip in, and emphasis the words<I "energy generator" because he was specifically asked if it would be…
He then starts going on about French-owned edf and how they generate energy…and invest. Some danish owned company, generating energy…. and invest
….But back to GBE
‘ So GB energy is gonna be an investment vehicle’. With NO further mention of energy generation.
Its another crock of shite. But what else can you expect.😕
The basics of any energy effective policy for any country which wishes to remain sovereign is to obtain that energy by whatever means available at a cost which is not at a price level beyond the means of the populace.
Generating capacity certainly plays a part, as does geography in terms of the geographical location relative to the regional market and length of the supply chain.
In that respect, regardless of the UK no longer being a member of the EU, that European regional market has been far from achieving the above objective of affordable energy and, for ideological and political reasons, looks set to continue that position for the foreseeable future.
The latest Clown World from the fantasists running this shit show is detailed here:
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/06/italy-pipes-up-against-nato-escalation-as-court-ruling-could-cut-off-russian-gas-sooner-than-expected.html
Which highlights the latest iteration of the shooting your populations in the head scheme run by our political class.
Apparently, Austria and Italy, in an attempt to keep its industry running and its populace warm have been buying gas from Gazprom in Roubles.
Germany, or to be more precise what passes for its mostly WEF trained and injected political elite, having voluntarily committed industrial cold turkey appears to have been behind a recent legal case to close off this sanctions loophole.
In a scheme worthy of the Mafia the Austrian energy company OMV:
“is going to be forced to stiff Gazprom on payments and redirect that money to European energy companies who refused to pay in roubles.”
“Naturally, since Gazprom would not be receiving money for its natural gas, it would no longer deliver it to Austria. Despite the obviousness of that response, all the [media] headlines”…..
……. in the usual orgy of misrepresentation give the opposite impression that it is Gazprom who is refusing to supply gas energy at a reasonable price. With headlines such as:
“Austria’s OMV say Gazprom may halt gas supplies”; “OMV Warns Russia’s Gazprom May Halt Natuaral Gas Supply to Austria”; “OMV warns Gazprom may suspend gas supply to Austria”.
As the article – pointing out the bleedin’ obvious (at least to those who inhabit the Reality Based Commnunity) – notes:
“OMV of course says that it would still be able to supply customers with volumes from non-Russian sources through its “extensive diversification efforts in recent years,” but at what cost? At least one prediction has European natural gas prices jumping 18 percent, and that’s on top of the significant rises over the past two years. There’s a reason that Austria kept importing from Russia and is now the EU country that relies the most on Russian gas. As always, it’s cheap and reliable.”
What this means is that market prices for gas energy across geographical – as compared to political – Europe are set to increase. This will affect the end price for UK domestic and (what remains of) industrial consumers.
But, you know, its all about financialisation in the doctrine according to Herr Starmer.
And where there’s money, there’s a fiddle. Ask the French. They’ve been screaming for the best part of two years about the US price of fracked LNG sold to France being three times what the US is selling it for in their domestic market.
Meet the New Government; same as the old Government.
Off topic again:
Op-Ed video: Keir Starmer is drawing up a terrifying blueprint for the UK by Peter Oborne
Not to lessen Peter Obone’s assessment of Labour-under-Starmer, but “This Establishment-friendly election needs an injection of demands from below” * and they’re not going to come from Starmer’s 57p-PR-Con party – even if Diane Abbott were to fight under its banner.
Great link PW. Thanks.
_
* https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/establishment-friendly-election-needs-injection-demands-below
At the present rate of madness emanating from the ongoing temper tantrum across what passes for “leadership” (sic) in the Collective West over the total failure of the open long term project to carve up Makinder’s Eurasian Heartland (a failure of their own flawed faith based ideology) it is reasonable to surmise that making it as far as July 4th could well be a bonus:
https://edwardcurtin.com/if-the-wars-go-on/
“what is equally apparent today – or should be if one is not asleep – is that because of the war policies of the U.S., the chances of another world war and the use of nuclear weapons is rising by the day. Despite all its denials to the contrary, the US/NATO is pushing for open warfare with Russia that will involve the use of nuclear weapons.
Our masters of war are pushing us toward a nuclear abyss.”
Oborne’s redeemed himself for his “The mail doesn’t tell lies” whopper, a few years back.
I’ve got far more time for him than (ph)owen(ey) jones.
As a result of the brutal bombardment of Gaza, Labour politicians said that it had to ‘re-build trust with the Muslim community’. Given the recent sacking of Faiza Shaheen, it is worth asking how that is coming along.
Once he’s PM, people will get used to what Keir Starmer says and what Keir Starmer does being two completely different things (at-odds and inconsistent).
Jimmy Saville loved him for it…. His voters, not so much….
Talking of Gaza:
https://steelcityscribblings.uk/wp/2024/06/01/what-if-it-was-your-child-under-the-rubble/
“The Palestine March yesterday, June 1st, was Sheffield’s largest since October 7.”
“The longer this slaughter goes on, the more people initially apathetic or even hostile are drawn in. In almost all cases they find it exhilarating. The thrust of modern life, with technology at the service of profit not people, is towards ever greater individuation – and in that individuation, to atomisation and alienation. We are individuated yet social animals, but the momentum of capital is to suppress one half of who we truly are while relentlessly overpromoting the other. In mass protest we rediscover our collective nature, and that frightens those who rule from behind the chimera of democracy.”
Looking at the mass of photographs of the event in the above link one factor stands out. It is not just the Palestinian and Muslim community which has turned out because they are being alienated by all the variations of the Tory party that is the uni-party.
There are plenty of non-Muslim faces – including representatives of the Jewish Community (not in the name of my religion); older people as well as younger people; families; people with disabilities and so on.
Here’s the latest seat prediction update from Electoral Calculus prediction.
Seat Prediction: Con 72, Lab 493, Lib Dem 39, SNP 22, Labour majority of 336
On Friday, we released a new large-scale MRP poll for the Daily Mail in partnership with Find Out Now. Our prediction is for a Labour landslide with a majority of 336 seats, and a Conservative wipeout that would bring their seat total to less than 100. Labour’s projected vote share currently sits at 45%, a 3% increase on our last national MRP poll in February, which would see them return 493 seats in the election.
https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/blogs/ec_vipoll_20240531.html
Reminds me of Mr. Sparkle.
Labour is going to make gas and electric very, very expensive.
And once more off-topic:
Community backlash as Labour blocks Faiza Shaheen’s candidacy
Unfortunately, what ‘people of’ any ‘constituency’ want is not on the agenda from any of the political and media class – who inhabit their own unreality bubble and try to force that bubble onto the majority.
An observer (admittedly, not one of my favourite writers) with the handle ‘Gaius Balter’, writing on the Larry Johnson site recently, perfectly sums up those running this pantomime of an election with its very obvious baton handover, which is itself a part of larger shit show from the Clown World of unreality forced upon us:
https://sonar21.com/a-civilization-beyond-reality/
‘Balter’ describes the alternative reality in which the political and media class operates. A faux reality where:
“concepts and ideas are as real as physical objects”…..which “can also physically change if a new definition is applied to them…… A war can be won by determination alone. People can be made to like you by wishing alone. People can also physically change if definitions are changed. A dumb person can be redefined as smart, an incompetent person can be redefined as competent, an ugly person can be redefined as beautiful, and a man can turn into a woman and a woman into a man through gender redefinition. It is a paradise of possibilities.”……
and goes on to observe:
“An unsustainable civilization operating without logic or reason cannot coexist with any sovereign rational civilization with real economical foundations on the same planet.
The options for the western populations are grim at the moment. It’s either a dystopian exit from reality in all perpetuity or a total collapse with horrific social and economic consequences. ”
and concludes:
An exit from the western system will be extremely painful and difficult, but it will be better than exiting reality altogether…”
———————————————
Whilst The Purge against Faiza Shaheen and others is certainly personal it also existential for these people who cannot abide the existence of anyone who refuses to subscribe to their fantasy alternative reality.
Hence the constant need to cancel, outlaw and delegitimise anyone who puts their heads above the parapet and tells these faux emperors and their sycophantic camp followers and cheerleaders that they have no substance in the real world. Villifying and misrepresenting anything and everything which does not coincide with the alternative reality world view of this incompetent class of sociopaths and psychopaths.
It seems reasonable to surmise that some of those interviewed in this short video clip may well be existing Labour Party members. If this is the case there is every chance that they will not remain Party members for too much longer given the track record of the cabal of parasites which has been injected into the Labour Party in order to continue forcing this dystopian exit from reality onto the majority in perpetuity.
Dave – 🥱😪😴💤
Very profound Billy. Quite clearly you still have some way to go before you are ready to graduate from nursery school.
Yes demonstrates Right Wing Lightweight Labour mediocrity.
See Labour Leader has bottled first GE TV debate Friday.
Wonder if he’s nipping over to a photo shoot in Tel Aviv (with ‘Lukid Luke’?) to sign bombs destined to kill Palestinian men, women and children?
Vote Left Independent.
Bazza – “See Labour Leader has bottled first GE TV debate Friday
Given Labour’s very consistent lead in the polls………
YouGov MRP (24 May-1 Jun)
Labour leads by 18 points
Projected Seats
Labour – 422
Tory – 140
Lib-Dem – 48
SNP – 17
PC – 2
Green – 2
Other – 18
58,875 respondents
……..why would they take part in something cooked up by the Tories?
https://news.sky.com/story/labour-could-be-on-course-for-194-seat-commons-majority-yougov-poll-13147370
Bazza – “Wonder if he’s nipping over to a photo shoot in Tel Aviv (with ‘Lukid Luke’?) to sign bombs destined to kill Palestinian men, women and children?”
Have you forgotten the Labour motion that was passed in the HofC in February this year.
“This House believes that an Israeli ground offensive in Rafah risks catastrophic humanitarian consequences and therefore must not take place; notes the intolerable loss of Palestinian life, the majority being women and children; condemns the terrorism of Hamas who continue to hold hostages; supports Australia, Canada and New Zealand’s calls for Hamas to release and return all hostages and for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, which means an immediate stop to the fighting and a ceasefire that lasts and is observed by all sides, noting that Israel cannot be expected to cease fighting if Hamas continues with violence and that Israelis have the right to the assurance that the horror of 7 October 2023 cannot happen again; therefore supports diplomatic mediation efforts to achieve a lasting ceasefire; demands that rapid and unimpeded humanitarian relief is provided in Gaza; further demands an end to settlement expansion and violence; urges Israel to comply with the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures; calls for the UN Security Council to meet urgently; and urges all international partners to work together to establish a diplomatic process to deliver the peace of a two-state solution, with a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable Palestinian state, including working with international partners to recognise a Palestinian state as a contribution to rather than outcome of that process, because statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people and not in the gift of any neighbour.”
“Vote Left Independent.
…………..and achieve what?