Thread 35 Starmer: Old and smelling of roses

[DuncinToffee]

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@SerendipityJane I can see that turning grazing to agrisolar would have upfront costs before the passive income pays it back, but agricultural to plain solar seems like all the costs with none of the benefits as you’d lose the agricultural income and have to pay someone to keep the panels free of weeds and grass.
There must be a decent reason why it doesn’t happen more, and it’s probably a complicated mix of several factors, but agrisolar doesn’t seem to feature as an option in the debates I’ve seen.

I think it’s more that keeping demand high also keeps prices high.

Those who cry about not wanting more housing are usually rich and can afford to buy an expensive house or a landlord with a huge portfolio of properties they don’t want competing against.

There's quite a lot of concern about a massive solar farm in Liz Truss's old constituency. My understanding is they voted to get rid of her (naturally) but are now feeling very let down.

Until we have cracked storing this "free" energy, it's all a bit shit.

The at the bottom of all renewable fairy stories is the camouflage around "baseload". Which is what you have to have when the wind don't blow, and the sun don't shine.

Bring on nuclear power. Big time.

Paying the rent ....

@SerendipityJane I’ve been to Electric Mountain in Snowdonia, which uses cheap electricity to pump water to a high reservoir then feeds it back into the grid during peak demand hours by reversing the motors so they run as turbines.
That sort of thing could store renewable energy to use when demand is high but wind/sun is low.
There are also planned schemes to use domestic EV chargers to pull power from cars plugged in in the evening and recharge overnight when demand is low.

Some background info on outlier pollster findoutnow from Sam Freedman

Unlike other online pollsters it doesn't use a panel of people who've signed up to do polls. Instead they ask a small number of Qs to people playing the Pick my Postcode lottery

https://skywriter.blue/pages/did:plc:qougpda3f2sgfyco7qllxoeu/post/3m3crvd36z22b

Quite aside from the lack of mountains and lakes, where needed, that isn't really a practical substitute for grown up batteries. There are a fucktonne of things that can be done with gravity, but they are novel, expensive and ultimately highlighting (not minimising) the problem with all renewable sources of energy.

Don't get me wrong - using a mountain and a lake that just happened to be lying around is an elegant and viable solution for a very few situations.

This is hard science where the numbers don't have feelings.

Electoral Calculus and Find Out Now MRP poll predicted 18 seats for Reform just before the GE.

Who knows! May will be crunch time for both Labour and the Tories.

Electoral Calculus and Find Out Now MRP poll predicted 18 seats for Reform just before the GE.

Who got 5 seats.

I am guessing a QI Elf could be lurking ...

The bit reform won't show

https://www.thepoke.com/2025/10/16/this-mum-magnificently-called-out-reform-uks-candidate-at-the-hustings-for-the-welsh-parliamentary-by-election-and-had-everyone-cheering/

Yeah the Maths is quite clear on that. Not that it will stop the onslaught which must be exhausting to keep up on. Major eye roll.😉

You can just tell by looking at him that the conclusion would be a dismissive eye roll.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Everyone knows the ending 😀

He is not the sharpest tool in the box.

🤣🤣

+1

I found this interesting ...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10/16/leigh-day-martyn-london-lawyer-suing-britain/

https://www.thepoke.com/2025/10/16/nigel-farage-fans-were-asked-why-they-vote-reform-uk-without-mentioning-immigration-and-the-furious-responses-spoke-volumes/

if you’re a woman who support reform can you tell me why without mentioning immigrants or people of colour.

Boris Johnson has been called to give evidence at the UK Covid-19 Inquiry on Tuesday 21st Oct, from 10am

It's the first time the former PM has been called to give evidence at the Inquiry since 2023, for Module 2. The Inquiry has also called Prof Chris Whitty to give evidence on Monday from 10.30am

I know someone who lived an incredibly self sufficient life for a few years. They farmed all their food, they made everything they needed including their shelter from scratch. But they were young and healthy and it was still a tough life. And, they needed a power tool and replacement parts to do all the self sufficient drilling.
I think the people who idolise self sufficiency/rugged individualism (either on a national or individual level) tend to be people who are the furthest removed from the realities of it.

Lib Dems had a good night last night. Out of 7 by election results so far they made 4 gains from a localist, Labour, Green and Tory.

One Tory gain from Labour. One Reform gain from LibDems. One Indy gain from SNP.

.

Taken to the logical extreme, self sufficiency is 0% efficient. You cannot have it both ways.

Communities, and then cities and then empires grow when you divide and conquer - which could have been the strapline for Adam Smith.

they made everything they needed including their shelter from scratch

That is a brave statement when I explicitly asked "and the tools to do it ?". Did they make the screws ? The nails ? The pipes ? The bricks ? If not they were still just making an extreme IKEA kit and only cosplaying being self sufficient.

Even the earliest colonists to America were not self sufficient - they had to take things they had not made (tools etc) and even then would never have survived had they not traded with the indigenous people.

And there we come back to where were are today. We trade to buy food. and what we need so we can make what we want.

When I saw David Cameron back in 2009, it was almost his catch phrase - he must said "we are a trading nation" every other sentence. To a total tumbleweed from an audience that had been primed to ask about immigration.

The very bottom line is I don't feel like paying for other people to fail to achieve food self sufficiency in the same way I don't want to pay for flaky energy like windmills or non starters like reviving the high street.