Odin’s Eye

At one stage this March Britain’s gas supplies fell to as little as two days’ worth as the nation awaited replenishment via a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carrier on its way by sea from Qatar.

LNG and such means of importation meet forty per cent of Britain’s energy needs and, yes, demand was very heavy due to an extended severe cold spell stretching into what in the UK passes for spring. The figures are complex, but Britain uses slightly more gas than coal, with 15 per cent of its energy needs met by nuclear and the rest ‘renewable’ or imported energy. Under the so-called ‘dash for gas’ older coal-fired plants are being closed down without replacement and the balance of energy production is shifting markedly towards gas-powered plants. In last month’s crisis, emergency powers to cut gas supplies to industry and redirect it to consumers, were not, in the end, needed.

Odin’s Eye

[from the April 2013 edition, published March 22]

British Prime Minister David Cameron has again showed his penchant for U-turns and making policy on the hoof by floating a scheme to divert funds from the Department for International Development (DFID, which provides aid to foreign countries) to the Defence budget. Cameron’s idea was that DFID’s ballooning budget should be used to pay for peacekeeping missions - but not for buying weapons - a move which would, however, free some of Defence’s budget to equip the armed forces.

His chosen vehicle for this scheme is said to be the National Security Council, which rules in a loose kind of way over the so-called conflict pool [of cash available for contingencies] which is part-funded by DFID, the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office. The conflict pool has already been drawn upon to provide help for anti-government forces in Libya and Syria.