When we are told that the country only has enough gas supply left for 15 days and then the MET Office tell us that the cold weather is going to be with until the end of April, something has to give.
Forecasts suggest that gas supplies in the UK could theoretically be exhausted by 8 April because Britain only ever holds about 15 days of gas in reserve because of lack of storage facilities.
That we only have enough storage for 15 days worth of such an important fuel is a sticking point because the Government refuses to pay for the storage containers and so do the gas companies.
The situation was further complicated by the failure of a key pipeline from Belgium on Friday.
I wonder, would these gas supplying companies lie about our supply as an excuse to raise prices for a necessary service only they can provide?
Nah, perish the thought.
On an unrelated matter completely, there was an interesting article i read about the 'The Western U.S. Energy Crisis' of 2000 and 2001 were California had a shortage of electricity caused by the illegal shutdowns of pipelines in peak times which decreased supply and led to a 800% increase in wholesale prices in the winter of 2000.
10 comments:
lucy,
interesting that a few days ago you asked me, or maybe suggested, that i have a pessimistic viewpoint of humanity.
while entry after entry you question the ethics and motives of people and institutions...
just an observation.
q
'entry after entry you question the ethics and motives of people and institutions'
Profit making corportaions (IMF, banks, Utility companies, car industry,) Governments, Royalty and the Capitalist system in general i regularly aim my size 5' at agreed, but humanity? I think regular people are on the whole decent. Another observation needed please or least an example of me slapping the faces of people outside of any of the above.
Maybe you were so keen to slap me down for aiming it at you that you jumped the gun. Just my observation.
that was aimed at me? once again i'm surprised...
- profit making businesses (the definition of business it to make profit - even a personal farm. humans. if you choke capitalism we'd still be living like we did in 1800. if you choke the things you dislike you choke the rest like health care, education, transportation, communications, etc).
- IMF is a company? i did not know this.
- banks. there are thousands of small banks in the USA owned, operated, and staffed by locals. humans. if they don't make profit then why would they exist? if they can't make a profit why would the owner put their personal money at risk when they could earn interest from US bonds with zero risk?
- utilties. again in the USA owned, operated, and staffed by localities and cooperatives. humans
- car industry in USA is largest unionized business... humans.
- governments are elected by the people in the West
- the capitalist system led to the the ability to complain about the government and capitalist system on the www
it is hard for me to seperate humanity and human nature from all of these human things - business, government, self-interest
q
Why surprised? Other people can't make observations as well?
You need to separate these things, the people behind them change but the businesses, companies and industries don't. The bankig system is still the banking system whoever is Chancellor and the IMF is stil the IMF whoever sits at the hesd table.
I think lots of people are twats, therefore the institutions they create are often twattish.
That's my scientific explanation.
Joel Bakan's 'The Corporation' is still an interesting read though. It's about how the entity in question can be thought of as having a personality of its own, and a fairly psychopathic/ narcissistic one at that... Its characteristics are that it is:
Irresponsible - it puts others at risk in pursuit of its own goals.
Manipulative - it manipulates people an opinion in pursuit of its goals.
Grandiose - it always insisting that it is the best.
Reckless - it refuses to accept responsibility for its actions.
Remorseless - it cannot feel remorse.
Superficial - it relates to others always in a way that does not reflect their true selves.
Put this all together, and you have a psychopath... which is usually a good thing by the way... (but sometimes isn't).
lucy,
surprised that it was targeted at me... it didn't feel that way. still doesn't.
where did i object to you making observations?
q
Cheddar,
Joel Bakan's view is bizzare to me.
"Irresponsible - it puts others at risk in pursuit of its own goals."
That is called risk management. If everyone does that then all is well... and every company I've interacted with is concered about their responsibility to the owners. A company should reflect the owner.
"Manipulative - it manipulates people in pursuit of its goals."
Manipulative is just a negative label for influencing. Usually the people that use it think everybody should always tell the "truth" and that there is one, clear truth. We all seek to influence life to be the way we want it that's why we use non-verbals, passive words, etc. brute force only works in a few situations...
"Grandiose - it always insisting that it is the best."
...seems reasonable, if i tell people my offerings are mediocre they are gonna buy from someone else right?
"Reckless - it refuses to accept responsibility for its actions."
bull. companies that survive and thrive constantly seek to improve.
"Remorseless - it cannot feel remorse."
i can't disagree with this... either succeed or fail, no emoting
"Superficial - it relates to others always in a way that does not reflect their true selves."
again, can't disagree, how can an organization (made up of 2 to thousands of people and pesonalities) know its "self" when a individual rarely knows themselves?
q
It wasn't aimed at you unless you are responsible for supplying our gas in which case it was and i want a word with you about this bill i recently received.
You agree with most of the adjectives then.
Have you read the book?
no haven't read it. i was reading about 20 books a year but have slowed down to 5 or 6. i have a list of about 400 to go. it isn't on the list...
q
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