In a further sign that all is not well with the UK economy, large numbers of investment bankers are seeking work elsewhere.  Recruitment firm Morgan McKinley have seen an 8pc drop in the number of new financial services jobs on their books over the past year, with just 7,695 available, …

Energy regulator Ofgem has floated plans to make bill-payers pick up some of the costs of failing energy suppliers. According to Emily Gosden at the Telegraph, the regulator is seeking a means of protecting customers in credit with energy companies in the event of their running into financial difficulties: “The …

Trends in the European economy look a lot like Japan’s lost generation.  This is hardly surprising given that Europe has followed the same monetary policies adopted by Japan when its economy stalled in the 1990s.  Writing for the Evening Standard, Hamish McRae explains: “That is not a pro-Brexit statement. It …

NC WARN, a US environmental campaign group has lodged federal allegations of scientific fraud against a Texas engineering professor who led key studies into methane leakage at shale gas drilling sites around the USA. The tests were used by the Environmental Protection Agency to give fracking the green light.  But …

Cut through all of the political and economic nonsense that passes for theory, and you find that the history of the UK economy over the last 40 years boils down to just two little words – oil and gas.  The so-called Thatcher Revolution and the consolidation under Blair and Brown was …

The growing “shareholder revolt” against Big Oil’s failure to deal with the likely result of the Paris Climate Agreement has been met by derision from oil company CEOs according to Jillian Ambrose at the Telegraph: “The words of Exxon’s Mr [Rex] Tillerson may have seemed strident in the face of …

A combination of low oil prices and rapidly depleting oil fields resulted in the North Sea losing money for the first time in 2015/6.  Last year, 10 oil and gas fields ceased production.  This year industry insiders predict that a further 50 will be abandoned – a collapse on a …

English economist William Stanley Jevons observed that the introduction of the steam engine resulted in a proliferation of steam technology rather than a decline in coal consumption due to improved efficiency.  This became known as the “Jevons Paradox” – which says that energy efficiency leads to a greater use of …

In Britain, next to the banks the ‘Big Six’ energy companies are the only ones to make large profits since the 2008 crash.  This has largely been achieved by capturing the market in energy supply.  So far, the cartel has avoided serious disruption from new energy companies – largely because …

News this week that scientists in Iceland have found a new method for storing carbon dioxide was hailed as a climate change breakthrough.  But was it really?  In fact there are very good reasons for pessimism. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology is at the heart of emissions reduction policies …