The next illusion this way comes

Merz declares wind power a transitional technology – and sells nuclear fusion as a way out

Friedrich Merz calls wind power a transitional technology, although the expansion of offshore plants and grids is planned for decades. Nevertheless, he links the expansion to a grand narrative of the future. He says Germany should "connect the world's first fusion reactor to the grid." At the same time, electricity prices remain high for many households, and approval for the expansion of wind power is crumbling in parts of the population.

Merz explains that wind energy will accompany us "for ten years, 20 years, maybe 30 years". In doing so, it is setting an expiration date, although the energy transition needs stable generation capacities. It also sends a signal to investors that sounds like a reservation. Offshore projects in particular expect long durations and high upfront investments.


Not truth, but error has always been the chief factor in the evolution of nations, and the reason why socialism is so powerful to-day is that it constitutes the last illusion that is still vital.

In spite of all scientific demonstrations it continues on the increase. Its principal strength lies in the fact that it is championed by minds sufficiently ignorant of things as they are in reality to venture boldly to promise mankind happiness. The social illusion reigns to-day upon all the heaped-up ruins of the past, and to it belongs the future. The masses have never thirsted after truth. They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify error, if error seduce them.

Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim.

Gustave Le Bon - The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind (1895)

Scientist says...

 

The stupidity of the century

Carl Deconinck has an interesting Brussels Signal piece on trenchant criticisms of European green energy policies made by Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever.

Green energy policies are destroying Europe: Belgian PM De Wever

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever has come out against European “green” policies, accusing them of causing de-industrialisation.

Speaking on the evening of January 29 at The Future of Europe, an event run by Belgian newspapers De Tijd en L’Echo, De Wever was highly critical of earlier decisions on the production of energy, which he said made everything more expensive and harmed the European economy.


The whole piece is well worth reading as an extremely belated recognition that Europe's weaknesses are self-inflicted. The EU isn't mentioned, but there do seem to be hints that some senior politicians prefer to direct their criticisms at 'Europe' rather than lose them in the EU swamp.

According to De Wever, this exposed all Europe’s weaknesses and made things “extremely complicated with environmental rules that make it impossible to provide for our own energy needs, that make it impossible to mine for rare minerals in Europe”. The continent also has “no military capacity”.

At the same time, China is popping up in Africa and South America, where there is almost no European presence.

“We made our life extremely hard. We’ve made dogmatic choices against nuclear energy which was the stupidity of the century,” he said.

Sacks of dried night soil

North Korean households receive heavy yearly scrap collection quotas as new year begins

Those unable to gather recyclables on time must pay cash equivalents, and quotas are sometimes raised arbitrarily, leaving North Koreans feeling "shackled" by collection demands

North Korean neighborhood watch unit leaders have given households their yearly quotas for various scrap materials they are supposed to collect for the government...

According to the source, one neighborhood watch unit in Chongjin provided the following quotas to each household in a meeting on the evening of Jan. 14: 40 kilograms of scrap metal, 10 kilograms of scrap paper, 5 kilograms of scrap rubber, 2 kilograms of oil crops, and three 25-kilogram sacks of dried night soil.

There are many observations a chap could make about sacks of night soil, but I'll resist the temptation for now.  

In other news, I see Lord Mandelson has resigned from the Labour Party.

The Andy Burnham clown show

 

Incompetent Voters

Suppose we take a look at current UK Political Polls - Westminster Voting Intention taken from here. 

The competence of over half of the parties should be known to any voter who pays attention to these things - that is to say, Labour, Conservative Lib Dems and SNP. Yet on past performance we might plausibly suggest that all of these parties are known to be incompetent.

There are lots of caveats here, but add in Greens who base their appeal on an incompetent ideology and we might go on to suggest that about two thirds of voters seem to be politically incompetent. 

This is not a suggestion that voters should support Reform, more a case of noting that far too many voters give their vote to parties with a history of political incompetence.  

Says Starmer

Britain should talk itself up more, says Starmer on return from China

Britain needs to be better at talking itself up, Sir Keir Starmer said as he returned from leading a trade delegation to China.

Reflecting on his four-day trip to Beijing and Shanghai, the Prime Minister said the 54-strong business delegation had “a real sense of can-do” and a willingness to seize the opportunities China presents.

He told reporters on his flight from Shanghai: “They’re real glass half-full people and they see the opportunity.


A remarkable man, he doesn't appear to listen to anyone, even himself.

"Sir" Keir Starmer heads a government more interested in banning, censoring, regulating, legislating, restricting, supervising, controlling, procrastinating, finger-pointing, point-scoring, delaying, auditing, distracting, evading, postponing and misleading.

The glass is empty.

Or stolen.