I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back

A Britain without coal?

The picture below is from the Isle of Wight Steam railway. I took it during a visit to the railway sheds earlier this week.

For pretty obvious reasons, heritage railways rely on coal, as that is what steam trains used. The Isle of Wight Steam railway long had a choice, if it wishes to continue operating, between using coal from this country, or using imported stocks from overseas. If the UK completely abolishes any coal production, the only option is to import coal, bringing it thousands of miles by sea, and likely from countries with lower environmental and labour standards than ours.

The examples given here are Kazakhstan or Colombia.

Britain clearly needs coal mines - for energy independence, for heritage facilities like this, and as a reserve fuel whilst other alternatives are developed. The noise of campaign groups like Just Stop Oil should not drown this reality out.

Qatar: Two Contributions to Debate

During November we saw the opening of a World Cup that, for the first time in the modern history of football, was not greeted with universal enthusiasm by supporters. Why? The host, and the methods used to win the hosting of the tournament.

I was involved in two contributions which attempted to provide a little more background to Qatar, and in particular Britain's relationship with it. The first was supplying some additional information, along with Dr Damon Perry, to a report by Sir John Jenkins for Policy Exchange. A pdf is below.

Secondly, I wrote a short piece for the Conservative Home which argued that in our dealings with Qatar, the UK's social cohesion must come first. Again, a pdf is below.

Download Qatar-Friend-or-Frenemy 2022

Download Its time that British elites had a reality check about our relationship with Qatar Con Home 23 11 2022