Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, has asked Ofgem to crack down on inaccurate and large bills. Photograph: Ina Fassbender/AFP/Getty Images
Exclusive: Whitehall source expects bills in England, Scotland and Wales to rise by about £9 a month over the next three months
Ed Miliband has urged the energy watchdog to take swift action as it emerged that the typical energy bill could soar by more than £100 a year amid a rise in global gas prices.
A Whitehall source said they expected bills in England, Scotland and Wales to increase by about £9 a month over the next three months in another challenge to government plans to tackle the cost of living.
They blamed volatile global gas prices linked to the end of the transit deal that enabled gas to flow to Europe, through Ukraine, from Russia.
Miliband, the energy secretary, has written an urgent letter to Ofgem, saying the price rise means the energy regulator must move faster to protect consumers.
This month, gas prices hit a two-year high, exacerbated by the lack of gas storage in Britain and Europe, combined with colder weather though prices have begun to stabilise. Cornwall Insight, a consultancy which produces closely watched forecasts for the energy price cap, is set to release its latest forecast on Tuesday.
Tony Blair sent the SAS to hunt down suspected Bosnian war criminals in the 1990s who were accused of lesser abuses than Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.
…
Whitehall’s weak reaction to ICC arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant stands in contrast to the exertions it made towards the former Yugoslavia and, more recently, Russia.
When the ICC announced an arrest warrant for Russian ruler Vladimir Putin in March 2023, the UK increased funding to the organisation and hosted an international conference in London.
“The ICC plays a vital role in global efforts to end impunity for war crimes”, the UK Ministry of Justice said.
A year earlier the UK had galvanised a group of governments to refer Russian atrocities in Ukraine to the ICC to enable it to proceed straight to an investigation – a process known as ‘state party referral’.
David Lammy described the ICC’s arrest warrant for Putin as “an historic step”, adding that “President Putin is now a wanted man”.
By contrast, the current foreign secretary has only grudgingly conceded that, in the cases of Netanyahu and Gallant, “there is an obligation on me to transmit to the courts should those named seek to come in to our country”.
When in 2006 former Liberian president Charles Taylor was undergoing a war crimes trial in The Hague for aiding rebels in Sierra Leone notorious for hacking off limbs of civilians, the British government offered to house him in a UK jail if convicted.
Sentenced to 50 years imprisonment, Taylor began serving his conviction at HMP Frankland near Durham. It seems inconceivable that Netanyahu and Gallant will ever see the inside of a British jail.
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWREGenocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAUK Labour Party Shadow Foreign Secretary repeatedly heckled at a speech to the Fabian Society over his and the Labour Party’s support for and complicity in Israel’s genocide of Gaza.
The Kremlin fired a new intermediate-range ballistic missile at Ukraine on Thursday in response to Kyiv’s use this week of American and British missiles capable of striking deeper into Russia, President Vladimir Putin said.
In a televised address to the country, the Russian president warned that U.S. air defense systems would be powerless to stop the new missile, which he said flies at ten times the speed of sound and which he called the Oreshnik — Russian for hazelnut tree. He also said it could be used to attack any Ukrainian ally whose missiles are used to attack Russia.
“We believe that we have the right to use our weapons against military facilities of the countries that allow to use their weapons against our facilities,” Putin said in his first comments since President Joe Biden gave Ukraine the green light this month to use U.S. ATACMS missiles to strike at limited targets inside Russia.
Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh confirmed that Russia’s missile was a new, experimental type of intermediate range missile based on it’s RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile.
“This was new type of lethal capability that was deployed on the battlefield, so that was certainly of concern,” Singh said, noting that the missile could carry either conventional or nuclear warheads. The U.S. was notified ahead of the launch through nuclear risk reduction channels, she said.
In this photo taken from video released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on October 26, 2022, a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile is test-fired as part of Russia’s nuclear drills from a launch site in Plesetsk, northwestern RussiaPhoto: Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP
The threshold for Russia’s use of nuclear weapons was formally lowered by President Vladimir Putin today. [19 Nov 2024]
This followed a decision by US President Joe Biden to let Ukraine strike targets inside Russian territory with longer-range missiles supplied by Washington.
The updated doctrine says an attack against Russia by a non-nuclear-armed power with the “participation or support of a nuclear power” will be seen as their “joint attack on the Russian Federation.”
It warns that any massive aerial attack on Russia could trigger a nuclear response but avoids any firm commitment and mentions the “uncertainty of scale, time and place of possible use of nuclear deterrent.”
‘Thought of the Day’ is a feature of BBC Radio 4 news at early in the morning. It usually features some religious nutter spouting some very simplistic religious rubbish. It’s a sermon and sermons are usually fantastic babbliing by mad people. The trouble is – of course – that the presentation is within their particular religious framework often with no regard for logic or reason. It used to drive me mad – I’d be thinking “You’re so biased and short-sighted, can’t you see <WHATEVER>?”. I’ve just heard “Prayer for the Day” for the first time ever because I’m up so early, need to remember to change channel in future.
So here I am giving my own thoughts of the day. While I realise that I am regarded very highly be some of my valued audience, you are so welcome to disagree. I want you to disagree. Make notes. He’s wrong on this, this and this. That’s not how it works because … <YOUR REASONING>. Don’t just disagree, know exactly why and what you disagree with, be able to argue what points you disagree with me.
It’s a real shame that you can’t comment on this blog – that’s because comments are censored probably by UK’s Home Secretary Yvette Cooper with the full knowledge and agreement of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. That’s a topic for another Thoughts of the Day, let’s just say that it doesn’t really conform with human rights laws, does it? No doubt that there’s some justification for it … OK let’s leave it for now and discuss it soon on some laterer Thoughts of the Day. I’ve also not forgotten that I’m supposed to write a piece on carbon capture and storage but I have been and am still quite ill.
Back to the point, let’s have some thoughts of the day, more thoughts of the day I suppose.
Firstly, you don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes do you? United States providing a missile interception capability to Israel, drones and rockets getting through …
Trying to find an appropriate nickname for Kamala Harris who fully supports Israel’s genocide.
Secondly, I think that we should regard public statements by US and UK on Israel to be intended to deceive and mislead. Their actions prove that they’re talking total BS in public. USUK militaries are participating as much as the IDF FFS.
Thirdly, I think that WW3 is on the cards. I was expecting it a few weeks ago actually and it’s getting on a bit really re: the presidential election. People get scared and tend to vote with what they’ve got if there’s a war on. Russia and North Korea [ed and China] will be on Iran’s side. Russia has got some of it’s fleet there already. I know from keeping up with the news that Russia has got some F.O. serious new missiles the capabilities of which have yet to be demonstrated.
There’s a protest on 2 November. I’ve got a bus ticket and some walking boots on the way.
