03.02.12 Posted in Blog by Duckface
As researchers and journalists around the UK start drawing up biographies of Ed Davey and scouring Hansard for past quotes, we thought we’d give you our take on what this means for UK energy policy.
There may not be many sad faces as Chris Huhne packs his bag and heads off to meet his solicitors today. Not known for his bend-over-backwards-kindness, Huhne certainly hasn’t made many friends during his stint as Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change.
All change then, as his successor, Ed Davey, is hailed by all as a thoroughly nice chap. So nice he once saved a lady from an oncoming train at Clapham Junction. In the wake of hurricane Huhne, DECC could probably do with an affable character pounding the corridors of power.
Speaking of power, a quick google of Davey doesn’t provide much insight into what this man thinks about the energy industry. Like all Lib Dems he has flirted with the anti-nuclear lobby, but the Coalition Agreement is clear on that front so he’s not going to do a Germany.
In fact the good ship DECC is not like most departments. Its course was set even before the general election. Electricity Market Reform has been through a comprehensive consultation process, resulting in green papers, white papers and will soon have its moment in the sun when the Queen reopens Parliament in May. The energy NPSs are a done deal and the Weightman review has given the go ahead for new nuclear to proceed as planned. There’s not really much left for Davey to do… except oversee the biggest developments in the energy market for three generations that is.
Energy policy is one area where all three main parties are agreed, and Ed Davey, is not about to start rocking the boat.
The more interesting question might be what he plans to do with his SpAds. Given Davey’s lack of experience in what is a monster brief, he would do well to keep Joel Kenrick and Duncan Brack to help him get up to speed. We’ll keep an eye out for this one so watch this space.
So there you have it, the UK energy industry and the people who fund it can go to bed in peace this evening, free from the worries that little Ed Davey might do a spectacular volte-face on energy policy. How very dull.
02.02.12 Posted in Blog by Crazel
Normally it takes us a good deal of concerted thinking (well, a few minutes) to identify our favourite bit of PR that we’ve seen recently, but not so this week. In fact, there’re two. Step forward Sainsbury’s and Asda, for this week, the supermarkets have it.
The story about the re-naming of Sainsbury’s tiger bread to giraffe bread after a letter from a confused 3 year old warmed our hearts (and made us hungry). Whether genuine or not, it was such an easy win for Sainsbury’s, and had the supermarket trending on Twitter for all the right reasons.
On a slightly different tack, it turns out you can put a price on love: 7p to be exact. Asda’s ‘Smart Price’ Valentine’s Day card divided the office, mostly along gender lines, but I for one found it hilarious. That is, unless I actually receive one, at which point the laughter will stop.
Well played to both. We’re off to buy some giraffe bread.
01.02.12 Posted in Blog, Open Road, Politics and Public Affairs by Top Cat
Banker’s bonuses and executive pay was the principal battleground at this week’s PMQs – after Fred Goodwin was stripped of his knighthood in what some might call an act of meaningless political tokenism.
Ed Miliband has gained some credit in recent weeks with his emphasis on the bonus culture and ever rising executive pay, but as a persistently weak performer at PMQs, could he press home his advantage?
The first question certainly caused a kerfuffle, with Cameron forced to withdraw his accusation of “hypocrisy”, after he was accused of breaking promises on RBS pay in opening exchanges with the opposition leader. However, the line of questioning did easily allow Cameron to drag the debate back to the last Labour’s government’s economic record, which continues to hurt them in the polls.
Overall, neither David Cameron nor Ed Miliband was particularly convincing, with rhetoric yet to be matched by practical action.
In a sign of battles ahead, Cameron also fielded questions on the income tax threshold and the welfare reform bill.
There was further evidence of the differentiation strategy being pursued by the Lib Dems on income tax after Nick Clegg’s unusual intervention last week. Julian Huppert says the government must go further and faster in raising the threshold in order to protect the impact of inflation on the working poor. Cameron avoided answering the question.
The Welfare Reform Bill continues to be a hot potato, following sustained attacks on the coalition from Labour and an effective lobbying operation from disability groups. The PM fielded both supportive and critical questions from backbench MPs. The Commons is voting on the bill again this afternoon after a series of defeats were inflicted upon the government in the Lords. On the latest news the government seems to have won the first three of seven votes by a comfortable margin of 50-60.
01.02.12 Posted in Blog by The dormouse says
All of the papers this morning (except the Mirror and the Express) have led with Fred Goodwin losing his knighthood, often accompanied with a pun on his nickname. Amid the slightly gruesome celebrations that Mr Goodwin has joined a fairly exclusive club otherwise made up of ruthless dictators and traitors (his mum must be so proud), some commentators have come to his defence. Alistair Darling in the Times has called on the Government to stop punishing RBS “just because we own it”; although in the Sun, Rosie, 21, points out that “No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.”
After an anti-climactic transfer deadline day (apparently clubs only spent £60m during this transfer window, compared to £225m this time last year), John Browett pulled off the move of the day. Leaving League One strugglers Dixons for Premiership leaders Apple is quite a leap. Let’s just hope Browett turns out to be better value than Fernando Torres.
Despite all this excitement yesterday, there is still plenty on non-news making the papers, including “woman trips over pavement” shock. There’s even an update to the famous ‘man bites dog‘ adage: if an owl were to eat a lion that would be news; surely the other way round isn’t worthy of comment?
26.01.12 Posted in Blog by Louise
Bad PR award of the day goes to Republic, which has complained that a cooking competition for school children to celebrate the Queen’s jubilee is illegal.
The Duchess of Cornwall launched the competition, to encourage children to devise a new dish in the vein of coronation chicken. However, anti-monarchy group Republic has complained that involving children in celebrations of the monarchy without teaching them about republicanism is in breach of the Education Act.
This of course has the effect of making Republic come across as po-faced and rather tedious – which, considering it ostensibly stands for modernising, is not really where it wants to position itself.
To paraphrase the Department of Education, the law is there to make sure children are not indoctrinated by biased political views – not to stop them joining in with a party.
