@benbarclay.bsky.social
Translator and textbook writer. Post on climate, energy, health, Spain, Brexit and other stuff. Produce VoiceMap audio tours of Andalucía: https://voicemap.me/publisher/ben-barclay#tours https://andalucia-bound.com @andalucia-bound.bsky.social
Also, this.⬇️
Although you're not going to export as much oil like that, they were apparently sending some via Oman. No longer.
Tells you something (not sure what) about the interaction of technological progress and culture that someone posted a Telegraph mad headline generator here last week, and already it's obsolete because the real Telegraph headlines are even madder.
20 members of the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) have been killed in Iraq by (presumably Israeli/US) airstrikes. The Iranian-aligned PMF have been behind attacks on US targets in Iraq, so this is not unexpected, but it shows the risk of the war spreading and escalating.
The strait (singular) is in dire straits (plural).
(As you were.)
But then you have the question of if they withdraw, will the Strait still be safe?
Found this article about Turkana and the wider implication/outlook, in case people are interested.
No expert, but the Iranian president has set out their conditions for ending the conflict, and it’s pretty impossible to see the US/Israel accepting, so Iran, at least, continues. And president is probably the moderate within current leadership.
We’re heading towards a humanitarian, environmental and economic disaster.
“Many people say we already have one. The greatest one ever. That’s what they’re telling me.”
As a point of comparison, the US spent $21 billion in FY 2022 to feed billions of breakfasts and lunches to kids in schools across our whole country for an entire year under the universal school meals program that was later discontinued.
UN warns of widening crisis as Israeli attacks displace 750,000 in Lebanon https://aje.news/594bax
Al Jazeera now reporting this as two oil tankers burning in Iraqi waters.
Worth watching.
Not really - see @almagroschool.bsky.social on Sanchez’s lack of popularity.
Summer is actually still quite variable for prices, because demand shoots up and wind is low. Shoulder seasons are when we often have renewables to spare. For now.
We’re not on that kind of contract now, so I don’t have the details to hand.
A lot of people are on hourly rates based on wholesale prices, but there is a significant component for grid charges etc which you pay per kWh, but which also vary by time of day, so in practice I guess when wholesale is zero you might pay 5-8c/kWh?
I'm not sure "There are probably very few mines in there" is the slam dunk he thinks it is.
For the other six points you'll have to click below to read them. Some of you might be moved to subscribe, that would be great macdonnchada.substack.com/p/why-isnt-p...
I guess all those people on X who claimed it was an Iranian missile and Bellingcat had lied about it being a Tomahawk are rushing to correct themselves - U.S. at Fault in Strike on School in Iran, Preliminary Inquiry Says
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/11/u...
Burgum is apparently calling it a temporary transit problem, but as widely discussed, this is affecting production and not just transit. You won't get that oil back when/if the situation is resolved.
I would assume that ships are even more reluctant to go in through the Strait of Hormuz than out.
There's a (smallish) risk associated with staying which has to be weighed up against the risk of leaving. But if you go in, you add that risk (plus risk of getting trapped) to risk of the passage.
Indeed.
4/ Ok, so what ARE the goals? It seems, primarily, destroying lots of missiles and boats and drone factories.
But the question that stumped them: what happens when you stop bombing and they restart production?
They hinted at more bombing. Which is, of course, endless war.
mean that a very conservative investment profile (ie a bank account) might be the right decision.
If you have lots of financial/human capital, you can look at the bigger picture and the longer term, so the richer you are, the greater risk you can afford, and the higher returns you get.
Yes, and re HPs low-income families often have electric heating rather than gas, which means high prices per kWh for electricity without the benefits of the efficiency of a HP.
You also see it with investment advice: why don’t people invest in equities? But modest savings + precarious income…
It’s a good point that wind power also becomes cheaper for repowering. Not just potential reuse of components, but also easier (hopefully!) planning process, access, better data on wind speeds for optimising design, perhaps lower risk so lower cost of capital, etc.
This was about heat pumps, but it applies more generally.
We need to get better at distinguishing one-off transition costs from ongoing costs once the transition has been made, which are often lower than the current fossil fuel-based system.
I am so full of admiration for Charlotte Nichols’ courage in talking about this - particularly awful that as a woman in public life she will have had to consider first how people might use this information against her, especially online. Hope she has all the support she needs.
Even if the injuries are minor, this suggests the Iranians have hit a few US bases/facilities.
Delayed release of satellite imagery indicates the same.
Not necessarily that much damage, but some.
Thanks!
And both supply and demand will react to price signals, which will presumably get stronger the longer this goes on. However, both supply and demand are pretty inelastic in the short term, so there's only so much that can be done without major knock-on effects.