Daniel Gear

Wilbert is the meat-eating crofter, who is making his inaugural diary entry. He presumably feels guilty about fiercely shooting his pal, the pig.

Had to share this memory from last year - I had been away with work, and when I arrived home, my youngest daughter (5 at the time) couldn't wait to tell me that her story had been chosen for publication in a kids book of short stories. This was her story... 😂🙈

Reform UK have understood something that the industry can’t admit: growing energy transition cynicism could put them into power Richard Tice's letter to energy sector leaders on Wednesday is the clearest sign yet that Reform UK intend to weaponise growing net zero cynicism to propel them into power.

Reform UK are weaponising a growing net zero cynicism in the UK - and it might just get them into power. Check out my article if you have 5 mins.

The current direction of energy market reform risks reinforcing a trajectory for Scotland where the majority of the benefits are extracted while the burdens are localised.

This short viewpoint covers the REMA announcement, and some broader ideas on community ownership.

Daily Mail front page “Starmer declares war on benefits Britain”

Chart showing Britain’s benefits are just a third of the OECD average, and the lowest in Europe

Anyone who thinks our benefit system is too generous, has clearly had their common sense surgically extracted by the Daily Mail.
Losing your job is financially catastrophic (esp for mortgage payers, who drop to just 12% of an average wage overnight). And our sickness benefits bill is similarly mean.

I'm all for progressive taxation, but this isn't that. Farming can be an extremely marginal business, even on land that is valued highly on paper. I know farms that have been passed down for 300+ years from one generation to the next. Tax levied at the point of land sale feels less destructive.

If you're advocating for a workaround to the inheritor paying, surely the best workaround would be not levy the tax in the first place? My view is that it would be fairer if the tax was levied at the point a farm is sold (i.e. a tax on the proceeds of a sale), rather than when it is passed down.

We'll increasingly see this kind of thing, particularly if the prevailing doctrine continues to be that the transition must be fast, but not necessarily fair. It's also linked to why we're seeing more and more people (voters) in Europe and the US moving away from climate issues.

This article is vital reading re. the principles of a 'just' transition.

"Wind and solar only require massive natural and human sacrifice if you fail to regulate the corporations that build them".

Couldn't agree more. 🙌

Love the sunrise on this kind of day

Love deep menacing blues, which gradually blacken as snow showers get closer and night draws in.

"If nothing is true then no one can criticise power, because there is no basis on which to do so" -Timothy Snyder

"To abandon facts is to abandon freedom" #BookSky

Continuing the theme of things I love: spindrift. When, on days like today, the wind picks up spray from the surface of the sea.

Community Compensation ≠ Community Benefits ≠ Community Wealth

I get that this is the weeds of a global catastrophe, but this is what your average voter sees. Repeat this scenario ad nauseum across the globe, mix in some powerful lobbying interests on the other side, and you have a recipe for the kind of political back turning we're seeing.

The Viking windfarm in Shetland represents nearly 10% of SSER's generating portfolio. Of the £326m profit that SSER made in the past 6 months, 0.3% was allocated to an SSE controlled "community benefit fund" in Shetland.

This further pushes people away from the issue. In Shetland, we host the UK's highest output windfarm, whilst suffering the highest rate of fuel poverty in the country, and over 40% of households living below the minimum income standard. This doesn't make sense to people.

More and more people are moving away from the issue as evidenced in recent European and US elections. Policymakers argue the trade-off between fast action and known downsides. Renewable energy developers are making record profits here in the UK, at the expense of host communities and the consumer.

When it comes to creating community wealth from energy developments, Shetland has a singular experience of the good, the bad, and the downright disastrous. Last month Voar launched a report on this; there are lessons for the whole country in here:

www.justtransition.scot/publication/...

I've just signed up, and it says "invalid handle" on my profile no matter which handle I choose - hoping it's a glitch that will resolve!