I see that we are to double our imports of gas from the USA. This is shale gas – the same gas that we refuse to extract from our own ground, except that the American gas has been liquified, transported and then gasified so we can then burn it. So much for our concerns about adding to our carbon footprint.
Similarly, there are people who are content that we import coking coal for our steel industry rather than mine it ourselves. Some of these clearly would like us to import all our coal, even though it will also have a greater carbon footprint. Others would prefer us to import all the steel rather than make it ourselves. Others still, a hair shirt few, would prefer us to do without steel completely.
We're also happy, it seems, to import French nuclear electricity rather than make it ourselves. Our failure to invest in nuclear "while the sun was shining" has meant that we are utterly reliant on gas now.
In a similar, but unrelated, vein, we prefer to import trained doctors rather than go to the expense of training our own young people. Indeed, we prefer (more accurately the Treasury prefers) to train young people from overseas as doctors rather than British youngsters.
There's a pattern here.
Responses
Thank you for this short yet poignant commentary on the insanity of maintaining political and economic focus instead of pondering deeply our mindset (i.e., worldview) that thinks these kinds of policies are a global solution of any kind.