Rapid responses
Green shoots
I took it as a sure sign that we were in the grip of a severe bear market when your regular Monday feature “Bill of the Week” was quietly canned. So it was with interest that I saw a “green shoot” in yesterday’s edition, with the Capitalist reporting on a thundering bill chalked up at Raffles. Is the “Bill of the Week” really back? If so, it’s time to fill our boots.
Eric Moore
[Re: US energy policy is thriving despite a quiet campaign, yesterday]
Matthew Sinclair advocates that the UK should seek to emulate the energy policy of the US by becoming more dependent on coal, oil and gas. But he fails to mention that its fossil fuel industries receive annual financial support from taxpayers through tax cuts and subsidies of nearly $13bn (£8.14bn), according to a recent analysis by the OECD. By comparison, Britain’s taxpayers provide support of more than £3bn per year to coal, oil and gas companies, not including the enormous implicit subsidy for greenhouse gas pollution from fossil fuels. Given that fuel bills for both households and businesses have been ever driven higher over the past few years, primarily by the UK’s dependence on imported gas, it is not clear why Sinclair is so ideologically opposed to a shift to domestic low-carbon sources of energy.
Bob Ward, London School of Economics.
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Re-electing Barack Obama is like theTitanic hitting the iceberg again. Electing Mitt Romney is like hitting a different iceberg.
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