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1 May 2023 jamesOf Oil & Water
The Oil Machine in Torrington, North Devon Cathy Slaughter is explaining a little about XR North Devon as people slowly drift into the foyer of The Plough Arts Centre in Torrington, North Devon. “There’s a good group of really active members and of course many more who are signed up on the Facebook page. We…
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1 May 2023 jamesStrength in collective action
The Oil Machine in Dumfries A sudden burst of clapping from a couple at the back of the café and a ripple of laughter through the audience. This is the first response of the evening and the humour is ironic. It is in response to comments from the panel about the challenge of getting to…
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7 Mar 2023 jamesHospicing the Pipeline
The Oil Machine in Hawick Julie and I talked long. And we talked of death. We talked of the passing of fathers, and husbands, and friends. An idea grew between us through that conversation in her flat. Later we shared it with those sitting in The Cornucopia Room, gathered to watch a screening of The…
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16 Nov 2022 jamesThe Lie of the Land
The Oil Machine in Inverness The words of Sir David King, head of the Climate Crisis Advisory Group, haunt me. Speaking at the launch of The Oil Machine film, he explained his view on what has been taking place since 2019. “What we have experienced in the last three years is a series of extreme…
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3 Oct 2022 jamesWho Owns the Wind?
The promise of a publicly owned renewable energy system The North Westerly gale billows and shakes the heavy white pvc of the marquee on the Portsoy harbourside, Aberdeenshire. Festival goers drift from stall to stall, under the pallid light of sun through plastic, dithering over the t-towels and pots of honey. At one end of…
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4 Apr 2022 jamesTectonic shifts – the energy crisis and the leap beyond – The Economic War, part 4
Shell declares it may go back into Cambo and the oilfield’s exploration license is extended by two years. The British government pushes for renewed drilling in the UK North Sea. There is public outcry at the Chancellor’s failure to defend households from the attack on living standards driven by price inflation. The Russian government announces…
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23 Mar 2022 jamesTime to kick Oil out of Football? – The Economic War, part 3
Roman Abramovich under sanctions! Chelsea up for sale! Scandal engulfs Everton FC as a key donor Alisher Usmanov is added to the UK government’s list of ‘named Oligarchs’. The Economic War has opened a new front on the pitch. Football is pulled into the Russian invasion of Ukraine just as Western corporations and the oil…
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The Guns of Economic War – unpicking the decisions by BP to sell out of Russia
Far from the terrifying realities of the shelling of civilians in Kyiv, Kharkiv and other Ukrainian cities, far from the desperation of women and children trying to board trains for Poland, far from the sickening din of armour in the streets, the guns the economic war are firing. The bravery of Ukrainian citizens in resisting…
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10 Feb 2022 jamesFuel poverty and Shell profits – who possesses the gas system?
Standing in the front benches of the Opposition in the House of Commons, Rachel Reeves, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, declared “Citizens Advice have said they have seen a record number of people in January … Only today Shell announced that their profits had quadrupled to 20 billion dollars. They described the results as momentous,…
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8 Dec 2021 jamesCambo, a turning point for the North Sea? – Shell departs and leaves many questions
Seven twenty in the evening of Thursday 2nd December the news breaks[1]: Shell announces that they are withdrawing from their joint venture with the company Siccar Point that intends to exploit oil in the Cambo field West of Shetland. The announcement is as dramatic as it is unexpected. That same evening it is long…
