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North Sea oil: The unmentionable climate emergency scandal… until now
Blog post -
May 15, 2019
We’re in a climate emergency – so why is the UK aiming to extract 20 more billions of barrels of oil?! Our research, out today, shows just how far out of touch with reality this plan is – and what the UK needs to do instead, not only to protect the climate, but also workers’...
Sea Change: Climate emergency, jobs and Managing the Phase-out of UK Oil & Gas Extraction
Publication -
May 15, 2019
This report reveals why UK must stop drilling new oil and gas fields in the North Sea in order to meet Paris climate commitments – and how the transition away from fossil fuels can create decent jobs and revive UK industry. Published by Platform, Oil Change International, and Friends of the Earth Scotland. Supported by...
Silence in the Storm – Business and No Deal Brexit
Blog post -
Feb 28, 2019
The storm in Westminster rages so ferociously that at times it’s hard to hear ourselves think. There is second by second coverage of the House of Commons and Downing Street from every conceivable angle. Backbenchers so obscure that we’ve never heard of them before are dragged through the TV studios and closely cross-questioned. Others...
Of Climate and Memory – Extinction Rebellion and Doreen Massey
Blog post -
Feb 9, 2019
We drive slowly down the winding lane that leads across the flat landscape on the northern flank of the Solway Firth in the county of Dumfries & Galloway. As we move onto the farmland of Preston Merse, we are distracted by the red stone ruin of Wreaths Tower. All that remains of the craggy weathered...
To Bruce Mackenzie – For these and future memories
Blog post -
Nov 27, 2018
In the flurry of a Tuesday afternoon, I receive an unexpected e-mail from Vicki Carroll. The header has your name in it Bruce, and I know instinctively within an instant what the message holds. I hover a while and then open the text to read the inevitable. You have stepped over, passed through the...
Victory at Leith Hill! Divest Fracking! Resisting sites of speculation
Blog post -
Oct 12, 2018
This piece was written before the news of the draconian jail sentences passed on those opposing fracking in Preston, Lancashire … but that bitter ruling does not destroy the reality that shortly before that decision we celebrated a Victory! The News of an Amazing Victory! We wrote of it as follows … The permission to...
Transitions Just and Unjust – the question of power
Blog post -
Jan 9, 2018
We’re descending from the peak of A’ Chailleach (The wise old Woman). Trudging down the steep slope of Sron na Goibhre (Under the Nose/promontary of the Goats) on the northern edge of the Fannich mountain range. My knees are exhausted as they absorb the shock of each step on this sodden mass of grasses and...
Paradigm shift in the House of the North – reflecting on ‘The Sky’s Limit’
Blog post -
Nov 15, 2016
I’m trudging towards the top of Am Faochagach following my dear friend Greg Muttitt, who was for a long time central to Platform and is now part of the wider family. The smooth crest of this mountain rises like a whale’s back. Its lack of crags must have led to its name – Am...
Subsidising spills – British public pays BP $300 million to drill and spill
Blog post -
Oct 7, 2016
BP came under criticism this week when it caused a 95 tonne oil leak from its Clair Field into the North Sea. The company decided not to clear up the spill, and wait for the oil to wash further out to sea. The new spill comes as BP no longer pays net taxes to the...
Power Station Giant Down… and commemorate!
Blog post -
Sep 12, 2016
Last Wednesday, at 11am, another giant landmark in the history of UK fossil-fuel power crashed to the ground. Never mind a landmark, this was also a giant seamark that aided navigation at the start of the Thames and Medway estuaries for hundreds of vessels every day. Its end came with two huge bangs that juddered...
Drawing Red Lines – from Paris to Ffos-y-fran
Blog post -
Apr 29, 2016
I watched the twitter feed and followed the news early last December filled with a mixture of excitement at what unfolded in Paris and mild envy of companions who were immersed in the ebb and flow of events around COP 21, the 21st Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC. As the reports of the...
“You come from the premise that we are guilty already” – notes from the BP AGM 2016
Blog post -
Apr 20, 2016
Bob Dudley, Chief Executive, who appears tired, pale and jowly, looks up from his notes and addresses a set of questions that have been put to the Board. This particular set from delegates at the Annual General Meeting of BP, are grouped together under the bracket of ‘concerned with climate change’. He peers out at...
