The Case for Going Nuclear

ENERGY policy in Great Britain has been a shambles, with disaster avoided thanks to lucky escapes rather than good stewardship and a cowardly government choosing to turn a blind eye to repeated and increasingly desperate warnings over prices and supply. In the last few weeks alone, natural gas spot prices have more than doubled, partly because shipments from the European Union (EU) have been held back; factories have temporarily shut down; business leaders have expressed outrage at the governments dithering; warnings of 1970s- style three- or four-day weeks proliferate, with fears mounting about looming winter electricity shortages as a bitterly cold winter looms; and the National Grid is suffering an increasing number of breakdowns, especially in the North of England, which means away from the glare of the metropolitan media classes. Readers will be forgiven for concluding that this confluence of events amounts to stumbling towards an unnecessary energy crisis, even as ministers blithely assure us that the country is awash in energy.

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