17 h. ago UK Government urged to speed up replacing RTS meters as 150k Scots homes face energy crisis

EXCLUSIVE: Delays to the roll-out of smart meters means thousands of Scottish households face disruption to heating and higher bills.

Politics

32 h. ago Drought in developing countries fuels spike in demand for new coal

An energy crisis in Zambia and Zimbabwe caused by lack of rain has led to plans for a rapid increase in coal power – most backed with money from Chinese firms. Nick Ferris reports

Politics

60 h. ago Ezra Klein on Trump, Vance and free speech: ‘It feels like we are in one of the darkest imaginable timelines’

The influential US commentator has written a book about how politics can change people’s lives for the better. But first, there are more pressing challenges to address ...Ezra Klein, the New York Times podcast host and progressive media’s undisputed nerd king, starts his new book with something of a palate cleanser for our troubled times. For a few paragraphs, he and his co-author, the Atlantic journalist Derek Thompson, whisk us out of the grim reality of contemporary politics to a world of Abundance (the word they picked as their title).“You open your eyes at dawn and turn in the cool bedsheets,” they purr, before conjuring a near-future utopia where the cost of living crisis is a distant memory. “You live in a cocoon of energy so clean it barely leaves a carbon trace and so cheap you can scarcely find it on your monthly bill.” The fridge is full of fresh fruit and vegetables from skyscraper farms that sit amid rewilded landscapes. This is what we can look forward to, they say, if...

Politics

9 d. ago Britain's wealth squashed under Reeves... and it could get WORSE: Brits face an extra YEAR of flatlining wealth, a record tax burden with fears of more to come

In its latest outlook, the OBR said it does not expect real GDP per person to return to 2022 levels - before the energy crisis hit - until 2026.

Economics

9 d. ago Britain's wealth gets squashed under Reeves: Brits face an extra YEAR of flatlining wealth, a record tax burden... and the only thing propping up GDP is mass immigration

In its latest outlook, the OBR said it does not expect real GDP per person to return to 2022 levels - before the energy crisis hit - until 2026.

Economics

1 week ago From foul to fuel: how a seaweed problem could power the Caribbean

As the climate heats up, Grenada’s beaches have become swamped with rotting sargassum. But biotech can turn it into fuel, fertiliser and plasticPhotographs by Haron ForteauIt is hard to describe the putrid stench of the decaying sargassum seaweed blanketing miles of shoreline in Soubise, a fishing village in Grenada. The pungent odour wafts into passing vehicles, persisting long after they have left the Caribbean island’s coves, where the ocean has deposited masses of the seaweed, which turns red then black as it rots.Many residents of Soubise, one of the areas worst affected, say they have learned to live with the problem, which has plagued the island, and others like it, for years. Last week scientists in Florida said they thought they had identified a weather phenomenon in 2009 as the “tipping point” of the problem, which they said is caused by shifting winds churning up the ocean and bringing deepwater nutrient concentrations to the surface.Lindon Marast says the seaweed clogs t...

Politics

1 week ago Tesla’s EU sales almost halve this year; Hyundai announces $21bn US investment to avoid tariffs – business live

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsShell chief executive Wael Sawan’s pay package rose by 8.5% last year, to £8.6m, attracting criticism from environmental campaigners.Sawan’s pay rose from £7.9m in 2023, Shell’s annual report shows this morning, due to increased bonus payments such as through its long-term incentive plan.“After a year of unchartered climate extremes and huge energy bills, which are set to spike again in many countries this year, Wael Sawan’s obscene pay packet will feel like a slap in the face for millions.“It’s maddening to know that Big Oil bosses like Sawan are raking it in, as they double down on the oil and gas that’s fuelling climate devastation, and continue to profit from an energy crisis that’s leaving so many of us poorer.” Continue reading...

Economics

2 w. ago South of Scotland business creates device that can help tackle energy crisis

The test sensor from Radisoft is currently being tested at the Crichton in Dumfries.

Events

2 w. ago SNP minister urges Ofgem to speed up replacing RTS meters before switch off

Alasdair Allan warned that "people who rely on the RTS will experience considerable detriment unless meters are replaced by the switch-off date".

Politics

3 w. ago Hundreds of thousands of homes with old meters are warned to change them now or face summer without hot water or electricity

Energy suppliers are trying to encourage those with radio teleswitch service (RTS) meters to replace them with more modern smart meters as a campaign is fronted by TV presenter Lorraine Kelly.

Events

3 w. ago Warning issued over old meters with thousands of Brits still needing to make switch before summer deadline

Energy suppliers are trying to encourage those with radio teleswitch service (RTS) meters to replace them with more modern smart meters as a campaign is fronted by TV presenter Lorraine Kelly.

Events

3 w. ago Post Office scandal victim, 76, offered payout days after his death as his bereaved wife calls offer 'a slap in the face'

The widow of Terry Walters, who was falsely accused over thousands of pounds in supposed losses from his Hockley branch in 2007, urged the Government to speed up the compensation scheme.

Events