Sunak makes Del Boy and Dodgy Dave look like saints … and farewell to a broadcasting legend
WE put up with Boris Johnson’s ineptitude, lying and his dodgy rewards for his posh pals, and we stood by as the stupidity of Liz Truss sent the economy into freefall. But how corrupt does a British PM have to be before people take a stand and tell them: “Enough is enough.”
I was aghast when Sunak decided on a day trip to Scotland announced hundreds of new oil and gas licences in the North Sea (the same North Sea that was ‘running dry’ ahead of the 2014 referendum).
At a time when global warming is becoming an horrific reality with weather extremes around the world and with governments trying to do something to mitigate its effects, we wondered if Sunak was losing his mind.
The answer lies in an Indian IT company called Infosys – which is said to be owned by Sunak’s wife’s family and which signed a billion-dollar deal with oil giant BP just a couple of months before Sunak’s shock announcement. Sunak is doing a Trump, insisting that his family’s ownership of Infosys is of “no legitimate public interest”.
So that’s OK … nothing to see here, move along please.
Until we look at what else Infosys is involved in – £172 million worth of UK public sector contracts.
Are we supposed to believe that Sunak’s decision to open up these North Sea licences is simply convenient?
Another major Infosys client is Shell, whose CEO Wael Sawan is a recent addition to Sunak’s new business council who has promised a “candid collaboration” with the government.
How collaborative? Well, in an interview with the BBC last month he refused to rule out moving his company’s headquarters and stock market listing from the UK to the US.
In the same interview, Sawan said it would be “irresponsible” to cut oil and gas production when the world economy is still dependent on fossil fuels.
He said: “The reality is, the energy system of today continues to desperately need oil and gas. And before we are able to let go of that, we need to make sure that we have developed the energy systems of the future — and we are not yet, collectively, moving at the pace (required for) that to happen.”
Burning fossil fuels is the biggest source of the carbon emissions blamed for global warming, and Sawan’s comments conflict with climate scientists’ recommendations and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has called on the fossil fuel industry to “drive, not obstruct” the transition to renewable energy.
Sunak even had the gall to insist that granting new oil and gas licences was “entirely consistent” with the UK commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
“If we’re going to need it, far better to have it here at home rather than shipping it here from half way around the world with two, three, four times, the amount of carbon emissions versus the oil and gas we have here at home. So, it is entirely consistent with our plans to get to net zero.”
There was international condemnation of Sunak’s move, with one billionaire global investor saying he would pull his major investment from the UK if the PM pursued “clickbait” fossil fuel policies.
Andrew Forrest, an Australian mining entrepreneur who also runs a philanthropic foundation, told Bloomberg News: “I am a major investor here. If I see this country steering itself over a cliff backing fossil fuel, I am going to start pulling out. I will push my investments over to North America … I must invest where I know I have proper leadership, not leadership which is on a clickbait cycle.”
Nuff said.
On another note I’ve just heard of the passing of Robbie Shepherd, a broadcasting legend, MBE, and an old friend from my days at the BBC in Aberdeen, from where he presented his Take the Floor programme. Many a night Robbie kept us entertained at the Beechgrove club after work, and he was on great form every time we met over the years since then.
His death is a great loss for the world of traditional Scottish music and the Doric tongue – he’ll be sadly missed.
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