Cameron's Turn

Our energy regulator Ofgem is reported as saying that we can expect power cuts in winter 2015/16 as spare capacity drops from 14% to 4%. According to the Department of Energy etc (run by our wonderful LibDem Secretary of State, Ed Davey) this is not going to happen since the Energy Bill when enacted will ensure secure supply. Only though if we import more gas. Importing gas will have the effect of putting up prices as will the useless wind farms that are being built. The eco fascists like Greenpeace will be thrilled that we are going back to the middle ages. No doubt others will welcome the sense of all being in this together as we struggle to keep warm. However I wouldn't like to bet on the majority of us being so community minded when our mobiles, iPods and tablets and the like fail to work because we can't charge them. At that stage we will no doubt be One Nation but not in the sense Miliband meant. What did Miliband mean though when he used the phrase as no one, not even Disraeli, really knew what he meant by it when he used the phrase first. The expectations for Miliband's speech were so low that as Bruce Anderson said in his piece in ConservativeHome here any half decent speech was bound to be greeted as a great success. Despite its length and vacuousness it was delivered with a certain charm and so achieved acclamation. Although some might now regard him in a different light I doubt that Miliband's candle will burn with the same glow for long since he's the same oddball as he was before he made his speech. The media as well as many of his MPs are now piling the pressure on Cameron to produce a speech that is also greeted with acclamation of the order of Mitt Romney's surprise success against Bummer (and what a bummer of a performance Obama gave). With the economy still in difficulty and various other problems such as the train franchise fiasco there's no doubt Cameron has a tough call but if he's clever he will admit to the mistakes, point out that by contrast neither Miliband nor Balls have apologised for the financial disaster Labour left us, that the deficit reduction programme has been working although not as well as was hoped but that it will continue and that the reform of education and welfare will continue as well. Cameron should also say that we can sort out the mess we inherited and that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Cameron also needs to adopt a much more sceptical tone on the EU and on energy and tell us exactly what he will do on these issues that is vital for this country's good.