@chrisaylett
Research Fellow @chathamhouse focusing on the geopolitics of climate change and the energy transition. Views my own. https://www.chathamhouse.org/about-us/our-people/chris-aylett Header: 'A List of Antagonisms', Hiba Abdallah
"Trump and Netanyahu killed every child in this photo.
Every. Single. One.
Not combatants.
Not militants.
Schoolkids from Minab, Iran."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Mi...
x.com/sahouraxo/st...
All wars create unexpected second and third-order effects. One of the appalling things about the Trump administration is that they don’t seem to have thought through the expected effects either. open.substack.com/pub/danieldr...
And who knew that trying to enlist the Iraqi Kurds would piss off Turkey?
Tooze absolutely seething about the outrageousness of this war is a tonic
pca.st/episode/7bdf...
While we scramble to grasp the massive implications of the conflict in the Middle East, which worsens by the day, endangering us all, don't forget that this was a deliberate, extraordinarily reckless choice by the US and Israel
Everything happening now was easy to foresee
But they did it anyway
The fact that Putin is opportunistically threatening to redirect Europe-bound LNG, just as Trump's insane and reckless war jeopardises global supply and pushes up prices, should be enough to finally silence those still clinging to a future for gas on the continent
www.reuters.com/business/ene...
This is America First in combination with Energy Dominance: starve the rest of the world, while forcing them to buy your LNG at inflated prices
Is China misleading the West — or could it help save humanity from climate catastrophe? Why is it building so many solar panels? I asked these questions to @chrisaylett.bsky.social
👉 youtu.be/nCweYICBmow
Not the first person to say this but in a world of cheap drones and short range missiles running your economy on Cote du Cretaceous Plankton juice (fossil fuel) from a live fire zone seems to be a bad idea. #EnergySky
“Our transition to EVs is aimed at ensuring our energy sovereignty,” said Ethiopia’s state minister for transport and logistics. “As a net importer of fuel, we are affected by global supply and price fluctuations. In contrast, EVs use electricity, which we produce locally and can price ourselves.”
🤮 deeply depressing
At once a brutal assault on global efforts to confront climate change, an attack on American public health, and an act of economic and strategic self-sabotage
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
"Grateful coal lobbyists attending the ceremony honored [Trump] with an award for being the 'Undisputed Champion of Beautiful, Clean Coal'...the lobbyists’ equivalent of a Burger King crown for the commander-in-chief"
*chef's kiss*
👀 the possibility of proper investment in the energy system transformation that the EU so desperately needs
Putin and Trump have done a remarkable job of making the politically impossible, possible, in the EU
www.politico.eu/article/bund...
Great thread. You can't have a high renewables and a high nuclear power system, unless you over-index on storage. You need to scale nuclear to a portion of always-on demand.
The EU is (mostly) serious about getting off volatile and easy-to-weaponize fossil fuels
Now it needs to get serious about electrification
This means investing much more in the grid and stepping up physical and cyber security
Me for @euractiv.com
www.euractiv.com/opinion/ener...
[Opinion] #Energy - #Energy security after gas: Why #Europe needs a fresh mindset, by @chrisaylett.bsky.social | Euractiv
www.euractiv.com/opinion/ener...
Excited to announce the publication of my new book – Chinese Global Environmentalism – later this month!
The environment was once one of China's greatest weaknesses. It is now becoming a pillar of China’s global power.
www.cambridge.org/core/element...
Had a good chat with @joeloclimate.bsky.social from @climatechangenews.com about Europe's dependence on American LNG and big plans for wind power and electricity interconnectors in the North Sea
www.climatechangenews.com/2026/01/28/q...
The Legislation Upon winning a general election, a Reform government under Prime Minister Nigel Farage will: 1) Leave the ECHR 2.) Repeal the Human Rights Act and replace it with a British Bill of Rights. 3.) Pass The Illegal Migration (Mass Deportation) Bill: This Bill will: Create a legal duty to remove illegal migrants for the Home Secretary The Bill opens with a blunt obligation for the Home Secretary: "The Secretary of State shall ensure the removal from the United Kingdom of each person who does not have extant leave to remain and is not an Irish citizen or otherwise protected by regulations made under this Act." The following parts of the legislation are introduced on an emergency basis, with an in-built sunset clause after 5 years: Disapply the 1951 Refugee Convention, the UN Convention Against Torture, the Council of Europe Anti-Trafficking Convention (ECAT) Derogation is justified under the Vienna Convention doctrine of state of necessity: Britain faces a national emergency in which uncontrolled illegal migration undermines public order. These treaties will otherwise be used by activist judges to frustrate deportations, even after the repeals of the HRA and ECHR. Create Detention Power Without Hardial Singh Constraints This means illegal migrants can be detained until they are deported. Activist lawyers routinely use Hardial Singh to secure their client's bail, after which the client absconds. If you came to the UK illegally, you are ineligible for asylum. End of story All asylum claims will become inadmissible if made by a person within the Act's scope. If you came to the country illegally, you are ineligible for asylum in the UK. This strips the Home Office, the immigration tribunals and the higher courts of jurisdiction to even consider claims. A claim that cannot be considered cannot suspend removal and therefore, cannot delay a flight. Re-entering after deportation and destroying ID becomes a serious criminal offence Re-entry after deportation will be…
The Operational Plan We will create an enforcement unit called UK Deportation Command, including an Illegal Migrant Identification Centre - harnessing cutting edge data fusion A Reform government will create a cutting edge enforcement data centre to relentlessly identify and detain all illegal migrants in the UK. Using powers granted by the new legislation, it will automatically share data between the Home Office, NHS, HMRC, DVLA, banks and the police. It will power bulk warrants, including mandatory biometric capture during any police encounter. Each power addresses a failure mode observed over the past decade - for example, banks and GP surgeries unaware of a customer's status, or overstayers slipping through because a warrant covered only a single property. Secure Immigration Removal Centres (SIRC) will be built rapidly to detain up to 24,000 Detention capacity for up to 24,000 will be created within 18 months. The Home Office will build Secure Immigration Removal Centres. This will be modular accommodation built in remote parts of the country. Conditions are basic but not punitive: prefabricated two-person rooms, canteen catering, on-site medical suites. Robust perimeters and internal movement controls prevent escapes. This enables detention-on-arrest: no more bail. This capacity would allow for up to 24,000 illegal migrants to be deported per month. Initial Voluntary Return Window A six-month Assisted Voluntary Return window precedes large-scale raids. Illegal migrants will be offered a financial incentive to self-deport. An app will be launched to facilitate this. The Deportation Flights The Home Office will scale up charters to 5 flights per day. To guard against last-minute aircraft unserviceability, the RAF will keep one Voyager aircraft on six-hour 'hot-spare' readiness. If a commercial charter breaks down, detainees can still be flown out that night, preserving operational integrity. The legal reset will mean activist lawyers will no longer be able preven…
The UK version of “Project 2025” by the Reform party includes a British ICE, a concentration camp for 24,000 people, mass surveillance and withdrawing from refugee, anti-torture and anti-trafficking conventions.
It’s on their website. That’s how comfortable fascists are in the UK today.
Worth remembering when looking at the horrific scenes in the US right now that both Reform and the Tories have pledged to bring in ICE-style organisations to the UK if they win power
Two black t-shirts. One says 'Wind and solar and batteries and Flex'. The other says 'EVs and heat pumps and installers and grids'.
Europe's strategy for energy sovereignty on two t-shirts.
As ever, Private Eye sees through the way the usual-suspect media are happy to swallow wholesale and then amplify the BS from Tufton St lobbyists when it comes to net-zero
And, as ever, @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org made all these points the moment the coverage landed
Trump: "I haven't been able to find any windfarms in China."
Reality: China has far more windfarms than any other country on Earth
This is my 30th year as a journalist.
But I still continue to be shocked daily at the extent to which these same 'news'papers revel in wilful misinformation in order to relentlessly promote the ideology/interests of their senior editors and owners.
An utter disregard and contempt for their readers
Updated for 2026
oh wow! look forward to seeing it
The UK may soon face one of the challenges of the 'mid-transition' predicted by @gruberte.bsky.social and @shastingssimon.bsky.social
Drivers of conventional cars (skewing lower-income) increasingly unable to access fuel
Needs coordination to avoid backlash
www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-...
Trump's donors from the fossil fuel industry starting to see a nice return on their investment
giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
