Society

Today, the government publishes its consultation proposals for reform of the electricity generation market. The key debate over the next few months will be whether Britain continues to have a competitive market, or reverts to central planning of the power generation sector. New Labour paid lip-service to a competitive electricity market, while chipping away at its ability to operate effectively – through a constant accretion of new policies, typically promoting renewables. The effect has been to salami-slice the market into technology-specific segments, to increase political and regulatory uncertainty, to encourage lobbying and rent-seeking, and to increase financing costs. Instead of competing by taking investment decisions and innovating, market players wait for

Paul Chambers knows, more than most, the dangers of expressing yourself in 140 characters. His troubles, which you’ve probably read about in the papers, started when he joked on Twitter: “Crap! Robin Hood Airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your shit together, otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!!” – a joke which was taken by the authorities as a serious threat, and which saw the police arrive at his office to arrest him under the Terrorism Act. As Paul himself put it, “my tweet was silly, but the police reaction was absurd.” The case is still going through the courts, and has provoked

Emily Mortimer on how her father John was asked by Kenneth Tynan to translate Feydeau’s farce and how she wishes he were still around to drink champagne with the current cast It was in the middle of the Sixties that I had the opportunity of learning the true meaning of farce,’ my father wrote. That was the time he was palling around with Ken Tynan. He used to tell us about an election-night party at Tynan’s house, which included among the guests some life-size wax ladies dressed as nuns, who were to be found sitting on the loos and lying in abandoned attitudes on all the beds. It was the