The number of excess winter deaths rose 25% last winter to over 31,000, mostly pensioners. It’s long past time for Cameron to pull his thumb out of his arse wake up, smell the coffee and get to grips with the reality of the results of his government’s ‘Vote blue – Go Green – Turn Blue’ policies. Ofgem has no power to regulate the prices charged by ‘the big six’ energy companies. Why not? The profit they are making per household has doubled as temperatures have fallen and they have increased prices. In addition, ‘Green Taxes’ are now up to 10% of peoples fuel bill.
Prices up, temperature down. Image credit : Climatereason.com
Mr Cameron, people who should be enjoying a peaceful and secure retirement are dying of the cold. Do something about it now. Not later, now. Get Fracking right away, you will be held accountable at the ballot box.
Tallbloke's Talkshop 
Politicians should have a good nose for changes in public direction, and as this issue has been looming for some months now, it just proves that Cameron and his gang, are not so much politicians, as they are front men for the Rentier Barons 🙂
Does the death toll have to reach a million in the UK alone before they’ll listen? Every one of these deaths so far is a crime committed by green idealism and greed. This should be all over the news – every green supporter should be made aware of this very human cost.
No, we don’t need fracking – we need an army of volunteer samaritans, led by the luvvies Joanna Lumley and Stephen Fry, to check that our elderly are ok, chuck the occasional piece of coal onto their open fire, that sort of thing. See the DT here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/nhs/10477205/NHS-wants-samaritan-army-to-help-elderly.html
Now I’m waiting for Greenpeace to call on volunteers to knit hats and scarves for the elderly …
But wait – there’s a silver lining! Some scientists now claim that living in a warm home helps to keep one from becoming obese.
So perhaps we do need fracking after all?
It’s all so confusing …
:-))
Reblogged this on Ollamok's Uncommon Common Sense.
Let’s start a rumour: Cameron: “This Green cr** kills!”
25%
29% roger according to your ONS.
2011-2012 figures they are using are lowside
TB,
Many statistics have been manipulated so that it keeps the public ignorant and the country still looking good for “investors”.
The whole system from governments to economics is could in a loop of self-destruction due to poor decisions, corruption, manipulation and not giving a crap about the real citizens…
31,000 X old-age-pension X 52 = a shitload of austerity
31,000 X healthcare costs = yet more saving.
Tallbloke, look at the unusual course of the jet stream. This will cause pumping frosty air to the whole of southern Europe.
“Mr Cameron, people who should be enjoying a peaceful and secure retirement are dying of the cold.”
I’ve been looking for data to back this claim up but haven’t been able to find any. What I was able to find shows the following:
* Excess winter deaths in England & Wales have been decreasing since 1950.
* Excess winter deaths are effectively uncorrelated with CET winter temperatures after 1990 (R=0.22).
* Rapid increases in electricity and gas prices after 2004 had no detectable impact on excess winter deaths.
FoE, Greenpeace, IPCC, Baroness Worthington, Ed Davey, Ed Millibrain, Lord Dipin (Deben), Troffa Tim (Yeo) and others all have blood on their hands. And Camercleg is/are complicit.
Let no one forget this.
Tallbloke look at the temperature in the southern U.S..
@Roger Andrews.
Interesting graphs.
Note the temps went down and deaths went up until around 2000AD.
Also, I remember that when labour were elected in 1997 a very large amount of money was made available for improvements in social housing. Insulation and efficient heaters, and in many cases the installation of central heating (you would be surprised how many private rented still do not have central heating, whereas social housing all has to have it now)
And a certain Mr E Miliband was in charge of it…
http://socialhousingwatch.co.uk/the-decent-homes-programme-a-brief-statistical-background/
So, from 2008/2009 we get:
http://www.govtoday.co.uk/environment/36-carbon-reduction/468-be-part-of-the-great-british-refurb-to-cut-emissions-and-cut-energy-costs-ed-miliband
All funded by the green “subsidies¨, which you may note are maybe going to be ended….hmmm
And, from the ONS, we get:
http://tinypic.com/r/2e15coy/5
Study.
Note the increasing take-up of influenza immunisation in old people, now being done for small children via nasal spray.
JohnM
I don’t doubt you’re right about the decrease in excess winter deaths being largely a result of improved health care, better house insulation etc. but I can’t comment on the question of whether labour can take any credit for it because I’m a US citizen living in Mexico with at most an academic interest in UK party politics.
The reason I posted the graphs was simply to show that the oft-repeated claim that high UK energy costs are killing people – maybe here I should say a measurable number of people – isn’t backed up by the data. I cherished faint hopes that some of the participants on this thread might have been persuaded to modify their views on the basis of this information but I doubt that any did.
However, this doesn’t mean that I approve of the UK’s energy strategy. Having worked in energy-related industries I find it hard to escape the conclusion that it’s being formulated by a bunch of clowns who have no idea what they’re doing or of what’s likely to happen if they keep doing it.
Itś being formulated by a bunch of clowns who know what theyŕe doing.
What they are supposed to be doing is another story.
Theyŕe supposed to be formulating an energy strategy for the future, instead theyŕe taking us back to the dark ages: Knowingly.
You may have considered that old and infirm people in old properties, without insulation or decent heating, are more ¨at risk¨ than others, and you would be right.
Note:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25159260
This will lead, probably, to an increase in fatalities.
Probably the story ought to be that old and sick people in uninsulated and poorly-heated housing face increased risk of becoming deceased as fuel prices increase?
“Probably the story ought to be that old and sick people in uninsulated and poorly-heated housing face increased risk of becoming deceased as fuel prices increase?” Well, it’s certainly hard to see how it would increase their life expectancy.
And we can document that increasing use of expensive wind power cuts electricity utilization. Here’s an example from Denmark, and you can bet your last krone that it wasn’t the rich Danes who went without:
JohnM, no that is not the reason because that is trivially fixable, provide money or fuel.
You can hear the squirming from the manipulators.
Keep in mind also that over many years the rich/poor gap and poverty gap has been increasing. Moreover with politicians claiming they do not understand.
Ionizing cosmic rays increases.
http://cosmicrays.oulu.fi/webform/query.cgi?startday=11&startmonth=11&startyear=2013&starttime=00%3A00&endday=30&endmonth=11&endyear=2013&endtime=00%3A00&resolution=Automatic+choice&picture=on
Next attack of winter in the U.S..
You people who think fuel poverty is growing problem in the UK have got it all wrong. Official statistics published by your government show that despite all the increases in fuel costs over the last few years fuel poverty in the UK hasn’t increased at all:
Whoda thunk it?
Roger A: They changed the method of counting this summer. Another scandal in the making. By the way, I will be posting your Sunshine hours article, sorry for the delay.
TB: The changed method of counting came out of the Hills Fuel Poverty Review of 2011. This review was charged with getting rid of the “flaws” in the existing measure of fuel poverty, with the chief flaw being that it showed a ~threefold increase in fuel poverty since 2003. So Hills came up with a new metric that showed only a small increase, and DECC then modified it so that it showed no increase at all. Amazing what can be done by shifting the goalposts.
Here’s a quote from the Hills Review that I found particularly revealing: “The continuing existence of fuel poverty, especially on the potential scale we outline in this report, is an obstacle to delivery of our carbon objectives …”
Surprising result from Texas shows fracking saves water when compared to coal-fired power.
‘The researchers estimate that in 2011 alone, Texas would have consumed an additional 32 billion gallons of water—enough to supply 870,000 average residents—if all its natural gas-fired power plants were instead coal-fired plants, even after factoring in the additional consumption of water for hydraulic fracturing to extract the natural gas.’
http://phys.org/news/2013-12-natural-gas-factoring-lost-hydraulic.html
“The bottom line is that hydraulic fracturing, by boosting natural gas production and moving the state from water-intensive coal technologies, makes our electric power system more drought resilient”