Nuclear power? No thanks!

So, three years after the last in-depth review of energy policy, it is being cast aside in favour of the policy du jour.

After a long, extensive, and informed discussion the UK decided renewable energy was the way forward, and that subsidy and this was the way to meet our objectives under the Kyoto agreement.

That was last month. Now, Tony Blair is persuaded to rip all that hard work up, to cast aside informed opinion and go pro-nuclear. Why?

Getting our gas piped in from the Caspian Sea was never the brightest idea, especially as the pipeline passed through Ajzerbijan, Armeia, Georgia and Turkey and skips past Chechnya, it wouldn't take a Sage to predict trouble. On top of this, we are now relying on Qatar to ship gas in bulk just to provide our emergency reserve, when Qatar is prediciting that shortages will cause significant price rises.

Meanwhile, the UK sits with the largest energy reserves in the EU and we can't even keep our houses and factories supplied. Personally, I blame Thatcher for closing the mines and Blair for following her lead.

The UK needs a coherent energy policy, and this ain't it.