64 Per Cent Of Dutch Referendum Voters Reject EU, 32 Per Cent Turnout

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/04/06/margin-error-turnout-29-dutch-voters-overwhelmingly-reject-eu-64-per-cent/

Looks like the Dutch have sent a strong message to the EU – ‘no’ to expansion into Ukraine.

Gives us a pointer to our own referendum on June 23rd.

Following on from this principle, can we now expect regulations requiring beer to be only served from sealed containers with one thin drinking straw to limit alcohol consumption? After all, alcohol costs the NHS billions, and is said to be bad for us.

Steven

Nice positioning on the first shot with the Vulcan and Lancaster in the foreground. The L-39 is a model right?

Steven

George Alexander Louis, the initials spell GAL. I wonder if the choice of names reflects a subconscious expectation of the birth of a girl, as predicted by many?

Steven

In other news..”Risk of energy blackouts triples.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/10145803/Risk-of-UK-blackouts-has-tripled-in-a-year-Ofgem-warns.html#disqus_thread

“Shale gas in northern England could meet Britain’s gas needs for 40 years”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/10145414/Shale-gas-in-northern-England-could-meet-Britains-gas-needs-for-40-years.html
http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2013/6/27/outgassing.html

It looks as though we are going to finally get a look at the British Geological Survey’s report on shale gas resources later today. The media seem to have got their hands on a press release and there are some big numbers being touted around:

UK shale gas resources may be far greater than previously thought, a report for the government says.

The British Geological Survey was asked to estimate how much gas is trapped in rocks beneath Lancashire and Yorkshire.

It said there could be 1,300 trillion cubic feet at one site alone, but it is unclear how much could be extracted.

With UK demand at slightly less than 3 tcf per annum, that looks like very good news, but of course the figure of 1300tcf (assuming the reports are correct) is not what will ultimately be extractable. There’s an interesting exchange of views about these figures on Twitter, with Greenpeace’s Damian Kahya (an ex-BBC journo) saying that we should be using a figure of 4% and the BBC saying 10%.

Nick Grealy notes that the average in the USA is 18%, and one has to recognise that this incorporates all the older wells, in which relatively primitive fraccing approaches were used.

Cuadrilla have said that 15-20% will ultimately prove to be a conservative estimate, as the technology improves, and numbers as high as 40% have been mooted by industry insiders.

Steven