IS THIS THE BUDGET WE NEED?

While welcoming the extension of help for people struggling to pay fuel and energy bills - this budget is deeply flawed in relation to the structures of inequality and building a more sustainable and resilient system - which takes on the big challenges we're facing.

"Hunt confirms that the energy price guarantee will remain at £2,500 until July – it had been set to rise to £3,000."

Well that's still way higher than it should be. And when you think of how much money it's costing to effectively keep a top-down energy system in place by subsidising households to use it, why not just get every street solar panels and insulate them instead? 

If the priority was to protect the citizenry from economic harm, I have no doubt the government might start thinking long term.. But is that the priority?

I was read in the Scotsman that Caroline Lucas was talking some sense (which had a familiar ring to it) when she wrote that:

"Just when we need a solar rooftop revolution, an unblocking and upscaling of renewables, a major street-by-street mass insulation programme, and a commitment to invest in our totally neglected, sewage-filled rivers and seas, we get too slow, too expensive and too dangerous nuclear white elephants."

Remember the interview I did with Ecotricity founder, Dale Vince.. he said that each year we import £50b of single use energy, only to burn it. For just £100b, we could be fully self-sustainable.. why don't we just do it? And that's what the Power Station is really saying..

That whole nuclear thing is appalling too - I don't know if you have studied the budget, but they are now launching "Great British Nuclear"  - classifying nuclear as "environmentally sustainable" - so that it becomes more attractive to investors..

One of the first things Putin did when he invaded Ukraine was to start attacking the nuclear infrastructure. There's still no way to get rid of nuclear waste that is non-toxic. It's clearly a horrible technology - but perhaps it's got the right technocratic feel for the dystopian vision that permeates Westiminster..

Where do we find these people? How do they rise to power and influence when their ideas are obviously incompetent? This is one of the great mysteries of our political system, but it's not a new question..