Energy
International Energy Agency: Solar leads the charge in another record year for renewables
Renewables accounted for two-thirds of new power added to world’s grids last year. Of these, solar power was the fast growing. Read here
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EU politics
The Guardian: Amazon ordered to repay €250m by EU over ‘illegal tax advantages’
European Union officials order Luxembourg to collect €250m in illegal state aid to Luxembourg from online retail giant Amazon, while the European Commission’s competition watchdog will be taking Ireland to the European Court of Justice […]
Sustainability
ICCT: The EU needs new environmental safeguard measures for advanced biofuels
Biofuels seem to have created many more problems than they solved. ICCT , which gained prominence in heoping to expose Volkswagen’s diesel affair, takes a look at new potential dangers as the European Commission forms […]
EU politics
Portugal’s Socialists toast ‘biggest ever’ election win
From Politico The Portugese Socialist Party won an impressive electoral victory following its easing of austerity. Danger lurks, however, as the two far left parties in coalition with the Socialists, crucial in driving anti-neo-liberal policy, […]
Finance
Michael Roberts – Economic crises: look to science or the rain gods?
“Recently, mainstream economists have debating yet again why ‘economics’ was unable to see the global financial crash coming and/or provide effective policies to end what I have described as the Long Depression that has endured […]
Solutions
The Herald (Scotland): Scottish Government announces fracking ban
This is an important step for the Scots, but should not distract from the fact that they are and will be extracting massive amounts of oil from the North Sea. Read here
EU politics
Aditya Chakrabortty: The problem is not capitalism. It’s that the Tories aren’t much cop at it
From The Guardian This is a brilliant criticism of Thatcherite policy – its collapse and how and why it has failed. Read here
EU politics
Robert Fisk: I’m all for war crimes trials in The Hague – so long as we agree to prosecute every possible war criminal
From The Independent Robert Fisk is in favour of international justice, especially in the case of war crimes. There is just one problem. There is no system in place to indict all war criminals, just […]
EU politics
Resolution Foundation: Why intergenerational fairness is rising up the agenda, in 10 charts
Laura Gardiner has put together a number of interesting numbers and graphs concerning the current financial situation of young people in Britain. This is a topic that is still being conveniently ignored by much of […]
Finance
Larry Elliot: Is the Bank of England losing its way?
From The Guardian Central bank infallibility was always something of a myth. Much of the decline in inflation in the 1990s and early 2000s was due to globalisation rather than the brilliance of central bankers. […]