Keep Politics Out Of Energy
Whether people realise it or not, the transition is already happening. Street by street. House by house. Family by family.
You will struggle to explain decarbonising, net zero and clean heat - but it's a simple sell if you talk about pennies in the pocket.
Let's start at some some truths.
I have personally witnessed the rasping end of the coal and gas energy industry. Inverkip Power Station, down. The tower I'd kayaked past many times, toppled from the sky arcing elegantly like a felled dinosaur. Didcot. A deadly tragedy, still not explained. But the towers, unlike the memories of those lost, are gone.
Documenting the end of another power station - Filmed and Edited by Matt Milloy
I documented the painstaking work of hundreds of hours of preparation, planning and execution. Undeniably. It is over. I have walked through the rubble, followed the tippers taking the remnants away and watched sites be reborn and recovered.
Now, as I watch, week by week, in home after home ,building after building - the gathering momentum of the electrification of our country. I hear the same argument being fought and won.
It just won't work. It does. We can't afford it. We can't afford not to. The economy won't grow. It will. The grid can't handle it. It can.
Interviewing and witnessing the legion of experts that show me evidence of the insurmountable being overcome and the immovable being moved, makes me think we can't be stopped.
But there are people trying. Very hard. And we need to jump on this now, and starting pulling everyone into the common ground. Not fighting. Building. Using facts as our foundations, evidence as our walls and filling our new, retrofitted buildings with comfort and emotional warmth.
We need to keep politics out.
Keep Politics Out Of Energy
Politicising a core human need, healthy homes and healthy lives is like arguing about the colour of the lifeboats whilst the ship is taking on water.
Arguing over the details of our energy use, whilst the visible effects of climate change are being experienced by Britons, helps no one. But this piece is not about the arguments, or the evidence - it's about the method we bring people together.
The toughest role in a conflict situation, is to bring two sides that have assumed oppositional positions. Get them to agree on what they both need together to co-exist. Then slowly, carefully, walk them down a path to a destination they can do together. Warring parties don't need to hold hands and skip.
As I've witnessed first hand in sectarian conflicts - often the warring factions don't realise how much they have in common, and what they might lose if they continue fighting.
The Cost
In simple terms, politicising energy use provides a funnel for us to pour money into. Money which leaves this country and fills the coffers of the very well off.
Lobbying companies get rich, ad agencies with questionable scruples make millions and all the while, the taxpayer forks out for bills that fund everyone else except our own country. We end up ignoring the energy that rustles the branches , warms the boughs of the branches and turns the leaves green each spring. Now that is worth a boat load of attention.
Burning fuel once is being replaced by the type of energy that just keeps giving. It doesn't have to be more complex than that.
Nostalgia Is An Addiction
Going backwards is a claim levied at the renewable energy industry. 'You'll take us back to the stone age' - is the simplistic cry. It's not true.
The nostalgia for a past which made us unhealthy, killed us all much younger and is bad for the air we breathe and water we drink can be switched out. It's ok to want to be resilient, to be British, to be an Island.
Nostalgic national pride, can be rekindled if it's forged in the white heat of progress. If our technology developments create new ways of heating homes. If our communities unite to deliver cohesive, inclusive improvements to our lives today. These can, should and will be matters to take stock of in years to come.
There is nothing more gratifying than building something that lasts. And if we need to use the nostalgia to do it. Let's embrace our heritage, recognise our failures so far and walk forward looking to a sunny, smog free, clear watered future. Wrapped in a red white and blue, pink, green and purple flag.
National Security Is For All Of Us
If you weren't aware. Scions of power, media, religion, defence, academia and science are unifying behind this cause.
The National Emergency Briefing is not a 'woke force of virtue signalling alarmists' (sic). It is non political voice of truth. It is a conversation we should all be listening to. And deciding for ourselves what we do next.
In reality. People already are. They accelerant in this explosive mix. Pennies. Pennies in the pocket. Nothing makes people feel more threatened than not having the price of a pint, a loaf or a roof over their head. That makes us feel insecure. And it motivates change. A nation that can't pay the bills. Won't last long.
One of the most expensive outlays for a person, is the cost of just living, and we can change that.
Be Unpopular Not Populist
This is a call to action. You need to take to the airwaves, talk about the work you do, the demand for your solutions, the successes you are having. Not just today, but everyday. We all need to hear about it. Keep going. When you need a rest, re-energise and recover, but get back on it, as soon as you can.
You might be the only voice for a while. But trust me, not for long.
Have A Party - Just Don't Make It A Political One
Make this fun. Make it real. Make it happen.
There is so much good news in our industry. In renewables. It is happening every day, and every week I walk through sites and homes witnessing it for myself.
I am no longer standing in the rubble of the past. I am witnessing the construction of a great future.
So if sometimes you feel like the only person in the room talking about heat pumps, insulation, batteries, solar or clean air. If you worry people think you are boring. Remember this.
In the Cavern Club in 1961, almost nobody had heard of John or Paul. History is often built, with some humming along at the start - before the rest of the world starts singing along.
Being unpopular at the start does not mean you are wrong. It often means you arrived early.
And right now, Britain needs builders more than brawlers.
Not culture wars. Not outrage merchants. Not another pipeline of anger designed to keep people frightened, divided and permanently reaching for their wallets while someone else profits from the chaos.
We need warmer homes. Lower bills. Cleaner air. Greater resilience. Streets and towns that work properly again. A country that spends more of its wealth building things here instead of burning money elsewhere.
It isn't left-wing or right-wing ambition ideology. It is a survival instinct.
The transition is already happening. Street by street. House by house. Family by family.
The question now is not whether it works.
The question is whether we choose to build it together.
So have the conversations. Show the evidence. Tell the stories. Make the films. Share the successes. Explain the failures honestly. Bring people with you.
Make it practical. Make it hopeful. Make it British.
Have a party if you want.
Just do not make it a political one.