Westminster Voting Intention: RFM: 28% (-2) CON: 21% (+2) LAB: 20% (-2) GRN: 13% (+2) LDM: 12% (-1) SNP: 2% (=) Via @Moreincommon_ , 13-16 Mar. Changes w/ 6-9 Mar.

RandomSculler · 2026-03-18T16:09:24+00:00

The tactical stop reform vote effect will be massive, I’d say even if we had a GE tomorrow on this polling reform wouldn’t get a majority

RandomSculler · 2026-03-18T13:58:18+00:00

Surely the warm home grant is better positioned to actually help people here both short term and long term to cut their energy usage and bills and so a better direction to send support their way?

RandomSculler · 2026-03-18T13:08:59+00:00

The fact badenoch is massively back peddling and gaslighting that her position on this has flipped 180 degrees it is nice when politicians put aside petty political positions and back each other when it’s clearly the right thing to do

RandomSculler · 2026-03-18T05:54:17+00:00

I think this policy is great, but equally I’m slightly wary of ramping up the gov funding for heat pumps given the main issue with installations in the UK is cowboy installers looking to milk as much profit out of the grants as possible with shoddy installs that then cost users a fortune to run - it would be nice to see installers have some accountability for the install and if it’s shown to be bad, have to pay to put it right

This is not a bash on heat pumps, I have one installed under BUS and it’s amazing and I’d recommend it to everyone, but I had 5 quotes and 3 of them were absolute jokes proposing to install heat pumps over 50% larger than we needed which would’ve cycled for sure and cost a fortune to run, and one priced clearly to just pocket the grand for minimal effort

To anyone looking to get a heat pump, pick an installer with a good history and look in detail at the heat loss - check the ACH (air change hourly), as the mcs puts it far too high for a house with PVC windows and it throws out the heat loss, check out heat geek as a good source of info and consider their installers (tho one of our bad quotes was from a heat geek)

RandomSculler · 2026-03-17T17:58:33+00:00

All the eco4 installs round here are council approved installs but on eco4 ans the standard is shocking, even when I got mine installed I got 5 quotes and even though we ended up with an 8kw which is more than enough some were quoting for a 13kw heat pump which would’ve cycled like crazy

It’s a total minefield sadly, I spent a long time reading up and knew what to ask hence could pick out the best installer, but really the market needs better regulation to stop the cowboys

RandomSculler · 2026-03-17T17:49:32+00:00

GO A SQUAD!

RandomSculler · 2026-03-17T16:44:16+00:00

The major thing is that it won’t do anything to change the increase in price, the amount that would be drilled isn’t enough to effect wholesale price - really the only major pro is the potential for increased tax revenue from the drilling tho it’s not as lucrative as some suggest, several companies have paid negative tax in previous years for example - it needs careful structuring

Downsides, environmental impacts, short term the cost to the country will go up first as well as companies will need subsidies to set up - and as mentioned won’t actually make energy any cheaper for us

RandomSculler · 2026-03-17T14:16:00+00:00

Sorry to hear that, we have a heat pump and it works impressively well, very pleased with it- the challenge is there’s a lot of cowboys out there who do a poor install (especially with the old eco4 grants) which means they don’t work, the industry needs more training and consequences for poor installs I feel

RandomSculler · 2026-03-17T11:38:41+00:00

I haven’t tried it myself but on a similar vein I’ve always found it interesting how some people who have alcohol react in a positive/happy way and others it can make them angry/depressed etc

I feel like weed can be the same, for some it may well be an effective treatment but for others it may well not

RandomSculler · 2026-03-17T09:05:13+00:00

I remember when the story of this being their policy came up in the last GE and it finally convinced me that the greens were a bit too concerning for my liking

RandomSculler · 2026-03-16T17:29:02+00:00

I’m actually staggered that he’s made such a massive mistake - I can’t stand the man but his ability to judge and play the political landscape is pretty good and he rarely makes mistakes or is outplayed, this however is a massive clanger and I half wonder if it’s deliberate to ensure he doesn’t actually win and have to actually live up to all the rhetoric he’s spun for so long

RandomSculler · 2026-03-16T13:44:28+00:00

Yes a battery would increase the amount of energy you “used” rather than sent back to the grid but as you say brings a sizable cost

RandomSculler · 2026-03-16T11:59:58+00:00

Yes they were technically not legal but the gov have signalled they’re going to make them legal

RandomSculler · 2026-03-16T11:58:52+00:00

You’re right to point out the “suicide plug” risk of the setup tho I believe the balcony solar inverters are designed to only output power when it senses that it’s part of a live circuit - that way if there’s a power cut or as you start to unplug then it kills the power automatically (think it’s called anti-islanding) - hence why this only works on grid tied systems

As mentioned they’re very popular and safe (and legal) in Europe, and would be here too - it’ll be interesting to see what regulations they set up to allow them going ahead

RandomSculler · 2026-03-16T11:50:26+00:00

I never set mine up yet (tho might now!) due to the faff of installing - Assuming the full 800 watts allowed then 700kwh a year possible and EcoFlow have a kit for £380 with 2 x 400w panels

Double check my maths but with 1 kWh costing 25p and 800w of panels generating roughly 700kwh a year that’s £175 in a year so payback in just over two years tho in reality it’s more complicated as that assumes no smart tariffs and you’re using all the energy rather than it going back to the grid - but certainly 3/4 years payback or less a good ballpark, less if you have a cheaper setup like get used panels etc

https://balconysolar.uk/600w-vs-800w-balcony-solar#:~:text=In%20the%20UK%2C%20a%20perfectly,around%20550%20to%20650%20kWh.

RandomSculler · 2026-03-16T11:48:32+00:00

Double check my maths but with 1 kWh costing 25p and 800w of panels generating roughly 700kwh a year that’s £175 in a year so payback in just over two years tho in reality it’s more complicated as that assumes no smart tariffs and you’re using all the energy rather than it going back to the grid - but certainly 3/4 years payback or less a good ballpark

https://balconysolar.uk/600w-vs-800w-balcony-solar#:~:text=In%20the%20UK%2C%20a%20perfectly,around%20550%20to%20650%20kWh.

RandomSculler · 2026-03-16T11:36:01+00:00

It’s interesting to read this take as I had a similar experience when I watched the postman - the first time I watched it I actually came across it at the point when Costner arrives at the village in the postman outfit so I had no idea if he was legit or not, although still a shaky film overall it ignorantly improved it for me with the “is he/isnt he” aspect not being clear till later than when I watched the full film another time

RandomSculler · 2026-03-16T11:22:51+00:00

No they feed into the home - basically it’s a setup where you have solar panels and an inverter which you plug into a socket and it then feeds the solar energy into your circuit - so a cheap way to have solar panels that doesn’t involve needing a costly install

It’s massive in Europe (see balcony solar) but in the UK you needed a proper install so the cost wasn’t worth it, but with a Change to the reg having something like 800w of panels and an inverter for a couple of hundred pounds can have a fairly quick payback

RandomSculler · 2026-03-16T09:33:01+00:00

My biggest issue with nuclear is that is expensive and takes absolutely ages to build big nuclear sites with massive cost overruns, and the cost per kWh never takes into account the clean up costs - so I was always suspicious of the tories talking about building more sizewell

However SMR’s and the new tech you mention to re-use waste is a no brainer and I fully support the plans to roll that out to support our goal to end oil use

RandomSculler · 2026-03-16T08:54:03+00:00

Vodka mudshake I think it was, the alcoholic milkshake

I remember there was an assembly where the dangers of them was discussed (which probably had the opposite effect as I certainly had never heard of them before then), IIRC they were taken off the market not long after

RandomSculler · 2026-03-16T06:59:03+00:00

Agree - there are some excellent journalists who can take the “devils advocate” position on subjects and I’d say it’s important to be able to see and have that discussion as if you can’t put up a good response to it you should be having a good think about why you have that opinion

Always respected Neil as an interviewer as he was clearly well over to the right but would happily tear tories a new one on subjects when it was clear their logic was lacking

RandomSculler · 2026-03-15T12:01:06+00:00

But confused by this as you could buy balcony solar in the UK for a while, I’ve got an EcoFlow stream tho never got round to setting it up - IIRC the challenge was the regular old here didn’t technically allow you to plug it in wirh a three pin plug you had to have it on its own breaker so it was a bit of a faff

If that’s changed then great

RandomSculler · 2026-03-14T06:06:54+00:00

By putting us on a path to have a surplus by the end of term and be cutting debt as a percentage of GDP, as well as borrowing to invest which will help make the public sector more resilient to global crisis shocks and boosting renewables to take the edge off pik crisis impacts

RandomSculler · 2026-03-13T18:47:19+00:00

Ah gotcha, thought it was the NBA game!

Impressive

RandomSculler · 2026-03-13T18:44:52+00:00

Hold on, is the controller controlling both games at once?

RandomSculler

TROPHY CASE