Uploaded March 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
Since as far back as the Industrial Revolution, the primary currency of civilisation has been energy—the means by which we power the machines that make our society truly "modern". But with the highest industrial energy costs in all of Europe and home energy costs only rising, Britons are increasingly unhappy with the state of Joules per Pound in the country. And yet there is no shortage of solutions to Britain's wattage woes. From Small Modular Reactors to onshore wind to Great British Energy, policy boffins and engineers are constantly arguing about how to do it best. So how do we balance our national need for cheap, abundant and secure energy with the sentiments of local stakeholders, all within a new era of global instability?
The Rt. Hon. the Lord MacKinlay of Richborough is a Conservative life peer in the House of Lords. Previously the Member of Parliament for South Thanet from 2015–2024, he became the "bionic MP" after surviving a critical sepsis infection. Now the "Bionic Lord" (as of 2024), he is the new Director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation.
Since as far back as the Industrial Revolution, the primary currency of civilisation has been energy—the means by which we power the machines that make our society truly "modern". But with the highest industrial energy costs in all of Europe and home energy costs only rising, Britons are increasingly unhappy with the state of Joules per Pound in the country. And yet there is no shortage of solutions to Britain's wattage woes. From Small Modular Reactors to onshore wind to Great British Energy, policy boffins and engineers are constantly arguing about how to do it best. So how do we balance our national need for cheap, abundant and secure energy with the sentiments of local stakeholders, all within a new era of global instability?
The Rt. Hon. the Lord MacKinlay of Richborough is a Conservative life peer in the House of Lords. Previously the Member of Parliament for South Thanet from 2015–2024, he became the "bionic MP" after surviving a critical sepsis infection. Now the "Bionic Lord" (as of 2024), he is the new Director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation.
