Energy Crisis

Submitted by Alan Marsden on Mon, 29/08/2022 - 00:00

The Horseman of pestilence apparently retired some time in 2021, so the spectre of poverty now gallops in his place. Royal Mail staff are on strike (will those customers familiar with missing deliveries notice the difference?) along with a whole host of other employees, such as binmen and railways staff. Inflation is biting, so wages are not keeping up with prices. Furthermore, the cost of energy is soaring, with eye-watering hikes in gas bills due in time for the cold weather. As of June just gone, the UK has zero dependence of Russian gas, but that does not shield us from global price hikes. Calls for the government ‘to do something’ about it are now reaching a crescendo, and a number of high-ranking Conservatives may now feel grateful they were kicked out of the leadership race- who would want to be PM in this economic climate? Although the Russian war is hardly our fault, we might have anticipated the effect it would have on the global economy and gas prices when we valiantly waved our Ukrainian flags. Yet the real blame for the high prices may be placed on the green movement and the two generations of politicians who have been in thrall to its ideology. I remember being told in the 1990s that we would need for more power stations by 2020. How many did we build? We are now more dependant on electricity-sucking technology than ever, and electric cars will only add to the demand. Germany, the European powerhouse, is de-mothballing its coal power stations as it calculates its need for energy. Perhaps coal is not as dirty as we first thought.

In economic crises, it is usually the poorest- or those just above the bottom- who most suffer. Yet I wonder if wealthy, godless Britain needs a good shakeup. Comfort and stability breed indifference and inertia; as our sources of energy fail or break the bank, may the economic hardship we face begun to reawaken a spiritual longing we have all but neglected this last 60 years.

I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things. Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the Lord have created it.

Isaiah 45:5-8

We gained the world but lost our soul. Now, as we lose affluence and economic security, may we Britons call again on the God of our Fathers.

God of our fathers, whose almighty hand

Leads forth in beauty all the starry band

Of shining worlds in splendor through the skies,

Our grateful songs before Thy throne arise.

Thy love divine hath led us in the past,

In this free land by Thee our lot is cast;

Be Thou our ruler, guardian, guide and stay,

Thy Word our law, Thy paths our chosen way.

From war’s alarms, from deadly pestilence,

Be Thy strong arm our ever sure defense;