Heat networks judicial review challenge

Heat networks should reduce costs and climate impacts. But private interests and lack of regulation has resulted in exorbitant bills and poor service. In the Ecologist

Megacities make progress on free public transport schemes

In Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam and Tehran, Iran – which both have around 10 million people, more than London – people are shifting, in numbers, from private vehicles to buses and the metro, thanks to universal zero-fares buses. Partial schemes in Jakarta, Indonesia, and in Australia and India, are also bringing results. On Labour Hub

Marxism, Russian imperialism and social forces

 A response to Alex Callinicos, on the Links web site. I question an approach to the war in Ukraine that dissolves the particular into the general, and fails to deal with the social dynamics, in either Russia or Ukraine, in the period under discussion.

The local power plan risks blocking community energy potential

 The Plan will fail to boost community renewable energy projects, if regulatory and market obstructions are not swept away, campaigners say. An obsessively centralised system of regulation, and the energy corporations’ power, are blocking change. Even modest proposals to support community energy projects with a long-term, fixed price for their electricity fall on deaf ears.

Decarbonising our homes

A special issue of The Ecologist, examining the Warm Homes Plan. I argue that insulating the housing stock and switching from gas boilers to electrified heating is a vital decarbonisation priority that could help tackle climate change while also making people's lives better, now. But the government's plan may squander that potential

In Mexico, people fear one imperialist aggressor. In Estonia, it’s a different one

My talk at a Green Left meeting, June 2026, proposing that we can support resistance to Russian imperialism while opposing NATO

Russia's antiwar prisoners are outcasts in their own land

In Jacobin, May 2026: A focus on protesters who have used their right to the "last word" before sentencing in court to denounce Russia's war on Ukraine. If you hit a paywall, there's a free version here.

Try Me For Treason: the film

I co-wrote the script for this film, featuring speeches made by anti-war protesters in Russian courts. Released on Youtube, May 2026: free to watch and download.

Speeding towards climate breakdown

In the Ecologist, March 2026: London is missing its own greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets, and road-centred transport policy is a big part of the problem.

Burn, baby, burn

 In the Ecologist, March 2026: a carbon capture project in north Kent is greenwashing waste incinerator expansion

‘Bread, peace, democracy.’ The Turkish miners’ strike of 1991

One for the archives. Thirty-five years ago, Turkey was shaken by strikes. An eight-week stoppage by mineworkers, between November 1990 and January 1991, won support from other workers, and took up political demands. It was a turning point for the workers’ movement. At that time I was working for the North East Area of the National Union of Mineworkers here in the UK, editing their newspaper. With their support, I travelled to Turkey, and then published a pamphlet about the workers’ movement. Here's the introduction to my pamphlet, posted on my blog, and a link to a downloadable PDF.

Caution: high-voltage networks. Polemical cheap shots may cause damage

Some thoughts on the politics of electricity networks, in response to Matthew Huber, who, in a long-delayed response to my comments on his work, avoids the substance of our disagreement and opts for misrepresentation.