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Simon Pirani

Researcher, lecturer and writer + + + Honorary Professor, University of Durham

Thursday, 8 August 2024

Socialism and electricity: renewables and decentralisation versus nuclear

An article in Capitalism Nature Socialism journal (available on open access), discussing socialist approaches to electricity networks, to the fight for public and common forms of ownership of them, and to their place in tackling climate change. 

Posted by Simon Pirani at 18:46 No comments:

The road to nowhere

Invest in public transport - not the Lower Thames Crossing. My comments on the Labour government's transport policy, in the Ecologist.

Posted by Simon Pirani at 18:43 No comments:

Thursday, 4 July 2024

Post-election battlegrounds on climate and social justice

A review of Labour policies on climate and energy, and the possible responses by trade unions and civil society. The Ecologist, June 2024

Posted by Simon Pirani at 19:16 No comments:

Power station bombing redoubles pressure on Ukraine

The Russian attack on Ukraine's electricity infrastructure, and the response. Foreign Policy in Focus, June 2024.

Posted by Simon Pirani at 19:15 No comments:

'Capitalism won't save the planet'

 Review of The Price is Wrong by Brett Christophers, in The Ecologist, May 2024

Posted by Simon Pirani at 19:13 No comments:

Palestine, Ukraine and the crisis of empires

Comments on two struggles against colonialist aggression, in Commons.com.ua, the Ukrainian socialist web site, May 2024

Posted by Simon Pirani at 19:12 No comments:

No path to peace in Ukraine through this fantasy world

Comments on "campist" writers and what they say about the war, in New Politics, April 2024.
Posted by Simon Pirani at 19:10 No comments:

Saturday, 16 March 2024

Free Public Transport for London - why and how

 A campaign briefing, supported by Fare Free London, the Greener Jobs Alliance, the Stop the Silvertown Tunnel coalition and Tipping Point. I drafted the text.

Posted by Simon Pirani at 09:22 No comments:

Wednesday, 7 February 2024

Energy should be a right, not a commodity

The 1980s gave us "this idea of energy, whether for electricity or fuel for vehicles, as being a commodity which some people could profit from, as opposed to being a right which all people should have because we live in modern times and the technologies available can deliver this to us". My interview with the Times of India. 

Posted by Simon Pirani at 09:21 No comments:

Friday, 1 December 2023

Climate change and social justice in Greenwich: why targets matter

This article, published on the Greener Greenwich Community Network site, reviews the greenhouse gas emissions targets set by the borough of Greenwich, asks whether they do the job they need to do, and comments on how climate measures can be taken in a socially just way. 

Posted by Simon Pirani at 14:59 No comments:

Wednesday, 1 November 2023

Realising renewable power's potential means combating capital

An article in Spectre journal, responding to the false logic, promoted by "ecomodernists", that renewables, decentralisation, private capital, and neoliberalism go together; and that nuclear, centralisation, public power, and socialism go together.

Posted by Simon Pirani at 13:20 No comments:

Palestine and Ukraine: how the 21st century empires wage war

Two wars and how their causes are related. An article based on a talk I gave to the conference on "Changing Global Order: Nations and States", held by the Punjab Research Group (UK) in Oxford on 28 October.

Posted by Simon Pirani at 13:17 No comments:
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Welcome

I am a researcher, writer and lecturer, and author of Burning Up: A Global History of Fossil Fuel Consumption (Pluto Press, 2018). My main area of research is the transition away from fossil fuels, with a focus on how technological, social and economic systems change. I write a blog at peoplenature.org. Bluesky: @simonpirani.bsky.social.

My earlier work as a historian and energy researcher was focused on Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet countries. My book The Russian Revolution in Retreat 1920-24: Soviet workers and the new communist elite (Routledge, 2008) was a study of working-class political history. I published some relevant documents in Communist Dissidents in Early Soviet Russia (Troubadour, 2023). Another book, Change in Putin’s Russia: Power, Money and People (Pluto Press, 2010) was based on my work as a journalist.

I am Honorary Professor in the School of Modern Languages & Cultures at the University of Durham. From 2007 to 2021 I was Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, working on the Natural Gas Research Programme.


Blog Archive

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      • ‘Bread, peace, democracy.’ The Turkish miners’ str...
      • Caution: high-voltage networks. Polemical cheap sh...
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