This speech is from way back in 2006. It’s at an NUJ meeting in Bristol (Benn was an MP in Bristol).
Whatever your political stripe, and whatever you think about Tony Benn, this guy really knew how the world works.
By comparison, nowadays most politicians are like five-year-olds on LSD.
I think that Tony Benn was the English politician who drove forward with Nuclear Energy in the U.K.
How’s France Nuclear Industry doing these days?
E.D.F. : French energy giant posts worst-ever results
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64674131
EDF’s debts have spiralled to €64.5bn
Tony Benn M.P. was secretary for Energy in the Harold Wilson administration
10 June 1975 – 4 May 1979
In 1966 Tony was Minister of Technology
which included responsibility for the development of Concorde
E.D.F.’s debt ballooned to €64.5 billion in 2022 while losses totalled €17.9 billion.
E.D.F. struggled with a drop in electricity output last year as it had to close several of France’s 56 aging nuclear reactors to fix corrosion problems and a heatwave reduced hydro-power production.
https://www.thelocal.fr/20230217/french-energy-giant-edf-records-record-losses/
Something do not seem right here.
The French State buys E.D.F. but run it at a massive loss?
Where does the money come from to bail it all out?
EDF has been slammed after the company told investors that the costs of building the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant in the UK could balloon to £32billion by the time it’s completed. The debt-ridden French energy company noted that this is a significant 30 percent increase on the estimated costs of £26billion.