King coal comes roaring back to life, just possibly, and in other news about old fossils …
The Australian Financial Review front page yesterday:
King coal comes roaring back to life … After a few grim years where the big miners were scaling back production and sacking workers in their Queensland mines, the same companies are now frantically ramping up their output and putting on more staff to take advantage of record prices. Coal is back in business.
The Australian front page yesterday:
Less meat, coal key to cooler planet … An accelerated withdrawal from coal and a change in the global diet away from red meat are needed to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C, leaked copies of a major new climate report (by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) say.
The Guardian Australia yesterday:
Thermal coal prices forecast to drop 25 per cent and metallurgical coal prices 23 per cent …
ABC, July 17:
The nation’s energy operator has warned that coal must be part of Australia’s energy mix for the next two decades, to ensure people’s power bills do not skyrocket further … (It) says Australia’s power network will not be reliable if coal-fired power stations close before the end of their technical life … But AEMO does not recommend expanding coal-fired power generation beyond what already exists.
Climate Council report, End of the line: Coal in Australia, July:
Investing in coal is risky business … insurers, pension funds and other financial institutions are choosing not to invest in (coal). Over 30 major international companies have ruled out financing or stopped working on Adani’s proposed Carmichael mine.
Financial Review, September 13:
Indian energy giant Adani has moved a step closer to delivering its controversial $16.5 billion Carmichael coal mine in central Queensland, by scaling back its project and slashing costs to make it more attractive to investors. In the most encouraging sign … in more than three years, Adani has abandoned plans to use a more complex rail line, effectively cutting it in half, to save up to $1.5bn.
Physics may be a more exact science than coal speculation … until physics becomes a gender debate. Professor Alessandro Strumia, of Pisa University, addressing the European nuclear research centre, CERN, on Friday:
Physics was invented and built by men — it’s not by invitation.
CERN suspends Strumia for claiming male scientists suffer discrimination:
The organisation is fully committed to promoting diversity and equality.
In breaking news yesterday, an unreconstructed man’s man, Sydney broadcaster Ron Casey, has died at 89. A blast from his past on 2UE, 1988:
I’ve always found whenever I’ve worked at various radio stations, before getting the sack, that if you are nice to ugly girls, it sort of helps them — it boosts their day — it makes them feel good. And I’ve always made a practice, wherever I work, of selecting the ugliest girls and as they walk by, give them a backhand pelvic flick.
2GB host Ray Hadley yesterday:
The (Casey) bloke I knew was not the same as the bloke that was rather biting and challenging on the radio and TV. He was a pretty gentle soul.
For once Peter FitzSimons appeared to agree with Hadley, tweeting:
Vale Ron Casey. Not quite “one of a kind,” but “one of two of a kind” — he and Rex Mossop. However, while some of Ron’s bombast was bunged on — he was much more considered in person — I think Rex’s went right to the bone!