How many times have I heard journalists and politicians trot out the explanation that the war in Ukraine has caused the price of fuel (and so everything else) to increase because of vaguely hand-waving, mumble, sanctions, mumble, obvious consequences, war, shortage, price increases.

However even a cursory glance at the cost of gas over the last twenty five years shows that the build up of the European dependency on Russian gas and the reduction in capacity during 2021were callous, strategic steps taken in preparation for their land grab. The timing of the invasion for February, when European demand was at its highest, was not a coincidence.

The war happened as a result of our dependency on fossil fuels and the cost to us in terms of increased fuel bills has been much more than building renewable capacity and grid storage would have been… We still need to build renewables and storage anyway!