Thoughts on green dreams vs economic reality from the Ed;
Look at this line up of current and retired public sector employees, all proudly kitted out for an extreme hike to Snowdonia in their expensive anoraks, multi-pocket trousers and Gore-Tex boots. Also note the total lack of ethnic or religious diversity. What’s their beef with insurers?
Simple really, they want to stop any Lloyd’s syndicate or other insurance brands from insuring the tricky business of extracting coal, gas or oil from the planet. Starting with Uganda’s proposed pipeline project, but any oil or gas extraction is deemed an evil empire thing by the eco-factions. Some may agree with that noble aim of course, but the realpolitik of the oil industry is that Chinese, Japanese US, or Indian insurers will simply take the business away from London in the end.
Everything we use – even bicycles and electric cars – requires oil in terms of maintenance or manufacture. The waterproof clothing that Cycling Mikey uses, his cameras, his evidence gathering smartphone, are made from oil. The PC that retired librarians use to send angry WE MUST BAN CARS FROM OUR STREETS emails to local papers are made from oil. You see oil both powers and creates our world and no, we cannot just recycle everything that’s in a bin bag in Birmingham into another piece of plastic to make new stuff. Raw materials don’t work like that.
These are facts, like biology really, which is another excuse for a mass demo and some intimidation of people who hold opposing views.
For the insurance industry, Easter – long public sector holidays – and mid-July/August (ditto) will see more co-ordinated and well funded attacks on their offices. At least they can prepare measures in advance and WFH is already the de facto position for many staff.
From the press release it seems this protest was aimed at CNA Hardy in Manchester, but expect more direct action later this year towards various brands and of course the Lloyd’s building in London. Containing and filming these protests is essential, and robust prosecution against those who threaten staff or damage property needs to happen swiftly. The insurance sector creates hundreds of thousands of well paid jobs and generates billions in tax for the UK public sector, it’s right that a vocal minority does not damage that service sector long term.
INDUSTRY IS BEING DISMANTLED AND GIVEN AWAY, IS INSURANCE NEXT?
The recent farce over Scunthorpe steelworks (every Labour MP received a purple heart for working Saturday apparently) highlights how Western nations have de-industrialised to the point where they cannot produce the raw materials to build ships, cars, aircraft, houses or clothing in any mass market volume. Sure, there are always exemptions for rich person’s car companies like McClaren or Ferrari, or expensive Scottish tweeds perhaps, but for mass produced goods the trend has been towards knockdown kit assembly in Europe, rather than a complete, home based, manufacturing chain.
That means the heavy engineering of casting engine blocks, geartrains or other energy intensive parts has been outsourced to Asia. Ditto on clothing, where textile mills in the UK become buy-to-let apartments, while High Street chains imports slave-produced T-shirts from Bangladesh. Apparently that’s reducing emissions in Britain to reach Net Zero targets, so it’s a good thing. But outsourcing has a human cost, like children mining cobalt for your EV battery or smartphone. That’s the price you pay for reducing emissions from a smartphone production plant in the UK, or not drilling oil from the North Sea – it is done, with much lower safety standards and employment rights in foreign countries instead.
In climate box ticking terms, it all somehow makes sense to the Guardianistas funded by taxpayers to constantly hector and fine the population in the name of greener living. But in terms of survival long term for our economy it is slow suicide, since your nation becomes a consumer market, a buyer of bonded serf produced goods, not a producer with high wages and the best safety standards. If you also outsource your service industry – insurance – to the East because middle class protestors on a jolly Hybrid day out are cluttering up reception, then your economy will inevitable shrink faster.
Many insurers have already thrown in the towel and withdrawn cover on oil/coal projects. It certainly ticks the ESG and Net Zero boxes and it avoids confrontations for the staff. Laudable aims again. But climate activists are like religious zealots, once they smell weakness the demand to stop insuring petrol or diesel cars in the UK will be made, or closing down gas boiler distributors. Activists have a long wish list and it’s interesting that many have followed St Greta’s example and now drape themselves in Hamas scarves whilst on active duty. Look at the protests against shops selling goods produced in Israel, or defence contractors, to see where this zealotry ends – for all of us.
Insurance is a social good, it’s the glue that bonds society together and prevents vigilante action when someone dents your car in Sainsbury’s car park. It’s right that the industry has lofty aims to improve society over time, to offer choices and compete on price and service. Globally too, not just in the UK, as we need the overseas revenues. But insurers are not UK State backed charities, aiming to modify behaviour using TV shows like Adolescence to twist reality into propaganda. They must do business in highly regulated markets around the world and balance the realities of modern industrial production, energy sector needs and their own profitability against the shouty arguments of well paid protestors, who have often NEVER been employed in the private sector. In fact they hate anything that makes a profit.
Except Glasto of course.
Stay safe this summer.
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