Author: Refracktion

Peter Lilley doesn’t exactly shine

Peter Lilley doesn’t exactly shine

In an interview with Radio 5 live in which he was “debating” the goings on at Balcombe with Vanessa Vine of Frack Free Sussex, Peter Lilley repeatedly stated that nearly 200 wells have been fracked in the UK already and that this technique had been going on for decades without...

The government doing our PR for us on Newsnight?

The government doing our PR for us on Newsnight?

David Morris MP on Newsnight talking about what he calls the “escavations” (sic) give us this trenchant analysis of Cuadrilla’s safety measures. We think he’s doing his rather uneducated best to talk about triple casings. “There is evidence there to suggest that Cuadrilla have three triplicate wells, triplicate oil wells,...

Mr Cameron’s problem with the truth

Mr Cameron’s problem with the truth

By now we are used to the amount of spin which politicians and the industry apply to this issue. Sometimes when mistakes are made it’s easy enough to concede that there may have been a slip of the tongue. What are we to make of somebody who so consistently has...

Gaffe of the fortnight

Gaffe of the fortnight

We’ve been away on holiday but it’s hard to avoid the constant sound of feet hitting mouths even from a few hundred miles away. Some of our favourites: Lord Howell  and his ill-judged Nimbyism exemplified by his “desolate” North East comments. Lord Howell’s attempts to extricate himself by claiming he...

Lies, Damned Lies and Polls

Lies, Damned Lies and Polls

It is a common tactic of PR campaigns to try to capitalise on people’s natural group behaviour by presenting the desired opinion as a majority. This media manipulation technique is called ‘appeal to consensus’ as most people instinctively want to be considered ‘normal’. One way of doing this is to...

Could this kill off UK fracking?

Could this kill off UK fracking?

Horizontal wells – the implications for landowners. How much it will be worth for farmers to lease their land for fracking is still an unknown in the UK, but it’s clearer what will happen for landowners whose acreage is undermined by horizontal wells. If the frackers are crafty and never...