On 26 May, the wax-faced war criminal Tony Blair returned with a half-baked essay on what the UK should do next. Among his widely-panned arguments was the suggestion that we need to increase North Sea drilling. And now, like clockwork, the Blairite homunculus Wes Streeting has stepped forwards to make roughly the same argument:
Labour should cut national insurance and issue new oil drilling licences for North Sea, Streeting says https://t.co/yWsOYDXf0n
— LBC (@LBC) May 31, 2026
New Streeting, New Danger
In his essay, Blair wrote:
- We must prioritise cheaper energy and electrification over net zero and use what is left of our North Sea oil and gas resources. This is essential for our competitiveness and for taking advantage of AI.
Responding to this, the CEO of Naked Energy wrote:
The conflict in Iran has given us yet another reminder that dependence on gas weakens our energy security. UK wholesale gas prices rose by around 90% in the first week of the conflict alone, and that volatility feeds straight through to businesses and households.
Shifting towards generating our own gas does not change this, because the fuel extracted from the North Sea is sold at international prices, so it does not provide households or businesses with any insulation from global shocks.
You’ll note Blair’s proposal is in line with the far-right parties Reform UK and Restore Britain. While you can’t simply do the opposite of what your opponents do, it’s important to note that both Blair and the far-right are ignoring the same key information:
The North Sea is pretty much spent and what is left is expensive to lift. Plus, you’re wasting time talking about shale.
Why do you make no mention of renewables or battery storage? pic.twitter.com/pFF9X5cZkq
— Clean Energy (@EnergyMix_UK) May 30, 2026
Getting to Streeting, here’s what the ex-health secretary said when asked if the UK should grant new licenses:
Yes. I think that’s probably where Ed will get to. When he makes a decision, I’d be surprised if that wasn’t the case.
The granting of those licences will not necessarily translate into cheaper bills, but it will translate into higher tax receipts
Cheaper bills for Britons?
No.
Increased profits for the corporate vultures who are waiting to slurp up what’s left in the North Sea?
Absolutely!
AI freefall
You’ll note Blair’s given reason for supporting more drilling was AI. No prizes for guessing why that is:
I’m not interested in any coverage of Tony Blair’s views that makes no mention of the fact the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) is bankrolled by billionaire Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle.
From 2021-2025, Ellison donated or pledged £257m to the TBI. Of course he’s an AI evangelist!
— Aisha Nicole Malik-Smith (@ANMalikSmith) May 27, 2026
While figures like Blair are talking up AI, the AI companies themselves are experiencing something of a meltdown. Until recently, they charged businesses a subscription fee; something they struggled to make money from, because AI models cost so much to run. Now they’ve switched to capping how much customers can use, and as a result businesses have started to ask themselves:
- Can we afford this?
- Are we getting any sort of return on investment?
As AI critic Ed Zitron has reported, the answer to question 1 is increasingly ‘no‘: the answer to question 2 is usually ‘we’re not even sure how to measure it‘:
The problems don’t end there either:
NEW: AI consultant reveals a client accidentally spent $500,000,000.00 in a single month after failing to set employee limits on Claude usage.
— Polymarket (@Polymarket) May 28, 2026
Starbucks just retired its AI inventory tool across North America. It was miscounting and mislabeling store items.
This is the second major AI failure at scale from a Fortune 100 company in 2026.
The pattern. Starbucks spent reportedly $80-120M building “Deep Brew,” its AI… https://t.co/8iJVDn0dGW
— Armaan Sidhu (@realarmaansidhu) May 25, 2026
89% of leaders say AI has not improved their company’s labor productivity, despite widespread adoption, per Gallup.
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) May 19, 2026
Uber handed its 5,000 engineers an AI coding assistant in December. By April, the company had blown through its entire AI budget for all of 2026, with two thirds of the year still to go.
Cheap, basic AI has gotten almost free over the past few years. But almost no company builds… https://t.co/rTlWgZECa7
— Anish Moonka (@anishmoonka) May 24, 2026
Two economists just published a mathematical proof that AI will destroy the economy.
Not might. Not could. Will — if nothing changes.
The paper is called “The AI Layoff Trap.” Published March 2, 2026. Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Boston University. Peer reviewed.… pic.twitter.com/Kh9IVdhG4w
— Jack (@jackcoder0) May 30, 2026
Despite all this, the establishment continues to tell us that AI is inevitable. And while some future technology may one day make that statement true, the signs aren’t good for the generative AI that’s currently being sold to us.
At max projection is 2 bn annual profit. A valuation that’s 500x that? I think AI is just a money laundering scheme. https://t.co/kbW5PFNCZR
— Ganeshan (@ganeshan_iyer) May 29, 2026
Popular support
To be entirely clear on the North Sea situation, many Britons think we should open new oil and gas developments:
Britons tend to favour allowing new oil and gas developments to be opened in the North Sea, amid reports that some cabinet ministers agree with Tony Blair’s view that the UK should extract all oil and gas from the North Sea
New developments should be opened: 46%
Only existing… pic.twitter.com/zxuS81x07w— YouGov (@YouGov) May 29, 2026
We could really do with a follow-up question here, though, as we doubt people will feel the same once you explain: ‘this plan won’t bring your bills down even slightly‘.
To be entirely fair to Wes Streeting, he is at least admitting now that more drilling won’t benefit ordinary people. To be less fair to him, it’s time to make like a North Sea rig and get in the f*cking sea.
Featured image via Carl Court (Getty Images)
By Willem Moore
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