I’ve been watching with increasing frustration as the UK government has taken a series of missteps which have shaken a prosperous, stable and successful nation and strained it beyond sense, largely through self-harm.
The biggest failing is the lack of visionary leadership. We need leaders to channel the resilience, talent and creativity of the British people to give direction and enable the unleashing of energy and hope that comes with taking action.
We must make plans to become world leaders in the industries of the future – robotics, hydroponic farming, waste mining etc etc – and refresh our education system to enable people to skill-up and fulfil that destiny, while focusing on health, wellbeing and prevention, so we have a vital, mentally stable workforce to deliver prosperity.
The government should be coming to us as a sector and asking how we can help, not shutting the door in our face. In spite of the lobbying, ministers still don’t really have a clue what we do, due to the political bubble in which they exist.
The energy crisis is now threatening to suck the life out of businesses and households unless something is done. It’s no coincidence Exxon Mobil made the largest profit in the history of oil in 2022 (US$56bn), while so many struggle.
The government needs to take action, with a carrot and stick for energy companies – incentives to transition to a low carbon economy and taxation for not doing so, but the key move now must be to decarbonise the entire nation immediately and have a plan to do this that all can understand, buy into and contribute to.
We have to decarbonise soon to meet climate pledges – doing it immediately will have the added benefit of solving the energy crisis while releasing savings to fund growth.
Stanford University’s Mark Jacobson has just published a book called No miracles needed. He says we already have the tech we need to reduce energy consumption and save the planet, we just need to deploy it and stop wasting time and money developing unneeded alternatives.
And if the government doesn’t act, we must take the lead as a sector by rapidly decarbonising. It would set us apart, while setting us up for the future economically and removing the need for us to be constantly lobbying for energy subsidies.
Operators doing rollouts could take a pause and use their budgets to retrofit energy saving tech into existing clubs, massively reducing bills, which would free up funds to continue growth of a far more sustainable estate.
In addition, we need all new buildings to be constructed to Passivhaus standards, which can reduce energy use by up to 80 per cent, with reasonable payback periods.
All this is within our power. We have shown we can unite as a sector and move mountains. Now is the time.
