No gimmicks here

I would had some sympathy for Gordon Brown's claim that improving energy efficiency is better than short-term gimmicks on fuel payments if he hadn't tried and failed to introduce those same short-term gimmicks.

Meanwhile, the BBC reports that Labour backbencher Fabian Hamilton has warned the government of the political consequences of not doing something to help people in the short term. At the bottom of the piece is a staggering statistic from the Local Government Association, which argues that energy efficiency should be prioritised, funded by energy companies:

The association - which represents councils in England and Wales - says its research has found that the companies increased pay-outs to shareholders by more than a quarter of a billion pounds over the past year.

That is increased payments by a quarter of a billion. Does anyone think we're being ripped off?