Simon Pirani
@simonpirani.bsky.social
Historian, researcher of energy systems, Ukraine, Russia, & more. Blog: https://peopleandnature.wordpress.com/. Author of Burning Up: A Global History of Fossil Fuel Consumption (2018) & Dissident Communists in Early Soviet Russia (2023).
🚇 HOW TO MAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORT FREE Tue 29 Sept, 7.15pm, Golden Lane Community Centre, EC1Y 0SA Q&A with Julie Frêche, Vice-President for Transport and Active Mobility, Montpellier (free transport since 2023) plus a panel with unions & community groups / Fare Free London AGM. Link in comments 👇
Great overview from @simonpirani.bsky.social about the serial inadequacies of the UK government’s recent Local Power Plan (published in Feb 2026)
People & Nature@peoplenature.bsky.social · last wk."An obsessively centralised system of regulation, and energy corporations’ power, are blocking change, activists argue. Even modest proposals to support community energy projects with a long-term, fixed price for their electricity fall on deaf ears." peopleandnature.wordpress.com/2026/07/28/t...
Our bulletin #207: Killings of Ukrainian POWs/ Crimea economy collapsing/ Ukraine protests analysed/ From Syrskyi to Drapatyi/ Why men of conscription age leave Ukraine/ Russia oil refineries hit/ Russia’s military indoctrination of Ukrainian children/ & more ukraine-solidarity.org/2026/08/02/n...
News from Ukraine bulletin 207 (3 August)
DOWNLOAD THE BULLETIN AS A PDF HERE A Digest of News from Ukrainian sources – also attached as a PDF In this week’s bulletin: Killings of Ukrainian POWs/ Crimea economy collapsing/ Ukraine protests…
ukraine-solidarity.org
The strategic and structural failings in the government's approach to climate-proofing our housing.
Decarbonising our homes
A special investigation reveals the strategic and structural failings in the British Government's attempts to decarbonise our homes.
theecologist.org
Open letter to the PM on Rosebank & Jackdaw oil and gas fields, covered in the Guardian: www.theguardian.com/environment/... Full letter here: climateuncensored.com/letter-to-th...
My take on what is blocking community energy and decentralised solar
People & Nature@peoplenature.bsky.social · last wk."An obsessively centralised system of regulation, and energy corporations’ power, are blocking change, activists argue. Even modest proposals to support community energy projects with a long-term, fixed price for their electricity fall on deaf ears." peopleandnature.wordpress.com/2026/07/28/t...
Thanks for this @annieleymarie.bsky.social. This sort of logic on heat pumps could/should be built into gov't plans
Annie Leymarie@annieleymarie.bsky.social · 2w ago@simonpirani.bsky.social explains below how France and Norway have installed far more heat pumps than Britain, but in both countries the most common type is air-to-air, which is cheaper and generally much easier to install and operate than air-to-water – the type that dominates in the UK. 1/6
Improving lives, lowering bills and helping to tackle global heating.
Decarbonising our homes
A special investigation reveals the strategic and structural failings in the British Government's attempts to decarbonise our homes.
theecologist.org
The plan lags way behind what climate scientists say is needed. Its focus on heat pumps for individual households, away from improving housing stock, exacerbates inequality. Neoliberal housing policy & the trashing of public provision play their part too peopleandnature.wordpress.com/2026/07/21/d...
Decarbonising homes: the government’s plan is heading for failure
By Simon Pirani. Republished with thanks from the Ecologist The UK government’s plan to shift to electrified, low-carbon heating of homes could be heading for ruinous failure without public sector …
peopleandnature.wordpress.com
"Without public sector provision and community engagement, the UK government’s plans to shift to electrified, low-carbon heating of homes could be heading for ruinous failure." My article about decarbonising our homes in @theecologist.org special issue today theecologist.org/sites/defaul...
theecologist.org
Political prisoner Andrei Trofimov, serving 13 years for denouncing Russia's war on Ukraine, has not been in touch with friends since April, and they are very worried about him. Please share. memopzk.org/en/news/no-c... @ensu-resu.bsky.social @ukrainesol.bsky.social
No contact with political prisoner Andrei Trofimov since April - Political prisoners support. Memorial
There has been no contact with political prisoner Andrei Trofimov since April. He has not responded to letters and has not been brought out to meet with a lawyer.
memopzk.org
I am at the 140th Durham miners gala today, along with I'd guess 150,000+ others. One of the world's greatest celebrations of working class identity
How the "left" has responded to the war: I took part in this discussion with Volodymyr Artiukh and David Camfield soundcloud.com/user-7372679...
#67: The Russia-Ukraine war and the Left
The Russia-Ukraine war and the Left . . With Russia's all-out war against Ukraine now in its fifth year, Simon Pirani and Volodymyr Artiukh discuss the complex character of the war, the main stances t
soundcloud.com
Pollution and exploitation. What working people in north west England have had from corporations, for decades
Stanlow Refinery Pollution Watch@stanlowpollution.bsky.social · last mo.This is awful — sadly resident complaints of chemical odours in Cheshire have not gone away. Fenceline communities must stand together to fight industrial pollution
Please share this courageous statement. "In fact, the side blocking the path to peace is Russia. To maintain his dictatorship, Putin would by all possible means keep this war going. We stand by Ukraine in refusal to give in to a superpower." peopleandnature.wordpress.com/2026/06/26/h...
Hong Kong protesters: “Oppose Russian hegemonic aggression! No Peace without Justice!”
This statement by HK Anti-War Mobilisation was published on facebook on the fourth anniversary of Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine, in February. It deserves to be shared widely – please copy an…
peopleandnature.wordpress.com
"We can not oppose arms supplies to Ukraine, even if they come from NATO powers who simultaneously arm Israel." Calls by Scandinavian left parties "for arms exports to be banned to all countries except Ukraine" are welcome. My talk at Green Left meeting peopleandnature.wordpress.com/2026/06/26/i...
In Mexico, people fear one imperialist aggressor. In Estonia, it’s a different one
At a Green Left zoom discussion on 23 June about “the Green party and NATO”, I argued that we can support resistance to Russian imperialism while opposing NATO. I was on a panel along with Paul Ing…
peopleandnature.wordpress.com
Our latest bulletin #200. Freedom of speech and the Ukrainian civil code/the budget crisis in Russia/internal migration within Ukraine/ Russian killing of Ukrainian children/Russian execution of Ukrainian POWs/Europe and Russian fossil fuels and more ukraine-solidarity.org/2026/06/14/n...
News from Ukraine Bulletin no.200 (15 June 2026)
DOWNLOAD THE BULLETIN AS A PDF HERE In this week’s bulletin: Freedom of speech and the Ukrainian Civil Code; the budget crisis in Russia; internal migration within Ukraine; Russian killing of…
ukraine-solidarity.org
What were WE all doing when civilians were being massacred by the genocidal Israeli army? These four brave people tried their best to stop it. They are political prisoners www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
Pro-Palestine activists sentenced as terrorists over damage at Israeli arms factory in UK
Four found guilty will face tougher conditions as judge says actions were ‘designed to intimidate the UK government and a section of the public’
theguardian.com
Have you seen TRY ME FOR TREASON yet? Anti-war protesters speeches in Russian courts. Free to watch and download on Youtube. www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FHa... @labour-hub.bsky.social @ukrainesolidarity.bsky.social @ensu-resu.bsky.social
Iraq's World Cup star Aymen Hussein was detained and questioned for nearly seven hours after arriving at Chicago O'Hare Airport with the national team. Hussein was eventually allowed into the United States, but team photographer Talal Salah was denied entry after being held for more than 10 hours.
Quelle surprise: my comment on the Govt's latest climate commitment (www.gov.uk/government/n... is out of step, at least publicly, with many colleagues: www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-react... With expert whitewash on one side & charlatans on the other, an honest climate debate stands no chance.
Thanks for the mention @tomackers.bsky.social. Yup, I also had satellite pix in my article, underlining that it's SOME neighbourhoods that are benefiting from the panels boom, which is happening by market anarchy, not policy.
Tom Ackers@tomackers.bsky.social · 2mo agoFor more on this, see Simon Pirani's article from Feb on @peoplenature.bsky.social >> peopleandnature.wordpress.com/2025/02/07/p...
"I was convinced from the start of the all-out war that Ukraine was waging a just, defensive war against revanchist Russian imperialism". @ensu-resu.bsky.social @ukrainesol.bsky.social @ukrainesolidarity.bsky.social @labour-hub.bsky.social peopleandnature.wordpress.com/2026/06/03/r...
Russian socialists: “Solidarity means accepting Ukrainians’ pain and suffering as our own”
Russian-Speaking Leftists, a group based in Germany, on 19 May published this interview with a socialist activist living in Russia who, they write, “stands for revolutionary defeatism”.[1] I transl…
peopleandnature.wordpress.com
"It is not enough to assert that averting ecological disasters is inseparable from fighting capitalism. We need to develop movements based on that inseparability." peopleandnature.wordpress.com/2026/06/02/o...
Organising action on climate and social justice: what next
This post is based on a talk I gave at the Ecosocialism conference in London on Saturday 30 May, about the Fare Free London campaign, in which I participate, and the wider movements of which it is …
peopleandnature.wordpress.com
An entire Syrian family, from the town of al-Rabiaa in rural Hama was killed on Friday in an Israeli strike that targeted a home in the al-Hartiyeh area of the lebanese town of Adloun, in the Saida district. The victims were father Qais al-Bakeer, mother Reem al-Ali, and their six children.
"Unions, NGOs, & other collectives that organise or work with workers (in e.g. construction & waste, + street vendors & home workers) have intensified engagement with climate change, demanding protective shade, more water, cooling spaces, and toilets" peopleandnature.wordpress.com/2026/05/29/t...
Tackling extreme heat in India: aiming at a moving target
By Nagraj Adve Seeking to cushion the impacts of global warming is like aiming at a moving target. What’s worse, the target is now moving faster. Over the last decade or so, there has been a signif…
peopleandnature.wordpress.com